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

[PureStrikes54]

Drew, can you opine on the differences you've seen with the mps to the RSIs? Looking to make a similar change and wanted to see how this was working for you? Thanks!

 

I'd love to opine (lol)

 

So far, my experience is that the RSi's are a lot easier to square up. Don't know why, but my lateral dispersion, especially in the 4-6 irons is WAY better. That said, I'm still working on distance control and finding some issues, especially in 8-PW. My suspicion is that some of that has to do with the fact that the shafts (KBS Tour) probably aren't right for me. I feel like I miss the sweet spot more frequently with the RSis, but I'm also not practicing that much right now, so some of that might be me. They're more forgiving, yes, but missing the sweet spot is still missing the sweet spot, and +/- 10 yards is an issue. I've thought about putting together a frankenstein combo set with 4-7 in the RSis and 7-PW in the Mizunos (the RSi 7 goes as far as my Mizzy 6, so I'd have two 7 irons lol). Don't love that idea though.

 

As of right now I'd like to experiment a bit with different shaft options, but it's a challenge to find a way to fit them, since they are older heads. I'm also running into the problem that if I go get fit, get new shafts, etc, it makes buying them at $300 kind of pointless lol.

 

I need to contact the TaylorMade Experience here in town and see if they have any of these heads still for demoing and if so, try some shafts. If I can keep costs down, that might be an option, as I do really like the clubheads. If not, I might just re-sell them and do a full iron fitting this spring.

 

Hope that helps, let me know if you have other questions!

 

Very useful information. This helped me in my decision making a ton. Leaning towards some kind of combo set as I only occasionally have trouble with the mps in the long irons. Not sure if I'll go entirely new or just get a 4-6 made in something slightly more forgiving.

[pinhigh27]

agreed with irons once you find a shaft you like it's often just as cheap to buy different irons with the shafts you want instead of reshafting your own. I use that as justification for my hoing

[drewtaylor21]

Very useful information. This helped me in my decision making a ton. Leaning towards some kind of combo set as I only occasionally have trouble with the mps in the long irons. Not sure if I'll go entirely new or just get a 4-6 made in something slightly more forgiving.

 

Yeah one of the main reasons I wanted to try them was for the long irons (higher flight, better dispersion), and they certainly didn't disappoint there. I always tell everyone to GET FIT and I really should have listened to my own advice....just couldn't pass up the deal! (it's the WRX'er in me)

 

They still might work out, just need some fine-tuning I think. Good luck with your decision!

[drewtaylor21]

Gotta be honest, I feel like I'm coming down off a big WRX high after the Callaway #TheWRX thread these last few days. Kinda depressed now. The Ksig thread just isn't doing it for me now! Haha....can only imagine how the guys on the trip must feel, although they have some serious swag to keep them company :) Congrats again and well done to everyone, WRX, Callaway, and all invited, it was so cool to read and observe!

 

Anyone else take a look at the sneak peak sites for USGA qualifiers? Got an email from them today:

 

https://champs.usga.org/

 

I'm disappointed, NV's sites are all up in Reno/Tahoe this year. It looks like they alternate between northern and southern Nevada every year. I am hoping I can make it up for mid-am qualifying, but I'm learning more and more how difficult it is to justify extended "me" time with a baby in the house! Don't get me wrong, the priority is 100% with the family, but I'm still going to try and get as much competition in as I can. Traveling to Reno is a bigger hurdle though. This summer might be a strictly local amateur schedule....

 

In other news, I'm becoming more and more interested in Directed Force putters. From Monte, Schnee, and now Heath and Obee all giving glowing reviews, I am definitely considering a serious test of the branding iron! I know a guy here in town who uses one, so I am hoping to get him out on the practice green here soon so I can mess with it. The PING Ketsch is still in the bag currently. Realistically I just need to practice putting more, but truth be told I'm not in love with the PING. It's good, not great for me.

 

Continuing with the WITB updates, I'm headed down to Cool Clubs in Irvine in January for a driver fitting. M1, M2, and Cobra King LTD are the current sticks on my radar. If they have the Epic I'd definitely be curious to try that out as well, but I'm looking forward to seeing if anything can knock the trusty SLDR out of the bag!

 

I'll try and get a short game video up soon, but I've made a slight technique change that has been working really well for me the last few weeks....short game has been hit or miss for me the last few years, and although I've kept my scrambling % high the whole time, there are some days where I have to use some serious band-aids to get around, and I'd rather not have to do that. More to come....

[CSagan]

Check out Arizona or Cali for qualifying sites...probably a lot closer than Reno.

[drewtaylor21]

Check out Arizona or Cali for qualifying sites...probably a lot closer than Reno.

 

OOPS! Just read through the whole list again for the Mid-Am....there's another qual site here in Vegas at Boulder Creek! Just made my day! Normally NV only has one site for the Mid-Am, so when I saw northern NV, I stopped reading. :) Thanks CSagan, your suggestion made me look it up again to check out CA sites!

 

Back in 2015, which was my first summer here in Vegas, I went to Riverside, CA to try qualifying, as it was easier than going up to Reno. The trouble with any out of town events for me now is that it's an almost automatic 2-day trip, minimum. Go up for a practice round, stay overnight, then play the next day. Once our kiddo gets a little older that will be less of an issue, but he still wakes up multiple times a night and my wife and I split those duties, so it's rough making her do all the work so I can go play golf lol. Having an in-town event is a one-day thing, and makes a world of difference.

 

Gosh, now I'm embarrassed, they have a southern NV site for the US Am too! lol...

[Rocuronium]

Love reading and following your thread. It's cool that you have your priorities straight with your wife and kid. I have a wife and 2 small kids so I totally understand the planing it takes to practice/play.

I've seen you mention coming to southern California for various reasons. If you are ever in the Palm Springs/Palm Desert area let me, round of golf on me.

[drewtaylor21]

Love reading and following your thread. It's cool that you have your priorities straight with your wife and kid. I have a wife and 2 small kids so I totally understand the planing it takes to practice/play.

I've seen you mention coming to southern California for various reasons. If you are ever in the Palm Springs/Palm Desert area let me, round of golf on me.

 

Thanks very much, I hope to take you up on that :)

 

If you're anything like me, the competitive juices start flowing and it's easy to get distracted (obsessed) with this game. I'm extremely lucky to have the wife I do though, so working to keep priorities in line is important to me! Huge amount of respect for you and your wife with TWO small kids - I love being a dad, but my wife and I joke that we might be just fine with one :) haha

[Rocuronium]

Love reading and following your thread. It's cool that you have your priorities straight with your wife and kid. I have a wife and 2 small kids so I totally understand the planing it takes to practice/play.

I've seen you mention coming to southern California for various reasons. If you are ever in the Palm Springs/Palm Desert area let me, round of golf on me.

 

Thanks very much, I hope to take you up on that :)

 

If you're anything like me, the competitive juices start flowing and it's easy to get distracted (obsessed) with this game. I'm extremely lucky to have the wife I do though, so working to keep priorities in line is important to me! Huge amount of respect for you and your wife with TWO small kids - I love being a dad, but my wife and I joke that we might be just fine with one :) haha

 

Haha. We love our kids, but man we are done at 2.

[CSagan]

Check out Arizona or Cali for qualifying sites...probably a lot closer than Reno.

 

OOPS! Just read through the whole list again for the Mid-Am....there's another qual site here in Vegas at Boulder Creek! Just made my day! Normally NV only has one site for the Mid-Am, so when I saw northern NV, I stopped reading. :) Thanks CSagan, your suggestion made me look it up again to check out CA sites!

 

Back in 2015, which was my first summer here in Vegas, I went to Riverside, CA to try qualifying, as it was easier than going up to Reno. The trouble with any out of town events for me now is that it's an almost automatic 2-day trip, minimum. Go up for a practice round, stay overnight, then play the next day. Once our kiddo gets a little older that will be less of an issue, but he still wakes up multiple times a night and my wife and I split those duties, so it's rough making her do all the work so I can go play golf lol. Having an in-town event is a one-day thing, and makes a world of difference.

 

Gosh, now I'm embarrassed, they have a southern NV site for the US Am too! lol...

 

Love Boulder Creek. Had my best tourney round there...69 in the Clark County Amateur bout 3 or 4 years ago (working with slicefixer then). Rating was like 76 from those back tees so it reverse sandbagged my handicap haha. Good course to bust driver on.

[drewtaylor21]

Check out Arizona or Cali for qualifying sites...probably a lot closer than Reno.

 

OOPS! Just read through the whole list again for the Mid-Am....there's another qual site here in Vegas at Boulder Creek! Just made my day! Normally NV only has one site for the Mid-Am, so when I saw northern NV, I stopped reading. :) Thanks CSagan, your suggestion made me look it up again to check out CA sites!

 

Back in 2015, which was my first summer here in Vegas, I went to Riverside, CA to try qualifying, as it was easier than going up to Reno. The trouble with any out of town events for me now is that it's an almost automatic 2-day trip, minimum. Go up for a practice round, stay overnight, then play the next day. Once our kiddo gets a little older that will be less of an issue, but he still wakes up multiple times a night and my wife and I split those duties, so it's rough making her do all the work so I can go play golf lol. Having an in-town event is a one-day thing, and makes a world of difference.

 

Gosh, now I'm embarrassed, they have a southern NV site for the US Am too! lol...

 

Love Boulder Creek. Had my best tourney round there...69 in the Clark County Amateur bout 3 or 4 years ago (working with slicefixer then). Rating was like 76 from those back tees so it reverse sandbagged my handicap haha. Good course to bust driver on.

 

Yeah it's a good course! Are you a local?

[CSagan]

Check out Arizona or Cali for qualifying sites...probably a lot closer than Reno.

 

OOPS! Just read through the whole list again for the Mid-Am....there's another qual site here in Vegas at Boulder Creek! Just made my day! Normally NV only has one site for the Mid-Am, so when I saw northern NV, I stopped reading. :) Thanks CSagan, your suggestion made me look it up again to check out CA sites!

 

Back in 2015, which was my first summer here in Vegas, I went to Riverside, CA to try qualifying, as it was easier than going up to Reno. The trouble with any out of town events for me now is that it's an almost automatic 2-day trip, minimum. Go up for a practice round, stay overnight, then play the next day. Once our kiddo gets a little older that will be less of an issue, but he still wakes up multiple times a night and my wife and I split those duties, so it's rough making her do all the work so I can go play golf lol. Having an in-town event is a one-day thing, and makes a world of difference.

 

Gosh, now I'm embarrassed, they have a southern NV site for the US Am too! lol...

 

Love Boulder Creek. Had my best tourney round there...69 in the Clark County Amateur bout 3 or 4 years ago (working with slicefixer then). Rating was like 76 from those back tees so it reverse sandbagged my handicap haha. Good course to bust driver on.

 

Yeah it's a good course! Are you a local?

 

Is/Was. Been in Vegas for 11 years...moving to Louisiana now though...but still have house (furnished) in Vegas currently on the market, so I come back a decent amount. Be back mid Jan maybe we can get in a round then.

[fjk]

Drew, this is a great thread, especially as I have been following Dana peripherally for some time and I always like the way he thinks.

 

Sorry if this has been asked/answered already, but one thing I am having trouble with reconciling is 3/4 shots or pitch shots.

 

With the change in wrist conditions at the transition and the pivot etc., how do you do this when your transition is at the halfway or 3/4 point instead of at the top? Is it difficult to get used to?

 

I ask because the hands in, clubhead out backswing is tough for me to ingrain and makes the clubhead feel wayyyy out of position compared to the downswing and needs a big (feel) change during transition to match up.

 

Hope this question made sense. Thanks!

[kyle75]

I bought a Directed Force putter after trying Monte's when he was in Columbus for his clinic. It is the real deal and it is really great for me on 6 foot putts and in. I can't recommend it enough. Are you still working with Dana?

[robrey85]

I bought a Directed Force putter after trying Monte's when he was in Columbus for his clinic. It is the real deal and it is really great for me on 6 foot putts and in. I can't recommend it enough. Are you still working with Dana?

 

With as much talk drew has going on about them, I'm curious to try one just to try it. Be the perfect putter to have since we're right down the street from Area 51!

[drewtaylor21]

Drew, this is a great thread, especially as I have been following Dana peripherally for some time and I always like the way he thinks.

 

Sorry if this has been asked/answered already, but one thing I am having trouble with reconciling is 3/4 shots or pitch shots.

 

With the change in wrist conditions at the transition and the pivot etc., how do you do this when your transition is at the halfway or 3/4 point instead of at the top? Is it difficult to get used to?

 

I ask because the hands in, clubhead out backswing is tough for me to ingrain and makes the clubhead feel wayyyy out of position compared to the downswing and needs a big (feel) change during transition to match up.

 

Hope this question made sense. Thanks!

 

Thanks!

 

And yes, definitely know what you mean. With wedges and partial shots, you don't have as much time to re-route, so I find that it's better to minimize the difference in hand path and club path on the backswing, ie, make a more traditional takeaway so that you're "on plane" coming down. George Gankas talks about that as well with some of his guys (Johnny Ruiz).

[drewtaylor21]

I bought a Directed Force putter after trying Monte's when he was in Columbus for his clinic. It is the real deal and it is really great for me on 6 foot putts and in. I can't recommend it enough. Are you still working with Dana?

 

At this point I'm pretty convinced I just need to get my hands on one of these things! haha thanks for the comment though, it's good to keep hearing positive reviews from everyone who's tried it.

 

Truthfully, I'm not sure how to answer your question about Dana. I'm still working on the fundamentals I got from Dana, yes (along with a couple other keys I've picked up over the years). However, I haven't been to see him since August, and frankly, there's nothing I want to change about my swing right now, so I don't currently have plans to go see him. I'm hitting the ball as well as I ever have, and I'm completely happy with things in the ballstriking category. That could change by spring/summer, in which case I'd most likely go back and see him, but for now, I'd say I'm just on my own. I'm working on updating my bag and sharpening things on the course. The focus is back on scoring and competing, not mechanics if that makes sense.

[Hstead]

Get one

[Hawkeye77]

Killing me I jumped on my DF so late.

 

Works good on this:

 

Not so good on this:

 

Hope you enjoy testing it. Still say it squares me up in a noticeable way I can't explain.

[jut111]

She rolls em sweet indoors...

[drewtaylor21]

She rolls em sweet indoors...

Get one

I bought a Directed Force putter after trying Monte's when he was in Columbus for his clinic. It is the real deal and it is really great for me on 6 foot putts and in. I can't recommend it enough. Are you still working with Dana?

Killing me I jumped on my DF so late.

 

Works good on this:

 

Not so good on this:

 

Hope you enjoy testing it. Still say it squares me up in a noticeable way I can't explain.

 

PowTown!

 

And here I am complaining that it's 50 something and windy today.... haha

 

My family is up in WA state and my older sister posted something on facebook today about it being a balmy 6* for the high lol. I don't miss real winters one bit!

 

Putters: Did all of you guys do the DF fitting process online? Anyone do it in person? Any comments on that process? From what I've seen, no one seems to be upset about the online fitting process (video). I know Bill Presse is in Reno though, and occasionally gets to Vegas, so I wasn't sure if I should try to do an in-person fit or just bite the bullet now and get myself a Christmas present :)

[Hawkeye77]

Boy, I'd always do in person if feasible (not feasible for this) BUT my online came out perfect. In my video my arms looked a little out of position on my regular putter and he was able to come up with a length/lie spec that has my shaft line/arm line looking great, in the mirror my setup looks really good. Still fiddling with ball position and getting used to the shape of the grip. Bill was great about responding to emails and a little back and forth about the fitting. I have to admit I fretted for several days until it arrived and I was able to check it out.

[PureStrikes54]

Had two fittings. The main things they look for is that the shaft angle matches your forearm angle at address fairly closely, your eyes are on or just inside the line, length, and then If you prefer the larger or smaller grip. Since the putter is naturally balanced without forearm muscle input they usually recommend to go with the smaller grip unless you're comingg from a big superstroke and absolutely prefer that bigger feel.

[jut111]

She rolls em sweet indoors...

Get one

I bought a Directed Force putter after trying Monte's when he was in Columbus for his clinic. It is the real deal and it is really great for me on 6 foot putts and in. I can't recommend it enough. Are you still working with Dana?

Killing me I jumped on my DF so late.

 

Works good on this:

 

Not so good on this:

 

Hope you enjoy testing it. Still say it squares me up in a noticeable way I can't explain.

 

PowTown!

 

And here I am complaining that it's 50 something and windy today.... haha

 

My family is up in WA state and my older sister posted something on facebook today about it being a balmy 6* for the high lol. I don't miss real winters one bit!

 

Putters: Did all of you guys do the DF fitting process online? Anyone do it in person? Any comments on that process? From what I've seen, no one seems to be upset about the online fitting process (video). I know Bill Presse is in Reno though, and occasionally gets to Vegas, so I wasn't sure if I should try to do an in-person fit or just bite the bullet now and get myself a Christmas present :)

 

Did my fitting online. Never had a traditional putter fitting so can't compare. No complaints though.

[kyle75]

I did the online fitting since there are no fitters in Ohio. The online fitting turned out great for me, Bill does a great job with it. If you decide to go that way, you won't be disappointed in the result.

[Hstead]

I used the online fitting too and it fits me well. No complaints

[PepsiDuck]

I used the online fitting too and it fits me well. No complaints

 

It seems my primary concern with the online fitting is that they might not be able to tell: (1) the putter I currently use doesn't fit me and I've compensated my body and mechanics to fit the putter, so it appears that the putter I use "fits" me when it really doesn't, and/or (2) I don't putt good, i.e., I'll drop $399 on a putter fit to poor mechanics.

[Hawkeye77]

I used the online fitting too and it fits me well. No complaints

 

It seems my primary concern with the online fitting is that they might not be able to tell: (1) the putter I currently use doesn't fit me and I've compensated my body and mechanics to fit the putter, so it appears that the putter I use "fits" me when it really doesn't, and/or (2) I don't putt good, i.e., I'll drop $399 on a putter fit to poor mechanics.

 

We both saw immediately an issue with my lie angle from the video/my setup and went from there. I think the assumption is your current putter fits, but mine didn't quite and he knew where to go with it.

 

Good point, though I think with the reference points and instructions for the video he knows how to interpret. Still, a reason to know your own requirements and what your proper setup looks like so you can be proactive and get questions answered.

[PepsiDuck]

We both saw immediately an issue with my lie angle from the video/my setup and went from there. I think the assumption is your current putter fits, but mine didn't quite and he knew where to go with it.

 

Good point, though I think with the reference points and instructions for the video he knows how to interpret. Still, a reason to know your own requirements and what your proper setup looks like so you can be proactive and get questions answered.

 

I have a few fitters within a couple hours of me, though I don't know if the in-person help will make it worth the drive. I've always felt comfortable with a shorter putter, but have been using longer putters lately just because it's what I bought and just adjusted my posture and hand position to make it work.

 

Do they fit off a model putting stroke?

[Hawkeye77]

We both saw immediately an issue with my lie angle from the video/my setup and went from there. I think the assumption is your current putter fits, but mine didn't quite and he knew where to go with it.

 

Good point, though I think with the reference points and instructions for the video he knows how to interpret. Still, a reason to know your own requirements and what your proper setup looks like so you can be proactive and get questions answered.

 

I have a few fitters within a couple hours of me, though I don't know if the in-person help will make it worth the drive. I've always felt comfortable with a shorter putter, but have been using longer putters lately just because it's what I bought and just adjusted my posture and hand position to make it work.

 

Do they fit off a model putting stroke?

 

I honestly don't know how he comes up with his recommendation. If you look at the instruction video for online fitting that might help.

 

Won't lie, if I even lived within 4 hours of an actual DF fitter I'd have taken a day and made the trip or worked into some other trip.