Nippons Shafts

This was originally written to one of the great PM's I get from members at BombSquadGolf.com (BSG) and Golf WRX: Recently I went from True Temper r300 DGsl to s 950 nippons... smoother, higher ballflight and very consistent feel...and the finest clubmaker I know has for years proclaimed them the finest shafts made... tightest manufacturing tolerances and so forth.. he started putting them (and steelfiber's which I turned him onto) into top Am, LPGA, Champs Tour and a couple of PGA guys' irons.. I'm not sure how these play out for a guy who needs x100 iron shafts (legit-not the posers on the forums) with 115+ss but for the rest of us mortals I really think they are the way to go... I played them when I used 690.cb's as Titleist was the only oem that had them available and I played good golf with them... DGsl's were the new thing for a couple of years and I got most of my buddies to play them....but going back to nippons now I'd have to agree with the fitter...and they are better now than when I played them last... less dispersion I think... (although I hit the ball a lot better than I did 10 years ago...just not quite as far..:).. One very fine Pro friend plays the 850 nippons and says they are more alive than the 950's... very few companies offer them as an option (if any) so I take what the OEMs offer and try not to tinker until I'm blue in the face any more... hope that helps! Chilly, rainy and cold today in paradise...

The Penta Ball by TaylorMade - follow-up

Needed to do a little follow-up to my first note about the first 5 layer "superball".. I continue to be told it is the greatest ball ever by at least one guy who absolutely, positively has switched... Today it was hit by a Tour Pro who has 14 pro victories... (for three holes against his ProV1 black).. he will not be switching. He liked the way it putted and that was about it.."too soft"..."who cares?"..."what's the big deal?" about sums up his response... he hit about ten extra putts and chipped it from inside 30 yards and then hit a few green-side chips as well... so he was completely unimpressed.. I seemed to have distance control problems with it today and played it for 9 holes before being a little frustrated and going back to the rx-300 which I will not be switching from... I will likely return the last two sleeves of Pentas... I don't get the love frankly and am done with the Penta test... nothing there to really get my attention... I do like the way it putts but I have more control with the rx  with the irons and woods. It also seemed to me that a few shots I hit today with it ballooned just a bit... Noticed the sidespin off the driver again and was happy to have the experience over with... I remain firmly in the Bridgestone camp...Boomin' the RX with my old buddies Freddy and Lee...

Are You Kiddin' Me? Rocco Mediate

Are You Kidding Me? is the story of Rocco Mediate's  battle with Tiger at the US Open in San Diego at Torrey Pines in 2008.... But not for me... For me the story is about drive and courage...about stickin' with it when things aren't going so well.... of course that happens in every round of golf... the trick is to get over it in one hole with perhaps two poor decisions and two bad shots at most... to win on tour there is very little margin for error... a bad round and the train just goes blowing by you.

In the product description on Amazon a reviewer states that this is a story about five life changing days.... Like the overnight success it took years... all most folks see is the five days... but the story is about a decent High School player who caught fire through a series of circumstances and made himself into a great player... a player who, though he hits the ball only reasonably long, is as smart and savy as anyone on tour.... and never stops talkin'.

What makes Rocco cool to me is this... like Fred Funk's wife who walks around Pebble barefoot, Rocco's main squeeze does the same thing.. I like the Peace Sign Belt Buckle and the beer he shared at 10 in the morning as he put on a clinic out there on one of those days that has made Pebble one of Golf's great destinations.... too bad the place isn't better run but that's a story for another post... one day at Pebble in a Pro-Am called the Callaway Invitational which is a low key, ~$80,000 to the winner, end of season event, Rocco has his girlfriend walking with his group... holding his cigar when he hits and sharing sips of beer that was only a 1/3 finished by the time it was warm... Or the time he showed for the ATT and walked down to the caddie bench before heading to the range to practice just to say hello to a couple of old friends...On the range he made bets on Ball games and chattered non-stop as he peppered every flag on the range.. talking in his own backswing ...excited to be alive on a beautiful day at Spyglass in Pebble Beach... He makes everyday great... A true hero of the spirit.. The game could use more Roccos... Oh and BTW he plays those darn easy to hit type clubs.. X-22 Cally's the last time I noticed.. why make the game more difficult than it is? Dunno my friend...Dunno...but Rocco's is my kinda hero... a decent guy with the good word for everyone... Great read BTW.

Author's note... I have never been a JF fan.. Loved  Bruce Edwards and what he did for the art of being a caddie... Tried "Caddy for Life" and was overwhelmed by the superlatives and overblown/over-the-top language... there is a little of that here... Golf is just a game... a glorious game, but play it long enough and though when you wake up you still want to get out there, some days you can wait... This is a little better than the life and death stuff... Any good?... there is a big difference between casual, competitive and tournament golf... but it ain't religion... Good job JF.. Great Story.

In Praise of SKYCaddie Customer Service

So not to get into the range-finder debate of laser vs range finder (I own both)  but the Bushnell is great and so is the Skycaddie. This is about service... I plugged my SG5 in last night and being impatient I reacted to a non-responsive box for a software upgrade and ended up with a dead Skycaddie that would tell me: "no application found call customer service"... maybein the morning... I also have an SG4 so I powered it up, renewed the membership plan and discovered in the process that a non-responsive notification simply meant "you need to wait".... So now I have two functioning Skycaddies..because...

I called this morning and was put through the menu maze and became mildly annoyed as I was told I could solve my problem on-line... I was dead in the water here afterall... and then the miracle happened... about a minute into the "wait" the call was answered... the account identified and the problem explained... Opened IE and typed in the support address, agent took over my computer and a total if 15 minutes later I was good to go with a fully functioning SG5...

I am one who remembers this company when customer service was a sleepy guy with a cell phone (having owned these things since 2004) and I will never take anything away from the Bushnell Pro but the 'caddie for my amateur purposes has represented some of the best money I've spent outside of those 100 lessons with the Pro... and now SKYGOLF has the service to back up the product... Highly recommended...

The Penta Golf Ball is released at Retail

The Good Guys at GolfMart and Seaside were kind enough to put a dozen of TaylorMade's new balls aside for me .. I picked them up  this morning and off to the course I went... I have been warned. The Head of TaylorMade, Mark King,  told one of my partners that TM has never had Pros switch so fast. My friend went on to say, "The ball is unreal. For me it’s better everywhere. Longer with driver, rescue, and irons than any other ball. More spin around the greens. Putts great. Wears much better than a ProV." This is no slacker talking either... he's a scratch player who has shot 68 this year and has a lot of game. Also the wherewithal to test the best and not shy with an opinion... and very serious about his golf...A tech CEO told me today, "Titleist better have something very special in the lab ready to release or they are going to lose a lot of market share.".. so you get the picture.. I'm built up and here's what I found... Though not a player of this caliber, I currently play to just over a 4.. have a slightly higher than 100 swing speed and most of the guys who play with me know that if I drive the ball well and am reasonably solid with my irons I will shoot close to par (or slightly better).. I putt well and average around 28 putts per round (helped by the fact that I play a course with very small greens).. I played the pro V1 (black... for years) and have tested a lot of balls as they come out looking for an edge.. 

So I tee it up and put a good swing on it. Perfect position and I am 10 yards short of where I'd be if the ground were dry and I had hit the Boom-Boom Bridgestone 330-RX (my ball)... 4 wood up the hill - nice sound and feel... excellent distance and a sandwedge into the elevated par 5 1st green... all good.... nice feel and 8 feet for birdie... As I hit the putt (no warm-up btw) I like the sound and feel.. like the ballata... serious... and I like making putts... first hole and -1... par 3 second is playing 115 into a slight breeze... 9i and the ball flys just left of target and a bit longer than what I'd be used to with my ball...and (only one more shot before conclusions)... on the 3rd tee I pull my drive left and it double bounces on a cart path and sure to be rashed up... hit a gap wedge over a tree to 10 feet and inspect the ball... playable... OK... at one point I hit a 3/4 lob wedge and I use an x forged mac daddy groove lob wedge and it shreds everything... certainly took some hide but it was alright...

Had one little delicate shot to hit over a bunker and small hill..had 2 feet to land the ball and needed to have some spin on it. The ball was sitting down just a little... I fatted it just a touch and it landed a slight bit short but bit perfectly and left me a 2 footer uphill for par... Made. 

So the Penta putts great, is longer off the irons and woods and is a little shorter off the tee.. very durable to boot ...someone who has played it said they thought they got too much side-spin off the tee with the driver... had a little of that perhaps but I did knock one drive to a rare place today and was pleased with the distance. One kicker... ProV's are now 39 dollars at GolfMart.. the Panta is $45/46 depending on where you buy them... One top Am told me yesterday that unless "they give them to me, I'm not paying $6 extra for a ball that might sound better".. We are hoping to do some extensive coverage of the balls available for the coming season and this will be the first in a series..

..as for me? well I still have a couple of boxes of RX's around and the test will be what I will play when I'm really ready to buy the next "batch".. If the weather holds up (it was 65 here today)...I'll be out tomorrow and will play the RX... and we'll go from there... One TaylorMade exec wrote  me today: "It's the buzz on tour. People are going crazy for it. We can't come close to making enough to meet demand... it's the first real ball that You can really play.. the results aren't really even close.. It's just math. We're better. Especially for the average good player!"... hmmm that's me.. We'll see. Could be.

So while Tiger is away I'll be hoping....

Have had this thought ever since I heard the News that he would take an "Indefinite Break" from golf. Just maybe some of the negatives he brought to the game might disappear. Starting with guys circling their putts endlessly  during casual or competitive rounds and taking 5 hours plus to play 18 holes.. The process that Tiger goes through, is I believe, against the rules and  certainly the spirit of the game. While a case may be made to support him running out the clock on every green (like he's playing for a lot of money) amateurs with 15 handis should be banned forever (18 holes of Golf should never take more than 4 hours-3 3/4 is about right)...and number two: Could all the beer soaked spectators who scream, "In The Hole" and "You The Man" go back to watching NASCAR and College Football.... I  sincerely hope Tiger and Elin can sort out whatever it is that has caught up with them. The screamin' meanies and slow players I just don't have a good feeling for... 'nuff said.

Adjusting Lofts

Most everyone knows how important correct lie angles are..too flat and you'll be going right (assuming you are in the majority and right handed-- trust me, I feel for you lefties) no matter how "good" your swing is.. Lies too upright?...you pull 'em... but how about loft? Important to consider changes in bounce angles and weighting but I've never gotten used to a 45 degree PW for a few reasons and so think this through a little with me.. 1 degree of loft adjusted will add or subtract 3-4 yards for the average decent player but what I have found (courtesy of one of TaylorMade's execs) is that  weakening loft a bit increases spin andhelps us to be more accurate and hold greens better.. I played Taylor Burner's for the past two years.. Tour Burners and then the 09 "set is dead" version.. no problems with the TB's except they were harsh and the 09 Burners felt super and had a great sole grind. When I got the PW up to 47 was able to not run through greens as I was when I was hitting into flags with a 45 degree PW or a 41 degree 9i (etc.).. So without going on and on about the nuances of tinkering with lofts, if you find that you are getting too much "rollout' with your short irons, think about sacrificing a couple of yards for shots that stay close to where they land... helped me out a lot... for you 110+ swingspeed studs this is meaningless other than perhaps the reverse may hold true. Everyone has a optimal launch angle and some work at a great fitting center will give you all the info you'll need to get that dialed in.... or be like me and just try bending your irons. BTW-the easiest way I know to make sure your lies are correct is to pay attention to your divots.. they should be symmetrical essentially and nice evenly cut rectangle. Check yours out on the range where it's flat or take them into your local shop now and then and make sure that bad case of the lefts you've got is not just a set that's too upright...

Best Irons Ever...

What a Set-Up... I know you are smarter than that but here we go:  the Mizuno mx-300's I put in my bag a couple of months ago are just impressing the hell outta me and are tied for number 2 all-time. The Callaway x-tours were a super design for me and I played my best competitive golf with them... numero uno are the tour issued (to only their marque players) satin miura forged 05 tp cavs with milled faces (so how the hell did I get my paws on em?)... they were just too sweet (and still get a lot of tour play of course)... I also think the mp-60's and 33's deserve some mention ...even before I get to the miura cavs I played a couple of years ago... btw the 300's will never have the soft, smooth feel of the tp cavs but they are a just super design for the mid single digit guy... and that's an important distinction... Guys like me need forgiveness.. the TaylorMade '09 Burners were fine when I was shooting 80 (which I still do a lot) but there are better days on the course coming and there is enough precision in the 300's for my current low 70's good efforts...BTW... it's getting cold here (30's and 40's) so will not be out much until it stays above 50 for more than a couple of hours a day... getting nice and soft in my old age..will be 58 in June...perfect candidate for Nippon shafts... more and more I think we amatuer men should be taking our equipment cues from the LPGA girls.. What's in Stacy Lewis' bag? Pic of my unbadged mx-300 courtesy of one of my favorite websites: GolfWRX

Craftsmanship at MacKenzie Golf Bags in Portland, OR

I love craftsmanship, but the thing that really caught my eye with these guys is their guarantee:

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You pay to ship your bag to us, and we pay to return it to you. 

Check out the "Other Pics"...and let us know what you think...

Your New Ball-Penta

The TaylorMade Penta is coming and I've been getting hands on reports from all over the place about it... so if you think your ball is good.. I gotta tell you this (and  I will write about it more soon).. the guys I know who are getting these are itching (badly) to get more..My advise is to go down to your local shop and ask to be put on the list for these bad boys... the rumor is they will be very hard to get initially as Taylor Ramps production.. Got a note last night saying: "can you get me a couple dozen? I have a tournament in AZ next week and only have 4 left. This is by far the best ball I've ever played"... coming from a scratch player who is very competitive, that's a pretty good endorsement I'd say...

"If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything." - Mark Twain

I'd guess that somewhere in every blog there is an explanation for the blog. The owner's perspective.. and so this is the 19th's explanation: When I relate to golf I relate as a caddie... pure and simple.. It's in my nature.. I was a Professional Manager who was Trained and Retrained by some of the best organizations and groups in Business (big and small).. I understand bed-side manners but it's not in my nature.. My nature is to get as many facts as possible and without too much sentimentality, come to some reasonable conclusion about what will happen and tell you that quickly. I'm a New Yorker. I don't guess. I know. Though age has tempered my confidence. I traded stocks (and other things) for a bit and the rule is: the trend is your friend until the end.  It's like a beauty contest but all that matters is what the judges think. The market never lies. Things repeat themselves until they don't.. So if you hit your 5 iron 180 yards most of the time and one day hit it 200 because of light air, you still hit it 180 yards in my mind.. higher highs and higher lows means things are going up... that's the market...so as as caddie I learned very quickly (because I do that) that Ams like to fool themselves and pros do not... Better players tend to deal with reality and work on their weaknesses... If they hit a bucket of 9 irons and the blanket they land them on is 135 yards away... that's how far they hit a 9i.. no wishful thinking. ..and a club that doesn't do what they think it should do is not romanced... it's replaced... no time for fooling around. Ams will carry a cool looking hard to hit set of irons or a 3 wood and leave it in the bag for show.. entirely delusional.

I developed a theory about playing forgiving irons for Ams... it's simple. The game is tough enough... Play the easiest to hit irons you can stand to look at... we all have our limits.. If you are a 12 and play blades and think you are a good ballstriker and still reading this.. go somewhere else.. You may not like it here... . If it takes you 4 hours to play 18 holes... same.. you waste time... it's impossible to play the game like that... we watched 4 fools do it today at my club... I have decide to quit the game because of it a least twice a month... take your place in line and move up when the guy in front of you moves up...I adore Golf as the Scots play it... their caddies know what this thing is all about... a slightly hung over caddie is the best guide... he will tell you what you need to know... not much... but you need to know exactly how far you are from your target and how you are going to get there. You have to be able to "see" it.. envision it.. if the balls are not rolling onto the greens from the fringe today because it rained 5 inches last night.. that's not likely the play... so this is not that hard really. Match conditions with capabilities..

Wanna talk equipment?

My answer to a question about playing forgiving irons:

lol.. the key concept here is: "stand to look at" ... but there is something else going on here as well and our fevered friend has hit it tight...I was playing a lot of tournament golf 4 years ago... mp-60's...x-tours... r7tp's.. get a new coach and the game starts to deteriorate under his advise.. seems maybe more forgiving clubs are the answer.. he advocates.. I agree..he's a PING'r and sets me up...but I keep rollin' down the hill... so I get some other advise and turn around... I play better now than I did then ... just not long enough to have any fun playing competitively but did get back to the point where a little more precision was in order and I like the balance ..my irons (mx-300) are the same size as r9tp's.. I measured 7 irons today at the store as I was contemplating what other driver I might try (again)... so the 300's have the same "reach" as the r9tp's and, as a quality forged head will do, provide distance control that I did not have with a GI/SGI/PGI type iron...going up and down the index scale recently has been interesting as I hit what for me were the break points as I was improving from a beginner... at a 14 I thought I needed better clubs to get better (not true)... at 12 I thought the same... and at 8 and 6 and 4.. I'll talk more about this but going from a competitive 2 back up and then down again has been a good experience than I hope never repeats itself!! sure learned some stuff going through this thing twice..

Driver (that's the topic right?) ...There was a mp-600 driver in the used bin today (beat up pretty good) and the shape is nice... just want a driver that doesn't cause people to say... what the heck is that?... toaster on a stick?.. like the square heads.. the Diablo is not that bad but it's bad... I will not swap it however until something performs better... I may just grow to love it...and again, it's psycho cause I don't notice it on the tee and some of the Pards I play with comment every time out that I've never hit a driver so well.. and that's fact.. nothing wrong with "you are hitting the driver well today" and another player says, "he always hits that Diablo well"..."Yup"... well not always... thankfully Mizzy and Taylor have some cool drivers on the way.. I know one of them will move the duckling into the bin... tomorrow's is a new day! .. fwiw I had dialed in the 09 burner tp and the r9-460 and was hitting it well... another former playing pro handed me a stock shafted Diablo.. Said, "just try it". It was tested and I'm thinking no way... next round played it... went back to the motore tp 460 r9... and I'm a Taylor Lover! Admire the company and their technology, products and they have the type of will to win that you rarely find in business these days!..I'm a Big Fan...so that switch was not easy at all... flipping from the burners to mizzy irons was not a big deal.. was gonna bag the r9tp's anyway and move on..same former pro gave me the word on the 300's and I'm cool either way... Petter has been reminding me for a couple of years how good nippon shafts and the combo is great... hey I may have r9tp's with nippons in the bag in a month who knows??.. But dumping the r9 460 for a Diablo? ..an Ugly Diablo? as a guy wrote me Monday.. "that driver has got to be good" and for me it is...anyway... I am way off topic and this is not my blog, but I hope someone out there will relate and get through a bad relationship because of this narrative...

Gotta find your groove. Base it on measurable performance... not wishful thinking... I'm out of breath......looking forward to the ZL I have on order and the promise of a nice normal looking driver I hit fairways with and is as long as the D (for me)....

buster's putters...

The Subject is Golf.. The Best of Your Life. This will take some time.

So let's start with some of the best books on the subject... I've read a few and caddied for some of the authors.....the most recent read is the Match.. took a long time to get through the background info... all of which I'd read before in books about Hogan mostly... The Hawk was a hero... I'll tell some Hogan stories his caddie told me... we'll get to the good stuff...

favorite Course I've Played and caddied on? Favorite Hole..Easy....