Tag: scor

WITB – June 2017

My very first WITB post was written in September of 2015 before I left for the WAGT National Championship in Pennsylvania. Since then a lot has changed. In fact, nothing from that bag remains in play for me today, including the bag itself! All fourteen clubs have changed, I got a new staff bag from the WAGT and I’ve even switched golf balls.

I love to tinker with equipment, but being a low handicap golfer with a self-taught swing means that in order to play my best I need custom fit clubs. This makes testing new clubs a bit of a challenge. Variations in a shaft’s weight, kickpoint and flex can send shots way offline if not fit properly. I’ve worked hard with my amazing club builder to get every club in my bag set up perfectly for my game, and I can’t tell you how important it is for your game to have your clubs properly tuned and fitted by a competent club fitter.

Now – Let’s dive into my golf bag(s) and talk about my clubs, and how they’re set up as well as my favorite gadgets and gizmos that help me play golf.

My Golf Bags, Accessories & Favorite Gadgets

While I would prefer to walk, I play golf using a motorized cart most of the time since it is mandatory at many Florida golf courses, and most of my golf buddies are too lazy to walk with me at the courses that allow it. For that reason, I alternate between a custom 10.5″ Burton USA staff bag I got when I qualified to represent Team USA at the World Amateur Golfer’s Championship in 2015 and a new Sun Mountain 4.5 LS carry bag.

I’ve only had the Sun Mountain 4.5 LS carry bag for a few months, but I’m a big fan of the innovative design and efficient use of space. It’s the heaviest of Sun Mountain’s carry options, but also adapts well to life on a golf cart and holds everything I need to bring with me with ease. My Burton “Team USA” staff bag is huge and heavy, but I can pack it with everything I’ll need for tournament golf like some snacks, 32oz sports drinks, extra towels, rain gear and more. Despite the large size, I can shoehorn it nicely into my Club Glove Last Bag travel case and go anywhere in the world with it easily. So far I’ve logged over 20,000 miles of international travel on in without incident.

I like to have as much information as possible when playing, so I frequently combine the use of a GPS distance device with a laser rangefinder to get accurate yardage information and help plotting my way around the course. To that end, my distance measuring devices of choice are the SkyCaddie TOUCH and the Leupold GX-5i³ laser rangefinder. Both devices are one of the best available in each category, and function flawlessly. Adding Frogger Golf’s Latch-It rangefinder strap makes using the rangefinder that much easier, and the Latch-It ecosystem is my favorite new golf gadget in years. While I haven’t posted a round with it in a while, GAME GOLF is still a fun and easy way to track stats and help you improve. Since most of my clubs have changed, I plan to start using GAME GOLF again this summer to see how the newer clubs perform compared to the older ones.

Driver – Ping G LS-TEC 9°

Ping gave us one of the best drivers in the game a few years ago when they introduced the G30 and G30 LS-TEC drivers. I was fortunate to see amazing accuracy gains of 30% with it while still getting more distance over my old driver. Also fortunate for me, Ping later introduced the G LS-TEC driver that I now use. It is fitted with the Ping Tour 80 shaft in X-Flex, which is a custom option. They updated the head and made it sound a little different, but I haven’t gotten enough data to know if it’s really longer and straighter as they claim. Either way, I hit it great and recommend it for anyone that wants the best blend of distance with accuracy and forgiveness.

Fairway Woods – Tour Edge Exotics EX10 Beta

My recent struggle to find the perfect three-wood has been well documented, but when Tour Edge came out with the Exotics CB Pro f2 last year thought I had found my new fairway howitzer. It is a very high performance, versatile three wood that averages almost 260 yards and I couldn’t be happier with it. But – Tour Edge being one of the leading golf club companies when it comes to technology, they took some of the best design features from previous fairway wood designs and combined them using new a manufacturing process and created the Exotics EX10 and EX10 beta fairways. I immediately ordered the EX10 beta in 13 degrees with the new Project X HZRDUS Black shaft. I had my club fitter tweak it to my specs with a spine-alignment and swing weight adjustment, re-gripped it with my preferred Golf Pride MCC Plus4 grips and it is now ready for prime time. It’s very new and I’ve only played 18 holes with it so far, but the results have been impressive and I’ve already hit some tee shots with it to places I’ve never seen before. I can’t wait to try it out on the launch monitor.

Hybrids/Long Irons – Srixon Z H45 & U45

I got my Srixon Z H45 hybrid and Z U45 utility irons back in 2015 and from the first ball I knew I had something special in my hands. Even though it is marked with a number two, the Z H45 hybrid has 16 degrees of loft which makes it more of a one iron. As a result, it hits low, piercing bullets which makes it great for use off the tee, but not very versatile for approach shots. Depending on the course, this club may be swapped for a 50 degree gap wedge. It is fitted with an amazingly consistent Aerotech hls880 hybrid shaft.

I have two Srixon Z U45 long irons in the bag – The 20º and 23º models, which are my three iron and four iron. I absolutely love hitting these clubs. Forget about traditional long irons, these utilities are amazingly easy to hit while being more versatile and just as forgiving as a hybrid. My only regret is not replacing my old long irons with utilities like these much sooner.

Irons – Srixon Z745 (5-PW)

My irons are the 2015 model year Srixon Z745 cavity back forged irons. They replaced my Cleveland CG16 Tour Concept irons from 2010. The Srixon irons have a little less offset than the Cleveland irons which took a wee bit of adjustment for me, but I adapted to the new clubs quickly. I’ve been playing Aerotech Steelfiber shafts in my irons for over 5 years and I saw no reason to change with these clubs. I fitted them with the Steelfiber i110 constant weight shafts. There’s nothing like the feel you get from a forged iron with a graphite shaft, and with Aerotech you get that awesome graphite feel with the consistency and control of steel. I keep saying it over and over, but Aerotech really does make the best shafts in golf.

Wedges – Hopkins CJ1 (54 & 60)

When Greg Hopkins left Cleveland Golf in 2012, took one of Cleveland’s lead designers with him and formed Hopkins Golf, I became an instant fan. What Hopkins was doing essentially was selling a Cleveland look-alike wedge cast from soft 8620 steel direct to the customer that you could customize with various grind options and plenty of paint fill and stamping choices. I got a raw lob wedge with the channel grind and fell in love instantly. Sadly, Hopkins Golf seems to have shut down operations since mid 2016, so I took to the interwebs to find some and discovered a website that had the discontinued wedges I wanted in stock, so I ordered two for $60 each.

The other change I made in my wedges was going to a softer shaft. After consulting with my club fitter, we decided it would be best for me to switch from a Dynamic Gold X100 to the softer S400 that is so popular on tour. After a half-dozen rounds with the new wedges I’m glad I did and a little peeved that I didn’t so it years ago. At least now I have a three-wedge setup that works well for most situations. I still swap the 2 hybrid or 3 iron out for a SCOR 50º gap wedge on occasion if the course demands it, and will be replacing the SCOR 50º with a Hopkins 50º soon for a matching set.

Putter – Scotty Cameron Select Newport 2 Notchback Dual Balance

The most important club in my bag is the putter. It is also the club I struggle with the most, and as a result it becomes the club that changes most often. I have a bad habit of changing putters whenever I have a bad day on the greens, and these frequent putter changes only compound the problem by hurting consistency. I suppose that’s one of the drawbacks of being a golf blogger and having a couple dozen putters in the garage, all fighting for my attention.

When I really think about it, I’m being unnecessarily hard on myself because my putting statistics are very good compared to other players of my ability, but that’s the point – I’m trying to improve, not be average. Using a tool like GAME GOLF has shown me that I need to make more putts in the 5-15 foot scoring range. I think just sticking with one putter will help, so that’s my goal.

GAME GOLF Putting Stats

The putter I’ll be sticking with is a good one, even if the name is way too long and complicated – In my bag is the Scotty Cameron Select Newport 2 Notchback Dual Balance. It is like the standard Newport 2 Notchback but measures 38 inches long, has a 50 gram back-weight in the handle and features a larger head with an additional 50 grams of weight – hence the name Dual Balance. The idea with all the extra weight is to help slow down your stroke and eliminate the small muscles that tend to sabotage putting strokes. I love the heft and balance of this putter and if it’s a Scotty you know it rolls the ball well. My only gripe with Scotty Cameron is that they tend to have more loft (3.5º) than I like in a putter.

The Golf Ball

Last but certainly not least, since our last WITB post I have a new golf ball. In 2000 Titleist introduced the legendary Pro V1 golf ball and killed my beloved Titleist Tour Prestige and Tour Professional, effectively ending the wound golf ball era. In the coming years I struggled mightily adjusting to the new solid core golf balls. Eventually I found the Srixon Z-UR balls in 2005 and most recently played with the Srixon Z-Star & Z-Star XV until early 2016.

In early 2016 at the PGA Show in Orlando I met with the folks from Bridgestone to talk about their new B330 line and came away impressed. After a few rounds of testing the new B330, I switched. I ordered a case of the B330 balls with my logo, and an additional ten dozen without a logo so I’m set with enough golf balls to last me several years. The B33o is very similar to the Z-Star XV I used to play, but spins a bit more around the greens and flies a bit straighter in the wind. It’s very durable for a “tour” ball and I’ve been very happy with it so far.

June 13, 2017
WITB – November 2015

Back in September I posted my first “What’s In The Bag” segment that detailed the clubs I play with. WITB posts are pretty popular on other sites when they post pictures of PGA Tour players and their preferred equipment. It’s always interesting to see what the best players in the world play with, and the market for “tour van” or hard to find equipment – especially putters – is huge. Forget that most people couldn’t possibly hit the clubs that tour players use, they still want them for the exclusivity and cool factor. I’ll admit, I’m one of those people that love being unique and having things that nobody else has.

It’s for good reason that people are curious about the golf bags of PGA Tour players, but not many people care about what a lowly golf blogger plays with. It’s a shame too, because I think my fellow bloggers and golf media people are in a much better position to help others when it comes to getting the right equipment.

While the average touring pro is well paid to endorse a company’s golf clubs, golf writers and bloggers aren’t. That’s not to say we don’t get our share of sweetheart deals or eek out a tiny profit from online affiliate sales, but nobody I know that runs a golf blog is making much more than enough to keep the site going and pay for the occasional round of golf.

Golf writers and bloggers do however have access to and get to play with a ton of different clubs, and the ones that go in our golf bags as “gamers” have cut through the marketing hype and passed the test. Just like my buddy Tony from hookedongolfblog.com, in my golf bag on any given weekend sits a who’s who of golf manufacturers you may or may not have heard of. If we’re playing them, you can be pretty confident that they are a good buy.

Since the end of September all but 3 of the clubs in my bag have changed. No less than 6 different golf equipment companies are represented in my bag.

What’s in the bag?

Driver: Ping G30 LS-TEC (9° w/ Ping Tour 80x)
Fairway: Tour Edge Exotics E8 Tour (14° w/ Mitsubishi Rayon Diamana S+ 70x)
Hybrid: Srixon Z H45 (16° w/ Aerotech hls880 x-flex)
Utility Irons: Srixon Z U45 (20° & 23° w/ Aerotech Steelfiber i110cw x-flex)
Irons: Srixon Z745 5-PW (w/ Aerotech Steelfiber i110cw x-flex)
Wedges: Ben Hogan TK15 50° & 54° (w/ KBS Tour-V 120X)
Lob Wedge: Hopkins Golf CJ-1 60° (Custom channel grind w/ Dynamic Gold X-100)
Putter: Cure RX3F Putter
Ball: Srixon Z-Star XV

What’s New?

The clubs that didn’t change? My Tour Edge Exotics E8 Tour three wood, which gets a fresh new grip, my trusty Hopkins Golf CJ-1 60° wedge and the ugly-duckling-but-impossible-to-mis-hit Cure RX3F putter.

The biggest changes are the replacement of my aging Cleveland CG16 Tour Concept irons with the fantastic new Srixon Z745 irons. These irons are currently in play by most of Cleveland/Srixon’s tour staff including Graeme McDowell, Keegan Bradley, Russell Knox and many others. I also replaced the 3 and 4 irons with the Srixon ZU45 utility clubs which are much easier to hit, and the old Cleveland hybrid is replaced by a new Srixon ZH45 hybrid. All the new clubs get Aerotech Steelfiber shafts. The Srixon irons and utilities are made of forged 1020 steel and look as good as they perform.

I changed drivers this month also. I switched out the Ping G30 driver for the Ping G30 LS-TEC. There’s not much difference between the two as they look identical, but the LS-TEC spins a little less according to Ping.

I also have some new wedges in the bag. Gone (but not forgotten) are the SCOR 50° and 54° wedges I was so fond of. Fortunately they’ve been upgraded to Ben Hogan TK15 wedges. For those who aren’t familiar with SCOR and Ben Hogan, they are run by the same brilliant golf mind – Terry Koehler. SCOR Golf became Ben Hogan when he resurrected the iconic Ben Hogan brand from the ashes of golf equipment history. His amazing v-sole wedges live on in the Ban Hogan brand however. The new TK15 wedges perform the same as the older SCOR wedges and look fantastic in the new Hogan design. They are also a perfect match for the Hogan Fort Worth 15 irons, which players can customize to their liking. The Ben Hogan TK15 wedges are available from 48° to 63° and every loft in between. The HoganFit fitting process is designed to customize a set of wedges that will compliment your current irons and offer consistent distance gaps to help you score better inside 125 yards, where almost 65% of shots are taken.

Finally, new in my golf bag this month is the golf bag itself! My special WAGT “Team USA” golf bag recently arrived from Burton and it looks fantastic. The amazing Last Bag travel bag I got from Club Glove is going to be protecting my clubs while traveling. I’m one of the few fortunate souls to be proudly representing the US in the World Amateur Golfers Championship in December in Antalya, Turkey.

Antalya is one of the ten most frequented tourist destinations in the world, and is in the southwestern part of Turkey in a region called the Turkish Riviera. We’ll be at the all-inclusive Gloria Golf Resort competing over 54 holes in a team format with 40 other countries. I’ll be posting photos and updates on the event when we get there!

November 17, 2015
WITB – September 2015

As a golf blogger, I get to handle many different golf clubs and try many products over the course of a year. As a result, I always get asked about what’s in my bag. Most amateur golfers like me aren’t sponsored by club companies, so our bags tend to be a mix of clubs from different manufacturers.

While I have had opportunities to officially endorse products in the past, doing so might violate the rules of amateur status as outlined by the USGA in rule 6.2, and that would be a no-no since I sometimes compete in FSGA and USGA events. Therefore, I must disclose that none of the companies shown here paid me to represent their brands.

After years of testing hundreds of drivers, fairways, hybrids, irons, wedges, putters and assorted golf gadgets, these are the ones that have found a place in my bag as “gamers.” I’m always tinkering with and testing new clubs, but my gamers remain pretty consistent. The only part of my bag that changes constantly is the putter, because I’m a mess on the putting green and always looking for the BBD – bigger better deal.

What’s In The Bag?

Driver: Ping G30 (9° w/ Ping Tour 80x)
Fairway: Tour Edge Exotics E8 Tour (14° w/ Mitsubishi Rayon Diamana S+ 70x)
Hybrid: Cleveland Launcher DST (18° w/ Miyazaki C.Kua 83x)
Irons: Cleveland CG16 Tour Concept 3-PW (w/ Aerotech Steelfiber i95cw x-flex)
Wedges: SCOR Golf 50° & 54° (w/ True Temper Dynamic Gold X100)
Lob Wedge: Hopkins Golf CJ-1 60° (Custom channel grind w/ Dynamic Gold X-100)
Putter: Cure RX3F Putter
Ball: Srixon Z-Star XV

My current setup has been in place for over a year, except the 3-wood and putter. I recently started testing the Cure RX3F putter and after some work on the putting green and one round of golf, I decided to bring it to the WAGT National Championship at Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort. The Cure putter will be featured in a review article soon. The Exotics E8 Tour replaced my trusty old Adams RPM LP back in May. After years of searching, I finally found a fairway wood that out performed the Adams. You may notice I listed 15 clubs. That’s because I usually swap the 3-iron for the 50° gap wedge depending on the course setup where I am playing.

Coming Soon…

I’m long overdue for a new set of irons. The CG16 Tour Concept irons that came from Cleveland’s Tour Van have been awesome, but they are almost five years old and ready to be demoted to a backup role. The Aerotech Steelfiber i95cw shafts are amazing. I’ve said it for years – I think they are the best iron shafts you can get, and their popularity on the professional tours all around the world backs up that claim.

I’m currently testing the Srixon Z745 irons, Z U45 3 & 4 Utilities and a Z H45 2 Hybrid. The Z745 irons are a forged cavity back club that looks sharp and performs similar to my CG16s. The clubs I’m really excited about are the Z U45 3-iron and 4-iron. They are called utilities because they have the looks and workability of an iron with the forgiveness of a hybrid. I love hitting long irons, and these things make it even easier to hit them. The Z H45 16° hybrid will fill the distance gap nicely between the 3-iron and 3-wood. I was looking for 5-10 more yards out of my hybrid and this guy will do the trick nicely. I have a strong feeling that this fantastic 2-PW set will soon be my gamers.

Ping’s awesome G30 driver has been in my bag since last fall, but I’ve started experimenting with the G30 LS-TEC driver which is the same as the regular G30 but spins slightly less. According to Ping, 400 rpm less. Combining the LS-TEC with my switch from the softer, higher-spin Srixon Z-Star back to the lower spin and firmer feeling Z-Star XV, I should see a measurable decrease in spin off the tee which means more distance.

The SCOR wedges I got a few years ago have been stalwarts in my bag ever since I first hit them. I started with SCOR’s complete short game system: 42°, 46°, 50°, 54° & 58°. Going from the 42 and up, they replace your traditional 9, PW, GW, SW & LW. SCOR wedges are forged and their unique v-sole design works amazingly well in all conditions. However, they have taken a real beating from heavy use and need to be replaced. Enter Ben Hogan Golf. SCOR’s founder Terry Koehler acquired the rights to Ben Hogan golf equipment and re-launched the brand with his already proven TK15 Wedges and the new Fort Worth 15 irons. The result is a gorgeous set of forged blades and wedges that perform on par with any of the best irons in golf. They are also much more forgiving and easy to hit than you might think for a blade. The TK15 wedges will soon be replacing the aging SCOR wedges in my bag.

I love my Hopkins 60° custom grind wedge. The Channel Grind basically gives me two wedges. With the face square it has very low bounce, making it perfect for fairway shots and tight lies. With the face open it has high bounce for deep rough and sand. This wedge has made me look like a much better bunker player than I am, so it’ll be very hard to replace it. The new Callaway Mac Daddy PM Grind wedge might just do that, however. Designed with heavy input from Phil Mickelson, this wedge has grooves all the way to the edges of the face and a very high toe to help with shots from the deep rough, along with a similar channel-type grind on the sole. My early testing so far has been very promising.

I’ll try to post another WITB early next year so we can see what’s changed and if my predictions for new gamers comes true. Until then, keep it in the short grass!

October 1, 2015
5 Trends To Watch In 2015
A new year is upon us, and in the golf world that means one thing – The annual PGA Merchandise Show is right around the corner. Held in Orlando, Florida every year, the show brings together thousands of golf industry insiders, manufacturers, professionals and buyers to share ideas, display new technology and conduct business. The state of the golf industry as a whole is usually a hot topic at the show, and this year will be no exception. Here are a few things we’ll be keeping an eye on for 2015.
- Performance Analysis and Game-Tracking Technology – It started a few years ago but now this new segment of the golf market has taken off. Advancements in GPS, accelerometers, bluetooth and smart phone technology has allowed developers to bring dozens of new game tracking devices to market. One of the best I’ve used is GAME GOLF. Using sensors on each club and GPS to track your location, this little device gives you all kinds of stats about your game and helps identify points of weakness. It also has a cool social media angle to it that allows you to share your results with friends. Another is Arccos Golf, which uses bluetooth sensors on the clubs to give you real-time information about your swing. Expect more advancements and new products in this category for 2015.
- The Death of Anchored Putters – As the 2016 ban on anchored putting approaches, professional golfers all over the world will have to abandon the long putter. More specifically, they’ll have to abandon the anchored putting method many of them have used for years. Some may switch to a conventional putter, others may try the arm-lock method Matt Kuchar made famous, and still more may move to counter-balanced putters, which were born out of the anchoring ban. You can expect to see products that allow you to convert conventional putters to arm-lock models and more counter-balanced options. As an opponent of the anchoring ban, I think many recreational golfers will simply ignore the rule and continue to play golf with their long putters rather than deal with back issues and yipped putts.
- How to Grow Golf – In years past we’ve seen various industry initiatives come about that proposed changes to the game to increase participation and keep players interested in golf. A couple of years ago the PGA of America announced Golf 2.0. They paraded Jack Nicklaus out to be their spokesman and talked about programs like “Get Golf Ready” and “Play Golf America”, but consumers weren’t listening. Last year we saw a rebranding of Golf 2.0 called Hack Golf. Led by Taylor Made Golf CEO Mark King, they threw out ideas to grow golf and increase participation. A year later, these initiatives have mostly failed to attract new players to the game, but they did spawn a couple of abominations like Foot Golf (Imagine slipping on some knickers, which are mandatory to wear for tournaments and kicking a soccer ball around a golf course) and WhipGolf, which has players throw the ball around the course with some sort of apparatus on your arm. While some suggestions the group had were interesting, (like mixing things up occasionally with 8 to 15-inch cups instead of the standard 4 1/4″ hole size) most of their ideas never had a chance. More importantly, the Hack Golf movement lost their champion. Mark King left Taylor Made Golf in the wake of massive layoffs and restructuring to become the head of adidas North America, and basically left Hack Golf adrift in a vast ocean of apathy. Personally, I don’t think anything is wrong with golf, and it doesn’t need to grow. The ongoing contraction in the sales of equipment, number of courses and people playing the game makes sense, given the unsustainable growth golf experienced in the last 20 years and guerilla marketing employed by golf companies to sell drivers.
- Decline of Golf Media – There’s no stopping the media juggernaut these days. We live in the age of social media, 24/7 cable “infotainment” and TMZ. In my opinion the influence of modern media has had a very negative impact on golf. I’ve spoken about this subject before, and I don’t see things getting better very soon. Traditional golf publications like Golf Magazine, Golf Digest and Golf Channel have lost their way in search of eyeballs and page views to drive advertising revenue and stay profitable. These outlets seem to have eschewed golf instruction and real journalism for paid advertorials and “fitness” articles showcasing ladies in tight yoga pants. Perhaps they forgot that women play golf too, and they don’t care to see women objectified all over their pages and social media channels? I’ve ended my subscriptions to Golf Magazine and Golf Digest, and can barely watch the Golf Channel since NBC Universal took over. Maybe one day they’ll figure out that golf instruction shows don’t need to feature a woman making swings in a shirt that is a couple sizes too small for her. And don’t even get me started on the Back9Network – the TLC of golf programming. Sadly, this “Sex sells, and when all else fails, talk about Tiger” approach will probably continue in 2015. Even some golf bloggers aren’t immune to this overload of sex in golf in search of web traffic. Thankfully, Golfweek is still around and actually still covers golf.
- New Equipment – 2015 promises every golfer at least two things when it comes to equipment. More distance!! More Accuracy!! Ok, now that we got the message from the marketing department of every single golf manufacturer, we can focus on the real news. If you bought your current driver in the last 2 years, that shiny new Taylor Made R15, Callaway Big Bertha Alpha, Titleist 915D2 or Ping G30 driver probably won’t give you more distance or accuracy. Sorry to burst your bubble, but hey – I just saved you $400! Actually, I just got the Ping G30 and think it’s the best driver I’ve hit in years, but that’s a story for another day. There will be the usual assortment of new drivers, woods, irons and wedges in 2015, but what I’m really looking forward to is the rebirth of the Ben Hogan Golf Company led by the very capable guidance of Terry Koehler and the new company from GoDaddy founder Jim Parsons, called Parsons Extreme Golf. Mr Koehler is the brain behind the most versatile and best performing wedges I’ve ever owned, and he’s bringing his considerable talents to the Ben Hogan Company to resurrect this great brand. I don’t have any idea about how much Jim Parsons knows about golf, but I know he’s a marketing genius and is no stranger to the “sex sells” approach with his over the top GoDaddy.com Super Bowl commercials, so we’ll wait and see what his new ultra-premium golf clubs look like with great anticipation. I hope they live up to the hype, but given my history in golf over the last 25 years I’m not holding my breath.
January 12, 2015