Tag: Cobe Life Golf

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IT’S A STRANGE TIME

The world is both separated and unified in the fight against a common enemy. Covid-19 has forced us to rethink our priorities. This year has completely changed everything I had planned. Some things have been put on hold. A few things I had planned may never happen. Not all is lost though. The Lock Down forced me to improvise, and I found new avenues to explore. Nobody knows how long this situation will last. When it does finally subside, and things return to something that loosely resembles normal. I will be ready to provide my faithful followers with a wealth of information.

I apologize for the lengthy hiatus. For a while discussing golf or fantasy football just felt so trivial compared to what’s going on in the world. It took me going out on the course completely alone to play 18 Holes to realize how necessary these trivial distractions are. So I won’t let a week pass without a post. During my absence I’ve studied Golf club fitting, and now offer a casual Driver Fitting for Beginners looking to improve their game off the Tee. If you haven’t seen it yet I encourage you to watch the highlight video on my welcome page. It will go into further detail about the Fitting process. I have also noticed that my reviews of products specifically aimed at Beginner Golfers have been well received. I plan on doing many more in the near future.

For awhile it was unknown if the NFL would have a 2020 season. Now that it is underway I will begin to provide short term Fantasy Football advice. Things can change so much week to week that long term advice seems foolhardy. My first piece of advice for 2020 is to stockpile Running Back depth. Players are still trying to get into game shape, and as a result injuries are far more likely. Running Backs get injured at a greater rate than the other skill positions so make sure you have a couple extras on your bench.

Hopefully I haven’t let things slide for too long, and this post finds those of you that have been loyal from the beginning. There are some great things to come, and I don’t want any of you to miss out!

Let me know if there are any things you would like me to cover in the upcoming posts. Remember this Blog isn’t for me. It is really for you. So let me know what you are most interested in right now.

Take care, and stay safe during these troubling times.

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GOLF

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR GOLF SWING

HOW TO IMPROVE

There are a lot of theories on the internet about how to improve as a Beginner Golfer. The manufacturers would like you to believe that the right equipment will make the difference. Golf coaches will tell you that lessons are the fastest route to improvement. The majority of Social media Influencers will claim to have the correct tips to accelerate your game. With so many options which one is right for you?

Figuring it out without having any real direction can be an expensive process. There are a few things you can do for free to provide you with a decent starting point. The first of which is to spend a little time at your local golf store, and test a few clubs. I would highly suggest you use that time to figure out which long shot clubs suit your natural swing. Test a 5 Wood, 4 Hybrid, and 4 Iron to see which you hit best. This will help you determine how to design your golf set. Also test how well you hit Hybrid Irons vs Traditional Irons. A lot of Beginners ignore Hybrid Iron sets like the Cobra T Rail, or Wilson Launch Pad sets. They can seriously help some golfers get started depending on your natural swing. When testing clubs pay attention to your natural ball flight, and what the majority of your miss hits are. Do you hit a lot of chunks or thins? Do you hook the ball or slice it? If you are able use your cellphone camera to film some of your test swings. This takes us to the second thing you can do. Go on YouTube and look up tips to help you with your swing problems. There are a lot of “experts” on YouTube but I’ve found a few that can offer solid advice. Start with Larry Cheung golf, Mr Shortgame, Me and My Golf, and Mark Crossfield. Between those channels you’ll probably find some helpful hints. For me personally Mark Crossfield helped me with my grip. Larry Cheung helped me improve my Back swing, and Mr Shortgame helped me limit my chunky shots. Me and My Golf have provided me with helpful drills to continuously improve. Spend time at the Range utilizing their tips for at least 8 hours of total Range time. That should improve your swing some. It won’t be perfect. Far from it actually, but at least you will have a very good idea of what you need to work on. At this point you might decide to invest in lessons, or a Swing Analyzer device. There is one more thing you can do before that though. Try swinging your clubs while choking down on the grip. Move your hands as far down the grip as possible without having any fingers on the actual shaft. The shorter a club is, the easier it is to hit. If suddenly your strike and ball flight is significantly better. Then a fitting might be the answer to gain some additional improvement. If things don’t look much different. Then it’s time to get lessons.

Of course everything I suggest is dependent on your budget. For instance I didn’t get my first, and only lesson until my third Season. I quickly realized that the same information is available on Larry Cheung’s YouTube channel. Provided you know enough about the basics of a golf swing to interpret his advice.

I hope this helps you accelerate your improvement. For more helpful tips for Beginners. Check out the Cobe Life YouTube channel.

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GOLF

ARE HYBRID IRONS A NEW THING?

GOLF ANALYSTS ARE ACTING LIKE HYBRID IRONS ARE A NEW THING. TRUST ME THEY AREN’T!

Adams golf was one of the first major brands to jump into the Super Game Improvement Iron space. The Idea Tech A12 OS were released in 2012! Taylormade released the the M CGB hybrid Iron set in 2017. I’ve seen a number of guys on YouTube acting like the Cleveland Launcher HB, Cobra T Rail, and Wilson Launch Pad are revolutionary designs. Well they aren’t. They are just a return to the Super Game Improvement category.

As someone who has played Hybrid Irons before. I played the Adams Idea Tech V4 set. In fact I still play the 3, 4, and 5 Hybrids from that set. I occasionally still play the 6 Hybrid as well. I can offer a word of caution that I haven’t heard from any other analyst. Thick soled Hybrid Irons can be very difficult to hit off of hard surfaces. Most Beginners make ground first contact quite often. The thick soles won’t bite into the turf if the ground is very hard. The Iron ends up bouncing upward and causing Thin shots. In Canada that generally means that Hybrid Irons aren’t suitable in the fall, or during dry spells in the summer.

All you ever hear is that chunky Hybrid Irons are CONFIDENCE INSPIRING, EASY TO HIT, EASY TO LAUNCH, and GREAT FROM ANY LIE. They are easy to hit off medium to soft ground. They do inspire confidence. They do launch well. You don’t want to hit a Hybrid Iron out of a Deep bunker. A lot of these sets will go down to Sand Wedge. Do yourself a favour and invest in a traditional Wedge if you invest in a Hybrid Iron set. The soles of a Hybrid Iron Gap Wedge, or Sand Wedge are so thick it’s almost impossible to open the face to add loft. Even if the Sand is soft it can be difficult to get enough of the club down behind the ball because the club will bounce, or slide across it, and cause you to catch the ball thin. Definitely not the result you are looking for in a bunker. Now if you are a very skilled player you can play almost any club out of a bunker so the majority of golf analysts won’t be aware of these shortcomings.

The target market for these clubs are generally Beginners. For the most part Beginners aren’t great ball strikers. Beginners generally need all the help they can get out of a bunker. Beginners need to have a decent amount of control from shorter distances. For these reasons it is my belief that most Beginners won’t require Super Game Improvement Hybrid Irons unless they are very slow swingers that need a lot of help getting the ball in the air. In that case a set of Super Game Improvement Hybrid Irons fitted with Graphite Shafts would be ideal. Provided they invest in a more traditional Sand Wedge as well.

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GOLF

THE GOLF EXPERTS ARE MISLEADING YOU!!!

YOU ARE BEING MISINFORMED!

Almost every day I see YouTube videos, Blog Posts, or Instagram Posts that make claims that mislead the Average Golfer. I get a little upset every time I see one because those same Posts mislead me a few years ago. I wasted money, time, and energy on equipment that just didn’t suit a High Handicapper like me.

Every year almost every golf blogger releases their Top # of every type of club. These lists are just infuriating. First of all they are misrepresented from the very beginning. They should be called Favourite Lists not Top Lists. Saying that one particular Iron is just better than another similar Iron for them, and anyone else is just ludicrous. Every golfer is different. Every swing is different. I might hit a Cobra Game Improvement Iron long and straight, but you might have difficulty hitting that same Iron long at all. If I released a list of the Best Game Improvement Irons on a budget the Cobra King series would be on it. Imagine you read that post, and decided to buy a set based on that information. You would be disappointed with the results, and be mad at me or upset with yourself. Now I’m still a Beginner, and 18 Handicap golfer. You might see that as a negative, and decide that’s why my assessment of the Irons were incorrect. In fact I am sure a lot of people see it that way. That’s why accomplished professionals like Rick Shiels, Peter Finch, James Robinson, Today’s Golfer, and others have so many followers. You make the incorrect assumption that because they are such great golfers their opinion has more value to you. IT DOESN’T! In fact it means less. Who do you believe you share more in common with as an average golfer? Would it be me, the 18 Handicap, with an Average 95mph Driver swing speed, who hits the occasional slice? Would it be Rick Shiels, the scratch golfer, with an Average 113mph Driver swing speed, who makes perfect center face contact about 90% of the time? According to the statistical averages, close to 75% of golfers are much closer to me in skill level. Only about 5% of golfers are within 5 strokes of Rick Shiels. How a club performs in his hands has little to no bearing on close to 80% of the golfers out there. Yet the golfing community takes a lot of what he says as gospel. In actuality you should be paying more attention to what golfers like me are saying about equipment. So will I start releasing Top clubs lists? No I won’t. I understand that what makes me a Bogey Golfer isn’t necessarily what makes you one, and that my swing is different than yours. What I will do is tell you what has worked for me specifically, and why. Then you can make your own assumptions based on your swing and skill level.

MY GOLF SPY MOST WANTED

Most Wanted by who? Now I am guilty of putting far to much stock in the My Golf Spy Most Wanted lists in the past. It wasn’t until I really looked at how they arrive at their data, and more importantly what information they leave out. It made me realize that interpreting their results was next to impossible. First of all their final results are calculated using an average of all the shot data they collect. Which means everything from Scratch Golfers to possibly very high Handicappers is included. How does that help you, the individual Golfer make a decision that’s best for you? The simple answer is that it doesn’t! What’s worse is that they use Strokes Gained as a key metric when determining the final rankings. Personally I’ll take Accuracy over Strokes Gained every single time. At least they’ve started to add additional awards to specific categories for some clubs like Distance, and Forgiveness. Should you then try to make a buying decision based on their data? Once again the answer is NO! To illustrate why I’ll use their most recent Most Wanted Driver results as an example. I have personally tested a number of the Drivers that are in that test. The first thing I can tell you is that their winner the Callaway Epic Flash Sub Zero driver does not work for me. At my swing speed and average launch angle I need more Spin not less. What is even more telling that their results could have no relevance to me whatsoever, is the Average Spin numbers for each Driver. I average close to 3000rpm in backspin with most Drivers. Not one of their Drivers have anything close to 3000rpm on average. I’ve personally tested 9 of the Drivers on their test and only 2 of those did I average under 2500rpm. In other words my results have almost nothing in common with their results. The only statistic that was very close to theirs was ball speed. Carry Distance, Total Distance, Launch angle, Apex, and everything else was different. I am certain that I’m not the only one their results don’t apply to because I’ve had friends test some of those Drivers as well. Their numbers didn’t match either. Of course why should they? We aren’t an average of a bunch of people. We are individuals!

ARE HANDICAP SPECIFIC LISTS THE ANSWER?

What if My Golf Spy and Other Golf equipment rating websites tested each club with specific Handicap groups? Would a golf club test that only included golfers with a Handicap of 17 to 20 be more relevant to me? Of course it would, but it can still be misleading. To help you understand why I’ll use myself, and two of my golfing buddies as an example. Oliver, Manny, and I are all 18 Handicap Golfers. How we achieve that 18 Handicap is completely different though. Manny is a long hitter off the Tee, and very accurate with his 3 and 4 Hybrid. He is definitely the best of the three of us for Distance. Oliver has the slowest swing speed with the Driver so doesn’t hit it very long off the Tee. He is very accurate with his Irons though, and actually hits them longer than both Manny and I. His Iron play is key to reducing his scores. I have the best Short Game of the three of us. I definitely save a few strokes Putting, and am very accurate when Chipping. It’s my skill in the Short Game that gets me to an 18 Handicap. If the three of us tested the same club, our results could be completely different. Even though we are the same Handicap, our ability with any particular club could be totally different. Just because you group golfers by Handicap, doesn’t guarantee that the results will apply to you even if you are the same Handicap.

THEN WHAT IS THE ANSWER?

The answer is to go out and test the equipment yourself. I began golfing by listening to the “Experts” and I got burned. It wasn’t until I started testing equipment myself that my game was given a chance to improve through having the correct equipment. I still review equipment, but unlike the majority of experts my reviews are ongoing. I don’t just hit a club a few times in a Simulator, and take it out on the course once to make my decision. I use that piece of golf equipment continuously for months, and update you along the way. I inform you about what I like, or don’t like about it. Why it works, or doesn’t work for me. I’ll go as far as recommending it if it fills a particular need that you might have. For Instance I suggest that Beginners who Slice their Driver due to an Open Face at impact buy a Draw biased Driver that helps close the face. I arrived at this conclusion during my Ongoing Review of the Ping G SFT. Keep in mind that a Draw biased Driver won’t correct a severe out to in swing path. So if that’s why you slice your Driver you’ll need to get a lesson. What I’m trying to say is that I will do my best to provide you with relevant information. I won’t mislead you. I actually am unbiased, have no paid sponsorships, and receive zero incentives from Golf industry manufacturers.

IF YOU WANT REAL ADVICE – THIS IS WHERE TO GET IT!

YouTube channel
http://youtube.com/c/CobeLife

Instagram
http://instagram.com/cobesports

and Twitter
http://twitter.com/cobeness

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GOLF

QUICK START GUIDE FOR BEGINNER GOLFERS

First things first

I’m not going to get into choosing the right equipment, or how much time you should spend at the Range. I’m not going to tell you what part of your game you should focus on in the beginning, or how to develop a repeatable swing. I’m not going to tell you these things because I have written previous articles, and have a whole series of videos dedicated to those things already on my Cobe Life YouTube channel. What I’m actually going to do is provide you with a flowchart of sorts. A step by step guide that should help you progress as a Golfer, and minimize the number of setbacks most Beginner Golfers experience. So lets assume that you have purchased your first set of clubs, have a halfway decent swing, and can get through 18 holes on a course without losing your mind and a case of balls. Now what… 

Time to get Fit? NOPE!

Practice Putting until sinking 5 footers becomes so easy that it’s boring

Notice the emphasis on short putts. Trust me, there’s nothing worse when you start golfing at actual courses, and feel like you are 3 putting every hole. Putting is like Running. First you need to know how to crawl, then learn to walk, before you can run. It won’t help you to hit a long lag putt to within 5 feet, or chip it close from off the green, If it then takes you two putts to sink it. Lag putting will become easier over time. It takes a lot of actual playing time to become decent at reading greens and getting a feel for the speed required to cover assorted distances. Once you have learned to control your putts. Knowing that you can drain anything that gets remotely close really helps your confidence, and frees you up to try and sink long putts more often.

Fall in love with your Hybrid

If you have read my previous posts on assembling your first golf set, or seen my YouTube videos on buying golf clubs. You will already know that I’m a huge fan of Hybrid clubs. Recently popular YouTuber Rick Shiels posted a video on 5 different ways to use your Hybrid clubs. That alone should tell you how versatile they are. The versatility isn’t why I believe you should quickly make your Hybrid clubs your favourites. What makes Hybrid clubs so important for the majority of Beginner Golfers is the ability to hit them a relatively long distance out of any lie. It doesn’t matter if it’s off a Tee, from the fairway, in a bunker, or out of the rough. Hybrid clubs seem to have no problem hitting a golf ball from anywhere. Once you’ve realized this, you’ll have the confidence to take a full swing off the Tee, or attack greens from a distance. If you happen to miss the Fairway or Green so be it. The Hybrid club is there to help get you out of trouble.

Pick your Favourite Wedge

As a Beginner Golfer you are going to miss a lot of Greens. If you want to continue to lower your scores you will have to get good at Chipping. The first step is finding a Wedge you feel confident with. Any Wedge will do. Actually it doesn’t even have to be a Wedge. It could be your 9 Iron if that’s what suits you. What’s most important is that you choose one club and stick to it! Sure PGA professionals have around four different Wedges in their bag, and they use all of them. The thing is, and I’m sorry to be the one telling you this but. You are not a PGA professional. Practice chipping out of trouble with one club from around 30 yards and in. Get in the habit of using the same exact stroke for every chip. Just control the distance by limiting your backswing. If you stick to it, then eventually chipping will feel as natural as putting. Once you’ve reached that level of confidence you will take dead aim at greens with very little worry. If you end up 5 to 10 yards off the green. Your goal will be to get up and down for Par, not to hopefully make Bogey.

Now it’s time to get Fit right? NOPE!

Let the Big Dog eat

Now that you can putt like Jason Day, hit your Hybrids from anywhere like Jordan Spieth, and chip to within inches of the hole like Phil Mickelson. It’s time to learn how to bomb it down the Fairway like Dustin Johnson. If you can’t achieve both distance and accuracy, well at least develop accuracy. Not everyone is going to be able to hit their Driver 250 yards or more, but we can all learn to develop some accuracy. As a Beginner Golfer 2 out of every 3 Fairways hit is a pretty good average. The Driver can be the most difficult club to control for a lot of new golfers. If you are really struggling then it may be time to enlist some outside help.

So this is when we get Fit! NOPE!

Find a Coach and get some lessons

Coaches come in many forms. Could be your local Course Pro, the Golf Trainer at your local golf store, or a friend who has been playing a lot longer than you have. Whoever it may be you might find yourself pleasantly surprised what a couple of golf lessons can do for your game. Golf is a game of minor adjustments, but it can be difficult to assess what adjustments you require. A good coach should be able to recognize simple setup or swing faults rather quickly. For some Beginners it only takes one or two lessons to see a major improvement. Once you’ve spent enough time with your coach to eliminate your bad habits, and get everything in order. There’s just one last thing to do.

GET FIT!

Finally it’s time to get properly fit. This doesn’t mean that you need to go out, and buy a whole new set of clubs. Getting fit can simply be about getting your current set adjusted for Length, Lie Angle, and Loft. When it comes to your Driver, and Fairway Woods you might opt for a Shaft Change. Whatever you decide that fits your budget will help at this point. Some of you are probably wondering why getting Fit was left till last? These steps aren’t meant to be taken until you begin playing Golf Courses and actually keeping score. For most Beginners that’s around the six month mark. At this point your swing is far from polished, and quite honestly will probably change drastically over the next six months to a year. Getting Fit too early will in some cases benefit you for a short amount of time, and then become a hindrance to your progress. If I had gotten Fit after six months the Lie Angle on my Irons would have been way off the mark they are at now. It is my opinion that most Beginner Golfers shouldn’t add a Driver to their bag until they have played a full Season. It is also been my experience that the Driver is the most important club in the bag to get Fit. There are benefits to being Fit for every club in your bag, but some are negligible. Putter and Wedge fittings can help improve your game but most true Beginners won’t see a difference. The Lie Angle on a Hybrid isn’t nearly as important as the Lie Angle on an Iron so getting used to one off the rack is far easier. That’s why I suggest mastering those clubs first. By the time you feel confident in those areas of your game. The benefits of a Fitting will be far greater.

Good Luck, and hopefully you won’t be Beginner Golfers much longer!

Categories
GOLF

WHO IS THE REAL #1

Recent Success, Wins, or Overall Ability

As of the writing of this article Dustin Johnson is the current #1. A couple weeks ago it was Justin Rose, but he fell to second place without even playing because of how the PGA point system works. By the way Dustin Johnson didn’t play either, and became the world #1. Rory McIlroy deserves to be in the conversation as well. In 2019 he has been in contention to win every event he has entered. Both Rose and Johnson have a win this year but Rory has a 2nd place finish, two 4th place finishes, and finished top 10 in every other event he has entered. So which one of these Players would you put your money on in the next big event?

The Players Championship

It’s the final day of the Players Championship and last Wednesday I checked the Bet 365 website to see what the Group Golf bets looked like. In Group A they had Dustin Johnson, Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy, and Justin Thomas. Most would consider these four golfers to be the Top 4 golfers in the world right now. Most people wouldn’t consider placing a bet on any of them because to win your Player must finish higher than the other three. So once again I’ll ask you, who would you pick?

I didn’t hesitate and selected Rory McIlroy immediately. In my opinion he is the true #1 Player in the world right now. I will take Recent Success over Wins, or Overall Ability every time. The fact of the matter is that he hasn’t missed a cut, or even had a bad Round of golf this year. Dustin Johnson is currently ranked number 1 because of his achievements more than a year ago. He’s an amazing player but what he did in 2017 has very little bearing on what I expect from him this week. Rose has already won this year but he also looked mediocre last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Thomas can go on a tear at any moment, but they call it gambling for a reason. Nothing is certain, especially in golf, but I trust players that are playing well NOW.

Did I choose correctly?

Well that remains to be seen. Beginning the final day of the Players Championship Rory McIlroy is 4 strokes ahead of Dustin Johnson, 6 strokes ahead of Justin Rose, and 11 strokes ahead of Justin Thomas. Sounds like the celebration can begin but this is golf, and it is The Players Championship. Any fan of the game can tell you that when it comes to TPC Sawgrass, winners and losers can be decided on the 17th hole. That famous island green where one ball in the water can spell disaster. Lets just hope that isn’t Rory McIlroy’s fate.

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COBE LIFE CUP Cobe Life Cup

The Ontario Cobe Life Cup Golf Tour

I’ve had a few people ask me if the Cobe Life Cup is right for them. I’ve realized that the easiest way to answer this question is by asking them to answer a few questions first. Their answers would determine if the Cobe Life Cup is right for them.

These are the questions I would ask.

1 – Do you play golf at least once a month between the months of May and September?

2 – Do you usually play golf with at least one other person?

3 – Do you usually keep track of your score so you know if you’re improving?

4 – Are you interested in winning Golf Equipment?

5 – Are you interested in knowing how your game compares to others of a similar handicap?

If you answered Yes more times than No? Then the Cobe Life Cup is probably right for you.

The only thing I would add is that the four Major Tournaments are held at courses in Michigan, Ohio, New York, and Ontario, Canada. So if you are really interested in getting the most out of this competition. It would benefit you to live in one of those areas, or close by.

What are the benefits of the Cobe Life Cup as compared to other Amateur Golf Tours?

I specifically designed the Cobe Life Cup to be an easy, accessible, and fun Tour that anyone could participate in. The events aren’t scheduled on any particular day. Once a week you can play against another Registered Player or Players, and post the results. Lets say that you and a friend from work are both Registered Players. If you celebrate the end of the work week with a twilight 9 Hole Round. Then you could use the Match Play Rules and Post the result. Your Tournament record and Cobe Life Cup Ranking will be updated by the next Monday. If you would like to organize a Foursome, you could post a Round challenge for a couple additional Players to join you. The beauty of it is, is that it’s entirely up to you.
As long as you post one tournament Round of Golf per month you qualify for the Monthly giveaways. For those of you that love to Win stuff here’s the best part! The only people that are eligible to win are Registered Players. This being the first Season of the Cobe Life Cup, there won’t be a lot of Players. Your chances of winning a Driver, or Putter are very good. We have all signed up to win a Driver through Social Media from Accounts that have thousands of Subscribers. The majority of those contests aren’t even open to Canadians. You can see why I wanted to start something that’s includes Canadians.

I have even made the four Majors as easy to attend as possible. Instead of holding it on a particular day. The final 7 days of the month will have a specific course that you can play to Post your score. You pick which day, at whatever time suits you to play against at least one other Registered Player and then Post your score as normal. The following week the full results will be revealed.

It should be obvious at this point that you don’t have to be a Scratch Golfer to be competitive in the Cobe Life Cup. A High Handicapper has just as much opportunity to be at the top of the Rankings as somebody in the single digits. Just do your best to beat your buddies. Especially if they have a lower Handicap than you. With the bonus Mulligan system you could find yourself winning more often than you expected.

Before you know it, this fun competition will not only motivate you to play more. It will slowly but surely help you improve your game, and ultimately lower your handicap.

In the end that’s what the Cobe Life Cup is all about.

REGISTRATION FEE

$65 per person : To Register Subscribe to this website then use the contact us page to send us your Name, Handicap, Course you play most often, and preferred contact email. If you would like to register multiple players then send us everyone’s information. Four Players get the Foursome Registration price of $200. You will receive a bill payable through PayPal shortly after.


HAVING FUN
IMPROVING YOUR GAME
GROWING THE GOLF COMMUNITY
WINNING PRIZES

Categories
COBE LIFE CUP GOLF

Cobe Life Cup F.A.Q.

How long is the Season?

The season runs from May 1rst until the end of September. The Tour Championship will be held in October.

Do you have to play specific golf courses?

No, you can play the courses you regularly play. All you need to play a Cobe Life Cup tournament Round of Golf is another Registered opponent.

Do you need to play Full length 18 hole courses?

No, you can play a 9 hole Match Play against another Registered opponent. You can use any of the scoring systems on any 18 hole golf course. Even Par 3 only Executive Courses.

What if I don’t know my Handicap?

Not a problem. You will need to provide us with your best score from last year, and which course you shot it on. We will send you a starting Handicap from that information, and also a few suggestions on how to calculate your Handicap from then on.

Do I need to be a high ranking Player to qualify for prizes?

No, just being registered qualifies you for the monthly giveaways. Of course if you want to win the Tour Championship Trophy you will have to win.

I’m a total Beginner, so is this Tournament right for me?  

Yes, you are exactly the type of golfer we are hoping will join. Playing with other golfers of better ability will help you learn the game faster. Also our Mulligan system will help eliminate the brutal Blow Up Holes that kill Beginner’s scores.

I live a few hours out of Toronto.  Is that too far?

Absolutely not. As long as there are Registered Opponents in your area to play against you are fine. In fact the Cobe Life Cup Tour Open Majors will be taking place in Michigan, New York, Ohio, and Southern Ontario. There will be one in the West, one in the North, one in the East, and one in the Greater Toronto area.

Will Rounds I play outside of Ontario count?

Yes, provided they are played against a Registered opponent. Have a trip planned to Myrtle Beach with a few friends and plan on playing a few Rounds of golf. As long as they are registered you can get in a Tour Round of Golf.

How will you prevent people from cheating?

Every Round of Golf you play towards the Tour Rankings must be against a Registered Opponent, and you keep each other’s scores during the Round. This Tour is really about having fun, building a strong golfing community in Southern Ontario, and the neighbouring states. Then seeing how you stack up against other golfers of your skill level. Cheating is basically pointless.

I don’t play very often.  How will I keep up?

You can only play a maximum of 5 Ranked Rounds of Golf per month. Registered Players are allowed to report one Round of Golf each week, and an additional Round of Golf the final week of each month. Remember that you can lose points with a loss so playing the maximum number of Rounds can work against you also. You gain additional points for beating a Player of a Higher Rank so it’s possible to catch up quickly if you defeat the right opponents.

Where will I be able to track my current Ranking?

Every Monday the Ranks will be fully updated and posted on this website, and on the Cobe Life Golf Facebook Page. If you shoot any videos of your Round, or take pictures. they can be shared at your request on both Forums.

I’m having trouble finding opponents?

If you are looking for an opponent you can use the Cobe Life Facebook Page to find one in your area. I will create a Opponent request Post for anyone to use each week.

REGISTRATION FEE

$65 per person : To Register Subscribe to this website then use the contact us page to send us your Name, Handicap, Course you play most often, and preferred contact email. If you would like to register multiple players then send us everyone’s information. Four or more registrants receive the group entry discount. You will receive a bill payable through PayPal shortly after.

Categories
GOLF

DO DRAW BIASED DRIVERS PREVENT BEGINNER GOLFERS FROM SLICING?

Why I decided to try a Draw Biased Driver

I’ve only been playing golf for just over 3 Canadian seasons. Which is to say that I’ve only played actual courses for about 25 months. I didn’t carry a Driver in my bag the first season. Total Beginners shouldn’t use a Driver their first season, but that’s another article. I rarely used my Driver my second season because I found it difficult to control. I hit an awful lot of slices, and sometimes topped the ball. It wasn’t until last season after spending a lot of time at the Range that I learned how to control it. I turned my slice into a controlled Fade. I’m using the term Fade a bit loosely here. As a Lefty I would aim at the right side of the Fairway, and the ball would “fade” an average of 20 or so yards back to the left. The shot had become so predictable that I increased my Fairway hit percentage to 65%. The Driver had become one of the most consistent clubs in my bag, but that shot shape seriously limited it’s use. Using it on a dogleg right meant that my second shot was always a long one. If the Tee box was tree lined on the right I couldn’t use it because it would prevent me from aiming far enough to the right. Any tight Fairways that had serious trouble on the left meant that I would have to proceed with extreme caution. If there was a pond, or deep bunker on the left in my landing area, the safe play was to switch to a 3 Hybrid so I would come up short. Again I’m looking at a very long second shot. Of course playing every Tee shot with the Driver as an extreme Fade meant miss hits that went high and straight ended up in no man’s land. I tried every trick in the book to straighten out my shot but nothing worked. Finally I decided it was time. It was time to try a truly Draw Biased Driver.

First swings with the Ping G SFT

Whenever I make the decision to try something new. My first stop is always hours of research on the internet. After doing so I decided to give three specific Drivers a test. The Taylormade M2 D-Type, Cobra F-Max Offset, and the Ping G SFT. My next stop was Golf Town so I could actually see how these clubs feel and perform in the Simulator. Each club performed a little different from one another, but what had me excited was that all three significantly reduced my chance of a slice. In the end I realized that the best of the three for my swing was the Ping G SFT. I wasn’t hitting it the longest (Taylormade M2 ) or the with the most center face consistency (Cobra F-Max ) but of all three it was by far the one I was hitting the straightest. It was like hitting a slice was just impossible! I pictured myself on some of my favourite Tee boxes. The third hole at Cardinal Golf Club East Wing Course, or the 10th hole at Winchester Golf Club. Being able to pick a spot straight ahead, and have a reasonable chance of landing there. This was definitely the Driver for me. Now some of you might be wondering why I didn’t choose something a little more current? First of all Golf isn’t exactly an inexpensive sport, so I try to keep costs down. A Driver that was $500 in 2017 can now be purchased as clearance stock for half that price. Secondly Driver technology doesn’t advance nearly as fast as some of the big golf brands would like you to believe. A great example of this is the Taylormade M2. You can find comparison tests by a number of reliable YouTubers that will show there’s almost no discernible difference between it and and M4 or M6. The Ping G series has the same technology ( Turbulators, Dragonfly Technology, and Vortec Technology ) that the G400 has. In fact the Ping G SFT is actually a 460cc head while the G400 SFT is only a 445cc head. As a Beginner the larger more forgiving Driver head is far more appealing.

Ping G SFT vs Cobra Fly-Z Simulator results

  • CARRY:  Ping G SFT – 209yrds / Cobra Fly-Z – 201yrds
  • BACKSPIN: Ping G SFT – 3150rpm / Cobra Fly-Z – 2700rpm
  • SIDESPIN: Ping G SFT – 210rpm / Cobra Fly-Z – 1470rpm
  • OFFLINE: Ping G SFT – 9yrds / Cobra Fly-Z – 28yrds

To arrive at these averages I took 20 shots with each club and removed the worst 5. Both Drivers were set up similarly. The Ping G SFT was at 10.6 degrees of loft with the Alta 55 CB Stiff shaft in the standard 45.25 inch length. The Cobra Fly-Z was at 10.5 degrees in the Draw setting with the Graffaloy Rocket 55 Stiff shaft cut down to a 44 inch length. I prefer a slightly shorter length on my Driver, but have decided to test the Ping G SFT at the standard length before I decide how much shorter I should make it. As a result of the increased length and unfamiliarity with the club, my contact with the ball was all over the face. Shots that I expected would have potentially killed somebody on the next hole’s Fairway still traveled relatively straight. The numbers actually speak for themselves. I will be covering my progress with the Ping G SFT in my Ongoing Product Reviews for 2019 so if you are interested in Draw Biased Drivers be sure to follow me. I expect after some more practice, and having the length reduced I will get this Driver really dialed in.

EARLY CONCLUSION

iF YOU ARE LIKE ME AND ONLY TEND TO SLICE YOUR WOODS, THEN A DRAW BIASED DRIVER MIGHT BE THE ANSWER FOR YOU.

I don’t have too much trouble with swing path. I tend to hit my Irons and Wedges quite straight. My issue with the Driver, and Fairway Woods is squaring the face at impact. No matter how hard I try the face gets left open, and I end up slicing the ball. Not only was the Ping G SFT helping me square the face, but for the first time in my life I hit a few Draws. They were about 3 yard Draws, but still Draws. So if slicing is your issue I would suggest trying a Draw Biased Driver.

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GOLF

TRUE GOLF FIT by My Golf Spy Review

WHAT MY GOLF SPY CLAIMS


TRUEGolfFit is the first service in the golf industry to use a scientific compatibility matching system to find the best equipment configuration for your unique swing


We compare your swing information with our database of over 45,000 swings and 10,000,000 data points to find your TRUE Fit.


Longer. Straighter. Lower. Guaranteed.  Know the clubs that perform best for you BEFORE you buy. TRUEGolfFit the world leader in golf club fit prediction. 

DOES IT WORK?

I decided to put the My Golf Spy True Golf Fit system to the test. First of all I love the idea of taking all of the data that My Golf Spy has collected and making it relevant to the individual golfer. Unlike their Most Wanted tests that determine which clubs are best for the majority of golfers. The True Golf Fit system is designed to predict what works for you specifically.

In order for their system to determine what’s right for you. You must answer a few questions first so that their software can match you up with club testers of a similar ability. It begins with your Handicap, then your Swing Speed, then your Angle of Attack, and lastly your Swing Tempo. Based on these parameters it will match you to the two best clubs they’ve tested.

I already knew going in that their software wouldn’t work for me. In order to achieve a correct Driver fitting for a golfer like myself there’s one more question that should have been asked. WHAT IS YOUR SHOT SHAPE? If you follow me on my Cobe Life YouTube channel. You would already know that my natural shot shape is a heavy Draw. A bad shot becomes a slice. Having tested many Drivers over the last three years I already knew that anything other than a specifically Draw biased Driver wouldn’t perform as well. Even an adjustable Driver with movable weights, and a Draw biased hosel setting won’t work as well. It only costs $7 to see their results so I did it anyway.

MY RESULTS

TOP PICK BY TRUE GOLF FIT
SECOND BEST PICK BY TRUE GOLF FIT

ON TO THE SIMULATOR

In order to be totally fair about my presumptions I headed straight to my local Golf Town and had them tape up those two Drivers. I also had them tape up a couple of specifically Draw biased Drivers as well. Can you guess which Drivers consistenyly performed better for me? If you guessed the Draw biased Drivers then you would be correct.

I hit an average of 18 yards further with the Draw biased Drivers, and was an average of 14 yards closer to center with a far tighter dispersion. Something else that isn’t factored into their equation is the set up of your current gamer. Although it wouldn’t have affected my fitting process. A friend of mine tried out their True Golf Fit system as well, and it definitely affected his results.

He currently games a Callaway XR16 Driver with a Regular Flex Fujikura Speeder Evolution 565 shaft that has been cut down an inch. He routinely swings that particular Driver at around 96mph. This places him in the Medium Swing Speed category. He also generates far more Spin than he would like because he has a Downward Attack Angle. The True Fit System selected the Ping G400 LST as his number 1 choice. The idea of testing a Low Spin Driver had never occured to him before because I don’t suggest Low Spin Drivers to anyone who swings below 105mph. We were still intrigued by the idea because we figured that the Low Spin might counteract his high Spin swing, the way a Draw biased Driver counters my Fade. Well that just wasn’t the case. He was unable to swing that particular club at anything more than 92mph. At that speed the ball just falls out of the sky with the LST. He tried a few other Drivers including a Taylormade M2 and was able to swing those at 97mph quite easily.

CONCLUSION

Obviously the My Golf Spy True Golf Fit system isn’t for everyone. If you hit your drives anything but straight your results won’t be precise. If you have been professionally Fit for your current Driver than your numbers might tell an inaccurate story to the My Golf Spy True Golf Fit software. I’m hoping that over time their software will be updated and appeal to a larger number of golfers. I’m a fan of what My Golf Spy is about, and their goal to get the best equipment for you in to your bag. A lot of what I do is for that exact same reason, only I am more focused on the Beginner Golfer. For that reason the True Golf Fit system isn’t something I would suggest you put your trust in until you have a typically straight and consistently repeatable swing.