Fujikura Member Trip and VeloCore Fitting Experience Live at Fujikura HQ! Follow Along Here!

[Puppetmaster]

Wow @CactusGolf dropping spreadsheets on us? 
 

Just kidding - awesome post, can’t wait to hear the rest of your thoughts. 
 

[hammergolf]

1 hour ago, Puppetmaster said:

Wow @CactusGolf dropping spreadsheets on us? 
 

Just kidding - awesome post, can’t wait to hear the rest of your thoughts. 
 

@CactusGolfis playing chess… Really interested to hear the results.

[CactusGolf]

2 hours ago, Puppetmaster said:

Wow @CactusGolf dropping spreadsheets on us? 
 

Just kidding - awesome post, can’t wait to hear the rest of your thoughts. 
 

The inner nerd in me loves spreadsheets.  Plus, I have a hard time relating data to “feels” and having a workbook of Garmin data gives me some benchmarks to compare to. 
 

Also, I signed up for that ball fitting website that you talked about on Friday and was super surprised by the outputs. 

[hammergolf]

17 minutes ago, CactusGolf said:

The inner nerd in me loves spreadsheets.  Plus, I have a hard time relating data to “feels” and having a workbook of Garmin data gives me some benchmarks to compare to. 
 

Also, I signed up for that ball fitting website that you talked about on Friday and was super surprised by the outputs. 

Awesome! Interested to see your reviews on the ball recommendations for you. 

[XHoop24]

Great thread! Sounds like the trip of a lifetime. 

 

@Puppetmaster - what irons are you going to get shafted up with the Axiom? Keeping the ol' TMs or going to put them into something newer?

[Puppetmaster]

43 minutes ago, XHoop24 said:

Great thread! Sounds like the trip of a lifetime. 

 

@Puppetmaster - what irons are you going to get shafted up with the Axiom? Keeping the ol' TMs or going to put them into something newer?

Love my 2014 TMs and the King Tour or T100 are calling my name.  Of course I am tempted by something new for these nice new shafts, but was thinking I should do a before and after of the old setup vs the new, at least for PW, 7i, and 4i or some similar combo. 

 

Either way, happy to meet up for you to try the Axioms and Ventus. Yes, we should finally make that round happen lol. 

[XHoop24]

2 hours ago, Puppetmaster said:

Love my 2014 TMs and the King Tour or T100 are calling my name.  Of course I am tempted by something new for these nice new shafts, but was thinking I should do a before and after of the old setup vs the new, at least for PW, 7i, and 4i or some similar combo. 

 

Either way, happy to meet up for you to try the Axioms and Ventus. Yes, we should finally make that round happen lol. 

Would I even be a WRX member if I wasn't already playing a Ventus Blue 6S in my driver 🙂

 

But we 100% should get a round on the books sometime this summer. Would love to check out the Axiom's and the Red TR!

[CactusGolf]

Getting more of my thoughts out on paper!  I also snuck out for 18 today with my existing driver shaft.....and needed a hefty drink after that driving performance after two rounds with the fitted shaft.  I'll go into that tomorrow after I go through the driver fitting and the Shadowridge round.

 

Day 1- Travel Day

Day 1 started out early with a 2 p.m. flight out of Kentucky to San Diego, which allowed me to sign into work and get some stuff done before month-end.  Plans put me in San Diego at 8:15 p.m. so I wasn’t able to play The Crossings with some of the others on the trip.  Uneventful flight and connection (thankfully) and everything made it safe and sound.  It has been a while since I travelled with my set, so ended up carrying on the driver, 3W, and 5W head and attached 2 Apple Air Tags to the bag.  Such a piece of mind being able to track the back throughout the trip.  Sometimes, the airline that I usually fly doesn’t scan the luggage into the plane.  Talk about a stressful flight.

 

Arrived and picked a car (had to leave at an odd time on Thursday to come home) and made the trip from San Diego to Carlsbad up the I-5.  My wife is originally from California and the last time I was there was when the R11 came out (2015-ish?).  She already warned me about my "Kentucky driving".   Was a grey, but smooth drive up the I-5 to check into the hotel that Fujikura graciously procured for our stay there and a double-check over the clubs to make sure everything made it safe and sound. 

 

 

Was able to meet up with Chris and Joel at The Yard House in Carlsbad for a late dinner and a few beers.  I stay as far away from the IPAs as I possibly can so went with their Honey Lager and enjoyed spending time discussing ALL things golf.  Unfortunately, sitting with Chris and Joel brough up some repressed feelings about all of the iron sets that I wish I never got rid of (Cleveland TA1s in Gunmetal), so I’m sure I’ll have to have a bit of retail therapy later.  Eric was able to meet us for dinner after a bit of a delay and the good golf conversations continued until after dinner.  Everyone was thrilled to participate in the trip and looking forward to diving in deep to the new products.  Stayed pretty late at The Yard House and we eventually made our way back to the hotel since it was going to be a full day of fitting!

 

Day 2- Fitting at Fujikura HQ

Since I was on Kentucky time, nothing was worse than waking up at 4:00 a.m., looking at the clock and realizing that there was 5 hour wait before heading over to Fujikura to get the day started.  Ended up working for a few hours and ventured to my first 7-11 to get some hydration.  Decided that a Spicy Garlic Chicken Roller would probably not be the best day-starter so opted for a few Celsius’ and a coffee.  Went back to the hotel and was able to meet everyone for breakfast.  Finally met Brian with everyone and could tell that it was going to be a memorable few days.  Everyone meshed really well and I was immediately impressed and jealous of everyone’s knowledge of the fitting process and what the data sets should look like.  That’s one of my struggles is translating my “feels” to data so I was really looking forward to having the other members help me with that.  Was thrilled that any question I could possibly have could have been answered within a six foot radius.  Ate a small breakfast with plenty of protein because I knew we would be hitting a ton of balls and it was going to be mentally exhausting and stimulating.

 

The time to head over to Fujikura finally came and was a quick drive down Faraday.  I didn’t realize that nearly all of the major manufacturers are within a stone’s throw.  Fujikura is actually right next door to Evnroll!  Walked into Fujikura and was immediately impressed with how modern and small the facility was for the sheer volume of product that I know makes its way through the facility.  We were ushered into the conference room and met Spencer, Eric, Kelsi, and Andrew from Fujikura and were immediately treated like one of the Fujikura team.  Felt like an honored guest and was truly excited and anxious to get the process started.

 

Introductions were made and a discussion of the day’s activities and then we were split into two groups, Eric and I would take the first fitting session for irons with Joel and Chris running through product and going through the manufacturing process that was completed at the facility.  I think that this really worked into my favor and the goals that I walked into the experience wanting.  I didn’t want to have any pre-conceived feelings/knowledge of the product and wanted the data to lead me to an overall conclusion, especially with the Axiom iron shafts since it was my first jump into iron shafts in many years.  It was hard to avoid any background knowledge with the Ventus series since I did look at the product when it first came out, but none of the new iterations. 

 

Axiom Iron Fitting

I was thrown into the first fitting of the day for the Axiom iron shafts and brought my trusty PSi 7-iron with KBS Tour 105S.  I’ve been playing the PSi set since they originally came out and really love them.  They’re battle worn for sure (every ferrule is loose), but since I hit them well and they suit my eye, I was always afraid that if I took them to be worked on, they would never feel the same.  There were immediate prayers once the camera crew started filming warm-ups (I jokingly suggested that the first camera give me a few swings just in case as the camera and cameraman’s shins were definitely in danger if the “s-word” snuck in...but he was in danger). 

Started hitting a few balls and felt comfortable where the impact was as I came into the fitting really swinging well over the past few weeks.  As mentioned before, my 7 iron average is 178 yards and has been relatively consistent.  This club has a typical right miss (13% of the time).  Fittings were done with GC Quad and did not appear to be normalized as the results were right in line with my normal yardages.  Started discussing with Andrew my preferences and typical ball flight (draw with the irons in play, but actually prefer a “fall right”) and highlighted that my goal with my irons is to improve my dispersion with irons.  I’m happy with the distance I hit my clubs, but really want to tighten the dispersion pattern. 

 

Also, I’ve had some tendonitis in my thumb and elbow and as the round progresses, my hands get tired and any vibration becomes painful.  Also, I’ve noticed that as the round progresses, I’m getting more tired (especially here in Kentucky with the heat and humidity- great for bourbon, not great for golf) and the current steel shafts feel like “work” to figure out where the head is.  I feel like I lose “pop” as the round progresses and end up missing short with normal swings or trying to guide the ball with a longer club and missing long left.  My scoring average is higher on the back nines and I attribute it to increased mis-strikes and widening dispersion and missed greens.

 

With a short game as….sporadic as mine, I can’t afford to do that anymore.  So, the goal with the irons is to find something that 1.) Reduces shot dispersion as with the current shaft, it feels like mishits are punishingly pushed offline 2.) Cuts down vibration on my hands, but still allows me to pinpoint impact position.

 

After a warm up and hitting my 7-iron with seeing swing speed of 89-90 mph, spin of ~6,000 RPM with distances just short of normal 165 carry 172 roll and a few hand-ringers.  Andrew handed me a Taylormade P770 with the Axiom 105S as a starting point as it was most similar to my current set.  Because let’s be honest….what WRX’r in their right mind would play a set as old as mine!  Lofts were slightly weaker with the P770s (33.0* vs. 31.5* in PSi) and felt like the headshape was just a little smaller. 

 

I started hitting the 770 only wanted to look at ball flight and focus on contact and see if the numbers were going to work for me and translate to the course.  With the club, I felt “connected” to the head and could tell where the club was at all times around me.  Sometimes I can feel disconnected with my current iron set and end up either guiding the head back to impact or really shortening my already short backswing in order to feel like I’m on track.  I didn’t have that issue with the demo club.  I started looking up and seeing my preferred ball flight too, which is the fall to the right after reaching peak height. Interestingly enough, I also noticed that the peak height actually increased, decent angle steepened, launch increased, and my carry distances were right in the gapping that I need.  Also, keep in mind that the lofts were weaker with the P770s so I actually picked up a few yards. 

 

Andrew and I also tried other combinations of the Axiom in the P770 head going to both the 75 gram in stiff and the 105 in x-stiff.  Neither of the combinations allowed me to feel as “connected” as I want to be, especially in the x-stiff flex.  Whenever I have a x-stiff flex in any club, I typically feel like I have to “work” harder and as a result, try to swing out of my shoes.  We went back to the 105S to confirm and felt better immediately over the other options.  I actually purposely tried to hit multiple balls off the toe just to see what mis-hits would feel and perform like and was pleasantly surprised.

 

Mishits typically maintained their ball speed (and distance) and just fell off to the right.  I bet that these balls would still reach the green as the ball speed drop off was not as punishing as some of the earlier warm-up balls.  Also, I didn’t feel like the head “twisted” as much in my hands and came into the ball more square than it normally would have.  I also noticed that the front-to-back dispersion was several yards tighter than my current set (I had a few “hot” long left balls during the warm up). After the fitting with Andrew, the two positives were: tighter front to back dispersion, less ball speed loss on toe strikes, and my hands didn’t hurt.  Even as I type this (after playing another 18 today to hit my old driver shaft) I smell of Aspercreme because I know how sore my hands will be tomorrow.  Many of the courses out here typically play hard and firm and iron shots can be a bit rattling. 

 

The key words for me after the fitting were "smooth" and "connected".  I also appreciated that the fitting itself was efficient and Andrew was able to settle me into the Axiom 105S within 25 or so balls.  The last fitting I remember doing several years ago, I left exhausted.

 

Manufacturing Tour & Ventus TR Driver Fitting

 

Coming Tomorrow!  Wanted to get in a round this afternoon with my existing driver shaft to see if what I was seeing was a fluke.  After a hefty, needed drink after today's performance it helps make the decision easier!

Edited June 6, 2023 by CactusGolf

[Carolina Golfer 2]

18 hours ago, Puppetmaster said:

Love my 2014 TMs and the King Tour or T100 are calling my name.  Of course I am tempted by something new for these nice new shafts, but was thinking I should do a before and after of the old setup vs the new, at least for PW, 7i, and 4i or some similar combo. 

 

Either way, happy to meet up for you to try the Axioms and Ventus. Yes, we should finally make that round happen lol. 

And PM we are waaaaaaasy overdue for another round.    
 

I would love to have you guys up to Compass Pointe as my guest if you all can make the drive!

[CactusGolf]

On 5/31/2023 at 8:04 PM, getair23 said:

You guys seeing better dispersion or distance gains?  7 yard pick up for one of you is no joke, well done.

I'll post my thoughts on the driver tonight, but the dispersion to me is the key winner and definitely what I was looking for.  And I'll mention like Brian did, I went from a 46" shaft to 45" and still picked up 7 yards carry.

 

Went from my current Tensei Blue 65S (yellow ring) to the Ventus TR Red 6S (red ring) and the results absolutely translated to the next round's play and a round I had coming home with a demo shaft that I snuck out of the clubhouse. 

 

Edited June 6, 2023 by CactusGolf

[CactusGolf]

Day 2- Fitting Continued- Manufacturing Tour and Driver Fitting

 

Manufacturing Tour

After getting fit for the Axiom irons, Eric and I rotated with Joel and Chris and had the opportunity to visit the manufacturing side of the operation.  I walked into the experience with not much knowledge on how the shafts are actually produced or the work that goes into them.  My normal (and now I realize how normal/boring it is) job is in the logistics sector of the distilling industry, so it was interesting to see how their process mirrors ours.  Started the tour by seeing the end result of all the work and moved to the shipping department, which was operated by (if I remember correctly) less than 10 people moving tens of thousands of shafts under multiple SKUs.  As someone who deals with SKU management on a daily basis, I can definitely appreciate the inventory control mechanisms needed to maintain control.  Walked into the R&D production facility and was completely wrong with my understanding of how the shafts are actually made.  I thought that the product was extruded around a mold, but that wasn’t the case at all. 

 

Carbon material comes into the facility on large rolls and is temperature controlled and stored.  After the work order comes for the new product, it is then laser cut to specific shapes for very specific layering orders.  Spencer mentioned that a product could range anywhere from 7-20 layers in specific order depending on the request.  Again, I had no idea.  The product is then given to a craftsman (Kevin) who uses a template (mandrel) and begins the process of heating the first layer of material until it is pliable and then manually wraps the material around the mandrel.  The process continues until the last layer is added and is then cured in an oven.  The interesting part is that the mandrel has very specific start points and needs to be “clocked” (e.g. clock the mandrel at position 1, roll the material, clock the mandrel at position 2, roll the material).  This process is nearly identical to the clocking training that our barrel rollers have to go through in the rickhouse in order to make sure that the barrels’ bungs are finished in the top position. 

 

After curing, the shaft is then inserted into a cutting lathe and a small layer of material is removed for consistency.  As someone involved in the manufacturing process, the opportunities for product failure are numerous without tight controls.  After curing and stripping, the shaft is then put in the “torture chamber” or RACK and pushed to its limit through spinning and pressure.  I certainly didn’t realize graphite had fail points.  I’ve actually never owned a shaft long enough to find that out.

 

We then moved on to the paint process, which was done by Andres…..by hand.  Paint could either by sprayed or hand-pulled in order to reach the same level of consistency.  The only other time I’ve seen art like this was during the pinstriping process of custom car orders.  Decals go on through heat and further decals can be added via laser printing.  Some of the custom and limited edition shafts that we saw were stunningly beautiful (e.g. Folds of Honor/Masters Limited Editions), but I would never feel comfortable gaming some of those because I’d be afraid of scratching them.  I love going through the manufacturing processes at other companies to see how they compare to what we go through on a daily basis.

We then hooked up with the rest of the group for lunch and were able to meet Marshall, one of the tour representatives, who I’m pretty sure has the best job in the world and I would quit mine tomorrow to do what he does.  He walked through how they are able to utilize data for their tour players and nuture their relationship with OEMs to get their tour players the best equipment for their games.  What I particularly enjoyed was to see their background data and the antedoes regarding the use of data to identify potential problems before they become known.  For example, they were able to identify a crack in a driver head by watching slowing ball speeds from one of their players.

Driver Fitting

After lunch with the team (Rubio’s was fantastic), Eric and I were off to be fit for drivers and I had him jump in head first to get fitted.  It has been several years since my last driver fitting and it didn’t particularly go well, so it was interesting to see how Andrew took the feedback he was given to translate it into actual improved performance.  Eric hit quite a few balls and settled on a Ventus TR Blue 6S, but don’t believe for a word that he wasn’t hitting it well, there was some serious pop off the driver.

 

After watching Eric pound it with the driver @eric61 I tried to capture some of your Ventus data in my pictures too, it was my time to jump into the simulator.  As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been using Garmin since at least 2014 and have been tracking data s I get an idea of my distances.  I’ve seen an uptick in driver distance over the last two years through the use of the Callaway Epic Speed and now the Callaway Paradym.  The Paradym has been a great head for me and 100% purchased on a whim because I liked the way the head looked in the pictures that GolfWRX took.  Completely bought sight unseen and ordered a 10.5* head with stock Tensei Blue 65S shaft and played at N/S cog settings.  Currently average 285 prior to the driver fitting with a common miss…..the block/push right.  My biggest issues are keeping the ball in play, especially in regards to par 5 scoring.  Like I mentioned earlier, it is really hard to make par if I’m hitting 3 off of the tee.  Distance has not been a problem for me lately, but accuracy sure has been.  And of course, bad drives lead to bad decisions and bad tempers and the round goes south quickly.  I also notice that as the round progresses I get tired and the misses tend to get worse.  So, my goal with the fitting is accuracy.

 

Andrew took my driver for some initial measurements and found that the stock Paradym was playing at 46” and D6, which completely explains why I feel so tired at the end of the round and have trouble locating the club face consistently as the round progresses.  After warming up with several balls, realized that I needed a bit more spin and launch!  I think I was so used to higher spinning drivers as the last driver I was fitted into was 2,700 to 2,800 spin and that was the Ping Anser several years ago.  Every driver since was an impulse purchase without being fit (errors on my part).  The warm-up with my current driver set-up were hit well with efficiency around 1.47 to 1.48 with ball speed of 151.9, launch of 11.9*, and spin of 2,000.  Again, clear to me why I saw some low, left, falling-out-of-the-sky shots as I get tired during the round.  Also noticed that the ball was turning over a bit more than I wanted and definitely want to straighten that out as I don’t like seeing the ball go left.  I also have trouble “locating” the clubhead (especially when tired) and I feel myself trying to guide the ball, which gets me into a LOT of trouble. 

 

Andrew immediately put me into a Ventus TR Red 6S with playing length of 45”, clicked my driver to 11.5*, and it felt like I put some good “pop” on the ball.  Balls were coming out straighter or reaching apex and fell right, which is the preferred ball flight.  Didn’t have any problem locating the club or feeling the shaft “snap” at impact and the feel I got was “smooth”.  Felt like this shaft allowed me to located the head without any unexpected movement.  Andrew then let me hit the Ventus TR Blue in 6S, but after a few balls, that was a quick “no” from me as it felt like I had to work really hard to get the head back on line and felt boardy to me.  Sometimes with shafts that are a bit too stiff (x-stiff), I tend to overswing. 

 

This was one of the smoothest fittings I’ve been a part of.  It didn’t feel like I hit that many balls with the driver (maybe about 30-40) and wasn’t tired after it.  I’m sure some adrenaline in there with the cameras/Instagram Live/people, which was all a new experience for me.  Andrew and I settled on a Ventus TR Red in 6S because of the feel and the results. I saw a 2.5 MPH increase in ball speed, roughly the same launch angle (+1* increase in setting from initial set-up, so I need to mechanically do something different or find a 11.5* head), 200RPM boost, and an increase in carry of 7 yards and overall increase in 6 yards.  However, the biggest benefit that I saw was dispersion and a return to my preferred ball flight (falling right).  In the graphic below, I went from the “yellow ring” in terms of dispersion to “red ring”.  This was worth every second and I could only hope that this translated to the course. (Spoiler alert…..it does).  I found the ball speed and distance increase shocking because I went down a full inch in playing length!!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 7, 2023 by CactusGolf

[CactusGolf]

[GolfTurkey]

15 minutes ago, CactusGolf said:

The product is then given to a craftsman (Kevin) who uses a template (mandrel) and begins the process of heating the first layer of material until it is pliable and then manually wraps the material around the mandrel.

 

I blame lack of sleep, but when I read wrapping the mandrel,  I was pleased they didn't wrap a mandrill...

 

[CactusGolf]

1 hour ago, GolfTurkey said:

 

I blame lack of sleep, but when I read wrapping the mandrel,  I was pleased they didn't wrap a mandrill...

 

The pictures would have been way tougher to get. 

[hammergolf]

23 hours ago, CactusGolf said:

I'll post my thoughts on the driver tonight, but the dispersion to me is the key winner and definitely what I was looking for.  And I'll mention like Brian did, I went from a 46" shaft to 45" and still picked up 7 yards carry.

 

Went from my current Tensei Blue 65S (yellow ring) to the Ventus TR Red 6S (red ring) and the results absolutely translated to the next round's play and a round I had coming home with a demo shaft that I snuck out of the clubhouse. 

 

Same thing I saw. More ball speed, more carry distance, tighter dispersion, but same launch and spin as my gamer. Gotta love Velocore!

[CactusGolf]

53 minutes ago, hammergolf said:

Same thing I saw. More ball speed, more carry distance, tighter dispersion, but same launch and spin as my gamer. Gotta love Velocore!

I was impressed with it from the round at Shadow Ridge and the one I snuck out with a fitting shaft back home.  I will admit though....playing at sea level is rough.

 

I'm still hoping I can squeeze out a few more RPMs with a ball change.

Edited June 7, 2023 by CactusGolf

[hammergolf]

23 minutes ago, CactusGolf said:

I was impressed with it from the round at Shadow Ridge and the one I snuck out with a fitting shaft back home.  I will admit though....playing at sea level is rough.

 

I'm still hoping I can squeeze out a few more RPMs with a ball change.

What ball are you playing now? I can’t wait to get mine in the bag. 10yds is wayyyy more of a gain than I was expecting because I knew I had a great fit with my gamer. Only thing I need to adjust to is that it does not have as much draw shape. Which is a great thing, considering my miss is let. Plus I can actually hit a cut with the Ventus which I could never do with my gamer.

[CactusGolf]

5 minutes ago, hammergolf said:

What ball are you playing now? I can’t wait to get mine in the bag. 10yds is wayyyy more of a gain than I was expecting because I knew I had a great fit with my gamer. Only thing I need to adjust to is that it does not have as much draw shape. Which is a great thing, considering my miss is let. Plus I can actually hit a cut with the Ventus which I could never do with my gamer.

ProV1x now, but the ball fitting app suggested a Bridgestone BX or BXS.

 

 

[hammergolf]

5 hours ago, CactusGolf said:

ProV1x now, but the ball fitting app suggested a Bridgestone BX or BXS.

 

 

I’m in the BXS and really like it. If I’m in very soft conditions, I’ll play Tour BX. I find them very similar, but for me the BX goes a little further off the tee, flies a touch higher, and feels a touch firmer. Both great balls though and great in the wind. 

[CactusGolf]

Day 3- Shadowridge Golf Club, Vista, CA

Now the fun part!  After an exhausting two days of travel and fitting, we all met at Shadowridge Golf Club for a round together.  We were all thrilled that they allowed us to take a fitting shaft into our gamer drivers to use the next day!  After the fitting and all seeing positive results, I know I was certainly looking forward to seeing if I could translate it to the course. 

 

We met at the golf course to hit the range and roll a few putts before the round.  I’ve played in California only once (PGA West) and was really surprised to see how much elevation change there was on the course and in the area.  Shadowridge was a track that played 6,600 from the blue tees and could stretch back to 7,000 yards.  It looked like a fairly tight driving course and once in the thick of the round…..treacherous greens.  When talking about my putting for the day, the term “multiple” should not precede “three putts”.  Miss a quadrant on the green and be prepared for slippery downhill putts.  We hit the driving range (great music playin gin the background) with our drivers with the fitting shafts and finally saw the outdoor ball flights. I was immediately impressed.  I didn’t have to swing hard, didn’t lose the clubhead, and saw my preferred ball flight.  Was also able to hit the demo irons outfitted with the Axioms and I saw increased hangtimes with distances similar to my existing clubs coming out of the top of my preferred window. 

 

Unfortunately, I had to leave the course to catch a flight back home, so I was only able to get in 12 holes.  However, I’ll still tell people I shot +6 on the day, they just don’t need to know how many holes it was for.  I teed off with Spencer for Fujikura (who won “Best Shoes” award” and Brian.  Playing in front of the cameras was new for me and thrilled that I didn’t injure anyone, but it was a blast playing and talking with Kelsi and Jerry while they filmed.  Can’t wait to see all the media that they took!  I saw a few things on Instagram already and the editing was very well done.  Hopefully they can edit any shot tracers…  Spencer let me know that sea level golf was a little different from my current playing conditions so I was going to be just fine seeing a little drop-off in my distances.  Course seemed like it was going to play tough with demanding tee shots leading to a premium for touch approaches.  Thrilled to get off the tee (some nerves there) with a shot that wasn’t struck super well, but still found the fairway! 

 

Ended up with a 41 on the first nine and +6 through 11 and was thrilled with the way the Ventus TR Red 6S played.  Shots that I would have blown way offline (mishits were on the toe) didn’t feel like they twisted in my hands and found their way back to the fairway or barely in the rough line.  No lost balls and each ball was playable, which is a big, big deal for me especially on par 5s.   Ended up with a driving average of 281.4 yards with 5 drives all 80% of which hit the fairway.  With the driver, I took some very aggressive lines (combination of feeling confident with the driver and not knowing the course.  Didn’t see much roll out compared to my home course, but I think that is California golf.  Almost seemed like playing on Bermuda again.  I was thrilled with the performance of the shaft and even with a drop down to 45” instead of 46”, there was no distance issue and my dispersion and control increased.

 

I was also able to hit the Axiom twice (once in the P770 and once with Spencer’s Cobra King Tours).  On the 12^th (3^rd of the day), I hit my PSi 9-iron (40.5*) and a 8-iron in the Cobra (36*) into a healthy wind.  My PSi was center of the green while the Cobra with Axiom reached all the way back, with a higher ball flight and no ballooning.  The shots I felt with the Axiom felt smooth and crisp with no harshness. 

 

Made my way back home after the round smoothly and kept checking my Air Tags to make sure the bag made it safely!  Enjoyed the shaft so much, I ended up “borrowing” a demo shaft from my home course and played a course in the area to make sure that the results I saw both on the simulator and at Shadowridge were not a fluke.  Had another wonderful driving day at Thoroughbred Golf Club.  Throughbred is a tight driving course with very difficult to hit fairways.  Using my past 10 rounds as a benchmark (seeing increases since putting the Paradym into play).  Immediately saw a huge gain in driving distance from my previous 10 rounds of 269.2 yards to 305.3 yards that day with the longest of 339 yards….into a creek that I didn’t think was even remotely reachable.  Balls stayed on line into the wind and dispersion was just as good as I saw in California with misses just off the fairway or still playable.  As you can see in the putting stats….short game was the issue that day with tiny, sloped greens.

 

Overall, I’m impressed.  My goal of tighter dispersion without a loss in distance were met and exceeded and can’t way to play the shaft full time.  I’ve actually gone ahead and ordered the Ventus TR Red for my 3-wood on my own because I was so impressed with the driver performance.  Can’t wait to get more rounds in!

Edited June 8, 2023 by CactusGolf

[Puppetmaster]

I honestly don't know how to follow Adam's recaps ^^^ so good.

 

Recap Part 4

 

I can't believe it has been a week since the trip, which also means my final portion of the recap is super late. After the driver fitting, we were not done. Eric, Spencer, and Andrew took us out to Draft Republic for dinner, which was more time spent discussing Fujikura products, golf social media, equipment in general, and other non-golf things. Good times getting to know everyone around the table. 

The Fujikura team hosted us at Shadowridge GC the next day. We started with an hour long range session with Ventus TR shafts in our drivers and a bagful of demo irons with Axioms of varying weights and flexes. We all got the shafts were fitted for in our drivers (gotta love adjustable heads) to test during the round. We also got a 7-iron each with Axiom for on course trial. There was just not enough time for them to reshaft all our irons for the next day’s course outing. Spencer was gracious enough to let me have the King Tour 7-iron that I had been so fond of the day before. I started off the range session pretty well and immediately noticed how much easier the Axiom was to hit relative to my Tour V.

 
I was paired with Andrew, Chris @hammergolf, and Eric @eric61. First drive was a little nerve wracking around the group and cameras, and I hung one out way right onto the range, and the breakfast ball was a pull down the tree line. Now for the excuses - I’ve played for 30+ years, have historically been a decent ball striker, but prone to overthinking and paralysis by analysis. Local WRXers can vouch for the ups n downs of my game. I can shoot 78 or 98 with no warning, but hey, I’m a good scramble partner at least.  My handicap range over the past 10-years has been 5 to 11.

To cut right to it, this was one of those days. I had the coordination of a donkey on crack, vodka, and painkillers at the same time. I think I was trying too hard and got into my own head. Fought a two-way miss, shanked some wedges, but somehow was able to putt despite the tough greens. Hit some good lag putts and made some mid range breakers (a few for bogey, sadly). 

 

Anyway, when I did catch the drives, it was what we wanted to see. A touch higher launch, but the ball was staying in the air longer. Andrew and I were wondering if the newfound “feel” was causing me problems and I was adjusting my swing. I think once I get used to the set up it’ll be great. Did I mention that Andrew hits the ball a mile? Because he hits the ball a mile. On 18, I hit a good one and got him by maybe 20ish yards, but he was hitting 3W. Pretty sure on the 5th he outdrove me by 60+ yards, but he’s 20 years younger and a scratch player. I know, more excuses.  

As for King Tour/Axiom 7-iron, I only got to hit it twice, once was a pitch out (of course) and the other a flighted shot that I hooded a little. Either way, the stability and feel is there, I just need more time to review it once I have my set done. I definitely hit it well outside on the range though, bad day aside. Topped the round off with lunch on the patio with the whole crew in perfect weather. More wholesome discussions there too. 

Finally, and I apologize for not saying this up front. I kept saying it to people along the way, but wanted to post it too – I will always be grateful for this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Thank you thank you thank you @Fujikura Golf and @GolfWRX. It was such an educational trip; so cool to see the history, the facility, how things are done, shafts designed and painted, but also we were hosted by an open, friendly team at Fujikura who were always willing to talk and share their knowledge. From their organization of the tour, fitting, round, to the details in and around the conference room, they were awesome hosts - Spencer, Eric, Andrew, Marshall, Kelsi, Jerry, Andres, Kevin, and others I’ve missed. 

One more thing, I can’t forget @knudson81, who was our WRX “handler” for the trip (although he was busy with tons of other stuff too). Such a good guy, owe him special thanks given his role in the selection, and his time and interaction with us on the trip contributed to making it memorable. He and I had late flights out and had 8 hours to kill, so I invited myself to be his company. He drove us to Torrey Pines on the way down, where were spent lots of time just taking it in, breathing in the ocean air, watching the outgoing groups, checking out the Torrey merch, and then standing next to 18 watching people struggle on that hole. I mean, that pond is much smaller than I expected from seeing it on tv, but so is the green. And essentially every shot into and around the green has to contend with the pond one way or another. So tough. After that we got to experience a stand-up comic moonlighting as a shuttle bus driver, and spent a few more hours drinking beer and even more talking about golf and a little bit of life. Thanks for putting up with me all day. 

 Shafts should be arriving in the near future, stay tuned. 😊 
 

PS - Adam, Chris, Eric, I guess we never said we played Torrey, nor did we say we didn't, just sent y'all the pics...

 

[Puppetmaster]

A few of my pictures… 

 

 

[Puppetmaster]

Ugh got the annoying "camera focusing on the grass, not the club" disease. 

[Puppetmaster]

Bonus Torrey Pines pics 

 

[Fujikura Golf]

14 hours ago, Puppetmaster said:

Finally, and I apologize for not saying this up front. I kept saying it to people along the way, but wanted to post it too – I will always be grateful for this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Thank you thank you thank you @Fujikura Golf and @GolfWRX. It was such an educational trip; so cool to see the history, the facility, how things are done, shafts designed and painted, but also we were hosted by an open, friendly team at Fujikura who were always willing to talk and share their knowledge. From their organization of the tour, fitting, round, to the details in and around the conference room, they were awesome hosts - Spencer, Eric, Andrew, Marshall, Kelsi, Jerry, Andres, Kevin, and others I’ve missed. 

 

you are so very welcome. We enjoyed meeting and hosting you, come back any time!

[Fujikura Golf]

On 6/7/2023 at 9:17 AM, hammergolf said:

Same thing I saw. More ball speed, more carry distance, tighter dispersion, but same launch and spin as my gamer. Gotta love Velocore!

 

On 6/6/2023 at 9:57 AM, CactusGolf said:

I'll post my thoughts on the driver tonight, but the dispersion to me is the key winner and definitely what I was looking for.  And I'll mention like Brian did, I went from a 46" shaft to 45" and still picked up 7 yards carry.

 

Went from my current Tensei Blue 65S (yellow ring) to the Ventus TR Red 6S (red ring) and the results absolutely translated to the next round's play and a round I had coming home with a demo shaft that I snuck out of the clubhouse. 

 

even we were impressed by your performance transformation with VENTUS! Keep us posted on how it goes for you back home on familiar courses.

[getair23]

14 hours ago, Puppetmaster said:

A few of my pictures… 

 

 

Black LTD with the Red Tr looks amazing!

[CactusGolf]

On 6/8/2023 at 8:05 PM, Puppetmaster said:

A few of my pictures… 

 

 

Thoooooooooose irons.  Go ahead and buy them.

[gsrjc]

I’m curious how the long and short shafts feel compared to the mid ones given that there is no where I’ve gone that has those for demo. So with that said, how was a fitter know what might be good for someone who swings a 6 iron 87 mph?  Likewise, how does the building of the short and long irons work?  I haven’t seen any data on those irons online. I tried the 105S against my LA Golf 105S today and felt good.  Thoughts from fujikura?

 

Also did some spreadsheet work throwing out the highest and lowest smash. 

 

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by gsrjc

[hammergolf]

19 minutes ago, gsrjc said:

I’m curious how the long and short shafts feel compared to the mid ones given that there is no where I’ve gone that has those for demo. So with that said, how was a fitter know what might be good for someone who swings a 6 iron 87 mph?  Likewise, how does the building of the short and long irons work?  I haven’t seen any data on those irons online. I tried the 105S against my LA Golf 105S today and felt good.  Thoughts from fujikura?

 

Also did some spreadsheet work throwing out the highest and lowest smash. 

 

 

I know it’s not the answer you want to hear, but go to a good fitter. They will be able to give you the options to try. One of the main things I learned from the trip was to not make assumptions based on clubhead speed. It’s more about how you load a shaft than just how fast you swing it. What is very unique about the Axiom shafts is that you have tipping and fitting options within each profile. So they can be stepped hard or soft. Maybe @eric61, @Puppetmaster, or @CactusGolf can chime in since they are around your speed.