TC
Keg Thrower
Well, I decided to spend some money today and spend a couple of hours with my local club fitter and I came away with some very interesting data. A lot of the reason why I wanted to go was to dial in the R11, but more so, to get an idea of what iron shaft works best for me, especially since having the Burner 2.0 irons with the 85 gram steel shafts. I've become fond of the lighter weight shaft but can't help but think, are they the right shafts for me?
R11 Driver
My fitter has a vector launch monitor and for the sake of the testing I used my golf ball that I play on the course with, Bridgestone's Tour B330RX. After warming up, we jumped right into the R11 and the results were quite interesting.
I have a 9* R11, with the Fubuki Alpha 60 Stiff shaft in it. We started out with everything set on standard and I proceeded to hit 12 shots and for my averages we threw out the worst 2 results. Here is what the averages were:
Clubhead speed - 111 mph
Launch Angle - 14.7*
Spin - 2388 rpms
Ball Speed - 162 mph
Carry - 276 yards
I was very pleased with these results and to be honest, never thought that I had that kind of club head speed average. I didn't include any total distance #'s b/c I think they are useless. We did notice that I had a very consistent cut/fade, about an average of 9 yards off of center so he wanted to close the face of the R11 by setting the hosel to "higher"
We then set the loft to higher by closing the face and left the ASP setting on Neutral. These results shocked me more than anything. Again, 12 shots, kicking out the worst 2 and here are my averages:
Clubhead speed - 110 mph
Launch Angle - 15.3*
Spin - 2601 rpms
ball speed - 160 mph
Carry - 281 yards
Fascinating stuff! I increased the spin a bit, increased the launch angle, decreased the clubhead and ball speed but saw an avg increase in carry distance of 4 yards!!!! Booyah!
I still saw a consistent cut/fade, but the average this time was 4 yards. I think I will leave it right here and not touch a thing.
Iron Shafts
I then decided that it was time to find out what sort of iron shaft is best for me. Especially with the Morgan Cup rolling around, I want to make sure that I am absolutely optimized and ready to go for this event.
He does have the Mizuno Shaft Optimizer but not for Left Handers so I did the next best thing: we took the JPX 800 demo head and paired it with a few shafts for the sake of the testing. This was really cool and I walked away with my brain in overdrive.
Again, I used the Bridgestone Tour B330RX golf ball for all shots and a vector was used to gather data.
We started out gathering data from my current 6iron, the Taylormade Burner 2.0. I have the stock, stiff, steel shafts and here's what we found:
ball speed - 127 mph
clubhead speed - 88 mph
launch angle - 24.6*
backspin/side spin - 4100 rpms/-1.1
carry - 201 yards
shot height - 49'
Project X 6.0
ball speed - 123 mph
clubhead speed - 90 mph
launch angle - 25*
backspin/side spin - 5400 rpms/-2.2
carry - 178 yards
shot height - 45'
DG S300
ball speed - 124 mph
clubhead speed - 89 mph
launch angle - 24.3*
backspin/side spin - 4900 rpms/-2.4
carry - 183 yards
shot height - 44'
KBS Tour Stiff
ball speed - 126 mph
clubhead speed - 95 mph
launch angle - 24.1*
backspin/side spin - 6000 rpms/-1.7
carry - 176 yards
shot height - 49'
KBS Tour XStiff
ball speed - 125 mph
clubhead speed - 92 mph
launch angle - 23.7*
backspin/side spin - 4400 rpms/-0.3
carry - 188 yards
shot height - 42'
Nippon NS Pro 950 GH
ball speed - 122 mph
clubhead speed - 93 mph
launch angle - 23.7*
backspin/side spin - 5700 rpms/-1.2
carry - 171 yards
shot height - 40'
The enigma was the Nippon. All of the #'s looked great, except for carry distance. It just didn't make a lot of sense other than it just never peaked as high as some of the others, thus causing a slight decrease in carry distance.
In the end, and to my complete surprise, he highly recommend that I get the KBS Tour XStiff, soft stepped. He noticed that I prefer the weight of the lighter shafts (Nippon/KBS) but that I just need the stiffness I was getting from the Xstiff. Even though I didn't have the option to demo it, he also thought that the S300 XP's, hard stepped, would be a great option but to me, the KBS' felt very, very smooth.
I have to tell you guys, this was an eye opener for me. I would highly recommend everyone try to find someone who is knowledgeable and who is outfitted with this type of technology and go find out what works best for you.
Thanks for reading.
R11 Driver
My fitter has a vector launch monitor and for the sake of the testing I used my golf ball that I play on the course with, Bridgestone's Tour B330RX. After warming up, we jumped right into the R11 and the results were quite interesting.
I have a 9* R11, with the Fubuki Alpha 60 Stiff shaft in it. We started out with everything set on standard and I proceeded to hit 12 shots and for my averages we threw out the worst 2 results. Here is what the averages were:
Clubhead speed - 111 mph
Launch Angle - 14.7*
Spin - 2388 rpms
Ball Speed - 162 mph
Carry - 276 yards
I was very pleased with these results and to be honest, never thought that I had that kind of club head speed average. I didn't include any total distance #'s b/c I think they are useless. We did notice that I had a very consistent cut/fade, about an average of 9 yards off of center so he wanted to close the face of the R11 by setting the hosel to "higher"
We then set the loft to higher by closing the face and left the ASP setting on Neutral. These results shocked me more than anything. Again, 12 shots, kicking out the worst 2 and here are my averages:
Clubhead speed - 110 mph
Launch Angle - 15.3*
Spin - 2601 rpms
ball speed - 160 mph
Carry - 281 yards
Fascinating stuff! I increased the spin a bit, increased the launch angle, decreased the clubhead and ball speed but saw an avg increase in carry distance of 4 yards!!!! Booyah!
I still saw a consistent cut/fade, but the average this time was 4 yards. I think I will leave it right here and not touch a thing.
Iron Shafts
I then decided that it was time to find out what sort of iron shaft is best for me. Especially with the Morgan Cup rolling around, I want to make sure that I am absolutely optimized and ready to go for this event.
He does have the Mizuno Shaft Optimizer but not for Left Handers so I did the next best thing: we took the JPX 800 demo head and paired it with a few shafts for the sake of the testing. This was really cool and I walked away with my brain in overdrive.
Again, I used the Bridgestone Tour B330RX golf ball for all shots and a vector was used to gather data.
We started out gathering data from my current 6iron, the Taylormade Burner 2.0. I have the stock, stiff, steel shafts and here's what we found:
ball speed - 127 mph
clubhead speed - 88 mph
launch angle - 24.6*
backspin/side spin - 4100 rpms/-1.1
carry - 201 yards
shot height - 49'
Project X 6.0
ball speed - 123 mph
clubhead speed - 90 mph
launch angle - 25*
backspin/side spin - 5400 rpms/-2.2
carry - 178 yards
shot height - 45'
DG S300
ball speed - 124 mph
clubhead speed - 89 mph
launch angle - 24.3*
backspin/side spin - 4900 rpms/-2.4
carry - 183 yards
shot height - 44'
KBS Tour Stiff
ball speed - 126 mph
clubhead speed - 95 mph
launch angle - 24.1*
backspin/side spin - 6000 rpms/-1.7
carry - 176 yards
shot height - 49'
KBS Tour XStiff
ball speed - 125 mph
clubhead speed - 92 mph
launch angle - 23.7*
backspin/side spin - 4400 rpms/-0.3
carry - 188 yards
shot height - 42'
Nippon NS Pro 950 GH
ball speed - 122 mph
clubhead speed - 93 mph
launch angle - 23.7*
backspin/side spin - 5700 rpms/-1.2
carry - 171 yards
shot height - 40'
The enigma was the Nippon. All of the #'s looked great, except for carry distance. It just didn't make a lot of sense other than it just never peaked as high as some of the others, thus causing a slight decrease in carry distance.
In the end, and to my complete surprise, he highly recommend that I get the KBS Tour XStiff, soft stepped. He noticed that I prefer the weight of the lighter shafts (Nippon/KBS) but that I just need the stiffness I was getting from the Xstiff. Even though I didn't have the option to demo it, he also thought that the S300 XP's, hard stepped, would be a great option but to me, the KBS' felt very, very smooth.
I have to tell you guys, this was an eye opener for me. I would highly recommend everyone try to find someone who is knowledgeable and who is outfitted with this type of technology and go find out what works best for you.
Thanks for reading.