J13's WITB: Update- FUJIKURA AXIOM

[Deuce78]

Just to follow up....Hit a titleist demo day on a whim and found the Tsi3 flat and toe weight to be awesome.  Gained 3mph swing speed (aka ball speed) with that club over my ping same shaft and swingweight...gained 20 due to lower spin and better speed...I'm happy.

[J13]

On 6/2/2022 at 7:58 PM, Deuce78 said:

Just to follow up....Hit a titleist demo day on a whim and found the Tsi3 flat and toe weight to be awesome.  Gained 3mph swing speed (aka ball speed) with that club over my ping same shaft and swingweight...gained 20 due to lower spin and better speed...I'm happy.

It's amazing what effect weight has on swing speed when it's in the right place.  

 

 

 

[J13]

I've been seriously lacking in updates so I'm going to make that right over the next week.  First up is the big stick of the year.  This combo checks all the boxes and reduces my big miss which is a block.  The TR shaft gives me a little help in this department over the Black.

 

Specs

Callaway Rogue ST LS 9* (N,S)

Fuji Ventus Blue TR 6X (tipped 1/2") 

Length: 44.75

SW: D4

Hotmelt: Front, toe

 

Feel: Muted, all good

Spin: Average around 2300rpm (Center)

Traj: Mid/High

Shot shape: Straight to slight draw 

Distance: Great, no complaints

 

What I love most is the balance of both forgiveness and low spin. It’s a responsible low spin driver that isn’t chasing sub 2000 nor is it ever getting above 2800 for me.  I honestly think it’s one of the best Cally heads to date. 

 

 

 

Edited June 24, 2022 by J13

[J13]

Answers to questions I'm getting via pm:

 

*I honestly forget how much melt I added.  I think it was like 5g's

 

*The TR is giving me slightly higher launch than the Black and a little smoother feeling due to the softer butt section.  The standard Blue in driver was not a great fit and gave me a hard left shot but the Black could make my miss right / Block a little worse.  The TR is the best of both worlds.

 

More UPDATES to come!

[J13]

Another few new toys

 

Callaway UW 17* with Ventus Blue 8X.  

This club is about 10yds shorter than my 3 wood which turns out to be perfect for my club.  Can't say enough good things about it.  Very versatile and maybe one of the best woods Callaway has ever put out.  Flighting the ball is much easier than with a hybrid or fairway wood. All in all, great club.

 

 

The new Edel 1.5 putter

This thing is a money stick.  First round with it and I finished up -6 (66) with 13 putts on the back 9.  It was nuts.  Very unique putter as it's a blade with a normal length plumbers neck and it's face balanced.  Can't say enough about how great it is to have this option in a blade putter.  I have some of the long neck blades that give you that face balance but never could get used to looking down at the giraffe necks.  Fortunately I fit myself (yes it's nice to have a fitting cart in your house 😎 but also dangerous).  Got my aim dialed in with a 0 top 2 bottom line combo and my go to weight setup is 60g counter weight with 15g in the head.  Being a short linear player this combo has been a real game changer!

 

[mjwidell]

Putter looks sweet! Do you have a pic of what it looks like at address?

[J13]

8 hours ago, mjwidell said:

Putter looks sweet! Do you have a pic of what it looks like at address?

 

Yeah i'll snap a pic today and post it.  Doing some on course testing and pics of the new Edel SMS irons later today 🙂

[MattM97]

That Rouge ST line I think is the best looking driver, I was kinda hoping to see it in my bag but wasn't the winner. 

 

Also nice write up on the Edel, I want to get mine back out soon but needs a grip change and yank the internal weight since it came loose. But I'd I had a fitting cart I'd be tinkering all day. 

[J13]

2 hours ago, MattM97 said:

That Rouge ST line I think is the best looking driver, I was kinda hoping to see it in my bag but wasn't the winner. 

 

Also nice write up on the Edel, I want to get mine back out soon but needs a grip change and yank the internal weight since it came loose. But I'd I had a fitting cart I'd be tinkering all day. 

Thanks appreciate the feedback.  Yeah having a fitting cart is a dangerous drug for sure.

 

 

By request, here's a topline pic of my Edel EAS 1.5.  

 

 

[J13]

Had to do some traveling so got a bit behind.  SMS iron review with pics is done and I'll post over the weekend once I do the writeup portion.  For now here's a little teaser

 

 

[r34civic]

2 hours ago, J13 said:

Had to do some traveling so got a bit behind.  SMS iron review with pics is done and I'll post over the weekend once I do the writeup portion.  For now here's a little teaser

 

 

Looking forward to the SMS iron review

[J13]

SMS review FINALLY up!

 

 

[Warrick]

Looking good man, that putter is sweet.

[J13]

6 hours ago, Warrick said:

Looking good man, that putter is sweet.

It's honestly been the best putter I've ever owned from a performance standpoint.  I've had some really cool looking putters that flat out looked amazing but nothing touches this in terms of performance.  I keep waiting for the honeymoon to end haha.  The cool thing is hearing my playing partners make comments on my putting.  That's when you know your on to something.

[Fairways_and_Greens]

On 6/23/2022 at 5:32 PM, J13 said:

I've been seriously lacking in updates so I'm going to make that right over the next week.  First up is the big stick of the year.  This combo checks all the boxes and reduces my big miss which is a block.  The TR shaft gives me a little help in this department over the Black.

 

Specs

Callaway Rogue ST LS 9* (N,S)

Fuji Ventus Blue TR 6X (tipped 1/2") 

Length: 44.75

SW: D4

Hotmelt: Front, toe

 

Feel: Muted, all good

Spin: Average around 2300rpm (Center)

Traj: Mid/High

Shot shape: Straight to slight draw 

Distance: Great, no complaints

 

What I love most is the balance of both forgiveness and low spin. It’s a responsible low spin driver that isn’t chasing sub 2000 nor is it ever getting above 2800 for me.  I honestly think it’s one of the best Cally heads to date. 

 

 

 

How is the Rogue Max LS vs the Epic Max LS?

[bcflyguy1]

20 hours ago, Fairways_and_Greens said:

How is the Rogue Max LS vs the Epic Max LS?

Not to speak for J, but the lesser face progression of both models is less visually obvious in the Rogue, to my eye at least. IOW, the Rogue doesn't have as much of an "offset" appearance.

Rogue LS seems to do be ideal if you need a driver that helps hold launch down without the reduction in spin that would typically come along with that.

[J13]

On 8/28/2022 at 2:27 PM, Fairways_and_Greens said:

How is the Rogue Max LS vs the Epic Max LS?

 

The overall profile of the Rogue Max LS looks smaller.  Not sure if it's the matte finish or change in shape.  Also the Rogue LS seems to sit flatter to me.  Both are low spin and low launch and the rogue LS seems to be a little more draw bias than the epic speed ls.  Of course I worked some magic and now my Rogue LS is very neutral bias now.

[gkdntjr]

Impressive bag!

[J13]

On 8/31/2022 at 1:51 PM, gkdntjr said:

Impressive bag!

Thank you but it's going to get even better 😉  

[J13]

Updates coming…. Let the winter tinkering begin!

 

 

[Warrick]

I got the TSR2 7w with AD DI 7 at release, just bagged a TSR4 driver with AD DI 6, absolutely love both.

 

I got in 27,36,18 this week with the driver, honestly not sure I could ask for anything better, more forgiving than TSi3 IMO, looks amazing at address, superb sound and feel, got the 13/5 weight set up, play it with heavy in back.

 

Look forward to your thoughts.

[J13]

8 hours ago, Warrick said:

I got the TSR2 7w with AD DI 7 at release, just bagged a TSR4 driver with AD DI 6, absolutely love both.

 

I got in 27,36,18 this week with the driver, honestly not sure I could ask for anything better, more forgiving than TSi3 IMO, looks amazing at address, superb sound and feel, got the 13/5 weight set up, play it with heavy in back.

 

Look forward to your thoughts.

 

Nice! So far I have 2 rounds in with the setup but want 1 more before I do a deeper dive and review.  The TSR4 looks great but not sure I would benefit from lower spin than the TSR3 is giving me at the moment.  

 

My Setup:

TSR3 8* w/ Fuji Ventus Black TR 6X @ D3 with 3g melt added.  Improved the sound to make it a little more muted.  

 

 

 

[nitram]

The TSR3 is the best looking, best sounding, and more importantly, best combination of performance and distance in a driver I've ever bagged. Looking forward to your review Justin.

[Z1ggy16]

Tons of stuff here and I probably missed a lot - did you try the ltdx LS at all? I like mine but for some weird reason it doesn't sound very good and if I catch it near the toe I get a serious reduction in spin and lose tons of yards. 

 

Best driver I've used since the SIM from the middle but it suffers from the same issues that caused me to move to a Ping... Except the Ping spun like a top unless I hit it high on the face. 

 

Tsr3 might be a slightly more forgiving lower spin option?

[J13]

On 11/5/2022 at 9:21 AM, nitram said:

The TSR3 is the best looking, best sounding, and more importantly, best combination of performance and distance in a driver I've ever bagged. Looking forward to your review Justin.

 

Agree.  Titleist definitely did a great job with the TSR line and I found the sound was just ok for me but with a little melt it's perfect 😎  

[J13]

20 hours ago, Z1ggy16 said:

Tons of stuff here and I probably missed a lot - did you try the ltdx LS at all? I like mine but for some weird reason it doesn't sound very good and if I catch it near the toe I get a serious reduction in spin and lose tons of yards. 

 

Best driver I've used since the SIM from the middle but it suffers from the same issues that caused me to move to a Ping... Except the Ping spun like a top unless I hit it high on the face. 

 

Tsr3 might be a slightly more forgiving lower spin option?

 

I did try the LTDx LS.  Spin was great but it launched too low for me so I passed.  TSR3 performed much better for me getting LA 13-14* while spin staying 2100-2400.  Pretty much ideal for me.  Forgiveness wise i'm not sure how they stack up but if I had to guess i would say TSR3 is better due to the rear sliding weight.

[nitram]

4 hours ago, J13 said:

 

Agree.  Titleist definitely did a great job with the TSR line and I found the sound was just ok for me but with a little melt it's perfect 😎  

of course you did 😜

[J13]

15 hours ago, nitram said:

of course you did 😜

 

FAIR POINT!!! haha  But when you have the toys you must play with them😎  As for the review, I'll have some down time tonight in the hotel so I should be able to put it together.  Traveling for some Edel / PGA stuff so I"ll take advantage of the quite time without the kiddo's.

[J13]

First let me say I don't know if this will be the setup I stick with for all of 2023 but it's going to take something pretty special to beat it out.  

 

TSR3 vs Callaway Rogue ST LS

 

Been playing the Callaway Rogue ST LS for most of 2022 but was never in love with it.  It performed pretty well after some modifications but ultimately had a left miss that I didn't want.  It came stock with a little draw bias and an odd topline that gave the impression of offset.  Meanwhile the tour version of the LS had no such topline.  Why Callaway does this is beyond me, especially for a LS type driver.  Anyway I played it most of the year because I simply didn't have time to do a ton of testing. If you've following along with my WITB you know when I say testing I mean buying heads and testing them on course not just hitting them on a launch monitor at a golf shop.

 

Buzz - I started hearing some buzz about the TSR line before it launched.  Knew a few players who tested it early and had really impressive things to say, especially in relation to ball speed.  Then it launched and heard from some trusted sources that it's legit, not hype.  At this point I decided to bite the bullet and grab one and just unload the Rogue ST LS.  

 

TSR3

Looks: Its gorgeous

Sound/Feel : 8/10 but mine is now 10/10 with Melt!

Ball speed: Impressive and I’m getting another 2.5mph over the Cally (loft at 8*)

Bias – TSR3 is appropriately fade bias, Cally Rogue ST LS slight draw bias

Launch – Very similar, both launch 13-14* on average for me.  No complaints

Distance – TSR3 is the clear winner, averaging another 5yds in carry over the Cally.

Workability – TSR3 with the adjustability options can do whatever you need it to.  Love that about it.  The topline is also neutral compared to the slightly closed appearance of the Cally

 

Without going on and on the TSR3 is a drastic improvement over the TSi3.  Ball speed and spin are MUCH improved and the added adjustability is a nice perk.  I feel like I can work the ball again instead of focusing so hard how avoiding the left shot.  I’m average around 2100rpm’s spin and 13-14* LA with an apex of about 110ft.  Not much room for improvement there in terms of what I’m looking for.  I am going to work on some speed stuff over the winter but I’m not going crazy thinking I can gain 10mph without severely destroying my golf swing and body.

 

Next Up will be my Ventus Black TR vs Ventus Blue TR rundown.    

 

[nitram]

I agree with everything you've written about the TSR3. I'll also say that it is an improvement over the TSi3, and I didn't think that was possible! But Titleist had 2 years to make improvements without ruining the positives of the TSi3, and really made it better performing, and better looking. It's just so easy to hit, and hit well.

 

Are you using the Blue TR in the TSR?