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JonMA1

JonMA1

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Albatross 2024 Club
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After years of convincing myself to never again get fitted and giving brand new OEM releases almost no consideration, I'm going in for a driver fitting tomorrow at a local shop (one I swore to never give another chance :rolleyes:).

I'm not sure what's going to happen. Will I'll pony up for a $600 driver? Will the numbers be so much better that it would be foolish not to? Or will the differences be underwhelming enough for me to say "well, at least I got that out of my system"?

My current setup should be low-hanging fruit. While I am finding a bit more control left and right with what has been a fair amount of work towards that goal, the club feels weaker than what I was using before. I'm struggling to find the center of the face and my spin numbers are consistently high (mostly above 3,000 rpm). Yet, while in play last year, my average distance from this driver remained as high as the previous driver.

This should be a lot different than the last and only other iron "fitting" I went through. 7 or 8 years ago they measured my swing on a lie board, had me hit several dozen balls, and asked me how I liked the clubs. I've been reading and re-reading all the information I can get my hands on here at THP. The head and shaft reviews, the experiences of others... common fitting misconceptions. The folks in the Over 60 thread have already given some great information on what to expect. I'm trying as hard as possible to trust the process and to hopefully act - or not act - with logic instead of emotion. It's difficult to avoid wanting a certain model or at least hope the results point strongly to the company I already like. Then again, a club I never considered may end up being the better fit for me. The re-occurring theme I keep reading is that no OEM is putting out a bad product these days.

Buying premium equipment can be stressful. It's one thing to suck at this game without throwing a ton of money at it, and another to continue playing badly after doing that. We'll see what happens but there has to be a very substantial difference for me to consider a change.
 
Best of luck with the fitting. Hopefully you’ll find a head and shaft that will give you something to think about.
 
I hope it goes well and you see some benefits. And that you enjoy the experience either way.
 
Looking forward to hearing how it goes!
 
Enjoy the process. It will be fun. Your fitting won’t compare to the one you had years ago. Don’t rely on the fitter to tell you what’s best. Look at the numbers yourself.
 
Pop into the equipment threads and post your thoughts on what you end up trying out, good or bad! Hope it goes well for you.
 
Good Luck with the fitting, hoping for solid results. Please share your thoughts on it both good and bad.

Also just wondering why did you not want to give the shop another chance, and what changed your mind?
 
Will you be bringing your old driver? I had a driver fitting a number of years ago, hit a bunch of the new stuff, along with my old driver. At the end, the fitter recommended I keep my old driver. He didn't even charge me.

Good luck, and I'll be curious to hear about your results.
 
I thought for sure this thread was gonna be about Jon Rahm lol.

Good luck. I hope you wind up being pleasantly surprised by the experience
 
jbb2388 said:
I thought for sure this thread was gonna be about Jon Rahm lol.

Good luck. I hope you wind up being pleasantly surprised by the experience
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Haha I thought Rory.

Good luck on the fitting, I am interested in seeing your results and thoughts.
 
TWright971 said:
Also just wondering why did you not want to give the shop another chance, and what changed your mind?
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I was disappointed by the Mizuno iron fitting I had there several years ago, same with the Titleist driver. And finally a couple shaft replacements. But since joining this site, I've learned more about how the industry works. I now realize I was as much to blame by being cheap. Both the Mizuno irons and the Titleist driver were new but from the previous year - at my request. I was (surprise, surprise) looking for a deal and they had those clubs at a discount, though they never explained that the fitting process is geared more towards new releases. Both experiences happened under different ownership of the shop. The current owner seems much more serious about using technology and they've done a much better job of explaining why they can't always properly fit previous releases.

When I bought the Titleist head, at my request, we put it on a very light shaft - far too light. I went back a couple years later and was very surprised at how much better a heavier, stiffer shaft fit my swing (with a low 90's SS???). He also had me swing some new drivers and wow! Big difference between my Titleist 915 and some of the newer heads when paired with a more properly fitted shaft. But at that time, I was happy to simply replace the shaft and keep my old head. While the heavier shaft was an improvement, I never did warm up to that 915.

I will be looking at this year's releases today and not looking for a "deal" this time around.

Sean said:
Will you be bringing your old driver?
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Yes. We'll be using that as a baseline. I'm hoping/confident that everything will be recorded through the Trackman site and that the fitter will have each head and shaft combinations clearly described with the corresponding set of numbers so I can evaluate after the fitting. I don't believe there's any sort of incentive to make a purchase at the time of the fitting. I could be wrong though.
 
Good luck and have fun.
 
The fitting was... an experience.

I'll give Traverse City Golf Performance Center an "A" for how the fitting was conducted. Very professional, very informative, and very low pressure.

As for me, my swing was worse than usual - all over the map with dispersion, spin numbers, on the face. It was terrible but not surprising. Yet, there was a pretty clear winner. Of the 6 or so heads I tested, the Callaway Smoke with a Tensei Blue 55 in R flex came out on top. Not good, but less bad. The rest of the clubs were pretty much one giant **** show due to my inability to square the club or hit anywhere near the center of the face (he explained how missing the center of face on a driver can also result in spraying the ball).

The Callaway compared to my current driver...

I didn't think the left to right dispersion was tremendously better. This is the biggest detriment to my game and something I'd hoped might show up as an improvement during the fitting. But distance came easier - about 15 yards. Club head speed was faster with the Callaway which helped with more carry, and the spin numbers were much lower which resulted in more total yards.

What the fitter liked about this club for me wasn't just the decent launch angle (average 12.7°) or spin rate numbers (average of 2561), but the consistency between most of the shots. That simply wasn't there with the other clubs tested. Again, you have to take into account how poorly I was hitting overall - which may speak volumes that one club was actually... manageable.

The one thing that struck me about this whole experience was that if I were to randomly choose a club off the rack, I'd have a 1 in 6 chance of picking the best one.

I haven't purchased the club yet, but I'm leaning towards pulling the trigger. It's not going to miraculously transform my game and if I don't develop better mechanics, it just means the pushes will go further into the woods. But for the tee shots that are on-line, those would leave less club needed for the next shot. And with the swing slowing down in the next few years, it's going to become an issue.
 
JonMA1 said:
The fitting was... an experience.

I'll give Traverse City Golf Performance Center an "A" for how the fitting was conducted. Very professional, very informative, and very low pressure.

As for me, my swing was worse than usual - all over the map with dispersion, spin numbers, on the face. It was terrible but not surprising. Yet, there was a pretty clear winner. Of the 6 or so heads I tested, the Callaway Smoke with a Tensei Blue 55 in R flex came out on top. Not good, but less bad. The rest of the clubs were pretty much one giant **** show due to my inability to square the club or hit anywhere near the center of the face (he explained how missing the center of face on a driver can also result in spraying the ball).

The Callaway compared to my current driver...

I didn't think the left to right dispersion was tremendously better. This is the biggest detriment to my game and something I'd hoped might show up as an improvement during the fitting. But distance came easier - about 15 yards. Club head speed was faster with the Callaway which helped with more carry, and the spin numbers were much lower which resulted in more total yards.

What the fitter liked about this club for me wasn't just the decent launch angle (average 12.7°) or spin rate numbers (average of 2561), but the consistency between most of the shots. That simply wasn't there with the other clubs tested. Again, you have to take into account how poorly I was hitting overall - which may speak volumes that one club was actually... manageable.

The one thing that struck me about this whole experience was that if I were to randomly choose a club off the rack, I'd have a 1 in 6 chance of picking the best one.

I haven't purchased the club yet, but I'm leaning towards pulling the trigger. It's not going to miraculously transform my game and if I don't develop better mechanics, it just means the pushes will go further into the woods. But for the tee shots that are on-line, those would leave less club needed for the next shot. And with the swing slowing down in the next few years, it's going to become an issue.
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That’s a good choice with the Smoke AI. The Tensei is a good shaft. Several of the guys from the Grandaddy were fit into that shaft in the Max and Max D head.
 
JonMA1 said:
The fitting was... an experience.

I'll give Traverse City Golf Performance Center an "A" for how the fitting was conducted. Very professional, very informative, and very low pressure.

As for me, my swing was worse than usual - all over the map with dispersion, spin numbers, on the face. It was terrible but not surprising. Yet, there was a pretty clear winner. Of the 6 or so heads I tested, the Callaway Smoke with a Tensei Blue 55 in R flex came out on top. Not good, but less bad. The rest of the clubs were pretty much one giant **** show due to my inability to square the club or hit anywhere near the center of the face (he explained how missing the center of face on a driver can also result in spraying the ball).

The Callaway compared to my current driver...

I didn't think the left to right dispersion was tremendously better. This is the biggest detriment to my game and something I'd hoped might show up as an improvement during the fitting. But distance came easier - about 15 yards. Club head speed was faster with the Callaway which helped with more carry, and the spin numbers were much lower which resulted in more total yards.

What the fitter liked about this club for me wasn't just the decent launch angle (average 12.7°) or spin rate numbers (average of 2561), but the consistency between most of the shots. That simply wasn't there with the other clubs tested. Again, you have to take into account how poorly I was hitting overall - which may speak volumes that one club was actually... manageable.

The one thing that struck me about this whole experience was that if I were to randomly choose a club off the rack, I'd have a 1 in 6 chance of picking the best one.

I haven't purchased the club yet, but I'm leaning towards pulling the trigger. It's not going to miraculously transform my game and if I don't develop better mechanics, it just means the pushes will go further into the woods. But for the tee shots that are on-line, those would leave less club needed for the next shot. And with the swing slowing down in the next few years, it's going to become an issue.
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This is very interesting and satisfying to read. You went into the fitting with low expectations and if I'm interpreting correctly came out with a decent upgrade should you choose to go through with it.

You mentioned that although the results weren't groundbreaking, the Cally driver gave you the best consistency and on a day where it sounds like you weren't totally feeling it. If you let that sink in, that's a pretty substantial revelation in my opinion. Just imagine how much better it will be when you're on!

The best part of having a fitting? You get to decide at the end of it if it's worth your hard earned dollars or not. You'll make the right decision, I know it.
 
Junkyard said:
This is very interesting and satisfying to read. You went into the fitting with low expectations and if I'm interpreting correctly came out with a decent upgrade should you choose to go through with it.

You mentioned that although the results weren't groundbreaking, the Cally driver gave you the best consistency and on a day where it sounds like you weren't totally feeling it. If you let that sink in, that's a pretty substantial revelation in my opinion. Just imagine how much better it will be when you're on!

The best part of having a fitting? You get to decide at the end of it if it's worth your hard earned dollars or not. You'll make the right decision, I know it.
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Yeah, the bolded sentences are very relevant, IMO. I had one bad swing and a couple marginal ones with this combination with the rest pretty solid.

I think he had me swinging the MAX without the stronger draw bias (MAX D). He said with my inside out path, that would increase the chances of hooks. If I do purchase the club, it'll be through this shop.
 
Hope you enjoyed the fitting
 
Glad to hear you had a good experience and hope the new club treats you well.
 
Yes, the fitting was enjoyable, and it restored my faith in the process.

The fitter was a professional in every sense of the word. He worked hard throughout the hour-long fitting changing heads, shafts and/or settings. He took the time to explain some principles but not so much that it took away from me taking a lot of swings. Despite a really bad day of ball striking, he never once made me feel like I wasn't worth the time or effort he would put towards any other customer. And while the data showed a clear choice, there was never a sales pitch or pressure applied to make any purchase.

As for the club itself, I took some swings out behind my house and the club pretty much lived up to the hype. For the first several swings, I was hitting everywhere on the face except the center and the ball flight looked good. On shots when I did make solid contact, I got some decent distance.

I plan on using Shotscope for most of next season and that will be the real test. If I can get below 10% penalties for the season (down from 15%), it'll be worth the investment in both time and money. If distance stays about the same, I can live with that.
 
After 2 weeks of practice and one round of golf I can safely say I was wrong in thinking a fitting and the latest OEM tech might help my tee game. I'm a little pissed at myself but in hindsight, I had to go through the process otherwise there would have always been that nagging question. The fitting was legit and I know the club is great for most. But this is not the best driver I've ever owned.

A lot of the off-center shots stay straight-ish - which is nice - and the lighter shaft brings about an increase in CHS. But I still have the tendency to get as wild with this club as with any other and it's been difficult to make clean contact. The net result has been less distance. I suppose technology can only do so much.

I might try a different shaft. I'm getting a new one for the Maltby head and might go ahead and get a 2nd for the Callaway???

I'll continue to play around with the head and shift combinations. If nothing else changes this year, the only positive takeaway would be to learn from the experience. It could have been worse.
 
More forgiving and longer is about all you can ask from a new driver. New tech doesn't change where you point the face.

If it's the same length and same swing weight as your old Maltby driver, I would just keep the Smoke and practice with it. And if isn't, I'd trim and weight it to match.

The head is inarguably a big upgrade over what you had... you've seen the numbers. You are strokes ahead there, so don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
 
I was a disaster with my new “fitted” driver in December. I absolutely loved it in February/March. Not saying the same will happen with you. A bad swing with any driver will put the ball into the trees/houses. But a good for driver will help limit those, IMO.

But if you changed weight in your shafts, it is going to take some time to get the tempo down.
 
TxAggie2018 said:
More forgiving and longer is about all you can ask from a new driver. New tech doesn't change where you point the face.

If it's the same length and same swing weight as your old Maltby driver, I would just keep the Smoke and practice with it. And if isn't, I'd trim and weight it to match.

The head is inarguably a big upgrade over what you had... you've seen the numbers. You are strokes ahead there, so don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
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This was my point. The tech is not going to fix my problems and that's what made this such a dumb purchase. If I'm going by a small sample size like those at the fitting, the numbers on the course show this is not as forgiving or as long as my previous driver. Changing a setting on the adjustable head has as least reduced the misses to the right.

As for this being unarguably a big upgrade, so far it's been a bust. How a club performs in a hitting bay does not matter unless it delivers on the course or even on an outdoor range. While I know better than to base an iron set purchase on how I hit a club off a mat indoors, I didn't think that would be the case with the driver - yet, here I am.

I'll continue to work on it and will likely try another shaft... only because of what I paid for it. I just need to start putting practice time in with my older driver as it may very end up back in the bag.
 
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