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miss0033's Achievements



  1. My sun Mountain 3.5 has almost no club tangle. I have a few other complaints about the bag, but club tangle is not one of them.
  2. 1. Join SuperStroke Nation HERE. Done 2. Did you join SuperStroke Nation? Yes Sir! 3. What SuperStroke Traxion club grips do you want to win? S-Tech Club Grip, Standard, Grey/Black 4. What SuperStroke Traxion putter grip do you want to win? Traxion 1.0PT, Black/White
  3. Just got back from our trip. Had a great time, which was the whole point. Didn't play my best golf, but still had a ton of fun playing. Played Lonnie Poole, which was a really nice course. My playing partner and I both thought the back was significantly more difficult than the front 9. But top notch condition, challenging layout, and just a great round of golf. Tot Hill Farm was in pretty rough shape. The "Cart paths" were more like ATV trails, and are in dire need of repair or replacement. Lots of crab grass in many of the fairways, the back 1/3 of #13 green is curling up and completely dead, other greens had some large burnt out areas. A few tee boxes have little to no grass, several former tee boxes have been abandoned (too difficult to get a mower to?). It was a fun layout and we still enjoyed the round, we were just disappointed to see the condition it was in. I hope they get some funds from all the homes that are being built around the course to help bring it back. Hole #8 might be my favorite on the course, but #10-#17 are also just really fun holes to play, just a great back nine. They also had closed up by the time we made the turn, with just some high school age kids bringing back carts and cleaning up. So we couldn't buy any merchandise, since we were pressed for time coming from Lonnie Poole. Mid Pines and Pine Needles were both in outstanding condition and a joy to play. I preferred the layout at Mid Pines, while my playing partner preferred Pine Needles. Just goes to show, everyone has their own tastes and preferences. The greens where nowhere as quick as I had remembered (played PN previously) and were covered in sand to the point where you had to clean your ball after every putt. Didn't affect our enjoyment of it, just an observation. Our room at Pine Needles Resort (Kirk lodge) was pretty tired... The shower drained extremely slow, the bathroom mirror was cloudy and had a crack, pretty old carpet and bedding, and the A/C ran all night and never seemed to cool the room down; it was as if the room below us had a fire going in a fireplace or something. Not sure if I would stay there again or not. I don't need a luxury hotel room by any means, but the lodge rooms could use some maintenance and minor upgrades. Although there was a rather large new TV which was almost comically large in comparison to the lodge room size. Tobacco Road was in impeccable condition and the highlight of the trip for both of us. I don't think I can add anything that hasn't already been said. Other than, our round here Saturday was right around 5 Hours and 10 minutes which is just too long. Sunday we played a little quicker in around 4:30. I am a little irritated with Pinehurst. I called Friday for a round Saturday at #3. I asked for their first available twilight tee time, and he said "We have a 3:44 available" - okay I will take it for 2. I guess I should've confirmed the price. We rushed from Tobacco Road over to Pinehurst, with the 5 hour round giving us much less time than anticipated. Our GPS sent us to the Carolina, so they kindly get us a shuttle over to the main club house, but we are cutting it close. I already had given them credit card info on the phone to get the tee time, I asked if we could just grab a cart and go, but No, I needed to check in. We waited over 20 minutes in line at the pro shop with everyone buying stuff and multiple lines forming in random places (and complete chaos going on outside at the putting course and cradle due to the Grint Tour), so we are already at 3:50 and late. She rings me up for full price, and I said I asked for a twilight tee time, but she tells me that doesn't start until 4:00, sorry about that. I tell here it is going to be after 4:00 by the time we get over to tee off, could she just move the tee time or give me any help? I am told since I am not staying there I cannot move or adjust my tee time and they are very busy anyway, if anything she is helping me by still letting us play even though we are late. So whatever, I pay full price and we head over there. I am not kidding, I think there was maybe 3 other groups on #3 total. It was empty. When I asked for Twilight tee time, if it didn't start until 4:00, why did he tell me 3:44 when there were hardly any other tee times booked. It was nice having a course to ourselves basically (a welcome relief from our other packed rounds), but don't act like you were too booked and doing me a favor to "even let me play". Not to mention on our shuttle ride to/from the Carolina, seeing how the baggage handlers throw, slam, and stack golf bags - I don't think I will be parting with my money to play Pinehurst anytime again soon. I am pretty sure we witnessed a Mavrik driver being snapped when it was thrown into the back of a bag transport cart, at a minimum the sole was dented. Neither worker seemed to care, and seemed to be more irritated to be moving golf clubs around. The whole place felt a little too pretentious to me, I preferred the much more laid back atmosphere at Mid Pines and Pine Needles, and the almost completely informal atmosphere of Tobacco Road. #3 was a fun course, and I am glad I played it, but it is not a $120 course. $65-$85 - absolutely, I would gladly play it again for that price, but not $120. When Tobacco Road was $135, and we played both Mid Pines and Pine Needles for about $200 combined, #3 was a pretty poor value comparatively. A twosome we got paired with at Tobacco Road said similar things about #1 but didn't know what they paid specifically as they were staying there on a package. Couldn't play the Cradle, as the event "Grint Tour" had essentially booked any open tee times left after resort guests had booked.
  4. Thanks for sharing! I hope you don't take offense to my question, because I don't mean any, but how do you take all these photos and still keep up with play? I'd love to take some more photos from my trips, but always feel like people are rolling their eyes at me or I am holding up play. I've finished up putting on a green, and tried to run up on a dune and grab a photo looking at the green back to the tee, and I get guys on the fairway throwing their arms up at me (specifically thinking about a situation at Tobacco Road #13). Any pointers? Certain tee times work better for this? Maybe you're just a 2 some in this situation with 4 somes in front of and behind you? Just want to get your thoughts, as I like your photos.
  5. Thanks everyone for the input. Walked a quick executive 9 over a long lunch today. Brought it up higher and kept playing with the straps. Made a huge improvement but still not 100% on it. It feels a ton lighter than my OGIO though, which is very nice. Especially on a day like today where it is 93 and humid. I might look into the other straps, especially if they are only $15. I do notice that they have new straps on the 2022 models; safe to assume that is the EZ-Strap? However I do not really like any of the colorways that I have seen so far on the 2022 bags from SM.
  6. 1. City and State? - Minneapolis, MN Area 2. Where do you practice (outdoors or indoors?) - Mainly Outdoors 3. Have you used a personal launch monitor before? - During fitting sessions, but never personally. 4. How could a Rapsodo MLM help your game? - Being able to get distances and spin rates. Seeing when I hit good shots and make swing adjustments and how that affects distance, spin, launch, etc. 5. Do you agree to participate in an ongoing testing thread, posting reviews and photos? - Yes, Of course.
  7. I'd echo what others have said; the most fun I have ever had playing a round of golf was at Tobacco Road. And since I have played it 3 times, it is probably #1, #2, and #3 on the list with another round scheduled soon. I haven't been to Bandon or many other bucket list courses. But TR was just an awesome experience all around, everything about it. Might not be the "Best" course I have ever played, but has consistently been the most fun and memorable rounds of golf I have ever played. Hoping to play Mammoth Dunes before the end of the year. I have heard people describe that course in a similar fashion. EDIT: I will add, on one of my visits to Tobacco Road we also played Pinehurst #2... That felt like survival golf, and while it is a beautiful and historic course, I don't think I will be playing it again. I was mentally drained after playing that course, and at $400+ it provided the least value of the trip for me personally.
  8. Sun Mountain owners, please help me. Bought a 3.5 (to replace a 2008~ish Ogio Grom) and loved it until walking with it for one round… It is SO much light than my previous bag, probably half the weight. However - the top of the bag has a hard plastic part that is wider, with a snap right above/to the side of it and it is digging into my back while walking. When I get the bag balanced so weight is equal across both shoulders, the top of the bag is just past my right side, almost even with it. In this position the back pad stops about 2” from my right side, and extends 2”-3” past my left side. When I drop the bag on that shoulder so that the top sticks out past my right side, the weight is much heavier on my left shoulder – feels like an 80/20 split, maybe even 90/10. After the round I had a fairly large red spot below my ribs from where this was rubbing. Please see photos below. Am I doing something wrong? If I cannot fix this, this is a deal breaker for this bag. Other minor issues/questions about the bag. I have 2 other friends with SM bags, their head covers have Velcro flaps, why does this one have snaps? I would think the lighter 3.5 bag would use the Velcro too (like the 4.5) and not snaps. It would save a few OZs I imagine. Coming from the Woode organizer in the Ogio, I liked my driver and hybrid off to the side, irons where easy access. In this bag the larger clubs hide the clubs below them so you have to move them out of the way to find them. As a 13 club player, I also don’t know if I could fit a 3-wood or 5-wood in the top part in addition to the clubs I have in there. This isn’t SM specific, just something I need to adjust to moving to a 4-way bag. My 20oz hyrdoflask fits snugly in the water bottle pocket, but makes the pocket behind it nearly un-useable due to the sung fit. The straps are also not very comfortable. I am hoping they will break in, but I may need to buy some different straps from SM if I can fix the issue with the top. I also recognize I have a humongous driver head cover and may need to switch it out for something more streamlined. Inside the ball pocket, there is a stretch/bungee pocket. Never had a pocket inside the ball pocket before… what do people keep in there?.
  9. Generally speaking, the heavy weight forward increases distance, the heavy weight in the rear increases forgiveness. Play around with it and see what happens, maybe a weight changes helps improve finding the center of the face. That will likely be one of the biggest changes, is just finding the center of the face. My average drive, near center strike, is around 265/270 with a 106 MPH swing speed. When I find the sweet spot, I will hit 285. Maybe adding some weight to the driver head will help you "feel it more" and find the face. Buying a couple weights from PXG is a pretty cheap way to play around with it. Also I don't see the face angle listed, but face to path is likely causing spin AND loss of distance. If you club path is -1.4 degrees (which is not too bad) but your face angle is +3 degrees (just picking a number) you are essentially delivering a glancing blow to the ball rather than a direct hit. What is going to be better contact? A 100% power, but a glancing blow? Or an 85% power, but a direct strike? If you're hitting it really high on the face, try teeing it a little lower. Not every needs the 3-1/2" tees, or to tee it sky high. I'd love to have your positive angle of attack. I can't do much better than half a degree negative - thus I have the Proto X and not the X+. You could try a counterbalanced shaft? It made a world of difference to me to "finding" the head during my swing. HZRDUS Smoke Yellow has pair nicely with the Proto X for me. Can probably find a used one for $100 or less. It is one of the heavier driver heads out there if I recall correctly. If it were me, I'd start with cheapest and go from there. Play with tee height, ball position in stance (move it back slightly to get it closer to low point of your swing), buy a few weights from PXG, etc. etc. before I start messing with shafts. But this is Golf WRX -- so go buy a Ventus Black 6X and fix all your problems (just kidding).
  10. I have a trip scheduled for myself and a buddy in mid August. Tee times were extremely hard to come across but we found some that work (good thing just 2 of us). What is booked; Wed night - fly into Raleigh, stay in Raleigh Thursday - TBD - Staying at Pine Needles Friday - Mid Pines AM and Pine Needles PM - Staying in Southern Pines (PN and MP were booked) Saturday - Tobacco Road 9:40AM - PM TBD - Staying in Southern Pines (PN and MP were booked) Sunday - Tobacco Road 7:40AM - 7:00 flight home Thursday the goal is to play a round with my cousin who lives in Salisbury. Tot Hill Farm seemed like a reasonable meeting point to play. Our preferred option would be to play Lonnie Poole early in the morning in Raleigh (8:00am or earlier) and head out to Tot Hill Farm for a 3:15ish tee time (90 minute drive). However, I have been tracking Lonnie Poole tee times the past few days, there seems to be very few tee times available before 10:00am on weekdays which would pretty much end us trying to play Tot Hill in the afternoon. So Lonnie Poole might not be a go... Whereas Tot hill Farm is wide open... I know it is a polarizing course (I've played it before, playing partner hasn't and is interested), hopefully conditions aren't terrible. UNC Finley doesn't appear to be an option, as Thursday mornings they have junior golf camp with public tee times not available until 9:00am or later, not to mention UNC, Duke, and Pine Hollow are all the wrong direction for us for Pinehurst and/or Tot Hill. Preserve at Jordan Lake might be an option, but looking at photos of it the course looks rather non-descript and not very sandhillsy. If we cannot get on at Lonnie Poole, and do an early AM Tot Hill round. What are the chances we can get on Pinehurst #3 in the afternoon? Either that day, or on Saturday after Tobacco road? Tee times are very limited. It appears there is a large event at Tobacco Road and Pinehurst that weekend; The Grint Tour, apparently. I am guessing golfs current popularity and that event will make tee-times 5 days out next to impossible. Also, if we can get on, does Pinehurst have any Twilight pricing after 3:00pm on the 'lesser' courses? Ideal Thursday option: Lonnie Poole in AM? (8:00?) Tot Hill in PM (3:15?) - w/ Pinehurst #3 on Saturday afternoon (3:30) or attempt to get on at the Cradle 2nd option for Thursday: OR Tot Hill in AM (9:00) and Pinehurst #3 (3:30?) - attempt a round at the Cradle on Saturday afternoon. Thanks in advance.
  11. Sun Country flies non-stop to Duluth from Fort Myers, but not sure if it is daily. Delta goes to and from MSP and chicago to Duluth. United to Duluth is from ORD I believe. All good recommendations from BirdieRoll. And yes, don't wait too long to book. Travel demand is huge in that area (among many, many others) right now.
  12. The Quarry is a highly rated course, but is far from a metro area so somewhat overlooked in that sense. It is overlooked by people outside of MN in my humble opinion. It is my favorite course in MN. Most of the course you feel like you're by yourself, cannot really see other holes very often and there aren't homes on the course. Holes 1, 2, 9 and 10 you can see the resort building, but that is about it. The courses are pretty different in design and strategy, but both are great. The Wilderness is my golf groups 3rd place course up there, but talk to a different group and they will have it as #1. They are laid back, resort courses. I think you'd enjoy the golf, and you cannot find much better fishing than Lake Vermillion (also my opinion).
  13. The Quarry, The Legend (both at Giants Ridge) and The Wilderness at Fortune Bay. All in Northern MN. Lake Vermillion (Wilderness has 3 holes on the lake) has world class fishing for Muskie, Walleye, Pike, etc. Also has Bass, Crappie, and other things but is most known for the first 3 species I mentioned. Courses aren't on the level of Sand Valley, but certainly VERY good courses, and you can play 36 at Quarry and Legend same day (including lunch) for cheaper than one round at Sand Valley if cost is a concern. They are close to world-class fishing, and you'd have no problem renting a boat or finding a guide on Vermillion. Could even make a recommendation on a guide if you decide to go there.
  14. Changed yes, played with... not really. I put the 15gram in the Heel, and in the Toe, and didn't pick up much of a consistent draw or fade (luckily, I hit my PXG hybrids remarkably straight). However I noticed the gearing effect, where when the heavy weight was in the heel, a mishit on the toe side really got away from me. Less noticeable with heavy weight in toe, and mishit on heel side but still somewhat present. My PXG fitter even admitted that the effect of moving weights on a smaller head is diminished versus the much larger Driver. You need a 15G move from heel or toe to see even a small difference. What I ended up doing was putting a 10g in the Heel and Toe, and a 2.5G in the back. This brought spin down a touch, avoiding any gearing effect from having a strike be far away from the weight, and being 5g heavier than stock took around 5-10yards off. I have a Gen 2 19*, and the Proto (newer/Gen 3) 22* was closing the gap more than I liked. I also turned the 19* slightly strong with the adjustable sleeve to help with that too. Zooming in on the photo, it appears Cobra is doing this stock, with a heavy weight in the heel and tow, and a lighter weight in the back.
  15. I thought the same thing. It looks extremely similar to my PXG Proto Hybrid. Both are easy on my eyes.
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