Phabs WITB -Nitrided Nikes / Raw Bridgestone J15's / Artisan

[Phabs]

Took the artisan out after an adjustment to the lie to get a little less toe hang and it was great.  Didn’t three jack at all and made a few I shouldn’t have.   Bailed me out from 30ft on 9 for par and made a nasty 20 foot left to righter downhill on 8.  Played the course I grew up on and know the like back of my hand.  
 

First round on the new wedge shafts and I love them.  Hit a gap wedge stone dead on 12 to kick in range and hit two hundred yard balls with the 54 inside four feet which were converted for birdie.  
 

Driver was a little loose but I was able to scramble and still hit the green from some spots I should of never been in.  The double on 17 was flier lie I misread resulting in a chip I got too cute with and left in the junk with a steep downhiller once it hit the putting surface. 18 being a par five I knew I could recoup one of the dropped shots, was extremely lucky to hit a 7 iron over the parking lot to about 15 feet 🤣.   Stupid game we play. 

Edited September 25, 2022 by Phabs

[Phabs]

Thursday night projects…

 

Shafting the Vapor fly pro 4 iron and pulling the vrpro heads to send to tiger nick tomorrow for nitride.  
 

Only issues I’ve ever had with my pro combos is the 7/6 iron have an ungodly amount of offset and the 4/5 iron have a “tink” to them due to the hollow cavity .  So I’ve been on the hunt for replacement 6/7 heads in the same era blade head which I found on here thankfully.  
 

I’ve found one vapor fly pro head and am still hunting a 5 iron,  I hit the 4 iron at the range tonight before I pulled it and it was really good.  The fly pro head and the pro combo head were 2 grams different in weight so I’m not going to sweat it.  I’ll put a gram of lead tape under the grip to help offset it if it really bugs me which I doubt it will.

 

[shoot4par]

On 8/25/2022 at 2:59 PM, Phabs said:

Artisan shows up today.  Everything I asked for and soles absolutely perfectly.   Did the titanium neck with the rust finish on a carbon head.   I’ll be on the putting green tonight after I glue up my LAGP shaft 

 

(Plug mark on the heel)

Is that a weight thing or does it have something to do with how the hosel/neck is bonded to the head? 

Looks pretty awesome

[Phabs]

5 hours ago, shoot4par said:

 

(Plug mark on the heel)

Is that a weight thing or does it have something to do with how the hosel/neck is bonded to the head? 

Looks pretty awesome

How the hosel is bonded to the head and thanks for the compliment.  Artisan made exactly what I had in mind 

Edited October 12, 2022 by Phabs

[Phabs]

I’ve played a M3 HL for the last 7 years pretty religiously,  I had a tour issue that was perfect with hotmelt which I stupidly sold.  Bought a LTDX LS 3 wood and it was junk, rebought an M3 head and was quickly reminded how hollow they sound without hotmelt. 

 

I purchased a tour issue Cobra Speedzone 14.5 off eBay and played my first round with it last weekend.   Turned it down a degree to square the face at address and it’s really really solid.  Sounds amazing and feels good no matter where you strike it.  My first 30 balls with this thing were damn near cold tops which isn’t normal for me, figured it was a headweight thing which it was.  I stuck 6g of neutral hotmelt up against the face and it’s been way better. Went from a 60g LAGP X to my trusty 70g X KBS and that helped as well. 

 

I’ve been reading through the driver tune up thread and am going to play with the length on my driver next time I hit the range.  Consistenty of contact with my driver hasn’t been good the last 4 rounds out and I’m thinking it’s a combo of light headweight and playing it out at 45.25”.   Going to cycle 6-8-10g weights through the head until it feels right at the range and see if I notice a difference with some foot spray on the face once I start gripping down. My miss is all the sudden a right block spinning off the earth.  Amazing you can play good golf, shoot under par and still complain about something, game is a never ending Rubik’s cube of bs 🤣.  

Edited October 25, 2022 by Phabs

[Phabs]

Ultimate Nike set finally complete,  these came back from coating this afternoon.  Getting weights adjusted and gluing them up tonight.  Planning to get them loft and lied this weekend before my fall tournament Sunday. 

[Phabs]

Still a little low but I’ll fix that.  Consistency of contact is way better with the driver at 44.5”.  Nikes are back from nitride and shafted just need to get them adjusted to my specs.  

[MattM97]

On 11/17/2022 at 9:33 PM, Phabs said:

Still a little low but I’ll fix that.  Consistency of contact is way better with the driver at 44.5”.  Nikes are back from nitride and shafted just need to get them adjusted to my specs.  

 

So it is possible to hit center on those drivers, thought mine was broken lol.

[Phabs]

4 hours ago, MattM97 said:

 

So it is possible to hit center on those drivers, thought mine was broken lol.

 

[Phabs]

Not a whole lot to update here.  Winters been nasty with snow almost weekly out here and I've committed to rolling 100 putts a day all of winter , I'm on month 4 of it so roughly 8000 putts in.  The Artisan is going to have a wear mark after this winter I'm pretty sure haha.  I did just order a LTDX head only to swing against my LS head to see if I can find a happy medium of ball control / forgiveness.  I've pretty much played a draw my entire golf career and the LS has changed my driver into a fade 80% of the time.   I struggle to turn the LS over right to left so I'm hoping the regular LTDX has a little more workability even if it comes with more spin.   I had a long long talk with my college coach and he says the low spin craze in drivers is causing some weird things to happen, claimed spin is control which I can agree with.  Even if it costs me some carry yardage being able to shape the ball how I want off the tee is more valuable to me.   I ran through the DIY driver fitting and dialed the LS head in as solidly as I could before the end of the season so I'm pretty confident that head is pretty optimized for me after the DIY was over. 

[MattM97]

I'm sick of winter too, I'm trying by too many golf courses with no one on them out here but it's coming soon.

 

As for that low spin craze, yeah it's getting crazy to the point I'm going to balls with more spin to make up for it on some clubs. At least there are options these days.

[Phabs]

3 hours ago, MattM97 said:

I'm sick of winter too, I'm trying by too many golf courses with no one on them out here but it's coming soon.

 

As for that low spin craze, yeah it's getting crazy to the point I'm going to balls with more spin to make up for it on some clubs. At least there are options these days.

Very true. I don’t see myself going away from the BXS ball, I’m too addicted to the feel off of all my putter faces.  They make a pro v feel hard.  I just want to go practice on a real green again… my putting mat is going to need to be replaced haha 

[Phabs]

Just went and hit the regular LTDX at the range and I can see one in my future.  Had about half the fade on bad swings as the LS and appeared to go every bit as far with frozen range balls.    Going to take it to a sim tomorrow and see if the results in that match what I think I was seeing on the range this afternoon.  I was able to run the regular LTDX over or hit dead straight way easier than the LS which is what I was curious about. 

[Phabs]

Honeymoon phase in full effect.  If you played the M3 and liked it this is the best feeling/sounding driver since.  

[MattM97]

7 minutes ago, Phabs said:

Honeymoon phase in full effect.  If you played the M3 and liked it this is the best feeling/sounding driver since.  

 

LTDX or new Aerojet? 

[Phabs]

29 minutes ago, MattM97 said:

 

LTDX or new Aerojet? 

Aero

[MattM97]

5 minutes ago, Phabs said:

Aero

 

Interesting guess you finally found something to beat out the old M3. 

[Phabs]

7 minutes ago, MattM97 said:

 

Interesting guess you finally found something to beat out the old M3. 

Was at my lesson and cobra happened to be there.  One of reps was watching me swing and handed me a driver 

[MattM97]

10 minutes ago, Phabs said:

Was at my lesson and cobra happened to be there.  One of reps was watching me swing and handed me a driver 

 

He knew what he was doing lol. 

 

I'm curious about the Aero woods to add to my bag. May try the driver with my shaft if there's time. 

[Phabs]

8 minutes ago, MattM97 said:

 

He knew what he was doing lol. 

 

I'm curious about the Aero woods to add to my bag. May try the driver with my shaft if there's time. 

I didn’t even need a launch monitor.  I hit it about 10 times and told him to get me a head.  I need to go swing the 3 wood and see if it has the same feel as the driver , if it does I’ll get one of those too 

[Phabs]

Few updates.

 

I’ve been working with a coach on a 6 week plan before the season starts.  Really like where my game is at right now judging by my swing feels and ball contact.  Going to be playing the Nikes a bit more this year- they feel so pure when you’re swinging well.  
 

I picked up a Srixon two iron head that I had bent to 19* for gapping and figured I’d try the tour ad in it since it’s been a while since I’ve swung one.   I bought the 95x AD and it seems to be really good in that head, feels rock solid and pretty soft for a utility.  

 

I also picked up an LTDX 15* head and holy moly is it good.  I had a brief stint with the LS head last year and it was junk for my swing but the standard head seems to be a magic pill.  Was able to work it high right and high left off the deck and really liked the feel/sound.  I’ve been searching for a 3w ever since I stupidly sold my M3HL hot melted head a while back.  
 

Im also into month four of 100 putts a day.  My artisan is getting a workout… figure I’ve rolled about 9000 putts so far. 

Edited April 6, 2023 by Phabs

[AlohaPineapple]

love the artisan putter!  also agree on being difficult to switch from BXS, the feel is awesome

Edited April 6, 2023 by AlohaPineapple

[Phabs]

On 4/6/2023 at 4:31 PM, AlohaPineapple said:

love the artisan putter!  also agree on being difficult to switch from BXS, the feel is awesome

Thanks your irons are amazing from those guys.   I played a TP5 today and I remember why I’ve stuck to Bridgestone.  

[Phabs]

Played in my monthly ex college teammates game last weekend, I played really well shot sub 70 and left 100 bucks lighter by 3 strokes.  One of the guys I play with is still lights out and a deep plus handicap.  Our other buddy is the guy who never practices a single bit, shows up with old mismatched clubs, a broken bag and still shoots a low 70 / high 60 number. Our fourth dropped out the morning of and we picked up a random single who was a good player - probably a 12 handicap.  He played fast and kept up with us no problem.  We finished the round and he asked what we all shot and when the first guy said 66 he about fell over. None of us are cocky or arrogant about our games and try and be as accommodating as possible to everyone we play with.   The solo asked if we were available for a 4 man scramble at the end of the month, which we’ll probably end up playing in.  

Edited April 22, 2023 by Phabs

[Phabs]

Finally had a round end of last year where my short game completely gave up on me.  It’s been teetering on weakness for the last couple years and I haven’t practiced it nearly enough so no excuse.   I signed up for the one month membership to the short game chef after watching a few of his free videos and liking his teaching style and explanation method.  I struggled with consistency all last year, thin, chunk, low no spin, soft-high too much spin etc.  Basically everything you could do wrong I was doing.  
 

I had always used the hinge and hold method and would release my wrist on flops to try and speed the clubhead up.   All this just created a disaster for consistency. 
 

I’ve been absolutely living on extreme toe side impact when chipping for a while now.  I went through about 2 weeks of videos and went to the chipping green 4 days straight.   I messaged him a few times on Instagram and he got back to me relatively quickly and even took a look at a chipping video I sent him on there which was cool of him to do.   He had my contact centered up after a few messages back and forth which helped with spin consistency and overall feel.  
 

His method of chipping has you wearing the bounce out on your wedges but my misses are amazingly good and when I clip them how I’m supposed to the ball has a good bit of zip on it with predictable release.  I’ve been using my izzo band across my forearms right below my biceps to link my arms and chest together, really really helped get the feel he’s after.   Makes your motion similar to Jason Day where your wrists lock / no hinge and you rotate your ribs and lats to and from , maintain the triangle your arms form throughout the motion and make sure you come at the ball from the inside.  
 

If your short game needs work don’t hesitate to check out short game chefs stuff.   It’s really helped me 

[Phabs]

Finally getting accustomed to the new motion.  Hit about 200 chips tonight from 40 yards and in.  Definitely teaches you to use the ground and trust your motion. 

[MattM97]

13 hours ago, Phabs said:

Finally getting accustomed to the new motion.  Hit about 200 chips tonight from 40 yards and in.  Definitely teaches you to use the ground and trust your motion. 

 

I'm gonna need my wedges to look like that this year. 

[Phabs]

11 hours ago, MattM97 said:

 

I'm gonna need my wedges to look like that this year. 

All it takes is some hours on the chipping green buddy. 

[Phabs]

I'm on the bag for one of my college teammates this weekend for a tournament.   He finished 3rd last year two rounds of 66/67 , he lost to two ex PGA players so I'll be sure to give him all bad numbers and crap reads for two days.   My first tournament is coming up next month and my last two rounds I'm a total of 5 under at two easy courses. My chipping is still coming around after grinding this new motion into my routine , some days I'm lights out somedays I'm still struggling with landing spot and correct face contact.  Guess that's golf 

 

I've been experimenting with some graphite options and haven't found anything that gives me the consistency of steel ,  I've got a MMT 125 TX in a Nike blade 4 iron head right now curing that I'll go swing tomorrow.  

[Obsessed]

On 4/6/2023 at 5:35 PM, Phabs said:

Few updates.

 

I’ve been working with a coach on a 6 week plan before the season starts.  Really like where my game is at right now judging by my swing feels and ball contact.  Going to be playing the Nikes a bit more this year- they feel so pure when you’re swinging well.  
 

I picked up a Srixon two iron head that I had bent to 19* for gapping and figured I’d try the tour ad in it since it’s been a while since I’ve swung one.   I bought the 95x AD and it seems to be really good in that head, feels rock solid and pretty soft for a utility.  

 

I also picked up an LTDX 15* head and holy moly is it good.  I had a brief stint with the LS head last year and it was junk for my swing but the standard head seems to be a magic pill.  Was able to work it high right and high left off the deck and really liked the feel/sound.  I’ve been searching for a 3w ever since I stupidly sold my M3HL hot melted head a while back.  
 

Im also into month four of 100 putts a day.  My artisan is getting a workout… figure I’ve rolled about 9000 putts so far. 

What length did you set the two iron at?