J13's WITB: Update- FUJIKURA AXIOM

[J13]

I couldn't leave well enough alone (I blame covid-19) so somethings are changing in the bag. Trying to dial in a few spots and as a result have a few new goodies on the way Will post some pics when they arrive.

 

Also since i get this question weekly I am still playing the Mitsu MMT shafts and they aren't going anywhere. Love them even more than the day i first tested them. Fired a -5 (67) the other day and my irons played a big part in that. So for anyone thinking graphite isn't there yet think again.

[Breezy-3-]

 

[J13]

haha not my fault. The new toys were back ordered and they literally just came in yesterday. Going to post pics later as i'm on my way to the course to squeeze some testing in. Stay tuned

[GC70]

How are the Jaws working out for you?

[J13]

Great. I switched up grinds this year on my 60* wedge (From W grind to C grind) and it's working out very well. The W grind was money out of bunkers but around the green in tight lies the C Grind is superior. My 50 and 54 have been great, everything i could want in a wedge.

[J13]

Ok so finally got the new toys from Callaway. Unfortunately they went on backorder but to make up for that Callaway sent them overnight express which I thought was great customer service.

For anyone that’s been following along you know that I’ve been struggling to find something for the 3 wood spot and hybrid/driving iron area of the bag. I tried the Cobra Big Tour 3 but I found it to be very inconsistent. I tend to struggle with front weighted woods so who was I kidding? Haha. So here we are, Callaway Mavrik SZ 15* with a Project X Black Smoke 80X and Mavrik Pro 20* hybrid with Project X Evenflow Black 85X. I haven’t gotten the SZ 3 wood out yet as it literally just showed up but I do have 2 rounds in with the Mavrik Pro so I’ll discuss that.
Mav Pro hybrid 20* -
Since it’s release i have used the Callaway Big Bertha Alpha 815 with Veylix Rome 988. It’s been the GOAT of all hybrids for me. It wasn’t perfect (what club is) but it was long and fairly consistent. Most important of all it was the most anti left hybrid I could find. So fast forward 5 years and Callaway decided to bring back a Pro hybrid design (FINALLY). At the recommendation of another wrx’er @Dscvrr St Louis who also kicked his 815 Alpha out of the bag with the Pro I decided it was worth a shot.

Last 2 rounds (short and sweet)
Pro’s
-Very consistent distance
-Very consistent across the face / forgiveness
-Great off tight lies and rough with the camber sole (love this)
-Stellar shape
-ANTI Left
-Feel and sound is really good stock but as i make my tweaks I will add a built of melt to get even more muted.

Cons
-Head cover is ugly so I replaced it with my knit Cally cover which is classy LOL.
-If you want a fairway wood type hybrid this isn’t it.


Overall - This hybrid is a TRUE iron replacement. With the Alpha and also the SIM Max (which I tested earlier in the year) I got jumpers and inconsistent distances based on strike. With the Mav pro I haven’t had any of that despite striking it all over the face. Of course it’s a little shorter when missed but not by much and it doesn’t have any random 20yd jumps. This club for me is a 3 iron replacement and to be honest I might consider grabbing another to replace the 4 iron. The ball flight is higher than an iron which makes it ideal for hitting shots into greens which is what I primarily use it for. Not sure what else to say other than if you truly want an iron replacement you should be looking at this hybrid.


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[QuigleyDU]

Interesting you went evenflow instead of the Catalyst. Sorry not KBS. Why?

[J13]

I hit a friends hybrid that had the same shaft and it seemed pretty good so i went with it. Performs pretty well for me but ultimately i'll probably drop the Veylix Rome 988 in there. It will drop spin a little more and make it even more anti left.

[GC70]

Any thoughts about giving the PXG hybrid a shot. All I ever hear is how consistent it is, plus the price is good. I’ve hit one a few times on the course and it was really good. It wasn’t the right flex for me but it was performing really well. I ordered two to tryout.

[J13]

Not a big PXG fan so probably not. I'm sure the hybrid is good though.

[Warrick]

Great write up.

i still have my Callaway 815 3/4 hybrids in my bag in California, will probably never sell, have Diamana s+ 80.

i looked at the Pro for that spot, but anti left is not a concern, so went Mavrik 7w, love the high launch.

Looks like you are almost set.

[Rosco1216]

Geez, I haven’t been keeping up with your WITB. Good Saturday morning reading material though!

[J13]

@Warrick The 815 is a great hybrid and it will certainly stay in my backup bag for when times get tough but what i love about the Mav Pro is it's way more forgiving across the face and much more consistent with distance. The 815 i have is built a little longer and heavier than the Pro so it's more like a 5 wood replacement.
@Rosco1216 you are forgiven for not checking my WITB daily. No hard feelings haha ;-)


Going to be dropping some updates soon. Going to build up the SZ 3 wood possibly today. Need to tip the shaft more and add some melt in the shop.

[J13]

Playing Tomorrow so i'll have some info on the Mav SZ 3 wood.

 

Answers to a few question I got via PM that I figured i'd share with everyone:

 

The Cobra Big Tour 3 had a great profile but it was either feast or famine. It lacked consistency for me with regards to distance and I lost too much when I heeled it. No my 815 alpha is not for sale haha. It's old trusty and needs to stay in my backup bagCobra SZ Xtreme driver is still great and still the top dog. Forgiveness is as good as it gets and somehow they kept spin below 2500. Not sure how they did it but they did. Highly suggest trying this with a low spin shaft.

[Z1ggy16]

Did you hot melt the sz xtreme? I have one and I absolutely hateeeee the sound it makes, even on softer balls like TP5. My SIM is nice and muted, gives a solid thwack, even though it's got the carbon crown. Not sure if mine's defective or something but man it was brutal to listen to. Seemed mega forgiving but I could never play something that sounded that way.

As far as 3w goes... Sorry if I missed it but did you compare the SIM Ti to the Mavrik SZ yet?

[J13]

Yes I added about 6g's to the front and toe side of the Xtreme. Sound is MUCH MUCH better. I"ve melted about 7-8 of them this year for acoustics so feel free to shoot me a pm if you need help with that and don't have someone locally.

 

3w - Sim Ti was one I had early on and really liked it. Problem was it was early on and once golf courses opened again i went crazy and bought a ton of stuff. I 100% blame covid for the SIM Ti not staying in the bag lol. But i had plenty of time with it and will be able to do a quick breakdown once i hit the SZ on course. I played 9 holes with it and saw a few mod's that i need to do so i'll actually be in my shop tonight with it so it's ready for a full round tomorrow. Going to tip it another 1/2" and add some melt to the toe to create a little more fade bias.

[Z1ggy16]

Okay so I'm not crazy lol. I'm just going to sell it at this point... The SIM is pretty optimal and I'm kind of sick of tinkering at this point oddly enough. My speedzone of also tour length so it has a Heavy weight and comes in at 205g. The 5w is awesome though.

I've gone on a bit of a cold steak with the SIM Ti lately which I think has more to do with the shaft and me than the head. Love the sound and feel.

[J13]

No not crazy at all. It's a little loud in the stock setup, i melted mine pretty quickly haha. SIM Ti is a great fairway wood and to be honest if the Mavrik SZ doesn't work out i'm going back to it but so far the SZ has been really good and I like the glued hosel look on a fairway wood. I just got done trimming it and added about 4g's of melt to the SZ so tomorrow i'll know what i got.

[Z1ggy16]

Yeah I can see the allure of the bonded look. I use the SIM Ti 5w actually at 17* and use it more of a 4w. It really seems to spin like a 15* club though, and it's much longer and flatter than the 18.5* speedzone I have. Just goes to show how much club testing does matter and that one can't simply just go by loft. Even at a stock 19* setting, the SIM Ti would be 15-20 yards longer than the stock speedzone. Each club has a purpose.

Golf tinkering is basically done for me now... but next year I will resume it I'm sure, haha. I actually put a soft stepped x100 into my 7i and like the feel. I see you've still got MMT 125TX... so I assume they are awesome. Would I want to also soft step the MMT? I hear it's more closer to a modus 125/x100 than it would be a modus 120.

[J13]

I hear ya in regards to the Speedzone to SIM Ti. TM did a great job with bringing back the Vsteel and with Titanium.

 

Mitsu MMT's are everything i'm looking for and more in an iron shaft. My elbow is what forced my hand at taking a serious look at graphite and i'm glad it did. Performance is stellar and consistency is unmatched.

[Z1ggy16]

From other shafts you've used... is it more like an X100 feel as far as profile and stiffness? I know you were in modus 120tx before, which is significantly stiffer than the 120x. Now that I've been working on some stuff I'm getting a lot more "efficient speed" and I'm thinking of moving all my irons to soft stepped x100. Just for my reference when I buy a demo MMT 125tx... Should I soft step it do you think?

[J13]

MMT's are very similar to my modus 120TX's. They kick the same way so it was a really easy transition for me. If you would soft step X100 then soft step the MMT's. Keep in mind though that Mitsu is bringing a 120S option out sometime in the near future.

[J13]

Callaway Mav SZ 3 wood update:

 

Played today and hit it pretty well. Specs right now are 42.75" at D4. Overall it was very consistent and surprinsgly forgiving on heel strikes which tends to be my miss. I'm working on keeping the club on plan and not getting stuck/under plane. If you want to see what i'm working on you can check my instagram (see signature) I just put up a video of some practice after the round.

 

Distance - Good, what you would expect

Off the tee - Nice high flight but not over spinning. Bias is fairly neutral which i like.

Off the deck - Probably one of the easiest to hit players fwy woods out there. Really impressed with the club in this regard.

Sound - Sound is great, especially after a little melt but it was good before that as well.

 

 

Going to get some more work in this week but first full round was a success. Basically it lives to fight another day.

[Breezy-3-]

Awesome updates as usual @J13! bag is looking good brother

[swizbeatz]

how hard were the irons to build? The assistant at my club wants a shot building mine but if they were too tricky I need to take elsewhere.

[cota0429]

Been looking for a 3 wood myself. Was thinking Mavrik...

[J13]

If he’s familiar with building with graphite then he should be fine. Nothing usual about the process.

[J13]

what it’s going to come down to for me is the Mav SZ vs sim ti. So far the Mav sz is consistent but once I get both on course I’ll know for sure.

[Warrick]

Guessing you went SIM with the SZ being sold on BST?

i have seen the SL Rossie and Toulon Vegas go too. What is next for a putter test?

i loved the SL Rossie to start the season, but not sure the SL shaft is working for me, recently put an original Portland with a standard black TT shaft back in, putting as well as I ever have, so stable with the 40g plate.

[DNice26]

I've been playing the SIM Ti 5 wood as my three wood and it has been very solid for me. I'm not a great fw player and it has allowed me to pull off some impressive shots off the tee and the deck. Get the right shaft setup in it and it is fantastic.