Official WRX Gear Trials Event Thread: Results are in and Data live- Page 27

[itw419]

The good old DI-7X seems to fit a lot of players. I have to admit I only discovered Graphite Design when Tiger started using one. You can call it overhyped, but it has to be one of the most popular shafts on Tour the last 5-7 years.

Graphite Design was well represented. Lots of DI shafts and I ended up in a GD MT shaft.

[itw419]

Ok guys, had a chance to cool down and have some time to think about everything that went down this best weekend of my Golf experience throughout life.

 

I havea low AoA and required 10.5* and higher for the optimal numbers, my gamer is a Callaway RFX with Diamana WB D+ 72 X Flex at 44", here are the drivers that worked best for me with a small review, I will expand a bit later...

 

My top 3 drivers were:

Ping G LS 10.5*, with AD-DI 7X 44.5"

Callaway XR16 Pro 10.5*, with AD-DI 7X 44.5"

Taylormade M1 460 12* with Diamana WB 70x 44.5"

 

The Ping was very easy to hit, I was able to maintain smash at 1.51 the entire session, averaged 106 SS nice baby cut with 267 carry and 289 total, spin was at 2200 to 2300 on average, very accurate with tight dispersion, felt very solid with a nice thud at impact.

 

Callaway XR16 Pro allowed me to gain some swing speed to average of 108, the numbers went up, but accuracy/dispersion took a bit of a hit, I'm a Callaway guy and really wanted to like this driver, which I did, but the numbers in terms of accuracy were off a bit, felt really good, loooong, averaged 270 carry and 291 total, smash was the same at 1.51 and spin average of 2300s, love the AD-DI on it.

 

The M1 was the best of the 3, smash was the same, SS was down 106, felt a bit heavier but very solid overall, was about the same distance of the XR16 but the dispersion was the best of the bunch, Shawn was able to move the weights around to promote the high fade and lower the spin which really worked great for me, the shaft was very stable (is my gamer as well so I felt very comfortable with it), loved the looks of it and the solid muted feel...

 

Head to head showdown:

 

RFX vs M1--the M1 averaged 5 yards longer and prevented my miss to go way out to the left, which was the issue with the others, when hit properly they were very nice, the misshits were pulls left, with the M1 they still went left but not as pronounced, my gamer was very accurate as well almost identical overall numbers with the difference in the longer 5 yards from the M1, so Shawn recommended to still play my driver and if I wanted to improve my miss I could get the M1, but looking at the numbers he said that my gamer was the best fit...

 

I had such an amazing time at the trials, all my new brothers from the WRX are simply amazing, the WRX Staff (Richard, Aaron, Zak, Rob and the rest of the guys at the shop) are top notch professionals, the fitters at MOG know their stuff, hands down the best...I felt like I was hangings out with family, I mean really, where do you go and Golf is the common theme, we are all Golf geeks and down to earth, really nice guys..I was in C group, but I tell you those guys are studs...very nice swings, I was in awe, I have had many Golf experiences (caddy at all levels) but this one was hands down the best ever...sorry for the long post but I was so overwhelmed by the comradery and brotherhood that this does the trials no justice, a simple thank you to Richard and his crew is never going to be enough to express the experience that they offered, thank you times a million, take care and may God bless you all...

 

Did your wife take over your man cave by time you made it home?

 

Bro you have no idea, there were blankets and pillows down there, then today she came down to watch TV and she saw me, the she said "oh I wanted to watch something", but she went back upstairs, but I almost lost my man cave...lol

 

Based on our dinner conversation you just need to deal with it. Lol

[Boricua Golf]

Ok guys, had a chance to cool down and have some time to think about everything that went down this best weekend of my Golf experience throughout life.

 

I havea low AoA and required 10.5* and higher for the optimal numbers, my gamer is a Callaway RFX with Diamana WB D+ 72 X Flex at 44", here are the drivers that worked best for me with a small review, I will expand a bit later...

 

My top 3 drivers were:

Ping G LS 10.5*, with AD-DI 7X 44.5"

Callaway XR16 Pro 10.5*, with AD-DI 7X 44.5"

Taylormade M1 460 12* with Diamana WB 70x 44.5"

 

The Ping was very easy to hit, I was able to maintain smash at 1.51 the entire session, averaged 106 SS nice baby cut with 267 carry and 289 total, spin was at 2200 to 2300 on average, very accurate with tight dispersion, felt very solid with a nice thud at impact.

 

Callaway XR16 Pro allowed me to gain some swing speed to average of 108, the numbers went up, but accuracy/dispersion took a bit of a hit, I'm a Callaway guy and really wanted to like this driver, which I did, but the numbers in terms of accuracy were off a bit, felt really good, loooong, averaged 270 carry and 291 total, smash was the same at 1.51 and spin average of 2300s, love the AD-DI on it.

 

The M1 was the best of the 3, smash was the same, SS was down 106, felt a bit heavier but very solid overall, was about the same distance of the XR16 but the dispersion was the best of the bunch, Shawn was able to move the weights around to promote the high fade and lower the spin which really worked great for me, the shaft was very stable (is my gamer as well so I felt very comfortable with it), loved the looks of it and the solid muted feel...

 

Head to head showdown:

 

RFX vs M1--the M1 averaged 5 yards longer and prevented my miss to go way out to the left, which was the issue with the others, when hit properly they were very nice, the misshits were pulls left, with the M1 they still went left but not as pronounced, my gamer was very accurate as well almost identical overall numbers with the difference in the longer 5 yards from the M1, so Shawn recommended to still play my driver and if I wanted to improve my miss I could get the M1, but looking at the numbers he said that my gamer was the best fit...

 

I had such an amazing time at the trials, all my new brothers from the WRX are simply amazing, the WRX Staff (Richard, Aaron, Zak, Rob and the rest of the guys at the shop) are top notch professionals, the fitters at MOG know their stuff, hands down the best...I felt like I was hangings out with family, I mean really, where do you go and Golf is the common theme, we are all Golf geeks and down to earth, really nice guys..I was in C group, but I tell you those guys are studs...very nice swings, I was in awe, I have had many Golf experiences (caddy at all levels) but this one was hands down the best ever...sorry for the long post but I was so overwhelmed by the comradery and brotherhood that this does the trials no justice, a simple thank you to Richard and his crew is never going to be enough to express the experience that they offered, thank you times a million, take care and may God bless you all...

 

Did your wife take over your man cave by time you made it home?

 

Bro you have no idea, there were blankets and pillows down there, then today she came down to watch TV and she saw me, the she said "oh I wanted to watch something", but she went back upstairs, but I almost lost my man cave...lol

 

Based on our dinner conversation you just need to deal with it. Lol

 

Oh you know I will, I'm a very lucky guy and cannot ask for more...

[3_Jack_Par]

The good old DI-7X seems to fit a lot of players. I have to admit I only discovered Graphite Design when Tiger started using one. You can call it overhyped, but it has to be one of the most popular shafts on Tour the last 5-7 years.

I played a couple different weights of AD DIs for a couple of years, but moved on to the AD BB, thinking I needed lower launch & spin, and eventually to the AD MT, because I was under the impression that it was kind of cross between the DI and BB. Turns out that I should have just stuck with the DI. It just shows that there's a lot of info out there, and you can make decisions based on that, but you can really save yourself some time and failed experiments by going to a good fitter.

[bruinsPATSirish]

Will there be a recap of the final specs along with swing speed and handicap? That would be awesome.

I believe there will be a front page write up coming in the next couple weeks that will have a ton of info in it.

 

Correct. Full Trackman data and everything in between

 

Link me to your final specs. On my phone right now.... Thanks

 

Post #117 has my mini writeup

 

Gear Trials Results for bruinsPATSirish

 

Gamer - Taylormade M1 460 10.5* with Fujikura Pro 73 X flex

Final Shootout Sticks (top performers of the day)

Nike Flex 440 9.5* with Speeder 757 X flex

PING G LS 10.5* with Ping Tour 80 X flex

Taylormade M1 460 10.5* with GD Tour ADDI 7 X flex

Cobra King LTD 10* with Fujikura Pro Tour Spec 73 X flex

 

SS - 111 mph or so average for the testing. High was 114 low end was 108

Handicap - 3.8 index

[Holy Moses]

The King LTD is a really nice driver. It looks sleek, clean, is really long AND manages to feel great. It's just as long as my G30 LST and it feels better. The only driver that can compete with it is...my old Ping i15. If you can control it, it's an unbelievable combination of feel and distance.

[PZero]

Great stuff, guys!

 

Maybe I missed it, but who was the longest?

[bruinsPATSirish]

Great stuff, guys!

 

Maybe I missed it, but who was the longest?

 

I want to say Rich (3JackPar) might have popped one 320? I had one or two around 318. Myself, 3Jack, Nelly32 and Ladahl all had some long balls

[G-Bone]

The good old DI-7X seems to fit a lot of players. I have to admit I only discovered Graphite Design when Tiger started using one. You can call it overhyped, but it has to be one of the most popular shafts on Tour the last 5-7 years.

Graphite Design was well represented. Lots of DI shafts and I ended up in a GD MT shaft.

 

Agreed. I think about half of us or more got fit into DI's, or at least a Graphite Design of some sort. They maybe the undercover gem of the day.... GD DI!

[G-Bone]

I'm not looking to change my driver but am really interested in the fitting process and subsequent findings. I don't know that my body would survive the Gear Trials.

 

I'm looking forward to: the final write up from each member (the reflections have been enlightening thus far); seeing if anyone drops their current 'gamer' for the winner of their gear trials; sifting through the data when it's provided.

 

I've enjoyed following along. Thank you to team for all of the photographs and the participants for their efforts (especially those who travelled long distances). It appears that many of the previous constructive criticisms were taken into account when organizing the event. Still would love to see some Wishon offerings in the mix, but I know that presents challenges.

 

Cheers,

 

Mike

 

I for one will be dropping my gamer for my GearWRX 16 champion. The G LS beat my G30 LS by a small margin, but based on looks, feel and accuracy it is really a no brainer for me.

 

Plus, lets not forget... This is GolfWRX ;)

 

Great stuff, guys!

 

Maybe I missed it, but who was the longest?

 

I want to say Rich (3JackPar) might have popped one 320? I had one or two around 318. Myself, 3Jack, Nelly32 and Ladahl all had some long balls

 

Watching you animals in Group C was a lot like watching fireworks not the 4th of July.... BOOOOMMM!!!!!

[Pure745]

Question for the group..

 

I know when I spoke to Richard last he mentioned keeping your gamer shaft you were fit for consistent when trying all of the various heads. Now that I see some of your top 3 finalists, many of them have 3 different shafts. How did that happen? Was the goal to keep the same shafts and analyze the differences all things being equal? Or did it change into a semi-test semi-fitting and quest just to find which was flat out the best for you with any shaft in it?

 

Just curious, looking forward to your write ups!

[bruinsPATSirish]

Question for the group..

 

I know when I spoke to Richard last he mentioned keeping your gamer shaft you were fit for consistent when trying all of the various heads. Now that I see some of your top 3 finalists, many of them have 3 different shafts. How did that happen? Was the goal to keep the same shafts and analyze the differences all things being equal? Or did it change into a semi-test semi-fitting and quest just to find which was flat out the best for you with any shaft in it?

 

Just curious, looking forward to your write ups!

 

Yes, the idea was to find the best fit and best performers no matter the setup.

 

I think the idea was that our gamer shaft was supposed to already be ideal for us, but I know atleast for me and even the rest of group C my gamer shaft was toasted by other shafts. The fitter Shawn told me he wouldn't put my gamer (Fuji Pro 73X) in my hands so we didn't touch it. My gamer was the shortest driver I hit all day lol

[Pure745]

Question for the group..

 

I know when I spoke to Richard last he mentioned keeping your gamer shaft you were fit for consistent when trying all of the various heads. Now that I see some of your top 3 finalists, many of them have 3 different shafts. How did that happen? Was the goal to keep the same shafts and analyze the differences all things being equal? Or did it change into a semi-test semi-fitting and quest just to find which was flat out the best for you with any shaft in it?

 

Just curious, looking forward to your write ups!

 

Yes, the idea was to find the best fit and best performers no matter the setup.

 

I think the idea was that our gamer shaft was supposed to already be ideal for us, but I know atleast for me and even the rest of group C my gamer shaft was toasted by other shafts. The fitter Shawn told me he wouldn't put my gamer (Fuji Pro 73X) in my hands so we didn't touch it. My gamer was the shortest driver I hit all day lol

 

Got it, so you were fit for a driver that was that bad? Or was it a shaft you were experimenting with? Did everyone go in there with a gamer that was professionally fit?

[Zach Heusser]

Did I post these?

 

 

 

 

Awesome thread ! It's always great to meet people from wrx in person ?

[easyyy]

Will there be a recap of the final specs along with swing speed and handicap? That would be awesome.

 

Yes there will be. We will be posting a full editorial spread. We will have a cover article with a summary and then drill down to each player with all the data. Launch data, gamer, 3 top dogs and trackman data for all the finalist.

 

We want to provide information that advanced and casual golfers can use to narrow the field. Learn how to get fit and as a result hit it longer and straighter.... then.. lower scores.

[bruinsPATSirish]

Question for the group..

 

I know when I spoke to Richard last he mentioned keeping your gamer shaft you were fit for consistent when trying all of the various heads. Now that I see some of your top 3 finalists, many of them have 3 different shafts. How did that happen? Was the goal to keep the same shafts and analyze the differences all things being equal? Or did it change into a semi-test semi-fitting and quest just to find which was flat out the best for you with any shaft in it?

 

Just curious, looking forward to your write ups!

 

Yes, the idea was to find the best fit and best performers no matter the setup.

 

I think the idea was that our gamer shaft was supposed to already be ideal for us, but I know atleast for me and even the rest of group C my gamer shaft was toasted by other shafts. The fitter Shawn told me he wouldn't put my gamer (Fuji Pro 73X) in my hands so we didn't touch it. My gamer was the shortest driver I hit all day lol

 

Got it, so you were fit for a driver that was that bad? Or was it a shaft you were experimenting with? Did everyone go in there with a gamer that was professionally fit?

 

I was "fit" for my gamer by a Taylormade guy back in September. I knew I was leaving distance on the table with my M1 but it was very straight and I have been playing good golf with it so I haven't worried about it. When Shawn maxed me out I was pumping 20+ more yards out of the same M1 head with a different shaft (ADDI 7x)

 

I know a lot of the other guys had very good gamer setups that barely got beat, one gamer didn't get beat by anytging

[Pure745]

I was "fit" for my gamer by a Taylormade guy back in September. I knew I was leaving distance on the table with my M1 but it was very straight and I have been playing good golf with it so I haven't worried about it. When Shawn maxed me out I was pumping 20+ more yards out of the same M1 head with a different shaft (ADDI 7x)

 

I know a lot of the other guys had very good gamer setups that barely got beat, one gamer didn't get beat by anytging

 

Got it, thanks man! Sounds like a great experience, your results are crazy!

[Holy Moses]

Do you guys feel that the Chrome Soft helped or hurt your numbers? I'm a Trackman novice, but the numbers can be affected by the type of ball you play, right?

[crazy8golfer]

How were the new Nike clubs? Specifically the Flex?

 

I got great numbers with the Flex last year, but forgiveness wasn't there over the long haul. 2016 line looks very ho-hum, anything eye opening that you guys saw?

 

Thanks!

A couple of the higher swing speed guys were beating it pretty good, but same thing you observed last year--misses are punished a lot. I think one guy had it in his top 4, but that's about it.

 

I'm probably way off in this, but is there any chance that Nike knew Tiger would be out for a good portion of 2016 and they are waiting to release something really good when he emerges again to ride his hype?

It took 230 post and somebody just had to bring Tiger into the discussion. Geez !!!!

[G-Bone]

Do you guys feel that the Chrome Soft helped or hurt your numbers? I'm a Trackman novice, but the numbers can be affected by the type of ball you play, right?

 

I'm a HUGE golf ball geek. I spend entirely too much time testing on course and off.

 

I can say that last years three piece Chrome Soft spun about 200-300 rpm more than V1x on Trackman. We used the new four piece Chrome Soft for yesterdays txt, which is supposed to have less driver spin than last years... I have not tested them, but thats what Callaway says.

 

Not sure if that answers your question exactly, but hopefully sheds some additional light on it.

[Fourpar18]

Do you guys feel that the Chrome Soft helped or hurt your numbers? I'm a Trackman novice, but the numbers can be affected by the type of ball you play, right?

 

Great question, I was wondering the same thing!

[Holy Moses]

Just seems that if you are spending a good amount on a fitting, you'd want to be able to custom fit for every possible variable, ball included

[swizbeatz]

Question for the group..

 

I know when I spoke to Richard last he mentioned keeping your gamer shaft you were fit for consistent when trying all of the various heads. Now that I see some of your top 3 finalists, many of them have 3 different shafts. How did that happen? Was the goal to keep the same shafts and analyze the differences all things being equal? Or did it change into a semi-test semi-fitting and quest just to find which was flat out the best for you with any shaft in it?

 

Just curious, looking forward to your write ups!

 

Yes, the idea was to find the best fit and best performers no matter the setup.

 

I think the idea was that our gamer shaft was supposed to already be ideal for us, but I know atleast for me and even the rest of group C my gamer shaft was toasted by other shafts. The fitter Shawn told me he wouldn't put my gamer (Fuji Pro 73X) in my hands so we didn't touch it. My gamer was the shortest driver I hit all day lol

 

Got it, so you were fit for a driver that was that bad? Or was it a shaft you were experimenting with? Did everyone go in there with a gamer that was professionally fit?

 

As a contrast I've been playing a DI off and on for years, we tried it along with a few others and my fitter liked what he saw and said to keep rolling with it in all the heads unless something looked off. I will say having shorter options would have been nice, most setups were .5" or so longer than mine and I had a hard time choking up consistently to a comfortable length.

 

Both Gbone and myself spent a lot of time dialing in the g30 LST last spring, once or twice we actually split some trackman time and I know he's on there monthly and that's a conservative statement. Neither of our setups were really beat and the G with same shaft will be in both our bags for the same reasons, non performance ones he mentioned like sound/feel/looks.

 

I can back up my gamer is a good fit with ~150 rounds under my belt with it last year. I wasn't as efficient as I normally am, being an inside out closed clubface guy I usually see 1.5 smash, but it was consistent across all drivers so I'm satisfied with my results, until next time :).

 

The more I think back I'll probably grab a LTD to try on the course as it was the outlier for me in terms of lowest spin.

 

Quick edit - your threads are a huge reason I spent so much time finding the best gamer I could, both fitting and just your day to day Witb talk. Thanks!

[easyyy]

Great stuff, guys!

 

Maybe I missed it, but who was the longest?

 

I want to say Rich (3JackPar) might have popped one 320? I had one or two around 318. Myself, 3Jack, Nelly32 and Ladahl all had some long balls

 

Here was one that was up there...

 

From Brian "BruinsPATirish". Wasn't his longest but I was there on this one w/ the camera...

 

 

[swizbeatz]

Just seems that if you are spending a good amount on a fitting, you'd want to be able to custom fit for every possible variable, ball included

 

That would be great but we fired so many balls out into the range, and there's a fence the big guys were bouncing it past into what I assumed is lost ball area. As far as I understand it Callaway was the only company to step up and offer balls, dont know any of the details though.

 

During a normal fitting you'd use a mix of premium balls and for the final round could pick out a handful of the same ones. Or be like Gbone and buy boxes in the shop to donate out on the range in the name of science.

[Holy Moses]

How were the new Nike clubs? Specifically the Flex?

 

I got great numbers with the Flex last year, but forgiveness wasn't there over the long haul. 2016 line looks very ho-hum, anything eye opening that you guys saw?

 

Thanks!

A couple of the higher swing speed guys were beating it pretty good, but same thing you observed last year--misses are punished a lot. I think one guy had it in his top 4, but that's about it.

 

I'm probably way off in this, but is there any chance that Nike knew Tiger would be out for a good portion of 2016 and they are waiting to release something really good when he emerges again to ride his hype?

It took 230 post and somebody just had to bring Tiger. Geez !!!!

 

What can I say, I love Tiger. But seriously, Nike's offerings this year are very minor improvements over last year's stuff outside of the new putters. I have seen no commercials either. Tiger's hurt so it was a guess. I bet they've got something big brewing for next year or later this year. As someone else said, if Nike really wanted to pump money into Nike Golf R/D, they could do so many cool things.

[Holy Moses]

Just seems that if you are spending a good amount on a fitting, you'd want to be able to custom fit for every possible variable, ball included

 

That would be great but we fired so many balls out into the range, and there's a fence the big guys were bouncing it past into what I assumed is lost ball area. As far as I understand it Callaway was the only company to step up and offer balls, dont know any of the details though.

 

During a normal fitting you'd use a mix of premium balls and for the final round could pick out a handful of the same ones. Or be like Gbone and buy boxes in the shop to donate out on the range in the name of science.

 

Oh ok, makes sense. If Callaway donated the balls just for the WRX fitting, kudos to them. I assumed they were just Miles of Golf's fitting balls.

[swizbeatz]

Just seems that if you are spending a good amount on a fitting, you'd want to be able to custom fit for every possible variable, ball included

 

That would be great but we fired so many balls out into the range, and there's a fence the big guys were bouncing it past into what I assumed is lost ball area. As far as I understand it Callaway was the only company to step up and offer balls, dont know any of the details though.

 

During a normal fitting you'd use a mix of premium balls and for the final round could pick out a handful of the same ones. Or be like Gbone and buy boxes in the shop to donate out on the range in the name of science.

 

Oh ok, makes sense. If Callaway donated the balls just for the WRX fitting, kudos to them. I assumed they were just Miles of Golf's fitting balls.

 

We hit so many there's no way they had enough of 1 kind and in my mind that's the best way to get comparable results. No joke we were on a 28 minute "shot clock", there was someone swinging in each of the 3 bays for the entire 10 hours we were there. Easily 4000 + balls if I had to guess.

[Holy Moses]

I've been a PXG hater, but only because they couldn't use as a base anything other than what Ping had. I thought the technology would be there and the numbers would show it. Yet the driver spun a ton even after adjusting the screws? My guess is that the tech gains are in the irons, but I just thought the PXG driver would find its way into a few of the long hitter's top 3. This site is important for PXG and it's gotta be disappointing for them to show so poorly since they don't give their clubs away for independent testing. Maybe we now know why.

[G-Bone]

Just seems that if you are spending a good amount on a fitting, you'd want to be able to custom fit for every possible variable, ball included

 

That would be great but we fired so many balls out into the range, and there's a fence the big guys were bouncing it past into what I assumed is lost ball area. As far as I understand it Callaway was the only company to step up and offer balls, dont know any of the details though.

 

During a normal fitting you'd use a mix of premium balls and for the final round could pick out a handful of the same ones. Or be like Gbone and buy boxes in the shop to donate out on the range in the name of science.

 

I do what I can for the good of the people! HAHAHAHA!!!! :superman2: