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Tour Winner
I only live a few miles away from the store so have been in quite a few times and the guys recognise me from the visits over the last few months.*My 'pitch' for going along was quite simple, and to be honest I was shocked when asked to come along. Basically after purchasing my RBZ from the very same store (different fitter) I have really enjoyed using it, long straight shots are the norm but at my course we usually get quite a bit of wind and unless you have a low penetrating ball flight then your distance gets hammered. What I have seen lately is that my ball is ballooning a lot more (great for downwind but it comes down vertical when its hit into the wind). Secondly the distances between 3W and 3hybrid have been concerning me too, i really didn't have anything between the 205-225 range. So my aim was to see if anything could be done to help me out. Simples....
After the initial quick chat and some warming up for some stats, Dan and I discussed some more whilst looking at the figures that my initial shots showed up. Basically my figures were around 99mph swing speed and between 14-16 launch angle. Which is pretty much fine, but this is where the day took a bit of turn for me because he said that changing clubs would not necessarily be a fix. We could go a little lower launch by using the adjustability of the R11s, or maybe a different shaft but it wouldn't be achieving a lot. Another solution would be to look at my swing and try to tweak some things there. Basically my hands /arms do most of the work on my swing .... by reducing the scooping and working on that I could get a lower ball flight (and better roll out, and maybe even more distance).*
So having been invited for a fairway club fitting I may not actually be getting a new club, not the best start and to be honest I did feel a little disappointed at this point, but anyway ....
We progressed with trying some small swing changes to see how that might work. Moving my ball position and moving my hands to much more in front of the ball than previously and trying to maintain that shape through impact ... well it's obviously not an easy fix but when I swing and keep that position without letting my hands scoop the ball the results are much better, with an increase to 102mph ball speed and a drop of 2-3 on launch angle. This is definitely something that I need to work on but will clearly help me out in the long run.
So instead of a change of fairway wood we looked at the other end to reduce the gap between my hybrid and the RBZ, and we looked at a new hybrid instead
Selecting a similar loft and shaft type we came up with a Ping i20 and again trying out the new swing technique gave a great improvement compared to my old Cobra Baffler (as much as I love that club it is probably 6 years old now). The Ping head feels quite a lot heavier in comparison but the Ping shaft feels very nice to hit and I can certainly get more confident with the shots now, adding a good 10 yards to close those gaps now.
So after going in for a fairway fitting I ended up with a swing change instead. Dan was in fact quite insistent that I really didn't need to be changing clubs, and it's nice to see that AG fitters are not always the trying to flog you the very latest for just for the sake of it.
Another thing that I have come away is that the Trackman tools are a great tool, but you have to remember that they give you results based on a perfect day (75 degrees, no wind, nice fairway roll), even hitting out onto a range does not give you 100% confidence that the club is gonna perform when your playing on a course. There are just too many variables that will*change your ball flight and landing plus roll out. I came away with even more confidence that I have the best 3w that I can get, and now we'll see if I can translate the swing mechanics onto the course.
Thanks to Golf Monthly staff, and American Golf Basingstoke for this great opportunity, and even without coming away with a fairway wood I'm very happy with the outcome. Cheers*:thup:
After the initial quick chat and some warming up for some stats, Dan and I discussed some more whilst looking at the figures that my initial shots showed up. Basically my figures were around 99mph swing speed and between 14-16 launch angle. Which is pretty much fine, but this is where the day took a bit of turn for me because he said that changing clubs would not necessarily be a fix. We could go a little lower launch by using the adjustability of the R11s, or maybe a different shaft but it wouldn't be achieving a lot. Another solution would be to look at my swing and try to tweak some things there. Basically my hands /arms do most of the work on my swing .... by reducing the scooping and working on that I could get a lower ball flight (and better roll out, and maybe even more distance).*
So having been invited for a fairway club fitting I may not actually be getting a new club, not the best start and to be honest I did feel a little disappointed at this point, but anyway ....
We progressed with trying some small swing changes to see how that might work. Moving my ball position and moving my hands to much more in front of the ball than previously and trying to maintain that shape through impact ... well it's obviously not an easy fix but when I swing and keep that position without letting my hands scoop the ball the results are much better, with an increase to 102mph ball speed and a drop of 2-3 on launch angle. This is definitely something that I need to work on but will clearly help me out in the long run.
So instead of a change of fairway wood we looked at the other end to reduce the gap between my hybrid and the RBZ, and we looked at a new hybrid instead
Selecting a similar loft and shaft type we came up with a Ping i20 and again trying out the new swing technique gave a great improvement compared to my old Cobra Baffler (as much as I love that club it is probably 6 years old now). The Ping head feels quite a lot heavier in comparison but the Ping shaft feels very nice to hit and I can certainly get more confident with the shots now, adding a good 10 yards to close those gaps now.So after going in for a fairway fitting I ended up with a swing change instead. Dan was in fact quite insistent that I really didn't need to be changing clubs, and it's nice to see that AG fitters are not always the trying to flog you the very latest for just for the sake of it.
Another thing that I have come away is that the Trackman tools are a great tool, but you have to remember that they give you results based on a perfect day (75 degrees, no wind, nice fairway roll), even hitting out onto a range does not give you 100% confidence that the club is gonna perform when your playing on a course. There are just too many variables that will*change your ball flight and landing plus roll out. I came away with even more confidence that I have the best 3w that I can get, and now we'll see if I can translate the swing mechanics onto the course.
Thanks to Golf Monthly staff, and American Golf Basingstoke for this great opportunity, and even without coming away with a fairway wood I'm very happy with the outcome. Cheers*:thup:
