Oh, I see now. Best 100 Golf Shops in the country isn't the same as Best 100 Golf fitting shops in the country. I've been fitted there a few times over the last 3 years and had good experiences.

I can see that and I understand that point. That's a good way to think of it. The driver is a different beast. What I was trying to relay is that, at least with me, one of my problems is that I am over the top and even if I set the driver so it eliminates that on my drive, I still have that problem w/ the other clubs.

There is ~no setting on a driver that will eliminate the issues caused by an over the top move. Reduce, maybe, but not eliminate.

My Miles of Golf story the best I can remember all the details.

Back in 2018 when I was fitting and teaching full time, I was preparing our presentation to Golf Digest for the top 100 fitters. This was the first year the magazine actually allowed studios to submit their own material, before that it was simply word of mouth and picking and choosing from locations around the country. Did some research on other studios in the nation that had made the list during the last rankings in 2016. (and yes, we made the list in 2018)

Came across Miles of Golf and went to their website. First red flag was the picture of their store, it had a prominently placed Taylor Made R9 banner. The R9 which came out many generations before. The pic had obviously been up for roughly 6 years.

Then I start perusing their fitting options and was shocked when they appeared to only offer shafts available from each club maker. For instance, if you wanted a Titleist driver you could only choose between shafts that came from Titleist. In other words, they basically just had every club maker's fit cart and "custom fit" from that. No different than a demo day at your club. Once you were "fitted" they simply ordered the club(s) from the club maker and gave it to you upon delivery.

I was quite surprised and showed our owner and head fitter the website, he couldn't believe it either. So we decided to go further down this rabbit hole and called the store and asked to speak to a fitter. We peppered him with questions and quite frankly many of his answers were flat out wrong.

But again, that was four years ago. When otter posted about them I once again decided to look at their website and was pleasantly surprised when it now appears they offer a true custom fit with various aftermarket shafts and actually build the clubs in house. So perhaps things have changed for the better.

Regardless of any of that, the knowledge of your fitter is paramount. If he/she is any good, you'll notice a big difference. If not, you probably won't get your money's worth.

The driver is a different animal from other clubs as it's the only club in the bag you want to hit up on.

Personally, I probably put my wedges into a different basket than the other clubs as well. So for me it's driver, 3W down through 9 iron, wedges, putter. Four baskets. And then there's chipping and pitching, which in my mind are two different shots. So perhaps that's now six baskets.

People are different, a lot of valid different answers to this question.

cot damn BO you know your ****

I always get a kick out of chiming in with what little I do know when BO is dropping knowledge.

I had a great fitting today and learned why it was a mistake for me to set my club back to neutral instead of a draw bias. I explained why was there and then hit a few shots. He took my driver and made some adjustments and the first swing was so good I literally said, "Holy ****!" It went straight as an arrow and 255 yards. I hit a few more and wasn't very consistent today. I had a couple other nice ones, but for the most part it wasn't a good driving day. That's 100% on me. No problem there. I know I still need to improve and not all days are good especially when I am rapidly firing tee shots.

He had me hit a couple other clubs, but said I already had the best club for me. He said there is no other club that he could recommend that would be as good as the one I have now. Since I was only there for 25 minutes he only charged $25 for an adjustment. He said to stick with this for a year and keep up with the lessons, then come back next season if anything changes.

My miss is high on the clubface or on the heel. The adjustment he made was to set it 1° lower because I still hit it high and set it back to the draw setting. The reason for the draw setting was very interesting. He said that adjustment basically brings the sweet spot higher so what was normally my miss at the top of the club became a hit right around the center. Even when I didn't catch it perfectly it felt so much more pure. A massive difference.

I did ask him if a different shaft would make any difference and he said something about how I was already in the right (50g?) shaft now. I didn't press it especially since I did not see any sense hitting anymore balls because I was so inconsistent today.

So I've taken to practising chips from very bare lies in the practice area, as the lusher grass didn't really represent the kind of lie that I was finding around green on the course and I need to build my confidence when faced with a tight lie. Occasionally I hit what feels like almost a thin, but flies low and checks. It doesn't go a lot further than the target. Is this a "valid" shot that can be consistently replicated? If so, how to do so?

Think you're describing a mini Lee Trevino burning wedge. Feels like u skull it but it checks quickly. Good for shots maybe 20 to 50 yards, as further shots for me require a 3/4 58 degree pitch with higher flight. Mini burning wedge seems to work for long bunker shots without a high face to contend with too.

As I become more consistent with drives and approaches, I'm bringing the trouble into play as the designer intended more often. Think less shitty tee shots leaving me 180+, and more fairway bunkers and far side dogleg rough from 130 to 160. And I'm getting into more greenside bunkers or chipping situations. I notice I cant hit a good bunker shot if I intentionally take sand. Ive watched Trevino and seve and player yada yada yada. Cant get technique right. But in spring I saw Jason day talking with some big big name(maybe tiger and or mcilroy). Jason said he doesn't think of taking sand, and something along the lines of this allows him to control distance and direction better as he's focused on the ball. When I take this approach I'm out in 1 shot much more often.

Anyone have a recommendation for the darkest non-polarized sunglasses? I typically use a non-polarized pair of Reks but they're just not dark enough. Have a pair of nice dark polarized lenses, but find that they're not ideal for golf.

I’ve used Oakley black iridium lenses for 20 years. They seem to be the darkest they offer.

I wanted to ask the following to you guys and to see what was the "Official ruling" on it.

So on the Sunday we had our team event we were playing the 15th which runs along side the 1st. Me and my partner hit our drives towards the 1st fairway, Group coming up the 1st hits a ball without even looking at it. I thought he hit my ball but I manage to find mine in the rough just before the fairway. However my playing partners ball was actually hit by the them, As I understand it as it was a matter of fact that they hit his ball then he gets to replace it without any damage.

But in the situation we were rather fortunate to be walking along side them, If they were like 30secs to a minute ahead we probably would of never known if he hit his ball or not, So what happens when it isn't a matter of fact that someone else has played your ball? In like an official medal or comp.

Around my course we have so many people that just don't mark their balls or even look at the ball before they take their shot. I've had numerous times where I've hit a completely save shot only to find I cannot find the ball. Is this just a situation where you have to take it on the chin and play 3 off the tee or a 2 shot pen drop?

Wow that would be a great question to ask. I assume that if the person is certain that he would be entitled to free relief, that's an educated guess.

One plus for my courses, 36 holes and none run parallel.

Coincidentally, my tee shot on 5 today missed far right in the 1st fairway almost into the far rough. Both fairways are quite generous width, and they are separated by 30 yards of rough. Looked like 7 iron would get me over the cart parked between the 5th and 1st green. Stuck it to 6 feet. Made par.

If you can’t find it then it’s a lost ball regardless of where you hit it. If you know for absolute certain someone else hit your ball then you know where it is therefore it’s not lost. Sucks but those are the breaks.

Yes, I have lost a ball that I hit in the fairway. But for all I know it could have hit the edge of a sprinkler head and gone anywhere.

On one of the courses I play the optimal line off the 18th tee is to put it in the 10th fairway to the right. It shortens the hole and gives a better angle to the gree. But I stopped doing that a long time ago because so many people can't resist picking up a ProV1.

Switch to pink Nitro's

Speaking of golf balls, found a Titleist AVX ball in the woods the other day and played the last few holes with it (usually play ChromeSoft). Had never even heard of them, thought it was a cheaper ball. Turns out it's a premium ball that costs the same as the ProV's. Softer though and (I assume) made for players with a bit higher handicap and/or slower swing speed?

Anyway, I was impressed. Great ball. Drives were easily 15 yds further. Felt great around the green. This may be my new go-to, gonna buy some and play them the rest of the season.

We've got one of these. Green slopes so hard right to left, even left side of the fairway is a tough angle. Without question the optimal drive is to the neighboring fairway, but the landing zone is the same landing zone as the drives on that hole, so rarely get to intentionally go that way.

I don't think it's particularly marketed at higher HC/slower speed, if anything I would think the opposite given that it's a lower trajectory/lower spin ball.

I'm a fan of using them when it's windy, they're definitely more controllable for me.

Yeah AVX is said to be a lower spinning ball so probably more directed to a lower handicapper

I think I’m going to give them a go just because I have such a higher ball flight with all of my clubs.

When we were playing our team game the other day, who ever it was to get double points on that hole had to tee off with this matt like orange, honestly it was so soft it felt like I was hitting fresh air … I’m pretty sure it was a callaway but not sure what model it was.

So any thought in the legality of this. Was messing around with my 3 wood off the tee today and since the ground was wet I drug the face on the ground before swinging. Thinking less spin is a good thing for me. Legal?

Also would it be legal to say spit on your club before you hit/. You are just cleaning it off after all

Illegal 100%. You can’t apply anything to the face that affects launch characteristics. Paraphrased from The Rules of Golf.

In theory one could get DQ’d while unintentionally doing so on a damp day.

A player may clean a club using water or "soapy water", e.g. on a towel or brush.

I don't see this stated explicitly in the online rules 4 or 14, but it was there years ago and I doubt it has been changed.

Fred Couples used to spit on his fingers then rub the ball (to "clean" it?) and was never cited AFAIK. Tom Watson would drag his thumb across the face of his iron prior to striking a shot, and he was never cited either (oil on club face?) AFAIK.

Lee Janzen would habitually pound the club into the grass immediately behind the ball, ostensibly part of his routine but with the benefit of improving his lie. He was never cited AFAIK.