PXG fitting - results

mbshaf · May 19, 2016

Over the last month I've gone through bag set up for the year (late due to broken collarbone over the off season). With all the excitement around PXG, they were the natural choice for things. I currently play a Ping G LS Tec, 9 degree with stock stiff shaft (and at times an Aldila Roge 125 MSI, tour stiff), Cobra King LTD Pro fairway set to 13 with black aldila stock shaft, ping g25 20 degree hybrid, stiff, Srixon z745 irons and cleveland 588 2.0 wedges.

I went through a full bag fitting and spent over a month hitting different drivers, fairways, hybrids, irons and wedges. I'll summarize all but the PXG for the purpose of the thread.

Driver - started season with M1 with 125 MSI rogue. Great driver. Switched to the GLStec because I'm a die hard Ping fan and get similar results with more confidence.

strong 3 wood - started season with TEE e8 and switched to the Cobra King LTD pro. Both 13 degrees. The cobra offered similar performance with better dispersion

wedges - started season with Callaway Mack daddy 2 Tried MD3, Edel (lost a full club length on Edel wedges) and Cleveland. The 99 dollar cleveland outperformed everything so I bought two sets (one for practice)

Irons - I started season with Srixon z745. Tried Cobra black combo set (cavity mb) and while they were workable and very consistent. Had a range session and two round with Cobra, I lost a half club to a club throughout the set. Tried Titlest TMB...hated the sound (clicky) and feel and also lost distance with these (comparing seven irons only - about a half bucket).

Went to do a full bag fitting with a PXG fitting center in Atlanta. Had every intention of getting the irons irons. After very extensive work with them on the track man and a fitting pro, the results were almost identical to my Srixons. The PXG did feel a bit better to me (I like the softer feel of the them) and the sound was perfection (muted and solid). PXG were very easy to hit, though not as easy to work - they seemed to want to go straight. Distance was within feet of the Srixon consistently. While I want them for the feel - they just didn't provide any perfomance gain over the z745 (which go for 8-900 per set). I regripped the Srixon and stuck with them for this season.

However.....the hyrbids! I go back and forth between long irons and hybrids depending on how my swing is going and course. I also often opt for a 17 degree hybrid and 3 wedges in lieu of a 3 wood on some courses. Hybrids are the club I seem change the least in my set up. During the full bag fitting I tried Titleist H1, Ping G, my current G25 (still felt the best) and PXG. The Titleist performed well but the sound and feel did not fit me at all. Ping G felt good but looked terrible from address (subjective). The PXG was muted, looked good at address, and had a solid feel, though didn't quite get that smash factor feel I get from the G25. However, the numbers do not lie. The PXG with HZRDS black hyrid shaft had mid launch, tight dispersion, reproducible distance and was consistenly a full club better shot after shot. Also, it is adjustable up or down 1.5 degrees. At 400 a pop (plus the shaft) they aren't cheap, but as I age, anything that can give me an edge on 200 - 230 yd approaches is meaningful to my score. If you're shopping for a hybrid and not worried as much about cost - definitely give these a shot.

In a nutshell I found all PXG to be solid. The driver is nice, but so are a lot of others (M1, M2, Ping G, etc...). The current selection of head/shaft combos out there at half the price can outperform the driver and fairway wood. The irons were better than everything else I tested with the exception of the z745s. The PXG were equal to Srizon in performance and better in feel. If you're are shopping them, I'd strongly recommend hitting PXG against Srixon on the range and on the monitor before making a decision.

Not the most technical of reviews and admittedly subjective, but hopefully helpful.

I

mgb86 · May 19, 2016

Great review. Glad you kept your opinions open to launch monitor numbers and brand loyalty. How much of a difference did the shaft comparisons make in the driver testing?

golfer75 · May 19, 2016

did you try the normal 0311's or the 0311t's?

mbshaf · May 19, 2016

Shaft comparisons were pretty dramatic. I really liked the HZRDS yellow in the driver matched with the GLStec head but not enough to switch from the Rogue. The PGX driver head is good - no knocking it. Just not any better than several other combos. The fitter was able to let me try same shaft in all heads so that kept things apples to apples. Shaft made a huge difference in the hybrids.

I only tried the 0311s. The reason for that is that the lofts in that set are closely matched to the lofts in my Srixon's so it made a better comparison. The 0311Ts were there and looked/felt very good. A little less offset and more traditional lofts.