#TaylorMadeTuesday at The Kingdom, Feb 26-28, 2017 (pics added pg1,16,19 & 20)

[jjr]

So jealous, Great review, enjoyed it! Happy B-Day too

 

I had a chuckle when I saw water in the bunkers. Damn drought! I've played Aviara wonderful track.

[BCULAW]

Guys,

 

Here are some of the photos I took on the trip for all to enjoy.

 

Thanks Zak, these are great!

 

Signed,

 

155

 

Ha Ha Ha!!!!

 

(For those out of the loop, Andrew managed 155mph ball speed with a 3 iron on track man. Zach could only "manage" to get up to 152. For reference, I'm like 147 with a driver.).

 

Hahah, ouch! Sounds like we need to schedule a WRX event in the near future so Zak can get some revenge!

 

Already in the works. #TaylorMadeTuesday: Vegas Reunion 2018!

[DavePelz4]

We need to hear more about the round at Avaria. Those of us who lived vicariously through you guys want more!

[tbowles411]

We need to hear more about the round at Avaria. Those of us who lived vicariously through you guys want more!

\

That course did look amazing!

[DavePelz4]

We need to hear more about the round at Avaria. Those of us who lived vicariously through you guys want more!

\

That course did look amazing!

 

My real motivation in addition to wanting more scoops is to see if a 4 handicap can beat an LPGA player considering this is a regular course on the LPGA tour. let's hear scores!

[tbowles411]

We need to hear more about the round at Avaria. Those of us who lived vicariously through you guys want more!

\

That course did look amazing!

 

My real motivation in addition to wanting more scoops is to see if a 4 handicap can beat an LPGA player considering this is a regular course on the LPGA tour. let's hear scores!

Dave, I just spit my soda out! LOL

[BCULAW]

We need to hear more about the round at Avaria. Those of us who lived vicariously through you guys want more!

 

It was an amazing course. I'd love to know how much rain it got the day before because with the exception of a couple of bunkers and a few low-lying areas, it was in phenomenal shape. Most picturesque course I've ever played on, for sure.

 

As far as the round itself, the whole thing was a blur - the trip went by way too fast, but the round was over in a blink. Quick summary for me: I hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens. I am sure that I missed a few here and there, but I only recall being bunkered once and chipping 3-4 times. I remember putting A LOT! The greens were very fast with a lot of undulation, and I never got used to the speed and slope. There were more than a couple of putts that I blew 20 feet past the hole, and I can't think of too many easy 2 putts for me. I putted one ball clear off the green on one hole from about 20 feet (It's not a 3 putt if the stroke after your first putt is a chip!). And, there were several holes from short range that required me to putt across a severe slope that would carry my ball 6-8 feet away from the hole for a smooth 3-jack. I am a bad putter, which is to say that I don't make many outside of "gimme" range, but I don't three putt a lot back home. I struggled especially with the greens at Aviara.

 

They are getting ready for the LPGA event in 2 weeks. I'll definitely tune in for some of the coverage just to see how the ladies fare there.

[BCULAW]

We need to hear more about the round at Avaria. Those of us who lived vicariously through you guys want more!

\

That course did look amazing!

 

My real motivation in addition to wanting more scoops is to see if a 4 handicap can beat an LPGA player considering this is a regular course on the LPGA tour. let's hear scores!

 

I couldn't tell you what I shot to be honest. I basically played bogey golf on the front. Had it going ok on the back with 4-5 pars in a row, but had a double on 10 when my ball was lost in one of the fairway bunkers turned holding pond from the rain, and then the wheels fell off on 17-18. The 18th was, by far, the toughest hole of the day for me. Water all the way down the right side, with wind coming from the left over a large body of water (I don't THINK it was the Pacific ocean - Ha Ha!). Basically, any drive you hit off the tee is going to get pushed toward the water on the right. Mine found it. My second tee shot was middle of the fairway, but found a low spot that was awfully muddy. I should have taken relief from casual water, but thought I could play the ball. I was wrong. The mud ate it up and it came out knuckling and found water again. At that point, I dropped chipped a little gap wedge from 70 yards or so and 2-putted for a big score. I'm pretty sure I broke 90, but I'm also sure I shot 10 strokes or so above what I would have hoped to shoot on a normal day.

[pitchinwedge]

I was surprised Jason had me hit as many as I did. I was giving him great numbers and he’d just say hit a few more and ask a question or two between swings. I let him know whatmy most recent results at Cool Clubs had been (2017 M1, 8.5*, Accra FX-260), so he had me try an M1 and I was hitting it WAAAAY right. He tried a couple different shaft options (see pic, no Accra available), but nothing was keeping it in play. I had the same issue with the 2016 M series as well, so it wasn’t a huge shock, but it did have me worried for a minute that I wouldn’t get fit into a good match for me! We then tried my current shaft (UST VTS 6x) with the M1 and I was at least keeping it on the course, just still a bigger right miss than I wanted to see. Finally, Jason handed me the M2 D-Type with my UST shaft. Bingo! Hit a few that actually went left a bit! Most of that was probably a compensation from such big right misses with the M1, so once I settled in a bit, we had our answer. While the averages don’t really look better with the D-type compared to SLDR, I had a few mis-hits in the D-Type grouping that, if removed, would have shown a more accurate picture of the results. Peak ball speed with SLDR was 175, peak with D-Type was 178, and I was getting a slightly lower flight (122’ compared to 135’) that I really liked! It was a bit amusing though, everyone at TM seemed shocked that I got put into the D-Type. I’m not too sure why, but apparently that was weird to them! It made sense to me though, as the SLDR had a left-bias for a lot of people that was problematic, and I’ve never once had that issue. TM purposely moved away from that tendency with the M family, which might explain why I hit them right of right. Regardless, the D-Type is in the bag! Fast forward about an hour and Chandler Carr personally built my driver for me in the Tour club-building room :)

 

No question about it. The high-right bias is still very much a reality with the 2017 M. Combine this bias with nearly every shaft being tipped 1" and it's hell for a former SLDR user.

 

Which set-up do you think truly fits you better? The D-Type vs an 8.5* M1 is a tremendous difference.

[drewtaylor21]

No question about it. The high-right bias is still very much a reality with the 2017 M. Combine this bias with nearly every shaft being tipped 1" and it's hell for a former SLDR user.

 

Which set-up do you think truly fits you better? The D-Type vs an 8.5* M1 is a tremendous difference.

 

D-type is going to be a better fit I believe. The 2nd day I was at Cool Clubs I had just made some set-up tweaks (ball further forward, more right lateral bend) and was hitting big high draws. I was actually overcompensating with the ball so much more forward. I knew I needed to close my stance a bit to match the up AoA, but I did it a little too much. Resulted in some serious bombs when I did it right (315 carry), but I was also overdrawing it at times, which is not how I like to play. I've fine tuned some things since, so I'm back to hitting a fade with better launch conditions, and the left ball is gone. The D-Type plays very similarly to the SLDR for me, but again, more forgiveness and slightly better ball speed.

 

I would be interested to try it with the Accra shaft I was fit into at Cool Clubs, but I'm not in the mood to drop $300 to experiment lol. I was very happy with the UST shaft they gave me at The Kingdom during my round on Tuesday!

[drewtaylor21]

We need to hear more about the round at Avaria. Those of us who lived vicariously through you guys want more!

\

That course did look amazing!

 

My real motivation in addition to wanting more scoops is to see if a 4 handicap can beat an LPGA player considering this is a regular course on the LPGA tour. let's hear scores!

 

I played with Ryan Lauder on Tuesday, and he's a 3 cap from TM. He'd played the course several times, so he's probably a pretty good indicator. He was 3 over through 15 I believe? He had to deal with some business on the phone the last few holes, but let's guesstimate he shoots 76. Last year at the Kia Classic, the LPGA lists the course at 6593 yards, which is the set of tees we played ("blue" or "back" tees). The cut was +3 and last place before the cut was +15 (82-77). Obviously you have to factor in tournament conditions, etc, but he's likely not finishing DFL. I highly doubt he'd make the cut, but I'd wager he's going to beat a handful of the players out there, yes.

[robrey85]

Guys,

 

Here are some of the photos I took on the trip for all to enjoy.

 

Thanks Zak, these are great!

 

Signed,

 

155

 

Ha Ha Ha!!!!

 

(For those out of the loop, Andrew managed 155mph ball speed with a 3 iron on track man. Zach could only "manage" to get up to 152. For reference, I'm like 147 with a driver.).

 

Hahah, ouch! Sounds like we need to schedule a WRX event in the near future so Zak can get some revenge!

 

Already in the works. #TaylorMadeTuesday: Vegas Reunion 2018!

 

Welp! It's settled, sorry to say that I'll be crashing that party, lol.

[drewtaylor21]

We need to hear more about the round at Avaria. Those of us who lived vicariously through you guys want more!

\

That course did look amazing!

 

Alright Dave, you asked for it! I'm not going to pull an Obee and give you the details for my playing partners though, hope that's ok :)

 

 

 

Aviara is beautiful! Very nice course, gorgeous area. Not what I would describe as a difficult course, as we played from 6591, 72.5/135, but it could be set up to play challenging, depending on pin positions. I'd say the greens are the only real defense the course might have against better players. There are some serious slopes and when the greens pick up speed, you would really need to be in the right spots to score well.

 

I played very sloppily all around, and although I'm swinging pretty decently, nothing in my game is sharp right now in terms of scoring, especially my putting and short game. In the two rounds I've had so far this year, I've been playing to about a 3 cap, just for reference. Additionally, our group was playing a little $5 Nassua, cart vs. cart, myself and Ryan Lauder vs. Brian (BCULAW) and Tom Kroll on the front 9, then we switched TM partners on the back. As such, there were a couple of shots that I certainly would have grinded over a bit more had my partner not been in such good shape (Tom and Ryan both played nicely). Finally, I play at 2500 feet here in Vegas, so I don't know yardages at sea level all that well. I was estimating that I needed 5 additional yards from 75-125 out, and 10 more yards from 150-225. I was reasonably close with that, but again, not sharp. Now that my laundry list of excuses are out of the way (lol), here's how the day went for me:

 

Hole 1: 351, par 4

 

 

Fanned a 3 wood into the right rough, had an uphill/sidehill lie just off the cartpath. 133 in, hit a nice PW just over the back. Chipped to 5 feet and made the putt for par. EVEN

 

Hole 2: 391, par 4

Uphill par 4, pretty straight away. Hit driver that just went through the FW, 115 in, gap wedge to pin high 15' but on a nasty slope above the hole. Touched the putt and it broke a little more than I saw and went 7 feet by. The come-backer didn't break, bogey. +1

 

Hole 3: 140, par 3

 

 

First of many gorgeous par 3's out here. Arnold drew these up nicely! Pin was back, so I didn't want to go over....hit a hard PW, should have hit soft 9. My one complaint with these TM RSi TP irons is that I hit the short irons too high and they tend to hang up in the air a bit. Hoping to figure out a better shaft when we get our new irons! Anyway, my pitch mark hit about 20' short, then spun back off a slope to 45' and I two putted for par. +1

 

Hole 4: 362, par 4

Another 3w off the tee, dead center of the FW, 148 to a back right pin. Hit a soft 9 iron to 16', another putt slightly above the hole, 3 feet of break. Hit a good putt, just stayed a little high, made the 3 footer coming back for par. +1

 

Hole 5: 508, par 5

Uphill par 5, hit my driver exactly on the line Tom Kroll gave me and it went too far lol. Ended up in a weird patch of rough that separated the lower fairway from the upper. I was in GUR, so I dropped and had a bit of a funny lie. 210 to pin, uphill, hit 4 iron heavy and short. Had ~40 yards off a very soggy lie in the FW, hit it a little fat, rolled off the front edge into a gully. Chipped up to 12 feet, 2 putted for bogey, big missed opportunity here +2

 

Hole 6: 200, par 3

Uphill par 3, couldn't see the green surface from the tee (hate these kinds of par 3's Arnold!). Took the wrong club and though I hit a good shot, I found out there was a false front and my 6 iron came rolling back down the hill into another gully fronting the green. Pitched to 15' and made the putt for par. +2

 

Hole 7: 393, par 4

Hit another 3w off the tee, FW, 134 to a downhill green, back right pin, protected by bunkers short, right, and long. Hit soft PW to 22' and got a little excited with the putt. Hit it 4' by, downhill slider coming back and it slid right across the cup, bogey +3

 

Hole 8: 519, par 5

 

 

Downhill par 5, pretty much wail away on driver. I hit my tee shot slightly left of where I was aimed, and was expecting it to cut back a bit, but I'm telling you, these TP5x balls do NOT want to curve. Stayed very straight and wound up in the left rough. 215 in, water fronting the green (that pond in front is bigger than you can see in the pic), you basically can't miss short or right or you'll be wet. Hit 5 iron and went long right into some flowers on a hill over the bunker. Had to drop into the bunker, hit the 30 yard bunker shot a touch thin and carried past the pin into the rough. Chipped up and made the putt for bogey, another wasted par 5, +4

 

Hole 9: 348, par 4

 

 

Downhill par 4, pretty wide open. Originally thought hybrid, then said screw it and hit driver hard to see how close I could get to the green. Wound up about 10 yards short/left. Pin was back right over a ridge, hit a heavy wedge to 30 feet, 2 putt, par, +4

 

The nice thing is Ryan and I won this side 1 up I believe! He clearly carried me lol

 

Hole 10: 489, par 5

This is a really weird hole, and I don't think any of us liked it. It requires a ~220-260 yard right to left tee shot, over water. From the tee, the hole curves about 60 degrees left, big time dogleg, then goes uphill to the green. Anyway, hit hybrid into the FW, had 220 uphill. Hit 4 iron to the right fringe, two putted for birdie +3

 

Hole 11: 148, par 3

Another pretty par 3, hit soft 9 iron to 18 feet and buried it in the heart, +2

 

Hole 12: 368, par 4

 

 

Slightly uphill, dogleg right par 4. Hit driver, again didn't cut enough and went through the FW. 90 yards in, hit SW to 25' and just missed the putt. Par +2

 

Hole 13: 346, par 4

Another big dogleg left, uphill par 4. Hit 3 wood through the FW, had 135 to the pin, which was playing very uphill, hit a nice arm-swing 9 iron to 18 feet, two putt par +2

 

Hole 14: 190, par 3

 

 

 

Gorgeous par 3! Quite a bit downhill, water short and right, wind picked up to about 5mph here back at us and to the right. Wasn't ever really sure what club to hit here and was kind of brain farting on a decision. Hit a semi-committed 3-quarter 7 iron that hung up and just caught a piece of the green on the right. Had about 60 feet to a pin that was up and over a slope. Hit a nice putt, but it just picked up a little too much speed coming back down the slope and went 7' by. Hit a great 2nd putt, but over-read it, bogey +3

 

Hole 15: 445, par 4

Scenic dogleg left, slightly elevated tee. Hit my first poor tee shot of the day here with driver and fanned it right and WAY through the FW. I'm sniping one of Brian's pics here to illustrate where I ended up lol.

 

 

 

I had 200 or so into the green from an uphill lie in fairly deep rough, but was completely blocked out by the thicket of trees separating 15 from the 13th tee. I hit what was actually a really good shot here! Had to aim about 60 yards right of the green, and hit a big high hook around the trees. Unfortunately it didn't quite hook enough and I was pin-high, but about 30 yards from the hole. Severe downhill lie in the rough, bunker between me and the green, and pin tucked about 10 feet on the green. My partner Tom was 3 feet away for birdie, so I decided to just go for it and hit the hero flop shot. I would have elected for something else in a tournament (heck, I probably would have pitched back to the FW for my 2nd shot previously), but long story short, I hit an awesome hosel rocket that wound up down the FW of #12 (12 and 15 share a green) :rofl:

 

Again, Tom was in for birdie and we were dormie, so I picked up. Would have made at least a bogey, probably a double here...+4/5

 

Hole 16: 387, par 4

Downhill, slight dogleg left par 4. Drilled a driver exactly where Ryan told me to hit it, but wound up in some rough on the left (should have known, he was on the other team lol). Had 90 yards in, hit a great SW to 6 feet below the hole....tugged it and threw my Directed Force into the pond (ok, I didn't do that last part, but I felt like it!). Par,

+4/5

 

Only good news here is that I closed out the match against Ryan and Brian, 3 and 2! Tom and I both birdied 10 and 11 to go 2 up and just kind of hung on until his birdie on 15 to go 3 up. Fortunately I didn't blow it lol

 

 

Hole 17: 568, par 5

Straightaway par 5, somewhat of a chute for the tee shot, hit another dead straight ball with the driver that was supposed to cut! Looked like it was in the trees left, but I ended up finding it just past where the trees end. Had 280 to the green, hit a thin 3w that didn't have a chance. I wound up in the FW but thought I was closer to the green so I didn't bring my rangefinder. Without knowing my yardage I just eyeballed my 3rd, maybe 40 yards? Pin was back left, I wound up WAY short on the green about 40 feet. Fancy another 3 putt for a bogey? Sure, let's play the really easy par 5's in 3 over!

+5/6

 

Hole 18: 413, par 4

 

(this was taken at 6:30am before we started playing)

 

Beautiful hole here! The Batiquitos Lagoon/Marine Conservatory is visible all along the left side here, which is gorgeous! Big pond on the right and the FW narrows considerably at about 260, so I hit hybrid. Left it up in the air and it was hanging right at the pond. Luckily came up a bit short of the water and I had a shot. 190 to the pin, yanked a 7 iron left into a bunker and had a tricky lie just inside the lip. One foot out of the bunker, one foot in, had to pick the club up a bit quick, but actually hit a pretty nice shot here to 8 or 10 feet past the hole. Chris got this one on camera I think? His group teed off first, so they hung around to watch us finish, then we all waited for the last group. Anyway, hopefully he has the footage, as I'd love to see it! Back to the golf....let's say 10 feet for par, can anyone guess what happened?? Yup! Missed it on the high side lol. Bogey to wrap up a stellar +6/7

 

So, a 4 cap might be able to beat an LPGA player, but on Tuesday I certainly couldn't! Lol

 

Final tally:

 

7/14 FW

12/18 GIR

32 putts (in 17 holes)

4/7 Scrambling

78/79

 

Four 3-putts and a penalty :( When does my Spider Platinum arrive?!

 

As crappy as my golf was, we had a blast out there! It was a beautiful day, we were in great company with Tom and Ryan from TM, and we were playing free golf, with brand new drivers that the guys at TM had built in front of us the day before. Can't get much better in my book! Sure, I wanted to go out and shoot 70 so I could be the QMany of the trip :) but we can't all be that good lol!

[eldog-in-the-hizouse]

With all due respect to the guys that went on this trip, I'm not sure what the purpose is of TaylorMade doing this. I tried to order a custom M1 driver today and TaylorMade said they would not do anything to adjust the swing weight if I ordered it shorter than standard length. Why have these guys go to so much trouble writing all of these great reviews of the trip, talking about their fitting sessions and the fabulous facilities if TaylorMade isn't even in the custom club business at retail? It says a lot of about the state of their company that I asked the same question of Titleist and they said yes we have heavier weights to place in the head, no problem. I guess it's better than what TaylorMade did with the RBZ Stage 2 Tour driver I ordered a few years ago. We called and asked if they would adjust the swing weight for a shorter club and they said absolutely! Then they shipped a driver at C5 swing weight. It felt like a whiffle ball bat. At least they didn't lie this time. I was part of the very first group who won a trip with TaylorMade back in 2011. We went to the PGA show. It was a fabulous trip too. But what's the point? Is TaylorMade a golf club company or a golf club marketing company?

[TheMoneyShot]

Anyone ask about the beloved TP logo on this trip? Is it dust in the wind?

[BCULAW]

Anyone ask about the beloved TP logo on this trip? Is it dust in the wind?

 

I asked and was told it was not dead - just taking a little break. We joked that TM should have a "New TP Logo" competition where the public was asked to submit design ideas for the new TP logo. I responded that they would receive 10,000+ entries from the GolfWRX membership alone submitting the old TP crest logo!

[TheMoneyShot]

Anyone ask about the beloved TP logo on this trip? Is it dust in the wind?

 

I asked and was told it was not dead - just taking a little break. We joked that TM should have a "New TP Logo" competition where the public was asked to submit design ideas for the new TP logo. I responded that they would receive 10,000+ entries from the GolfWRX membership alone submitting the old TP crest logo!

 

Lol, no doubt! The old TP crest logo was the best!!!

[PowderedToastMan]

With all due respect to the guys that went on this trip, I'm not sure what the purpose is of TaylorMade doing this. I tried to order a custom M1 driver today and TaylorMade said they would not do anything to adjust the swing weight if I ordered it shorter than standard length. Why have these guys go to so much trouble writing all of these great reviews of the trip, talking about their fitting sessions and the fabulous facilities if TaylorMade isn't even in the custom club business at retail? It says a lot of about the state of their company that I asked the same question of Titleist and they said yes we have heavier weights to place in the head, no problem. I guess it's better than what TaylorMade did with the RBZ Stage 2 Tour driver I ordered a few years ago. We called and asked if they would adjust the swing weight for a shorter club and they said absolutely! Then they shipped a driver at C5 swing weight. It felt like a whiffle ball bat. At least they didn't lie this time. I was part of the very first group who won a trip with TaylorMade back in 2011. We went to the PGA show. It was a fabulous trip too. But what's the point? Is TaylorMade a golf club company or a golf club marketing company?

Really? I'm sure that's what they told you, but I have a hard time believing that what the person said was correct. They don't have a variety of sliding weight options just for decorative value (which makes changing swing weight incredibly easy).

[CKalma]

So...the real question is who asked about new muscleback irons? Or whatever irons Tiger is helping them design.

 

Did you see anything you can't discuss????

[Schnee]

What follows is my recap of the trip: It's very long but I wanted to give the most accurate view I could. I'd advise against quoting it in its entirety. :smilie_tm:

 

 

 

 

#TaylormadeTuesday

 

 

So….Do you want to go to the Kingdom?

 

YEESSSSSS! is the way I believe I responded to the message from HipCheck asking if I wanted to join GolfWRX at Taylormade’s The Kingdom. I’ve been a member on WRX for about 6 years, and I’ve always hoped to be selected for an OEM contest. I never could have guessed that I’d be picked for something of this magnitude. I literally jumped for joy when reading the PM. I don’t think I had ever been that excited in my entire life. I wanted to tell all my friends and family, but we had to wait for the go-ahead from the guys at WRX and Taylormade.

 

A few days later, we received an email from Jory Mendes, the Global Communications Manager at Taylormade. Jory told us that he wanted us to feel like a member of their team while we were there, and let me tell you, they did just that. The group got acquainted with each other via PM, and we were told that this thread would start, at which point we could discuss the trip. We were allowed to put #TaylormadeTuesday as our member title above our avatars, as a little nod to being selected. Not being able to talk about the trip was torture, but it helped to build anticipation! I received an email from Kim Johnson, the Events Manager at Taylormade, which contained my flight info out to the San Diego/Carlsbad. Now it was getting real! I was still in a state of disbelief. About a week after receiving my flight info, we received our itinerary. If it was even possible, the excitement level increased again! At this point it was only a few days until the trip, but it couldn’t come soon enough.

 

Going to California

 

I got my things together to leave out of Newark and prepared to get there bright and early for my 6AM flight. I packed up my clubs, which were sort of an assortment of backup clubs. We were told that it was important to bring our gamers. There was a problem though. You see, I had just completed a full bag fitting at Club Champion in NJ, and was in the process of reconstructing my bag. I only had my Mizuno MP25’s with C Taper 130X, my Directed Force putter, and my lob wedge. All of my other clubs had been traded in to Global Golf and Rock Bottom Golf with the expectation of using that credit for the clubs I was fit for. I grabbed my old Callaway 3Deep from my garage, so I had a 3 wood. Usually I use 3 wedges, 50,54,58, but on short notice, I snagged a 52* Gap wedge to go 52-58. Finally, I had to get some sort of driver together. I had an Aldila Tour Blue 75x with an M1 tip on it, so I set out to get a cheap head from the BST. A member helped me out with an SLDR head on short notice.

 

It wasn’t an ideal situation, but I needed a complete bag. Obviously, if I knew I was going to be picked for this trip I wouldn’t have traded my stuff in and left me without a playable set! Jory asked us to email them our current specs and a player profile form for the Kingdom in order to pair us with our own fitter. I listed my specs before the bag trade because that was what would be most accurate. This was my setup:

 

Ping G30 10.5 Aldila Tour Blue 65X

Taylormade SLDR Mini 14* Matrix RUL 80X

Tour Edge Exotics CB Pro H 21* Fujikura Tour Fuel 80X

Mizuno MP25 C Taper 130 X 4-PW

Mack Daddy 2 50,54

Mack Daddy PM Grind 58

Directed Force Reno Putter

 

I got paired up with Chandler Carr, who would be one of the first faces we met once we got to Taylormade

 

I headed to bed early on the eve of the Taylormade Trip, only be awoken by an email and text from Delta Airlines. My flight out of Newark had been delayed 2 hours, which was going to cause me to miss my connecting flight from Minneapolis-St. Paul to San Diego. I was crushed. The last thing I wanted to do was get there late and miss the first night’s festivities. I scrambled to open my computer and select an alternate flight, per Delta’s instructions. I sorted through the alternates, and all of them got me into San Diego at 8:00PM PST or later. Darn, that would make me miss dinner and drinks at Chandler’s Restaurant and Lounge in Carlsbad, CA. I refreshed the page, and up popped an option that would do the trick! Newark to Atlanta, GA, 2 1/2 hour layover, then off to San Diego. I booked it as fast as I could. Good thing I did, it was the very last seat.

 

Without much fanfare, I left my house at 3:00AM to drive to Newark. I breezed through TSA, headed to the gate, and was on my way to the West Coast. I made it into Atlanta, killed time during the layover, and boarded my connection. I struck up a conversation with the man next to me, an 86 year old Korean War Vet and avid golfer. Apparently he lurks on WRX from time to time. So if you’re reading this, hey Wayne!

 

After about 12 hours of traveling, I finally landed in San Diego. I headed to the baggage claim, grabbed my clubs and checked that they made it in one piece. I then called an Uber using a code that the folks at Taylormade provided for us. Pretty cool. We would use Uber extensively the rest of the trip as our primary mode of transportation. I had left my house about 15 hours prior, so I was famished. I knew that I had to continue the tradition I have when arriving to the West Coast: In-N-Out Burger. I know some West Coast folks may scoff that it’s not the best, but without access to it on the East Coast, it’s really great to get it when you can. I had my Uber driver take me to the hotel to check in first and drop my bags. The ride was only about 35-40 minutes which wasn’t bad at all.

 

In checking into the hotel, I knew that Taylormade was REALLY going to pull out all the stops for this trip. We were lucky enough to stay at the Park Hyatt Aviara. My Uber pulled up and I was greeted by Park Hyatt’s friendly staff. They even graciously offered to help me bring my bags to my room. The Park Hyatt is built on the side of a cliff, so the lobby is actually on the 3rd floor. I made my way up one flight and walked the long trek to room 411. Seriously, this place is huge. I would learn later that my next door neighbor was Zak from GolfWRX. The other guys were scattered around the hotel I believe. We had a group text going, so we all decided to meet up in the lobby around 4pm before heading for dinner. That left me plenty of time to grab another Uber to the In-N-Out a few miles away. I went with the old standby, a double double, fries, and a shake.

 

 

I made my way back to the hotel, grabbed a shower, and headed down to meet the guys. Immediately, it felt like I had known them forever. We hit it off immediately with the shared bond of the game of golf. GolfWRX picked a great group with these fellas, truly some good dudes. After an hour of so of discussion and introductions, we hailed some Ubers and headed off to Chandler’s Restaurant and Lounge. We grabbed a beer and were soon greeted by our hosts, Jory Mendes, and his boss, Ryan Lauder, The Director of Consumer Engagement at TMAG. We had some beers and made our way over to be seated at a long, nicely lit table. We took our seats and continued the conversation. Appetizers of every sort made their way to the table, and soon enough our entrees arrived. The conversation criss-crossed the golf world and covered everything from our favorite courses to our favorite PGA Tour players. We picked our hosts brains about the inner workings of Taylormade and they were open and candid the whole time. It was like having a discussion with your oldest friends. I felt like I had known them for years.

 

 

After finishing dinner, we called it a fairly early night because many of us, myself included, had been up for almost 24 hours. I retired to my room, but not before having a good conversation with Zak and him taking a look at my clubs. They were doing turn down service in his room next door so we killed some time. That’s how nice this place was, turndown service! I’d never experienced that before. I didn’t think I’d be able to fall asleep because of the anticipation but 24 hours awake won out.

 

Welcome to the Kingdom

 

We met in the lobby the next morning and again prepared to summon our chariots on our iPhones. The staff at the hotel was nice enough to drive us there with the hotel shuttle, so no need for Uber. The weather wasn’t looking good at all, but we didn’t let it deter us. Jory and Ryan assured us at dinner the night before that they had a contingency plan if the weather didn’t cooperate. Believe me, it didn’t. We pulled up to the Taylormade headquarters and immediately it sank in. This was real now. The rain was coming down at a steady, but not unbearable pace as we opened the glass panel doors to the Taylormade lobby. Inside was a glitzy foyer decorated with the latest Taylormade equipment, staff bags of their players, the latest Adidas shoe offerings, and a time capsule of Taylormade irons past. We signed in and got our badges and were greeted once again by Jory.

 

 

 

 

 

We stepped through the double doors into a hallway decorated with notable Taylormade clubs from the past few decades. Jory introduced us to Chandler Carr, Manager of Product Creation at TMAG. After a brief introduction, we headed down the hallway and into an open area with warehousing and assembly space on our left, and The Taylormade Tour Department on our right. We made our way into the tour department and stared in amazement at the rows of bins full of tour issue heads, shafts, and grips. Chandler showed us around the tour department and explained that one individual supervises the build of a set from start to finish. They pull the heads, shafts, and grips, put them in their rolling cart, and make their way around the work area to bend, trim, epoxy, grip, and swing weight them. What I found interesting is that Taylormade bends their club heads BEFORE installing a shaft to ensure an accurate loft and lie measurement. Taylormade uses a proprietary epoxy that activates under heat, and is ready to play in 15 minutes.

 

 

 

 

After some time perusing the candy store of gear, we made the short walk across the street to The Kingdom. The lush green range beckoned to us from behind a gate, and with a few steps through the impressive wood doors, we found ourselves inside the Kingdom. We were greeted by Tom Kroll and the whole team of fitters, and placed our gear inside our own personal locker. The rain was steady by this point, and it was clear that we weren’t going to get to hit outside. Alas, the contingency plan was set into motion.

 

 

 

 

 

Measurable and Noticeable

 

The TM folks started off by presenting their new ball, the TP5, and TP5X, which we could tell they were immensely proud of. Michael Fox, the golf ball category director at TM led the presentation. He detailed the advancements with the TP5(x) over prior generations of Tour Preferred balls, and also detailed the strengths of the TP5(x) over their competitors. A softer, lower compression inner core followed by progressively firmer outer cores allow for maximum energy transfer, especially on full shots. The TP5 and x have a soft cast urethane cover that provides ample greenside spin and groove interaction on wedge and partial shots. Michael Fox explained to us that during their testing, Taylormade employed 2 trackman units, one behind their robot/air cannon, and one downrange, connected to fiber optic cables underneath the surface of the range to measure a 3mph increase in ball speed at peak height over their competitors. Reduced spin and a higher launch angle allows for increased distance, especially in the irons. Mike Fox explained that when Taylormade CEO David Abeles came to head up the company, he instilled the mantra “Measureable and Noticeable” to describe their strategy in releasing equipment. They won’t debut a product to market unless it is a measurable improvement, meaning legally defensible, and noticeable, meaning that there’s a marked improvement from a previous iteration that makes a consumer want to buy the new product. TM has gotten flak in the past especially on these boards for releasing too many drivers and other products too soon. Believe me, they hear you.

 

 

After wrapping up the presentation, we were invited to test the TP5x against our gamers… on camera of course =). I volunteered to go first and after getting mic’d up, I set out hitting some 6 irons alternating between Bridgestone B330S and the TP5X. The TP5X launched NOTICEABLY higher, without the added spin that usually comes from such a launch angle. It seemed to fly out there on a towering trajectory and keep going! I picked up 3mph of ball speed with 6 iron. I moved on to driver, but it didn’t really go very well. I consider irons a strength of mine, but driver is definitely a weakness. I tend to be a bit steep with driver, and having 10 people in a room, 2 cameras, and an untested driver, I buckled a bit under the pressure. My swing got short and steep and I hit it horribly. Honestly my data with driver was unusable. I guess they had a good chance of beating my “gamer” with a driver fitting!

 

 

I made my way over to the other side of the building to be fit for my driver. Jason Werner was at the helm of the trackman. I explained to him that the driver in my hands was a last minute backup, and told him what combination I was fit for at Club Champion. he quickly that combo and I hit a few (2017 M2 10.5*, HZRDUS Yellow 6.5) it was good, but Jason thought we could beat it. I was hitting it better than during the golf ball test, but still not great. I was actually missing with a slice, when my miss is almost always a pull or a pull hook. Jason put me into an M1 8.5* Cranked up with a Project X HZDRUS 6.0 Tipped an inch. It was much better than the combo I was previously fit for. Jason thought that was going to be the best combo and didn’t think we had to go much further. I wasn’t completely sold on the combo, but I deferred to his knowledge. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust the combo itself, it’s that I wasn’t hitting ANYTHING all that well, so I didn’t know how it would perform on course when my swing was better. I’m glad I trusted him, because it was AMAZING on course. Jason Werner is who JDAY requests to work with when he comes to the Kingdom so obviously he knows his stuff.

 

Finally, it was time for my putter fitting with Duane Anderson. He’s an absolute putter nerd, and I was excited to get started. I brought my Directed Force Reno putter and was very curious to see what they would say about it at TM. I’ve putted very well in the rounds I’ve played with it. We used Taylormade’s MATT system, which uses 8 cameras and a reflective ball to map your putting stroke in 3D. It’s very much the GEARS of putting. Duane mapped out my individual putter and we set out to get some data. Throughout the fitting, Duane kept saying to himself “interesting….” I didn’t know if that was a bad thing or a good thing! I made a bunch of putts with the DF, so I hoped the numbers would be good. After hitting about 15 putts with the DF, Duane put a Spider Limited Platinum in my hands. I made a bunch with that too. Finally we tried out the Tour Preferred Berwick, and a missed a few with that to the right. Typically, my miss is a pull. I rarely ever push putts. We broke down the data, and the long and short of it is that Duane didn’t like the DF for me. I hit putts a bit off the toe and tend to have a bit of a closed face coming into impact. The Berwick, with a bit of toe hang, made the face come into impact open. The Spider was very close to square every time.

 

 

This is where I’m not totally sure about Duane’s assessment of the Directed Force. He said that I come into impact with a closed face, and hit it off the toe in order to spin the putter face open and hit the putt on line. The Directed Force is lie angle balanced so it swings freely about the lie angle. Duane said it does a great job of that but is susceptible to twisting on off center hits. I understand his explanation and his vast knowledge about putters and putting, but that just hasn’t been my experience with this putter. Maybe I just compensate well with it and haven’t noticed. I think the MOI is so high on it that the starting direction isn’t affected by the balancing. I’m not saying Duane is wrong by any means. I just think I need to test it more extensively “In the Wild” so to speak. Spider Platinium Limited 35" 2° flat 2° strong and Pistol GTR 2.0 is what I was fitted into.

 

 

I caught the tail end of the metalwoods presentation because I was doing my putter fitting, so I’ll defer to the other gents about what they learned there. I did get to ask 1 or 2 questions and take a few pictures. I asked that if since COR is limited, are there really going to be that many exponential improvements in performance due to CG movements etc, and have we reached a ceiling on performance. They said there absolutely is a ceiling, but they’re nowhere near it yet. They’re very proud of all of their technological advancements, especially the SLDR and this year’s M1/M2.

 

 

We made our way back across the street to the Tour Department/main building where we were given an extensive tour of some R&D areas. That’s all I’m allowed to say. There were no pictures, and I can’t discuss what we saw. Suffice it to say that these guys are doing some groundbreaking stuff.

 

We worked with Chandler Carr and some of the guys in the Tour Department to have our drivers built to spec, right in front of us! They went right up to the wall of tour driver heads, grabbed one off for each of us, grabbed the shaft we were fit fit, and let us pick whatever grip we wanted. I was tempted to try out an MCC+4 Midsize, but I went with my usual NDMC Black/White because I thought it would look better. Chandler and the tour guys made short work of our driver assemblies, and soon enough we were back at the Kingdom testing them out. With the remaining time we hit some of the new irons and wedges before departing for the hotel. i’m a big fan of the P770s and the MG wedges. The P770s look very similar to my MP25’s or a set of MP15s, with a tidy little topline and not too much heft.

 

 

I Remember My First Beer…

 

After a quick shower and break at the hotel it was off to Barrel Republic to sample some craft beers and wines before dinner. I’m not an expert in beer at all, so I relied on Jory to be my beer sensei. We sampled tons of different varieties, and before we knew it, it was time to go to Campfire for dinner. Their claim to fame is making drinks and food inspired by an open flame. I opted for a Charred Parsnip cocktail (tequila, charcoal, lime, salt at the suggestion of Josh from TM. For dinner I went with the meat pie. The guys gave me some flak for not finishing mine, but I swear it was way bigger than their portions. After dinner and more lively conversation with Jory, Ryan, Josh, and Mike Fox, some of the group went back to the hotel, and the rest of us headed back a few blocks to Barrel Republic for some more drinks. We stayed there another hour or two and then headed back to the hotel via Uber. My uber group was treated to a Mercedes M Class and great conversation with our driver. Apparently the other guys got Ricardo Grande’d by their uber drivers and were forced to call for another. I checked the forums a bit and it was off to bed for a good night sleep before teeing it up at Aviara.

 

 

 

Where’s the First Tee and What’s The Course Record?

 

I jokingly asked Jory this on our way to begin our round. I had a great warmup session after we left the hotel at 6:15AM to make the short trip from the hotel to the course. Zak shot some photos of us hitting our drivers and we split up into our foursomes. I was lucky enough to get paired with Zak and Brian of GolfWRX, and Jory Mendes of TMAG in the first group. All of them are great players. Jory said he doesn’t get to play as much as he’d like but his game doesn’t show that. He hits it great. Zak hits it a mile and I don’t think there’s any weaknesses in his game. Brian is a master with a wedge, and he hit quite a few tour level chips and pitches that spun back nicely.

 

 

We had a fun and relaxing round, opting to play two 9 hole best ball matches. First up it was Me and Brian against Zak and Jory. We got it handed to us haha. They beat us 4UP I believe. They were Ham and Egging it for sure. On the back 9 after some lunch at the turn and some adult beverages (hey, it was after noon on the East Coast) we switched to cart teams and Jory and I took on the guys from GolfWRX or as Jory jokingly called them, the Motor City Muppets. We were down a bit and went dormie on 15 green. On 16 we really had our work cut out for us. Jory piped a drive down the middle and Zak and Brian were on the left side of the fairway or just off. I massively pulled my drive onto the adjacent hole. I had a shot into the green with about 135 in over the pond on the left side of the green. I took 8 iron because the wind was strongly in my face. I was afraid of tugging it into the water, and I pushed it right of the flag. Took a big hop and went through the green. I had a little downslope to hit off of in the rough, caught it clean and hit it to 2 feet for par. Jory hit one in the water but I was in with par. Zak had 2 putts to win the match, and lagged his first to about 3 feet. Now, I don’t know if it was a miss, or if Zak was being generous, but he pulled it, and lipped it out. The match goes on!

 

17 Tee, I pull my drive a bit and struggle to get out of the junk, so my ball is pretty much a non starter. Jory hits Driver and has roughly 265 into the green by my estimation. He’s sitting in the rough, and decides to take driver off the deck. He pushes it a tiny bit and it winds up in a bunker by the green on an adjacent hole. The bunker was like concrete and he caught a bit too much ball. He hit a marvelous flop to 2 feet and tapped in for par, but it wasn’t enough to get Zak’s birdie. The GolfWRX guys had the match. Honestly, I think whoever was playing with Zak would have won because he was hitting it really well. I will say though, Jory made 3 birdies to Zak’s 1, so that’s worth noting. Jory hits it great. They all do. We decided to play double or nothing (double pride) on 18. We played through the hole, but Zak and Brian had to leave before putting out to catch their flight in time. So….. We won! Victory is so sweet!

 

 

I thought I was hitting it pretty decent, but you could see the Winter rust was definitely there. I was hitting driver really well though, and Jason Werner’s fitting skills shined through. The M1 is incredible. I was actually missing a few left with some hooks, so moved the weight 3 clicks toward fade half way through the round and it was mostly straight balls after that. I switched off between the TP5 and x and really came to love the X. It launches nice and high and is plenty soft feeling especially off putter and wedge. The regular TP5 spun a bit too much for me and was shorter. I actually flew some greens with the X, it’s really long! I’d say I gained at least 7 or 8 yards with irons. Once I gain my in-season form this ball and driver is going to be even better than it is now. i have a feeling I’m going to hit driver to places I’ve never been before. This is the first driver I’ve truly been fit for. I’ll have to see how the putter shakes out, like I said previously.

 

Is it really over?

 

After finishing our round, we waited to see the other groups come in to 18. There were tons of people milling around near the back of the green/practice green, presumably talking about setup for the LPGA KIA Classic. The course was in fine condition, especially considering the fact that it got 3 inches of rain the day and night before. Aviara is a BEAUTIFUL layout, and every hole is unique it seems. It’s a very tough test, especially for a casual golfer, but great players like Jory, Zak, and Drew had few issues navigating it. Once everyone made it to 18, we headed to the practice green to say our goodbyes. Jory informed us that Taylormade will be hooking us up with a full bag in the coming weeks so it made a bittersweet end to the day that much sweeter. The 5 of us piled back into the hotel shuttle and said goodbye to George and Drew who had to depart for the airport shortly after. Brian,Darrin and I decided to go for one last In-N-Out run as Darrin had never been before! I was there until early Wednesday morning, an additional night, so I grabbed a cheap rental car, and went up North on I-5 to Irvine to sneak in a lesson with my teacher and friend Monte Scheinblum. He had my swing sorted in 15 minutes so we grabbed some dinner. Another bonus tacked on the trip!

 

I packed my bags that night and got to sleep early, still exhausted from the time change and the incredible experiences of Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. I drove my rental car back to San Diego and boarded my first flight to San Francisco. My connecting flight to Newark was delayed an hour and a half, almost 2 hours by the time we sat on the tarmac. There was turbulence East of Denver so everyone was to remain seated from there to Newark. A little dog yapped the whole way as well. I guess it was the universe saying that I had too good of a time out on the West Coast!! When we finally landed, i went to the baggage claim to get my sticks, but they didn’t come out, even after a long time. On a hunch, I went to the regular baggage claim where the rest of the bags from our flight were, not the oversize carousel. There I found my SKB hard case half dangling off the merry-go-round of luggage with 2 of 3 latches undone. I wrestled it off and found a love note from TSA that my bag had been checked (more like rummaged through and slammed back together.) I went to my Jeep in long term parking and made the hour drive home where I was greeted by my two dogs. It was sad that this once in a lifetime experience was over, but I was glad to be home with my pups and family.

 

Thank you.

 

I want to extend the most sincere and heartfelt thank you to my trip mates Brian, Darrin, Drew, and George for enhancing this experience, and becoming 4 of my good friends, to Zak and Brian of GolfWRX for selecting us and facilitating this journey, and THANK YOU to the folks at Taylormade, Jory Mendes, Ryan Lauder, Chandler Carr, Michael Fox, Tom Kroll, and the entire crew! You guys created an experience that was unforgettable. I haven’t had such a big Perma-Smile since I was 7 years old at Disney World. I don’t think there’s enough adjectives or expressions to describe what this 3 day journey to Carlsbad was.

 

Taylormade invited us into their headquarters, their home, and made us feel like one of their team, like family. They have an unbelievable work environment, and you can tell that they really are friends, not just coworkers. They love the game of golf, and they want to share their incredible products with the golfing community. They’re not just a marketing machine, they’re real human beings that take pride in their work and the products that they produce. They read these forums, they read the criticisms and the praise for their company. They take all of your words to heart. Realize that Taylormade isn’t just a golf equipment goliath. They are "a company of golfers, for golfers who take our game seriously, but not ourselves” to quote Jory’s first email to us.

 

I am grateful and humbled to have been a part of this extraordinary adventure. I will never forget the hospitality that was extended to us. I can only hope that I can work for a company as great as Taylormade during my lifetime. I’m a Taylormade guy for life.

 

[BCULAW]

So...the real question is who asked about new muscleback irons? Or whatever irons Tiger is helping them design.

 

Did you see anything you can't discuss????

 

I don't want to speak out of turn, but I understood that there would be a new blade later this year and Irons for Tiger are coming, but no timeline is established. Now, here's the rub - I can't say for certain whether the "blade" and the "Tiger iron" are one in the same, or whether they would be two separate offerings. At the time of the discussion, I was under the impression that they would be two separate projects. It wasn't until later that I realized that I may have misunderstood.

 

I also understood we may see a bridge between the 770 irons and the M1 irons around Fall, but, again, don't hold me to that.

 

Let me say that if you don't want to wait, the 2014s are hard to improve upon, AND, if you really want a new set, the P750s have at least as small a profile as the 2014 MBs and maybe smaller. Smallest CB iron I've seen in a while, with incredibly thin soles. I'm a big MB guy, and would love to get a set of the 2014s from the trip, but will likely go with the 750s to: 1) give and review to the Board; and 2) cause they are pretty darn sweet looking, even to this blade player.

[CKalma]

Great write up Schnee!

[Schnee]

I'll have to resize my pictures, they came out funny, like screenshots almost. I'll be posting quite a few more in addition to those.

[BCULAW]

I'm sitting here on my couch watching San Andreas, and having a little bonding time with my new driver. Anyone else watch tv with a golf club in hand?

[GC70]

I can't believe it has been 6 years since I got to go on this same trip!!!!

 

All the pics bring back so many memories!

 

OMG is it really? I'm getting (am) old!

 

We found out that Brian is the jinx! It rains every time he goes down to California!

 

So we kind of blame you for not coming. ;)

[CKalma]

So...the real question is who asked about new muscleback irons? Or whatever irons Tiger is helping them design.

 

Did you see anything you can't discuss????

 

I don't want to speak out of turn, but I understood that there would be a new blade later this year and Irons for Tiger are coming, but no timeline is established. Now, here's the rub - I can't say for certain whether the "blade" and the "Tiger iron" are one in the same, or whether they would be two separate offerings. At the time of the discussion, I was under the impression that they would be two separate projects. It wasn't until later that I realized that I may have misunderstood.

 

I also understood we may see a bridge between the 770 irons and the M1 irons around Fall, but, again, don't hold me to that.

 

Let me say that if you don't want to wait, the 2014s are hard to improve upon, AND, if you really want a new set, the P750s have at least as small a profile as the 2014 MBs and maybe smaller. Smallest CB iron I've seen in a while, with incredibly thin soles. I'm a big MB guy, and would love to get a set of the 2014s from the trip, but will likely go with the 750s to: 1) give and review to the Board; and 2) cause they are pretty darn sweet looking, even to this blade player.

 

Thanks for the reply. I love my 2014 MBs. They're going to be hard to beat, but like any Taylormade club ho, I can never settle with the current option. I'm extremely jealous of you guys and I know I don't post a whole lot here about clubs and that's looked for in these trips. I'm more of a smart a** commenter, but my obsession of Taylormade and their new equipment will always exist. That always seem to make people excited about their new offerings. Even the Cally and Titleist guys seem to venture into these threads.

 

Anyways glad you all had a great experience. It looks like you all had a blast even with the rain. Try living in Washington state...

[BCULAW]

I can't believe it has been 6 years since I got to go on this same trip!!!!

 

All the pics bring back so many memories!

 

OMG is it really? I'm getting (am) old!

 

We found out that Brian is the jinx! It rains every time he goes down to California!

 

So we kind of blame you for not coming. ;)

 

Knudson! Not Ussery!! I lived in California for 2 months and never saw a drop of rain! Knudson comes in for a long weekend and it rains a foot!

[GC70]

We need to hear more about the round at Avaria. Those of us who lived vicariously through you guys want more!

 

One of the most beautiful courses I've played! You hardly ever see another hole when you are playing. Most course usually have fairways run next to each other at least have the time. No two holes were alike. It was in great shape with all the rain. The bunkers were in rough shape, but that can be expected with that much rain. One of the tunnels was flooded and they had the pump working overtime.

 

The greens were big and had lots of breaks that I really did see. I'd hit a put and it would go by four feet, then one would dive left or right. But if I wasn't so lazy and look from the other side you'd see it was down hill or went left or right.

 

I played like complete dung! Living in the state of hockey I pretty much haven't played since September. I embarrassed myself and felt bad for my group. I was hitting my irons really good on the range, but that's about it. Put it this way I had 3 pars in a row and one GIR, of course I pushed my 5 footer. When things go south, I swing harder and it gets really bad and then I just lose interest. So I just went through the motions and enjoyed the company and scenery.

 

Darrin was great and probably shot around par. Darrin hit a rock with the TP5 the softer ball of the two and we really had to look hard to find s little mark. Nice playing with you Darrin. Chandler had a big swooping drawing hook that hit about every fairway. One hole he must of started it out 50 yards out of bounds and ended up on the left side of the fairway. Josh probably shot par also, young 25 year old stud.

 

The course was and is out standing!

[Hairpie]

I'm sitting here on my couch watching San Andreas, and having a little bonding time with my new driver. Anyone else watch tv with a golf club in hand?

 

All the damn time....

[madrgolfer]

By any chance did u guys get an idea of the grip size that most tour guys play? Always have been interested