LIVE UPDATE THREAD The 2019 Graphite Challenge with UST Mamiya
Haha that was awesome even though it messed up @JB tee shot, we all had a good chuckle on that one
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I wonder what everyone hit into 17? I didn’t I could get an iron or a hybrid there and went with a gripped down 5W that I tried to punch. I stayed dry on the back right up against the rough. Another roll and I would’ve been wet.
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Such a fitting end to The Bear Trap.
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2013
- Messages
- 74,680
- Reaction score
- 88,166
- Location
- Ponte Vedra, Florida
- Handicap
- 11.9
I hit 3H and that wind just kept carrying the ball right and right and right into the water.
I hit a 4 iron and ended up here, it was the safe play as everyone else was wet I believe.
I hit that low, choked, cut 3 wood. I was happy with it on the back fringe.
Yeah, it was either 3H or the 3 wood...I went with the longer stick, lol
@PowerThrust....new avatar?!
Dude
THP Events are about The Gear, The People, and the Golf. Others have done such a good job recapping the event and people in it, I thought I'd dive into the gear a bit to start. Here we go!
Part 1 - The Gear ⚔?
There are a couple of reasons I was specifically interested to attend The Graphite Challenge:
Tech Talk
UST Mayima Recoil
There was fantastic tech talk throughout the weekend, starting Friday night with Danny Le commanding the head of the table with a ton of great information regarding the performance benefits and history of Recoil shafts. Points that stand out in my mind:
First Impressions - On Course
The Recoil 110 Protos that I received are absolutely gorgeous, the black paint and THP graphics are lit. Coupled with the black PTX Pro DBM heads, they make for a striking setup. I appreciate touches like the vintage Hogan Sunburst on this release, clean aesthetics of the iron, and the custom dancing golf ball THP logo’d shafts.
Saturday - The Palmer
There would be no time for foreplay, our groups introduction would be trail by fire (or rain!). We went straight out on the Palmer course, range closed (because we are the about the only Yahoos on course!), shotgunned the start for good measure, and as lead group it was bombs away on the 3rd tee. My first swing with Recoil and PTx Pro came from a fairway bunker with a 7i, and it was a promising start. Clean contact and nice flight setup a decent third. Looking good. From there, we proceeded to blast way around a watery course, making for a great test of the equipment in adverse conditions with zero adaptation time.
After a few holes, my swing settled in, and I noticed that I was starting to have a pretty decent (no great!) feel for release of the shafts, and shots were being shaped as desired and as on target as I am going to get starting dead cold in the rain. Flight trajectory was in a window that I like, and they feel great to swing. I was able to notice a difference that the Recoils were not transmitting as much shock was the steel shafts in my short wedges. Sweet. They have plenty of feedback, feeling nice and taut while damping out to a degree the bad vibrations. Following our technical discussion and on course observations, I have no doubts as to their ability to “hold up” and promote a tight dispersion.
The PTx Pro head shape is one that I became instantly comfortable with, and the V-sole performed admirably in the waterlogged conditions. I had no trouble finding clean contact and the sole sliced through the muck easily without digging or getting stuck. Frankly from the impressive PTx Pro reviews here, and prior experience V-Sole, I was expecting to be impressed. The heads lived up to expectations and then some. I ended up hitting all short irons on Saturday, and would have to wait until Sunday to get into the 4-5-6i.
Sunday - The Champion
On Sunday we had a chance to really get more comfortable and stretch out, with clear sunny skies, some range time before the round, and a full 18 holes on The Champion. On the range I hit the 7i for warmup, then Driver for the Bridgestone VFIT Ball fitting. I noticed I could really elevate the ball high if I wanted, a good thing. On course, I saw a bunch of things I really like, including short iron accuracy steadily improving as I got dialed in, a couple of really nice 5i and 6i approaches, and a striped 4i into a Par 5 into left-to-right wind that held its line, didn’t ballon, and carried all the way to the front fringe to setup birdie. The distance was a stretch for me to cover with 4i, and this setup covered it. I am coming from similar irons, but these are playing pretty much to my expected yardages so far. I hit a 6i way off the toe on one hole, and the ball surprised me by maintaining pretty much full distance.
Overall, I had a fantastic day with the PTx Pro on Sunday. I had a bunch of short birdie putts and was able to mostly either hit greens or the side I was trying to miss on. I even played some chips with the PW and 8i, that turned out well. We played a shamble format both days to stay out of trouble and to really focus on having good opportunities to play these irons and shafts into the green. It was a total blast and I was able to post one of my best rounds of the year at a tough test with brand new sticks. What a rewarding feeling!
Back in NH, it is 15 degree with a couple inches of snow on the ground, and the courses are all now closed. The toughest part will be waiting until spring for regular golf to resume. When my clubs get back, I plan to go get some numbers on GC Hawk for review. I will be looking for excuses to swing these every chance I get!
Part 2 coming soon... The People
Part 1 - The Gear ⚔?
There are a couple of reasons I was specifically interested to attend The Graphite Challenge:
Recoil - I have been eyeballing Recoil iron shafts for several years now. My experiences with carbon fiber in both golf shafts and other sports lead me to believe that they are a promising performance bet. And the reputation for better vibration damping seems like it could only benefit my body.
Irons – I am a longtime Hogan fan. The opportunity to play PTx Pro drew me in a big way. They are an attractive iron that nods to Hogan heritage and is my preferred forged cavity back profile. They also have a V-sole, a feature that I loved in Srixon irons (z745 followed by Z-Forged this year), and options for either chrome or Diamond Black Metal finish! PTX Pro are serious upgrade in every respect to the vintage Hogan sets I own:- ’91 Edge GS – played my competitive junior golf with these, all the way through 2016. I have played more rounds with those than any other iron by far.
- ’99 Apex blades and ‘02 Apex Pro’s - that I picked up in summer 2016 to begin tinkering with more modern equipment
- ‘82 Personal models – Office Art, new un-hit S/N #1769
Tech Talk
UST Mayima Recoil
There was fantastic tech talk throughout the weekend, starting Friday night with Danny Le commanding the head of the table with a ton of great information regarding the performance benefits and history of Recoil shafts. Points that stand out in my mind:
- Graphite springs back 67% faster than steel. This is the origin of the Recoil name, so simple and yet so powerful. Faster springback in engineering terms is more efficient power transmission. (And I would bet that it has the potential to equate to better head feel when designed well…)
- Carbon fiber materials are available in many modulus values (stiffnesses). This makes it possible to build a shaft of similar profile at a wide variety of weights (i.e. 40-80g). Or, looked at another way, build a huge variety of profiles at the same weight. Different material stiffnesses and orientations allow the designer to place the right material exactly where needed to achieve the result.
- Steel is available in exactly one modulus, regardless of grade or heat treatment. This is a really important point. There is only so much you can do to move material around and tune the stiffness and overall weight of a steel shaft for this fundamental reason.
- Lighter weight shafts do not by their nature give up dispersion. Often a player will benefit from not fighting a heavier shaft and have better timing, CHS, plus center contact from a lighter shaft, and the materials provide the stiffness and torque to stand up to it. It’s all about what works for YOU, and you might be surprised. To this point, Danny prefers 95g shafts, and his set will be given to a lucky THP’er shortly!
- SMACWrap – is a layer of vibration dampening material within the shaft that benefits golfers who struggle with off center strikes. It is available in lighter weights that also help generate clubhead speed.
- The V2 Proforce history and how it helped to put UST Mayima on the map along with some nostalgia of other great early shafts was fun to hear
First Impressions - On Course
The Recoil 110 Protos that I received are absolutely gorgeous, the black paint and THP graphics are lit. Coupled with the black PTX Pro DBM heads, they make for a striking setup. I appreciate touches like the vintage Hogan Sunburst on this release, clean aesthetics of the iron, and the custom dancing golf ball THP logo’d shafts.
Saturday - The Palmer
There would be no time for foreplay, our groups introduction would be trail by fire (or rain!). We went straight out on the Palmer course, range closed (because we are the about the only Yahoos on course!), shotgunned the start for good measure, and as lead group it was bombs away on the 3rd tee. My first swing with Recoil and PTx Pro came from a fairway bunker with a 7i, and it was a promising start. Clean contact and nice flight setup a decent third. Looking good. From there, we proceeded to blast way around a watery course, making for a great test of the equipment in adverse conditions with zero adaptation time.
After a few holes, my swing settled in, and I noticed that I was starting to have a pretty decent (no great!) feel for release of the shafts, and shots were being shaped as desired and as on target as I am going to get starting dead cold in the rain. Flight trajectory was in a window that I like, and they feel great to swing. I was able to notice a difference that the Recoils were not transmitting as much shock was the steel shafts in my short wedges. Sweet. They have plenty of feedback, feeling nice and taut while damping out to a degree the bad vibrations. Following our technical discussion and on course observations, I have no doubts as to their ability to “hold up” and promote a tight dispersion.
The PTx Pro head shape is one that I became instantly comfortable with, and the V-sole performed admirably in the waterlogged conditions. I had no trouble finding clean contact and the sole sliced through the muck easily without digging or getting stuck. Frankly from the impressive PTx Pro reviews here, and prior experience V-Sole, I was expecting to be impressed. The heads lived up to expectations and then some. I ended up hitting all short irons on Saturday, and would have to wait until Sunday to get into the 4-5-6i.
Sunday - The Champion
On Sunday we had a chance to really get more comfortable and stretch out, with clear sunny skies, some range time before the round, and a full 18 holes on The Champion. On the range I hit the 7i for warmup, then Driver for the Bridgestone VFIT Ball fitting. I noticed I could really elevate the ball high if I wanted, a good thing. On course, I saw a bunch of things I really like, including short iron accuracy steadily improving as I got dialed in, a couple of really nice 5i and 6i approaches, and a striped 4i into a Par 5 into left-to-right wind that held its line, didn’t ballon, and carried all the way to the front fringe to setup birdie. The distance was a stretch for me to cover with 4i, and this setup covered it. I am coming from similar irons, but these are playing pretty much to my expected yardages so far. I hit a 6i way off the toe on one hole, and the ball surprised me by maintaining pretty much full distance.
Overall, I had a fantastic day with the PTx Pro on Sunday. I had a bunch of short birdie putts and was able to mostly either hit greens or the side I was trying to miss on. I even played some chips with the PW and 8i, that turned out well. We played a shamble format both days to stay out of trouble and to really focus on having good opportunities to play these irons and shafts into the green. It was a total blast and I was able to post one of my best rounds of the year at a tough test with brand new sticks. What a rewarding feeling!
Back in NH, it is 15 degree with a couple inches of snow on the ground, and the courses are all now closed. The toughest part will be waiting until spring for regular golf to resume. When my clubs get back, I plan to go get some numbers on GC Hawk for review. I will be looking for excuses to swing these every chance I get!
Part 2 coming soon... The People
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I hit PTX Pro 4i, and same story. It had plenty of distance, long actually, but I failed to draw, and didn't start for enough left for a fade to ride the wind to safety. Both my shot on 15 (7i) and 17 (4i) I made the same mistake.
The 4i and the rest of the PTx Pro long irons I really like so far
Especially after that Chiefs game!!! YEEHAW!!Not sure how easy the Titans will be dislodged from @PowerThursts avatar
- Joined
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- Handicap
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@GraniteRoost, that's fantastic recap, especially the information about UST and Recoil.
Great Part 1 GR! I said it on the course and I'll say it again, you can stripe a golf ball! That 4i you hit from 215 out on the par 5 was I think one of your best swings all day and you had some good ones. Can't wait to tee it up with you, or any of the others for that matter, again!THP Events are about The Gear, The People, and the Golf. Others have done such a good job recapping the event and people in it, I thought I'd dive into the gear a bit to start. Here we go!
Part 1 - The Gear ⚔?
There are a couple of reasons I was specifically interested to attend The Graphite Challenge:
- ’91 Edge GS – played my competitive junior golf with these, all the way through 2016. I have played more rounds with those than any other iron by far.
- ’99 Apex blades and ‘02 Apex Pro’s - that I picked up in summer 2016 to begin tinkering with more modern equipment
- ‘82 Personal models – Office Art, new un-hit S/N #1769
Tech Talk
UST Mayima Recoil
There was fantastic tech talk throughout the weekend, starting Friday night with Danny Le commanding the head of the table with a ton of great information regarding the performance benefits and history of Recoil shafts. Points that stand out in my mind:
- Graphite springs back 67% faster than steel. This is the origin of the Recoil name, so simple and yet so powerful. Faster springback in engineering terms is more efficient power transmission. (And I would bet that it has the potential to equate to better head feel when designed well…)
- Carbon fiber materials are available in many modulus values (stiffnesses). This makes it possible to build a shaft of similar profile at a wide variety of weights (i.e. 40-80g). Or, looked at another way, build a huge variety of profiles at the same weight. Different material stiffnesses and orientations allow the designer to place the right material exactly where needed to achieve the result.
- Steel is available in exactly one modulus, regardless of grade or heat treatment. This is a really important point. There is only so much you can do to move material around and tune the stiffness and overall weight of a steel shaft for this fundamental reason.
- Lighter weight shafts do not by their nature give up dispersion. Often a player will benefit from not fighting a heavier shaft and have better timing, CHS, plus center contact from a lighter shaft, and the materials provide the stiffness and torque to stand up to it. It’s all about what works for YOU, and you might be surprised. To this point, Danny prefers 95g shafts, and his set will be given to a lucky THP’er shortly!
- SMACWrap – is a layer of vibration dampening material within the shaft that benefits golfers who struggle with off center strikes. It is available in lighter weights that also help generate clubhead speed.
- The V2 Proforce history and how it helped to put UST Mayima on the map along with some nostalgia of other great early shafts was fun to hear
First Impressions - On Course
The Recoil 110 Protos that I received are absolutely gorgeous, the black paint and THP graphics are lit. Coupled with the black PTX Pro DBM heads, they make for a striking setup. I appreciate touches like the vintage Hogan Sunburst on this release, clean aesthetics of the iron, and the custom dancing golf ball THP logo’d shafts.
Saturday - The Palmer
There would be no time for foreplay, our groups introduction would be trail by fire (or rain!). We went straight out on the Palmer course, range closed (because we are the about the only Yahoos on course!), shotgunned the start for good measure, and as lead group it was bombs away on the 3rd tee. My first swing with Recoil and PTx Pro came from a fairway bunker with a 7i, and it was a promising start. Clean contact and nice flight setup a decent third. Looking good. From there, we proceeded to blast way around a watery course, making for a great test of the equipment in adverse conditions with zero adaptation time.
After a few holes, my swing settled in, and I noticed that I was starting to have a pretty decent (no great!) feel for release of the shafts, and shots were being shaped as desired and as on target as I am going to get starting dead cold in the rain. Flight trajectory was in a window that I like, and they feel great to swing. I was able to notice a difference that the Recoils were not transmitting as much shock was the steel shafts in my short wedges. Sweet. They have plenty of feedback, feeling nice and taut while damping out to a degree the bad vibrations. Following our technical discussion and on course observations, I have no doubts as to their ability to “hold up” and promote a tight dispersion.
The PTx Pro head shape is one that I became instantly comfortable with, and the V-sole performed admirably in the waterlogged conditions. I had no trouble finding clean contact and the sole sliced through the muck easily without digging or getting stuck. Frankly from the impressive PTx Pro reviews here, and prior experience V-Sole, I was expecting to be impressed. The heads lived up to expectations and then some. I ended up hitting all short irons on Saturday, and would have to wait until Sunday to get into the 4-5-6i.
Sunday - The Champion
On Sunday we had a chance to really get more comfortable and stretch out, with clear sunny skies, some range time before the round, and a full 18 holes on The Champion. On the range I hit the 7i for warmup, then Driver for the Bridgestone VFIT Ball fitting. I noticed I could really elevate the ball high if I wanted, a good thing. On course, I saw a bunch of things I really like, including short iron accuracy steadily improving as I got dialed in, a couple of really nice 5i and 6i approaches, and a striped 4i into a Par 5 into left-to-right wind that held its line, didn’t ballon, and carried all the way to the front fringe to setup birdie. The distance was a stretch for me to cover with 4i, and this setup covered it. I am coming from similar irons, but these are playing pretty much to my expected yardages so far. I hit a 6i way off the toe on one hole, and the ball surprised me by maintaining pretty much full distance.
Overall, I had a fantastic day with the PTx Pro on Sunday. I had a bunch of short birdie putts and was able to mostly either hit greens or the side I was trying to miss on. I even played some chips with the PW and 8i, that turned out well. We played a shamble format both days to stay out of trouble and to really focus on having good opportunities to play these irons and shafts into the green. It was a total blast and I was able to post one of my best rounds of the year at a tough test with brand new sticks. What a rewarding feeling!
Back in NH, it is 15 degree with a couple inches of snow on the ground, and the courses are all now closed. The toughest part will be waiting until spring for regular golf to resume. When my clubs get back, I plan to go get some numbers on GC Hawk for review. I will be looking for excuses to swing these every chance I get!
Part 2 coming soon... The People
Yep, as the FNG, I'm taking notes on how to do a proper review, as I feel like I was all over the place on my Day 1 recap.
I've loved reading all of your recaps so far, fantastic stuff! This is my first event (and first recap attempt) too
And yeah, that 4i from 215 was a good one... I was not expecting to get all the way there from 215 with the wind and slight green elevation. I will be searching for any excuse to tee it up with all of you again!
Last edited:
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2018
- Messages
- 33,130
- Reaction score
- 47,257
- Location
- Oxford, Mississippi
- Handicap
- 10.4
Your recap was very good.
- Thread starter
- Admin
- #571
The recaps are not the reviews that matter a ton, save those for the shaft and irons threads
Thanks for all the insight on the gear! I’m 90% convinced I want PTx Pro irons. I‘m also a multiple past Hogan iron set player. I just need to work out which shafts. The Recoil torque numbers sort of give me pause but I would benefit from the reduced harshness into my arms at my age now.THP Events are about The Gear, The People, and the Golf. Others have done such a good job recapping the event and people in it, I thought I'd dive into the gear a bit to start. Here we go!
Part 1 - The Gear ⚔?
There are a couple of reasons I was specifically interested to attend The Graphite Challenge:
- ’91 Edge GS – played my competitive junior golf with these, all the way through 2016. I have played more rounds with those than any other iron by far.
- ’99 Apex blades and ‘02 Apex Pro’s - that I picked up in summer 2016 to begin tinkering with more modern equipment
- ‘82 Personal models – Office Art, new un-hit S/N #1769
Tech Talk
UST Mayima Recoil
There was fantastic tech talk throughout the weekend, starting Friday night with Danny Le commanding the head of the table with a ton of great information regarding the performance benefits and history of Recoil shafts. Points that stand out in my mind:
- Graphite springs back 67% faster than steel. This is the origin of the Recoil name, so simple and yet so powerful. Faster springback in engineering terms is more efficient power transmission. (And I would bet that it has the potential to equate to better head feel when designed well…)
- Carbon fiber materials are available in many modulus values (stiffnesses). This makes it possible to build a shaft of similar profile at a wide variety of weights (i.e. 40-80g). Or, looked at another way, build a huge variety of profiles at the same weight. Different material stiffnesses and orientations allow the designer to place the right material exactly where needed to achieve the result.
- Steel is available in exactly one modulus, regardless of grade or heat treatment. This is a really important point. There is only so much you can do to move material around and tune the stiffness and overall weight of a steel shaft for this fundamental reason.
- Lighter weight shafts do not by their nature give up dispersion. Often a player will benefit from not fighting a heavier shaft and have better timing, CHS, plus center contact from a lighter shaft, and the materials provide the stiffness and torque to stand up to it. It’s all about what works for YOU, and you might be surprised. To this point, Danny prefers 95g shafts, and his set will be given to a lucky THP’er shortly!
- SMACWrap – is a layer of vibration dampening material within the shaft that benefits golfers who struggle with off center strikes. It is available in lighter weights that also help generate clubhead speed.
- The V2 Proforce history and how it helped to put UST Mayima on the map along with some nostalgia of other great early shafts was fun to hear
First Impressions - On Course
The Recoil 110 Protos that I received are absolutely gorgeous, the black paint and THP graphics are lit. Coupled with the black PTX Pro DBM heads, they make for a striking setup. I appreciate touches like the vintage Hogan Sunburst on this release, clean aesthetics of the iron, and the custom dancing golf ball THP logo’d shafts.
Saturday - The Palmer
There would be no time for foreplay, our groups introduction would be trail by fire (or rain!). We went straight out on the Palmer course, range closed (because we are the about the only Yahoos on course!), shotgunned the start for good measure, and as lead group it was bombs away on the 3rd tee. My first swing with Recoil and PTx Pro came from a fairway bunker with a 7i, and it was a promising start. Clean contact and nice flight setup a decent third. Looking good. From there, we proceeded to blast way around a watery course, making for a great test of the equipment in adverse conditions with zero adaptation time.
After a few holes, my swing settled in, and I noticed that I was starting to have a pretty decent (no great!) feel for release of the shafts, and shots were being shaped as desired and as on target as I am going to get starting dead cold in the rain. Flight trajectory was in a window that I like, and they feel great to swing. I was able to notice a difference that the Recoils were not transmitting as much shock was the steel shafts in my short wedges. Sweet. They have plenty of feedback, feeling nice and taut while damping out to a degree the bad vibrations. Following our technical discussion and on course observations, I have no doubts as to their ability to “hold up” and promote a tight dispersion.
The PTx Pro head shape is one that I became instantly comfortable with, and the V-sole performed admirably in the waterlogged conditions. I had no trouble finding clean contact and the sole sliced through the muck easily without digging or getting stuck. Frankly from the impressive PTx Pro reviews here, and prior experience V-Sole, I was expecting to be impressed. The heads lived up to expectations and then some. I ended up hitting all short irons on Saturday, and would have to wait until Sunday to get into the 4-5-6i.
Sunday - The Champion
On Sunday we had a chance to really get more comfortable and stretch out, with clear sunny skies, some range time before the round, and a full 18 holes on The Champion. On the range I hit the 7i for warmup, then Driver for the Bridgestone VFIT Ball fitting. I noticed I could really elevate the ball high if I wanted, a good thing. On course, I saw a bunch of things I really like, including short iron accuracy steadily improving as I got dialed in, a couple of really nice 5i and 6i approaches, and a striped 4i into a Par 5 into left-to-right wind that held its line, didn’t ballon, and carried all the way to the front fringe to setup birdie. The distance was a stretch for me to cover with 4i, and this setup covered it. I am coming from similar irons, but these are playing pretty much to my expected yardages so far. I hit a 6i way off the toe on one hole, and the ball surprised me by maintaining pretty much full distance.
Overall, I had a fantastic day with the PTx Pro on Sunday. I had a bunch of short birdie putts and was able to mostly either hit greens or the side I was trying to miss on. I even played some chips with the PW and 8i, that turned out well. We played a shamble format both days to stay out of trouble and to really focus on having good opportunities to play these irons and shafts into the green. It was a total blast and I was able to post one of my best rounds of the year at a tough test with brand new sticks. What a rewarding feeling!
Back in NH, it is 15 degree with a couple inches of snow on the ground, and the courses are all now closed. The toughest part will be waiting until spring for regular golf to resume. When my clubs get back, I plan to go get some numbers on GC Hawk for review. I will be looking for excuses to swing these every chance I get!
Part 2 coming soon... The People
For me, the fact that you played The Champ so well, after you asked for advice on how to play southern courses, was my highlight of following along. I just happened to know The Champ pretty well.
Well done! Congrats! That was a memory-maker, for sure!
Thanks for this comment in particular. I was way above my pay grade Sunday.... just so happy to be there that the golf was flowing. It was tremendously satisfying to play well all weekend, even though how you play is perhaps the least important thing at a THP event. Lifetime memories ?
You do realize how many pro’s have played that course since it was first open for play? Many are legendary names. I would wager there are a significant number that have never scored better than 71.
Very cool!