Would I Play Hogan Irons Instead Of Wilson Irons?

With the exception of a few sets here and there during the time I worked at a golf shop in high school and the year I spent with my Ping S59’s, I have always carried Wilson irons in my bag. In fact, it’s always been Wilson irons and wedges for as long as I can really recall playing the game. From my first set of 1989 Wilson Staff Fluid Feels to my FG100’s, they have always just felt perfect in my hands and played extremely well for me on the course. You see, back when I started playing golf in 1989, we used to visit our local driving range about once a week. It was this little hole in the wall place called Christie’s in Federal Way. It was a little 250 yard driving range that was surrounded by a par 3 pitch and putt. There were far more modern driving ranges around, but there was something about walking in to that old pro shop and seeing the owner smiling behind the counter that made us want to be there. That range is the place that I fell in love with bladed irons and the entire reason why I still play Wilson to this day. Of course, had a few things gone a bit different, I may not have ended up getting my beloved Fluid Feels and picked up something a bit different – and that’s where this story begins.

Back at Christies, they had some pretty amazing “new” clubs on the shelf, but even back in the day, my first glance was always the used club rack. As much as I loved the sparkle of new chrome, I knew the reality of hitting that first rock in a bunker or taking a nasty chunk out of the sole when you play that punch shot from the trees, so ‘new’ wasn’t something I needed to have in my bag. That said, the late 80’s and early 90’s was such a gorgeous time for club makers. Wilson had their Fluid Feel blades and the Gooseneck irons. Tommy Armour released the classic 845’s, Ping was dominating the industry with the Ping Eye 2’s and other manufacturers were coming out with clubs that turned heads, but for some, like the Cleveland VAS, it was for the wrong reasons. One brand that carried the name of one of the greatest golfers of all time was also continuing to kick out some of the best looking designs on the planet – Ben Hogan Golf. In 1988, Hogan produced the Apex iron, which to this day is still one of the cleanest, most simple, gorgeous designs of all time. A classic muscle back, with a thin top line and virtually no offset. I remember them clearly sitting next to the Wilson Gooseneck irons that also found a home in my Dad’s bag back in the day. I remember hitting those Apex’s, then the Staff’s, then the Apex’s again, then the Staff’s again, not being able to truly choose what ‘felt’ better. I hit them for about a month, just a few balls per range session, before the Wilson’s really established themselves as the club that I really had to have. Of course, coming up with the $400 that the blades were marked at as a Sophomore in high school was going to be next to impossible, but I was bound and determined to do it. By now you may be wondering what all of this has to do with today, and well, that’s a great question.

Hogan Golf all but died in 2003 when Callaway Golf purchased the brand and its assets. The assets are really the reason Callaway wanted to purchase the group, and for a measly $125 million, wouldn’t you have wanted to have the names, “Top-Flite” “Strata” and “Ben Hogan” in your golf library? Strangely, Callaway has revitalized the Top-Flite brand and done some great department store branding under the Strata label, but they left virtually every Hogan memory behind. By 2008, Hogan Golf was nothing but a name that came up in conversations among golfers that may have had a set or tried a set at one time in their lives. Callaway had rebranded the Apex line as a Callaway club and shoved the Hogan name into a deep dark corner of the room. This all changed in 2012 when Perry Ellis, yes the clothing company, purchased the Ben Hogan name from Callaway, primarily to manufacture apparel. Then came 2014, when Ellis licensed the rights to club making to Terry Koehler and the real fun began. In 2015, Koehler released a new Hoganesque design, the Fort Worth 15, which was followed quickly by the PTx irons. Various other hybrids, driving irons and wedges have followed, but the 15’s and the PTx’s were definitely irons worthy of going in any player’s bag.

The new Ben Hogan golf has not had a great deal of luck out of the gate, even declaring bankruptcy in early 2017, but they have once again risen from the ashes and are currently offering two incredibly beautiful iron sets, a stunning driving iron, a stellar hybrid option and some of the best wedge grinds available today. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the time or energy to order up the demo package that they have available – it’s $20 in shipping back and forth (plus a $250 hold on your credit card) to test out a 6 and 9 iron in either model, or the utility iron or hybrid – and you can demo them on the course or at the range for almost 2 full weeks. You will need to make sure to send them back within that 14 day window or your card will get charged for them, but you basically have a full week with them to hit balls and get a feel for them. It’s really a great program since they aren’t available at local stores.

Now, you may be wondering why this “Wilson Guy” is writing up so much about the new Hogan irons… And to that I say, this blog is all about getting more bang for your golfing buck and I believe that the two offerings from Ben Hogan Golf are seriously great values. When you compare the cost of my FG100’s to the cost of the Fort Worth irons, you are saving almost $350 going with the Hogan’s. When you compare the Titleist 718 T-MB ($1750) or the Callaway Apex MB ($1300) to them, you save even more. While $650 for a set of irons is hardly a “value” concept, when you think about the long term investment of a quality set of clubs that can be custom fit to your specs, $125 a year for 5 years of use isn’t all that tough to swallow. In fact, It begins to look like an even better value long term when you work in the 3 for $240 wedge deal.

Now, the question probably begs to be answered,  “Would I play the new Hogan irons?” I have to say that I’m in a space right now that I am in my 3rd season with my FG100’s, so I am still at about $350 a year in value on those clubs, so I would probably not pick up a set for myself due to the fact that investment wise, I’m still paying for my FG100’s. That said, if it was time to start looking, say 2 years down the road, and these were an option, you could bet that I would be ordering that demo setup yesterday to try them out. They look absolutely stunning and both irons have great benefits. The Ft. Worth look to be a bit more ‘blade like’ and the PTx are designed to give a bit more help getting the ball in the air. Either way, both are a bit of a player’s iron, and both would look very nice in a new Hogan bag on my shoulder. Hopefully by the time I’m ready to “reclub” I have the option of trying them but I have a feeling Wilson will have something new to replace my beloved FG100’s by then anyway. Still, if you are in the market, hit up www.benhogangolf.com and check out their offerings.

Snuck Out For A Quick Nine Yesterday…

Impromptu nine anyone? That’s what I decided to tackle yesterday afternoon in the rain and wind that was blowing through the area. While it may not have been the best decision to head out to the course yesterday, it did turn out to be a very enjoyable round of golf – except for the few downpours and plugging balls. Still, even with the horribly wet weather, The Golf Club At Echo Falls still played very well. There were quite a few spots of “where did that ball go?” due to the new water hazards that could be found all over the course, but if you stayed to the higher side of the holes, it wasn’t a bad day to play. I did make a few decisions prior to teeing off that were strange but fun… First off, I continued my simplifying my wedge game idea by deciding to only use my 51° wedge for approaches inside 125 yards. Then I also pulled out a classic, the 2005 Nike One Gold balls that I still have about a dozen and a half left of for the round.

The round started off pretty much as normal. A nice 185 yard 3 hybrid found the center of the fairway on 1,  but there was ZERO roll to be found on this hole. Plus the wind and rain were really keeping distances in check. I caught my 51° wedge a bit heavy our of the slimy fairway and came up about 30 yards short of the pin. A chip on and a 6 foot putt for par had me rolling. The second hole, for some strange reason, played even better than the first for me. A 17° hybrid climbed the hill about 205 yards and left me another partial wedge to the green. I hit a 2/3’s strength 51° wedge to the green and landed about 10 feet from the flag. I needed a bit of help on the putt as the greens were playing very slow and this particular putt looked a bit bumpy, but fortunately, the putt bounced its way towards the hole and found it for a birdie 3. The par 4 third was up next and I was sitting at 1 under par after 2. A 218 yard 17° hybrid found the left edge of the fairway off the tee, even with the wind pushing straight back at me. The lower loft cut through it rather nicely and actually even gave me a bit of a rollout on this shot. A 51° wedge from 60 yards found the back edge of the green and left me about 20 feet for another birdie. I ran the putt up to about 2 feet of the hole before it stopped short and tapped it in for my par. Still holding at one under after three holes.

The par 5 fourth hole was up next. The wind was a bit more swirling on this hole, but I still managed to poke a 261 yard drive off the tee but opted to play the slightly drier right side of the fairway today. It got hung up a bit in the hills, but had just enough draw to find the edge of the fairway. Going down the hill, a 169 yard 8 iron barely found the front edge of the green. I should have paid closer attention to my GolfPadGPS on this one as the pin was more center and my max yardage on my 8 iron had me pinned to front of the green with a perfect shot. Still, I had my 8 iron in hand and hit that ‘practically perfect’ shot into the green. Came up a full club short, just like I thought, but it was still on the green. A 40 foot putt for eagle came up about 3 feet short of the hole, but an easy birdie was all mine on the short par 5. The 171 yard fifth hole was up next. I learned my lesson on the 8 iron at 4 and pulled the extra club on on 5. My 168 yard 7 iron found the left edge of the green, and left me about 40 feet for birdie. Again, a good first putt to about 2 feet left me an easy putt for par and kept me at 2 under. Finally the weather let up a bit on the 6th hole. In fact, it was while I was driving over to it that the rain stopped a bit and the wind died down. I grabbed the driver from my bag and managed to hit a very strong tee shot for the first time all day. The 335 yard drive caught a dry part of the hill and rolled out nicely into the right side of the fairway. A 160 yard 9 iron came to rest on the front of the green, but left me almost 70 feet to the hole. Again, not knowing what to expect from a shot on a hill like this made club selection a bit precarious to say the least. From there, I hit a brilliant first putt that actually looked like it was going to fall with about 10 feet left. The putt then stopped breaking and rolled about a foot past the hole. Another tap in birdie and I moved myself to 3 under par for the round.

The par 3 seventh, or my arch nemesis was up next. Of all the holes on the front side, this one seems to be the toughest for me to get a good look at birdie on. Today was no exception. Even with the wind down a bit and the rain not falling for the moment, This 160 yard hole plays perfectly between clubs for me. A full 8 iron finds the front fo the green and a full 7 iron finds the back. Take a bit off of that 7 and I’m in the right front bunker. Try to muscle up on the 8 and it’s usually stage left for me on this one. It’s just “that” hole. Today I opted for the solid 8 iron, which sure enough, found the front edge of the green. My 50 foot putt came up short and left me a scary 5 footer for par. Luckily, my putt literally bounced into the hole for that par and it kept me stead at 3 under par. The par 4 eighth was up next and by this point in time, the wind and rain were starting to come back again. I hit a quick 17 ° hybrid out to the middle of the fairway, leaving myself about 140 to the flag. A solid pitching wedge should have gotten there, but it hung in the wind just enough to come down on the front edge of the green instead of settling pin high. My 30 foot putt came up a touch short again, but it did leave me a 3 foot tap in for par. Even in the wet and wild weather, I was clinging to a 3 under par score entering the last hole of the front side. On the ninth hole, i finally hit the shot I have been dreaming about on this hole. A perfectly struck, bomb from my driver that started straight at the bunkers lining the right side of the fairway, then drawing in to the center of the fairway, like it was drawn up on paper. I figured it had to be a solid 260-270 off of that tee, but when I pulled up on the path near the ball, my GPS was still showing 100 yards in – or about 240 away from where I started. I didn’t get it, I killed that ball and it was just dead in the fairway. Oh well, off to a nice 56° wedge to the green and a two… Wait… My first putt from 40 feet didn’t exactly go as planned. In fact, it was by far, the worst shot of the day. I struck the putt and watched it roll towards the hole. It slowly rolled, right online, towards its target. Then, it just stopped. About 12 feet from the  hole, the putt just put the brakes on. I had the line on the finishing putt, but I hit it a bit firm (mainly due to the one before it stopping on a dime) and rolled it about 18 inches past the hole. There was my tap in, but it was for a bogey 5 on the ninth hole.

That left me to make the turn or head home at 2 under par for the day. Since conditions and the weather were so sketchy, I decided to call it a round and head home for the day. Overall, it wasn’t a round where anything was learned and it wasn’t something I would write home about. I took advantage of the two easy par 5’s on the front today and had a somewhat lucky birdie on 2. I also had a somewhat unlucky bogey on 9, so it all evened out nicely. With us now entering our ‘wet time’ of year, I’ll see how many quality rounds I can get in between now and the end of my Winter Membership at Echo Falls, but I’m not too excited for the next couple of weeks. We had a very dry winter up until January, but it looks like the wet pattern in here for a bit. Still, any round where you can hit 7 fairways and 8 greens is a pretty good day – even if the weather is awful and the outlook is for more of the same. Those 7/8 days just make you want to get back out there and do it again. On the flip side, I love the ease of getting to Echo Falls and I love the course itself, but I’m really looking forward to playing a few different courses when the weather turns this spring. I almost feel that Echo sets up too well for my game and that may be helping me generate some better scores than I should be getting. Maybe next round I’ll try and play from the Gold tees to give the course a different look, or maybe a few more rounds at the Blue tees for a bit of a mix. All I know is my game it working very well at the moment and should only get better with the weather.

Where To Find Me On Social Media

There are literally hundreds of places to find people online and finding the actual person or thing you want to follow can be tough. I wanted to take a few minutes to highlight my social media accounts so you know where to look and which accounts to set up alerts for to see my live feeds from courses and photos from the course. So without further lagging, here is a list of accounts that you should add to your followers/likes/alerts if you want to have the most fun with this blog.

Twitter – https://twitter.com/golfing4less – this is the home Twitter account for this blog. It features the Deal of the Day post and great photos from rounds all week long. It also features random golf thoughts and possibly some new equipment shares that you may have missed elsewhere.

Twitter – https://twitter.com/waazzupppp – this is my personal Twitter account and usually the one that I live broadcast on Periscope on from the course. I would say that my personal account is split into 4 sections – Golf/Tech/Dance and Family. If you’re a fan of any of those, I’m totally worth a follow.

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/backinthefairway/ – Much of what is posted here is the same as the @golfing4less Twitter account, but not everyone has Twitter, so I added a Facebook page as well.

Periscope TV – https://www.pscp.tv/Waazzupppp - This is linked to Twitter, but just in case you are a PSCP.TV fan, you can directly access the videos here if you miss a live stream.

Email – backinthefairway@gmail.com – You can always reach out to me with an email question or comment at the address listed here.

That should probably get you started for now, but be on the lookout for more posts about more outlets coming on board. I’m sure I will be posting things to my YouTube page coming up, but it may be a ways off as that venue is already packed with amazing content – and you probably don’t need me muddling that up. If you see a social site that I am not currently sharing on, let me know in the comments below!

Tech To Help Your On-Course Game

Statistics. They power just about everything in our lives today, and our golf games are no different. There are literally hundreds of different range finders, GPS units, Apps and stat tracking programs that can help anyone play better golf, but how does one go about choosing the right one for their game? Would your game benefit more from a range finder, dialing in exact carry distances to the flag or would it benefit more from an App that tracks how far your 'real world' shots go? Would it be better to invest in a GPS watch or an online shot tracker to improve your game? Probably the biggest question to ask yourself is if any of it is really necessary at all?

With every great system, there comes a drawback. For example, with phone Apps, the information they send and receive is only as accurate as the GPS in the device that is using them. If you have a highly accurate phone, you'll undoubtedly get good results. If you don't, well you may as well go back to pacing off distances from the 150 marker. If you use a range finder, you can accurately measure most distances, but unless you cheat and use the slope measuring system, you might trick yourself into a few short shots without even know it. Of course, probably the biggest issue with any of the golf tech solutions is, what's the actual cost of the system to use it to its full potential?

Starting off with the easiest and most simple solution, the range finder. These typically run between $150-500 and for the most part, are a "You get what you pay for" item. The lower cost models may not have as strong of zoom, or as high of quality of optics or even a rechargeable battery system. While it may seem crazy to spend this much on a range finder, getting accurate yardages on the course can benefit your game immensely. At the bottom of the range, you will find accurate readings that take longer to lock. At the top of the range, you will get laser focused high speed readings. For my money, a unit like the sub $150 Golf Buddy LR5 is a great option. Just make sure to pick up some extra "CR2" batteries to put in the bag, just in case you go dead mid-round.

Moving on from lasers to satellites, GPS units offer a pretty good deal for most players, if you shop the fine print. If you aren't picky about color, you can score deals on watches like the Bushnell Neo Ion for well under $100. Of course, they won't have fancy stat tracking options, but they do get the job done on identifying hazards and flag stick distances. Callaway, Garmin and TomTom also make some exceptionally strong offerings in the Golf GPS watches, though I highly recommend checking out course listings prior to purchasing one. Moving on from wrist worn units to handheld devices, GPS industry leader, Garmin has one for just about every budget available. From the simplistic Approach G10 to the full-featured Approach G8, Garmin's GPS's are second to none in quality and compatibility. Of course, that name comes with a price as the value based G10 come in at $129.99. The line begins to blur on the G8 model, as this $349.99 model can actually recommend clubs to you based on past performance. This unit also take into account the slope of the hole for adding and subtracting distance. The biggest question to ask yourself when you are getting ready to make the move to a satellite based system is if you are accurate enough with your distances to worry about it or not and how much are you willing to spend if you need to update it later?

Again, we begin blurring the tech lines when we start talking about Apps for devices. Take that old phone you have laying around in your desk drawer. Did you know you can turn that into a fully functional Golf GPS for nothing? Popular Apps like TheGrint, 18Birdies, Hole19 and a many others, give users a chance to use Google's own mapping system to plot out distances to greens all over the world. Even better, most of these Apps feature some sort of a "free" version, whether it's disabling certain functions or placing small advertisements on the yardage pages. Either way, using a smartphone as your gaming GPS is not a poor move - unless you need your phone for other activities as well or that it has one of those batteries that just isn't what it used to be. From the freemium Apps to shot recorders, your smartphone can do far more for you game than you ever imagined, and it only gets better with some additional investment in hardware.

Yes, those Apps with additional hardware. It's the best of both worlds, at least sometimes, but it's not without a serious hit to the pocket book. From GolfPadGPS's Link and Tag system to GameGolf's Live system and even the Arccos 360 system, every single on-course shot tracking system has some good things, and some bad things going for it. Starting with the GolfPad system, the obvious drawback is the $229.00 price tag and the $19.99 a year premium membership cost. GameGolf Live features a lower price tag at $99.99 (normally $149.99) and no membership fee. While I liked the "membership free" GameGolf system, I chose the GolfPad one due the fact that the App is Android Wear compatible and it shows distances on my smartwatch. Finally the last player that I really checked out before making my plunge was the Arccos 360 tracker. Instead of leveraging NFC tags like the previous two, Arccos actually built the sensor into the grip cap and those caps then transmit a signal to the club when it senses the head impact a ball. The entire system is rather stellar, but many of the courses I would play have holes that crossed back and forth, tricking the system into being on the wrong hole. Also, it was a bit nerve racking hoping that there was enough battery left Both GameGolf and GolfPad had minimal issues with this, but again, GolfPad won out narrowly by having that Android Wear feature built in.

UPDATE: I just came across another "new" option that seems like it could be the best of both, no all, worlds. The Shot Scope V2 GPS watch/tag system may be the perfect solution to the tech scene. I read about this in the latest "MyGolfSpy" email chain, so check out this link to the Shot Scope V2 and see what you think. Keep in mind, this is a VERY new product, so I have not tested it, used it or even tried to see how well it works over all. I'm extremely interested in getting my hands on a setup for a round or two to try it out, so if anyone has a connection to try it out, please let them know!

Playing A Round: The Best Round I’ve Ever Played

It’s usually starts with a whim. It’s that non-planned trip to the course because the weather wasn’t supposed to be bad. It’s that day where you think you need to rush through your round to get home to the family, even though they are at the mall having a great time. Yes, today was that day. It started off with an excuse making marathon in my head of with so many other things to be doing, but ended up finishing so differently. It was the perfect day.

The round started off poorly enough with the 330 yard par 4 first. A simple 17° hybrid off the tee found the center of the fairway about 215 yards out. It left a solid 105 to the flag, which should have been a full 56° wedge in. Instead, I hit a 70 yard chunk wedge that landed about 40 yards shot of the green. A 60° wedge got me on and a two putt gave me my opening bogey. Again, a poor start to that whim of a round. The second hold was also far from perfect as I managed to jack that 17° hybrid up the hill about 200 yards. Again, my 56° wedge betrayed me as I chunked it again and left the same 40 yard shot into the green again. This time my 60° wedge landed about 5 feet from the hole and a one putt par. My drive drew a bit too much on the third hole, but was easily playable to the green. A slight over club to the narrow green with a 60° wedge left me a fun little 51° wedge back onto the green. A lucky one putt saved my par and let me move on to the fourth at just one over.

The par 5 fourth plays much longer than the 429 yard distance on the score card, but with the mud and muck, it gets even longer. Still, I managed to power a driver off the tee about 300 yards down the fairway. It was just in the light cut of the rough, but that grass was about the same as the fairway due to the mowers not being able to trim the area. After that, a solid pitching wedge found the green and left me about 12 feet for eagle. I ran the eagle putt up to about 10” from the hole and tapped in for the first birdie of the day. The par 3 fifth was up next. It was playing its full 171 yards today, but I felt the urge to hit a solid 8 iron into the green and thought that a full 7 iron would be too much. Unfortunately, I should have gone with the 7, as the 8 came up about 5 yards short of my target and left me a 50+ foot put for birdie. I’ll consider it a lucky two putt from there as my first putt stopped about 3-4 feet from the hole and left me a pretty easy finish. This brought me straight up to the second par 5 on the front of the course. A 277 yard drive left me about 235 yards down the steep hill to the green. I rifled a 6 iron down the hill, which managed to find the back edge of the green. I had about 60 feet for eagle, but had to settle for the birdie as my first putt was a good 5 feet short.

Moving on to the par 3 seventh, I hit an atrocious 7 iron that flared to the right of the hole and well short of the target. I’m pretty sure I caught it thick, but either way, a 30 yard 60° wedge got me on the green, but a two putt finish left me walking off the green with a bogey and put me back at even par for the round. Then, the eighth hole happened. I played through a group and felt the usual rush off the tee box, even though they were messing around on the 7th green instead of following me up. I managed to hit about 30 feet behind my ball (this may be a slight exaggeration) and the sand from the tee box managed to push the ball out about 130 yards. I had a good line to the green, but was just a mile from home, so I took the 23° hybrid and hoped. My prayers were answered as the ball sailed through the air and found the middle of the green for an easy two putt par. That brought me to the closing hole on the front side, the 361 yard par 4, ninth. I hit driver off this hole for once hoping to get past my usual hangout behind the tree on the left hand side of the hole. Fortunately, I made it past the tree, but my drive was still a bit left. The additional distance that my driver gave me allowed me to hit a 56° wedge into the green. The wedge found the right side of the green about 10 feet from the flag. The left to right breaking putt seemed to be on track the entire way and fell into the hole for another birdie. That’s three birdies and 2 bogeys on the front side for a one under par 35.

I debated going home after nine, but figured it would be a great time, and hopefully faster playing back side, so I continued on to the tenth. This hole sets up extremely well for me at about 105 yards. It’s a solid 56° wedge for me to the center, so a touch more or less gets me to the front or the back. The pin was up today, so a slightly softer shot landed about 6 feet from the flag. A quick putt to the hole netted me another birdie on the round and moved me to two under par. I moved to the 11th, where once again, I was stuck waiting for a group in front of me. I took a chance to do a live twitter update (follow me at http://www.twitter.com/waazzupppp or at www.pscp.tv/waazzupppp) and then hit my tee shot. I hit the best tee shot I’ve ever had on 11, flying down the fairway and landing softly in the center. A 125 yard 56° wedge found the back left portion of the green for an easy two putt par. The long 489 yard par 5 twelfth was up next. A 270 yard drive left me 180 on a direct line over the trees from the center of the fairway. I hit a solid shot that landed just on the left edge of the green leaving me about 60 feet to the hole. Another 2 putt birdie left me sitting pretty at 3 under par after 12 holes.

It was time to keep the round going on to the par 3 thirteenth hole. Playing nearly 180 yards today, I trusted my somewhat extended yardages today and played a solid 7 iron off towards the green. The ball once again found the center of the green, leaving me an easy putt for another birdie on the day. This was turning into a pretty amazing round, but I hadn’t been looking at my card the whole day, so I wasn’t sure exactly where I was at since the ninth, but I knew it was getting good. The fourteenth yielded another great tee shot with its sights dead on the flag stick. It came up just short of the hole and should have been another birdie, but I left the putt just short. The terrible dog-leg fifteenth was up next. A stellar drive with my 17° hybrid let me about 190 yards into the green. A solid 6 iron made the front edge of the green, but the nearly 60 foot putt didn’t find the hole for eagle. Instead a tap in 3 footer for birdie had me moving on to the finishing trio of touch holes at 5 under par.

The finishing holes at Echo Falls are the toughest three holes on the course, back to back to back. Playing nearly 360 yards, the 16th needs a good drive, but not necessarily a long one. I hit driver off the tee hoping to get a bit of the right hand fade to it and my driver didn’t fail me. The ball landed about 250 yards down the fairway, right in the middle. A 85 yard 60° wedge came up well short of its intended target when I caught it very heavy. Fortunately, it was just enough to make the front of the green and leave me a two putt par. Seventeen played very similar for me with a solid drive just to the left of the fairway. A good 7 iron from 165 yards found the green for another two putt par. I was still clinging to my 5 under score entering the final hole of the day. Almost all of the mystery is out of the 18th for me. The 142 yard hole plays a pitching wedge to the front or a 9 iron to the back. The pin was slightly up today, so I went with the wedge. The shot was dead on off the club face, but didn’t look like it was going to have quite enough on it. As the shot came down, it hit about 15 feet from the hole and spun back to about 25 feet. A quick putt towards the hole came up just inches away and let me tap in for one last par. My round was done.

This was definitely a round for the memory banks. My swing was solid, the bad shots didn’t kill me and my putter was red hot. It’s not that my putting stats were amazing, but I finished the day with 31 putts, whish is about 5 better than I usually do, and my score was about 5 shots under what I’ve been getting at Echo. I only hit 5 fairways, but 5 of the 7 that I missed were by such a small margin that it really wasn’t a miss. The poor tee shots were made up for by great second shots. Poor approach shots were made up for by great putts. It was about as good as a round can get and I’m really ready to go hit a follow up as soon as the weather permits.

Remember, to subscribe to this blog to get my updates sent to your inbox and follow me on social media at the links below for really cool on course updates and photos.

http://www.twitter.com/golfing4less

http://www.twitter.com/waazzupppp

https://www.facebook.com/backinthefairway/

2018 What’s In My Bag And More!

Driver: Wilson Staff FG Tour F5 10.5° with an Aldila Rogue Black 70 X-Stiff Shaft and a single wrap Golf Pride MCC4 New Decade grip.

I have both the 9° and the 10.5° models and various shafting options for both. For some reason, the combination of the 10.5° head dropped 1° to 9.5° has played the best for me. I am also running the 11g weight in this model, which could be a bit of a help as well. My tee shots with the 10.5° model tend to be a bit more “fade” biased, so I wonder if there is a bit more of an open face angle to the 10.5° model than the lower lofted model, but even if it’s just a head game, right now, the 10.5° playing at 9.5° with the Aldila Rogue shaft is playing amazingly well for me this winter and I will continue to roll it out this summer.

Hybrids: 17°, 20° and 23° Wilson Staff FG Tour F5 hybrids with Mitsubishi/Rayon Fubuki 80 shafts in Stiff flex and Wilson branded Lamkin Crossline grips.

These are the new bad boys in my bag this winter. I really needed something that was a go-to club off the tee that could replace my 1 iron from the FG49 set. I also saw from my GolfPadGPS stats that my longer irons, the three and four in particular, were not nearly as accurate as I wanted them to be. I had a range session with my Dad when we played back in October where I hit a few of his hybrids with good results, so I ordered up the F5’s in the three available lofts to try out. Since it was the end of their life cycle, they were far less than the $229 price tag that they originally went for, but so far, these guys are priceless. I’m getting that ‘almost perfect’ tee shot with the 17° on a regular basis and the 20° fills in for the 3 iron very nicely. The 23° plays down to my 4 iron distance pretty well also. I almost regret not getting the X-Stiff in the 17°, but with the performance of it so far, I’m perfectly happy with what I have.

Irons: 5-PW Wilson Staff FG 100 with True Temper Dynamic Gold S300 shafts and single wrap Wilson branded Lamkin Crossline grips.

I love these irons. I love them so much, I’m not sure if there is another club around that I could play, much less that I want to play. Despite the issues that I had with the 3 and 4 irons over the last few months, the 7-PW in this set are rather deadly. The clean top line and narrow sole are exactly what my game needs and I can pretty well control my ball flight without any issue. The 5 and 6 iron are starting to get there, but with more practice being done at the shorter end of the bag, I need to prioritize those mid irons a bit more to get them feeling 100%. That said, I really wish I could track down the Lamkin Performance Plus 3Gen grips that the wedges use to put on these guys. I’m not loving the Crossline feel, especially in the summer months, so I’ll probably be spending some cash upgrading the set to the Golf Price MCC4 New Decade or another multi-compound grip to improve the feel of the clubs during the summer months.

Wedges: 51°, 56° and 60° Wilson Staff FG Tour PMP Frosted Tour Grind Wedges with KBS Hi-REV 2.0 (125) shaft and single wrap Lamkin Performance Plus 3Gen grip.

How much do I love these wedges… With a perfect gapping at 90, 105, 120, these guys not only fit perfectly in line with my FG 100 irons, but they also feel phenomenal out of almost every shot I take with them. From clean fairway lies, to embedded bunkers, I just have 100% confidence in these to get the ball near the hole. I’ve really been “over-thinking” my wedge game lately, and the last round I played I even went completely crazy with the thought of playing every shot from 125 in with my 51° wedge. Ever since the 5 wedge guy conversation happened, I’ve just not been 100% sure that I needed 4 wedges (including my FG 100 Pitching Wedge) in my bag. Still, with my bag set the way it is, I feel that I have the perfect gapping with my wedges to get things just right, so the three options will stay in my bag unless I need to make room for another club in the bag.

Putter: 34” Wilson Staff Infinite Grant Park with stock Wilson branded large grip.

Is there anything better than a putter that rolls the ball well and gives you a huge amount of confidence? This is how I feel when I line up the Grant Park over a putt. I love the longer sight lines, the contrast between the whites and darks and the impact line at the top of the face. It’s a stellar looking head and for lack of a better term, makes my putting pretty darn good. Moving from my aged Tri-Hot, the Grant Park is just 100% better for my game. I honestly think I’d make another putt or two a around with the TaylorMade Spyder Tour gizmo that I checked out at the same time as the Grant Park, but considering I could purchase 5 GP’s for the price of 1 of the TM’s, I’ll keep that $400 in cash and save it for more rounds. Overall, until something floors me, the GP will be my putter of choice.

Shoes: Skechers Go Golf Elite V3 – Black on Black

After years of being an Adidas shoe guy, I tried on some Skecher shoes at the store recently. I purchased two pairs of street shoes and love them. When my wife mentioned getting me something golf-related for Christmas, it was an easy thought to go try on some new shoes. First off, the Elite V3’s are top notch in the comfort department for me. They push in just the right places, and feel like walking on a cloud. The next important part for me is the price. I paid under $100 for these and I should get a full 2 seasons out of them with ease. I think that’s a pretty good value. The Adidas shoes I looked at were closer the $200 than $100 and were just as comfortable, but just like the putter above, I couldn’t see spending the extra on a “golfing name” when these worked just as well. For the record, the waterproofing on these is fantastic. I wore them during the monsoon round I played last week and my feet were totally dry. Needless to say, I’m really stoked with the purchase and plan on staying a Skechers Go fan for a while.

As far as the rest of the gear goes, I will be playing a few different balls this year – depending on the weather conditions. First off, the Wilson Staff Zip ($19.97 at Wal-Mart for 24 balls) is my winter ball of choice. It has good performance and a fantastic $0.86 per ball price tag. As we get closer to Men’s Club starting, I’ll be switching up to either the Duo Soft Spin or to the Duo U for more playability in harder conditions. I’m really impressed with the new Duo Soft line for this year, but the Duo U was a very consistent ball for me in the past, so it will be a check them both out for a few rounds before making a decision. I’m keeping my Ionix Lite bag for another season as it it wearing extremely well and still looks brand new. I was lucky enough to land a beautiful new Columbia all weather rain coat that will be perfect for the next few seasons at a local department store on clearance for $30. I love finding deals that good!

That’s my what’s in my bag for the beginning of 2018. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below.

Playing A Round: The Golf Club At Echo Falls–Snohomish, WA

I’m a bit late posting my round from last weekend, but hey, better late than never right? So, a few things. First off, it was a competitive event, or at least it was supposed to be a competitive event. I made my way around the very windy and rainy Golf Club At Echo Falls in more than good fashion, even with a few pretty ‘blundery’ shots to put on the card. The good was the 5 birdies that I carded and the bad was the 6 bogeys. Add that all together and you have a pretty frustrating round that could have been amazing. The other way to see it is that it was a terrible round that some amazing shots saved. Either way, here’s the recap of my round from January 6th.

The front nine started with a sloppy and soggy first hole. Knowing that the ball wasn’t going to have any roll today, I pulled my 20° hybrid from the bag to give me a bit more carry. Unfortunately, I was chatting with the group I was playing with so much that I didn’t notice that I pulled the 23° instead. In the end, the mistake didn’t matter too much as I caught what I will call a “bladed draw” with the bottom edge of the club and clipped the only tree around with my tee shot. The ball fortunately bounced back into the fairway, but it left me 170 into a very wet and difficult green. Again, a slight miscalculation on the swing left my 8 iron short and right of the putting surface. A decent chip with my 51° wedge left me with a very makeable putt for par, but it ran about 12” past the hole for a tap in bogey. Not the way to start that first competitive round in forever.

I moved on to the second hole, which only really had the defense of being uphill in today’s weather. The left fairway bunker really doesn’t come into play unless you really hook your tee shot off line and the greenside bunker also appeared to be clear with the pin placement. I went back to the 20° hybrid for this tee shot and hit a brilliant shot about 190 yards up the hill. A 3/4 swing with my 51° wedge settled down about 5 feet from the flag. With a good stroke on a relatively flat putt, the ball found the hole for a birdie 3. I’m pretty sure that this is the first birdie I’ve had on that second hole, which blows me away with how simple it sets up. So, after two, I sat at even par.

The easy par 3 third hole has given me an eagle, a few birdies and a few pars over the times I’ve played at Echo. I was really looking forward to going low on this shortened hole, but things don’t always go the way we plan. I hit a gorgeous 2 hybrid off the tee that sailed off towards the green. Then a strange thing happened. The ball didn’t draw, or at least it didn’t draw enough. Instead of bouncing safely in front of the green and rolling on or plugging, the ball appeared to land in the hazard to the right of the green. The group agreed that the ball must be in the hazard and I took my drop where we agreed that it had to cross the line. A nice 1/2 51° wedge onto the green followed by a near miss on the first putt left me with a second bogey in three holes and an one over par total.

The par 5 fourth hole is usually one that I can make a bit of a move on the ball, but today’s weather just made it impossible to take advantage of the short hole. My drive was in a good position but with 211 yards to go down hill, my 5 iron found the tree covering the left of the green and the ball was knocked down. A good 51° wedge found the green, but again, the first putt just missed short and I tapped in for a solid par. I stayed at one over after 4.

The long par 3 fifth was next up. I still have nightmares about hitting to the wrong green on this hole, but today’s play was a bit different. I chose to go with a solid 8 iron into the 171 yard hole as the wind was helping ever so slightly and a 7 iron would have been too much club for the mid pin placement. The shot that followed was breathtaking. As it started off the clubface, I was sure that the ball would be left of the green, but it held it’s line and headed straight for the flagstick. Everyone in the group began to get really excited, and for good reason, the ball ended up less that 2 feet from the stick and my tap in putt left me with a birdie to get back to even par.

The next four holes all turned out pretty poorly. The streak began on the par 3 seventh hole with a wind blown 8 iron that came up short of the green. A poorly struck 25 yard 51° wedge left me with over 20 feet to the pin. My first putt came to a stop just past the hole and the tap in left me with a bogey. The par 4 eighth left me in a similar spot with a good 20° hybrid off the tee, but my 9 iron approach found a bit of trouble to the left of the green. Another poor 51° wedge shot left me 25 feet for par, which I missed, but I tapped in for my second bogey in a row. That left me 2 over par with one hole to go on the front side.

The par 4 ninth hole is usually one of the better playing holes for me, or at least it seems to be a rather routine par hole. The dog-leg left design only has a large tree on the left defending it, so keep right of that and you are golden. My tee shot found a bit of trouble left of the tree, but a good 51° wedge found the right side of the green. I putted from off the green, but the ball slowed badly because of the wet conditions. This left me a first putt of over 25 feet again, which ran about 3 feet past the hole. From there, a tap in bogey took me to 3 over par on the outward nine. The short, par 3, tenth is normally a 100% par or better hole for me, but for some reason, today, my SW landed left of the green. A straight forward pitch landed about 10 feet from the hole and checked up in the wet conditions, leaving me a 2 putt bogey once again. That took me to 4 over par after 10 holes.

The wet conditions weren’t helping much of anything on the course, and by the back nine, the winds were picking up as well. The 11th hole played rather simple for me. A 270 yard drive followed by a nice 51° wedge left me a two putt par that broke the bogey cycle. What happened on the par 4 eleventh though, was nothing short of a perfectly lucky hole. My drive didn’t roll out at all and actually only carried about 240 yards (which is terrible for this downhill hole.) I had about 220 left to get around the corner to the green, but looking at my GolfPadGPS readings, the direct line was only about 180 yards. I decided to chance it and see if the 23° hybrid could clear the trees and still have enough distance to get there. I knew my 6 iron wouldn’t have the height and my 7 iron wouldn’t make the distance, so an easy hybrid seemed like a good idea to try. I hit a very solid, high shot with the 23°, but I could tell right away that it wasn’t going to have the height it needed to clear the trees. I prepared myself for another drop, just like the third hole. Instead, as we drove up to the green, there sat a ball on the front edge of the dance floor and three more about 50 yards short. The ball had cleared the trees (somehow) and gave me a simple 2 putt birdie.

That moved us on to the nasty par 3 thirteenth, and the 180+ yards in to the wind that that beast was playing. I pulled the 23° hybrid (though a 5 iron may have been a better choice with that wind?) to attack the flag and made a good effort out of it. My ball found the left edge of the green for another 2 putt par and my round was starting to look like it may have a chance of staying in the 70’s. The par 3 fourteenth had the flagstick in its evil position, just over the mound that protects the front of the green and makes the water come into play if you go after the stick. With my round at 2 over, it was a critical decision to play it safe and bring bogey into play or go over the water and bring birdie into the mix. I attacked the flag with a strong pitching wedge and somehow landed the shot on the green and it rolled towards the hole. A simple 3 foot put scored me my second birdie of the back side and took me back down to two over par.

The 15th is one of those annoying par 5’s that doesn’t kill you with length, but it just plays long. It’s a 90° dogleg that turns left at 175 yards out and then drops down a hill. It’s not a super challenging hole, but for some strange reason, it plays way tougher in reality than it should. I hit a great 17°hybrid to the corner, this time holding the left line instead of the right that i normally do. The 23° hyrbid that followed was tracking straight online until it clipped the last tree on the hole and fell just short of the green. A good 51° wedge found the green and left me about 15 feet for birdie. My birdie put came up about 6 inches short of the hole and I tapped in for par. I should have walked away with a birdie on that hole, but a solid par kept me at 2 over. The tough par 4 sixteenth was up next. A good drive, though short in the wet conditions, left me a solid 51° wedge to the front of the green and a 4 foot birdie put which found the cup. and took me to one over with two holes to play.

My race back to even was almost complete as I stepped on to the tee box on 17. This long par 4 has water running down the right side and out of bounds on the left. I played my fade drive down the left side of the fairway and it resulted in a nice 170 yard approach shot over the water to a back pin position. my 23° cut through the wind just enough to find the back edge and left me an easy two putt for par and set up the final hole challenge of birdie for even. It’s a tough hole over water to a semi-island green.  With the pin up, it’s a pitching wedge – with the pin back, it’s a 9 iron. Today the pin was back, so a solid 9 iron was the club of choice. Unfortunately, the wind played a bit of havoc with the ball and it ended up on the left side of the green. Another 2 putt par finished up the round and I posted a one over par for the day. Not a bad for the weather conditions and for being my first “pressure” round in quite some time.

Welcome To 2018…

I think I've started this post about 20 times over the last few weeks, but I just haven't gotten anywhere with it. That said, I think it's finally time to get it done. I started mapping out, planning and even saving for my year about 2 months ago, but it's finally taking shape enough to know what the year may bring, hopefully. Of course, I love to plan, but I have to admit that for my 2018 goals, I'm stealing an idea from one of my favorite YouTube personalities (and a darn fine coach) Peter Finch. I'll put a link to his channel below, so make sure you go subscribe when you finish reading this. So, Pete's "Battle Board" is his way of planning how he will continue to grow his game, his YouTube Channel and prepare to compete in his first Major, The Open. Sure, there's those pesky qualifiers to get through, but... Anyway, let's delve into the Battle Board concept and see how it works for me.
I have three sections, just like Pete, but mine are broken up into basic categories. The categories are "practice" - "performance" - "fitness". These should be rather simple to translate but just in case you aren't sure what they mean, I'll break them down for you.

Practice - The practice section is all about making sure that I work on what I need to work on. Putting for 10 minutes a day, for example, is a simple chore that can be done indoors, at the course or just about anywhere. Completing 2 chipping sessions a week is also something that can be done just about anywhere - or at least the front yard in a worse case scenario. These are the basic blocks for building out that practice schedule. It may also includes a few rounds of limited club selection (playing a 3 or 5 club round for example) or playing a round at different tees to get me a different feel for a course. Anything that is a non-competitive round could fall under the practice category. Range time will also play a big part in this section, but it probably won't be the biggest portion of the time spent working on my game.
Practice Goals: 10 minutes of putting daily - 30 minutes of chipping (2x a week) - 25 full swings daily.

Performance - This section is reserved for my competition goals for the year. This will be a relatively simple section starting out, but should adapt throughout the year to be a bit more finalized based on how the season starts and how quickly I can get the early goals met. First off, getting out and playing some will be key, but more than anything, I need to get back into competitive golf. I haven't played an official tournament since 2005. That's a long dry spell between playing competitive rounds. Now fortunately, I'm a very competitive person, so even my non-competitive rounds were treated mostly like I would play a tournament. In 2018, I plan on entering at least 5 tournaments during the regular season and hopefully at least two of the major qualifiers this year as well. We will see if my new found swing is good enough to make due on those long courses.
Performance Goals: Join a Men's Club - Post an official USGA/GHIN handicap under 3 - Enter 10 Men's Club Events - Compete in Men's Club Championship - Enter Local Qualifier for US Amateur - Enter Local Qualifier for US Mid-AM.

Fitness - It's the dirty word that I hate talking about and I hate doing anything about. It's not so much that I am an anti-fitness guy or that I think gym rats are crazy, but the amount of time that it takes to lose weight and get healthy is just crazy! In 2006, I weight just over 300 pounds and really wanted to start playing golf again, and I mean really playing to a top notch level. So, I visited my local gym for advice. The trainer I talked with said, drop your calorie intake, stop eating fried foods and get out and walk for 30 minutes a day - then come back and see me when you've lost your first 25 pounds. That led me to a crash diet for 3 months where my activity was riding an exercise bike for 30 minutes a day. I'm nearly in the same spot today, but with a limited budget and a child in the house, it's not so easy to purge all the 'junk' food from the house and it's certainly not easy to find a salad when we stop at certain places for a lunch. This has led to the last 5 months of struggling - losing 5 pounds only to put 4 back on in one day. Fortunately, I'm back on track in the new year, being down 11.2 pounds in the new year. I'll continue to push this "cleaner" eating for the next few months to see where I get to by April.
Fitness Goal: I'm not setting an official target this time, but I'm hoping that I can get in better playing shape and increase my yardage off the tee to an even 300 yards before the middle of the season. That's about a 15 yard increase over average and about 10 yards over my summer distances. I'd also like to see myself fit in to more off the shelf clothing and just improve my overall health.
That is how my 2018 is going to get started. 25 swings and 10 minutes of putting a day, a few chipping sessions a week, getting into that men's club and competing in a few tournaments this summer and losing some weight and increasing my flexibility. If I can manage all that, I should be ready for those USGA qualifiers by the end of summer. If not, it will at least be fun to try and get there.