Fitting recommendation help

[AZF1]

Hi All,

 

Long time listener, first time caller.  I had a fitting the other day, and hoping I can get some further feedback from the bright minds here for information I thought of after the fact.  I realize that these may be questions I should have investigated during the fitting, but my lack of time and being too naïve about the process has led me to where I am now.

 

Currently, I am gaming a set of JPX919 forged's w/ dynamic gold 120 S300 shafts.  First observation from my fitter was this shaft may be a little too light, so he put me into a X100 X-stiff and I immediately felt more comfort with this shaft and the extra weight, especially at the top of my backswing.  The head he started me with was the Mizuno 923 hot metal pro's.  I had crazy carry distance (low 180's) with good ball speed but was producing very low spin and apex.  Don't recall apex, but spin was in the high 3000's, obviously ball was rocketing off after landing.  We tried a few other shafts, notably a KBS (don't recall which) and kept coming back to the x100's.  Unfortunately, they didn't have a X100 S400 available in my length (+0.75").  So his next recommendation was to move to the 923 tour head.  The additional loft immediately helped my launch and spin.  Spin was up to high 6000's/low 7000's, which is in-line with how I naturally hit the ball (maybe still a touch low) but with the added loft the ball was taking a couple small hops and stopping nicely.  We then tried this shaft in the 923 forged head and similar to the HMP, lower spin and rocketing off after landing.  Now my concern with the tour head and x-stiff combo is I was seeing significantly decreased carry distance, down to the mid 160's.  Further, they didn't have a 4 or 5 iron as well, and the smaller tour head profile does scare me in the longer irons.

 

I guess at the end of the day, I'm absolutely leery going straight into this x-stiff shaft and the tour head combo and I'm hoping to try out the forged head in the S400 shaft somewhere else.  Now my question is, with my preference towards the heavier shaft, do we think going down the path of the lower stiffness in the S400 with the forged head is the right direction and the S400 will help get the spin up, or do I go back to the drawing board all together?

 

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

[skraly]

Without any more info on your swing parameters anything would just be a guess.  But hey, this is WRX right.  So here goes.

 

it looks like you don’t have either enough swing speed, proper delivery of the club to the ball or some combination of both to allow a playable ball flight and still attain the distance you think you want.  Also, something seems a little off in that while a 923 Hot metal 7 iron is 5.5 deg. stronger lofted than the 923 Tour 7 iron, that doesn’t seem to equate to a doubling of the spin rate.  I would expect it to increase but I’m not sure about doubling.

Any way, bottom line is it’s going to be extremely difficult for you to find an iron/shaft combo that gives you the distance of the 923 Hotmetal with the spin and height of the 923 Tour.

I mean with that difference in loft between the Hotmetal and the Tour, the distance difference you noted between the two seems about right.  Especially considering the spin difference.

 

Had a second thought-did the fitter think to try you in a Nippon Modus3 Tour 130 in X flex?  That might address at least a bit of your issues.

Edited March 20, 2023 by skraly

[AZF1]

He did not.  Any I apologize for not being clear.  I'm not looking to match the length of the hot metal with the height of the tour.  More looking for something in-between, just a little more distance than the tour was providing by possibly going with the updated forged head and moving to the softer shaft, and was just wondering if there is any rudimentary guesstimate of spin increase going from the x100's to S400's?  For what its worth, 7iron CH speed was sitting right between 88 and 91.

Edited March 20, 2023 by AZF1

[bvanlieu]

I am surprise the Pro dropped that much in spin for you compared to the Tour: on paper should be only bit stronger then Tour, then I checked lofts and I'll be, they are 1 club stronger. Ick 🙂 

 

I would not be weary of the X100, you are up 10g or so from the 120s as it is, so the differences fro the X100 vs S300/400 is subtle and a few grams only. X100s tend to launch a smidge lower all things being equal but the player dictates what it does, so YMMV. Spin changes should be minimal unless your delivery is very impacted by it (the shaft won't change your spin on its own) 

 

Weakening the Pros may give you the extra spin you seek and be a nice compromise over the Tours. Different line but the 223s should be a bit more traditional in loft, smidge stronger then Tours as well, why not give them a try too if demo'ing all things Mizzy 🙂