New Clubs

[r0wly86]

Finally after 16 years playing with my Ping i3+ irons and 10 years with my Titleist 909D3 driver, I am getting a new set built for me.

Going for my fitting a week on Friday and I feel like a kid the week before Christmas, literally cannot wait. None of my friends seem to care so thought I share my excitement on here as everyone here loves new shiny sticks.

I am also getting biomatched so will do a write up of my experience if anyone is interested

 

[Deleted member 21258]

Enjoy, look forward to reading the write up.

What is biomatched ?

 

[r0wly86]

Enjoy, look forward to reading the write up.

What is biomatched ?

There's a lot of info on the interweb which can better describe it than me, but as I understand it is a more technical way of weighting the club compared to swing weighting, where the fitter will put in counterweights into the butt of the club that have been worked out with all the data and an algorithmic. So the clubs in theory will be perfectly weighted for your swing.

The results I have seen have been very impressive on helping dispersion.

 

[PJ87]

Finally after 16 years playing with my Ping i3+ irons and 10 years with my Titleist 909D3 driver, I am getting a new set built for me.

Going for my fitting a week on Friday and I feel like a kid the week before Christmas, literally cannot wait. None of my friends seem to care so thought I share my excitement on here as everyone here loves new shiny sticks.

I am also getting biomatched so will do a write up of my experience if anyone is interested

Nothing beats the feeling of a new club

If it’s second hand
Brand new
Off the shelf
Custom fit

New clubs feel brilliant

Buying them is great

Specially after a long wait

 

[Fabia999]

Nothing beats a new set of clubs. I waited about 5 working days for my irons to be delivered. Played a round of golf in between and I couldn't concentrate.

Enjoy the fitting, its great fun.

 

[GG26]

Hope you enjoy the fitting and that the clubs work well. I understand the excitement.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Finally after 16 years playing with my Ping i3+ irons and 10 years with my Titleist 909D3 driver, I am getting a new set built for me.

Going for my fitting a week on Friday and I feel like a kid the week before Christmas, literally cannot wait. None of my friends seem to care so thought I share my excitement on here as everyone here loves new shiny sticks.

I am also getting biomatched so will do a write up of my experience if anyone is interested

My son plays golf but is away at university. When I play or buy something new I turn to my wife and daughter who don't care, I come to work, no one plays. I either text my son or come on here. We all need a release for the excitement, it is part of the pleasure.

 

[Imurg]

Hope the new bats work out.
I find that, unless you're doing a full bag fitting, you end up tweaking top and bottom of the bag as well.
Usually you hear of a fitting gaining someone 10 yards or a full club more...well that puts your strongest iron 10 yards closer to your hybrid/fairway and it takes your weakest iron 10 yards away from your strongest wedge....and you end up with 11 new clubs instead of 6 or 7...

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Finally after 16 years playing with my Ping i3+ irons and 10 years with my Titleist 909D3 driver, I am getting a new set built for me.

Going for my fitting a week on Friday and I feel like a kid the week before Christmas, literally cannot wait. None of my friends seem to care so thought I share my excitement on here as everyone here loves new shiny sticks.

I am also getting biomatched so will do a write up of my experience if anyone is interested

Where are you going and what is biomatched? I would pay attention to the bottom end of the bag as its the wedges down to 7 or 8 that are the scoring clubs and ones you want to hit the most consistently and with smallest dispersion, not only in terms of left and right, but from front to back too. Enjoy

 

[albie999]

Have you decided on any particular brand, or just going to try a few to start, and take it from there

I have been contemplating going for a fitting, but at the moment I have no idea what brand to lean towards, as to be honest don't favour any particular brand really. So if I went for a fitting, would I need to have a brand in mind to be able to fit to them?

 

[r0wly86]

I'll just do one reply to everyone.

Going to Designer Golf in Daventry, had my 3 wood reshafted by Steve and he did an excellent job, and my dad had a new driver from him.

I'm not set on any particular club, although the Orka and Grindworks have caught my eye aesthetically so interested to see how they go. I say I will go with the best numbers, but I am after something forged, possibly a blade and want a slightly lower trajectory so I will take into account that and feel.

I got new wedges last year (thanks GM) so if the new irons gap well with them then I may just keep them. If however I need new wedges to keep the gapping consistent then I will do.

Looking for driver, fairway wood, irons don't know whether to go 5-9 and a hybrid or 4-9 I guess we will see, and potentially wedges if needed.

for the very nerdy this is a report on biomatch from the creator https://www.rational-golf.com/asset...ubs-2018-845b89212c5a1c1d68643871a2ca0345.pdf
otherwise here is a video https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&r...=Th37s3wvmqU&usg=AOvVaw2pM6SFs7l527yc-RoQsOR2

 

[r0wly86]

So went for my fitting on Friday, also had my wife fitted for some clubs, she's been playing a while and has a Wilson starter 1/2 set so wanted to upgrade her to a full set.

Arrived at 10:30 and met Steve, I had met him before a couple of years ago but he remembered everything and was very chatty about everything.

My wife went first, a few warm up shots then onto the flightscope or whatever it was, sorry can't remember. What I liked was that he had a whole range of balls but made sure each of us were hitting the not only the same ball each time, but that they were the right ball for our swing speeds.

My wife was hitting her 7 iron, right of the bat he new they were too long, not difficult as my wife is 5' and she has off the shelf clubs. She was hitting her 7 iron between 80 and 100 yards with a lot being pushed out right (she's a lefty to boot) or hooking them around. He said that was very common for clubs that are too long as you will tend to dig the heel in and cause the face to twist, she was also catching a lot fat, again due to the length.

Initially he said the shafts were a pretty good fit and so he could just make them the right height for no charge, but I reminded him she needed a full set. So we tried out firstly a bright pink Yonex shaft, this bumped up distance a little, tightened dispersion and got her smash factor from 1.1 to 1.3 and her launch angle from 12 to 23 degrees, a big improvement. Then we tried the Hiskei IT50 shaft, not pink to my wife's relief. Smash factor got up to high 1.3 to low 1.4s distance up to 120. This was all with a Yonex head I should add.

After a few more shots it was decided the Hiskei was the way to go, so then we selected the head. Side note the difference between the Yonex ladies head and men's head was the men's had a red stripe on the back the ladies had a pink stripe, why on earth do manufacturers think all women want to play and wear nothing but pink.

So we went through the game improvement stock and had a look at Yonex, Wishon, ORKA. Ended up going for the ORKA CTi 5-SW the performance was up there with everything else and was slightly cheaper, plus my wife liked the green on the back.

My turn, jumped on the flightscope and much the same thing. Hitting my 7i 170 with a 25 yard dispersion pattern. Steve said it was two things, firstly the clubs were too short for me causing me to squat down into the shot rather than being able to turn through the shot, and secondly the shafs are 16 years old and got very very stiff meaning I'm not getting any help from them and I'm having to overpower the shot.

He went straight for a Nippon NSPro 1150s, I tried it wish a Hiksei head, distance went up a club to 180 and dispersion went from 25 to 10 yards. Tried another one but not quite as good. Then my turn to look at heads, stuck to forged clubs, Mizuno, ORKA, Hiskei and ended up with the Grindworks MB-1 (picture below)

Very soft feeling, they are uncommon in the UK but forged at ENDO and a very good club. Discussing things further Steve suggested that I hard step my shafts, I had to ask, which means putting the 9 iron shaft in the 8, 8 in the 7 and so on and so forth. He thought it would give me greater consistency, but said if it doesn't work he'll just move the shafts back again.

Finally opted for CHAMPKEY grips with less of taper to quiten down my right hand.

The components have been ordered and once assembled I'll go back for the biomatch fitting, that way he can gap them and do the biomatch in my wedges as well so everything swings the same

 

[Grant85]

So went for my fitting on Friday, also had my wife fitted for some clubs, she's been playing a while and has a Wilson starter 1/2 set so wanted to upgrade her to a full set.

Arrived at 10:30 and met Steve, I had met him before a couple of years ago but he remembered everything and was very chatty about everything.

My wife went first, a few warm up shots then onto the flightscope or whatever it was, sorry can't remember. What I liked was that he had a whole range of balls but made sure each of us were hitting the not only the same ball each time, but that they were the right ball for our swing speeds.

My wife was hitting her 7 iron, right of the bat he new they were too long, not difficult as my wife is 5' and she has off the shelf clubs. She was hitting her 7 iron between 80 and 100 yards with a lot being pushed out right (she's a lefty to boot) or hooking them around. He said that was very common for clubs that are too long as you will tend to dig the heel in and cause the face to twist, she was also catching a lot fat, again due to the length.

Initially he said the shafts were a pretty good fit and so he could just make them the right height for no charge, but I reminded him she needed a full set. So we tried out firstly a bright pink Yonex shaft, this bumped up distance a little, tightened dispersion and got her smash factor from 1.1 to 1.3 and her launch angle from 12 to 23 degrees, a big improvement. Then we tried the Hiskei IT50 shaft, not pink to my wife's relief. Smash factor got up to high 1.3 to low 1.4s distance up to 120. This was all with a Yonex head I should add.

After a few more shots it was decided the Hiskei was the way to go, so then we selected the head. Side note the difference between the Yonex ladies head and men's head was the men's had a red stripe on the back the ladies had a pink stripe, why on earth do manufacturers think all women want to play and wear nothing but pink.

So we went through the game improvement stock and had a look at Yonex, Wishon, ORKA. Ended up going for the ORKA CTi 5-SW the performance was up there with everything else and was slightly cheaper, plus my wife liked the green on the back.

My turn, jumped on the flightscope and much the same thing. Hitting my 7i 170 with a 25 yard dispersion pattern. Steve said it was two things, firstly the clubs were too short for me causing me to squat down into the shot rather than being able to turn through the shot, and secondly the shafs are 16 years old and got very very stiff meaning I'm not getting any help from them and I'm having to overpower the shot.

He went straight for a Nippon NSPro 1150s, I tried it wish a Hiksei head, distance went up a club to 180 and dispersion went from 25 to 10 yards. Tried another one but not quite as good. Then my turn to look at heads, stuck to forged clubs, Mizuno, ORKA, Hiskei and ended up with the Grindworks MB-1 (picture below)

Very soft feeling, they are uncommon in the UK but forged at ENDO and a very good club. Discussing things further Steve suggested that I hard step my shafts, I had to ask, which means putting the 9 iron shaft in the 8, 8 in the 7 and so on and so forth. He thought it would give me greater consistency, but said if it doesn't work he'll just move the shafts back again.

Finally opted for CHAMPKEY grips with less of taper to quiten down my right hand.

The components have been ordered and once assembled I'll go back for the biomatch fitting, that way he can gap them and do the biomatch in my wedges as well so everything swings the same

Very detailed. But will it lower your scores?


I always end up in 2 minds about spending that time, effort and money on a set of golf clubs.

My irons are a set of TM Burners that I got in 2013. Brand new they were probably £350 or so when I got them.
Nought wrong with them and hit them great. I'd be amazed if I got a huge performance benefit out of new clubs.

However... at some point I will have to change them - and I also like shiny new things. It seems a new set of irons are up to about £700 so I guess it will probably worth going the extra few hundred and doing something like this kind of thing as I will probably have them 10 years or more.

 

[r0wly86]

Very detailed. But will it lower your scores?


I always end up in 2 minds about spending that time, effort and money on a set of golf clubs.

My irons are a set of TM Burners that I got in 2013. Brand new they were probably £350 or so when I got them.
Nought wrong with them and hit them great. I'd be amazed if I got a huge performance benefit out of new clubs.

However... at some point I will have to change them - and I also like shiny new things. It seems a new set of irons are up to about £700 so I guess it will probably worth going the extra few hundred and doing something like this kind of thing as I will probably have them 10 years or more.

I've been playing my current irons for 16 years, spent a lot of time thinking about type of club to move onto.

So got my current clubs when I was 16 playing off 20,I'm now 32 and now off 8. I'd like a forged club for better feel and shout making etc

After biomatch he reckons dispersion for the 7 iron will be around 5 yards, compare that to 25 yards with my current set should mean much lower scores, especially on par 3s where I'm less than consistent.

If imagine ill get a lot of years out of these clubs

 

[Grant85]

So got my current clubs when I was 16 playing off 20,I'm now 32 and now off 8. I'd like a forged club for better feel and shout making etc

Not being cynical, but would be interested to hear the theory behind this point.
What do you think a forged club can do that a cavity back can't?

Appreciate you are at a decent level so need to make the most of short irons and wedges.

 

[MendieGK]

Shock. The CTI performed at a lower price point.

 

[r0wly86]

Not being cynical, but would be interested to hear the theory behind this point.
What do you think a forged club can do that a cavity back can't?

Appreciate you are at a decent level so need to make the most of short irons and wedges.

Forged heads feel softer, giving more feedback through the hands, I've gone for muscle backs over cavity.

Cavity backs are designed to get the ball up and stable, by moving the mass of the club from the back to the perimeter. This keeps the club stable, which is great for higher handicappers. Not so great if you want to control the flight path more.

The muscle backs with less offset and no perimeter weighting will allow me to shape shots better

 

[r0wly86]

Shock. The CTI performed at a lower price point.

Good looking club too

 

[Bazzatron]

Good write up mate, interested to see how the bio stuff goes.

 

[MendieGK]

Good looking club too

Which of our irons did you look at? The RS10 MB?