FORE!

[PINEHEEL]

So AI tells me stock Stealth is 45.75" long. Which is pretty dern long. Not sure what shaft you have, and of course if you cut your diver down a bit it's fairly permanent. But if you pop the grip off and cut an inch off, with a Dremel or some other tool/saw, and put another grip on, you'd need to add about 8 grams of weight to the head to keep the swingweight the same. Pretty sure you can get heavier TM weights for the Stealth driver.

Anyway, not telling you to go do this, but that is the gist of it. You can always choke up an inch to get an idea before doing anything drastic. And could even get 8 grams of extra TM weights to try that with.

My Titleist would have been 45.5" with a stock shaft, but I use the 43.75"shaft I already had which comes out to 44.75" when installed in the GT3.

I find it's just easier to make a good proper swing with and control, plus hit in the screws more often.

Of course you could try 45" for a starters, before going any farther. I took .75" off and needed 6 grams. I have a swingweight scale, and yours should be similar.

Awesome stuff. Definitely going to tinker with this. Thanks.

 

[AudiHeel]

If you like the idea but don't want to mess with it, another option is jump on ebay and buy another shaft with a TM tip like yours that's already shorter. A few year old TM shaft is likely under $50, and ready to go. Perhaps an auction about to end someone started for ~$20 and you may be the only bidder, plus cheap shipping. And perhaps a heavier weight that fits your TM model on ebay for cheap too, and swap it with a torque tool.

Ps - google says a TM head adds 1.25" length to the shaft, so you'd want a shaft that's about 43.75" to end up at 45" total. Just google your exact model to double check. And google how much weight to add for how much shorter the shaft is. Rule of thumb is about 6 grams per 1/2 inch.

 

[camelheelfan]

I've been playing Mizuno irons since the 90's, all with TT S300s. Have a set of MP-66 currently, and recently sold the others - MP-63, T-zoid Pro II and T-zoid True and MP-32. I wouldn't mind trying something like a T100 just to see the difference.

I've never felt like I had much trouble hitting the middle of the club face, so why get jumbo irons that don't look appealing.

Just wondering - how long is your driver, or have you tried a mini-driver that's shorter - like 44"...

eta - only ask because off the shelf drivers are 45.5 or 46" long these days, which is probably longer than most weekend golfers need. I play my GT3 at 44.75" and added about 6 grams of weight to keep the swingweight around D3/D4. Just seems a bit easier to control a driver that's not so long, and you can keep your swing more upright like with an iron.

I've been playing a set of Mizuno MP-32s I bought new for $1,000 (I think) in 2005. I may never get rid of them.

 

[AudiHeel]

The only reason I'm now playing newer MP-66s is because modern golf balls don't spin as much as balls 25 years ago, when my older Mizuno irons were made. Consequently newer irons tend to have a lower center of gravity to help launch today's lower spinning balls. MP-66s were sold from 2016-2018, so they're more suited for today's golf ball.

I bought my nearly new MP-66s 4-PW with s200 shafts last year for $275, and I bought another set 5-PW in April for my BiL for $195 shipped. They look virtually brand new as well, and both sets had nice new grips already.

 

[AudiHeel]

Well done PurePutters for winning the ZZL Fantasy Golf Season!!

..was a tight race to the Tour Championship between you and Root, 58 points is nearly a photo finish. Hopefully we can get a bigger group to play the 2027 season!!

#goHeels

 

[PINEHEEL]

A buddy in Asheville had an extra ticket to the Biltmore Championship yesterday so I decided to drive down. Great venue and experience, other than the brutally hot weather for mid-September. I enjoy going to events like these more than major championships because it's so much easier to move around, get concessions, and watch a lot more golf shots. Field was what you'd expect for a fall event, but I thought The Cliffs did a great job for a first-time event. Park and ride was a breeze. For some reason it was lift, clean, and place and they needed it because a lot of balls plugged, but nobody on property could figure out why. They haven't had any rain recently, but the course was soaked. I'm no agronomist, so I'm not sure why they were watering it so heavily before hosting a tournament.

Biggest takeaway, as always, is how insanely good these guys are. I probably watched 50-75 shots, and 95% of them are what I would classify as good to great. Very few poor shots, and the ones that were "poor" were 5 yards into the rough.

I followed UNC golfer and Pinehurst native Carson Bertagnole around for a few holes. It was cool that he had Coach DiBitetto on the bag for him. Pretty wild scorecard for our boy. He started off with a triple on his first professional hole which isn't all that surprising, and he was +5 through 4 holes. Amazingly, he battled back and was Even going into the 18th. Missed about a 5 footer to save par and finished +1 for the day, but he should be proud for fighting through the nerves and working his way all the way back into contention to make the cut with a strong round today.

David Ford is also playing in the event, fresh off of his wedding this past weekend.

 

[PINEHEEL]

I was going to include this in the above post, but felt like it deserved its own. I was reading this morning that Alejandro Tosti's (biggest hot head on tour) caddie took off his bib and walked off halfway through the round.

More interesting, however, is that the article mentioned that one of his playing partners was the son of @Uncmba2. I didn't realize Spencer was in the field or I would have followed him around for a bit!

Caddie quits on PGA Tour pro mid-round

Alejandro Tosti's caddie decided enough was enough and walked off the course midway through the first round at the Biltmore Championship on Thursday.

golfweek.usatoday.com

 

[Uncmba2]

Spencer missed the cut by one, and had to deal with all of the Tosti drama. First PGA event too.

 

[PINEHEEL]

Spencer missed the cut by one, and had to deal with all of the Tosti drama. First PGA event too.

Awesome showing! First of hopefully many more.

 

[Mr Winterville]

I saw some of the highlights from the Biltmore. Looked like a beautiful course.

 

[egr2teup]

Spencer missed the cut by one, and had to deal with all of the Tosti drama. First PGA event too.

What is his next event?

 

[Uncmba2]

What is his next event?

Playing at a Mini-Tour event this week in GA. Next big thing is Korn Ferry Q School.

 

[camelheelfan]

I saw a press release yesterday about some community being built in Pittsboro, featuring a course designed by Tom Fazio. He's also going to design a nine hole short course for it.

 

[PINEHEEL]

I saw a press release yesterday about some community being built in Pittsboro, featuring a course designed by Tom Fazio. He's also going to design a nine hole short course for it.

A few years ago, we were living in Durham and looking hard at land/houses in Pittsboro as a place to buy/build our forever home. I am forever grateful we pivoted and ended up in Ashe County.

Hwy 64 has already become a zoo, and they haven't even gotten serious yet with the Chatham Park development you're referencing or the Disney community. Anyone who thought they were moving to Pittsboro for its quaint, small town charms a decade ago is going to be appalled at what's coming.

 

[PINEHEEL]

I subscribe to the DataGolf newsletter (it's free and only sends a few emails a year), and they had some fun stuff in it today. One thing in particular that was interesting was this graph below showing the dominance of players from different eras. It shows the gap—in strokes per round—between the #1 and #2 players in our rankings from 1984-2026.

TL;DR version - Over the past 42 years there's Tiger, there's Scottie, and then there's everyone else.

Another interesting fact: Among the top 17 seasons since 1983 by Strokes Gained, 10 belong to Tiger, 4 now belong to Scottie (2023-2026), 2 to Greg Norman, and 1 to Steve Stricker (2013, which was a short, winless, but oddly remarkable season).

 

[Uncmba2]

DataGolf is pretty incredible. For instance, Spencer started his round with 2 bogies in the first 6 holes, and his odds of making the cut was at 4%. He birdied 4 out of 5 and odds went up to 42%. He had birdie putts on the last 4 holes but couldn’t feel his hands and didn’t make it. A good predictor lol.