The TourSpoon Blog

[Hacker James]

10 minutes ago, TourSpoon said:

 

One last note, I have been looking for grip specials and finally stumbled upon the Lamkin site and saw my beloved grey REL ACE grips on sale for $2.99. I ordered 15 in standard .580 which means no build up tape for a slight oversized feel. Score! 

I've been looking for some AVON Jumbo Chamois. Most big box stores do not carry them. I have not tried Golf Smith yet. The Jumbo is a little overkill, as according to Golf Pride fitting chart, I need medium. OTOH, I have arthritic fingers, so I am thinking the Jumbo might be a good option. Also, I have long, bony, fingers.  "work your fingers to the bone, and what do you get?"   Bony Fingers or so goes the song.

[TourSpoon]

We got out today and conditions were tough with a 20 mph wind all day. Despite a few quick swings that only cost me one double, I was able to shoot 79 with 1 birdie. I putted well all day and just hung around, not really doing much in the 2 club wind. I played smart and ended up with another sub 80 round. I am just one or two swings away from where I left off 2 years ago before my surgery. 

[David L Yskes]

Spoon,  so did you get new Irons yet?   or are you still looking?   

[TourSpoon]

On 10/10/2016 at 11:59 PM, David L Yskes said:

Spoon,  so did you get new Irons yet?   or are you still looking?   

Still looking...I am not in a real hurry as I am still in love with my 735s! 

[TourSpoon]

Played another round at the home course and true to form another 40-39 for a 79. Got off to a bogey, double start but pulled it together. A couple of loose shots off the tee on the back and there you go. I lose concentration for a shot or two and that makes the difference. The putter has been consistent and while no birdies, I had no 3 whacks and made the par saves when needed. I am getting very consistent with the alignment line running true to the target with the path inside and down the line. 

Tune up day today, and it comes down to basics. Right when I seem to think I know what I am doing it all comes down to a few basics. 1.  Weight on the balls of my feet. I constantly revert back to my heels which crowds my move. 2. Make a good move the first six inches (handle) going back. I tend to pick up the club early. 3. Tempo, tempo, tempo. Getting quick gets me out of position. From there I am learning to release the club down the line and not pull left and short. Again, the first 3 things contribute to this, but when I get the first three points right I put myself in position to make a good move through the ball. Not horrible, but little things make a big difference. A good drill for me to feel this is to hit 3/4 punch shots feeling the left hand guide the club and the right hand doing its job through the impact zone and beyond.

The most shocking discovery was my right hand grip. I worked the right hand closer to my left and out of my fingers of the middle two fingers and my pincers (index and thumb) where no were close to were they need to be resulting in a week release. I reworked the grip (think the Hogan right hand) and what a difference getting through the ball. How did that even happen? 

From there to the short game, with a tight lie 60 to a short target, shaft vertical, really concentrating on having more right hand setting a hinge and there it was with the grip solid properly engaging the bounce. Next to some driving pitches, again engaging the bounce and not being afraid of turf interaction. In the sand, the key is a fuller swing thinking of a 20 yard swing and thump to hit that 25 foot shot. Splash the sand! 

Overall, a great tune-up and a reminder that the basics need to be monitored and not taken for granted. 

Edited October 16, 2016 by TourSpoon

[TourSpoon]

I installed the new Lamkin REL 3 Gens in grey that I scored last week. The .58s work perfectly and the only club I needed to alter was the driver which has a slightly smaller butt diameter so 2 build-up layers fixed that. What a difference fresh grips make! 

[David L Yskes]

yea, i'd think with as much as you play, new grips should happen once or twice a year..  especially being in florida with the humidity 

So what new irons have you looked at?   are you looking to stick with Titleist?  or go to something different?  also stick with CB?  or a combo cb/mb ?     

[TourSpoon]

5 hours ago, David L Yskes said:

yea, i'd think with as much as you play, new grips should happen once or twice a year..  especially being in florida with the humidity 

So what new irons have you looked at?   are you looking to stick with Titleist?  or go to something different?  also stick with CB?  or a combo cb/mb ?     

I have looked quite a few of the "players" type cavity backs and combos. I looked at Cally Apex, Mizzy, Srixon and Titleist. I will probably stick with the 735s for now until I can actually demo some on turf on a range or during a round. I do have new life with the Lamkins so they are solid.

[TourSpoon]

Last week we played in the wind and I had a case of the snappers. Shot an 83 with 24 putts (small greens). I was in trouble off the tee all day and the wind didn't help. Hit a few really good shots but trouble found me. 

Yesterday's range session went well. I picked a course where the range was into a 17 mph steady wind. I was hitting it solid. An old timer was chipping right handed and we struck up a conversation. This guy was in his 70s, and I followed suit hitting one handed then two handed chips. He showed me a great drill! When I went back to the range, I was hitting 6 iron punch shots. He drove his cart up and had me hit one shot. He liked the move and told me to keep my left cheek steady through impact as he said I was peeking and I had a slight draw. The next shot I hit pure and on a line. He told me he used to play the mini-tours back in the day. You never know who you will meet on the course. 

Today's conditions were windy, a steady 20 mph. I kept the cheek tip in mind. I started with a penalty on the first after crushing a drive and had a three putt on the next hole. Then it started, birdie, birdie (drove into a bunker on a short par 4 and picked a 40 yard wedge to 10 feet), 3 more pars, and another birdie to make the turn one under hitting 8 greens. The second nine played more cross wind and I bogeyed the first and then hit a stellar punch 6 iron (the only hole playing into the wind on the back) and birdied. I fought the rest of the round with the cross winds, and finished double, bogey for a 77. Not the finish I wanted but certainly a good day considering the conditions with 2 penalties strokes and 4 birdies. My handicap is back down to a solid 5 based on the rounds this year so I am happy to be playing this well after a 2 year layoff! 

[TourSpoon]

i have to hand it to Footjoy for excellent customer service. I had some issues with some older pairs that I kept in mint condition and they assessed them and gave me an unexpected credit so I could get a custom pair of Bomber/Brown Snake! I have to get busy, I am down to 4 pairs now! 

 

[David L Yskes]

so what issues did you have with your shoes?   i've wanted to get a pair of actual golf shoes.... lol  but my feet are so picky when it comes to shoes... that i stick with " softball turfs " that have soft spikes on them..  they are comfy AF!!!  

[TourSpoon]

1 hour ago, David L Yskes said:

so what issues did you have with your shoes?   i've wanted to get a pair of actual golf shoes.... lol  but my feet are so picky when it comes to shoes... that i stick with " softball turfs " that have soft spikes on them..  they are comfy AF!!!  

The only issues I had were with the plastic bottoms where the spikes are encased had been compromised though age. The shoes they gave me credit for were immaculate except that the spike receptacles had cracked and came out in the balls of your feet area. One pair was 10 years old, but they decided to reward me for customer loyalty after I sent them pictures of the 6 pairs I owned. 

[David L Yskes]

nice!!!   that is good CS and getting a good hook up!   so do you have a pair in size 10wide.???   lol 

[TourSpoon]

So it's time to revive this thread. After a layoff due to a detached retina and some life getting in the way of golf, I picked up the sticks a few months ago to get back to the game I love. I started earlier this year just to get into the groove when Covid shut it all down so I had to restart 6 weeks ago.  I am getting serious about my commitment so let's get this going! 

For those of you joining on page 12, I started this thread 10 years ago and chronicled my path to getting back down to 4.5 index being a weekend warrior. It was my way of capturing the lessons I learned and the golf I played.  Stay tuned (or not) and I will chronicle the next chapter from equipment, practice, rounds and general golf thoughts. Let's Go! 

[TourSpoon]

So let's get right to it. I have probably played 10 rounds this year since the "comeback". Now lets just say there has been some good, some bad, but not too much ugly. The worst score was an 88 and last month on a trip to Orange National I posted between 80 and 86 for six rounds averaging one birdie per round (fill in the blanks with doubles and maybe a trip or two). Since the trip I have seen my old coach and shot some video and most of my issues start right at set-up. Its the simple things that if neglected can do you in before you even finish your backswing. A little work pays off along with a lot of short game practice. 

Yesterday was a bit of a break through with a solid 77 based on some great tempo (keeping everything in sync) and keeping my head together. After a double by hitting a bomb into the lone palm tree in the middle of the fairway, I went on a string of pars and on the par 5 9th hit driver-hybrid to the fringe only to 3 putt par and a 40.  I laugh it off and on 10 hit 9 iron to 3 feet for birdie. I keep my head with pars and a few bogeys and then on the par 5 18th hit a lob wedge to 4 feet to make another birdie and close the back with 37 (77). Solid performance from 6500 yards and felt very encouraged as I was using new irons and wedges. 

So let's talk about the new line-up in clubs. I was playing the Titleist 735 cms (cavity/blade combo) with the DGS300s since 2007 along with some custom Vokey SM4 TVD 54/60M wedges. The key of this set-up is that I bent the irons weak so that I could play 48-54-60. The 60 was becoming a problem child so I rethought my wedges after a friend gave me a new 50 degree SM6 and it got me thinking about 46-50-54-60. I did a Titleist wedge fitting and found that the 58/10 was more my speed (so much better from all lies and bunker) so I got a SM7 demo club hardly used for a song and rethought the set-up. In the meantime, I pulled the trigger on some 718 AP2s that have the AMT white S300s in them 4-pw. The AMTs are the same profile as the DGs they just get progressively lighter as they go into the lower irons which make them a little easier to launch. Since I hit them half a club longer it was easy to ditch the 3 iron and add the 50 in there as a gapper. I ended up horse trading some items and got the closeout SM7s in 50/8, 54/10 to complement the 58/10 all in S200s. So far the irons and wedges are a solid set-up while the predictability of the DG family. 

Now the Razr Fit TA set at 9.5 is solid but its so 2013. The numbers I post are 240 carry but a little high. So my fitter friend sets up a few clubs for me and I really like the Cobra closeout F9.  I just ordered it in the adjustable 9 degree variety with an PX Even Flow white 6.0 (I couldn't demo the F9 with the shaft I wanted because of Covid lack of inventory but the shaft was insane with a different head). My Octane Tour 3 wood is still a solid 225 carry and the Idea Pro fills in reliably between the 3 wood and the 4 iron for great spacing. I really need to wait until the F9 comes in and I work it out before I go any further. Lastly, there is the Scotty Cameron and its not going anywhere! Stay tuned! 

[iacas]

Actually, if you wouldn't mind @TourSpoon…

https://thesandtrap.com/blogs/

Start one there. Your first post should link to this topic so others can find it, but the "blogs" are more set up to be "blogs" than a forum topic.

[TourSpoon]

Thanks @iacas

I have officially moved to the blog section to start the next chapter of ramblings. This thread had a good run!