New driver in the bag

I put a Cleveland Classic XL Custom in the bag last week. Miyazaki Kusala White shaft. Pretty stick. Hits great. 10.5 but Cleveland suggested I play it a degree down and 1.5 open. I gotta saw I was worried about the soft tip in that shaft but you just can't deny the launch numbers or the feel and performance.

 

You should always be worried about a soft tip...

 

A month ago I retired my Ping G15 for a Taylor Made R1.

Since the switch, 5 of 6 rounds in the 70's. That's pretty good for me. Handicap 8.

 

I just finished an article on the fitting studios at So Cal's four big manus. So I visited TM, Titleist, Callaway and Cleveland. Some of the final recs were so diametrically opposed, at least from the perspective of assumed logic, but it really just highlights how head design and shaft interplay -- particularly for me in irons. Just couldn't argue with the Classic, though all four driver/shaft combos recommendations killed my Nike gamer.

 

Taylor Made R1 for me as well. I am thinking it may be time to get professionally fitted for a complete set next spring. I am just worried about spending the dough and not getting any extra performance.

 

This year I decided to retire my Ping i3 irons that I was last fitted for about 16 years & 40 lbs ago. I was then a high school sophomore and now 6'3" 240.
I went high end and got the titleist AP2s. Was custom fitted by a guy who has developed his own computer fitting system and has several tour pros come to be fitted - including Peter Jacobsen.
Cost of hour long fitting was $85. Irons about $1200.

I was a 2 handicap before.....new clubs for a month now, so too early to have a verdict. Love them though. Ball flight is higher, but same distances.

Interesting fact - during the fitting, we tested the current performance of my old irons -- 16 years later and 40 lbs, and I'm sure a little different approach to the game....he said that he'd fit me with the exact same setup with the pings.

Side note: played 27 today. +2 +1 -2 on the respective 9s. Great day to golf in Nebraska. 85 degrees and just a slight breeze.

 

I hope those rounds weren't at Mahoney! (Cause then you would be "Owning Mahoney") :evillaugh (not sure that course even still exists)

 

Good old shitty Mahoney still exists!! It's one of 4 city courses now - haven't played it in 4 years....always in poor shape. The greens usually look like the surface of a golf ball, lol.
Was playing himark today in southeast Lincoln.

 

The difference between those two clubs should be nominal. If your game has improved, it has picked up in other areas, or is likely psychological, IMO.

Either way, good for you!

 

Ask yourself this: Would you just grab a $300 bowling ball, and have someone drill three holes in it anywhere, and say, "Here ya go"?


I know my game got better when I had my clubs fitted. It seems like we should just be able to swing the club and chase the ball, but most of us know it doesn't work that way. Plus, with the money an avid golfer spend over the course of a set of clubs, (balls, greens fees, etc) the price of a fitting is almost nothing.

I'm mad at ME for waiting 30 years to buy a decent set of clubs, let along get fitted for them!

 

I agree. The improvement (small sample) is purely psychological.

 

I find the colored shafts + driver heads, a bit distracting.
.
All my clubs are "hand me downs" from my father.
I use the old "Ping White Eye" irons.
And I don't throw 'em !:evillaugh
.
I've got buckets + buckets of balls I found over
the years caddying...most unscathed...but this past winter I bought
some new low compression balls = Slazinger "Raw" --
actually marketed for ladies....I'm NOT ashamed !
.
The only thing I pay for ( as far as golf ) is green fees, shoes
and golf gloves.
Gloves don't last long w/ me.
My Foot Joy shoes wear out before I have to change a spike !
They last about a season and a half.
Then, my feet start getting wet.
I'm a devout walker.
I walk beside the cart :Þ at golf outings !
.
Ken -
Good luck w/ the new club !
.
Thank god the HEATWAVE has left the East.
I wore a cotton shirt one early morning round --
it got so loaded w/ sweat --
it felt like a straight jacket when I swung !

 

Psychology is important in sports. Give me a square or draw-bias driver and I'll hit more blocks and slices than with an open face because my eyes/brain start telling me to do stuff I don't need to do.

As for fitting and stick-differential: All the stuff on the market, from reputable manus, is pretty interchangeable from the perspective of performance across-the-board. Where things start to matter for each of us individually is how the head design and the shaft get along with us, both our abilities as golfers and our physical conditioning/limitations.

For irons, Titleist and TaylorMade fitted me to stiff, low-launch, mid- to standard-weight shafts. Callaway had me in a stiff, high-launch, standard-weight shaft. Cleveland went off the reservation, going regular, high-launch and ultralight. Why? Because of the launch characteristics of their respective heads relative to my swing mechanics.

A good, aspiring player will likely see more improvement in scoring between a ill-fitting and a properly fitted set; they simply have the ability to maximize things more readily than a mid+ handicapper. What the mid+ players will see is more better shots, a par or two more per round and simply a bit more room between the foul lines. They won't drop 4-5 strokes simply because those players are defined by the number of blow-up holes, not par/birdie holes. They have swing or fitness flaws that always will show up, bad short games, where they'll still collect enough strokes to run up the tally. But those are the players who are more likely to sit around in the 19th hole and talk about a couple great shots or that they-don't-come-that-often birdie than be fixated on a gross score.

Good fitters, independent, company or third-party, will also fit to your aspirations. If they're not asking you where you plan to be ability- and fitness-wise in a year or two, tell them, and be honest. If you really don't plan to work out more, practice more, that's cool. You'll just be fit a bit differently if you seriously plan to work at it, and if that's the case you might want to wait on squeezing the trigger.

So a good fitting isn't remotely a panacea. But it helps and if you are so wired it is a lot of fun. I'm a gearhead, always have been. I've been around the game long enough to know I can't buy a game but I think the science and art of it all is cool. Others like to tinker with cars, gamble, jet ski.

 

I love my AP2s. I was only fitted by the Titleist rep at a Golfsmith demo day though. He spent about 30 minutes with me. No charge for it though.
He came up with the same numbers that I had on my old Silver Scot 855s that I had been fitted for several years before.

 

Being a non golfer here, when I first saw your title, I thought you were going to be posting about a bad LIMO experience you had with a new driver not knowing his way around town and being drunk to boot. But then I saw the post was from Ken so I knew it was golf related.

 

I was thinking something similar! lol

 

I too just picked up a new driver this year. I had been playing a Cleveland Hi-Bore XL Tour for the last 5 years or so and finally decided to try out some new drivers after a very nice session of blackjack at a local casino. I tried damn near every driver on the market and ended up purchasing a Titleist 913D3 9.5* with the Diamana D+ White 72 shaft. I've currently got it set at 8.75* and 1* open and absolutely love it!

 

with Ken it is golf or food :banana:

 

I added the same club this year. Classic XL custom. I have to get it reshafted I noticed last week that the shaft is starting to come out of the hozzle. But I agree the driver is a beast and is very easy to hit.

 

Thats funny, I grew up about two solid drivers from HiMark but played mostly at Holmes as HiMark wasn't there back then. I go back maybe once every 5 years and then the focus is on Valentinos, Runza, and Amigos...no time for golf! :evillaugh