tallpaul
Head Pro
Play Your Best Challenge 2012 – Break 100
If you’ve already read Toad’s write-up, you’ll be aware of the general format of the visit to Gainsborough:
http://forums.golf-monthly.co.uk/showthread.php?38014-Play-your-best-challenge
Although I went through the same process, my experience was somewhat different. Being in the Break-100 category meant the fitting was very much about finding the sticks which could offer greater consistency and provide maximum forgiveness. My fitter for the day was Nick Bolton, a pro who’d been with PING for 25 years. After laughing at my ‘bobby dazzler’ white golf shoes, he talked me through the fitting process and we started by taking some measurements and talking about my game; things like shot shape and typical distances.
Using a launch monitor and PING’s nFlight software, I hit a few shots with my current 7-iron to take a look at my typical distances. I’d said that 140-145yds was typical and the monitor agreed. Based on my height, wrist to floor and hand measurements, we started by looking at a G20 7-iron with gold grips (+1/32â€), +0.5†regular shaft and white head (3° upright). A few shots with these were showing quite a wide dispersion, so Nick got me to hit a few from the impact board. This showed that I was impacting a little off the toe, so he changed the head to a more upright lie of +3.75° (silver dot). This improved things but Nick wanted to see what difference a more forgiving head would make so he swapped over to a K15 in the same spec. I really didn’t get on well with this, my shot dispersion was much wider and the much thicker sole was affecting my ball striking. Nick put me back to the G20 and we looked at some different shaft options. Nick didn’t tell me what shaft he was fitting, just to give feedback on how each one felt; aside from noticing one was heavier I couldn’t tell the difference between them so we went back to the regular steel CFS. Both Nick and I were satisfied that the G20 had produced the most consistent results of the morning so we moved on to the longer irons.
Despite owning the 3 & 4 irons for my current set, I’d never really used them and had replaced them with hybrids. Nick agreed this would be the most suitable approach for my fitting so we looked at 20° and 23° G20’s. The software showed that I was generating far too much spin so Nick suggested looking at a different shaft to bring this down. He swapped the regular TFC 169H for the Tour version and this showed an instant improvement, job done! I was fitted for G20’s in 3 & 4 hybrids and irons from 5 – SW.
At this point we took a break from swinging golf clubs and went to the putting area. Nick asked how I felt about my putting; I told him it was very erratic - recently I’ve had extremes of 31 to 41 putts between rounds! My current putter is face-balanced and designed for a straight back and forth stroke. Using the iPing app, Nick wanted to assess my current technique before recommending some options to try. After hitting 5 balls, the app was showing my stroke as Strong-Arc. As this was such a different stroke type to that for which my current putter is designed, he made me do it again! After another 5 balls I was still coming out with Strong-Arc; this could explain my inconsistent putting… John picked 5 putters for me to try and let me practice until I felt comfortable with one. I chose a Karsten My Day, simply a classic design. The iPing app recommended a 35.5†shaft with standard loft and lie, so that’s what was chosen.
So, now it was time for the big one; Driver fitting. My current driver is 10.5° regular and I hit a very high launch and can produce a big fade/slice. If I hold back I can hit a pretty straight shot, but Nick wanted to see how the fitting could improve my shot when I was going for it. The launch monitor confirmed the high launch angle of my current club so the first club Nick suggested was a 9.5° G20. While the angle came down the spin was too high and I was still hitting big fades. He swapped the shaft to the same TFC 169H Tour version that we’d chosen for my Hybrids, while it did reduce the spin I was still hitting too much fade. Nick noticed I was setting the ball very forward in my stance and recommended bringing it back a little which helped to reduce the fade but, with a full swing, I was still losing distance. At this point Nick suggested looking at the K15, he was hesitant as he knew I would be getting coaching that would improve my driving but at the moment I just couldn’t get the best from a G20. The difference the K15 made was incredible, suddenly shots were flying true; the slightly closed face and heel weighting was giving me a much squarer impact and the results spoke for themselves.
Moving on to fairway woods, I told Nick that despite having a 3-wood in the bag, I never use it off the deck. I struggle to get it in the air and it lacks accuracy. He setup a K15 in the same spec as the driver and I proceeded to demonstrate just how badly I can hit a golf-ball. Nick thought this was purely a confidence issue so spec’d up a 5 wood instead. I was immediately launching shots long and true, another club successfully chosen!
The final part of the fitting looked at wedges. I currently have 52, 56 & 60° wedges in my bag but I never use the 60°. Nick agreed that a 60° was a tough club to use so suggested a 58° instead, I also needed something to use from 100 – 110yds out, to bridge the gap to my G20 PW; for this Nick proposed a 50°. He set up a pair of Tour-S wedges in matching spec to my irons. I was hitting these as well as I’d hit anything all day and happily agreed to them going in the bag.
So, that was it. After 2 ½ hours of fitting my new clubs were chosen and the specs ready to be sent to the factory:
Driver: K15 9.5 Degree, TFC 169 Tour Reg at std length, id8 Gold Grip
Fairway Wood: K15 5 Wood, TFC 169 Tour Reg at std length, Id8 Gold Grip
Hybrids: G20 20,23 Degrees, TFC 169 Tour Reg at +1/2â€, ID8 Gold Grip
Irons: G20 5-9PWSW, CFS Reg +1/2â€, Silver c/c, id8 Gold Grip
Wedges: Tour S 50,58, CFS Reg +1/2â€, Silver c/c, id8 Gold Grip
Putter: Karsten 1959 Myday at 35.5†Black c/c
Four hours later the PING factory had produced them:
Thank you so much to PING and Golf Monthly. The day at Gainsborough was absolutely incredible. When I get more time I will write some more on how I’m getting on with the clubs and detail on the fitness, nutrition and mind coaching.
Cheers,
Paul
If you’ve already read Toad’s write-up, you’ll be aware of the general format of the visit to Gainsborough:
http://forums.golf-monthly.co.uk/showthread.php?38014-Play-your-best-challenge
Although I went through the same process, my experience was somewhat different. Being in the Break-100 category meant the fitting was very much about finding the sticks which could offer greater consistency and provide maximum forgiveness. My fitter for the day was Nick Bolton, a pro who’d been with PING for 25 years. After laughing at my ‘bobby dazzler’ white golf shoes, he talked me through the fitting process and we started by taking some measurements and talking about my game; things like shot shape and typical distances.
Using a launch monitor and PING’s nFlight software, I hit a few shots with my current 7-iron to take a look at my typical distances. I’d said that 140-145yds was typical and the monitor agreed. Based on my height, wrist to floor and hand measurements, we started by looking at a G20 7-iron with gold grips (+1/32â€), +0.5†regular shaft and white head (3° upright). A few shots with these were showing quite a wide dispersion, so Nick got me to hit a few from the impact board. This showed that I was impacting a little off the toe, so he changed the head to a more upright lie of +3.75° (silver dot). This improved things but Nick wanted to see what difference a more forgiving head would make so he swapped over to a K15 in the same spec. I really didn’t get on well with this, my shot dispersion was much wider and the much thicker sole was affecting my ball striking. Nick put me back to the G20 and we looked at some different shaft options. Nick didn’t tell me what shaft he was fitting, just to give feedback on how each one felt; aside from noticing one was heavier I couldn’t tell the difference between them so we went back to the regular steel CFS. Both Nick and I were satisfied that the G20 had produced the most consistent results of the morning so we moved on to the longer irons.
Despite owning the 3 & 4 irons for my current set, I’d never really used them and had replaced them with hybrids. Nick agreed this would be the most suitable approach for my fitting so we looked at 20° and 23° G20’s. The software showed that I was generating far too much spin so Nick suggested looking at a different shaft to bring this down. He swapped the regular TFC 169H for the Tour version and this showed an instant improvement, job done! I was fitted for G20’s in 3 & 4 hybrids and irons from 5 – SW.
At this point we took a break from swinging golf clubs and went to the putting area. Nick asked how I felt about my putting; I told him it was very erratic - recently I’ve had extremes of 31 to 41 putts between rounds! My current putter is face-balanced and designed for a straight back and forth stroke. Using the iPing app, Nick wanted to assess my current technique before recommending some options to try. After hitting 5 balls, the app was showing my stroke as Strong-Arc. As this was such a different stroke type to that for which my current putter is designed, he made me do it again! After another 5 balls I was still coming out with Strong-Arc; this could explain my inconsistent putting… John picked 5 putters for me to try and let me practice until I felt comfortable with one. I chose a Karsten My Day, simply a classic design. The iPing app recommended a 35.5†shaft with standard loft and lie, so that’s what was chosen.
So, now it was time for the big one; Driver fitting. My current driver is 10.5° regular and I hit a very high launch and can produce a big fade/slice. If I hold back I can hit a pretty straight shot, but Nick wanted to see how the fitting could improve my shot when I was going for it. The launch monitor confirmed the high launch angle of my current club so the first club Nick suggested was a 9.5° G20. While the angle came down the spin was too high and I was still hitting big fades. He swapped the shaft to the same TFC 169H Tour version that we’d chosen for my Hybrids, while it did reduce the spin I was still hitting too much fade. Nick noticed I was setting the ball very forward in my stance and recommended bringing it back a little which helped to reduce the fade but, with a full swing, I was still losing distance. At this point Nick suggested looking at the K15, he was hesitant as he knew I would be getting coaching that would improve my driving but at the moment I just couldn’t get the best from a G20. The difference the K15 made was incredible, suddenly shots were flying true; the slightly closed face and heel weighting was giving me a much squarer impact and the results spoke for themselves.
Moving on to fairway woods, I told Nick that despite having a 3-wood in the bag, I never use it off the deck. I struggle to get it in the air and it lacks accuracy. He setup a K15 in the same spec as the driver and I proceeded to demonstrate just how badly I can hit a golf-ball. Nick thought this was purely a confidence issue so spec’d up a 5 wood instead. I was immediately launching shots long and true, another club successfully chosen!
The final part of the fitting looked at wedges. I currently have 52, 56 & 60° wedges in my bag but I never use the 60°. Nick agreed that a 60° was a tough club to use so suggested a 58° instead, I also needed something to use from 100 – 110yds out, to bridge the gap to my G20 PW; for this Nick proposed a 50°. He set up a pair of Tour-S wedges in matching spec to my irons. I was hitting these as well as I’d hit anything all day and happily agreed to them going in the bag.
So, that was it. After 2 ½ hours of fitting my new clubs were chosen and the specs ready to be sent to the factory:
Driver: K15 9.5 Degree, TFC 169 Tour Reg at std length, id8 Gold Grip
Fairway Wood: K15 5 Wood, TFC 169 Tour Reg at std length, Id8 Gold Grip
Hybrids: G20 20,23 Degrees, TFC 169 Tour Reg at +1/2â€, ID8 Gold Grip
Irons: G20 5-9PWSW, CFS Reg +1/2â€, Silver c/c, id8 Gold Grip
Wedges: Tour S 50,58, CFS Reg +1/2â€, Silver c/c, id8 Gold Grip
Putter: Karsten 1959 Myday at 35.5†Black c/c
Four hours later the PING factory had produced them:
Thank you so much to PING and Golf Monthly. The day at Gainsborough was absolutely incredible. When I get more time I will write some more on how I’m getting on with the clubs and detail on the fitness, nutrition and mind coaching.
Cheers,
Paul
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