MD/DC/VA Golfers - Twelve Monkeys Mental Divergence

[misplacedtexan83]

USGA/R&A distance report: Ever-increasing length 'detrimental to the game'Interesting ..

 

[tungstenplug]

Interesting indeed. I tried to get through the whole distance report issued by the USGA today but I am not a very good reader. Here is another summary of it: https://www.geoffshackelford.com/

Edited February 26, 2023 by tungstenplug

[FAbb]

From the golf channel summary:Left unchecked, the report says, it’s possible that elite players might soon be able to generate swing speeds of 145 mph, ball speeds topping 215 mph and drives in excess of 400 yards.

Wut? They also said the report acknowledged that it's not just club technology contributing to the continuing rise in distance, but the above claim still seems pretty wild. Cam Champ led the PGA Tour in club head speed last year, with an average of 128, and a high of 135. He's over 3mph faster on average than the next closest player, and his high is 5mph faster than anybody else clocked. It's hard to imagine guys getting to 145mph, without busting out long drive clubs, and massively crushing their accuracy.

[vtnerf]

And yet, the Earth was flat at one time as well.

[TheCityGame]

I'd prefer not to hit it shorter, just as I'd prefer not to make less money and have a smaller apartment. 

It's relative.

I don't care if I hit it shorter as long as everyone else I'm playing against hits it shorter. I don't care if I make less money as long as bread and milk are cheaper.

Scoring is arbitrary. Beating people is real.

[misplacedtexan83]

Kyle Berkshire has been messing around with a 45inch driver .. he has gotten 150 mph. Can’t imagine many being able too

[tungstenplug]

I'm all for leveling the playing field though

[FAbb]

This data goes back to 2007 - https://www.pgatour.com/content/pgatour/stats/stat.02401.y2007.html

Ole Gerry Watson led the pack, at 124mph. The 2nd-9th place guys were over 120mph, but less than 124mph.

Fast forward 12 years - https://www.pgatour.com/content/pgatour/stats/stat.02401.y2019.html

Cam is on top by a signficant margin, at 128mph. The 2nd guy topped 124mph. The 3rd-25th place guys were over 120mph, but less than 124mph.

The single fastest guy is faster. There are more guys with elite speed than there were 12 years ago, but elite speed hasn't changed by squadoosh. So to me, it seems like quite a stretch that "Left unchecked, the report says, it’s possible that elite players might soon be able to generate swing speeds of 145 mph, ball speeds topping 215 mph and drives in excess of 400 yards."

[baddomes]

Professional Golf will have an actual distance problem when better athletes begin playing golf for a living, but not until then.

 

Total Clubhead Speed is my new favorite stat. You DO NOT want to watch a PGA Tour with more than three guys over 17,000mph of total clubhead speed. Trust me you DO NOT.

 

[willboyrd]

Commie

[dcmidnight]

I think this is all just a bogus effort by the USGA to keep themselves relative and keep themselves in the news.

I've told this story before but I was at the Players one year for a practice round and slipped as I crossed the 16th fairway. I didnt slip because it was wet, it was that the fairway even on the slightest angle, was absolutely hard as cement and the grass was cut so short it was almost like someone just sprinkled some grass shavings on cement. As long as they keep having fairways like that guys will be bombing it on tour. But god forbid they raise the mower deck a quarter of a millimeter. The discussion about the USGA and distance is exhausting and has absolutely no bearing on the 99.9999% of golfers that dont play on tour.

Spent almost four hours outside today. Hit balls for @ two hours and then got out for a few holes. Hit 4 or 5 balls off each tee. Not working on anything at all, not really paying much attention to anything other than enjoying being outside.

[FAbb]

#project5wood is getting under way. I kind of wanted something with a smaller head, but I like my TS2 3 wood so much, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to grab a TS2 5 wood head from the BST for a decent price. I also wanted something heavier (over 80 grams) to put in it, which is sort of a pain to find. There are some shafts you can get in that weight range, but golfworks only carries the lighter weights. A little searching on ebay turned up an unused, original VTS Silver 8s, for 40 bucks. Jackpot. I should get the pieces this week, and I'll take it over to 2nd Swing to have them build it.

 

TL;DR - I'll probably be selling a 5 wood by mid-April, at the latest.

[Sterling_247]

I bought a Cobra F8 4 hybrid a couple days ago from 2nd Swing (online) no idea if I'll like it but watched the Crossfield review and it pretty much has to be more consistent than my 4 iron

Yesterday I noticed that Daniel Berger won an event with the same ancient irons (TM MC '11) that I currently have in my bag, makes me wonder why I'm drawn to new irons

Fabb, when the time comes for you to get rid of that 5 wood....send me a message, I'm sure I'll have purchased and hated another 3 hybrid by then

[FAbb]

NLU Talk Wednesday : I caught Episode 2 of Tourist Sauce: Carolinas last night. They played the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island. Soly and Neil dueled it out from the tournament tees, around 7300 yards, with the rest of the crew playing up around 6400 yards. It seemed like they all pretty much got whacked by the course. They didn't appear to either really like, or dislike the course. None of them seemed all that jazzed about the idea of having to pay $500 to do it. They mostly gained appreciation of watching future events there, and looking back on past events, now that they've actually played the course. That kind of thing doens't do a whole lot for me, but to each his own. I still like the way they're going with the season so far. Not too heavy handed with the course architecture stuff. Not even fractionally as bro-centric as the last Wild World of Golf was. Lots of having fun playing matches and stuff. I liked that they had Soly and Neil grinding it out just playing each other, really without a care for the fact that the course was beating both of them. I'm not exactly super jazzed up about the next episode being dedicated to a round of mini golf. Hopefully they at least keep it short and fun, rather than milking it for a 30 minute episode.

[TheCityGame]

I have the f6 and I like it. I had a long history of sucking with hybrids, but I've put it together over the last couple years. I have the one they label 3/4 which is set at 20.5º.

I'm actually thinking about swapping out my 4 iron for the 4/5, which is about 23.5º. I think they have one in Columbia right now for like $50.

I feel a little more confidence these days with the hybrid than the 4 iron. I hit a beauty with it from 200 yesterday, but I also smothered one off one tee with it.

I noticed Webb Simpson this week goes D-3W-5W-H21-H23-5-PW then he goes 54-60. Seems like a lot of coverage at the top of the bag with the trade-off of a big gap between PW and 54. (his PW is 47º).

 

[Sterling_247]

I saw the same thing about Webb which prompted the thought. I started thinking about the dispersion/strike consistency that I get from my 4 iron and my memory isn't perfect but it's very clear that I can improve in that area. I de-loft alot so the hybrid should help get it up in the air a little better for me and hopefully reduce the damage from mishits

I'm working on finding either a 3h or 5w to replace my driving iron. I love the thing off the tee, but honestly I need a little more height coming into the greens. Endless and his white pants can attest to how well the DI works from the rough

[GooseHook]

VTS life is everything, when I installed my Silver in the Flash SZ 5w it was like hitting my old G15 all over again.

I'm all out of club projects at the moment- whittled down all the driver shafts and now have my keeper, but it's difficult to not try to find something to tinker with my new hotmelt gun.

[FAbb]

I had a DI that I really loved off the tee, but it was so one-dimensional. It was completely useless for long approaches, and long par 3s. At the distance I hit the ball, the frequency with which I need a club of that yardage to try and hit a green is so much higher than the frequency I need it off the tee.

I'm actually seeing the 5 wood as a potential add to the bag, as opposed to replacing anything. It feels like there's a decent gap between my 15 degree 3 wood, and 20 degree hybrid. There might not be, if I switched to a 4 wood, but I don't feel like I hit it far enough to do that. Having the 15 degree brings some par 5s into reach for me, that a 4w just wouldn't. I'll definitely be top-end-heavy, if it makes the cut. I added the 4-iron to my set, so I'll have Driver -> 15 degree 3 wood -> 18 degree 5 wood -> 20 degree hybrid -> 22.5 degree 4-iron at the top of the bag. It does look a bit crammed on paper, so it'll be interesting to see how it works in play.

[misplacedtexan83]

@Sterling_247

you can borrow my flash 5w w/VTS silver 70S if you would like.

[Sterling_247]

This is the exact same situation that I'm in. I would be interested to see your results

If my numbers are as similar to yours as I suspect they are, you probably have a 20-25 yd gap between 3w and 3h

[ceejay81]

I noticed Webb Simpson this week goes D-3W-5W-H21-H23-5-PW then he goes 54-60. Seems like a lot of coverage at the top of the bag with the trade-off of a big gap between PW and 54. (his PW is 47º).

 

For an apples to apples comparison, I just removed my GW to add back my 5W. My bag now is D, 3W, 5W, 4h-6h, 7-PW, 54, 60, 64. The 5 wedge setup was an elite level move. It's not for everybody.

hashtag:ALLTHEHEADCOVERS

 

[FAbb]

You hit the ball higher, and further than I do, based on a sample size of one round of watching you play :)

I'd say the gap between my 3w and 3h is on the high end of your guess, at least.

[Sterling_247]

Off the tee, that's debatable.

As for the gap, mines a gap from 3w 250 - 3h 230. The problem is I then have a gab from DI 230 - 4iron 200

[FAbb]

I was hitting a lot of balls teed up extremely low when we played, and Worthington was rewarding the resulting traj with copious amounts of roll.

 

I hope to achieve approximately this:

3w (240-250)

5w (225-235)

3h (210-215)

4i (195-200)

[Sterling_247]

That's almost exactly the same gap that I'm looking for. I have too many wedges for the 5w and 3h so one has to go. I may need to be looking at a 4w - 3h setup

[willboyrd]

What are your projected 3w, 5w, and 3h specs?

 

That is a bigger gap in 'max' yardages of between 5w and 3h than I would have anticipated.

 

 

[FAbb]

I don't play a 60 degree wedge, so I've got room to have more options at the top of the bag. I go 45-50-56 with my wedges.

[TheCityGame]

Anyone watch Ep 2 of Tourist Source?

I don't really get how long stretches of the videos are just shots, shots, putts, shots, shots.

There's no context for the golf. A few of them were playing the tips, but I never got, "man, I crushed that drive and I've still got 220 into this par 4." or how far up the other tees were.

These guys are always playing a match, but there's never any idea for what's going on. Just every couple minutes, one guy goes, "I'm 1 up, even on the press, up on the other press, blah blah blah". They seemed to know how to film a match when they were playing Wolf Hammer.

Anyway, the course looked nice. They talked about how hard it was, but again, didn't really show it, except for endless clips of guys chipping out of bushes.

------

The Phil commercial is pretty funny.

Guy : "I'd like to be friends with this one guy at work. His name is Mike,"

Phil, "he sounds cool."

Too bad Amstel sucks.

[FAbb]

I'm doing a lot more WAG'ing than projecting at this point.

 

The 5w will be 18 degrees, playing at 42". The hybrid is a stock Callaway 815 BBA 20 degree, that I've been playing for years now. Not sure the specs on it.

[FAbb]

Anyone watch Ep 2 of Tourist Source?

Yeah, I posted briefly about it. It could certainly be improved, but it's already improving on the last season, IMO. It's thus far been completely devoid of Tron talking golf course architecture, and proclaiming every other hole as "honestly one of the best holes we played the entire trip." That alone makes it a major improvement.

I feel like we did get a bit of seeing long approaches from Soly and Neil, who were off the tommee tippees. There definitely wasn't enough context to understand how their match ended up the way it did. It seemed like Neil was about a million over par, but somehow Soly was only a few up in spite of the fact he was only 3 over through 14 holes. They said he was only giving him 6, so I don't really know how the F it all worked out.

It's a lot of self-filming, and they're on a course with other golfers. You could tell Soly and Neil were filming each other, and the same goes for the other 3 guys (though you can tell DJ does the most filming of those 3). It's a real "first world problem" type nitpick considering this is their job, but all the pressure to film would be such a big bummer to me. It would really take the ability to enjoy the golf experience way down.

Overall, they still seem to be trying to find their way. The episodes are 30 mins or less, and they're trying to cover the course, the experience, and some of the golf. That's not a lot of time to do it in.