Phabs WITB - Heavy on the Artisan

[Phabs]

11 minutes ago, Obsessed said:

What length did you set the two iron at?

Right in between 2 iron and 3 iron length basically.  

[Phabs]

Caddied my way to a round of 67 with a triple 🤣.  We’re paired with one of the guys who beat him last year and he’s pissed so we’ll see how tomorrow goes at 8:30am.  My buddy was still banging balls 3 hours after we were done due to spraying a driver ob and then catching an atrocious lie in a manhole divot on the provisional.   
 

Went to the range after and had the worst bucket of the year.  Felt like I’ve never swung a club before.  

[MGN01]

Great set of clubs.  Loved the wedges.  I use the M3 driver too.  Glad to see someone with your handicap using it too.  lol.

[Phabs]

Played in my first tournament of the year and blew up the first day and fought back some day two.  First day the driver decided to not participate, smoked two OB right on par 5's which lead to a double and a scrambling bogey.   Had zero confidence with the Aerojet and fell back to trying to demolish three wood off of everything.  Shot myself completely out of the tournament day one with a 77 on a course I've played plenty and shot pretty low on which was super irritating.   Putter was pretty bad both rounds as well - only two 3 jacks in two days but I couldn't buy a putt inside 10 feet - line was junk or speed was junk all weekend.  When the speed was good line was junk and vis versa. 

 

Went home and pulled my cobra tip off the KBS TD shaft , cleaned everything up and shafted it into my old M3 head.   Day two I drove the ball perfect all day and didn't miss a fairway.  The M3 is probably 10-15 yards behind the Aerojet but it was in the middle so I didn't care.   Shot 68 day two and finished tied for 10th.  Winner shot 65/66 and won by three.   I didn't have a low round in me with the swing / driver swing I showed up with - no excuses just need to go work harder.   

 

I'm going to try something smoother in the Aerojet head shaft wise and see if that gives me some consistency back with it before I start over in the driver slot.  If I do have to start over think I'm going to try the Paradym TD first but I'm hoping something softer with more kick than the LAGP may be beneficial when I'm not swinging 1000%. 

 

About the only bright spot was all the short game work paid dividends both days - my chipping was above average.  Just couldn't hole a putt to save my life - not the wedges fault haha 

Edited June 12, 2023 by Phabs

[MattM97]

6 minutes ago, Phabs said:

Played in my first tournament of the year and blew up the first day and fought back some day two.  First day the driver decided to not participate, smoke two OB on par 5's which lead to a double and a scrambling bogey.   Had zero confidence with the Aerojet and resulted to trying to demolish three wood off of everything.  Shot myself completely out of the tournament day one with a 77 on a course I've played plenty and shot pretty low on which was super irritating.   Putter was pretty bad both rounds as well - only two 3 jacks in two days but I couldn't buy a putt inside 10 feet - line was junk or speed was junk all weekend.  When the speed was good line was junk and vis versa. 

 

Went home and pulled my cobra tip off the KBS TD shaft , cleaned everything up and shafted it into my old M3 head.   Day two I drove the ball perfect all day and didn't miss a fairway.  The M3 is probably 10-15 yards behind the Aerojet but it was in the middle so I didn't care.   Shot 68 day two and finished tied for 10th.  Winner shot 65/66 and won by three.   I didn't have a low round in me with the swing / driver swing up I showed up with - no excuses just need to go work harder.   

 

I'm going to try something smoother in the Aerojet head shaft wise and see if that gives me some consistency back with it before I start over in the driver slot.  If I do have to start over think I'm going to try the Paradym TD first but I'm hoping something softer with more kick than the LAGP may be beneficial when I'm not swinging 1000%. 

 

About the only bright spot was all the short game work paid dividends both days - my chipping was above average.  Just couldn't hole a putt to save my life - not the wedges fault haha 

 

Sounds like it's Graphite Design time, I tried one for the first time in a long time last week and man just an easy swing felt so freaking good. If they weren't insane I'd be tempting to buy and try one in my driver. 

 

As for the rest of the game that sucks but that's golf as you know. Sometimes game doesn't show up when it matters. 

[Phabs]

12 minutes ago, MattM97 said:

 

Sounds like it's Graphite Design time, I tried one for the first time in a long time last week and man just an easy swing felt so freaking good. If they weren't insane I'd be tempting to buy and try one in my driver. 

 

As for the rest of the game that sucks but that's golf as you know. Sometimes game doesn't show up when it matters. 

Have an X flex 1K blue on the way to replace the TX in the driver now.   We'll see how it goes - will be here tomorrow and i'll be on the range the rest of the week down at the end with no one else around me haha. 

[MattM97]

1 hour ago, Phabs said:

Have an X flex 1K blue on the way to replace the TX in the driver now.   We'll see how it goes - will be here tomorrow and i'll be on the range the rest of the week down at the end with no one else around me haha. 

 

Nice I want to order my 3W and just sit there with my driver for an hour but pissing rain here just getting my long game going. I'll be that guy on the range who hits nothing but driver for 2 hours. 

[Phabs]

Not a whole lot to write about lately.  Been a poor year for my swing and scoring wise - I've lost some confidence in the Aerojet off the tee which is hurting me at least 3-4 times a round. I feel like I've lost a ton of speed with the driver and feel like I'm guiding the ball rather than making an aggressive move at it with confidence yet when I jump on a monitor my numbers are above where I was this time last year ball and clubhead speed wise.  I may pull the old faithful M3 out for my tournament next Sunday and see how it goes.   I've got the Aerojet slathered with about 6-7 grams of lead tape with the toe weight pulled and I have about 3 grams on my LTDX 3 wood - both are going to get sent to a buddy for some hotmelt as soon as this next tournament is over. 

 

I picked up a 58* vokey T grind that I'm messing around with and I really like the versatility of the bounce around the green.  Club sits super flush to the ground wide open on tight lies and make you feel like you're never going to knife one.   I've spent about 3 hours a week for the last 8-10 weeks at the chipping green at my local course working on the short-game chef motion and I have some good rounds with it and some terrible ones.  Just need to engrain it into my brain after 30 years of chipping a different way, it's going to take some time.   I did buy one of the new project x wedge specific shafts for the vokey in 6.5 flex and I do like how similar in flex and feel it is to the 6.5 iron shafts. 

 

Pretty positive I'm going to put in for a set of Artisan CB irons so I'll be clearing out my MMC's to make room for them this winter.  Going to swap the blackout project x's in to the Artisans and have them MOI built like I did with the MP20's and my Nikes.  

 

On a bright note the Artisan putter has been rock solid this year after an immense amount of practice time over winter and spring.  Crazy... you practice a ton and get better.   My last tournament I made over 100 feet of puts on day one and ran out of talent for day two - managed to finish in the top 5 with a junk driver move both days.  

Edited August 4, 2023 by Phabs

[BIG STU]

6 hours ago, Phabs said:

Not a whole lot to write about lately.  Been a poor year for my swing and scoring wise - I've lost some confidence in the Aerojet off the tee which is hurting me at least 3-4 times a round. I feel like I've lost a ton of speed with the driver and feel like I'm guiding the ball rather than making an aggressive move at it with confidence yet with I jump on a monitor my numbers are above where I was this time last year ball and clubhead speed wise.  I may pull the old faithful M3 out for my tournament next Sunday and see how it goes.   I've got the Aerojet slathered with about 6-7 grams of lead tape with the toe weight pulled and I have about 3 grams on my LTDX 3 wood - both are going to get sent to a buddy for some hotmelt as soon as this next tournament is over. 

 

I picked up a 58* vokey T grind that I'm messing around with and I really like the versatility of the bounce around the green.  Club sits super flush to the ground wide open on tight lies and make you feel like you're never going to knife one.   I've spent about 3 hours a week for the last 8-10 weeks at the chipping green at my local course working on the short-game chef motion and I have some good rounds with it and some terrible ones.  Just need to engrain it into my brain after 30 years of chipping a different way, it's going to take some time.   I did buy one of the new project x wedge specific shafts for the vokey in 6.5 flex and I do like how similar in flex and feel it is to the 6.5 iron shafts. 

 

Pretty positive I'm going to put in for a set of Artisan CB irons so I'll be clearing out my MMC's to make room for them this winter.  Going to swap the blackout project x's in to the Artisans and have them MOI built like I did with the MP20's and my Nikes.  

 

On a bright note the Artisan putter has been rock solid this year after an immense amount of practice time over winter and spring.  Crazy... you practice a ton and get better.   My last tournament I made over 100 feet of puts on day one and ran out of talent for day two - managed to finish in the top 5 with a subpar driver move both days.  

On drivers you never know. The old Alpha in my signature was never meant to be in the bag. I did a trade deal on it mainly for profit and the shaft. Looking at the club I liked the look and the way it sat. I took it to the range and got a little more yardage out of it but the main thing was I was so straight with it. I have gained my reputation around my club as a straight driver of the ball with this driver. I could give 2 hoots less if it is nearly 10 years old

[Phabs]

On 8/4/2023 at 5:11 AM, BIG STU said:

On drivers you never know. The old Alpha in my signature was never meant to be in the bag. I did a trade deal on it mainly for profit and the shaft. Looking at the club I liked the look and the way it sat. I took it to the range and got a little more yardage out of it but the main thing was I was so straight with it. I have gained my reputation around my club as a straight driver of the ball with this driver. I could give 2 hoots less if it is nearly 10 years old

It’s a swing flaw causing heel contact and a nasty big cut that gets me in trouble with the Aerojet.  I’m starting to narrow down the cause but being able to constantly duplicate the “good” swing hasn’t been easy.  Guess that’s the insanity of golf 

[glm]

On 8/4/2023 at 7:11 AM, BIG STU said:

On drivers you never know. The old Alpha in my signature was never meant to be in the bag. I did a trade deal on it mainly for profit and the shaft. Looking at the club I liked the look and the way it sat. I took it to the range and got a little more yardage out of it but the main thing was I was so straight with it. I have gained my reputation around my club as a straight driver of the ball with this driver. I could give 2 hoots less if it is nearly 10 years old

Same with the driver. As soon as I can find another Ping G20 that has not been miss treated it's going back in the bag.

[cw1209]

13 hours ago, Phabs said:

It’s a swing flaw causing heel contact and a nasty big cut that gets me in trouble with the Aerojet.  I’m starting to narrow down the cause but being able to constantly duplicate the “good” swing hasn’t been easy.  Guess that’s the insanity of golf 

 

I found the Aerojet LS to be pretty fade biased with some big misses to the right as well. Can also lay down some of the longest drives I have ever had. Had a couple "super blue board" shafts in it to start (AD TP 6TX and Ventus Blue 6TX) which worked well in a more forgiving, higher spinning, rear weighted driver (Rad XB). My driving was so bad with the AJ LS I thought about selling the shafts and the head and starting over. Instead, I decided to give the stock Hzrdus Black Gen 4 shaft a try for a few rounds and it has been awesome. Reminds of a slightly less tip stiff version of Ventus Black. AJ LS is already such a low spinning head I wouldn't pair it with a shaft that is overly tip stiff. Have a Hzrdus RDX Red shaft coming in to try in my AJ LS 3 wood. 

[Phabs]

5 hours ago, cw1209 said:

 

I found the Aerojet LS to be pretty fade biased with some big misses to the right as well. Can also lay down some of the longest drives I have ever had. Had a couple "super blue board" shafts in it to start (AD TP 6TX and Ventus Blue 6TX) which worked well in a more forgiving, higher spinning, rear weighted driver (Rad XB). My driving was so bad with the AJ LS I thought about selling the shafts and the head and starting over. Instead, I decided to give the stock Hzrdus Black Gen 4 shaft a try for a few rounds and it has been awesome. Reminds of a slightly less tip stiff version of Ventus Black. AJ LS is already such a low spinning head I wouldn't pair it with a shaft that is overly tip stiff. Have a Hzrdus RDX Red shaft coming in to try in my AJ LS 3 wood. 

I’ve got a LAGP A series mid launch in a x flex in it now.  That’s what I was fit with at club champion.  I’ve had 3 different shafts in a the Aerojet head and none of them have gotten rid of the big big cut on mis-strikes

[Phabs]

Got out this afternoon for 18 and tied my best of the year with a 66 with 5 birdies and an eagle.  Burned the lip for an ace on a par three and holed out from 40 for eagle on 9.  Lost momentum on the back but managed to shoot 34 on the back.   Putter was money and my wedges from 150 and in were inside 10 feet more often than not.   Driver swing cost me a bogey on a par 5 on the back had to take a unplayable.  I took the Nike blades out for a spin and they felt solid all day.  

Edited August 8, 2023 by Phabs

[Phabs]

Two hours of hammering gate drills tonight.  Stroke feels smooth and consistent now.  Picked 40 in a row as my make number and only had two balls nip the front gate making me start over.  

[beluga99]

Love finding new thread to enjoy.  Great read.  Hope your driver comes back!  I did laugh when I read "felt like I had never swung a club before" and you're a + handicap!! 😉 What a great game golf is.

[Phabs]

Few things on earth better than hitting the practice area and having no soul in sight at golden hour. 
 

Edited August 19, 2023 by Phabs

[Phabs]

Only two brain farts on the card today - lost ball par on the par five on the back and had to take a unplayable drop bogey on nine. 
 

Had 6 one putts and my wedges were solid.  Lost my swing for a few holes on the back I think from it being hot as hell.  Super happy with the round and I’ll never ever complain about a red number.   I’ve noticed in my golf career I’ll grind an aspect of my game let it be putting, chipping, ball contact, driving whatever it takes 2-3 rounds for the practice to show up and pay dividends out on the course.  Took me a long time to figure that dynamic out especially in college, I wanted immediate results.  My junior year I finally figured out to relax, keep my head down and keep working.  Eventually all the blisters, ripped calluses and sore feet / back will show up on a scorecard.  
 

Good friend of mine that I’ve been giving “lessons” to for the last 3 weeks shot his career best 82 this afternoon.  Something about seeing someone succeed with your help is an awesome feeling.  We got done and his eyes lit up when I handed him the card and told him to keep it until we get him in the 70’s. 
 

 

[Phabs]

US Am headcover showed up and I finally found a blade 4 iron for less than a million dollars for my Nike set.   Just need to find a 5 iron head and that set will be complete in blades.  

 

Played Thursday and shot two under on a tough course, chipping and putting is paying huge dividends right now.  Driver is still a trash can - hit zero out of six fairways with it and still managed a red number.  I’m going to be moving on from the LS head and going to the standard Aerojet head.  If that fails I’ll just stick my M3 back in the bag and forget the driver “upgrade” completely. 

Edited August 26, 2023 by Phabs

[Phabs]

When your driving goes to hell what do you do?  Replace it obviously - it can’t be my swing 🤣.
 

First range session with the standard head and I should have been in this one all year.  Sounds better, feels better, and not as temper-mental on strike location.  I’ll take a launch monitor with me tomorrow night and see if I can get some comparison numbers.  I know the range really well and to the big hill at the back of the range is about a 290 carry and I had some land pretty deep into the hill.  
 

The standard head swing weights better for me with no tape at 44.5” it’s a D1.  I had to mess around pretty heavily with the LS head to get it feeling balanced and ended up with 6.5 grams of tape on it with the 3g toe weight pulled.

 

I’m going to I get a round in this weekend without tweaking the standard head at all and see how it goes.  I may end up with a little lighter back weight and some draw biased melt or tape but we’ll see.  I’m super pleased with the feel , sound and looks of the standard head. 

 

Edited September 1, 2023 by Phabs

[Phabs]

Borrowed a launch monitor from a friend and went to the range tonight.  Took about 15 balls out of my shag bag so I had some decent balls for data mostly chromesofts and a few old pro v’s. 
 

Swing speed averaged 118-120 at the highest.  Ball speed was in the mid to upper 170’s and I had 4-5 that cleared the 180 mark.   Average carry was 289 and peak height was right around 80-100ft with the head set to plus one degree.   Launch angle was right around 13* with about 2200-2500 rpm of spin. 
 

Spent all year wasting my time chasing the LS head all over the course when all I needed to do was drop to the standard head in the same configuration.  I might be dangerous with a driver I can keep on the map now. 

Edited September 2, 2023 by Phabs

[MattM97]

32 minutes ago, Phabs said:

Borrowed a launch monitor from a friend and went to the range tonight.  Took about 15 balls out of my shag bag so I had some decent balls for data mostly chromesofts and a few old up pro v’s. 
 

Swing speed averaged 118-120 at the highest.  Ball speed was in the mid to upper 170’s and I had 4-5 that cleared the 180 mark.   Average carry was 289 and peak height was right around 80-100ft with the head set to plus one degree.   Launch angle was right around 13* with about 2200-2500 rpm of spin. 
 

Spent all year wasting my time chasing the LS head all over the course when all I needed to do was drop to the standard head in the same configuration.  I might be dangerous with a driver I can keep on the map now. 

 

It's crazy what a driver in play can do to ones score, I definitely think my next driver might be something a bit more forgiving as long as spin is in check. The big bombs are nice but hitting 2 instead of dropping 2 is nicer.

[Phabs]

On 9/1/2023 at 8:04 PM, MattM97 said:

 

It's crazy what a driver in play can do to ones score, I definitely think my next driver might be something a bit more forgiving as long as spin is in check. The big bombs are nice but hitting 2 instead of dropping 2 is nicer.

Absolutely… my best driving round all year today.  Had two drives that were really solid and two that were outstanding. I’m starting to doubt the low spin sauce sale pitch for me and my swing at least.  

Edited September 4, 2023 by Phabs

[MattM97]

13 hours ago, Phabs said:

Absolutely… my best driving round all year today.  Had two drives that were really solid and two that were outstanding. I’m starting to doubt the low spin sauce sale pitch for me and my swing at least.  

 

Same definitely something I need to look at as well, I can still spin an LS pretty damn high when my delivery is way off so it's going to be more technical work before I look into new drivers.

[Phabs]

Nice to have a lit up putting green and 60* nights.  Excited for fall golf in Colorado.  Putting was terrible my last round so it was time for some 3-5-7 drills.  Super happy with the standard Aerojet head.  Going to mail my three wood head off for hot melt next week.  

[Phabs]

Went and checked out graphite iron shafts this afternoon.  I’ve got some lingering elbow pain and I’m sure the 6.5’s aren’t helping things.  Hit LAGP, KBS, Accra, Dart and Axiom.

 

Axiom and Accra were both the best in the 105x category.  Im going to pick up a single shaft and stick it in my 7 iron for some outdoor range sessions.  I don’t trust everything I see on juiced up monitors that have me hitting a 210-215 6 iron over 240. 
 

The axioms were basically a direct replacement for my 6.5 rifles from a stats and ball flight standpoint.   I’d like to spend some more swings on the Accra 105’s outside to see what they look like in the air. 
 

 

Edited September 12, 2023 by Phabs

[Phabs]

Came across a really good deal on a LTDX 5w with a small sky mark on the head and ordered a Tensei Black 1K 85TX shaft for it last week.  Just finished gluing it up and gripping it tonight 

 

I had an atrocious round with my 2 iron so I figured never having given a 5w any serious consideration I may as well.   Luckily my driver , 3w and 5w are all swing weighting D1 so the top of my bag all feels the same weight wise I've noticed I'm pretty sensitive to weight in longer clubs so I do my best to not let them turn into sledge hammers.   The standard Aerojet head has been an absolute life saver coming from the disastrous summer fighting the LS right of rights.   My contact has significantly improved with the standard head and to me it sounds and feels a whole hell of a lot better than the LS head.   On the LS head I had the toe weight pulled and had nearly 7g's of lead tape in the heel of the club and if I missed the sweet spot just a little bit to the heel side that ball was right of right and going right. 

 

I also came across an old Nike blade 2 iron that I may pick up and stick this LAGP 105x shaft I've had sitting around into it just for fun.  If i couldn't hit my New Level to save my life last round out,  I can only imaging what kind of carnage I'm in for with a 1/4" wide soled two iron with half the groove area. 

 

Spent last night regripping all the clubs with white supestroke stech cords.  I only have one trip to the range with them but I do like how they feel.  For some reason my last set of MMC golf prides started to dry out really quickly and loose all the tack in the lower rubber half.   I scrubbed them with dawn which would clean them up for a round but then it was right back to being slick the next time out. 

 

I did also pull the trigger on a single Accra 105 graphite shaft that I'm going to stick into a spare Nike 7 iron blade head I have and see how it goes.  I'll pick up an Axiom with in the next few months and get some swings in before the snow falls here 

Edited September 15, 2023 by Phabs

[rooski]

1 hour ago, Phabs said:

Came across a really good deal on a LTDX 5w with a small sky mark on the head and ordered a Tensei Black 1K 85TX shaft for it last week.  Just finished gluing it up and gripping it tonight 

 

I had an atrocious round with my 2 iron so I figured never having given a 5w any serious consideration I may as well.   Luckily my driver , 3w and 5w are all swing weighting D1 so the top of my bag all feels the same weight wise I've noticed I'm pretty sensitive to weight in longer clubs so I do my best to not let them turn into sledge hammers.   The standard Aerojet head has been an absolute life saver coming from the disastrous summer fighting the LS right of rights.   My contact has significantly improved with the standard head and to me it sounds and feels a whole hell of a lot better than the LS head.   On the LS head I had the toe weight pulled and had nearly 7g's of lead tape in the heel of the club and if I missed the sweet spot just a little bit to the heel side that ball was right of right and going right. 

 

I also came across an old Nike blade 2 iron that I may pick up and stick this LAGP 105x shaft I've had sitting around into it just for fun.  If i couldn't hit my New Level to save my life last round out,  I can only imaging what kind of carnage I'm in for with a 1/4" wide soled two iron with half the groove area. 

 

Spent last night regripping all the clubs with white supestroke stech cords.  I only have one trip to the range with them but I do like how they feel.  For some reason my last set of MMC golf prides started to dry out really quickly and loose all the tack in the lower rubber half.   I scrubbed them with dawn which would clean them up for a round but then it was right back to being slick the next time out. 

 

I did also pull the trigger on a single Accra 105 graphite shaft that I'm going to stick into a spare Nike 7 iron blade head I have and see how it goes.  I'll pick up an Axiom with in the next few months and get some swings in before the snow falls here 

 

Unpopular opinion, 5w and 2h are almost infallibly a better choice for that spot in the bag, and people that think they hit a 2 iron better mostly have confirmation bias :)

 

I bet that 5w is gonna be sick 

 

Yours truly, a 2 hybrid enjoyer

Edited September 15, 2023 by rooski

[Phabs]

8 hours ago, rooski said:

 

Unpopular opinion, 5w and 2h are almost infallibly a better choice for that spot in the bag, and people that think they hit a 2 iron better mostly have confirmation bias 🙂

 

I bet that 5w is gonna be sick 

 

Yours truly, a 2 hybrid enjoyer

Nah not unpopular.  Pretty much the only solid reason I have for never going down the 5 wood route is the 2 iron into the wind is really really good.  Never balloons and is easy to keep low - it's also super useful for punches out of trouble.  

 

I've got a feeling I'm going to hit the 5w way way higher which is fine on good weather days but if it's windy out I'll probably still default to the 2 iron.   I'm definitely not one of those I have a 2 iron still, which makes me a superior player guy 

 

My brother has been in the 2 hybrid camp for a decade or so, I just never hit his or took it as a consideration for some reason. 

Edited September 15, 2023 by Phabs

[Phabs]

Let the testing begin.