TJB Golf Blog

[TJBam]

Originally Posted by Jeremie Boop

I've been eyeballing a 4 wood for awhile now and just haven't been able to pull the trigger on buying it. It would probably be a good idea to have something else to hit off the tee that can still get 240ish max distance for shorter 4s and possibly a tee and 2nd shot on par 5s.

It has been my go two on most par 5 for my second shot.  It is the TM burner 2.0.  Nice and light and never felt a wood make contact like it does, though my experience is limited.

I was going to get a 5W to compliment my 3W, but I am no consistent enough to see a difference.  My 3W might go 200-240.  a 5W might go 200-225.  So I figured hell I'll grab a 4W and turn it into a 220-240 club.  It has been very consistent and looks good in the bag (my 3H and driver are also burner 2.0).

[Jeremie Boop]

Originally Posted by TJBam

It has been my go two on most par 5 for my second shot.  It is the TM burner 2.0.  Nice and light and never felt a wood make contact like it does, though my experience is limited.

I was going to get a 5W to compliment my 3W, but I am no consistent enough to see a difference.  My 3W might go 200-240.  a 5W might go 200-225.  So I figured hell I'll grab a 4W and turn it into a 220-240 club.  It has been very consistent and looks good in the bag (my 3H and driver are also burner 2.0).

Would you say that sticking with matching clubs /driver/4w/hybrid is more beneficial than mismatched? I have a vrs 2 pro driver on the way and I have been looking at the vrs 4 wood but not sure about the nike hybrids.

[TJBam]

Originally Posted by Jeremie Boop

Would you say that sticking with matching clubs /driver/4w/hybrid is more beneficial than mismatched? I have a vrs 2 pro driver on the way and I have been looking at the vrs 4 wood but not sure about the nike hybrids.

I really like having matching clubs.  It is appealing to my eyes.  Instills confidence.  My driver, 4W, and 3H all lined up make for one big happy family.  They all make the same clink noise, they look the same at address.  I probably won't ever play mixed clubs again.  I do however have a black sheep 4H Bobby Jones that is a piece of shit and I'm ditching it as soon as possible.

[TJBam]

Enjoying the new R-flex Nippon 8950GH shafts for the irons.  With full Lambkin cords.  Haven't made better contact since I started working on the game.  I've dropped off the rest of my clubs to get full cords too.  Shocked at how good the grip is even in high humidity and heat.  When I make good contact I can really feel the kick.  I feel like I am swinging slower with the irons than I used to but getting a higher trajectory at the same distance.  And controlled ball flights (to an extent).

Shot a pretty poor 91 at a course I'd never played before over the weekend.  Should've easily been an 86 which I'd be happy with for a course I'd never played (tricky layout, lots of course management).  The 5 extra strokes were on a par 5 where I took a 10 (yes TEN) because of 3 duffed sand shots followed by a three putt.  It was a very tough batch of sand.  The first stroke didn't get out and fell back down into my footprint (deep because the sand was wet and soft).  Second shot was a layup to more sand to get a better lie.  Next shot barely got out.  Next putt from the fringe rolled all the way down and left me with a long way back up to the pin.  Etc etc.

All in all decent play though.  Looking forward to having matching full cords on all the sticks.

[TJBam]

Making some tremendous improvement with the iron game.

I have started hitting high draws consistently by changing my set up and weight transfer.  I took a tidbit from the S&T; book about keeping most of your weight on your front foot through your swing, helping your head stay a bit in front of the ball.

By placing the ball middle-front of my stance and keeping my weight forward, the irons are making contact much more consistently.  New shafts probably aren't hurting either.

Came close to eagle from the fairway yesterday with a 155yd 7i.  High draw fell into the green just right of the flag and kissed the lip as my partner and I saw the ball moving left, to the cup, then a bit back right.  It must've done nearly a 180 around the lip of the cup.  One of my best shots to date, "pure" as they would say.

Hit a lot of greens yesterday which was nice.  Hit a 5i for the first time in months on a 185yd par 3 and landed middle but rolled to back fringe.  That may seem very minor but it was empowering for me because I made good contact and did it several more times on the range afterwards.  Cheers to me.

Edit: having full cords on all the clubs is awesome.  Makes me feel more consistent.

Edit 2:  Doing the shot-following drill a la Gary Player helped train me to get weight forward at impact.  Even found myself following shots on the course yesterday lol.

[TJBam]

Scribbling down some numbers for future reference:

Driver: 245-255 no roll-out.  Miss is too much fade.  Reliable most of the time.  Ball flight is too high (HT driver R-flex).  Ball is leaving a ball mark in the fairway and stopping in its tracks or running back a foot or two a lot of the time.

4-wood: 220 with roll out.  Plays a little cut. Reliable.  Medium flight.  Very good looking club.

3-hybrid: 200-210.  Miss is a hook.  75% Reliable.

4-hybrid: 185-210.  Most unpredictable club distance wise.  Trajectory is consistent when I make contact most the time.

5i: 175

6i: 165

7i: 155

8i: 145

9i: 140

PW: 130

52*: 120

56*: 90

60*: 85

Miss with all irons is a hook.  Working on not bringing the club too far inside and avoiding an overly inside-outside path which gives me the hook.

[Slice of Life]

Scribbling down some numbers for future reference:

Driver: 245-255 no roll-out.  Miss is too much fade.  Reliable most of the time.  Ball flight is too high (HT driver R-flex).  Ball is leaving a ball mark in the fairway and stopping in its tracks or running back a foot or two a lot of the time.

I have the same issue. Frustrating haha.

[Jeremie Boop]

Sounds like you may be hitting with a slightly descending blow with the driver or loft is too high? I used to have this problem sometimes with my 10.5* lofted driver.

[TJBam]

Sounds like you may be hitting with a slightly descending blow with the driver or loft is too high? I used to have this problem sometimes with my 10.5* lofted driver.

I'm sure that the loft is too much.  I feel like I am "hitting up" on the ball and it is moved forward in my stance.  But my HT (high trajectory) driver is something like 12-13*.  Will need to be getting a new one soon but not just yet.

In the words of a player partner last week: your drives would go so much further if you had a new head on your driver.  And also if you had a new shaft on it.

[Slice of Life]

In the words of a player partner last week: your drives would go so much further if you had a new head on your driver.  And also if you had a new shaft on it.

lol

I couldn't imagine a 12 or 13 degree driver. Mine is 9.5 right now, and I'll occasionally drop it down to 8 degrees and I still get a ton of airtime.

[rkim291968]

lol

I couldn't imagine a 12 or 13 degree driver. Mine is 9.5 right now, and I'll occasionally drop it down to 8 degrees and I still get a ton of airtime.

I once carried 12 degree driver (along with 9.5) to hit tee shots that needed to be very accurate.   It worked to some degree but when I needed a gap wedge, it had to go.

[Slice of Life]

I once carried 12 degree driver (along with 9.5) to hit tee shots that needed to be very accurate.   It worked to some degree but when I needed a gap wedge, it had to go.

I'm just not sure I've ever hit one that high. 10.5 is the highest I can recall. I'm sure the slicability is decreased haha.

[TJBam]

Been shooting in the low 90's and high 80's recently which is a small setback.

Developed an aggressive 40 yard hook with irons.  It was recently corrected by opening up my stance and aiming 15 yards right of target.  Opening the stance seems to reduce the hook to a draw and all power is restored in my universe.

Working the 4 wood like a boss.  Cutting through dog leg rights, drawing with rollout into par 5 greens, averaging about 230 from a flat lie in the fairway.  The 4 wood is workable because I can open or close my stance to target and take a normal swing.  My body seems to only allow an inside-outside swing path when I have a closed stance which promotes a draw.  And an open stance I can hit that outside quadrant of the ball with an open stance forcing an outside-in swing path which promotes the fade.

NEEDS WORK: long irons and 4 wood from below/above feet.  Note to self to look up info on which way the ball "wants to go" depending on decline/incline of ball position.

Drives are stellar - mishits are sky balls that still get 200-220.  Good drives are fading slightly on the tail end and carrying 240 rollout depends on fairway ofc.

[TJBam]

Noticed that I was setting up my irons with the face a bit closed.  Although the setup appeared to be straight and at 90* I learned that it was contributing the pull half of a pull-hook.

By lining up my thumbs with the Lambkin logo, the club appears to be slightly open at address.  This gives me all kinds of weird thoughts.  However, by having the face slightly open at address it has turned a hook into a push-draw (when executed properly).  This is my new primary swing thought.  Weight forward, face slightly open , slow swing that reaches back, swing don't dance.

So in conclusion the club maker is my friend, the grips are not crooked, my face was closed.

[TJBam]

Moved up to the Titleist AP1's with stiff shafts, even though I have been playing regular flex.  The fitter laughed when I said I use regular and said there's no doubt in his head I needed stiff?  Well they work so whatever.

Shot shaping has been going alright.  Contact is fairly consistent.  Major factor keeping me from breaking into the 70's is mental focus throughout the round.  Front 9's seem to always be better than backs.  A +10 round is always favored +3/+7 or +4/+6.

Since convincingly ridding myself of triple digit scores back in May or so, the 90's came and went and now I seem to be stuck in the 80's.  82 is a good score for me but it seems like 82-88 is becoming too frequent.