Low to mid handicapper getting fit for the first time in ages

[LowDime]

Whats up everyone. I have a fitting appointment set up for next weekend to get fit for the first time since i got out of high school so 13-15 years ago.  Been a high single to low double digit player most of my life since i quit playing competitively. I am starting to play in some more tournaments and leagues so want to get back into it. So i bit the bullet and got a fitting set up to see what i actually need rather just guessing.  Hence playing the same specs since high school. I am not a brand snob person i want what works best for me. I average about 115mph driver swing speed probably slower now. I love the heavy feel of some shafts. I tried the Ventus blue in a stiff at a golf galaxy and it was way to soft and couldn't keep the ball from a push cut.  Tried the tensei white and it felt like crap to me as well. I dont know if my downward move it not right for it but we will see. Excited and nervous all at the same time.

 

 

this is my current bag set up

Cobra F9 with Fuji Motore speeder vc 7.3 tour x

Taylor made m3 3 wood with a speeder evolution x flex with like 1 oz of hotmelt in the toe 

Taylor Made p-790 2 driving iron with a weird concoction of a aldila rip hybrid shaft cut down to fit. ( love this club)

Mizuno JPX 850 Forged irons with Kbs c-taper 120 gram stiff flex

[LowDime]

Forgot to add. I am looking for more consistent long clubs, My miss is generally a push fade. With the occasional hook.  My irons are generally pretty good but seem like they require a pretty hard swing. I would like to soften them up. My miss with irons is a little right just like a weak push. 

[sm_watts]

Goodness, “Regular Joe” is now 115 mph swing? All kidding aside, you might have more luck with responses if you post this in the regular Club Tech forum.  Guys with your swing speed wouldn’t be caught dead commenting in this sub-forum, and us old farts can’t relate to what would work for you 😉

[LowDime]

well i am trying to slow my swing down a little as i have a really bad c4 vertebrae so i dont like to swing that hard any more 

[Drivingrangehero]

My advise would be to bring balls that you play out on the course, rather than rely on what the fitter has. 
 

The PGA Superstore I went to for a fitting has some sort of Precept range ball. I brought my gamers after demoing a few clubs the day before, so my spin numbers were far greater with the same combo hitting my Bridgestone BXS, about 500rpm more than the Precept. The ball changed not only spin, but carry distance, overall distance, peak height, and (not much, maybe 1/2* ) launch! 

[LowDime]

thats a good idea for sure i will bring some with me

 

[LowDime]

Man i am tired after today. It was a LOT of swings for sure.  I did a full bag fit at Club champion in Overland Park KS today. It was a very informative day for sure. Stated with the TSi3 Driver and multiple shafts.  Had some that were great and some that were not a fit at all for me. Hit the Tsi well and was fast off the face for sure.  It was a toss up between the Tsi and a Cally Triple black Diamond Marvik.  I would have never thought it would have went the way it did.... Ended up with the Mavrik with a Ventus Velocore Black 6x shaft. I am trying to get the stats i didnt think to take a picture of it. But it was 114-116 mph club speed with like 165 ball speed i think. Smash was right around the 1.5 number, Spin was around 2600 i think.   I would have never thought i would hit another cally driver but the Diamond is NICE !!!!! yes i know it is older but it fit me well..

 

The irons were a different story for sure. I took a couple different sets of irons, JPX 850 irons with c-taper 120 shafts. A set of MP 18 irons with a shaft i knew was to soft but wanted options.  And my 2014 AP2 with the tour x100.. This is where it got complicated. We went right to the MP 20 head and started with the modus line then went to Nippon, then Rifle, then True Temper and Then ended up with KBS.  The $ taper did not work at all. The tour V on the other hand was a great fit. We then went through 8 differrent heads included t100, cally cb tour, honma, mizzy, Srixon. Went ended up between the t100 and the mizzy set up.   The 2 irons were so similar that it was basically a toss up and since i have a set of mp-18 heads we decided to forgo ordering new heads and just change the shafts in the heads i have.  Kent did no try and push the new irons on me at all.   

 

We hit some 3 woods and none of them could compete with my old m3 with a 661 speeder in it. He wants me to come back in a couple weeks and hit the new sim head and see how it does as they dont have them yet.  

[Drivingrangehero]

On 1/16/2021 at 8:15 PM, LowDime said:

Man i am tired after today. It was a LOT of swings for sure.  I did a full bag fit at Club champion in Overland Park KS today. It was a very informative day for sure. Stated with the TSi3 Driver and multiple shafts.  Had some that were great and some that were not a fit at all for me. Hit the Tsi well and was fast off the face for sure.  It was a toss up between the Tsi and a Cally Triple black Diamond Marvik.  I would have never thought it would have went the way it did.... Ended up with the Mavrik with a Ventus Velocore Black 6x shaft. I am trying to get the stats i didnt think to take a picture of it. But it was 114-116 mph club speed with like 165 ball speed i think. Smash was right around the 1.5 number, Spin was around 2600 i think.   I would have never thought i would hit another cally driver but the Diamond is NICE !!!!! yes i know it is older but it fit me well..

 

The irons were a different story for sure. I took a couple different sets of irons, JPX 850 irons with c-taper 120 shafts. A set of MP 18 irons with a shaft i knew was to soft but wanted options.  And my 2014 AP2 with the tour x100.. This is where it got complicated. We went right to the MP 20 head and started with the modus line then went to Nippon, then Rifle, then True Temper and Then ended up with KBS.  The $ taper did not work at all. The tour V on the other hand was a great fit. We then went through 8 differrent heads included t100, cally cb tour, honma, mizzy, Srixon. Went ended up between the t100 and the mizzy set up.   The 2 irons were so similar that it was basically a toss up and since i have a set of mp-18 heads we decided to forgo ordering new heads and just change the shafts in the heads i have.  Kent did no try and push the new irons on me at all.   

 

We hit some 3 woods and none of them could compete with my old m3 with a 661 speeder in it. He wants me to come back in a couple weeks and hit the new sim head and see how it does as they dont have them yet.  

👏👏👏 thanks for sharing! 
 

Glad to hear they weren’t just sales reps, but were more interested in the fitting. 
 

if I could go back in time, I would have never got rid of my MP 67’s. I would have just reshafted  them.

[LowDime]

4 minutes ago, Drivingrangehero said:

👏👏👏 thanks for sharing! 
 

Glad to hear they weren’t just sales reps, but were more interested in the fitting. 
 

if I could go back in time, I would have never got rid of my MP 67’s. I would have just reshafted  them.

 

 

 

I had a beautiful set of custom 60/67 combo that i had the chrome stripped and gun blued and they were beautiful but i quit playing for a couple years and couldn't justify the blades any more. I wanted to hit the new blades but talked myself out of it so i can't say how the new ones are.

 

It was very informative for sure. I hurt in places i didn't know i could hurt swinging a golf club.

[LowDime]

I have to go back and hit the new sim fairway wood.  We tried a ton of different head and shaft configurations and couldn't get spin numbers down at all so he wants me to hit the sim 2 and see how it does. 

[Drivingrangehero]

The M3 to SIM2 may be minimal. Have you checked out the Tour Edge Exotics EXS Pro 3 Wood?

 

I’ve only hit their hybrid, since I don’t carry a Wood other than a driver, but their EXS pro line is fire 🔥 

 

Might be worth a look if you face spin/launch issues ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

 

https://www.touredge.com/exotics

 

 

[LowDime]

my m3 head with a 661 tour x speeder with a ton of weight in the toe is spinning like 4500+ RPM. Hit the mavrik, epic speed, tsi 2 and 3 and a couple others that i have forgot about but nothing could get spin down. Went through 5-8 heads and probably 10 different shaft options and nothing was working.  I hit my 3 wood with a 1.1-1.5 degree downward angle of attack which i should be but nothing was working for me. They don't have TEE at the fitters so i didnt get a chance to try them.  

[LowDime]

here are some numbers from the driver with the mavrik and Tsi with the Ventus Black

 

 

[Drivingrangehero]

We are polar opposite when it comes to launch and spin with the driver, but almost identical in ball speed. I was thinking of getting rid of my 9* G410lst and getting a 9* G425 MAX due to low spin issues, but a ball change seemed to fix that  (Bridgestone BX to BXS)

My Question is What ball were you hitting and have you tried a lower spinning ball? 
 

my ball speed is similar to yours 164-168 depending on the day, but my launch is 15.5 -16* with my driver set to 7.5* with 1750-1900rpm. I had to loft up to 8*-8.5* to get my spin above 2000rpms until I switched balls. 
 

I find that I don’t gain anything hitting a 3wood, being that I am less likely to hit a fairway with it than my driver. Really,  how often would I be hitting a 3 wood off the deck 🤔 

 

I am not a low spin guy by any means when it comes to irons. I spin them 1000X the club number, or close to that anyways. I have found that a low lofted hybrid will work better than a 3wood for me. I spin my 16* hybrid anywhere from 2500-4500rpm  with a 14-18* launch depending on shot shape when hitting it off a tee or the deck!  
 

I couldn’t  tell you my3 wood numbers since I don’t carry one, but when I did it was a Titleist 917 F4 turned down to 13.5°, and I hit it  high, and often in the rough 😝 

 

I Hit a TEE CBX 119 16* hybrid with a Tensei  Blue 80 gram shaft at 1/2” over, but I think the TEE EXS Pro is even better. I’ve found that I’m long enough with it to not miss a 3wood and it keeps me in the short grass. You have plenty of speed to get a very low lofted hybrid. Who knows,it may work out better for you.... it has for me!

 

 

 

Edited January 18, 2021 by Drivingrangehero
Missing info

[LowDime]

Those were pro v1's I normally play the Avx for the lower spin side.  I didn't play a driver most of last season cause i couldn't hit a fairway so my 3 wood and 2 iron were my tee clubs. 

 

  I was getting about 5900-6100 with a 6 iron on trackman 

[Drivingrangehero]

9 hours ago, LowDime said:

Those were pro v1's I normally play the Avx for the lower spin side.  I didn't play a driver most of last season cause i couldn't hit a fairway so my 3 wood and 2 iron were my tee clubs. 

 

  I was getting about 5900-6100 with a 6 iron on trackman 

The difference in Spin between those two balls are not that much, maybe 100 RPMs with your swing speed. 
 

With your ball speed and launch angle, the gains by lowering 300 to 500 RPM are minimal.

 

https://flightscope.com/products/trajectory-optimizer/

 

It seems like the triple diamond with the Ventus black is a winning combo for you. 👍

As far as the 3 Wood goes, is it a fairway finder/driver replacement?

Is it something you hit off the deck into long par fives? 
 

I know many guys have dumped the  3wood and have replaced it with the Taylormade  Original One Mini driver

https://www.taylormadegolf.com/Original-One-Mini-Driver/DW-JJI11.html?lang=default

 

Edited January 19, 2021 by Drivingrangehero
Missing pic

[LowDime]

i use it for both. I use it off the tee on short par 4's and sometimes off the deck if i feel confident in it at that time.  He wants to see my 3 wood traveling about 265 or so

[Drivingrangehero]

1 hour ago, LowDime said:

i use it for both. I use it off the tee on short par 4's and sometimes off the deck if i feel confident in it at that time.  He wants to see my 3 wood traveling about 265 or so

You have enough speed to do that with a Hybrid. 
 

I’m about 2mph slower than you on average I’d gather, and I approach that number with roll out with my 16* TEE CBX 119 hybrid. My ball speed is 153-154mph and I carry my hybrid between 235-245 yards with roll out between 255 and 265 yards. 
 

It’s always an option if you can’t get the spin down on a 3 wood. 
 

I don’t carry a wood other than driver, not due to spin issues, but dispersion issues. I tested a Maverik 4wood and hit it the same distance within 2 yards as the 18* TEE EXS PRO Hybrid, with worse dispersion than the hybrid. I’m a pretty straight hitter, with a slight draw. I tend to push the fairway woods right off the deck for my miss. The 4 wood went sky high, but much lower than the Taylormade M5 or M6.... I can’t remember which one I hit   but I hated it, I do remember that. It felt light and my ball came down with burn marks from re-entering the atmosphere! 

 

I haven’t hit the newer Callaway hybrid offerings like the Super Hybrid  or the Ping G410 hybrids, but people do seem to like them, the Mizuno CLK as well. I find that the more wood like larger hybrids, I hit super high with lots of spin, but the more iron like ones TEE EXS PRO, some older Adams Models, and the 2016 Callaway Apex, I can keep below the stratosphere. 

[LowDime]

i will have to try a couple lower lofted hybrids ( normally i cant hit them to save my life) and see if i can find something that will work for me

[mdmccaine]

@LowDimedid you hit wedges and do putter as well?

[LowDime]

no not yet i have a back that wouldnt allow anything else. We are not doing much with the wedges other than just shaft change will do putter when i pick up this weekend i think

[mdmccaine]

16 hours ago, LowDime said:

no not yet i have a back that wouldnt allow anything else. We are not doing much with the wedges other than just shaft change will do putter when i pick up this weekend i think

Let us know how the putter goes! What shaft change are you making in wedges?

[LowDime]

19 hours ago, mdmccaine said:

Let us know how the putter goes! What shaft change are you making in wedges?

 

 

 

going from modus 120 to the match to the rest of the irons  kbs tour V