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.

Budget Beater: You Bought Clubs At Goodwill?

So, how much does that new Bettinardi putter cost? $300? $400? Yeah, that’s not going to happen for me either, but with a little luck, you might still be able to play one. That’s right, in my budget finding ways, I managed to land myself one of the earlier ‘bulk’ Bettinardi model putters, the A01. This precision milled putter that was marketed under the Mizuno brand has a 3° loft and a nice upright 71° lie angle. The head, milled from 6061T6 aluminum features a low CG and Bettinardi’s patented honeycomb face for a clean roll every time.

Now, this was a bulk production putter, but it’s still from two of the biggest names in golf, so the quality will still be there in the end. It also can be bent and gripped to fit most golfers of any ability for a very small cost. Here’s the kicker though, it was on the shelf for just $4.99, including the mint condition head cover. Now, people may make fun of golfers who shop for clubs at Goodwill, but if you are on a budget and really want to get a great setup, you can start piecing it together at your local thrift store without spending too much out of pocket.

Some examples of great deals on clubs that I have personally found at my local thrift stores are: Taylor Made Burner Driver 10.5° with regular graphite shaft – $5.99, Callaway i-TRAX Putter with alignment bars – $9.99, Cleveland Launcher: 5-PW – $2.99 per club, MacGregor VIP Forged Irons: 3-9 – $3.99 per club and why not round out the setup with a sweet Cleveland Tour Action 56° sand wedge for $3.99. These are just a few of the many deals and steals that I have seen in my local stores. I bet your store will have just as many good ones. So remember to stop by when ever you can to see what deals you may find for your bag, or that spare set for a friend that wants to start.

The Journey To Scratch: WITB – Shafts

By far the most overlooked piece of golf equipment in the world today is the shaft that is in each and every club. The wrong shaft can lead to disastrous playing and the right one can produce the most epic ball flight you have ever seen. From shaft flex, to kick point and butt stiffness to tip flex, every shaft on the market has something that can help, or hurt, your swing. For me, it’s take an very long time to dial in my new equipment, but for the 2017 season, I’ll be using the following in my clubs.

Driver – Fujikura Speeder Evolution III 757 Tour Spec – X-Stiff Flex
The Fujikura has flat out beat everything else I have tried in my Wilson FG Tour F5 driver. From the penetrating ball flight to the weight of the shaft, it just feels perfect when swinging the head. The 757 features a higher kick point that many shafts out today, which produces a lower flight pattern than many drivers today. The 77g weight of the shaft allows me to really load up on it at the top of the swing and still feel that there is plenty of mass to keep it in check. The 2.6° of torque keeps the head completely stable on the downswing and the mid-launch characteristic of the shaft keeps the ball on that nice low flight pattern that I was looking for. Overall, the Speeder 757 Tour Spec is the perfect fit for my driver.

Driver – Backup - Aldila Rogue Black 60 – X-Stiff Flex.
The Rogue Black 60 is a 70g shaft that features 3.3° of torque. It tended to be a bit more ‘left’ off the tee than I was looking for and also offered a bit higher ball flight. I can control the flight of the F5 with the adjustable hosel, so having a higher hitting shaft off the bat wasn’t something that really made me happy. Still the Rogue Black is an amazing shaft which may find a home in my driver if the conditions stay this wet and I can’t get the carry I need out of the Speeder.

Irons – True Temper Dynamic Gold – S300 Flex
For as long as I can remember, my irons have all featured these shafts. What many consider to be the gold standard of golf shafts, True Temper Golf has revamped and grown the Dynamic Gold line over the years, but the S300’s are always my shaft of choice in my Wilson Blades. As a matter of fact, my ‘89 Fluid Feels have S300 shafts in them, the FG49 Tour Irons that I have feature the S400 shaft and my new Wilson FG Tour 100 irons are back with the S300 in them. The flight pattern that I get from the S300 is about as perfect as it can be. My irons fly high and land softly and have, what I consider to be, excellent distance. Each of the sets that I have had feature a tapered tip design, which is common with forged iron heads.

Wedges – KBS Hi-Rev 2.0 Wedge Shaft – Wedge Flex
These were a departure for me this year. I have never had a wedge that didn’t have a matching Dynamic Gold S300 shaft in them. Honestly, I’m not 100% sure how I feel about them, but they seem to get the job done nicely. I hit my 60° wedge in the neighborhood of 85 yards, my 56° wedge about 105 and the 51° wedge about 120. It’s a good gapping and the ball just falls from the sky on a straight arc. They also feature a mid-launch technology for a higher launch and quicker stop, which seems to work great from what I’ve experienced the first few rounds with them. Again, I’m pretty new to the KBS family having only had about 6 months with these wedges, but so far, I’m not really missing my Dynamic Gold shafts in these.

So there you have it, a bit more on the “What’s In The Bag” front for 2017. You may have noticed that I’ve left the 4 wood off this list. I’m not sure if I will be carrying that in the bag this year or not. I’ve never really had an amazing amount of luck with a fairway wood, nor have I played many courses that demanded that I use one. On average they only travel about 10 yards further than my 2/3 irons and they aren’t nearly as accurate. This leaves me one slot open in the bag, which I was hoping to fill with a Wilson V6 driving iron, but I’m not sure that is going to be in Wilson’s line up this year. If not, I may consider an F5 or D300 hybrid. I haven’t decided yet, but I have time before I have to have ‘that club’ in my bag.