Played 18 today, man I love these irons. Especially out of the rough. The clubs just cut right through the rough. The ball launches fantastic. Just flat out good!
Titleist T100, T200 and T300 Irons
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2017
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- 24,257
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- 25,782
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- 17.2
Yeah, whatever they did with the sole is really good. The whole line has the best turf interaction I have ever had on irons. Less worry about hitting it fat or snagging in thick grass.
Played 36 today with a morning round at Ritz-Carlton Members Club near Sarasota followed by a round at Lakewood National. We have the Sun Coast Golf Card and they occasionally have events at R-C on Mondays. Lakewood National is nearby.
Here’s a photo of the R-C practice area. ??
The R-C round was a shotgun and we started on #3 which is a par 3. Opening shot was a great 7-iron.
From behind the pin.
Ugh, I missed the putt but made up for it with birdies on 7 and 8.
Here’s my 8-iron shot on 8.
Finished with a 79 despite back to back doubles on 9 and 10.
A pleasant surprise continues to be the long irons. I had two hybrids in the bag and felt good with this setup. I’m really enjoying the 4-iron and think it’s a better option when hitting out this $/&@$! rough. The turf interaction helps get the club in and out whereas the hybrid gets stuck in this grass.
Lakewood National is a tough course.
This par 3 is 224 yards!
Couple more photos. It’s a good test for every facet of your game.
Here’s a photo of the R-C practice area. ??
The R-C round was a shotgun and we started on #3 which is a par 3. Opening shot was a great 7-iron.
From behind the pin.
Ugh, I missed the putt but made up for it with birdies on 7 and 8.
Here’s my 8-iron shot on 8.
Finished with a 79 despite back to back doubles on 9 and 10.
A pleasant surprise continues to be the long irons. I had two hybrids in the bag and felt good with this setup. I’m really enjoying the 4-iron and think it’s a better option when hitting out this $/&@$! rough. The turf interaction helps get the club in and out whereas the hybrid gets stuck in this grass.
Lakewood National is a tough course.
This par 3 is 224 yards!
Couple more photos. It’s a good test for every facet of your game.
Some great shots there Vortex!! Those courses look amazing. What I wouldn’t give to play on decent greens. #hatecoredgreens
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2017
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- 24,257
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- 25,782
- Handicap
- 17.2
Went out yesterday for 2 rounds on the back 9 on my home course (in my backyard). I was working from home since the kids were off school for election day. I played one round at lunch and one round at 4 when I finished working 
. These clubs just continue to impress me. I am getting extremely confident swinging them because they are easy to hit. I am really glad I got the mixed set because the T300's are so good from long range and have a lot of forgiveness on misses so the distance is consistent no matter my swing. The sole is really helping here I think because they make a fat shot much less likely. The T200's are dart throwers in the scoring slot. They have a bit more feedback to them, but I am just hitting so accurately with these that I am getting more confident with thinking max distance and then going after it on approach. The greens on my course are tiny and elevated so landing on them and stopping is crucial. I hit 7 greens in regulation yesterday which is huge for me given I am squarely a bogey golfer right now. The last 9 I played I also shot my personal best from the back tees of +6 for a 42. That was 4 pars, 4 bogeys, and a double. It's so much fun playing golf with these clubs and I am coming over from Mizuno JPX 919 Hot Metals which I thought were extremely forgiving. The T200's in 7-PW are just as forgiving but have a shape that invites more shot making than the Hot Metals IMO.
. These clubs just continue to impress me. I am getting extremely confident swinging them because they are easy to hit. I am really glad I got the mixed set because the T300's are so good from long range and have a lot of forgiveness on misses so the distance is consistent no matter my swing. The sole is really helping here I think because they make a fat shot much less likely. The T200's are dart throwers in the scoring slot. They have a bit more feedback to them, but I am just hitting so accurately with these that I am getting more confident with thinking max distance and then going after it on approach. The greens on my course are tiny and elevated so landing on them and stopping is crucial. I hit 7 greens in regulation yesterday which is huge for me given I am squarely a bogey golfer right now. The last 9 I played I also shot my personal best from the back tees of +6 for a 42. That was 4 pars, 4 bogeys, and a double. It's so much fun playing golf with these clubs and I am coming over from Mizuno JPX 919 Hot Metals which I thought were extremely forgiving. The T200's in 7-PW are just as forgiving but have a shape that invites more shot making than the Hot Metals IMO.
I have not had a chance to take my new irons out to the course yet but i have made it to the range 3 times. I love how the T300's feel. I am having an adjustment period with them because they feel so different than my big bertha irons did. I am noticing that i feel where the club head is more with these irons. I am looking forward to this weekend as i am playing fri-mon so i should have so good feedback after that!
Hi Nate! Fingers crossed for a Dallas trip in the next few months. We recently started a project with a local company and the next meeting really needs to be at their facility. I promise to bring my clubs when this happens. Perhaps I can join your Sunday game with Chuck.
By the way, do you have snakes in Texas? J/K. I was helping my cousin search for his ball today and a $#*&! black snack was hiding in a shadow area of the rough (not in the jungle). I would have stepped on it if if hadn't moved. The snake and I both literally jumped after it moved. Pretty sure savvy FL golfers travel with a 4-iron when searching for balls in Florida.
Getting back on track, I'm enjoying the Titleist irons and it would be fun to see you hit some balls with them...especially the 4 iron. We're playing Sarasota National tomorrow and I'm familiar with this course. Looking forward to a fun round in 90* temps.
I had a great round today that could’ve been amazing if I could only putt well on recently cored greens. I played to my 5 hcap (lost a shot again ?) even after having a double on the 1st hole I played. I managed to have 3 over the card for the next 17 holes. I managed 11 greens in reg and only made 1 birdie. In 3 rounds I can’t remember losing one shot with my irons out to the right which I love. I just keep getting nice high drawing ball flights that land soft. I’m even starting to get the confidence to aim a little bit right of the target too. The narrower sole is helping my turf interaction immensely compared to the wider soles I had that could catch a bit through impact. I know I keep mentioning it but the set 50* is ???. Today I hit another few chips that ran out to kick in distance for me but I also hit a great low punchy shot into the breeze from 80m to 4ft to save par. I’m loving the compact look and I’m used to it now, same for the added weight.
How are others going with the turf interaction compared to their previous irons?
How are others going with the turf interaction compared to their previous irons?
I had a fun day on the golf course, especially with my irons. One birdie, seven pars and ten bogeys (cold putter..36 total putts). GIR = 50% which typically reflects my iron game. Parred all four par 3 holes.
The wind was blowing today so picking the right club was challenging. I probably missed 3 or 4 additional GIRs because I pulled the wrong iron for an approach shot into the wind.
Shot of the day was a 178 yard 6-iron into the wind that finished ~15 feet from the pin (par) or the 136 yard 9-iron to ~10 feet (birdie).
The wind was blowing today so picking the right club was challenging. I probably missed 3 or 4 additional GIRs because I pulled the wrong iron for an approach shot into the wind.
Shot of the day was a 178 yard 6-iron into the wind that finished ~15 feet from the pin (par) or the 136 yard 9-iron to ~10 feet (birdie).
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Sat will be my first round with the 300s. I have got some solid practice sessions in and have a lesson tomorrow. The ball just flies off the face on these so fast it is crazy. Even my mis hits are going where I aim them. Very pleased and cannot wait for my rounds this weekend.
Can’t wait to hear how you go. Sorry if I missed it but what irons did you have previously?
I had the Callaway Big Berthas.
Not my best day on the course today. However I did hit a few great irons including the longer ones on par3’s and short down wind par 4’s. It was really windy again and I was trying too hard to manufacture shots instead of just putting a decent swing on each shot. Oh well.
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Yeah, solid center face contact rules in the wind.
Loving the t200 4 iron. So easy to hit, long high and straight! Everything I need in a long iron!
Due to the 30 degree weather, went too the indoor range with the T 200's. Discovered a few things. One I was standing to far from the ball, second once I corrected that I was hitting everything dead straight and very very consistent. I was extremely happy was I made the adjustment and my son said let me hit those, lol. Great day and I got s new piece of wall art for my golf room ?
Got two rounds in with the T300s so far. I am really liking the way they feel. When I flush a shot the ball just goes. I am struggling with the distance but I fully believe that is because I am working on my rear elbow position and have slowed down just a bit. My iron consistency is great though even a bad hit is going straight. I have another round tomorrow And I am looking forward to it.
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2017
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Still smoking these. I played 9 last weekend and got several holes in this week before it got dark. I am going to get 18 in tomorrow and then I will do a full write up of all my thoughts on these irons next week since I will have had them for a month at that time. Basically though I love these irons. I got a little bonus at work for sompleting a project above expectations so I am going by the shop I got fitted at to give Derrick who fit me a high five and then give them some business.
- Joined
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- Handicap
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Alright finished my last round yesterday before writing a full review. I shot a 93 with a 48-44 for an 18 over according to handicap which is 1 stroke better than my current index of 19.3 which is great for 45* weather and shaggy fall fairways. I was fit for this set before the Ultimate Testing with Titleist event in mid-October. I got the T300 in 4-6 iron and the T200 in 7-PW and also a T100 PW to use as a gap wedge. The T200 PW is 43* and the T100 is 46*. I had the T200's in my set bent 1* strong for gapping purposes and this has worked perfectly thus far as I do not have a gap from 105-125 anymore. They all have Project X LZ 5.5 flex 115g shafts in them with Golf Pride MCC+4 Multicompound grips in Blue. Anyway on to the review:
Looks:
These things are Titleist's which comes with an expectation of class and style which these clubs deliver in spades. They are polished chrome, steel, and simple black only paint fill. Personally the Blue LZ shafts and blue golf pride grips add to the look of my set and give them a sleek modern feel. At address these are awesome as well. They have much less offset than many modern sets and even the T300's which fall squarely in the Game Improvement category do not look noticeably offset. They do look big, but in a way that inspires confidence and not awkwardness. The T200's just look like a shotmaker's tool in hand and next to the ball. Whatever shot you can think of to hit, these things give you no reason to doubt you can pull it off.
Feel:
I will start with the T300's. I am coming from JPX919 Hot Metals which were tuned to sound like forged clubs and had the best feel I have ever seen in a GI type club. The T100's don't quite match those in feel, but they get super close and feel better than any other GI iron I have played including the JPX 900 Hot Metals. I think this is probably due to the Max Impact insert behind the center of the face. On well struck balls you get a beautiful thwack, but out on the toe and on thin shots you get the feedback from the miss as well. The T200's are where the feel starts to shine. I played the AP3's for a bit last year and they performed well, but really lacked in the feel department. These have feel in spades. I doubt many would know they aren't hitting fully forged irons. The sound and feel on well struck shots is amazing and I have appreciated being able to tell where my ball is off the contact because the late fall low hanging sun often blinds my eyes when I look up. This has helped me find some balls even though I did not see them. The T100 obviously has that soft thunk of a fully forged iron.
Performance:
For the T300 long irons the performance is exactly what I wanted when I switched to these from the T200's. I am not looking for shotmaking from these clubs, I just want to take full swings and have the ball fly as high and as far as the loft allows. These deliver in spades. They are very high launching and they fly a very similar distance to my JPX919 Hot Metals. They may have a touch more spin than the Hot Metals as I am seeing a lot more stopping action when I land on the green. The T200's are my favorite scoring clubs that I have ever gamed. They just do whatever I want. I feel like I can hit high and low with ease by just changing the position of the ball. These will probably not fly quite as far as other competitors in this category like the P790's because they impart some really nice spin for a players distance club. I might call the T200's Players Players Distance Irons because they will definitely deliver extra distance coming from blades or more traditional cavity back irons, but the reduction in backspin is not as much as other entrants in this category. These are just stellar golf clubs and embody everything that the Titleist logo represents.
Overall Impressions:
I love these irons. I am starting to pick up distance just because I feel so confident standing over the ball and swinging these clubs. No small feat since it's getting cold in Louisville and my course is getting it's fall shag on. This is a really stellar line of clubs. I have all 3 models in my set and I think between the 3 that there is something for everyone. The T200's are the stars of the show and I think they would fit into any setup of these irons someone wanted to purchase. A high handicapper could use them as scoring clubs, a mid handicapper could get the whole set, and a low handicapper would definitely appreciate them in their 4 or 5 slot. If you are getting fit for irons and looking for clubs that perfectly blend distance with a bit of old school play-ability and style then you should definitely give these a try.
Extra:
I also want to add that I like these clubs so much and I enjoyed learning about Titleist so much that I got fit for a TS3 driver and I bought a new Titleist stand bag to put these clubs into. I also bought my first Cameron putter from the used rack. I am definitely a bit of a romantic, but there is just something different about a bag full of Titleist sticks.
Looks:
These things are Titleist's which comes with an expectation of class and style which these clubs deliver in spades. They are polished chrome, steel, and simple black only paint fill. Personally the Blue LZ shafts and blue golf pride grips add to the look of my set and give them a sleek modern feel. At address these are awesome as well. They have much less offset than many modern sets and even the T300's which fall squarely in the Game Improvement category do not look noticeably offset. They do look big, but in a way that inspires confidence and not awkwardness. The T200's just look like a shotmaker's tool in hand and next to the ball. Whatever shot you can think of to hit, these things give you no reason to doubt you can pull it off.
Feel:
I will start with the T300's. I am coming from JPX919 Hot Metals which were tuned to sound like forged clubs and had the best feel I have ever seen in a GI type club. The T100's don't quite match those in feel, but they get super close and feel better than any other GI iron I have played including the JPX 900 Hot Metals. I think this is probably due to the Max Impact insert behind the center of the face. On well struck balls you get a beautiful thwack, but out on the toe and on thin shots you get the feedback from the miss as well. The T200's are where the feel starts to shine. I played the AP3's for a bit last year and they performed well, but really lacked in the feel department. These have feel in spades. I doubt many would know they aren't hitting fully forged irons. The sound and feel on well struck shots is amazing and I have appreciated being able to tell where my ball is off the contact because the late fall low hanging sun often blinds my eyes when I look up. This has helped me find some balls even though I did not see them. The T100 obviously has that soft thunk of a fully forged iron.
Performance:
For the T300 long irons the performance is exactly what I wanted when I switched to these from the T200's. I am not looking for shotmaking from these clubs, I just want to take full swings and have the ball fly as high and as far as the loft allows. These deliver in spades. They are very high launching and they fly a very similar distance to my JPX919 Hot Metals. They may have a touch more spin than the Hot Metals as I am seeing a lot more stopping action when I land on the green. The T200's are my favorite scoring clubs that I have ever gamed. They just do whatever I want. I feel like I can hit high and low with ease by just changing the position of the ball. These will probably not fly quite as far as other competitors in this category like the P790's because they impart some really nice spin for a players distance club. I might call the T200's Players Players Distance Irons because they will definitely deliver extra distance coming from blades or more traditional cavity back irons, but the reduction in backspin is not as much as other entrants in this category. These are just stellar golf clubs and embody everything that the Titleist logo represents.
Overall Impressions:
I love these irons. I am starting to pick up distance just because I feel so confident standing over the ball and swinging these clubs. No small feat since it's getting cold in Louisville and my course is getting it's fall shag on. This is a really stellar line of clubs. I have all 3 models in my set and I think between the 3 that there is something for everyone. The T200's are the stars of the show and I think they would fit into any setup of these irons someone wanted to purchase. A high handicapper could use them as scoring clubs, a mid handicapper could get the whole set, and a low handicapper would definitely appreciate them in their 4 or 5 slot. If you are getting fit for irons and looking for clubs that perfectly blend distance with a bit of old school play-ability and style then you should definitely give these a try.
Extra:
I also want to add that I like these clubs so much and I enjoyed learning about Titleist so much that I got fit for a TS3 driver and I bought a new Titleist stand bag to put these clubs into. I also bought my first Cameron putter from the used rack. I am definitely a bit of a romantic, but there is just something different about a bag full of Titleist sticks.
Ill throw my conversion story here ( warning its long ) as it might make a good read with some humorous anecdotes to add to the story. I posted this in another forum but still holds true for THP.
Part 1: ( Yeah there are 2 parts so suck it up and read both, buttercup! )
I had been gaming Callaway Apex Pros for the last few years since they came out in 2014. Played the X22 Tours before that and moving the the Apex Pros was a natural progression. I play to an 8/9 handicap and I hit a decent length on my irons. My Apex Pros were 3i thru PW and I'd normally hit the 3i with 200 or so carry on a KBS 110 Stiff shaft, standard loft, standard lie.
Being the end of the season, 3 weeks ago I decided to go through a swing fit session just to get my numbers as I had been hitting my irons well for the last half of the year. My last 6 rounds for example were 77, 79, 78, 81, 79, and 77 and could have been much lower if my pitching wasn't horrible ( but that's a different issue **grin** ). I attribute the lower scores which dropped me back into single digit handicaps to the way I was swinging the iron and my new Cally Epic Flash driver/5-wood setup. I walked in with absolutely zero intention of getting new irons and if I did, my default was to upgrade to the new Apex Pro 19's. How wrong I was.
When I went to my local fitter, we started with getting base lines on the 7 iron and did a 4 iron and PW just for some ranging data. For some data points, my 7i on the Apex Pros was spinning about 5500 and carrying 165 or so which I can confirm is my normal go-to distance. Dispersion was always a bit of an issue that I had learned to deal with. My normal shot shape is a nice descending draw but every once in a while there would be a block right or what I would call an aggressive draw where it starts on the same line as my normal descending draw and just keep on hooking.
While I was there, fitter had me run through the Mizuno Swing DNA process and first problem found: recommended shaft weight was way higher than the 110's I was swinging. Started hitting some Apex Pro 19's and tried some different shafts and ended up with ProjectX 6.5 Rifled shafts at 125g being the sweet spot of the existing "in house" shaft choices ( more on this later). I was hitting the Apex Pro 19's about 10 yards further than my original set so while nice, not enough of a change for me to considering purchasing.
Then my fitter said the words that would end up costing me a bunch of money. "You have a really similar swing to mine and I just got some T100's, the Titleist heads. You should try them to see how you like them." I have since nicknamed him "the white rabbit" because he lead me down that rabbit hole until I ended up in Wonderland smoking god knows what and and spending god knows how much money ( as long as my wife doesn't know, I am good ) and hitting god knows how long on irons I just never saw coming. But I am getting ahead of myself. Back to the fitting.
So he gets out the T100 7i and I start swing. Feels fantastic no full contact but I wasn't feeling the off center strikes nor the sole interaction. I had a severe tendency to hit them low on the face. So then he pulls out the T200 7i and say's, "Let's try this. More of a players distance iron but you have the swing speed to hit and even though you don't need the extra distance, it should help with forgiveness". "Surrrreeee" I think.
So I get and take a few practice swing. Feels good. Looks good. Love the offset, or lack therefore compared to my old clubs. Decide to give it a wack and bam, I swear to you it was like the clouds parted, flying unicorns with rainbows running out their butts flew buy, and I was immediately surrounded by small furry woodland creatures dressed in knickers giving me polite applause and a great strike. Ok, maybe not quite that furry, but man did that ball fly. Up, up, up and there was my baby draw. The ball jumped off the face like my son jumping off the bus on the last day of school. "Damn that felt good" I think to myself, followed by "WTF ( edited for mixed company) " when I saw the distance: 185 total distance, 178 carry. .
"Is that right?" I asked the White Rabbit only to find he had disappeared and what replaced him was a Cheshire cat with a big ass grin on his face.
"Hit another one and find out"
So I did. And another. And another. And another....and so on and so forth. Average Carry 178, average spin 6800, dispersion shrunk to 1/2 the size of my old Apex Pros. And that was still with my occasional hard draw.
"Let me take a look at something" my new drug pusher says to me with his Cheshire grin. "I think you might need to go 1 or 2 degrees flat for the lie". I hand over the 7i like Golom handing over the one ring and I can feel myself start to hunch over whispering "my precious, my precious" as he adjust the lie to -1 flat. Can see much by the eye when he hands it back to me, but when I put it behind the ball, I can tell its a little more squared to ground. Take a few more swings and the left hussle is gone. Purely this has to be a fluke, or a software glitch, or black magic.
No such luck. We hit the 4i as well just for fun. Well, not sure if it was fun or sheer morbid curiosity on my part but it sure was fun for my fitter as he watched me twitch like a heroin junking coming off a bender. Smack a ton and sure enough, I pass my old 3 iron in the air like Dustin Johnson's drive sailing over my 10 year old son's wedge shot. 215 yards, 4000 average spin. I can shot shape it anyway I want. And it's so damn smooth off the face.
It was then my heart sunk. I knew then I was buying them. Much like you know when that you are about to eat that last pizza slice is in the box when your wife told you not to. Yup, I'm in it to win it now. **sigh**
So I ended up buying a full set of T200's, no blending, 4iron through GW ( about 125 yard carry ) on ProjectX 6.5 shafts standard loft and -1 flat lie, which fits nicely with my 52deg, 56deg and 60deg SM6 Vokeys from a gapping perspective. Just got them in last week and I am doing a full back gap session on Saturday to adjust lofts as needed before heading to Hilton Head for 10 days of golf.
Love these damn things. I wonder if divorce attorneys take new iron recommendations as payment. I might need to find out.
Part 1: ( Yeah there are 2 parts so suck it up and read both, buttercup! )
I had been gaming Callaway Apex Pros for the last few years since they came out in 2014. Played the X22 Tours before that and moving the the Apex Pros was a natural progression. I play to an 8/9 handicap and I hit a decent length on my irons. My Apex Pros were 3i thru PW and I'd normally hit the 3i with 200 or so carry on a KBS 110 Stiff shaft, standard loft, standard lie.
Being the end of the season, 3 weeks ago I decided to go through a swing fit session just to get my numbers as I had been hitting my irons well for the last half of the year. My last 6 rounds for example were 77, 79, 78, 81, 79, and 77 and could have been much lower if my pitching wasn't horrible ( but that's a different issue **grin** ). I attribute the lower scores which dropped me back into single digit handicaps to the way I was swinging the iron and my new Cally Epic Flash driver/5-wood setup. I walked in with absolutely zero intention of getting new irons and if I did, my default was to upgrade to the new Apex Pro 19's. How wrong I was.
When I went to my local fitter, we started with getting base lines on the 7 iron and did a 4 iron and PW just for some ranging data. For some data points, my 7i on the Apex Pros was spinning about 5500 and carrying 165 or so which I can confirm is my normal go-to distance. Dispersion was always a bit of an issue that I had learned to deal with. My normal shot shape is a nice descending draw but every once in a while there would be a block right or what I would call an aggressive draw where it starts on the same line as my normal descending draw and just keep on hooking.
While I was there, fitter had me run through the Mizuno Swing DNA process and first problem found: recommended shaft weight was way higher than the 110's I was swinging. Started hitting some Apex Pro 19's and tried some different shafts and ended up with ProjectX 6.5 Rifled shafts at 125g being the sweet spot of the existing "in house" shaft choices ( more on this later). I was hitting the Apex Pro 19's about 10 yards further than my original set so while nice, not enough of a change for me to considering purchasing.
Then my fitter said the words that would end up costing me a bunch of money. "You have a really similar swing to mine and I just got some T100's, the Titleist heads. You should try them to see how you like them." I have since nicknamed him "the white rabbit" because he lead me down that rabbit hole until I ended up in Wonderland smoking god knows what and and spending god knows how much money ( as long as my wife doesn't know, I am good ) and hitting god knows how long on irons I just never saw coming. But I am getting ahead of myself. Back to the fitting.
So he gets out the T100 7i and I start swing. Feels fantastic no full contact but I wasn't feeling the off center strikes nor the sole interaction. I had a severe tendency to hit them low on the face. So then he pulls out the T200 7i and say's, "Let's try this. More of a players distance iron but you have the swing speed to hit and even though you don't need the extra distance, it should help with forgiveness". "Surrrreeee" I think.
So I get and take a few practice swing. Feels good. Looks good. Love the offset, or lack therefore compared to my old clubs. Decide to give it a wack and bam, I swear to you it was like the clouds parted, flying unicorns with rainbows running out their butts flew buy, and I was immediately surrounded by small furry woodland creatures dressed in knickers giving me polite applause and a great strike. Ok, maybe not quite that furry, but man did that ball fly. Up, up, up and there was my baby draw. The ball jumped off the face like my son jumping off the bus on the last day of school. "Damn that felt good" I think to myself, followed by "WTF ( edited for mixed company) " when I saw the distance: 185 total distance, 178 carry. .
"Is that right?" I asked the White Rabbit only to find he had disappeared and what replaced him was a Cheshire cat with a big ass grin on his face.
"Hit another one and find out"
So I did. And another. And another. And another....and so on and so forth. Average Carry 178, average spin 6800, dispersion shrunk to 1/2 the size of my old Apex Pros. And that was still with my occasional hard draw.
"Let me take a look at something" my new drug pusher says to me with his Cheshire grin. "I think you might need to go 1 or 2 degrees flat for the lie". I hand over the 7i like Golom handing over the one ring and I can feel myself start to hunch over whispering "my precious, my precious" as he adjust the lie to -1 flat. Can see much by the eye when he hands it back to me, but when I put it behind the ball, I can tell its a little more squared to ground. Take a few more swings and the left hussle is gone. Purely this has to be a fluke, or a software glitch, or black magic.
No such luck. We hit the 4i as well just for fun. Well, not sure if it was fun or sheer morbid curiosity on my part but it sure was fun for my fitter as he watched me twitch like a heroin junking coming off a bender. Smack a ton and sure enough, I pass my old 3 iron in the air like Dustin Johnson's drive sailing over my 10 year old son's wedge shot. 215 yards, 4000 average spin. I can shot shape it anyway I want. And it's so damn smooth off the face.
It was then my heart sunk. I knew then I was buying them. Much like you know when that you are about to eat that last pizza slice is in the box when your wife told you not to. Yup, I'm in it to win it now. **sigh**
So I ended up buying a full set of T200's, no blending, 4iron through GW ( about 125 yard carry ) on ProjectX 6.5 shafts standard loft and -1 flat lie, which fits nicely with my 52deg, 56deg and 60deg SM6 Vokeys from a gapping perspective. Just got them in last week and I am doing a full back gap session on Saturday to adjust lofts as needed before heading to Hilton Head for 10 days of golf.
Love these damn things. I wonder if divorce attorneys take new iron recommendations as payment. I might need to find out.
Part 2: I told you there was going to be a second part
Fast forward 2 weeks after I receive the irons:
So last weekend I hit up a new fitting place that just open as a favor to go try it out and they had a special running on full back fits so I figured "Why the hell not". Every time I think that, it ends up costing me money. But enough foreshadowing.
I go in and meet my new fitter who is a nice enough guy. I tell him that I love my Epic FLash wood setups but would be interested in validating shaft choices as they have a lot more, non-vendor centric/ upgraded shafts to try out. I tell him the same thing with the irons. I just received my T200's and just got fitted so I should be good there but wouldn't mind running the numbers just to see. The real focus I tell him is wedges. Been having a hard time recently with partial shots and striking heavy on full shots so looking to validate bounce/lie/lofts as well as do some gapping against the new T200's since I haven't played a round with them.
He gets it and understands and away we go.
We start with the irons just to "get those out of the way". At least that was the plan. Kind of like "lets put the kids to bed early so we can have some alone time my dear wife" plans which always ends up with the kids watching TV in our bed until 11 at night. Yeah that kind of great plan.
I hit my 6 iron ( which is the first time have been able to hit my 6 iron mind you ) and work out the numbers. Decent distance in line with my 7i and 4i fitting before with decent smash factor. I am swinging it a little slower than I was earlier but only a few mph ( ~3 ). Distance between the 7i and the 6i we are using for the fitting is a nice gap so for the most part its a good baseline even if it's a bit lower than previous fitting.
The ProjectX 6.5 shaft still feels great. It's a heavier shaft but helps keep the shaft on plane. Or at least I thought I did. That is until the Sith lord brings out 4 new shafts and tries to tempt me from the path of the Jedi with my ProjectX lightsaber and have me join the darkside, the land of upgraded shafts. At first I resist as I have been trained.
"I think I hit these really well"
"These really feel good in my hands"
"Numbers don't lie"
Etc.
But Darth Fitter will have none of it. He whispers back in sweet tones:
"Why not give it a try? We are already here and I already have the shafts"
"Perhaps it is the right shaft, maybe not. Don't you want to be sure?"
"Plenty of time to try some new things, don't you think?"
LIke some evil Jedi mind trick, next thing I know is here I am swinging a fitting T200 6i with a shaft not of my own choosing. I look across the fit center and there, leaning against my bag, is my trusty ( well maybe not trusty since I haven't played a round with it yet ) 6i screaming at me in silent anger to not even touch another shaft. But the darkside is strong. Very strong. And I start swinging.
At first, the light side of the force proves right. I resist, good has triumphed, ProjectX 6.5 is what is right with the world. After 3 shafts, my resolve has not crumbled. I stand firm like Luke Skywalker standing before Kylo Ren on an epic resistance moment against the First Order. None of the shafts prove an improvement. But then he has me try "something new" that just came out. Danger Will Robinson, Danger!
The next shaft choice is an Oban CT125. Now I will be honest and say I had no concept of the vendor or the shafts as they aren't what I would consider mainstream. But as Darth Fitter explained, "This is brand new shaft on the market. Oban is one of the highest quality Japanese steel shaft vendors. They extrude not cold roll....blah blah blah..." I drift off to a mode of "well hell, if KBS, and others couldn't be better" mode. My daydream ends when he says "Ok. Here it is give it a feel". My focus comes back to the club hovering in the air before me. I grab it more to prove him wrong so we can get to my wedges ( oh my sweet wedges ).
So I do a couple of practice swings and the entire club feels lighter. He did say heavier shaft, right? I try to remember what he told me while I was day dreaming and fail to come up with any answers other than "swing the damn thing" as other than a nice Oban sticker, it looks like any other stepped shaft. So I swing it. And then again. And again. And again.
This shaft is amazing. I hit 5 shots and all 5 were the purest, smoothest feeling strikes of all of of my swings to date, including my lonely Project X 6.5 shaft laying against my bag. Am imagining it? Surely, it was just because I was warmed up right? This shaft couldn't be THAT much better. I mean surely the numbers will show that this thing is just like my other shaft, right?
Oh no. The dark side had won. Ball speed? up 4 MPH. Smash factor? Up to an average of 1.40. Spin rate? A few hundred more on average. Launch angle? Down by 1.5 degrees but height went up 10 feet to a 2 degree better decent angle. And finally......oh so finally......distance. **gulp** 8 yard carry improvement. Dispersion of the shots shrunk yet again to boot.
"This can't be right" I think. Surely its because I am warmed up. Yeah that's it. So I grab my existing 6i to find my way back to the light side of hte force, the way of the Jedi. No such luck. None of my results with the ProjectX 6.5 could come close to the Oban. They were really that different.
It's rare for anyone to understand when their life choices too a hard sharp turn. I can. It was that very moment that I started down my path to the dark side of the force. It ended with me ordering new Oban CT125 weighing in at a D3 swing eight to replace my new ProjectX shafts that were at D2, some of which had yet to see a ball strike. And while I was there, ended up switching wedges from my SM6's to MD5 Jaws and matched the shafts to the irons, but that fitting is a story for a different thread.
I started out so pure, as a golf Jedi with a focus. I was ready to do battle with my new T200's and matched shafts. I was ready to uphold the values of vendor-approved shafts to prove that are great to play and hit with. Only to be lured by the dark side of upgraded shafts. Lured by the buttery strike feel, by the great face control, by the lightness of being that came with each pure strike. And for the small price of my ego and humility ( oh and 75 bucks a shaft ), I will go back out into the world with a new purpose.
**Sigh**. My wife is really going to divorce me now.
Fast forward 2 weeks after I receive the irons:
So last weekend I hit up a new fitting place that just open as a favor to go try it out and they had a special running on full back fits so I figured "Why the hell not". Every time I think that, it ends up costing me money. But enough foreshadowing.
I go in and meet my new fitter who is a nice enough guy. I tell him that I love my Epic FLash wood setups but would be interested in validating shaft choices as they have a lot more, non-vendor centric/ upgraded shafts to try out. I tell him the same thing with the irons. I just received my T200's and just got fitted so I should be good there but wouldn't mind running the numbers just to see. The real focus I tell him is wedges. Been having a hard time recently with partial shots and striking heavy on full shots so looking to validate bounce/lie/lofts as well as do some gapping against the new T200's since I haven't played a round with them.
He gets it and understands and away we go.
We start with the irons just to "get those out of the way". At least that was the plan. Kind of like "lets put the kids to bed early so we can have some alone time my dear wife" plans which always ends up with the kids watching TV in our bed until 11 at night. Yeah that kind of great plan.
I hit my 6 iron ( which is the first time have been able to hit my 6 iron mind you ) and work out the numbers. Decent distance in line with my 7i and 4i fitting before with decent smash factor. I am swinging it a little slower than I was earlier but only a few mph ( ~3 ). Distance between the 7i and the 6i we are using for the fitting is a nice gap so for the most part its a good baseline even if it's a bit lower than previous fitting.
The ProjectX 6.5 shaft still feels great. It's a heavier shaft but helps keep the shaft on plane. Or at least I thought I did. That is until the Sith lord brings out 4 new shafts and tries to tempt me from the path of the Jedi with my ProjectX lightsaber and have me join the darkside, the land of upgraded shafts. At first I resist as I have been trained.
"I think I hit these really well"
"These really feel good in my hands"
"Numbers don't lie"
Etc.
But Darth Fitter will have none of it. He whispers back in sweet tones:
"Why not give it a try? We are already here and I already have the shafts"
"Perhaps it is the right shaft, maybe not. Don't you want to be sure?"
"Plenty of time to try some new things, don't you think?"
LIke some evil Jedi mind trick, next thing I know is here I am swinging a fitting T200 6i with a shaft not of my own choosing. I look across the fit center and there, leaning against my bag, is my trusty ( well maybe not trusty since I haven't played a round with it yet ) 6i screaming at me in silent anger to not even touch another shaft. But the darkside is strong. Very strong. And I start swinging.
At first, the light side of the force proves right. I resist, good has triumphed, ProjectX 6.5 is what is right with the world. After 3 shafts, my resolve has not crumbled. I stand firm like Luke Skywalker standing before Kylo Ren on an epic resistance moment against the First Order. None of the shafts prove an improvement. But then he has me try "something new" that just came out. Danger Will Robinson, Danger!
The next shaft choice is an Oban CT125. Now I will be honest and say I had no concept of the vendor or the shafts as they aren't what I would consider mainstream. But as Darth Fitter explained, "This is brand new shaft on the market. Oban is one of the highest quality Japanese steel shaft vendors. They extrude not cold roll....blah blah blah..." I drift off to a mode of "well hell, if KBS, and others couldn't be better" mode. My daydream ends when he says "Ok. Here it is give it a feel". My focus comes back to the club hovering in the air before me. I grab it more to prove him wrong so we can get to my wedges ( oh my sweet wedges ).
So I do a couple of practice swings and the entire club feels lighter. He did say heavier shaft, right? I try to remember what he told me while I was day dreaming and fail to come up with any answers other than "swing the damn thing" as other than a nice Oban sticker, it looks like any other stepped shaft. So I swing it. And then again. And again. And again.
This shaft is amazing. I hit 5 shots and all 5 were the purest, smoothest feeling strikes of all of of my swings to date, including my lonely Project X 6.5 shaft laying against my bag. Am imagining it? Surely, it was just because I was warmed up right? This shaft couldn't be THAT much better. I mean surely the numbers will show that this thing is just like my other shaft, right?
Oh no. The dark side had won. Ball speed? up 4 MPH. Smash factor? Up to an average of 1.40. Spin rate? A few hundred more on average. Launch angle? Down by 1.5 degrees but height went up 10 feet to a 2 degree better decent angle. And finally......oh so finally......distance. **gulp** 8 yard carry improvement. Dispersion of the shots shrunk yet again to boot.
"This can't be right" I think. Surely its because I am warmed up. Yeah that's it. So I grab my existing 6i to find my way back to the light side of hte force, the way of the Jedi. No such luck. None of my results with the ProjectX 6.5 could come close to the Oban. They were really that different.
It's rare for anyone to understand when their life choices too a hard sharp turn. I can. It was that very moment that I started down my path to the dark side of the force. It ended with me ordering new Oban CT125 weighing in at a D3 swing eight to replace my new ProjectX shafts that were at D2, some of which had yet to see a ball strike. And while I was there, ended up switching wedges from my SM6's to MD5 Jaws and matched the shafts to the irons, but that fitting is a story for a different thread.
I started out so pure, as a golf Jedi with a focus. I was ready to do battle with my new T200's and matched shafts. I was ready to uphold the values of vendor-approved shafts to prove that are great to play and hit with. Only to be lured by the dark side of upgraded shafts. Lured by the buttery strike feel, by the great face control, by the lightness of being that came with each pure strike. And for the small price of my ego and humility ( oh and 75 bucks a shaft ), I will go back out into the world with a new purpose.
**Sigh**. My wife is really going to divorce me now.
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Couldn't agree more. The club I play at is notorious for thick rough and it just didn't seem to matter. The club just got to the ball and the strike was good. Its just my 2nd round using my new T-100s and I posted a PB of 82.
Needless to say, they are the best clubs I have ever owned. I love them.