Drewtaylor21's Golf Journey (Swing Changes, WITB, Results)

[drewtaylor21]

All these damn M1s & M2s! It's a freaking epidemic!

 

12 yards more carry though is worth the change! How was it on dispersion?

 

Solid! I would have wanted to hit it more to really nail down dispersion patterns, but given the fact that it was a free re-fit, I wasn't going to push it on time. It was clearly the best club/shaft combo and I think any dispersion issues would have come down to what I was doing. The 3 balls I hit with it were all fairway finders and it didn't feel like there would be any left misses, which is important to me. Overall very pleased!

[drewtaylor21]

It's been killing me to keep this under wraps this last week, but uh.....yeah :)

 

http://www.golfwrx.c...feb-26-28-2017/

 

I've got a running list of questions in my phone that I am planning to ask, but if you guys have anything you want to know from TM, let me know and I'd be happy to ask them!

 

Can't wait to see what they come up with for me throughout the bag. You guys who have been following know I've been on a driver quest the last couple months, so I have a pretty good idea of where my numbers are and what it will take to win that spot in the bag. Interestingly, Cool Clubs fit me into the 2017 M1 in my most recent fitting, so it'll be interesting to see if the guys at the Kingdom get similar results or if they have other shaft/head combos that fit me better.

 

I'll be honest, I might be more excited to get fit for irons though! I am really interested in the P770's or perhaps a combo set with the 750's.

 

Then there's wedges (never played a TM wedge), the Spider putter, and TP5x ball! GAH!!!

 

[sethdavidsdad]

Congrats on getting selected, you will have a blast

[PureStrikes54]

Another very well deserved participant that puts a lot of effort into the game and optimal clubfitting. Also will blow the tmag guys minds with quality of questions. Have fun!

[BluehoseGolf]

A) I hate you and my jealousy of you currently is indescribable.

 

B) Please ask about some short game stuff for me please! What typical divot (obviously very little but I have yet to be able to really attain brushing it off the turf without a tiny divot) do they see from guys on tour from 30ish yards from a good lie for pitch shots, pitch shot techniques, how wedges change based on different turf styles (bermuda, bent, etc.)

 

C) Does lead tape/hot melt truly make a difference when affecting ball flight. I know this has been discussed but a professional opinion would be appreciated.

 

D) In terms of wedges, what trends are they seeing guys ask for or doing that are at a top level. Grinds, shafts, changing shot shape (ie hitting low draws is what chuck cook teaches), practicing.

 

E) What is the most important thing, equipment wise, that the pro's do that amateurs don't?

 

Thanks for getting any of these questions answered. Have fun as I would do anything to trade places with you.

[GC70]

It will be really cool to see how close the Kingdom and cool clubs fitting will be.

[drewtaylor21]

A) I hate you and my jealousy of you currently is indescribable.

 

B) Please ask about some short game stuff for me please! What typical divot (obviously very little but I have yet to be able to really attain brushing it off the turf without a tiny divot) do they see from guys on tour from 30ish yards from a good lie for pitch shots, pitch shot techniques, how wedges change based on different turf styles (bermuda, bent, etc.)

 

C) Does lead tape/hot melt truly make a difference when affecting ball flight. I know this has been discussed but a professional opinion would be appreciated.

 

D) In terms of wedges, what trends are they seeing guys ask for or doing that are at a top level. Grinds, shafts, changing shot shape (ie hitting low draws is what chuck cook teaches), practicing.

 

E) What is the most important thing, equipment wise, that the pro's do that amateurs don't?

 

Thanks for getting any of these questions answered. Have fun as I would do anything to trade places with you.

 

Great questions!! Thanks, I will add these to my list!

 

 

Another very well deserved participant that puts a lot of effort into the game and optimal clubfitting. Also will blow the tmag guys minds with quality of questions. Have fun!

Congrats on getting selected, you will have a blast

 

Thanks gents, I can't wait!

[jut111]

I'd be curious about thier opinion on shaft pureing. I've seen many conflicting opinions on it's value.

[robrey85]

It's definitely a dream come true so to speak! My ENVY is going to send me straight to hell with this one! :cheesy:

[CSagan]

Yuge congrats my man!

[thaar]

Freaking awesome. You and Schnee deserve it. Can't wait to read your guys' review!

[jml4]

I'd be curious about thier opinion on shaft pureing. I've seen many conflicting opinions on it's value.

I second this...

[PepsiDuck]

I hope it rains.

[drewtaylor21]

Yuge congrats my man!

 

Lol, it's gonna be bigly.

 

 

I'd be curious about thier opinion on shaft pureing. I've seen many conflicting opinions on it's value.

 

Another good one, added to the list!

[drewtaylor21]

I hope it rains.

 

 

:rofl:

[MonteScheinblum]

I'm sending Schnee to keep an eye on you.

[drewtaylor21]

I'm sending Schnee to keep an eye on you.

 

He and I were just talking about you today lol. He's got an extra night in San Diego so there was talk of you two live blogging a night on the town :rofl: but he reminded me you're all laid up from knee surgery :( Rest up old man!

[CSagan]

Lemme know if you need a caddy for the outing. I'm at least top 10 caddy on the instruction forum.

[PutterKilledTheDream]

I'm sending Schnee to keep an eye on you.

 

He and I were just talking about you today lol. He's got an extra night in San Diego so there was talk of you two live blogging a night on the town :rofl: but he reminded me you're all laid up from knee surgery :( Rest up old man!

Whatever you do..., stay out of the Matador.

[drewtaylor21]

C) Does lead tape/hot melt truly make a difference when affecting ball flight. I know this has been discussed but a professional opinion would be appreciated.

 

E) What is the most important thing, equipment wise, that the pro's do that amateurs don't?

 

Thanks for getting any of these questions answered. Have fun as I would do anything to trade places with you.

 

Hey guys, lots of questions were answered in the official TaylorMadeTuesday thread, but I'm not sure I got to these in my writeup, so I'll address them here. Blue, I modified your first question a bit. Hotmelt/lead tape are more for adjusting swingweight, which influences perception of the clubhead, which can certainly affect ballflight. I spoke to several of the TM guys about moving the adjusting weights around and how that influences ball flight and ball speed even, and they all agreed that there is some influence. A lot of it comes down to the individual and how they feel the clubhead coming into impact, but moving COG and weights around does make a difference. They also noted that this sort of thing needs to be matched up with the correct shaft, so a change in the clubhead could result in the need for a different shaft.

 

The most important thing that pro's do with equipment that amateurs don't, other than getting fit. I asked one of the fitters named Perry about this towards the end of the day on Monday. He thought about it for a bit, and gave a very good answer. He said pros practice from every single lie and situation imaginable, and understand how their equipment will perform from anywhere. Distance control being the main key. If you watched the Phil Mickelson interview on Feherty recently, I think he addressed this beautifully. He mentioned his stock 9 iron yardage and how so many ams say "my 9 iron goes ___ yards." Phil's response was "well yes, but is that during the middle of the day? What temperature? What altitude?" etc. He then discussed how his yardage changes if he's playing early in the morning and there is dew in the grass vs. later in the afternoon, then again if he's playing on a different type of grass, and again if he chokes up an inch (somewhere, Bryson DeChambeau just wet his shorts). The level of detail these guys go into is incredible. I know I'm not consistent enough to get quite that detailed, but I'd be well-served to practice more from uneven lies and dial in distances from less than optimal situations, for sure!

 

 

I'd be curious about thier opinion on shaft pureing. I've seen many conflicting opinions on it's value.

I second this...

 

The polite answer I got from several of the guys was that they didn't want to put down anyone else's business model or specialty, but that it really doesn't make much of a difference. I really appreciated how professional everyone was that we came in contact with. They all have a lot of fun and it's an incredible work environment, but they're not scheming behind closed doors about how to take down so and so from the competition. The focus seems to be on how can WE be the best, then let the chips fall where they may.

 

It was an incredible experience and there is more to come with wood/irons/wedges being prepared, so stay tuned :)

[jut111]

C) Does lead tape/hot melt truly make a difference when affecting ball flight. I know this has been discussed but a professional opinion would be appreciated.

 

E) What is the most important thing, equipment wise, that the pro's do that amateurs don't?

 

Thanks for getting any of these questions answered. Have fun as I would do anything to trade places with you.

 

Hey guys, lots of questions were answered in the official TaylorMadeTuesday thread, but I'm not sure I got to these in my writeup, so I'll address them here. Blue, I modified your first question a bit. Hotmelt/lead tape are more for adjusting swingweight, which influences perception of the clubhead, which can certainly affect ballflight. I spoke to several of the TM guys about moving the adjusting weights around and how that influences ball flight and ball speed even, and they all agreed that there is some influence. A lot of it comes down to the individual and how they feel the clubhead coming into impact, but moving COG and weights around does make a difference. They also noted that this sort of thing needs to be matched up with the correct shaft, so a change in the clubhead could result in the need for a different shaft.

 

The most important thing that pro's do with equipment that amateur's don't, other than getting fit. I asked one of the fitters named Perry about this towards the end of the day on Monday. He thought about it for a bit, and gave a very good answer. He said pro's practice from every single lie and situation imaginable, and understand how their equipment will perform from anywhere. Distance control being the main key. If you watched the Phil Mickelson interview on Feherty recently, I think he addressed this beautifully. He mentioned his stock 9 iron yardage and how so many am's say "my 9 iron goes ___ yards." Phil's response was "well yes, but is that during the middle of the day? What temperature? What altitude?" etc. He then discussed how his yardage changes if he's playing early in the morning and there is dew in the grass vs. later in the afternoon, then again if he's playing on a different type of grass, and again if he chokes up an inch (somewhere, Bryson DeChambeau just wet his shorts). The level of detail these guys go into is incredible. I know I'm not consistent enough to get quite that detailed, but I'd be well-served to practice more from uneven lies and dial in distances from less than optimal situations, for sure!

 

 

I'd be curious about thier opinion on shaft pureing. I've seen many conflicting opinions on it's value.

I second this...

 

The polite answer I got from several of the guys was that they didn't want to put down anyone else's business model or specialty, but that it really doesn't make much of a difference. I really appreciated how professional everyone was that we came in contact with. They all have a lot of fun and it's an incredible work environment, but they're not scheming behind closed doors about how to take down so and so from the competition. The focus seems to be on how can WE be the best, then let the chips fall where they may.

 

It was an incredible experience and there is more to come with wood/irons/wedges being prepared, so stay tuned :)

 

I knew it!!

 

Thanks Drew

[drewtaylor21]

I'll be adding more to this soon, but just did an online short game lesson with Dan Carraher (iteachgolf). I've worked with Dan before and always appreciate his insight. I have also used his short game "method" from his videos which are great, btw, if you're looking for some help. The lack of practice and play over the last 7 months has caught up to me big time in the short game department though, so I wanted to brush up on some things with Dan. I was struggling with some occasional fluffy/fat contact and felt it was time to tighten things up with some help.

 

Here's the before that I just sent to Dan yesterday:

 

He gave me some pretty simple keys to fix in my set-up and I'm excited to get to work! I think it'll be a pretty easy fix, but I'll update once I get a chance to get out and put some time in.

[BluehoseGolf]

Thank you Drew! I have also been struggling with my chipping purely based on the fact I havent played much. When I carpet chip/pitch, I really work on the stiff wrist technique and keep the body moving. Thanks for getting my questions answered!!!

[Dave D]

those were some great backswing changes you've made that you posted on instagram the other day, really good work

[drewtaylor21]

those were some great backswing changes you've made that you posted on instagram the other day, really good work

 

Thanks Dave! Changes usually happen so gradually, so it was a pleasant surprise to go back and see such a noticeable difference over the course of the year. To be honest it really wasn't something I set out to change either!

 

Here's the image Dave was referencing for those of you who aren't so Insta-inclined

 

 

[drewtaylor21]

Update time!

 

So I'm currently STILL waiting on my fitting to fill out the TaylorMade bag. Headed to Club Champion this coming Thursday, so I'm really looking forward to that. Once I have my specs, I'll be sending them to TMAG and hopefully will have some new sticks coming my way soon! In the meantime, the Directed Force has been sold and the Daddy Long Legs is back in the bag (until the Spider Platinum arrives). Already much more comfortable over the ball and while I didn't putt great in my round yesterday, it was a noticeable improvement over any round with the DF, especially on distance control.

 

The driver fit is still a work in progress, but I'm getting close! I've played 3 rounds now with the M2 D-type, and one of those rounds (yesterday), I put my old UST VTS shaft back in. I was actually getting the best numbers with the D-type and my old shaft at the Kingdom, so that was the recommendation. However, they didn't have that shaft, so they gave me the UST Elements Chrome Platinum shaft. I never actually hit that shaft at the kingdom or saw numbers with it though, so while it felt solid during our round in San Diego, I'm still not sure if it'll be the gamer. I've been back and forth between the two UST shafts the last couple weeks and would say my old UST VTS is coming out ahead based on the on-course results. To make things a little more interesting though, I just pulled the trigger on an Accra FX-260 that I was fit into at Cool Clubs after finding it for a steal on the bay. Once I get it trimmed and gripped up, I'll be having a good old fashioned driver (shaft) shootout. I got really, really good results with the Accra at Cool Clubs on both occasions I was there, so I'm thinking it should win out. Might be the last driver shaft I need for a long while, it felt that good!

 

 

 

I'm also going to have my local club shop trim down the UST Elements, as it is a half inch longer than my gamer shaft for some reason. Seems to have been an oversight at TaylorMade. All 3 shafts will be at the same length, which according to Cool Clubs is a playing length of 44.75" (please forgive the dog hair....this is the norm when living with a German Shepherd!)

 

 

 

My game is starting to make some progress in the right direction again too, which is nice. Truthfully, most of my results the last couple months have been pretty abysmal, but I chalk that up to not having nearly enough practice time. I was able to put a little bit of work in over the last two weeks and while I still wasn't sharp from 30 yards in, my ballstriking was closer to where I want it, and I shot a pretty solid 74 yesterday playing with RobRey85 and PepsiDuck (Kelvin), who was in town from Monterrey. Very pleased to report that I hit 15 GIR, highlighted by two birdie tap-ins and a made 6 footer for birdie on par 4's, then a lipped-out 10 foot eagle (two putt bird) on a par 5 on the back. Unfortunately I mixed in two doubles on the back 9 as well, and failed to get up and down for birdie from within 30 yards on the other 3 par 5's, but those are areas that I'll be able to tighten up once I'm able to practice short game even semi-consistently.

 

Hoping to have the driver shootout within the next 2 weeks, maybe over Masters weekend, so stay tuned :)

[drewtaylor21]

Oh and one other thing I forgot to mention, I'm not playing enough right now to invest in this, but once I'm able to get my schedule going a bit more and get out regularly, I plan to start using Scott Fawcett's DECADE program. It looks like exactly the type of approach I would enjoy, and guys seem to be having really solid results with it!

 

[Hawkeye77]

Oh and one other thing I forgot to mention, I'm not playing enough right now to invest in this, but once I'm able to get my schedule going a bit more and get out regularly, I plan to start using Scott Fawcett's DECADE program. It looks like exactly the type of approach I would enjoy, and guys seem to be having really solid results with it!

 

 

Heard him on radio a year or so ago, he wasn't quite ready with the program when I heard him. Will check this out because a lot of what he talked about seemed to make sense and seemed to be a different perspective. Thanks for heads up.

[Dave D]

Update time!

 

So I'm currently STILL waiting on my fitting to fill out the TaylorMade bag. Headed to Club Champion this coming Thursday, so I'm really looking forward to that. Once I have my specs, I'll be sending them to TMAG and hopefully will have some new sticks coming my way soon! In the meantime, the Directed Force has been sold and the Daddy Long Legs is back in the bag (until the Spider Platinum arrives). Already much more comfortable over the ball and while I didn't putt great in my round yesterday, it was a noticeable improvement over any round with the DF, especially on distance control.

 

The driver fit is still a work in progress, but I'm getting close! I've played 3 rounds now with the M2 D-type, and one of those rounds (yesterday), I put my old UST VTS shaft back in. I was actually getting the best numbers with the D-type and my old shaft at the Kingdom, so that was the recommendation. However, they didn't have that shaft, so they gave me the UST Elements Chrome Platinum shaft. I never actually hit that shaft at the kingdom or saw numbers with it though, so while it felt solid during our round in San Diego, I'm still not sure if it'll be the gamer. I've been back and forth between the two UST shafts the last couple weeks and would say my old UST VTS is coming out ahead based on the on-course results. To make things a little more interesting though, I just pulled the trigger on an Accra FX-260 that I was fit into at Cool Clubs after finding it for a steal on the bay. Once I get it trimmed and gripped up, I'll be having a good old fashioned driver (shaft) shootout. I got really, really good results with the Accra at Cool Clubs on both occasions I was there, so I'm thinking it should win out. Might be the last driver shaft I need for a long while, it felt that good!

 

 

 

I'm also going to have my local club shop trim down the UST Elements, as it is a half inch longer than my gamer shaft for some reason. Seems to have been an oversight at TaylorMade. All 3 shafts will be at the same length, which according to Cool Clubs is a playing length of 44.75" (please forgive the dog hair....this is the norm when living with a German Shepherd!)

 

 

 

My game is starting to make some progress in the right direction again too, which is nice. Truthfully, most of my results the last couple months have been pretty abysmal, but I chalk that up to not having nearly enough practice time. I was able to put a little bit of work in over the last two weeks and while I still wasn't sharp from 30 yards in, my ballstriking was closer to where I want it, and I shot a pretty solid 74 yesterday playing with RobRey85 and PepsiDuck (Kelvin), who was in town from Monterrey. Very pleased to report that I hit 15 GIR, highlighted by two birdie tap-ins and a made 6 footer for birdie on par 4's, then a lipped-out 10 foot eagle (two putt bird) on a par 5 on the back. Unfortunately I mixed in two doubles on the back 9 as well, and failed to get up and down for birdie from within 30 yards on the other 3 par 5's, but those are areas that I'll be able to tighten up once I'm able to practice short game even semi-consistently.

 

Hoping to have the driver shootout within the next 2 weeks, maybe over Masters weekend, so stay tuned :)

sounds like you're in good shape just need to get the short game sharp, often the case after a winter of not being able to practice! I know mine was very rusty yesterday.

 

question, why do you put your grips on wonky?

[QMany]

Oh and one other thing I forgot to mention, I'm not playing enough right now to invest in this, but once I'm able to get my schedule going a bit more and get out regularly, I plan to start using Scott Fawcett's DECADE program. It looks like exactly the type of approach I would enjoy, and guys seem to be having really solid results with it!

 

[media=]

[/media]

 

His stuff is right up my alley. I'm hesitant with the $200+ price tag, but it looks like solid information and a great stable of guys using it.