For 2018 I went through a lot of equipment. I tried a lot of different things and ultimately used this bag or some form of this bag towards the end of 2018.
Driver: Ping G400 LST 10*, MCA Tensei Pro White 70TX tipped 1"
Driver has been a battle between the g400 and the srixon z785. Both of these are amazing clubs. I find the srixon a bit longer while the g400 lst is a little more forgiving.
3 Wood: Taylormade M4 15*, Aldila Silver 110 MSI 70X
3 wood has been an interesting debate for me most of the season. I have a '16 M2 3HL that has seen a fair amount of time in the bag as well. 3 wood is supposed to be a club I can pull when I cant hit driver because I would go through a fairway. Off the fairway, I tend to not pull the club as much.
Hybrid: Cobra F7 3-4 set at 19.5*, Graphite Design 95X
This is the toughest part of my bag to fit because I want it to do a lot things. I need it for tee shots and attacking par 5s in two. Because of that I often bounce between different clubs. I like the f7 hybrid a lot, but it spins the ball a lot. I often swap it out for a taylormade p790 udi with modus 130s depending on the time of year. Both clubs are awesome for what they do.
4 iron: Taylormade P790, Nippon Modus3 130S
4 iron is a club that means a lot to me. Growing up I didnt play a hybrid because I didnt really know much about them and my 4 iron from my set was my utility club. This continues. If I need to take iron off the tee to make sure I'm in play, this thing is a rocket. Do I need to recover and hit a 220+ yard hero shot, this is the club. On top of all that the club actually feels nice.
5-PW: Srixon z765, Nippon Modus3 130S
These clubs are amazing. They feel wonderful and the v-sole really makes them get through the turf. They look great and the added blade length w/ tungsten really helps the forgiveness of these more player profile clubs. The only thing I did to these was change the lofts and lies a little bit to work on gapping. The other thing is double check the lengths of these clubs, they usually come a little long compared to other manufacturers.
GW, SW Cleveland RTX3 48*, 54* both bent weak. Nippon Modus3 130s
Between the rtx 3 and 4 the biggest difference is the offset and the roundness of the heads. I like the rtx 4 in the 54 and 58, but the 46 and 50 look too close to the irons after a while. The rtx 3 is easy to hit a multitude of shots and can spin the ball quite well. I usually try and take the least amount of loft I can when playing around the green. When approaching from the fairway, care needs to be taken on how I hit the shot since trapped balls will spin back quite a bit while high soft shots will just sit.
LW: Titleist SM6 60* Low Bounce K, Dynamic Gold S400
I think this is a cool club. The low bounce k is playable from a variety of lies. This club has helped me get out of situations. The only complaint is the low bounce can sometime slide under the ball a bit to easy if I'm not focusing on strike.
Putter: Scotty Cameron Newport 2.5
I've bought a lot of putters over since coming back to gold. The 2.5 and toulon San Francisco are the 2 putters I've gone back to on numerous occasions and have survived my sell offs. When I went to club champion they recommended me going to a mallet with more loft and more upright. The Newport 2 in the picture was bent to the specs they recommended. I'm not exactly happy with how its rolling. The Spider Tour is the next putter I'm trying since I'm not exactly happy with my putting currently.
Ball: 5th Generation Srixon Z Star XV
I tried a bunch of balls in 2017 and 2018. My first consistent ball was the chrome soft x, but mostly because it was sold in the PX. I then moved towards Vice Pro but they got damaged too quickly. I had an on again off again play with prov1 and prov1x at this point but hated the price point of them. I then learned about Srixon and tried the z star and xv and was blown away by the performance of the balls. I loved the XV off my longer clubs and greenside spin was okay. The z star was better around the green, but stuck with the firmer ball. The only other contender was the snell MTB. The black was a solid ball, but I went back to the XV for the feel.
The q star tour is a great ball as well and I now have the 2 new Z stars in testing. So far I'm impressed with both.
Glove: Srixon. It's cheap durable and all leather. Was what got me to consider the Srixon brand
Bag: Ping Hoofer. I walk a majority of my rounds and this carry bag is pretty comfortable. It also has a pass through for those cart days. I'm also in the thought process of going towards a push cart to help ensure I'm not hurting my back and shoulders while playing. Also to help me actually use any technology to help me ensure I'm playing the right strategy.
Range Finder: Bushnell X2. It works really well. The only other range finder on my mind is the Garmin with the GPS overlay. I've also used game golf and shot scope. Between the two shot scope I preferred and cant wait to give arccos a try.
Now, I cant wait to put in my order for the Morgan Cup tomorrow. Next update will be when the clubs come in.
Driver: Ping G400 LST 10*, MCA Tensei Pro White 70TX tipped 1"
Driver has been a battle between the g400 and the srixon z785. Both of these are amazing clubs. I find the srixon a bit longer while the g400 lst is a little more forgiving.
3 Wood: Taylormade M4 15*, Aldila Silver 110 MSI 70X
3 wood has been an interesting debate for me most of the season. I have a '16 M2 3HL that has seen a fair amount of time in the bag as well. 3 wood is supposed to be a club I can pull when I cant hit driver because I would go through a fairway. Off the fairway, I tend to not pull the club as much.
Hybrid: Cobra F7 3-4 set at 19.5*, Graphite Design 95X
This is the toughest part of my bag to fit because I want it to do a lot things. I need it for tee shots and attacking par 5s in two. Because of that I often bounce between different clubs. I like the f7 hybrid a lot, but it spins the ball a lot. I often swap it out for a taylormade p790 udi with modus 130s depending on the time of year. Both clubs are awesome for what they do.
4 iron: Taylormade P790, Nippon Modus3 130S
4 iron is a club that means a lot to me. Growing up I didnt play a hybrid because I didnt really know much about them and my 4 iron from my set was my utility club. This continues. If I need to take iron off the tee to make sure I'm in play, this thing is a rocket. Do I need to recover and hit a 220+ yard hero shot, this is the club. On top of all that the club actually feels nice.
5-PW: Srixon z765, Nippon Modus3 130S
These clubs are amazing. They feel wonderful and the v-sole really makes them get through the turf. They look great and the added blade length w/ tungsten really helps the forgiveness of these more player profile clubs. The only thing I did to these was change the lofts and lies a little bit to work on gapping. The other thing is double check the lengths of these clubs, they usually come a little long compared to other manufacturers.
GW, SW Cleveland RTX3 48*, 54* both bent weak. Nippon Modus3 130s
Between the rtx 3 and 4 the biggest difference is the offset and the roundness of the heads. I like the rtx 4 in the 54 and 58, but the 46 and 50 look too close to the irons after a while. The rtx 3 is easy to hit a multitude of shots and can spin the ball quite well. I usually try and take the least amount of loft I can when playing around the green. When approaching from the fairway, care needs to be taken on how I hit the shot since trapped balls will spin back quite a bit while high soft shots will just sit.
LW: Titleist SM6 60* Low Bounce K, Dynamic Gold S400
I think this is a cool club. The low bounce k is playable from a variety of lies. This club has helped me get out of situations. The only complaint is the low bounce can sometime slide under the ball a bit to easy if I'm not focusing on strike.
Putter: Scotty Cameron Newport 2.5
I've bought a lot of putters over since coming back to gold. The 2.5 and toulon San Francisco are the 2 putters I've gone back to on numerous occasions and have survived my sell offs. When I went to club champion they recommended me going to a mallet with more loft and more upright. The Newport 2 in the picture was bent to the specs they recommended. I'm not exactly happy with how its rolling. The Spider Tour is the next putter I'm trying since I'm not exactly happy with my putting currently.
Ball: 5th Generation Srixon Z Star XV
I tried a bunch of balls in 2017 and 2018. My first consistent ball was the chrome soft x, but mostly because it was sold in the PX. I then moved towards Vice Pro but they got damaged too quickly. I had an on again off again play with prov1 and prov1x at this point but hated the price point of them. I then learned about Srixon and tried the z star and xv and was blown away by the performance of the balls. I loved the XV off my longer clubs and greenside spin was okay. The z star was better around the green, but stuck with the firmer ball. The only other contender was the snell MTB. The black was a solid ball, but I went back to the XV for the feel.
The q star tour is a great ball as well and I now have the 2 new Z stars in testing. So far I'm impressed with both.
Glove: Srixon. It's cheap durable and all leather. Was what got me to consider the Srixon brand
Bag: Ping Hoofer. I walk a majority of my rounds and this carry bag is pretty comfortable. It also has a pass through for those cart days. I'm also in the thought process of going towards a push cart to help ensure I'm not hurting my back and shoulders while playing. Also to help me actually use any technology to help me ensure I'm playing the right strategy.
Range Finder: Bushnell X2. It works really well. The only other range finder on my mind is the Garmin with the GPS overlay. I've also used game golf and shot scope. Between the two shot scope I preferred and cant wait to give arccos a try.
Now, I cant wait to put in my order for the Morgan Cup tomorrow. Next update will be when the clubs come in.
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