Finally got a chance to sit down and write out my thoughts on my fitting. I've decided lately that I didn't want to flip equipment willy nilly anymore - I want to really know what is right for my game. So after finding out that there was a Callaway Performance Center about 35 minutes away from me at the Swinomish Casino and Lodge in Anacortes, WA, I decided to give them a call to set up a fitting this weekend. I was a little disappointed to find out that they are currently in transition mode - having just purchased a nearby golf course in the past year, they are in the process of moving their fitting operations over to the golf course from the casino. So their full fitting studio was not set up. However, the fitter (Josh) offered to give me a free on range fitting with a portable Trackman unit and a couple bags of demo clubs, which he figured would give us a good start before a true dynamic fitting in the studio once they get it set up. I decided that sounded like a good idea, so today I took my trip down there.
Interestingly, the facility is actual a dual Callaway and Nike fitting center. They used to run only Callaway, but Josh was impressed with what improvements Nike has made to their line recently (the Vapor line especially) and so decided to start featuring their clubs as well. It's also a much easier trip for him to head to Nike's HQ with it being in Oregon. So I see this as a plus - I get to sample two brands instead of just one!
After getting his makeshift "studio" set up on the range and after I was able to get some practice balls in, we set to work. Josh had me start with my CB3 7 iron to get some good baseline data, and he was pleased with what he saw. I was getting a nice mid-high ball flight with about 6500 rpms of spin on good swings, around 85mph of club speed, a smash factor of around 1.31, and a carry yardage of around 155 yds. However, after seeing a few where the spin crept up and the launch ballooned a bit, Josh handed me a Vapor Pro Combo 7i with the DG Pro S300 to see if we could drop spin a bit and keep the ballooning under control. This combo felt nice, but the numbers were a little lower than we'd like so we switched to the VR Forged GI head with a Recoil 95 stiff shaft. This was a little off in the other way - a little too much spin and tending to fan . He'd like to investigate using the C-Taper Lite in the full fitting to try and split the difference - should provide similar launch conditions to my CB3/KBS Tour 90 combo with a little more stability and a little less spin.
Next we moved to hybrids, where I told him I was weighing between my FG Tour M3 and the J40. After seeing the numbers, we're both pretty sure the J40 is the way to go most of the time, with the exception of windy days or roll heavy courses - using the FG 3h and my 4i gives me a lower flight which is good for those days. Now we moved to my FG M3 4W. Again, he really liked the flight and spin numbers, but thought I could do with some more forgiveness and launch in this particular club - so he handed me a Big Bertha 3W with Fubuki S. And I - was - SMASHING it. I hit 5 or 6 balls and just absolutely toasted them all, nearly dead straight with a nice energetic flight and astounding distance - I hit the range net in the air, which is about 220 out. DAYUM! We both decided this is a club we definitely need to revisit in my full fitting.
Finally we moved to driver, where I hit my 913D2 to start. He was again a huge fan of the flight, but wanted to tinker with some shafts and heads to see where we could get things to go. First I tried a Vapor Flex with S+ 60 stiff, which I hit solidly with nice distance, but I tended to fan it a little bit. Then we gave the Big Bertha V-Series a shot with a Speeder shaft in it. This one probably gave me some of the better results - nice piercing flight and solid distance. Finally, he had me try the Covert 2.0 with a Kuro Kage stiff. Worked well and the shaft is quite stable so I couldn't hook it easily, but yet again we couldn't easily better my 913D2. We decided to table the driver discussion until the full studio fitting, but he agrees with me that I'm getting great results with my 913D2 as is and it's going to take something impressive to unseat it.
To close up, we did a little putter "fitting"/lesson. I hesitate to say true fitting since his SAM PuttLab isn't set up yet, but he did give me some tips on ball position - he noticed that I tend to need to aggressively close the face because the ball is too far back in my stance, which leads to inconsistent line. Sure enough, I moved the ball up in my stance and buried 3 12 footers in a row. That's a good sign! At this stage, he thinks my putter is a good length and lie, but he can't be sure until we get on the PuttLab.
So in summary, I think it was a good first pass at narrowing down some fitting information in advance of a full fitting. I wouldn't have wanted to pay much for this type of fitting, but it was great for a free fitting as he spent about an hour and a half with me. And it was a great way to have a better idea what to start with when we have a full studio fitting. I plan on going back for that within the next month or so, and won't make any kind of equipment moves until then.
For those curious, the fitter's name is Josh Williams at Swinomish Golf Links, (360) 293-3444. The full 2 hour fitting in the Performance Center once they are set up (by March 1st) will run $100, and include a dozen golf balls. I am going to hold the 2nd post to update with information from that fitting once I have it done.
Thanks for reading guys!
Interestingly, the facility is actual a dual Callaway and Nike fitting center. They used to run only Callaway, but Josh was impressed with what improvements Nike has made to their line recently (the Vapor line especially) and so decided to start featuring their clubs as well. It's also a much easier trip for him to head to Nike's HQ with it being in Oregon. So I see this as a plus - I get to sample two brands instead of just one!
After getting his makeshift "studio" set up on the range and after I was able to get some practice balls in, we set to work. Josh had me start with my CB3 7 iron to get some good baseline data, and he was pleased with what he saw. I was getting a nice mid-high ball flight with about 6500 rpms of spin on good swings, around 85mph of club speed, a smash factor of around 1.31, and a carry yardage of around 155 yds. However, after seeing a few where the spin crept up and the launch ballooned a bit, Josh handed me a Vapor Pro Combo 7i with the DG Pro S300 to see if we could drop spin a bit and keep the ballooning under control. This combo felt nice, but the numbers were a little lower than we'd like so we switched to the VR Forged GI head with a Recoil 95 stiff shaft. This was a little off in the other way - a little too much spin and tending to fan . He'd like to investigate using the C-Taper Lite in the full fitting to try and split the difference - should provide similar launch conditions to my CB3/KBS Tour 90 combo with a little more stability and a little less spin.
Next we moved to hybrids, where I told him I was weighing between my FG Tour M3 and the J40. After seeing the numbers, we're both pretty sure the J40 is the way to go most of the time, with the exception of windy days or roll heavy courses - using the FG 3h and my 4i gives me a lower flight which is good for those days. Now we moved to my FG M3 4W. Again, he really liked the flight and spin numbers, but thought I could do with some more forgiveness and launch in this particular club - so he handed me a Big Bertha 3W with Fubuki S. And I - was - SMASHING it. I hit 5 or 6 balls and just absolutely toasted them all, nearly dead straight with a nice energetic flight and astounding distance - I hit the range net in the air, which is about 220 out. DAYUM! We both decided this is a club we definitely need to revisit in my full fitting.
Finally we moved to driver, where I hit my 913D2 to start. He was again a huge fan of the flight, but wanted to tinker with some shafts and heads to see where we could get things to go. First I tried a Vapor Flex with S+ 60 stiff, which I hit solidly with nice distance, but I tended to fan it a little bit. Then we gave the Big Bertha V-Series a shot with a Speeder shaft in it. This one probably gave me some of the better results - nice piercing flight and solid distance. Finally, he had me try the Covert 2.0 with a Kuro Kage stiff. Worked well and the shaft is quite stable so I couldn't hook it easily, but yet again we couldn't easily better my 913D2. We decided to table the driver discussion until the full studio fitting, but he agrees with me that I'm getting great results with my 913D2 as is and it's going to take something impressive to unseat it.
To close up, we did a little putter "fitting"/lesson. I hesitate to say true fitting since his SAM PuttLab isn't set up yet, but he did give me some tips on ball position - he noticed that I tend to need to aggressively close the face because the ball is too far back in my stance, which leads to inconsistent line. Sure enough, I moved the ball up in my stance and buried 3 12 footers in a row. That's a good sign! At this stage, he thinks my putter is a good length and lie, but he can't be sure until we get on the PuttLab.
So in summary, I think it was a good first pass at narrowing down some fitting information in advance of a full fitting. I wouldn't have wanted to pay much for this type of fitting, but it was great for a free fitting as he spent about an hour and a half with me. And it was a great way to have a better idea what to start with when we have a full studio fitting. I plan on going back for that within the next month or so, and won't make any kind of equipment moves until then.
For those curious, the fitter's name is Josh Williams at Swinomish Golf Links, (360) 293-3444. The full 2 hour fitting in the Performance Center once they are set up (by March 1st) will run $100, and include a dozen golf balls. I am going to hold the 2nd post to update with information from that fitting once I have it done.
Thanks for reading guys!
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