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abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
Got fitted for new irons and a driver - I came back to play after 13 years break (I'm 31) using my old clubs. Was finding I was hitting a lot of pretty bad fades with my irons, and I was mucking around with my swing trying to get everything just right.

The guy looks at three swings, hands me an extra stiff shaft and tells me to hit it normally. I hit a 7 iron 195 yards and it was the sweetest feeling shot I've ever hit in my life. Played around with a bunch of irons and the swings were just effortless, it was insane. Picked out Srixon zx5 irons as they felt the nicest off the club and gives me some room to control when I improve a bit.

Then he gives me a driver with a stiff shaft, Titleist. I swing normally, maybe slightly faster than I normally would - carries 290 yards straight up the middle.

It turns out my clubhead speed is super fast and this whole time I've been playing with reg shafts, so as I swing the clubhead is literally behind my hands and it causes a constant fade.

Out of curiosity, I went to the range afterwards with my current clubs to test the theory, and sure enough, all I did was slow down my swing and every shot was perfectly straight, drivers, irons, whatever.

edit; of course when swinging slower I lost probably 10 meters at least so there's the tradeoff

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abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
if you aren't on a <5 handicap don't touch blade irons. Not to say they aren't nice to hit but there's virtually no benefit to them for the average player. I can shape my old, giant cavity back irons from 2004, you don't need blades to change the shape of a shot but it is very useful to have less dispersion when you mishit one.

fwiw I hit off 10 and I just bought a full set of ZX5's because I found that they had a good mix of range and controllability. I might shape a shot once a round, if that.

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before

mattfl posted:

Currently a 3.2, I'll hit them but will most likely stick with some sort of players irons in the end I imagine.

Look - off 3? Hit what you want and don't listen to me. If I was that close to scratch I would be seriously considering blades

Anyway I hope you appreciate my unsolicited buying advice yw

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
My TSI3 got delivered and this club is incredibly broken. I went from a regular shaft to extra stiff and it feels like I can basically hurl my entire body around it like I'm swinging a baseball bat and it just sails off down the fairway every time.

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
Shooting below 90 is all about consistency, which is why the whaddaplaya guy is so good because he talks a lot about how you always aim away from trouble and he also shows that getting up and down from straightforward positions is heaps easier than you'd think

My game has improved heaps since i accepted that I probably hit 1/3 irons where I want, so I should aim somewhere where the other 2 aren't going to screw me over. Low stress golf!

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
I hit a 330 yard drive today according to Garmin golf on a par 5

Then I shot at the green, hit the fringe, and 3 putted for par

Very nice

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
I went from 15 year old clubs to brand new everything except wedges just recently and it didn't take any strokes off my game, it gave me a little more distance on everything but the clubs just simply feel 200% nicer. It's hard to describe but hitting even a slightly toey iron feels better than striping one of my old clubs. Piping a drive with the new club feels and sounds better.

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
I'm pretty sure I just played the worst 3 hole stretch of my life

Hit a good tee shot. Sent one slightly over the green. Chipped to about 12 feet out of the rough. Three putted. Double.

Hit a screamer tee shot. Fatted a sand wedge approach (I've never done this before). Hit a decent 60 degree but pulled up about 20 foot short of the hole. Three putted. Double.

Hit a slight pull tee shot - found its way directly next to a tree, no shot except 90 degrees onto the fairway. Blocked a 7 iron onto hard rough. Thinned the wedge way over the green. Hit a nice lob that hit the fringe and died. Three putted. Triple.

Just an astonishing amount of bad shots in such a short stretch.

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
Pro golfers are some of the most well paid athletes in the world and I've never actually seen any concrete allegations about the PGA that didn't boil down to "the PGA is hoarding money" with no evidence to back it up.

The problem with pro golf at the moment though is that nobody is dominating it which makes it poo poo boring to watch. Phil and Tiger were so great back in the day, especially alongside characters like Singh, Daly, Jimenez etc, because they gave everyone clear players to root for and follow for drama.

The Honda Classic was actually really interesting golf to watch, and the final day was full of drama, but...who the gently caress are all these guys? As someone that watches golf a bit, at least the highlights, I'm familiar with the guys on the leaderboard but they aren't "water cooler" names.

This is the danger of other leagues like the SGL (lol), if they ever actually take off and poach a bunch of the actual named players people will tune in to watch people they know.

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before

Shrapnig posted:

Is this true though? It's the only professional sport where you can show up, play, and walk away without making a dime if you had a "bad game."

The monetarily best years golfers have ever had, excluding end of season bonuses like the FedEx Cup/Race to Dubai, is like role player NBA money. Yes it looks wild when a guy takes home a check for $1m on Sunday but that only happens ~40 times a year and rarely more than once for the same guy.

The cost of being on the PGA Tour is significantly higher since you're on the hook for all of your own expenses. I think DeChambeau said it costs at minimum about $500k a year to play a full schedule with travel, etc. Obviously that cost probably gets mostly picked up in sponsorships but it's money that an NBA player doesn't have to spend.

I guess I always compare it to Tennis, because they are both solo sports, but in particular golf is a far easier game to make a living than tennis is even though tennis has a dramatically bigger fanbase and more viewership.

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before

*Sniffs* yeah mate I tell ya last week I reckon I was about this level. Shot 68 or something but wasn't keeping score you know was just Matchplay with the boys

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
31km/h winds here today, just went and played a full 18 holes. Shot 84, easily lost 4 strokes to wind with my favourite being the drive that got pushed right up under a tree.

Absolute treat though, playing in the wind is actually super fun as long as it's not cold. I also feel like for the first time since I started playing again I've gotten everything "under control", which is to say, even the wildest, shittiest of my shots don't put me in deep trouble, water, or out of bounds anymore.

edit; also had the first ever 180 degree lipout ever for birdie. Bout 5 foot putt, sent it, started going to pick it up then it spun in and right back out of the hole

abigserve fucked around with this message at 06:02 on Mar 31, 2022

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
Played in a tournament today, shot a net +6 in the pouring rain. Really could have been a good day but I just couldn't putt, I lipped so many and had so many three putts.

A net 0 won the entire tournament in the A grade lol

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before

D34THROW posted:

The only time I've shot a 72 in my life was on 9 holes in the pouring rain.

It's interesting because it doesn't affect every green the same, or at least, it doesn't seem to. We were regularly leaving putts 6 feet short, then the next hole sending them 10 foot long. Just really strange and difficult to read.

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
carts loving suck, especially in a group. boy I sure like having to make a club selection before I even get to my loving ball because the cart has to peel out to the other side of the fairway!! This also causes the other problem of people driving one or two carts literally to every ball, probably making the round take even longer than if they just walked.

I get carts for the older or mobility impaired but c'mon boys, you're out for a round of golf with the lads, put the carts away.

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
Cart only course design is loving terrible

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
My driver head was loose and probably has been for the last week at least and that's an lmao from me boys

Went to the range, did my usual setup, waggled and went hang on - something isn't right here. I keep the tool in my bag, sure enough it was loose. One weird trick to adding 20 metres and fixing your slice/fade

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before

Infomaniac posted:

Just happened, drat I'm proud/hate my best golffriend. Short par 4, handicap 0. Still going to be nice to have his first hole in one be on a par 4. Must be nice.



It's easier than putting!

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before

ElGroucho posted:

There's nothing worse than knowing you hit a great shot, seeing the green empty, and being like, "Is it possible!?" and then seeing your ball settled in to a nice little crevice off the green instead

Had this on a short par 3 the other day, hit an 8 iron directly at a flag tucked behind a bunker, literally thought I just got my first hole in one and found my ball had flown over and bounced off the back about 20 metres away from the hole. Noice!!!

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
In social play it is a commonly accepted rule that a ball that is obviously going straight up the fairway, that then disappears, can be replaced for free in a suitable area. I used to think "when would that happen" but then I saw a crow take my ball not once, but twice (the same crow?!) in the span of 3 weeks off the fairway. There's no way you would ever force a playing partner to walk back to the tee outside of a stroke play tournament, in stableford you take the wipe and move on.

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before

D34THROW posted:

I watched a FAMILY of raccoons steal a ball once. Said ball was a lovely Top Flite played by the third that the course stuck with my dad and I. All of a sudden, Mr. Top Flite was playing a Pro V1 that HAPPENED to be where my dad hit his shot. Mmhmm. Sure.

I think I would die laughing if I saw a raccoon scurry off with my golf ball

Also both balls that crow stole were the yellow taylormades and since I swapped back to white balls it hasn't happened again

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
New NLU video which should be a real treat is releasing soon; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OBKeA0fOXA

NLU is easily the best Golf content on youtube, possibly some of the best content period, and they still have really small viewership/subscriber numbers, it's kinda insane. The group dynamic really makes a huge difference to avoid that air of smugness all the other golf channels get infected by after a while.

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before

Daric posted:

DJ's a good guy too. We have a bi-weekly Zoom call on Tuesday nights where we watch a movie or an episode of a TV show and then jump on a call to talk about it. Randy is awesome. I've met Neil once and he was nice but clearly very competitive. Tron and Soly I can't stand and Cody was cool the one time I've met him but I've heard from people whose opinions I trust that he can be a little much as well.

Thank you for confirming my Soly headcannon

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
I feel like my game is really comfy right now. I'm not scoring great (averaging +3 over my handicap of 8) but I just never am not in a position to score. If I miss, I'm missing by a few metres, if I have a chip I never duff them and I have a few options like lobs, low spinners etc

Golf is fun!

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
Wet golf is hard as gently caress. Everything is unpredictable, even with clean and replace

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
Is there a name for courses that are nightmarish off the tee?

My local course is pretty chill in that if you hit it off the fairway you'll probably be chipping through trees, but I played a course recently where the fairways were tight and if you missed you were literally in a tropical rainforest, water, or straight out of bounds. It was unreal. A bad drive was a guaranteed double bogey.

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
How much distance are you guys getting when you tee up your woods and irons? I haven't measured irons but I get an extra 15 yards or so with a 5 wood when I tee it up.

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
Oh my god after 7 months my Garmin R10 finally came in let's gooo

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
Worth mentioning that tour putting greens are worlds away from your local in the sense that

A. They run perfectly true, no bobbles or bounces to screw your putt up
But...
B. They are like ice and the ball screams across the surface

It's why watching pros chip is so entertaining because they are basically trying to stop a golf ball on a dance floor from all sorts of insane spots.

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
Tp5s when they are on sale - pro v1 when they aren't.

The more expensive balls make a huge difference, as much as it pains me to say.

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
NLU and Reddit or all places made a good observation; there are some straight out of college players in there and that's what the PGA tour has to worry about. Losing Phil is a bit of a who cares scenario, but losing the literal next generation of players is a much bigger problem

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
I can't see the Liv tour sustaining itself for very long unless they make a concerted effort to differentiate it from the PGA, maybe different format events, maybe some mixed events (I'd watch that in a heartbeat), stuff like that

But from what I've seen this is explicitly what they DONT want to do, because they want to be PGA tour 2.0 instead

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
Jay Haas, the oldest player on the tour at 68, averages 256 yards off the tee, and with respect to Mr. Haas, he doesn't exactly look like a guy that's in training to keep his power.

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
remove all trees that overhang fairways imho. Cracked a drive down the left side OF THE FAIRWAY, somehow it ends up like 30 meters into the bush and I play a fade. As I'm looking for it I notice one of the gum trees is hanging a good few solid meters into the fairway so I assume I hit it on the way down.

On the one hand; don't hit it there. On the other hand, gently caress ooofffffffffffffff

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
I find the data fun to look at and It's adjusted my club selection by about 5 meters, fwiw. I'm interested to do a comparison over time of distance between summer and winter months.

edit; I should add, the data seems to be extremely accurate on lower clubs, to the point where I would say it's almost perfect up to a 7-iron. I can hit a 7-iron at the range and it looks like it's been mirrored onto my phone screen, it's that good. Very rarely it miscalculates one (maybe 1/10) as the wrong shot shape, but that's about it. But, as you get into longer clubs, and especially driver, it starts to fail a lot more - the distance is still pretty accurate afaik (it's hard to tell on a range how far your balls are going exactly) but it gets the shape and launch angle wrong probably 30% of the time.

abigserve fucked around with this message at 02:27 on Jun 6, 2022

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before

Omne posted:


I saw a bit of this today, but the guy next to me was hitting angled shots at the same time so I think my unit was a bit confused

So, today there was no wind, and nobody else on the practice range. I was hitting off a mat with white balls. I moved the unit slightly closer to the ball (basically the ball exactly at 6 feet away) and made sure it was aligned.

The unit picked up 29 hits and out of all of those, which was a mix of all different clubs, it miscalculated one. It was actually insane how accurate it was, even with the driver/woods. I accidentally skied a driver way to the right and it picked it up perfectly.

I think you're right - if there are other people swinging, especially near you, it's possible that it gets confused. I'll do some more testing because the accuracy it showed today makes it an absolutely incredible training tool as opposed to just a fun range diversion.

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
The Liv stuff is transparently a way for players to give the middle finger to the PGA while also pocketing a ton of money from reprehensible sources

It's loving gross

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
When playing in hot conditions make sure you don't take too many practice swings. Swingin the golf club is hard work, and swinging it half (or a third, for some people) as many times as normal will save you a lot of energy over the course of 18 holes!!

abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before
I have a Garmin Fenix smartwatch and if you just want something that can detect your shots and measure them out on the golf course it's fantastic. After every shot you select the club you used (it's smart enough to know roughly what club you would have used so you don't have to scroll through) and it all shows up in the app.

Really cool to combo it with the r10 to compare your average distances.

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abigserve
Sep 13, 2009

this is a better avatar than what I had before

Kirios posted:

Wait until you start using the R10 as a sim. It's gonna blow your mind.

You need a subscription for that yeah?

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