Equipment Review: Golf Pride MCC New Decade Grips

I’m going to be honest here and say that the last time I played a Golf Pride grip on my clubs was back in the day when the original Victory Grip was still the #1 grip on tour. Yes, it came in the original “slick” model, the “feel the burn in your palms” half cord model or the ultimate “burn those callouses off your hands” full cord model. I only played the standard “slick” version, but I knew plenty of Cabretta Leather gloves that met their demise from those incredibly terrible corded styles. They were a good grip for the wet weather in the Northwest, but honestly, every time I got a club that had a corded grip on it, that was the first thing to go. Since those days, I’ve pretty much been a Lamkin Ace 3 Wrap player, but I have to give the nod to technology where the nod is due, and the Golf Pride MCC New Decade grips seem to be where the action is at right now. 4 different compounds make up these technological marvels and even though the first thing I saw was those dreaded little threads, I took a chance and put them on a gamer.

First, lets look at the butt of the grip. The first layer of the multi-compound construction of the MCC New Decade is the outer layer with the brushed cotton cord. The next layer includes a pebbled texture and the Golf Pride “plus” pattern to provide a unique surface texture. They then added a bit stiffer, or firmer rubber to the lower section of the grip (where the colors are in this design) to stabilize the grip and maximize the feel of the grip.

The lower section of the grip, or the non-corded portion, is where the coloring hits. This section of the grip is made of a softer, more feeling enhancing compound. This makes it the ultimate carrier for your controlling hand to ride along with the more powerful hand staying in the harder, corded material at the top. I’ll be giving this one a video review soon, so check out the Golfing4Less YouTube channel for more on that in the coming weeks.

For now, the $10 a grip price is a bit stiff when you think about $160 (including supplies) for gripping a full set of clubs, but if you think about the fact that you will probably get a season or two from them, the expense is more than worth it. Of course, if you are truly a budget player and you can see a $100  bill going to more rounds and a lower quality grip, my personal favorite grip store – Golf Works – has the original Decade grips for under $90 a set - Golf Pride Decade Multi-Compound Platinum Grip - Buy 9 get 4 – which is a complete steal. Add about $20 to that price for the supplies you’ll need to change them out, and you have about $110 into the grips for a few seasons. You can purchase the Golf Pride New Decade Multi-Compound grips at any Golf Pride retailer or online at sites like Golfworks.com.

Playing A Round: Blue Boy West Golf Course–Monroe, WA

When the weather was finally nice enough to get out, and I actually had the time to do so, I took advantage of a killer deal this morning and hit Blue Boy West Golf Course in my home town this morning. The par 33 tract is just under 2200 yards in length, which means an extra par 3 and no par 5’s at all on the tight layout. There is water on 6 of the 9 holes, though it really only comes into play if you play a risky shot off the tees. The course itself plays very short, but if you leave your driver in the bag, the smaller greens can certainly challenge your ball striking on approaches over 130 yards. As far as my opinion of Blue Boy goes, I want to say that it’s a tale of two courses. The first part of the story is that this is a value course that cost me under $20 with the Golf18 Network deal that I found. The second part is that it has been so incredibly wet this winter that I really didn’t expect much going in anyways. That said, Blue Boy West is a $25, 18 hole (twice around the nine hole layout), par 66 shorty course that has plenty of challenge to it, but not any dangerously long holes. It reminded me of our local par 3 growing up more than anything else, but that’s not really a bad thing.



Staring out, I hit the par 4, first, measuring 321 from the blue tees. I hit a beautiful 5 iron to the right center of the fairway around the dog leg that started about 10 yards before my ball turned. It was just like I drew it up. The 9 iron to the green left me putting across some nasty conditions which I was definitely not ready for. The three putt left me with my only bogey for the day. The 160 yard, par 3 second hole was interesting to say the least. I hit a solid 8 iron to the back edge of the green, avoiding the “stump” and rocks that were growing in the middle of the green. It almost gave the hole a “putt putt” course feel. A quick 2 putt par and I was off to the third. This 147 yard hole was playing rather short and downhill today, so I popped a solid gap wedge to the green. It found the flagstick, but spun back about 10 feet for an easy two putt. These greens weren’t going to give up much outside of 10 feet due to the condition of them, but at least they were rolling smoothly – regardless of how slow they were.



On the par 4, fourth, the birdie train began. A stellar 5 iron cut the corner and drew to the front edge of the green 201 yards from the tee. A huge putt, 72 feet according to my Golf Pad GPS readings, came within a foot of dropping, which left me a tap in birdie. The good play continued on the 5th, a 303 yard par 4, with a gorgeous 6 iron down the left side of the fairway. A well placed sand wedge left me about 4 feet for my second birdie and took me to one under par after 5 holes. The 300 yard, par 4 sixth also played pretty easily, though I was shocked when I hit a 3 wood off the tee and found the ball 207 yards into the fairway (it’s about 5 yards further than my 5 iron for a point of reference). I finished up the hole with a half lob wedge to the front edge of the green and a two putt par.



The 301 yard par 4 seventh came up next. I played a 9 iron too far left of the hole, but luckily, the hole was playing very short once again. The 150, yard tee shot left me 115 to the flag, or a perfect sand wedge. I stuck the shot about 10 feet from the hole and missed the putt by a few inches for another tap in par. The par 4 eighth was also playing a bit short. I hit a 5 iron that clipped the ‘safety trees’ on the left before falling back into the fairway. The 166 yard tee shot left me 120 to the green. Unfortunately, my 125 yard gap wedge came up about 5 yards short of my target and it rolled back down the hill about 40 feet. A brilliant pitching wedge chip to 2 feet netted me a one putt par. I headed to the 9th hole still one under. The flag appeared to be on the front of the green, and it looked like a solid gap wedge once again. I hit the shot and held my breath because it was one of ‘those shots’ that you just know is going to be close. As the shot hit the green, it checked and stopped about 4 feet from the hole. A tap in birdie finished up my nine hole round before the weather got too wet.



Overall, Blue Boy West offers a pretty challenging layout – if you leave the big sticks in the trunk. Bring a 200 yard tee club and your wedges for a very fun round. Playing the blue tees, your par 3 lengths are 160, 147, 134, so nothing over a 6 or 7 iron for most people. The par 4’s all measure between 300 and 320, except for the short 4th hole that comes in at 224. The white tees shorten up those lengths by about 20 yards a hole or one to two clubs for most players. If the condition of the greens is able to come back this summer, Blue Boy will not only be a great practice course, but it will also be quite the value for sneaking out for an afternoon round or even a busy weekend escape.

The Journey To Scratch: Dialing In My Distances From 150 Yards In

5 clubs. I could play just about any course around with these 5 clubs, plus my putter, and shoot pretty well. In fact, there’s very few holes that my 150 yard 9 iron couldn’t reach, or come up just short of in two. Same could be said of the par 5’s and reaching them in 3. From that 150 yard 9 iron, I drop to a very easy 135 yard pitching wedge. From there, my 51 degree gap wedge fills the 120 yard range. My sand wedge has the 100-105 range covered and my lob wedge is my go to club inside 80 yards. It’s about as solid a group of short clubs that I have ever owned, let alone had in my bag. Not since the days of my ‘89 Fluid Feels with my JP wedges did anything feel this accurate.

Of course, this now leads me to the dialing in of these wedges and short irons to make the most of those drives that land me inside the 150 marker on the course. My biggest area of need at the moment is the sub 50 yard shots. I leave far too many of those shots well outside 10 feet, which in my head should be the longest distance I have to stare down a putt from inside 50 yards. For this, I’ll need to grab a laser range finder and a few old game balls to use at the range. Once I get the distance gauged with the gamers, I can hit the range balls at various backswing distances and create a full chart for them. It takes a bit of time to do it, but prep work is everything when you are trying to shave a few strokes off the old handicap.

Next week is Spring Break and we will be out at the beach for a few days, but I’ll be getting at least one round in next week, and hopefully a second round over the weekend – weather permitting. It’s been a very, very wet 6 months in the Seattle area, so we will see how it goes.

Another Missed Opportunity For Golf To Get It Right…

Lexi Thompson was cruising to a victory at the ANA Invitational, the LPGA Tour’s first major of the year. Her play was stunning and she was coasting in on the back nine when disaster struck. A rules official approached her on the 13th hole and informed her that a rules violation had happened on her round the day before and she was going to be penalized 4 strokes. First, she thought it was a joke, then she was shocked. Finally, she fought back the emotion and realized she had some work to do. Lexi was amazing through the whole thing, and I think that's something that people forget when they talk "integrity, honestly and good of the game." There is a point where human error kicks in and things have to slide, especially when they are your fault for missing them to start with.

I didn't watch the tournament, but I watched the replay of the entire incident. Her putt was so close, she almost tapped it in, but at the last minute her eye was drawn to something that didn't suit her setup. She quickly marked the ball, aligned it to the hole and put it back down - FROM THE SIDE. This is something tour pros never do, they always mark from behind. She missed placing the ball back down perfectly (which gave her no competitive advantage) and putted out. Taking into account all of that, with there being no competitive advantage to what she did, calling a penalty was plain crazy and steals a victory from not just the possible winner, but also the winner herself.

There is nothing to say that Lexi couldn't have blown up on the closing holes. There's nothing to say that Ryu couldn't have made another putt or two on the way in to narrow the gap. It's all about the ruling now. That's what's wrong with golf, it's just like football or basketball games where the ref blows a call that costs a team the victory.



What should have been done here is the LPGA should have used this as a reminder to the ruling officials to WATCH the match. Maybe having more rules volunteers on the course to switch out after 6 holes? Can you imagine an NFL crew calling a 8 hour game? They are going to miss more than a few holds there... If instead of destroying a beautiful tournament - and another major - they could have taken the high road and announced that they were made aware of the issue, and although it was not a legal marking, they deemed that no competitive advantage was obtained and they have decided not to rule on the issue. They could then use this as a tool for the officials and other players, to watch for incidents like this one. Can you imagine just enforcing the 2 stroke penalty at the time of the incident instead of a 4 stroke penalty 24 hours later? It would have been much easier to deal with.

This is as much on the "rules official" that follower her and her playing partners, caddies and anyone else watching that green. They all missed it, but then again, pretty much everyone did, except that guy watching on his 70" plasma at home.

Journey To Scratch: Rain, Rain And More Rain…

This week was another rough one on the weather front. After a somewhat dry Sunday round, the saturated front yard has once again left me with a week of indoor putting practice. With a few more days of wet in the forecast, it’s hard to be excited about getting out for another round. Of course, there is a chance, depending on what App you look at, that we may get some sun on Sunday, which just might give me a chance to sneak out. Not only would that make a nice stress break, but also be a nice bit of exercise for the day.

I’m still reveling in my last round of 76 and loving how well everything played during it. Virtually everything I hit under a 5 iron was spot on (except that horrible 8 iron from the bunker on 14) which leaves me feeling very confident going into the next go round. From there, I should be able to tell what I need to work on for my next few rounds. I will definitely be bringing up the loft on the driver at least a degree for the wetter weather we’ve been experiencing, or maybe just switching to the 10.5 with the Aldila Rogue for the next round. The control on the 9 degree with the Fujikura Speeder in it, but it just wasn’t driving the ball high enough to really get much on them. Maybe since I have an extra slot in the bag, I’ll pull both for the next round just to get them rolling.

Playing A Round: Season Opener At Riverbend Golf Complex, Kent, WA

Well the 2017 season has officially begun for me. Today’s outing at a rain soaked Riverbend Golf Complex in Kent, WA was far from perfect, but it was much better than it probably should have been. The rain drops held off during my round just long enough for me to finish up on the 18th green, before getting a bit wet on the walk back to the car. Driving was a bit hit or miss, but due to the softer fairways, distance was not something that was going to be had on this day. Fortunately, the softer conditions also carried forward to the greens, which meant plenty of sticking power for the balls that were able to find them from any distance. The most pleasant surprise of the day was definitely my putting. There were a total of 32 putts, but there were quite a few long ones that dropped, as well as a few that very easily could have. Overall, the round was a major success for the starting point of the season.



The first hole started out with a drive that sailed right off my Wilson FG Tour F5 Driver. I had it dialed in at 9 degrees of loft with the Fujikura Speeder X Stiff shaft in it. It’s low, penetrating flight was probably less than optimal for the day, but for the most part, it behaved itself quite well. From the edge of the 9th fairway, I hit my gap wedge about 15 yards over the green. A nice lob wedge back onto the green and a one putt got me a scrambling par to start the round. I led off the second hole with another driver down the middle of the fairway that rolled through to a very mushy gully. A very tricky sand wedge from a very sloppy lie came up just short of the green. A poor play from short of the green left me a 40 foot putt, which missed just left for a tap in bogey. A perfectly played third hole led me to an even par 5, which left me at one over par after three holes.



The par 4 fourth hole proved to be a bit of a pain for me. A drive into the right tress left me no chance of hitting the green without a miracle punch shot. I hit a very strong 6 iron that just couldn’t cut enough to turn to the green. I left the 35 yard pitch to the green about 45 feet short of the pin, where a two putt left me with a bogey on the hole. The par 3 fifth hole has played well for me the last few times I played Riverbend, and today was no exception. A solid tee shot left me a 25 foot birdie putt, which just ran past the hole. A tap in from 3 feet left me with a par on the short hole. That brought me to the par 5 sixth hole. Another solid drive followed by a smooth 5 iron left me an easy 107 yard sand wedge to the back edge of the green. Another 2 putt performance left me an easy par on the long, dog-leg left hole. The round was shaping up quite well at just 2 over par after 6 holes.



The par 4 seventh is one of the easiest holes on the front side at Riverbend, yet I tend to like to put myself in areas without shots to the green. I did just that during today’s round. Fortunately, I had just enough loft to clear the tree line with my lob wedge, but not enough distance to make the bunker with the amount of loft it took to do it. From the front bunker, I hit a strong lob wedge again to about 10 feet. I perfect putt found the hole and saved a par on what should be an easy hole to score on. The par 3 8th was playing longer than usual, and my iron distances were off just a touch, so I opted for hitting a smooth 6 iron to the back pin placement. On a nearly perfect flight path, the 6 carried the green and landed on the back fringe. A quick two putt cleanup and I was off to the 9th hole, still two over par. The par 4 ninth is always one of the easier holes at Riverbend for me. It’s not particularly long, nor is there any real trouble spots, unless the pin is tucked far left. Fortunately, it was center/middle today, so when my drive sailed right of the fairway and just past the tree line, I was left with a very interesting, but possible shot. A strong 9 iron cleared the tree line in front of me and found its way to the front of the green. The first put stopped just left of the cup and left me a 3” tap in for par.



Moving on to the back side, the par 4 tenth played very easily with a driver off the tee finding the fairway and a sloppy gap wedge coming up just short of the green. From there an easy pitch on and a nice 15 foot one putt saved par. The normally troublesome par 4 eleventh didn’t end up being as much trouble as it normally is for me today. A stellar drive down the left center of the fairway left me a solid 9 iron in to the green. A beautiful draw landed just past the pin and left me 10 feet for birdie. The putt rolled smoothly right into the cup for the first birdie of the round. The sister hole to 11, the par 4 12th also played like a dream, a perfect drive to the center of the fairway, a gap wedge to 40 feet and a two putt for par. I was back to one over par after 12 holes.



Unfortunately, I gave that shot right back on the par 3 13th hole. Not trusting myself enough, I didn’t start my tee shot far enough right to hit the right side/middle pin placement. The shot drifted left and found a very soggy bunker to the side of the green. A decent play out of the wet sand left me a simple 2 putt for bogey. I played the par 5 14th very well, though I should have scored better than I did given the fact that I had a great drive that found the fairway bunker, then an 8 iron that flared open against the hard sand. I had to punch a 3 iron out of the trees and then hit a very strong shot into the green. The shortfall of this hole was the fact that my gap wedge carried the green by 2 yards and left me a nasty shot from the fringe. I chose a putter to play it, but there was just zero chance of making it. That brought me to the par 4 15th hole, and a very simple driver, 8 iron, two putt par. I was now 3 over



I have to admit the that final three holes are a bit of a blur. The par 3 16th is normally a serious headache for me, but a very straight forward 8 iron draw found the center of the green for a quick 2 putt par. The par 4 17th played almost as easy with a very good drive down the middle of the fairway. A perfectly placed sand wedge found a landing spot 15 feet from the flag. The putt drifted to the left and ended up about 6” below the hole for an easy tap in par. That brought me to the par 5 18th, and the rain. I tried to finish up before it started to rain, and for the most part, I was successful. My drive was a bit of a pull, but still found the center of the fairway as I was aimed down the right side. Really no major penalty, just lengthens out the right turning hole a long ways. I followed that drive with with a very sloppy 5 iron that left me a solid 7 iron into the green. The 7 iron fanned slightly causing the shot to end up just short right of the green. I hit a lob wedge to the front of the green that just stopped immediately on impact. That left me a very long putt to save par, which ran about 2 feet by the cup to the high side. A bogey on 18 left me at four over, 76 for the day.

All in all, I couldn’t ask for a much better start to the season than a 4 over 76. Just about every aspect of my game survived the winter without any major issues. Driving was short, but accurate. Much of that could be attributed to the extremely wet conditions, but some of it may continue to lengthen out a bit as I dial in the F5 for this year. Most important with driving, I didn’t lose anything left today. The ‘spraying’ effect was something that killed me last year and that doesn’t appear to be a problem with the new shaft and head combo. While my long irons may need some work, the short irons and wedges were almost polished to mid season form. Also, my putting was spot on. I gave just about every first putt I had on the course today a chance to get in the hole. Speed was good, aim was good and reading was good. I was very happy with my putter after the round. Given all of that, it’s a great building block to get started on my journey to getting to scratch this year. Hopefully as the weather improves, the scores will as well.

Stroke Saver: Stop Tweaking Your Gear…

Bag changes sure are fun. I did it a ton when I played in high school, but after I found what worked for my game, my bag pretty much stayed the same for a solid 12 years. I then made a pretty major change to put some new technology in my bag, but ended up taking my leave of absence about a year a half later. Since I came back to the game about 15 months ago, I’ve rotated through 4 sets of irons, (only purchasing one) and 3 drivers, purchasing them all used. It hasn’t been a ton of money out of pocket, but it really has made it tough to get my game in playing form. I haven’t even changed anything too dramatically as I moved from my 1989 Fluid Feel irons to the eventual 2014 FG Tour 100 irons that feature the same Fluid Feel technology. Even still, with that change, my yardages changed, my shot height changed, my shot shapes have changed, pretty much everything has changed.

Gear tweaking is something we all love to do, but it comes as a pretty severe price. We aren’t tour professionals that will have 20 rounds in a month to get our gear tweaked the way we want it. We aren’t even serious amateurs that play 3 rounds a week. We are the type of player that needs to do the right thing and get a proper fitting, purchase a set of clubs that fit our game (please consider slightly used to save some money) and  stick with them. Watching people swap clubs faster than they play rounds is amazing to me. How can you even know if you hit your irons well if you have only played 5 rounds with them? There is no chance of developing a better game by upgrading your gear every few months, but there are a few reasons you should consider upgrading every few years.

Number one: If you are an amateur player that plays more than 40 rounds a year and you are in a club where you play for tournament prizes, you should upgrade every 5 years. That’s 200 rounds on your clubs (or about what a PGA Tour player puts on them in a year) and there will be some wear on them. You might want to consider purchasing two sets of matching wedges for them as you will use them very heavily over the course of a few years. After about 100 rounds, wedges will start to react differently, so rotating them in to your bag every other round will keep them playing similarly. The same could be said for the shaft in your driver. Rotating that will keep the shaft fresher and keep them matching longer.

Number two: You play recreationally, but play more than 25 rounds a year. Generally speaking, a good set of clubs will last you a 10 years. If you regrip them every year or two, and keep them in a dry place, you should get an easy 8 years from them. Of course, if you are only playing 25 times a year (think once a week during the summer months) you’ll probably want some new technology in that bag at about the 5 year mark, so treat yourself and buy that newer set.

Number three: Your currently clubs can’t be fit to you any more. I can’t stress enough how important a proper fitting is. If you buy an off the shelf set of irons like I do, and they fit you well, that’s one thing, but if you need a set with .5” over length shafts, a 2° upright lie and 1° weak loft to make your set yours, you really need to consider how long your set will last you and how many times it can be adjusted. Clubs, over time, can lose their loft, lie and shaft flex settings very easily. They can be bent and tweaked to a certain degree, but they can only be bent so far, so many times. Once you reach the point that they have been moved too far, they will crack and be lost forever. You’re better off selling them and getting something new right before this happens. Again, this shouldn’t be an every year thing, but if your swing has moved more upright than your irons will allow, you might just want to get a new fitting done and add some new gear to the bag.

Number four: Your current clubs will cost more to fix than to replace. For example, my 1989 irons have over 1,000 rounds on them. I haven’t had them checked in years, but when I did the last regrip on them, I found the 6 iron was actually 1/4” short from what it should be. I put a plug in the end and called it good, but how many 6 irons came up short during my playing days because of it? A few more of the shafts had some rust damage and the shorter irons had some head creaking. It’s nothing that couldn’t be fixed or repaired, but at what cost. Taking them in for a checkup and reset can take care of is pretty inexpensive, but when it works out to be $400-500 to reshaft a set, like my Fluid Feels, it’s almost cheaper to buy a new one, even a new new one.

I can already hear the golf store sales people shunning me for this, but honestly, nobody wants to spend $2,000 a year on golf gear. It’s just not cool when that two grand could get you on more courses every year. Of course with a tone like that, this is sounding more like a Budget Beater than a Stroke Saver, and that’s ok with me. The bottom line to scoring well in golf is consistency and confidence. If you find that setup of clubs that delivers both, ride them as long as you can. Regrip them, have the loft and lies checked, not only at purchase, but every 50 rounds or so. The $50 you spend having that check done will keep them 100% consistent for you and help you score better. Better scores means more enjoyment and the more fun you have, the more you will want to play. Let’s not forget, the more you play, the better you’ll get.