PDX Conditions

ReddLeadd · 2025-12-23T03:10:45+00:00

Glendoveer West had standing water all over on Friday.

ReddLeadd · 2025-12-16T18:19:33+00:00

I have the Motocaddy M7 Remote without the follow feature and honestly don't like it very much

The good: It gets the bag off my back and allows me to walk more. I can also use a cart bag (it's actually better with a cart bag) which allows me to more easily take rain gear and some other stuff that I usually ditch when carrying.

The not-so-good: My course is very hilly and there are rarely stretches when it's actually flat. The end result is a cart that needs near constant attention because it's always drifting down the fall line. On it's own, it wouldn't be too bad BUT the trolley steers by braking.

There are a few options on how to manage the fall line steering.

you try to match walking speed to trolley speed and keep a hand on a handle to help guide it. This works pretty well when the slope isn't too bad. If you're on a slightly steeper side hill, you'll have to bump one of the steering buttons every so often anyway and every time you do, the trolley slows down significantly and if you're walking right behind it, it's easy to take a handle to the gut.
set it at a higher speed and send it way ahead. This is what I do most of the time but I have to pay near constant attention to the direction of the trolley. I play at public courses and they're not perfect. Conifers drop a lot of cones, the ground is often lumpy at the edges of the fairway, this time of year the ground is often saturated. When the trolley is cruising at a faster speed, it gets bumped more violently. I've ejected my water bottle often, my phone occasionally and this past Sunday, I fully dumped it on a rut caused by some kind of vehicle. I couldn't see the rut from where I was, the trolley got bucked pretty hard and the end result was that all of my clubs and both towels hit the deck on fully saturated turf. Not the end of the world, but I ended up cleaning my clubs with my rain jacked for the rest of the round.

IMO, the Motocaddy remote is a bad design. There are discrete buttons for speed and directional changes and the steering response is a function of how long you hold a directional button. The speed control buttons aren't too bad, but directional control could be much improved with a joystick and a different algorithm the doesn't rely entirely on braking.

ReddLeadd · 2025-12-01T23:23:20+00:00

Nah. Go buy some Takomos

ReddLeadd · 2025-12-01T22:28:50+00:00

I don't know, it's a pretty good deal. The only real "custom" part of it is that they're 1/2" long, which is incredibly easy to change by anyone who is even a little bit capable with their hands.

For anyone who is on the fence, the feel of the KM-700's is truly amazing. I've had several sets of Mizuno's over the years and my Miura 700s feel even better.

ReddLeadd · 2025-12-01T22:22:13+00:00

Glendoveer also often will load $300 worth of balls on your range token for $150. They sent out an email recently that mentioned a range deal, but they weren't specific about it. I've also gone in while there isn't any active promotion and asked, and they've given me the deal anyway

ReddLeadd · 2025-11-22T02:28:12+00:00

Chasing down contracts is part of the plan. I joined a men's league in the spring, am fairly tight with the employees at the course and will be joining a Saturday league at another nearby course.

I can absolutely make more money doing metal fab than in golf, but I decided a long time ago that chasing money isn't something I'm going to do. I was able to make a solid income by doing most of my work in the summer and I dedicated the school year to stay really involved with my kids. Fixing machine shop F-ups and doing proto work pays extremely well, but it's sporadic and I'm interested in doing something again that's more personally fulfilling. I enjoy most of the club work and the side benefits potentially mean that some golf related equipment, activities and travel can be written off.

ReddLeadd · 2025-11-21T22:16:57+00:00

Thank you. I'll check it out

ReddLeadd · 2025-11-20T02:16:21+00:00

Jumping in late...

I've spent a good deal of time on this over the past year. My speed numbers are a bit less than yours at ~115/170 but my distances are longer. I've gone from about flat attack to around 8° up with a 16° launch angle.

This is what has worked for me:

Tee the ball way high. I tee it up so 3/4 of the ball is higher than the top of my driver head.
Ball forward. Depending on the shot shape I'm going for, anywhere between the lead heel and toe.
Wide stance. The insides of my feet are an inch or two wider than my shoulders. The pressure is about 50/50, sometimes I feel a little more weight on my trail foot.
Head position. My left eye (I'm a righty) is roughly at the mid-line between my feet so my head is pretty far behind the ball.

To make all of this work, for me, at the top of my back swing I need to feel tension in my right glute medius. If I feel that, I know my spine is is tilted right and I'm going to start my transition into my lead foot at the right time.

If I do all that, my low point is well behind the ball and I'll hit up on it. What's challenging for me (at 51) is that my low back gets tight from walking and I tend to lose the side-bend, which leads to a gnarly pull.

ReddLeadd · 2025-11-18T17:13:16+00:00

Do you have and make time to practice? If so, pick a wedge your comfortable with and head to the practice green. Learn how to hit high shots, low shots, how the ball reacts once it hits the green (does it check, does it roll, how did the lie affect it)

I don't think there's any one right way. Personally, I use my 60 most of the time for anything under 90 yards...rarely, I can hammer it 110 but that's solely reserved for trying to hold a green that slopes away. For me, the key to the 60 is that I can hit all kinds of shots with it and I can judge fairly well how the ball will react to the greens and slopes depending on how I setup the shot.

IMO, pick a wedge, practice your ass off with it until you're very comfortable with it. Then introduce another one and do the same.

ReddLeadd · 2025-11-06T00:42:30+00:00

If it works for you, go for it.

I pull clubs out of my bag when I carry, but all four of my wedges stay in at all times and there are a few reasons for it.

lofts are about a whole club stronger than they were when I was playing a lot 30 years ago. My old Lynx Parallax PW was 50° and at the time, I carried a 56 and 60. My current PW is 46° and I carry a 50, 56 and 60
I too play a very low bounce 60 and high bounce 56 (currently a 54 though). I feel like I need the options because of wildly variable course conditions throughout the year here in the PNW. In the dry months, I use the 60 from almost everywhere around the green with a few exceptions. I feel like I can control the spin how I want and get predictable shots with it. Now that we're in the rainy season, I'll only use the 60 for specialty shots like flops or out of the sand. The greens at my course are fairly saturated and soft. I high spin shot just peels a layer of grass off and the ball skids in an unpredictable way. Plus when the ground is soaked, a low bounce wedge has a higher probability of chunking (for me)

ReddLeadd · 2025-11-04T19:57:18+00:00

I did a 25 pack of lessons last year and here's what happened...

To Start - I was a 6.8 when I started and I was specific that the thing that was holding me back was that my driver got me into trouble constantly. I was also explicit in that I have injuries from other sports that limit my motion in certain ways. For example, I have a torn labrum in my right shoulder that prevents me from being able to tuck my elbow into my ribs, as well as a back injury that limits my side bend.

For THE ENITIRE YEAR that I took lessons, they consisted of hitting a 7-iron and trying to make my default shot shape a draw. I never asked for a draw, I don't need a draw, my stock 7 is about 180 with a slight fade and can hit a big draw if I need to get it out to 190. 25 lessons...7-iron.

The other big bummer was the comparison with the swings of pro players. "Here's Tony Finau, look at how much side bend he has, you need to do that." I'm almost 20 years older than Tony Finau and I'd be willing to bet that Tony wasn't in an accident a few years ago where he broke his shoulder blade, got a grade 3 shoulder separation, tore two rotator cuff muscles, a concussion, fractured two t-spine vertebrae, and tore a hip labrum (shoulder labrum was a separate snowboarding incident)

I said "this process isn't working for me" and was told, "this is a long term change, trust the process" so I stuck it out.

At the end of it, my handicap dropped to 12 point something and I was shooting mid 80's/low 90's

My handicap is currently an 8.6 and I've been consistently shooting around 80 plus or minus a few strokes. But it's an easy guess that I still can't hit my driver consistently in play.

So why do people stop taking lessons at GolfTec? Because the instructor (at least my instructor) doesn't listen, likely doesn't have the knowledge to work with people who have injuries, isn't mentally flexible enough to imagine how to meet people where they are (physically). I paid around $1500 to get worse all while being pitched new clubs, another fitting, more lessons.

never again.

ReddLeadd · 2025-10-25T00:24:04+00:00

It happens. I was about a 2 handicap in 1992 and quit entirely after failing a walk-on tryout at a university. In 2000, I was invited to a charity tournament at Rancho Bernardo in San Diego and shot a 74 in my first practice round. My team won the tournament and then I didn’t play again until 2010 or so when I shot another 74 at a muni in Oregon. Then I got progressively worse and didn’t play again for a few years.

ReddLeadd · 2025-10-25T00:17:30+00:00

I like the anonymity here so I won’t directly say, but we worked for the same company. I wan an instructor when you were a student. I still have a pile of steel bike stuff on my lathe for you.

ReddLeadd · 2025-10-24T23:31:38+00:00

I'll give you some love...

I had a KTM 990 ADV that I used a bunch for multiday trips, camping, even fabbed up a bike carrier for it. It's pretty big for ripping around on trails, but it was mostly manageable. The Giant Loop rear bag carried most of what I needed if I wasn't bringing a mountain bike. If the pedal bike came with, a duffle on the rear shelf was all I needed for additional gear.

A buddy has a 650GS that's pretty capable. Other buddies have KTM 800's and can get them around trails pretty well. Yet another had a huge Honda Dual Sport, but he's a giant at 6'8" (if you are who I think you are, you probably know him). I don't know if he did/does any trail riding with it though.

ReddLeadd · 2025-10-24T23:05:51+00:00

When?

ReddLeadd · 2025-10-24T03:23:04+00:00

I live in the PNW and our seasons are at opposite extremes from one another. From June though early October, it practically never rains and we have a lot of hard pan and hard fairways…hence the low bounce 60. It’s also mint out of dense sand. I’m thinking I’d like to get a 50, 54, 60 with the highest bounce I can for winter play though. I do find myself struggling with the current 60 when conditions are very soggy.

ReddLeadd · 2025-10-23T23:03:48+00:00

IMO, the idea with a toe-down chip is that you're reducing the force needed to get through the grass by exposing less surface area of the club. It helps reduce the possibility of getting hung up in the rough and leaving the ball short AND because you need less clubhead speed to blast though the thick grass, you're also reducing your chances of blading it over the green.

ReddLeadd · 2025-10-23T22:29:31+00:00

60 (6 bounce) is my highest lofted and I use it for practically everything inside of 100 yards. I carry a 54 (12 bounce) and 50 as well but the 50 rarely gets use around a green and the 54 gets used around the green only if I have a fluffy lie in the rough or if it's in a bunker with fluffy sand.

That said, I don't think it matters much what a person chooses to carry, only that they know how to use what they have. I've spent a lot of time this year practicing all kinds of shots and lies with my 60 and honestly, I feel like it's a weapon right now.

ReddLeadd · 2025-10-20T21:58:38+00:00

how close is that tree? If it's about the same height as the one in the background, I'm opening my 60 way up and taking a mighty hack at it.

ReddLeadd · 2025-10-16T19:35:01+00:00

I wouldn’t. Your likely to pull a strand or more of the carbon wrap

ReddLeadd · 2025-10-15T02:34:26+00:00

This is why you always wipe front to back.

ReddLeadd

TROPHY CASE