new acquisitions for xmas

Just got back to Dubai and picked up a 5 packages from the courier company.

First one is my Bob Rotella CD package



Haven't opened the other 4 boxes yet, but will do so later and post up pics to share.

Wife already bought me a set of Miura Giken MB-5003 blades with KBS Tour shafts, I picked up 2 Miura wedges and had them shafted with KBS Tour Black Nickel shafts (X for the 56, S for the 52), and DGman 'upgraded' my TM Tour Burner tour-issued driver with a TM tour-issued Diamana whiteboard 63x5ct shaft.

http://www.golfrepublic.org/self-introduction-f1/hi-to-everyone-t2987-30.htm?sid=85290a6d7786275b5e01cbf90a62e18a



More pics to follow when I get home tonight!

lucky you! congrats! my wife would do anything to prevent me from buying new stuff!

My wife is remarkably supportive of my golfing habits as long as I don't go too far. Of course, I haven't figured out where that thin line stands yet, but it's only a matter of time!

gonna appreciate ya wife more in tt case =)

enjoy the 18hole and not go 9-under (like Mr. Woody) =P

ghoonk is a lucky man.

Merry Xmas, buddy!

I think in Dubai, the universal greeting is "Salam"

First one is my Bob Rotella CD package

Bob Rotella is amazing you will surely shave many stroke if you can pratice what he preached.

Yeah, been reading his books, and they've helped where focus and confidence is concerned

Anyway, I've gotten around to the unboxing, and here are the pics I promised:

Box #1 and 2

Here are 2 Titleist 585H hybrids that I bought. A set of 19* and 21* in UST Proforce V2 in S flex that will stay here with me as my Dubai set

A Titleist 585H hybrid in 19* with Aldila 85-S that will go back with me on my next trip to join the 21* 585H in Singapore. Might even get DGman to switch me over to a UST Proforce V2 S (or X) flex










Box #3

A set of 'rare' satin finished Project X 5.0 shafts, complete with Lambkins grips





And a set of Rifle 5.5 shafts with uninstalled shaft bands




Box #4

TaylorMade RAC MBs, forged by Miura, 3 to PW with satin Project X 6.0 shafts, and leading edge ground by TM's Tour Van. Previous owner played these irons on PGA, and is known for sending his irons in to have the leading edges ground to his preferences. The leading edge on this one is slightly duller than my other set, and would probably play better in Dubai's firmer ground conditions









Note the milled faces, signature of the TM RAC blades forged by Miura



Another 2 packages are on route, I wonder what are in them?

In the meantime, here are some of the pics I promised of my other sets:

Here are a set of 52/56/60* TaylorMade Z-TP wedges I acquired around 6 months ago. Nothing fancy about these, I believe they are standard retail sets. My tour-issued TM RAC Black wedges (also in 52/56/60) are staying in Singapore with my other set of TM RAC MB Miura forged irons





Gotta love the milled faces on these, similar to the Titleist Vokey Spin Milled wedges



Here's my King Cobra Pro MB irons. I couldn't handle the DG S300 shafts before, and had them switched to lighter ones -- ProjectX 5.0s. My fitter here in Dubai had the irons and shafts blueprinted -- each head was removed, cleaned, weighed, balanced, each shaft was brand new, tipped correctly, spine aligned / pured, installed (with custom lead weights inserted to ensure that swingweights and total weights were perfect), and reweighed until perfect after grips were installed. Grips are Golf Pride Full Cord grips









Another one of my recent acquisitions, a vintage, restored Acushnet Bullseye putter -- I've realized I putt better with these, as well as face balanced ones. This putter came with the original satin fluted shaft, and I have another one almost like it, without the grooved twin alignment lines







And finally, a custom-built set of TaylorMade TP MBs. No, these are not Miura forgings, but they have been set up to be super friendly Note that the 3 and 4 irons have had some lead tape added so I can swing easy and still get great trajectory and yardage







My Forged Z0s are in the shop, along with my Cleveland CG1 Black Pearls, and I doubt any of you guys would be interested in seeing a set of Mizuno MP14s (apparently, Tiger played these in his amateur days before moving on to MP29s, after which he got a contract with Titleist and played 660s which were allegedly forged by Miura)

Your gear is sweeet. I especailly love the putter. Thumbs up, buddy!

Whoa.... that is some arsenal. Christmas came early. Congrates.... Looking forward to seeing them in action someday. Man, we are so envious with the kind of support that yr wife gives you. Pls tell us yr secret...

Thanks

Got 2 of these putters in restored condition, and 1 that I game (not in perfect condition), along with a Scotty Cameron American Classics III complete with headcover and black divot tool, a TaylorMade Daytona Rossa Kia Ma putter, and a Scotty Cameron Futura putter

Also haven't taken pics of my Titleist 905R with Diamana Blueboard 73x S shaft, a TM R7 Limited TP with TM TP Diamana 65S shaft, and a Ping G10 with Fujikura Rombax 6Z08 shaft (S). I also have a Titleist 975D 8.5* with TT DG S300 shaft (43")

Khorkar wrote:

Whoa.... that is some arsenal. Christmas came early. Congrates.... Looking forward to seeing them in action someday. Man, we are so envious with the kind of support that yr wife gives you. Pls tell us yr secret...

No secret. Working overseas has given me the opportunity to do better than I did in Singapore. Package is better too, so I can pamper wifey a bit more

I don't drink (much), smoke (much), don't go clubbing, don't go pubbing, no vices other than golf

Next shipment:

A set of Fujikura Vista Tour series shafts X-Stiff .335 (43", 41-5/8", 41-1/8", 40-5/8")

A pair of KBS Black Nickel wedge shafts

4 Mizuno Bio Gear compression suits (2 black, 2 white, all 4 long sleeve mock necks) from Japan (Tourspecgolf), not the US model

A TM weight set with wrench for R7

A TM Monza Corza centre shaft putter cover

New Winn TM Rossa putter grip

heh. I love Xmas

The putter is very nice. Classic

everything listed here is like holy grails to me....

rifle shafts...
TM MB Irons..
Cobra MBs...

thats why i call him the tour issue slut...nice stuff...

btw a lot of used tour equipment will selling in ebay soon. thats because of new equipment upgrade which normally happen around now.

DGman

yep, just watching and waiting to see what comes up. Suspect we are going to see a lot of wedges surface in the next 2 weeks.

DGman, I still have a lot of non-tour issed stuff leh....

Cleveland 13*, 15*, 19* (x2) Launcher fairway woods
Cleveland CG12 52, 56, 60 wedges
Cleveland Halo hybrids, 19* and 21*, S flex shafts
Cleveland CG1 Black Pearl irons 3 to PW
TaylorMade Z-TP wedges
Ping G10 driver w/ Fujikura Rombax 6Z08 shaft
Titleist 905R w/ Diamana Blueboard
Titleist 975D w/ DG S300
Titleist 585H 19* and 21* (2 sets) hybrids
Nike VR wedges, 52 (oxide) and 56 (satin)
Miura Giken MB-5003 irons 4 to PW
Miura black oxide wedges, 52* and 56*
KZG Forged Z0 irons 3 to PW
KZG Forged wedges 52 and 56
My putters all not tour-issued one hor

So, I'm not such a tour-issued slut. yet.

Will need to organize my bags soon....should look like this in the end:

Bag #1: TM-Miura

TM tour-issued Tour Burner v1 9* w/ TM tour-issued Diamana whiteboard 63x X flex shaft
TM r7 HFS 15* w/ Fujikura ReAx 85X TP shaft
Titleist 585H 19* and 21* hybrids w/ UST Proforce v2 shafts (S)
Miura Giken MB-5003 irons w/ KBS Tour S flex shafts 4 to PW
Miura black oxide 52* wedge w/ KBS black nickel S flex shaft
Miura black oxide 56* wedge w/ KBS black nickel X flex shaft
Titleist Bullseye putter
TM 2008 Summer US Open staff bag (1 of 500 produced, according to http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=322802)

Bag #2 - TM

TM tour-issued Tour Burner 10.7* w/ Diamana Ali'Islei shaft S flex
TM tour-issued r7 13* w/ Fujikura ReAx 85X TP shaft
TM r7 TP 17.5* w/ Fujikura Vista Tour Series 70 X flex shaft
TM tour-issued RAC MBs blueprinted, w/ Project X 5.0 shafts 3 to PW
TM tour-issued RAC Black Y-cutters 52* and 56* w/ KBS shafts
TM Monza Corza center-shafted putter
TM TMX staff bag

Bag #3 - Titleist

Titleist 905R driver w/ Diamana Blueboard S-flex (need to check loft)
Titleist 975F 13.5* fairway wood w/ Titleist EI-70 X flex shaft
Titleist 585H 19* fairway wood w/ Aldila NV 85-S shaft
Titleist 585H 21* fairway wood w/ UST Proforce v2 S flex
King Cobra Pro MB irons 4 to PW, blueprinted, w/ Project X 5.0 shafts
Nike VR 52* (black oxide) and 56* (satin) wedges w/ TT DG S400 shafts
Acushnet bullseye putter

Bag #4 - Cleveland

Ping G10 driver w/ Fujikura Rombax 6Z08 S flex shaft
Cleveland Launcher 13* w/ Fujikura Cleveland Gold S-flex shaft
Cleveland Launcher 15* w/ Grafalloy Blue 70S shaft
Cleveland Launcher 19* w/ Fujikura Cleveland Gold S-flex shaft
Cleveland CG1 Black Pearl irons 3 to PW w/ TT GS S300 shaft (will probably switch them to Rifle 5.5 or the satin PX 5.0)
Cleveland CG12 black pearl Zip groove wedges 52* and 56*
Scotty Cameron American Classics III bullseye flange putter
Bag TBD, will probably get a Cleveland 10.5" Tour Staff bag (http://www.clevelandgolf.com/US_tour-staff-bag__tour_staff_bag__viewAcc_staff_bags.html)

Spare irons that will probably end up with a bag:

Mizuno MP32 3 to PW w/ TT DG R300 shafts
Mizuno MP14 3 to PW w/ TT DG S300 shafts (need to check shaft flex again)
TM RAC MB 3 to PW w/ satin PX 6.0 shafts (need to adjust lie angle)
KZG Forged Z0 3 to PW w/ TT TX90 shafts

On the lookout for:

Scotty Cameron 2.6 putter

yo bro.. u can open yur own TOUR VAN n golf shop NOW...

i thot me having 5 sets is over the top.. .. hahhaha

i shd print out yur list to show to my misses

See? I am a good example for you guys.... print out the list, show to missus, then you guys are off the hook!

Open tour van shop? I'm too attached to my goodies. Need to start culling some of the bags soon!

Bro,
I don't understand why so much equipment and every set have different shafts, specs etc. So must use different swing for every set. How to be consistent, how to know the feel and performance of so many different wedges, putters etc.

Ask you something...

Assume you have 2 project X 5.0 shafts.

On the end of one of the shafts, you have a 100 gm head
On the end of the other shaft, you have a 400 gm head

Will there be any difference in the loading characteristics and swingweight of the iron?

There are 2 kinds of golfers -- 'swingers' and 'sluggers' (or 'hitters'). Swingers are more sensitive to tempo, while sluggers are not. Flex on my irons doesn't bother me as much as a heavy shaft -- TT DG S300s are around 10 gm heavier than PX 5.0/5.5, so you will usually find me using 5.0s on retail heads, e.g. TM TP MBs, King Cobra Pro MB). Interestingly enough, the shafts on my TM TP MBs are 6.0 and not 5.0 as I am running Jap spec 6.0, which is the equivalent of the US 5.0s.

Useful reading material : http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=326054


On the tour heads that I have, they are usually slightly heavier than retail (my TM RAC MBs are all running D5 to D6 swingweights, believe it or not), so I have the option to use a stiffer shaft if I choose to. However, since I do not bother to muscle my swing, I simply focus on swinging smoothly to achieve good contact, and let the shaft deliver the power for me. You'll also need to keep in mind that I'm pretty tall (6 ft 2) and have long arms (according to DGman), so I get a natural advantage where leverage is concerned. I don't have to swing HARD to get power, all I need to do is to swing smooth.

My biggest epiphany this year was having my swing grooved by my fitter here in Dubai. Up until middle of this year, my swing plane was generally pretty upright, and I had the tendency to use a lot of arms in my swing, often coming outside-in resulting in a fade. However, prior to me getting custom fitted, my fitter here insisted that I first fix my swing plane, which was all over the place (a la Furyk) and inconsistent as hell. After a few weeks with me visiting the shop 3 to 4 times a week after work for 2 to 3 hours each stretch, I moved from a 2 plane swing to a 1 plane swing. I think some people call this a rotary swing, but I am not sure. Whatever the case may be, we managed to stabilize my swing tempo, and through the launch monitor, I realized that swinging harder did NOT translate to increased yardages. instead, swinging harder resulted in me pulling my body out of position/balance at the top of the swing, resulting in me making compensations on the way down and through. These days, I focus on swinging smoothly through the ball, achieving better contact, and letting the clubhead do the work.

Through various tests and personal preference, I have developed a preference for Project X shafts, and also found that my average swing speed is not fast enough to use PX6.0 shafts (unless they are Asian spec). When I am fresh through the first couple of holes, I can generate higher swing speeds, but as I tire through the round, my swing speed drops, and I end up putting in more oomph, which hurts my accuracy.

By tempering my swing tempo, I am better able to maintain a stable swing speed throughout my round, and let the shafts do the work for me. For some reason, I just do not handle DG S300 shafts well, no idea why, but that doesn't bother me since I just sell them off to people who need replacements anyway. Anyway, here's a KBS vs PX vs TT discussion : http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=317070

That said, while I have no idea what the shaft flex is on the KBS Tours that are on my Miura Gikens, I am able to swing smoothly through the ball and get consistent yardage and acceptable dispersion levels, so rather than trying to figure out why, I'm just playing them since they work well for me. See http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=323603, post #5

These days, I try not to think too much about anything other than maintaining good swing mechanics - staying stable through the swing, maintaining good and consistent tempo, and concentrating on the quality of ball striking. The equipment is there to work for me, not the other way around, so I just let the experts (e.g. DGman and my fitter in Dubai) handle the specs on my kit while I focus on my swing.

As for wedges, I am more picky about the bounce angles as I am about shaft, etc. What is important to me is to be able to hit a wedge arrow-straight and to know my yardages. For that reason, I purchased an Accusport Vector launch monitor and will be using it to set up my yardage book for each of my iron sets, wedges, fairway woods, drivers, etc. With this info on hand, I am able to better set up my bag and ensure that I don't have huge gaps between clubs.

Also worth keeping in mind (according to DGman) that flex and torque are not measured or reported consistently between manufacturers. What one manufacturer calls an S flex may be an X flex for another manufacturer. With this in mind, I don't really care about torque, flex, brand and model, as long as the shaft/head combination is able to deliver the ball characteristics that I am looking for. I also play with different lofts on my drivers and fairway woods depending on wind conditions.

For example, on really windy days at The Els Club, I usually bag my 13* tour spoon instead of the 15*, and switch my driver from a higher lofted one to a lower lofted one to allow me stay below the wind. I may also give up the hybrids and play my long irons instead (one of my TM RAC MB sets has a 2i that I game from time to time). I guess this sort of thing works if you have good local knowledge of the course conditions, whether you are playing on hard packed soil or loose peat (e.g. JCC), whether there are many long Par 4s and par 5s, and the kind of wind conditions

Where putters are concerned, I find that I putt well with bullseye design and face balanced putters, so this is why you will notice that I do not have any mallets or blades in my playing bags.

For me, the biggest breakthrough this year was the realization that once my swing plane is properly grooved, I don't have to worry so much about shaft flex, etc, only shaft length and lie angles

Bottom line, I don't worry too much about shaft brands, flexes, etc. It either works for me, or it doesn't. I'd play my CG1s with S300s if that works for me, and there's no point sticking with a PX in my RAC blades if I'm spraying my shots all over the place. Too much mental masturbation, better to leave that to the experts to figure out

ghoonk wrote:

Through various tests and personal preference, I have developed a preference for Project X shafts, and also found that my average swing speed is not fast enough to use PX6.0 shafts (unless they are Asian spec). When I am fresh through the first couple of holes, I can generate higher swing speeds, but as I tire through the round, my swing speed drops, and I end up putting in more oomph, which hurts my accuracy.

Bro, you must be a very good golfer, with vast equipment knowledge. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and hope to learn more from you.

Btw, what's the difference between PX 6.0 shafts (Asian specs) vs. US spec? How to find out if I have Asian or US spec PX shaft?

Me? good golfer? No lar, I still ask for strokes from "i", that's why DGman says I'm damn shameless... hahahah

Actually, I made a mistake -- the shafts on my TM TP MBs are not PX, they are Rifle 6.0. The shafts on my TM RAC MBs are PX. Either way, when we did a side by side comparison of the Rifle 6.0 on my set vs a set of Rifle 6.0s out of the shop's inventory, we noticed that my Rifle 6.0 had a slimmer profile, and was significantly lighter (around 10 gm).

Need to look up some references for the post on the difference between Asian spec and US spec shafts. maybe DGman can chip in on this?

This just in



Photo taken with my new iPhone 3GS, a token of appreciation for launching the iPhone here

Really cheesed off with TourSpecGolf now. Ordered 4 of those tops, and only 2 arrived. No contact number, and they take days to reply to emails. Grrrr

Update: Just found out that instead of sending ONE package with 4 boxes, they sent 2 packages with 2 boxes each. Looks like the other package should arrive tomorrow, barring bad weather (snowstorms) in the US

Nice gear mate!

Couple of quick ones:

- Why the 585s instead of the newer 909H? I tried both and think the 909 is really a big improvement over the old one.

- 6'2" and a one-planer? Thats rare mate. So ur fitter is a one-plane swing coach? What did he tell u to do specifically?

I was told some one-plane info and its really not easy to incorporate. Care to enlighten us here?