Of course, after I scheduled the appointment, I wound up hitting the ball about the worst I’ve hit it in the past 3 months. Crazy game, this thing we call ‘golf.’ I think I’ve resolved the issues, if not I’ll cancel the appointment a few days in advance and look to re-schedule.
My feeling is this…my swing is clearly progressing, but still has a lot of work needed to be done to it. I just don’t feel like my swing will improve so much from now until September that it will greatly affect the type of clubs that fit me. And let’s say my swing does get to ‘where I want it’ in 2012, I can always change out the shafts. I would just like to go into the qualifier not fighting the handicap of poorly fitted equipment.
Anyway, here’s a sample video of FuZion Golf doing a fitting for Blair O’Neal
My current thoughts (which are subject to change) are the following.
BAG SETUP
My current bag looks like this:
Driver: Adams 9015D, 9.5* loft, 45” Harrison Saga X60 shaft (X-Stiff)
3-wood: Cleveland Hi-Bore XLS, 15* loft, 43” Fujikura Fit-On Gold Shaft (Stiff)
3-hybrid: Mizuno Fli-Hi CKL, 20* loft, 39.5” True Temper Steel Hybrid Shaft (Stiff)
3-9 iron: Srixon Pro 100 blades, 1* strong loft, standard lie and lengths, True Temper DG S300 steel shafts
PW: Titleist 690MB, 1* strong loft, standard lie, length same as 9-iron, TT DG S300 shaft
SW: Miura K-Grind, 56* loft, +1/2” length, standard lie, KBS Wedge Shaft (stiff)
LW: Ping Tour-S Rustique, 60* loft, standard lie and length, KBS Wedge Shaft (stiff)
Putter: Edel Columbia (custom made)
Currently, the clubs I am most happy with are the putter and the Miura K-Grind wedge. However, I really want to keep the bag setup the same with a driver, 3-wood, hybrid and then 3-LW. I’ve found that most PGA Tour pros do NOT carry 4 wedges and the best Danger Zone players typically have the same or similar setup as I have. In other words, the yardage gaps between the 3-wood, hybrid and 3-iron are extremely important.
DRIVER
For me, performance rules the roost when it comes to the driver. I’ll hit a driver that looks like a mangled deer’s head and sounds like a Justin Bieber’s greatest hits album if it performs well. It’s amazing how pretty a club can look when you hit it well and I can always play with ear plugs.
I am not married to any manufacturer, I just want performance.
Miles of Golf in Michigan (www.milesofgolf.com) measured driver swings with Trackman of players in the 2010 Michigan Amateur. Here’s a look at their differences between the average PGA Tour player
……………..Club Speed…..Launch Angle…..Spin……Carry
Michi Am……….109…………..9.9………….2920…….257
PGA Tour……….112………….11.2…………2685…….269
The carry numbers are important, but I think those are hard to judge because of the weather conditions. However, the launch angle and spin numbers are pretty big and to me it shows the difference in driver fitting for the average PGA Tour player and elite golfers.
I’d like to keep the driver at 45” if possible. I experimented with this by recently installing that Harrison Saga shaft in my Adams 9015D head and I think it’s much easier for me to balance myself. I would also prefer a little lower launch, lower spin head. I’m not afraid to get a club that is not simple to hit, but when I take a good swing it goes well. I’d like to keep the spin under 2,800 rpm’s as well.
3-WOOD
The 3-wood is what really possessed me to go set up an appointment with FuZion Golf. I’ve come to believe that the 3-wood is underrated as to helping a golfer shoot a lower score. The bread and butter of golf scores is still Danger Zone play, Putting, Driving and Short Game around the greens. But, I think a golfer who goes from a mediocre 3-wood player to a great 3-wood player would start to see their scores lower, regardless of what their handicap is.
Part of the reason is that there’s an obvious correlation on the PGA Tour between going for a par-5 in two and scoring average on par-5’s. In the end, it’s stating that if you can reasonably go for a par-5 in two, do it because it will likely help your score. Also, the PGATour.com Web site states that it considers a ‘go for it’ when the ball is within 30 yards from the edge of the green.
Let’s say a golfer had 300 yards to the pin and they know they cannot reach the green. However, they hit a 3-wood 250 yards which is within 30 yards from the front edge of the green. That is considered a ‘go for it’ and because it has such a strong correlation to par-5 play, I think a good 3-wood player can capitalize on that.
Then there are the par-4’s where it is not feasible to hit a driver. But for many weak 3-wood players they won’t use 3-wood either. So if they use a hybrid, they may lose 30 yards and like I’ve explained with using a driver versus a 3-wood, 30 yards is a big difference. One just has to figure out what their odds of finding trouble with the driver are versus a 3-wood. Thus, a very good 3-wood player can increase their chances of hitting that ‘go for it’ range on par-5’s and be effective on par-4’s where driver off the tee is not feasible.
I think it’s important to be good at both and I have liked the feel of the new Titleist 910F-d which has a slightly bigger clubhead mass to allow for an easier time off the tee.
HYBRID
From my research on the top Danger Zone players, most of them carry either a hybrid that is about 18* in loft or a 5-wood with the same amount of loft. What I’ve found interesting is that players with clubhead speeds of 113 mph or more (remember, Tour average with a driver is 112 mph) start to carry 5-woods. There are still many that generate a lot of clubhead speed that use a hybrid, but golfers who carry a 5-wood are almost exclusively faster speed players.
Currently I have the Mizuno Fli-Hi CLK 3-hybrid with a 20* loft. I think it is a good club, but I’m looking for something I can hit a little further and a little higher. I notice that maybe a handful of Tour players use steel shafts in their hybrids, although I’ve hit the KBS hybrid shaft and liked it.
IRONS
I am not exactly interested in irons at the moment because the irons I currently play will suffice for now. However, I plan on trying to qualify for the US Amateur in 2012 and playing in that USGA event will require that I have irons with conforming grooves, which my Srixon Pro 100 blades do not have.
My feelings are that I can afford a new set of irons and woods, but I feel the only change I need is to figure out what shafts are best for me. I don’t have plans to change the lie angles or lofts and I can currently hit my Srixon Pro 100’s quite well. But, since the grooves rule forces me to change clubs for next year, I might as well give it a look-see. I figure if we find a set of shafts that are just far superior to my True Temper Dynamic Gold S300 shafts, then I’ll probably fork over the money for some new irons. I am very interested in KBS Shaft’s new ‘C-Taper’ shaft
I like the feel of the KBS Tour shafts, but they do launch a little high for my tastes and they supposedly get a lot of spin. The new C-Taper shafts are supposed to cut down the launch height and spin a bit and I’ve heard some rave reviews about them.
As far as the irons themselves, I insist on playing muscleback. I just do not have the ability to get feedback from a cavity back iron like I do with a muscleback and when I’m flushing a muscleback, I like the performance better than when I’m flushing a cavity back.
I prefer a blade with minimal offset, but a moderate sized topline by blades standards. My Srixon Pro-100’s have that type of topline, but have a bit too much offset for my tastes. My 1967 Hogan Percussions fit the best of both worlds, but have no bounce angle and that’s too difficult to consistently hit on Florida bermuda grass.
WEDGES
Like I mentioned, I’m very happy with my Miura K-Grind wedge. I was a little worried that the 9* loft gap between my PW and my SW would be problematic, but I’ve found that to not be true. On vary rare occasions I will have to compromise my PW swing when I’m in between clubs. I strongly believe that short game shots are more about trajectory than anything else and I find it more difficult to get the right trajectory when I have to add loft to a club than when I de-loft the club. Thus, I prefer the 56* over the 54* when I’m around the green.
I purchased the Lob Wedge because I was looking for something with a KBS Shaft that had 10* of bounce. I hit this okay, but I hit the Miura wedge much better. I wouldn’t mind trying out some of the Miura lob wedges.
Overall, the idea is to have fun, get fitted for some good clubs and perhaps learn some things. I’ll try to get some photos of the place if I can and post them here.
3JACK
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