TheSliceMaster
Hacker
Hi guys
Have just been to a fitting at the Belfry and had a very enjoyable 2 hours trying different clubs and shafts. I am a 14 handicapper who can play single figures when scoring well. Generally score in low 80s. I have a smooth swing and have been told I have good tempo. Tried the following clubs – Titleist AP1, Titleist AP2, Ping G15, Ping i15, Mizuno JPX800, Mizuno JPX800 pro, Taylormade Burner 2.0. Tried these clubs with various shafts. The clubs that showed the best combination of ball speed, smash factor and dispersion were the AP1s and the JPX800, but the AP1s just felt better to me and when I caught it right went the furthest and had the lowest spin rates. I was told based on my swing speed – varied between 85-90mph (generally it was about 86mph) with a 6 iron that I was between regular and stiff. In the end the best shaft was decided to be the Nippon pro 150t in regular (110g). This was based on how it felt to me when striking the ball and visually looking where the ball went (I am coming from graphite shafts weighing 55g!) and also based on the results on the computer ie smash factor, dispersion etc. The heavier and stiffer shafts just didn’t feel as good to me and the results were that my swing speed dropped to about 82mph with the stiffer shafts and I lost 5 or so yards in distance – smash factor also dropped quite a bit – it was only 1.30 to start with. The balls leaked more to the right with stiff as well and I rarely flushed one.
I am 6’1†and have quite long arms so the results showed +1/4 inch in length. I currently have +1/2 inch so these will be shorter. We tried +1/2 inch and I did shank a couple so the fitter decided +1/2 inch was too long. I strike my balls out of the heel consistently – but he told me I was setting up off the heel end – whilst trying the +1/2 inch I tried to tee up nearer the toe and the strike was more central – but then the ball position varied with this length as I had swung differently! Lie was std.
So the recommendation was Titleist AP1, Nippon pro 150t regular shaft (most similar to the Nippon pro 1050 gh I believe), +1/4 inch length, std lie, midsize golfpride multicompound grips, 4 iron to PW.
I felt happy with this, but a mate is insistent that I should go for stiff shafts and says the Nippon’s are for girls! He asked if they recommended pink pinnacle balls as well! He is totally obsessed with stiff shafts and has all these exotic shafts in his set – but he plays off 7 and I am off 14 (although he has a similar swing speed I believe). He says I should go for another fitting somewhere else to see what they say – but this is getting expensive. But I found the stiffer shafts to be shorter and to have worse dispersion. I tend to hit fades with my long clubs and slight pulls with my shorter clubs so I think I should err on the softer rather than stiffer option which would only make things worse.
So my question is, based on my results, do the recommendations seem reasonable? Based on my swing speed (86mph) and smash factor (1.3) with a 6 iron (using range balls) does the 110g steel regular Nippon sound about right? With range balls the 6 iron was going between 156-160 yards. I am used to hitting my current 8 iron about 150 yards.
The reason for the new clubs is to get rid of the 55g graphite regular shafts in my r7 cgb max – The dispersion is terrible with them – huge variation in both distance and spread. They are also a bit chunky for me now – best round is 13 pars, 3 bogeys – but then had two disasters on 17,18 ! doh! For an 80 (par 71, SSS72, CSS72).
Any reassurance would be great as would any issues you can spot! Many thanks.
Have just been to a fitting at the Belfry and had a very enjoyable 2 hours trying different clubs and shafts. I am a 14 handicapper who can play single figures when scoring well. Generally score in low 80s. I have a smooth swing and have been told I have good tempo. Tried the following clubs – Titleist AP1, Titleist AP2, Ping G15, Ping i15, Mizuno JPX800, Mizuno JPX800 pro, Taylormade Burner 2.0. Tried these clubs with various shafts. The clubs that showed the best combination of ball speed, smash factor and dispersion were the AP1s and the JPX800, but the AP1s just felt better to me and when I caught it right went the furthest and had the lowest spin rates. I was told based on my swing speed – varied between 85-90mph (generally it was about 86mph) with a 6 iron that I was between regular and stiff. In the end the best shaft was decided to be the Nippon pro 150t in regular (110g). This was based on how it felt to me when striking the ball and visually looking where the ball went (I am coming from graphite shafts weighing 55g!) and also based on the results on the computer ie smash factor, dispersion etc. The heavier and stiffer shafts just didn’t feel as good to me and the results were that my swing speed dropped to about 82mph with the stiffer shafts and I lost 5 or so yards in distance – smash factor also dropped quite a bit – it was only 1.30 to start with. The balls leaked more to the right with stiff as well and I rarely flushed one.
I am 6’1†and have quite long arms so the results showed +1/4 inch in length. I currently have +1/2 inch so these will be shorter. We tried +1/2 inch and I did shank a couple so the fitter decided +1/2 inch was too long. I strike my balls out of the heel consistently – but he told me I was setting up off the heel end – whilst trying the +1/2 inch I tried to tee up nearer the toe and the strike was more central – but then the ball position varied with this length as I had swung differently! Lie was std.
So the recommendation was Titleist AP1, Nippon pro 150t regular shaft (most similar to the Nippon pro 1050 gh I believe), +1/4 inch length, std lie, midsize golfpride multicompound grips, 4 iron to PW.
I felt happy with this, but a mate is insistent that I should go for stiff shafts and says the Nippon’s are for girls! He asked if they recommended pink pinnacle balls as well! He is totally obsessed with stiff shafts and has all these exotic shafts in his set – but he plays off 7 and I am off 14 (although he has a similar swing speed I believe). He says I should go for another fitting somewhere else to see what they say – but this is getting expensive. But I found the stiffer shafts to be shorter and to have worse dispersion. I tend to hit fades with my long clubs and slight pulls with my shorter clubs so I think I should err on the softer rather than stiffer option which would only make things worse.
So my question is, based on my results, do the recommendations seem reasonable? Based on my swing speed (86mph) and smash factor (1.3) with a 6 iron (using range balls) does the 110g steel regular Nippon sound about right? With range balls the 6 iron was going between 156-160 yards. I am used to hitting my current 8 iron about 150 yards.
The reason for the new clubs is to get rid of the 55g graphite regular shafts in my r7 cgb max – The dispersion is terrible with them – huge variation in both distance and spread. They are also a bit chunky for me now – best round is 13 pars, 3 bogeys – but then had two disasters on 17,18 ! doh! For an 80 (par 71, SSS72, CSS72).
Any reassurance would be great as would any issues you can spot! Many thanks.
