Feedback Journal Thread - The HandCrafted Experience w/ Project X

I went to Alcatraz when I was 12. I did the Audio tour with my mom. She fast forwarded her tape. I followed mine. She lost me in a prison. I was lost in a !@#$%ing prison. I hate Alcatraz.

While my wife was waiting in the prisoner courtyard (my sons and I had decided to explore up ahead) a 12" x 4" piece of concrete broke free from an overhang and hit her on the head. It was probably 3-5 lbs. Luckily it only fell about 3-4 feet before striking her. Even though she was fine she was a bit shaken up and isn't nearly as enamored of Alcatraz as me and my boys.
 
I got back out on the range with the shaft today, hit about 50 drives.

The harsh feel I felt from the previous experience was not felt today, probably because I only used the test shaft.
Again, dispersion was pretty tight. I lost one shot really right, due to a terrible swing.
I purposely hit some toe shots and heel shots, with expected results, although I was quite impressed with the subtle fade and draw, which were a little less than I would expect with my usual driver shaft.
Overall, quite a good range session. Flight remains pretty much a mid trajectory, again dispersion is pretty tight, and again this driver, for me, tends to go a little more left than I am used to.
I will only be playing the shaft with the FlyZ head until the event, and I will not take this club on a launch monitor, so I will just be basing everything on feel


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I'm headed out to Mirmichi in Memphis on Friday solely with test shaft. Hope to come back with lots of pics and notes.
 
Previous update here

Got out to the range last night for around 2 hours. I was working pretty hard to not miss left, as I was running into that issue on course Sunday, so I was seeing more left to right flights (and misses than usual). But when I made a good swing with this shaft, I was rewarded with extremely solid, center face contact. When I get home tonight I'll have to remember to take a snap of my driver face after the last 10 balls because the impact pattern was impressive.

I continue to notice more or less the same differences from my Velox gamer to this shaft: slightly stiffer overall feel, slightly lower launch tendency, noticeably stiffer tip section, and a lighter feel to the overall club (in other words the clubhead doesn't feel as heavy). What I'm coming to understand is that I think I actually prefer this slight additional stability. For all the additional stiffness (not much), I can still feel the spring effect of the shaft in the backswing through impact, and the bending of the shaft overall is much more even feeling than the Velox, which feels like all of its flex is in the tip section.

As for results, as previously mentioned I was losing more to the right than usual, and a lot of my good shots were baby fades rather than draws - but that was a swing thing, not a shaft thing. When I properly got the hands through and squared up the clubface, I was seeing the slight draw again, and with impressive distance - hard to tell numbers, but it looked like I was hitting it at least as far as the Velox. There were two balls where I actually hit one of the trees at the end of the range on the fly, and I can't remember having done that before - they are at around 240 yards, and the range balls were limited flight, so that was a pretty solid poke!

Looking forward to hopefully 9 holes after work sometime this week to get some more testing in. As always, ask any questions and I'll do my best to answer!
 
Dave,
How was your distance? The test shaft for me was super tight, but I couldn't tell on the range what kind of distance I was getting.

Ryan,
Are you getting an idea of what you want to change? Sounds like to me you'd like a little higher launch (which would probably soften the tip up a bit for ya).
 
Dave,
How was your distance? The test shaft for me was super tight, but I couldn't tell on the range what kind I was getting.

Ryan,
Are you getting an idea of what you want to change? Sounds like to me you'd like a little higher launch (which would probably soften the tip up a bit for ya).

I think I'd probably soften the tip up a hair, given that I'm at 11.5* and still getting a solid mid flight, but not as much as you might think. I like the lighter overall feel (or perhaps it's actually better balance) with this shaft vs. the heavier head weight feel of the Velox, which I suspect may have something to do with that tip softness.

Otherwise, I'm not sure yet. I like a lot about this shaft as is. Distance and dispersion will give me a better idea going forward.
 
Dave,
How was your distance? The test shaft for me was super tight, but I couldn't tell on the range what kind of distance I was getting.

Good question.
Well I can't for certain, it seemed like it was a little longer than my usual drives, as I was hitting a spot in the range I usually don't see the ball bounce to. I think it may be longer. Some of my shots (according to the pro at the range) were in the 285 neighborhood.


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So yesterday I got out on my home course with this shaft for the first time. It was about 95* with little wind and I walked. I was definitely a little more tired than usual so I took that into consideration as I was testing the shaft.

Hole 1: Hit it decently but pulled a little left. Didn't hook, just started out left and stayed the line. Was in the rough but only about 5 yards off the fairway. Distance was pretty good, I think. It's the first time all year I've been in the left rough on this hole but from previous years this was around where I'd expect to be.

Hole 2: Big dogleg right, aimed right at the corner and pulled my drive. Again, it started off left of my target line, this drive did hook a little. Was pretty far left because I ran through the dogleg. Hit it solidly again and was actually further than where I initially thought it would end up.

Hole 3: Hit a perfect drive with a slight fade right down the middle. Found the narrow part of the fairway. Distance left to hole was in line with my old shaft.

Hole 4: Dogleg left, aimed at the trees to carry the dogleg. Caught it a little high on the face but went as straight as an arrow and where I was aiming. Carried the trees and was left with a short iron into the green. This drive definitely carried further than I thought considering I could feel catching the ball high on the face. Was surprised and very happy with distance on this one.

Hole 8: Hit another great drive. Ball went dead straight and was way out there. In terms of distance this was right in the area of as long as I've ever hit it on this hole (been playing this course for 19 years). Had a nice mid ball flight, went straight and great distance.

Hole 9: Ugh, the dreaded push-fade showed up. Hit it was up in the air and weakly drifted right. Was definitely short of where I'd usually be but wasn't as far right as I thought I'd be. Same swing with my old shaft and I'd guess I'd be further right. So at least I was happy with the dispersion on this shot considering the terrible swing.

Hole 10: Push-fade again. This one was actually more of a push-slice. Was WAY right and because of the side spin was very short. Lucky for me, the only thing to the right is the next hole that runs parallel so it was still in play. This this is a reachable par 5 and can usually get there with a 6 iron with a good drive. With this drive, I wound up smoking my XR 4 wood and was still 85 yards short. Easily worst drive of the day but this was way more on me and a terrible swing than the shaft.

Hole 11: To compensate for the last 2 drives I aimed down the left side of the fairway. Wound up hitting a real nice drive that I pulled maybe 5 yards. Unfortunately because of where I was aiming this left me just in the rough. Still, ball was well struck with good distance and a nice mid ball flight. This drive got my confidence back and got me back to aiming more center.

Hole 14: Hit a perfect drive down the left side of the fairway. Didn't quite catch all of it was a little short of where I am when I get all of it. Still, this is a dogleg right and you have to be on the left side of the fairway and that's right where I was. Again, ball had a mid flight.

Hole 15: Hit my best drive of the day. Absolutely crushed one right down the middle. Had a great flight that was mid flight (but maybe slightly higher than some of my other drives). Ball was a little further than typical good drives and was one of the longest, if not the longest I've ever hit it on this hole.

Hole 16: Uh-oh, push fade showed back up again. Hit it pretty solidly but was definitely right and led to a double bogey. Bad swing.

Hole 17: Hit a mid-low bullet down the right side of the fairway. Hit it solidly and got a lot of rollout on this one. Unfortunately, there is a bunker about 250 yards out on the right side that comes out into the fairway and my ball rolled right into it. Good drive for any other hole but that bunker got me. I've never, ever been in this bunker on my drive. I will say when I hit it I thought this was going to drift further right but it held the line real well and ultimately holding that line actually hurt me and I wound up in the bunker instead of in the rough.

Overall: When I'm missing left like I did on the first 2 holes this is a sign that I'm swinging the driver pretty well. Hit 5/12 fairways with one (hole 11) that was a miss strictly as a result of bad aim. Even though the numbers don't look great I played the same ball for all 18 and only had to deal with trees in my way for my approach on one hole (hole 16). All other misses where just off the fairway or in spots that didn't hurt me. I am noticing a little less side spin with the test shaft than the PX LZ. Distance and trajectory seem to be pretty similar to the PX LZ. I continue to think the weight and specs between the 2 are VERY similar. Coming from the PX LZ, there has been pretty much no learning curve and the comfort level with this combo is there. Will get out again on Friday at the same course and see how things go.
 
Feedback Journal Thread - The HandCrafted Experience w/ Project X

I got a chance to hit the test shaft this morning. Played 18. Afterwards, hit about 40 drivers, my swing was not behaving well today.
Dispersion still pretty tight. I still tend to draw the ball with this club, moreso than with any of my other drivers. This is something that has developed since I've had the shaft, so I'm not certain if this is due to the shaft or is now part of my swing.
Ball flight is mid. I hit a couple with mid- high and a couple of low screamers, which were due to hitting low on club face.
Good distance. My drives were never shorter than 265, had one which was 311 per GPS, walked out two that were 283 and 276.
I cannot "feel" anything like kick point, load, or don't other fancy shaft term. It feels solid on mid-hits, no big sweeping slices.
I will continue to post, and I will try to pay attention to the feel of the shaft during the swing, in future posts.



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Getting out for an after work 9 tomorrow I believe. Course is wide freakin open so I should be hitting driver on 6 or 7 holes and should be able to get some good input.
 
Hey DB, are there any types of questions you think we should be asking ourselves that maybe we're not? Things other than "feels stiff" or "too heavy/light" and "my ball flight is X and I want it to be Y"? Just want to make sure I'm taking the right notes.
 
Hey DB, are there any types of questions you think we should be asking ourselves that maybe we're not? Things other than "feels stiff" or "too heavy/light" and "my ball flight is X and I want it to be Y"? Just want to make sure I'm taking the right notes.


The most important question is ball flight. Too High/Too Low? Secondly is stiffness, does it feel like this shaft is too stiff or too soft for me? After those two, feel on off center hits, total club weight and other feel only based questions based on how important those factors are too you.

DB
 
The most important question is ball flight. Too High/Too Low? Secondly is stiffness, does it feel like this shaft is too stiff or too soft for me? After those two, feel on off center hits, total club weight and other feel only based questions based on how important those factors are too you.

DB

Good info. I feel like I've got a pretty good idea on most of this already, but I'm gonna have to think on it to firm it up over the next 3 weeks.

I'm curious, are we going to dive right into shaft design and fab when we get there on Thursday, or is there going to be a fitting session/discussion to start? This may be a surprise, and if it is please feel free to shut my nosy a$$ down :act-up:
 
This is such a cool process. I'm jealous you guys get to do this. Love following along.
 
I'm also still jealous of you guys. Keep posting your thoughts, I need to live vicariously.
 
Just finished up my third session with the test shaft. I'm starting to get a good feel for the characteristics of it. I was hitting the driver pretty well again tonight finding the middle of the clubface often. On my way well struck shots I'm seeing a very consistent middle to high trajectory. With my previous driver I noticed I had a lot of ballooning issues the ball would climb into the air and more or less kind of fall, with this shaft and head combo I feel like I'm getting a much more penetrating flight. The driving range here is kind of dried out but still I can see my ball hitting the ground and wanting to roll regardless of conditions. I am hoping this means I have been able to reduce the amount of spin I am putting on the ball as this has been a big problem of mine. In terms of feel the shaft has a certain amount of stableness that I am really liking right now. Apart from missing the center of the clubface by a big amount, on well-struck center strikes I'm seeing very tight dispersion. That's all I got for now but hopefully I will be able to get out again this weekend for another session.

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UPDATE #3. - to read my previous updates click here

Got in a walking nine this evening. No warm up and straight to the first tee to beat darkness. Very little wind tonight and yardages were measured with Skycaddie GPS.

#1 - Mid/low ball flight and just a push right. No fade at all. Playable drive and ended up 1 yard off the fairway. 238 yards total
#3 - Mid ball flight and a tight draw. Boom! best drive in weeks. Downhill hole so, but even considering that hit to a place I've only been a few times. 275 yards total
#4 - Mid/high ball flight Big push fade to the right. Was trying to hit this way to hard and protect against a pull at the same time. heel hit. 262 yard (downhill)
#5 - Mid ball flight and Push fade right. Ended up in trees right but able to find a hole and play to green.
#6 - Low ball flight and big draw left. Was determined to get the club face closing during this swing. Playable drive and 1 yard off fairway to left.
#9 - Mid/high ball flight weak push fade right on a heel hit. Playable drive and was just 4 yards off fairway to right.

So today only had 1 drive I'd call ideal. Though I'll say I am seeing some distance increase but that could either be from the shaft and could also be from our fairways drying out with little rain in the last several days.

Shaft feels fine to me, though I'm obviously struggling to get the clubface square at impact with more drives going right than straight. Will get out again tomorrow if rain holds off.
 
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Okay I didn't make it to the range but went to the course today and played 18. I wrote down how long each drive was and the ball flight. My impression of the shaft on the course was that it was softer than what I'm used to but I really liked the feel of the additional swingweight. I didn't have a chance to warm up and went to the tee cold. I took a smooth first swing and hit the first drive was 315 yard mid height draw that hit the fairway bounced really high and ran like hell. The impact felt great and I really hit it on the screws but even still when I saw where the ball was I didn't believe it. For the second drive I was curious to see what would happen if I went after it and while impact felt great I hit a 267 yard high trajectory slice that put me in a position where I had to punch out. My third drive on a par drive was just a heel cut, low fade that went 250 yards but still left me with an open recovery shot. That was a bad swing on my part but impact still felt good but the feedback was such it let me know I hit a bad one. My fourth drive was downwind and was a mid trajectory draw that went 328 yards and felt amazing. i began to notice that if I swung within myself, focused on shifting my weight towards the target and a smooth transition I got good results (as if that should be some revelation).

The next drive was into the wind and again I swung within myself and hit a high draw that went 278 yards. Impact felt great. I really think 45 inches is my perfect driver length as I was hitting the center more times than not, even on bad drives. The following drive I decided to lean into it and again hit a high slice that went 250 yards onto the next fairway. Despite the result, impact felt great and my son commented that the impact with my drives sounded good today. I finished the front nine with a 39 and felt like I was on a roll.

The first drive I hit off the toe and it was probably the worst feeling drive of the day but still not that bad. It was a low draw and ran downhill for 265 yards on the fairway so I couldn't be too upset. The following drive I tried to give it a little extra and make a concerted effort to close the face but hit a high slice that felt great 274 yards. I didn't write it down but I believe that drive was down wind. Being a moron I decided on the next hole to try again and this time it was a 250 yard high slice. Despite the bad drives both were still playable and left me with clear shots. Overcoming my ego I started swinging within myself again and my second to last drive was a medium height draw into the wind that 271 yards and was hit on the screws. I did mention I was a moron right? Because my last drive is a looonnggg par four and being that swinging within myself produced excellent results I had no choice but to swing out of my shoes again. The result? A 250 yard high slice that went right up against a tree. Not the shaft's fault but I shot seven over on the back.

So in the end I enjoyed the shaft greatly. I liked the feel at impact, found the sweet spot often and felt the trajectory was just about right. I really liked the roll I got out of the driver. It seemed like a little more than my Fubuki. I do believe if the shaft was a little stiffer I would really be onto something as with my Fubuki I can go after the ball and hit a nice cut as opposed to the slices I was getting with the Project X.

I plan on going to the range tomorrow and hopefully playing two more rounds before work starts up Monday. If anything comes to mind that I forgot about this session I'll post again.
 
Awesome Galen. Seems like you would benefit from some added stiffness based on your feedback on the drives you tried to really go after.

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Okay I didn't make it to the range but went to the course today and played 18. I wrote down how long each drive was and the ball flight. My impression of the shaft on the course was that it was softer than what I'm used to but I really liked the feel of the additional swingweight. I didn't have a chance to warm up and went to the tee cold. I took a smooth first swing and hit the first drive was 315 yard mid height draw that hit the fairway bounced really high and ran like hell. The impact felt great and I really hit it on the screws but even still when I saw where the ball was I didn't believe it. For the second drive I was curious to see what would happen if I went after it and while impact felt great I hit a 267 yard high trajectory slice that put me in a position where I had to punch out. My third drive on a par drive was just a heel cut, low fade that went 250 yards but still left me with an open recovery shot. That was a bad swing on my part but impact still felt good but the feedback was such it let me know I hit a bad one. My fourth drive was downwind and was a mid trajectory draw that went 328 yards and felt amazing. i began to notice that if I swung within myself, focused on shifting my weight towards the target and a smooth transition I got good results (as if that should be some revelation).

The next drive was into the wind and again I swung within myself and hit a high draw that went 278 yards. Impact felt great. I really think 45 inches is my perfect driver length as I was hitting the center more times than not, even on bad drives. The following drive I decided to lean into it and again hit a high slice that went 250 yards onto the next fairway. Despite the result, impact felt great and my son commented that the impact with my drives sounded good today. I finished the front nine with a 39 and felt like I was on a roll.

The first drive I hit off the toe and it was probably the worst feeling drive of the day but still not that bad. It was a low draw and ran downhill for 265 yards on the fairway so I couldn't be too upset. The following drive I tried to give it a little extra and make a concerted effort to close the face but hit a high slice that felt great 274 yards. I didn't write it down but I believe that drive was down wind. Being a moron I decided on the next hole to try again and this time it was a 250 yard high slice. Despite the bad drives both were still playable and left me with clear shots. Overcoming my ego I started swinging within myself again and my second to last drive was a medium height draw into the wind that 271 yards and was hit on the screws. I did mention I was a moron right? Because my last drive is a looonnggg par four and being that swinging within myself produced excellent results I had no choice but to swing out of my shoes again. The result? A 250 yard high slice that went right up against a tree. Not the shaft's fault but I shot seven over on the back.

So in the end I enjoyed the shaft greatly. I liked the feel at impact, found the sweet spot often and felt the trajectory was just about right. I really liked the roll I got out of the driver. It seemed like a little more than my Fubuki. I do believe if the shaft was a little stiffer I would really be onto something as with my Fubuki I can go after the ball and hit a nice cut as opposed to the slices I was getting with the Project X.

I plan on going to the range tomorrow and hopefully playing two more rounds before work starts up Monday. If anything comes to mind that I forgot about this session I'll post again.
What is your usual distance w driver? 250 - 328 is not a bad thing.
 
What is your usual distance w driver? 250 - 328 is not a bad thing.

That's exactly what I was thinking when going over the round today. In fairness though both the 328 and 315 were downwind, took a helluva kick and ran like they were being chased.

When I was being fitted for my DBD my average drive was 291 with a long of 301. When I'm hitting well I do see those distances but I think a 280 average is more realistic.

I really can't stress how good center impact felt with this shaft. And even with my wild slices impact felt great. I'm hoping they'll reveal what they sent to us. I'm sure it will turn out mine is a 50 gram 4.5 flex :)
 
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I agree - when center impact is made, the club feels great.
Unfortunately, for me, that happens only a few times a round.
 
I agree - when center impact is made, the club feels great.
Unfortunately, for me, that happens only a few times a round.


Are you referring to hits with your tester shaft? I don't usually hit the sweet spot on my driver as many times as I did today.
 
Awesome Galen. Seems like you would benefit from some added stiffness based on your feedback on the drives you tried to really go after.

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That was my sense as well but I am really looking forward to the fitting so we'll know for sure. Tomorrow I'll test it side by side with my usual shaft.
 
That was my sense as well but I am really looking forward to the fitting so we'll know for sure. Tomorrow I'll test it side by side with my usual shaft.

I so want your driver distances. I have to make up all my shots with irons, pitches, chips, and putts.
 
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