farfaeforfar
Assistant Pro
Thought I would post up a review of my custom fit session with Scott Gourlay at his new Elmwood Facility on the outskirts of Cupar, Fife. My particular fitting was on the 16[SUP]th[/SUP] so it happened to be a dry but horribly cold day, -1c and with windchill around -3 or -4. The Elmwood facility is really good and it’s a shame it’s just a little far from home as I would really like to use it more.
After the introductions and discussing what I was hoping to achieve from the morning we both agreed to keep the shutter down until later in the session and round off hitting balls onto the range should I settle on something. A lot to be said for Scott as he comes across really well and helps you settle into things.
I can’t go into the whole process as I know I’d miss something. So to summarise I hit my TA3 6 iron a number of times to get a base line and see what was happening on trackman. It showed what I knew was happening already, basically overly high flight, too much spin.
Scott prepared a couple of heads and shaft combos for me to try. Each time I tried a particular combination it would show an improvement in all the figures on trackman. This continued until I settled on a particular head and then worked through the shafts. What impressed me most was each time a suggestion was made, tried and tested you could see a definite improvement. Nothing huge, just gradual steps of improvement. Like honing in on a target, making sure that you don’t head down one direction only to find its wrong.
I managed to settle on the new Srixon 745’s 3-PW. I really liked the 545’s but felt the 745’s feel was very nearly as good but were just a little more foregiving on off centre hits. Just to be clear if you can consistently hit good clean shots the 545’s are the bees. If you want a little room for manoeuvre the 745’s are the way ahead. Distances were very similar on both heads, the 745’s better on the mi***** than the 545’s. I’m not posting any figures as I don’t want to get anything wrong. Unfortuantely my phone died completely that morning so I couldn’t get any photos either of the 745 with project X 5.5 combo I went for.
The same process followed for the 3 wood and Driver as per the irons. This is where things became a little more err, complicated. My swing showed it’s limits (read where I know the lessons are really needed) and after 1.5hrs swinging irons I think my swing had gone a little which didn't help. That said I hit the new Srixon fairway wood pretty well and I felt I could get a lot more from it than I was achieving. The new Srixon fairway was every bit as impressive as the new irons. It has a really nice punch, or zip from the face! Its trajectory was really pleasant also (when we moved on to the range I got to see what trackman had been showing me on screen). I hit a few drivers too, again the new Srixon driver felt good but I just couldn't get it to go but the same results were being seen with the Cleveland head I tried along with the Taylormade R15. So again highlighting a few lessons on hitting woods/drivers wouldn't go amiss plus I do think the time hitting irons in the cold had sapped me a little also.
I called it a day after I hit the Srixon 745 iron/shaft combo and 3 wood on the range to see I liked the flight etc. The driver and new Gap/Sand wedges will wait until March or April. As truth be told I blew my budget on the irons and 3 wood! I also want to do the find my distance session with the new irons too. So this gives me some time to fit a lesson or two in to work on the wood/driver swing.
Hopefully I haven’t bored anyone too much and have given a decent overview of the service received. It’s what I had expected a custom fit to be and a whole lot more to be honest. I’d recommend Scott’s custom fit without a second thought and will be using him again to sort out the last few clubs for the bag for 2015 and beyond. Key point here from my side is I know I can’t afford to change clubs again for a couple of years at a minimum so I’m confident this investment will see me through my playing return in 2015 and beyond.
After the introductions and discussing what I was hoping to achieve from the morning we both agreed to keep the shutter down until later in the session and round off hitting balls onto the range should I settle on something. A lot to be said for Scott as he comes across really well and helps you settle into things.
I can’t go into the whole process as I know I’d miss something. So to summarise I hit my TA3 6 iron a number of times to get a base line and see what was happening on trackman. It showed what I knew was happening already, basically overly high flight, too much spin.
Scott prepared a couple of heads and shaft combos for me to try. Each time I tried a particular combination it would show an improvement in all the figures on trackman. This continued until I settled on a particular head and then worked through the shafts. What impressed me most was each time a suggestion was made, tried and tested you could see a definite improvement. Nothing huge, just gradual steps of improvement. Like honing in on a target, making sure that you don’t head down one direction only to find its wrong.
I managed to settle on the new Srixon 745’s 3-PW. I really liked the 545’s but felt the 745’s feel was very nearly as good but were just a little more foregiving on off centre hits. Just to be clear if you can consistently hit good clean shots the 545’s are the bees. If you want a little room for manoeuvre the 745’s are the way ahead. Distances were very similar on both heads, the 745’s better on the mi***** than the 545’s. I’m not posting any figures as I don’t want to get anything wrong. Unfortuantely my phone died completely that morning so I couldn’t get any photos either of the 745 with project X 5.5 combo I went for.
The same process followed for the 3 wood and Driver as per the irons. This is where things became a little more err, complicated. My swing showed it’s limits (read where I know the lessons are really needed) and after 1.5hrs swinging irons I think my swing had gone a little which didn't help. That said I hit the new Srixon fairway wood pretty well and I felt I could get a lot more from it than I was achieving. The new Srixon fairway was every bit as impressive as the new irons. It has a really nice punch, or zip from the face! Its trajectory was really pleasant also (when we moved on to the range I got to see what trackman had been showing me on screen). I hit a few drivers too, again the new Srixon driver felt good but I just couldn't get it to go but the same results were being seen with the Cleveland head I tried along with the Taylormade R15. So again highlighting a few lessons on hitting woods/drivers wouldn't go amiss plus I do think the time hitting irons in the cold had sapped me a little also.
I called it a day after I hit the Srixon 745 iron/shaft combo and 3 wood on the range to see I liked the flight etc. The driver and new Gap/Sand wedges will wait until March or April. As truth be told I blew my budget on the irons and 3 wood! I also want to do the find my distance session with the new irons too. So this gives me some time to fit a lesson or two in to work on the wood/driver swing.
Hopefully I haven’t bored anyone too much and have given a decent overview of the service received. It’s what I had expected a custom fit to be and a whole lot more to be honest. I’d recommend Scott’s custom fit without a second thought and will be using him again to sort out the last few clubs for the bag for 2015 and beyond. Key point here from my side is I know I can’t afford to change clubs again for a couple of years at a minimum so I’m confident this investment will see me through my playing return in 2015 and beyond.
