Forum opportunity - American Golf Experience
- Thread starter MikeH
- Start date
dufferman
Journeyman Pro
I fall into the 'great looking on video & in photos - must pick for model-esque comp winners' catagory.
Alex1975
Tour Winner
I fall into the 'great looking on video & in photos - must pick for model-esque comp winners' catagory.
Loving this!! Have a great day!
duncan mackie
Money List Winner
:whoo:
I guess they weren't really firm categories.....more like loose recommendations
Tiger
Money List Winner
Have a great day chaps
TXL
Q-School Graduate
I have to be honest and say I did not really know what to expect from this opportunity. I was pleased when Paul introduced me to John, the AG fitter who is PGA qualified as opposed to some lad who is trying to sell the next "must have" clubs.
Having recently been fitted for my clubs I was expecting the results would be the same or very similar. With the driver, this was the case, but for the irons, there was a difference in the lie, I was using a Ping iron, the same as the one in my bag currently. It could be that my stance/swing on the days of the fittings were different, I will have to check this again at a later date.
After the fitting section we went into the lesson part of the session. John had obviously watched my swing but asked me to hit a few more balls and then gave some pointers as to how I could improve my ball striking. A couple of things here to work on over the next few weeks. Once I bed the changes in I think I will get the fitting done again to check the lie and, if necessary, get the clubs altered.
The final part was for a video session with Paul O'Hagan of GM and a photo session. No doubt these will appear on either the website or in a future copy of the magazine.
All in, the session was well worth it. If the same level of service is provided in all AG stores, I think it will change the views of some of the doubters I have seen on various forums.
Many thanks to Mike and Paul from GM for arranging the session and to John at AG for running the valuable session. :thup:
Having recently been fitted for my clubs I was expecting the results would be the same or very similar. With the driver, this was the case, but for the irons, there was a difference in the lie, I was using a Ping iron, the same as the one in my bag currently. It could be that my stance/swing on the days of the fittings were different, I will have to check this again at a later date.
After the fitting section we went into the lesson part of the session. John had obviously watched my swing but asked me to hit a few more balls and then gave some pointers as to how I could improve my ball striking. A couple of things here to work on over the next few weeks. Once I bed the changes in I think I will get the fitting done again to check the lie and, if necessary, get the clubs altered.
The final part was for a video session with Paul O'Hagan of GM and a photo session. No doubt these will appear on either the website or in a future copy of the magazine.
All in, the session was well worth it. If the same level of service is provided in all AG stores, I think it will change the views of some of the doubters I have seen on various forums.
Many thanks to Mike and Paul from GM for arranging the session and to John at AG for running the valuable session. :thup:
duncan mackie
Money List Winner
expecting or hoping?
anyhow, sounds like a good session all round and I hope you posted this from a nice bar in the area :thup:
TXL
Q-School Graduate
Wish it was, but sadly it was after I got home.
duncan mackie
Money List Winner
my fault - I should have arranged to meet for refreshment and saved you from the early return...
I miss those 5 hour quick evening drinks in town before heading home
dufferman
Journeyman Pro
I too found the afternoon a really good experience.
John took some info from me to start - wrist to floor measurement, grip & glove size etc. He then let me loose with the new G30 7 iron, hitting some shots off the deck and on the lie & loft board.
I'd always been told that I was 'Mr Regular' when it came to loft and lie, and off the shelf was perfect. Immediately we saw that .75 upright (Ping Blue Dot) was actually right for me. The marks on the sole from the board was dead center. Perfect.
I then hit some shots with the SpeedBlades. Having Taylormade RBZ irons, I wanted to see the comparison in distance and accuracy.
Surprisingly, the off the shelf irons worked. I asked if it was my inconsistent swing - John then told me that as part of TaylorMade's quest to hit it longer, the off the shelf clubs are usually a little more upright to begin with. Very interesting.
My dispersion was actually better with the SpeedBlades than the G30s, and I was told my shaft recommendation was slap bang in between reg & stiff. He then popped in some KBS Tour 90g C Tapered shafts in regular, which added an extra 3 or 4 yards to my distance. Ideal.
We moved onto the driver, and hit some drives with the new G30. I was able to pull a few draws which was nice, mainly because John also started giving me the lesson part of the day. Some slight swing changes got me hitting it straighter and longer, with more consistency!
All this in an hour. The time flew by, but I also felt that I'd got enough to go away and play with, without being overwhelmed by the whole thing.
Overall, the day was a real eye-opener to see not only how my swing could benefit from a few tweaks, but how I can gain more yardage and accuracy with a custom fit, not just off the shelf clubs! Even at a 21 handicap, a tighter dispersion alone can help my game, let alone a few extra yards.
John was a really nice bloke - he is actually based in Northolt's AG where the old Limetrees GC was, which is a huge new AG store (1 year old I think? Maybe 2). After the custom fit for the irons, and a voucher from the day too, I'm sorely tempted to put off buying the new bag I desperately need and see if he can do me a deal on the SpeedBlades!
Thanks again to Paul and the GM crew for putting on another great opportunity. May there be many more for years to come!
John took some info from me to start - wrist to floor measurement, grip & glove size etc. He then let me loose with the new G30 7 iron, hitting some shots off the deck and on the lie & loft board.
I'd always been told that I was 'Mr Regular' when it came to loft and lie, and off the shelf was perfect. Immediately we saw that .75 upright (Ping Blue Dot) was actually right for me. The marks on the sole from the board was dead center. Perfect.
I then hit some shots with the SpeedBlades. Having Taylormade RBZ irons, I wanted to see the comparison in distance and accuracy.
Surprisingly, the off the shelf irons worked. I asked if it was my inconsistent swing - John then told me that as part of TaylorMade's quest to hit it longer, the off the shelf clubs are usually a little more upright to begin with. Very interesting.
My dispersion was actually better with the SpeedBlades than the G30s, and I was told my shaft recommendation was slap bang in between reg & stiff. He then popped in some KBS Tour 90g C Tapered shafts in regular, which added an extra 3 or 4 yards to my distance. Ideal.
We moved onto the driver, and hit some drives with the new G30. I was able to pull a few draws which was nice, mainly because John also started giving me the lesson part of the day. Some slight swing changes got me hitting it straighter and longer, with more consistency!
All this in an hour. The time flew by, but I also felt that I'd got enough to go away and play with, without being overwhelmed by the whole thing.
Overall, the day was a real eye-opener to see not only how my swing could benefit from a few tweaks, but how I can gain more yardage and accuracy with a custom fit, not just off the shelf clubs! Even at a 21 handicap, a tighter dispersion alone can help my game, let alone a few extra yards.
John was a really nice bloke - he is actually based in Northolt's AG where the old Limetrees GC was, which is a huge new AG store (1 year old I think? Maybe 2). After the custom fit for the irons, and a voucher from the day too, I'm sorely tempted to put off buying the new bag I desperately need and see if he can do me a deal on the SpeedBlades!
Thanks again to Paul and the GM crew for putting on another great opportunity. May there be many more for years to come!
Wilf
Club Champion
Totally agree with dufferman and TXL, the experience was very enjoyable and interesting.
John was great and adapted the boot camp very well to fit with my dodgy golf swing.
Initially as per the previous two we started by taking static measurements and compared my recently purchased irons to the fittings. Everything was good so we moved onto hitting my 6 iron to check lie's and strike. I have been battling my swing for the last couple of months and been playing quite badly and fortunately this was still the case as I attempted to hit my 6 iron.
John pretty quickly switched from checking my clubs into the lesson and the next 30 minutes were spent on my swing, changing my grip pretty significantly, shift in my weight distribution and generating a swing thought in my head that created a full shoulder turn without going anywhere near attempting to hit a golf ball, purely focusing on practice swings and getting used to the feeling.
The improvement once a golf ball was reintroduced was immediate and dramatic with a consistent, powerful contact and ball flight resulting from the swing and I was back enjoying the Mizuno feel from a well struck iron shot.
Back into the iron fitting and after the lesson my irons were fit exactly right at 2 degrees upright.
We then reviewed the rest of my bag and the launch monitor highlighted that my driver was totally unsuited to my swing and I was fighting the shaft to try and get results. We switched to a G30 with a shaft that has less torque and again there was immediately significant gains in distance and dispersion.
The fairway and hybrid were a similar story so once I get the new grip and swing bedded in I can see a complete overhaul of top end of my bag being a priority.
The two main takeaways I got from the day was
1) to have lessons much more frequently as it was pretty clear that I had picked up a couple of very bad swing habits over a relatively short period of time. If I am consistently playing badly there will be a reason (or 3) and therefore the quicker it is identified the easier it will be to fix / break the habit.
2) the importance of custom fit and the use of a launch monitor. I will still hit several drivers on a driving range on my own first to get a short list of ones I liked the look and feel of but will definitely be using a custom fit for the final decision / purchase.
As an aside talking to John Northolt's AG and the development in facilities and courses going on there sounds very impressive and well worth a visit for anybody in that area.
Thanks again to Paul, John and GM for this opportunity.
John was great and adapted the boot camp very well to fit with my dodgy golf swing.
Initially as per the previous two we started by taking static measurements and compared my recently purchased irons to the fittings. Everything was good so we moved onto hitting my 6 iron to check lie's and strike. I have been battling my swing for the last couple of months and been playing quite badly and fortunately this was still the case as I attempted to hit my 6 iron.
John pretty quickly switched from checking my clubs into the lesson and the next 30 minutes were spent on my swing, changing my grip pretty significantly, shift in my weight distribution and generating a swing thought in my head that created a full shoulder turn without going anywhere near attempting to hit a golf ball, purely focusing on practice swings and getting used to the feeling.
The improvement once a golf ball was reintroduced was immediate and dramatic with a consistent, powerful contact and ball flight resulting from the swing and I was back enjoying the Mizuno feel from a well struck iron shot.
Back into the iron fitting and after the lesson my irons were fit exactly right at 2 degrees upright.
We then reviewed the rest of my bag and the launch monitor highlighted that my driver was totally unsuited to my swing and I was fighting the shaft to try and get results. We switched to a G30 with a shaft that has less torque and again there was immediately significant gains in distance and dispersion.
The fairway and hybrid were a similar story so once I get the new grip and swing bedded in I can see a complete overhaul of top end of my bag being a priority.
The two main takeaways I got from the day was
1) to have lessons much more frequently as it was pretty clear that I had picked up a couple of very bad swing habits over a relatively short period of time. If I am consistently playing badly there will be a reason (or 3) and therefore the quicker it is identified the easier it will be to fix / break the habit.
2) the importance of custom fit and the use of a launch monitor. I will still hit several drivers on a driving range on my own first to get a short list of ones I liked the look and feel of but will definitely be using a custom fit for the final decision / purchase.
As an aside talking to John Northolt's AG and the development in facilities and courses going on there sounds very impressive and well worth a visit for anybody in that area.
Thanks again to Paul, John and GM for this opportunity.
