Do you guys play the same shafts in your irons and wedges? For example, if you’re in X100s in your irons, are you running X100s in your wedges too or something different like S400s?

I’ve always gone the “traditional” route with S400s in my wedges, but I’m ordering some new Wilson wedges and the S400 Tour Issue is on backorder. Got me thinking… maybe it’s time to just run X100s straight through the set and see what happens.

I know there’s no one right answer here. Some tour guys blend (X100 / S400), others keep everything the same, and then you’ve got stepping variations (Tiger-style, hard/soft stepping, etc.).

One thing I’ve noticed personally: with S400s, I tend to get a little more shut/closed face to path and miss left more than I’d like. Doesn’t really happen as much with my X100s in the irons. Could be delivery, could be feel, could be shaft profile.

Curious if anyone here has:

• Switched from same shafts....wedge-specific shafts (or vice versa)

• Noticed flight/control differences

• Found one setup better for distance control vs full swings

Would love to hear what you’re playing and why.

For me, it is turbulators. I just cannot get myself to look past them and have never liked them.

7 iron will pretty perfectly get me to 160-170yds, but something about my 6 iron it's getting me to that comfortable 170-175yd carry (which I honestly think is mostly psychological!).

I used to then have a pretty big gap from 177-200yds, but I just put a 5 hybrid in the bag, which should be my 180yd carry club.

Weirdly I'm then very good from 200-220yds (9W and 7W), and then 3W is right at 240yds.

What about you? What distance gap gives you the most challenges?

As I am a Denver-know-nothing, I figured I'd make a post here to see if anyone has any suggestions!

Also, I recognize (he may not) that mid-April in Denver MAY still be snow-bound/cold, but ... give recommendations anyway, in case it's nice enough to play! And if it (historically) isn't, let me know that, too!

Thanks, all!

As mentioned elsewhere, I'm trying to fight down to a <7.5 as soon as I can this season, so I can enter some of the more top tier MSGA events at fun private courses this year.

Saturday Scramble - March 14

First competition for me this week is on Saturday, with a two man scramble event. Scrambles are definitely a lot more relaxed, but I do expect this one to be pretty competitive. Our club has a rule for this one that the two players must have a combined handicap of over 12.

Which means I get to play with a 3 hcap. I've only played with the guy I'm partnering with once, and he can absolutely bomb it (120mph+ CHS) but he is very wild off the tee and also not a very good putter. In theory that should work well if I can put the ball in play and also keep my good run of putting form from llast season.

I'm mainly just excited to get things going with some competitive golf.

What's on deck for everyone else in terms of competitions over the next few weeks and months?

With pretty much everyone getting thawed out and looking to start the season, or us lucky ones who have at least a round in for the 2026 season, it begs a question I'd love to hear your take on.

What do you do before you start the season?

Do you clean out your bag of old crap and then start new, sort of like a golf bag Spring cleaning?
Do you go through your closet to see what fits, what doesn't, and what you might want to add to your golf clothing repertoire?
Do you check your shoes, and clean them up for the new season? Do you check/replace spikes to get that perfect grip for the new season?
Do you check your clubs for any issues and give them a good cleaning?

What is your preseason routine that gets you all ready to roll for another year playing our favorite sport?

Really, really good watch here.

I've always tried to end my listings on Sunday around 9:30 pm.

My thought is I get the people who are frustrated out there, come home, swear they need new gear and let them bid away and I use 9:30 for the west coasters.

What about you? Do you have a strategy?

How do you deal with unhappy buyers?

Why You Miss on the "Amateur Side"

Every golfer has heard it. You miss a breaking putt on the low side and your playing partner says, "That's the amateur side." Pros miss high. Amateurs miss low.

But WHY? A 2024 study in PLOS ONE by Hasegawa, Okada, and Fujii dug into this with some clever methodology, and the answer is more interesting than "read the green better."

The Study

Twelve JGTO tour professionals and twelve amateurs putted on breaking slopes around 10 feet from the hole. Two conditions: a subtle 1% side slope and a steeper 3% side slope. All participants wore goggles that blocked their vision after contact. As soon as they made contact with the ball, the goggles would quickly flip to “blackout” mode and they couldn't see how the ball broke and where it ended up.

What They Found

On both slopes, amateurs underestimated how much the break actually was. They started the ball too low, and the ball broke below the cup. Classic amateur side.

But it gets worse for amateurs. Not only did they tend to underread the amount of break, but whatever break they did think was there, they tended to setup and line the face up with even less break than they thought was there. It's not just that they couldn't see the break. They couldn't correctly act on whatever they did see. To put this in a simple example: The putt has 24 inches of ACTUAL break. The amateurs saw 12 inches of break, but when they lined up they were only playing 8 inches of break.

Why This Matters

Mark Sweeney, the inventor of AimPoint, teaches that golfers tend to visually under-read putts by about 50%, and that the cost of under-reading is usually much worse than the cost of over-reading. Sweeney notes that a putt over-read by a foot will usually finish a lot closer than a putt under-read by a foot.

My Thoughts

Most amateurs treat putting as a stroke problem. They buy new putters, work on mechanics, practice how the stroke looks. Those things can matter. But this study points out something many of us need to consider... It's not just that you misread the break. It's that even when you have a reasonable sense of the amount of break, you STILL don't aim high enough. Your brain recognizes the break, tells your body to play more of it, and your body doesn't go far enough.

Think about that. You could read the green perfectly, and your aim would still not be as “high” as you think you are aiming. This is where putts go to die on the amateur side.

If you are like many amateurs and struggle with your reads, next time you're practicing breaking putts, try this: pick your aim point, then move it a little higher. If it feels like too much, you're probably getting closer to where you actually need to start it.

Spend time on your practice green dialing in your reads, and then dialing in where you are actually aiming/starting your putts. Start tracking your high side vs low side misses. Focused effort on this part of the game will help lower your scores!

Will soon have a mystery ZT Putter to test (No Spoilers)

Will have an hour of SAM lab time to test it against some other putters, so what do folks think?

My Putter Garage has the following:

Blades:

Old School Ping Anser

Lombardi Double Wide (PC 308)

Swag Handsome 1 F

Scotty Newport 2

Seemore Nashville

Old School Macy (Mashie) Putter

Mid-Mallets:

Odyssey Rossie Dual Force 1

Odyssey Rossie Dual Force 2

Wilson The TAM

Mallets:

Odyssey 2 Ball Micro Hinge

LA Golf Malibu

ZT Putters:

DF3

Oz1I

Broom Sticks:

Oz1I Broom Stick

So I am thinking of bringing 4 from the garage with me, what do others think?

What Good Golf Rounds Have In Common (That Bad Rounds Don’t)

You shoot 78 one day and 92 the next. Same course. Same clubs. Same swing. What changed? Most golfers think it’s their ball-striking. They hit it better on good days and worse on bad days.

That’s not it.

The difference between your good rounds and bad rounds isn’t how well you hit it. It’s what you do after you hit it. Good rounds and bad rounds are separated by decisions, not swings.

A note on golf statistics and your game

You’ve probably heard about Strokes Gained statistics and other analytics. These metrics are built on professional golfer data. At the PGA Tour level, players already have elite short games so their scoring variance comes from long-game performance. That’s why those stats show the long game matters most.

You’re not a professional golfer. If you’re lucky, you may have a few hours a week to practice. Your short game is inconsistent. Your swing changes take months to ingrain. For the average amateur, the math is different.

This article focuses on what moves the needle for recreational golfers with real-world constraints. The advice here applies a realistic strategy to your game.

Good rounds avoid big numbers

The biggest difference between a good round and a bad round is how many holes you ruin. On good days, your worst hole is a double bogey. On bad days, you make a triple or worse. That one hole destroys your score. It’s not that you hit it worse all day. It’s that you made one catastrophic mistake and couldn’t recover.

Good rounds avoid disaster. You hit it in the trees, you punch out. You short-side yourself, you accept bogey. You’re in a bad spot, you take your medicine. Bad rounds are full of hero shots that don’t work. You try to thread it through the trees. You try to flop it over the bunker to a tight pin. You go for the green over water when you should lay up. One bad decision leads to another and suddenly you’re writing down an eight.

Good rounds stay in play off the tee

You don’t need to hit fairways to shoot a good score but you need to stay in play. Good rounds are full of drives that might not be perfect but are playable. Bad rounds are full of drives that put you in jail. You’re reloading off the tee. You’re punching out sideways. You’re taking unplayable lies.

The difference isn’t swing quality. It’s target selection. On good days, you aim at the fat part of the fairway and give yourself room to miss. On bad days, you aim at tight lines and pay the price when you miss. Good rounds are built on smart driving, not perfect driving.

Good rounds have a short game

When you shoot a good score, it’s not because you hit every green. It’s because you saved par when you missed. You chipped it close. You made the putt. You turned a potential bogey into a par and you did it multiple times. Bad rounds are full of missed greens that turn into bogeys or worse because your short game disappeared.

The short game is the difference between shooting your handicap and shooting 10 over it. Good players get up and down. Average players don’t. It’s not about talent. It’s about practice and course management. If you’re not spending time on your short game, your bad rounds will always be worse than they need to be.

Good rounds have a game plan

On good days, you have a strategy for every hole. You know where you’re aiming off the tee. You know what club you’re hitting into the green. You know where you can miss and where you can’t.

Bad rounds are reactive. You get to the tee and figure it out. You hit driver because that’s what you always hit. You aim at the flag because it’s there.

Good rounds are played with intention. You’re not just hitting shots. You’re executing a plan. That plan might be conservative but it’s a plan. You’re playing to your strengths and avoiding your weaknesses.

Good rounds stay present

The mental game separates good rounds from bad rounds more than anything else. On good days, you’re focused on the shot in front of you. On bad days, you’re thinking about the double bogey three holes ago or the birdie putt you missed. You’re not present. You’re somewhere else and your score reflects it.

Good rounds are played one shot at a time. You hit it, you deal with it, you move on. Bad rounds are full of emotional swings. You get angry. You press. You try to get it all back on one hole. That never works.

The simple truth

Good rounds aren’t about hitting it better. They’re about managing your game better. Avoiding big numbers. Staying in play. Getting up and down. Having a plan. Staying present. The difference between your best and worst rounds is smaller than you think. It’s just a few better choices.

https://www.reddit.com/r/golf/s/buWhbRxu0L

The Boss has said I should go and play while we are here and she’s happy with it, so the advice needed - is it a trap and I’m leaving myself open to a huge future debt? Especially as it’s her birthday tomorrow too and the trip was part of her present. Or should I just go with it and enjoy the chance to play out here?

So how much worse are you once the season starts back up vs where you ended the year last year?

Ill work on the recap over the next few days.

A change in my stance could potentially fix the issue immediately by simply aiming a bit more to the right.

Or, a change in my path could have a more lasting effect and remove some variability.

What do you think?