labrat's bag updated for 2018

[LabRat2]

Updated for 2018 - Tour issue 3 wood plus new wedges and putter

irons from Callaway preowned and the tour issue Taylor made woods picked up from a trusted source

Special edition Tour bag from Callaway

Here is the new set up

 

Driver- 10.5(Tour issue) R15 430cc Fujikura 757x evolution tour spec

Fairway- Taylor Made Aeroburner yardbirds 15 Diamana D+80x

Fairway- Titleist 915F 19deg (C1) Diamana D+ 80x

2 Iron- Callaway X forged KBS tourV 1 deg up

4 iron - Callaway Apex UT AdilaRIP Alpha 105x hyb

Irons 5-7 Callaway Apex pro with KBS TourV (+0.5 inch) 2 deg up

Irons 8-Pw Callaway Apex MB steelfiber 110cw (+0.5 inch) 1 deg up

Wedges- Callaway MD forged 52, 5 & 60 (0.75 inch) DGX100 onyx

Putter- Odyssey metal X-milled versa 9HT (35 inch)

 

 

[Forged4ever]

LR, very nice bag!!

Yea, with the internet, you can put a great bag together without dropping the coin that new equipment would cost, and just like yours, it looks great and in many cases was not played that much.

How do you like the Tank?

I used the #7 a few years ago when I got wristy and I was lookin for a heavier, face balanced putter. I added some wight to it and it was a smooth putter.

Well, I hope that you have a great season!!

Fairways & Greens My Friend,
Richard

[calc61]

Great looking bag!!

[LabRat2]

[quote name='Forged4ever' timestamp='1401481068' post='9398267']
LR, very nice bag!!

Yea, with the internet, you can put a great bag together without dropping the coin that new equipment would cost, and just like yours, it looks great and in many cases was not played that much.

How do you like the Tank?

I used the #7 a few years ago when I got wristy and I was lookin for a heavier, face balanced putter. I added some wight to it and it was a smooth putter.

Well, I hope that you have a great season!!

Fairways & Greens My Friend,
Richard
[/quote]

There are a number of good reasons for using Callaway preowned and sites like it:[list]
[*]Guaranteed genuine clubs (burnt in the past on ebay!)
[*]I like to stay a year or two behind the current "premium price") models, as (in my opinion) there really is not that much difference in playability
[*]Excellent customer service.
[*]Not that many places in Ireland carry x stiff shafts
[*]Having been a 5 hcp or less for over 30 years I know roughly what will work (without being "fit")
[/list]
I do wish, however, that they would show you an image of the actual club. I tend to stick with "outlet" and "Like new" purchases as I have to pay for international shipping and cannot afford to be sending clubs back too often. If I could see the club and determine if the scratchs/scuffs bothered me then I might be more inclined to take a gamble on an "average" club.
I also received excellent after sales care from Taylor made prewowned after the purchase of my RBZ tour fairway and although there are numerous threads on Callaway preowned, there seem to be very few on Taylor made preowned, except a few on receiving ARP heads, do many people use them?

As regards the Tank #7, in summary I am still not sure about it Richard.
I had used an old Dual force Rossie II for over 10 years with some success but decided to upgrade to a "white hot" Rossie a couple of years back as the old one had gotten a bit beaten up over the years with no cover. I could not get the ball in the hole with the new putter and moved onto a protype 2 (I had putted will with an A Blade and an Anser in the past) to see if the change in style/feel would help- but it didn't!
The Tank #7 is my last gasp attempt to find something in the modern game that will allow me to putt the way that I used to and it is not looking great. I am not having much success from middle distance, lag putts are proving problematic and I have had to go left hand low (for the 1st time in 36 years of playing golf) to get solid on 6 footers and shorter.
I will give the Tank #7 the rest of the season but I might be looking for suggestions for a Left eye dominant, straight back straight through stroke in one last vain attempt to hole more putts.

[LabRat2]

[quote name='calc61' timestamp='1401498179' post='9399801']
Great looking bag!!
[/quote]

Thanks.

Its just a solid bag made up of clubs that have been acquired over the years and that work for me (at the moment!)
Nothing super exciting in there at the moment, however, I did once manage to pick up a "Tour stamped" 9.5 deg FT Tour with a whiteboard for less than $150 on CPO.
CPO have no "vault", as far as I am aware and it would appear if you order something exotic enough, there is at least a chance it might have been handed back by staff members that took the club for testing and did not like it.

Has anybody else out there picked up anything from CPO with PT or TC serials by chance??

[LabRat2]

Bag freshened up slightly for 2015 with a couple more Callaway pre-owned purchases (see 1st post with strike through old clubs)

[Architect]

Is the X2hot 2deep a better fit for you than the Razr Fit TA? The Razr Fit must be more forgiving, no?

[LabRat2]

[quote name='Architect' timestamp='1422584442' post='10845783']
Is the X2hot 2deep a better fit for you than the Razr Fit TA? The Razr Fit must be more forgiving, no?
[/quote]
I think under normal circumstances you may be right but I was struggling with hitting the middle of the face of the Razr fit (smash factor only 1.42 and launch angle too low).
I also have a swing flaw that I am trying to work through at the moment, which means that for me, more loft seems to improve my driving.
Hopefully I can return to a lower lofted driver once I have worked on my game sufficiently.

[staysober for golf]

Love the BaG!

[Architect]

[quote name='LabRat2' timestamp='1422616061' post='10847291']
[quote name='Architect' timestamp='1422584442' post='10845783']
Is the X2hot 2deep a better fit for you than the Razr Fit TA? The Razr Fit must be more forgiving, no?
[/quote]
I think under normal circumstances you may be right but I was struggling with hitting the middle of the face of the Razr fit (smash factor only 1.42 and launch angle too low).
I also have a swing flaw that I am trying to work through at the moment, which means that for me, more loft seems to improve my driving.
Hopefully I can return to a lower lofted driver once I have worked on my game sufficiently.
[/quote]

Best of luck. You'll get there!

[Ball_Washer]

God bless Callaway Pre-Owned! They were who I turned to when my clubs got stolen a few years back. I love the 2Deep too. I normally play a driver and 4w, but there was a point last summer when I thought it would be pretty baller to to game a 2Deep/5Deep combo. Did you ever think about the 5Deep instead of 4w?

[LabRat2]

[quote name='Ball_Washer' timestamp='1422731469' post='10857301']
God bless Callaway Pre-Owned! They were who I turned to when my clubs got stolen a few years back. I love the 2Deep too. I normally play a driver and 4w, but there was a point last summer when I thought it would be pretty baller to to game a 2Deep/5Deep combo. Did you ever think about the 5Deep instead of 4w?
[/quote]

I did consider going for the 5deep as they have attracted much attention in these forums with most of the reports positive.
However, while I am really happy with the tour green in the 2Deep, I was a little bit concerned that the ball flight may be a little low for my liking in a fairway.

I am sure that if I had spotted the 5deep shafted with one of the Diamana (blue/kai'li/S) series I would have purchased it there and then.

Another consideration was that I already use my 3 hybrid as an alternative driving club for lay ups or short par 4's and I think that the 4 wood was the better option considering that I would be playing it mostly from the fairway on par 5's.

[Beastmode Broker]

thats a solid bag I like it

[mattruel]

Have you hit the 3deep? I was wondering the distance difference between it and the 2deep? Right now I have the 3deep and I mostly use it off the tee , I hit it 270-280 and most end up in the fairway. Always looking for more distance so is the 2deep going to be much longer?

[LabRat2]

[quote name='mattruel' timestamp='1422861529' post='10867097']
Have you hit the 3deep? I was wondering the distance difference between it and the 2deep? Right now I have the 3deep and I mostly use it off the tee , I hit it 270-280 and most end up in the fairway. Always looking for more distance so is the 2deep going to be much longer?
[/quote]

I haven't hit the 3deep yet so I couldn't comment with any authority but I suppose if you drop from a 14.5 deg loft (3 deep) to a 12.5 deg loft (2deep) there should be a lower ball flight and more distance if all other variables (shaft kickpoint etc) are kept the same.

Maybe there are others out there that have made the transition from 3deep to 2deep and would like to comment?

Personally if I could hit it 270-280 on the fairway most of the time, I would be more than happy.

[FredPo]

Great bag! I as well have a CPO Bag with the exception of a putter and two wedges. Good luck this year! How do you like the 2007 xforged?

[LabRat2]

[quote name='FredPo' timestamp='1423407040' post='10910825']
Great bag! I as well have a CPO Bag with the exception of a putter and two wedges. Good luck this year! How do you like the 2007 xforged?
[/quote]

I really like the 2007 x forged.
I don't care for any of the models since then with the exception of the 2013 x-forged.
I think if I was going to change I would marry the Apex UT 3+4 irons with the 5-9 x forged (2013)

[LabRat2]

Have been playing Sldr 10.5 (lowest setting on adapter) for the last 6months and have managed to improve smash factor ( up to 1.48 now). Picked up a 9.5 last week and hope to hit it this weekend to see how it compares.

[LabRat2]

Have been hitting the 10.5 SLDR with the Accra very well recently and so have had not had a chance to test out the 9.5 SLDR with the Kai'li.

 

Has anyone ever tried these two shafts in a SLDR head and how did ball flight compare??

[LabRat2]

New pictures added for 2017.

Although I still love the SLDR, I picked up a couple of 430 R15's (one of these is a very well used tour issue model)

 

Hopefully the comparison Picture will show the slightly different shape of the tour issue 10.5 compared with the retail 12 degree

[LabRat2]

new pics added at top for 2018

Alternating 2iron and 5 wood depending on weather and ground conditions

[IcemanYVR]

LR, very nice bag!!

 

Yea, with the internet, you can put a great bag together without dropping the coin that new equipment would cost, and just like yours, it looks great and in many cases was not played that much.

 

How do you like the Tank?

 

I used the #7 a few years ago when I got wristy and I was lookin for a heavier, face balanced putter. I added some wight to it and it was a smooth putter.

 

Well, I hope that you have a great season!!

 

Fairways & Greens My Friend,

Richard

 

Agreed. For those of us that don’t need the latest greatest, know our specs, and are a little handy with clubs the internet is a blessing. These days you can put a great bag together for $500.