London golf show

[projamie]

Tour info and Pics!!!

Hey everyone,

Well i went to the last day of the London golf show this sunday just gone and was very impressed! Alot of people trying to sell you the latest gimmicks, got pulled straight onto the putting green being analysed and filmed blah blah blah... But did get talking to some great reps and heres the info!

ALDILA - Went straight over there... got talkin to the rep Mark who was instantly aproachable and a great guy. I asked if by any remote chance he had an Xvs7 lying around to try and he asked what that was... I was thinking your the Aldila rep... And i repeated myself and he said oh... how on earth do you know about that? I said i know people in high places (YOU GUYS!!!) and he said hmm ok... He said you must be clued up to have heard about that. He said the Voodoo is the outcome of those prototypes and he had one regular and one extra stiff and that apperently the stiff never made it across the atlantic! There was a 2 hour wait to try the shafts on offer but he grabbed me the regular and just said follow me and there i was at the front which was nice of him! Hit two shots and said its nice but can i try the X stiff please... Was in a Burner TP head and before i hit it he said i cant explain what your about to feel as it isnt like anything Aldila sells and nothing like anyone else sells... I was like ok, its not going to be a magic shaft, and wow was i wrong! You feel every single dimple on that golf ball!!! And i am really sorry but i cannot explain what it feels like, its that unique. All i can say is dispersion was as tight as anything iv ever hit, it was stupidly long, gave me fantastic spin numbers and carry and just felt amazing. I said when can i order it and he said its being launched at the Open championship but is going to cost big bucks! He also had some iron shafts there, his own personal, which he asked me to hit, he said there pretty similar to the voodoo but there developing it into an iron shaft at the moment. All it said on the shaft was ALDILA PROTOTYPE S and gave them a whirle and again fantastic feel, this from a graphite iron shaft! All i can say is the Voodoo series is going to be REALLY impressive...

NIKE - The reps not to shine bad light on nike, wernt all that helpful in honesty, they just gave you the club and then you moved on, tryed the latest sumos and wasnt all impresed and they only had either the stock shafts or VS protos to try...

CALLAWAY - had fun at the callaway tent, Only hit two drivers, both hyper X tours, one with an X stiff grafalloy blue and one with an XX stiff grafalloy blue! The guy said do you know what you got there and i said yea, watch out lol... Hit them both and they were STOUT! The XX stiff was hard to get up in the air, just felt like steel really, the X stiff was a bit better and he said i was hitting that nicely, was more of a good laugh more than anything!

CLEVELAND - This is the big one guys, had a peak inside the van there and the guy asked if there was anything he could help with and i just said is it ok to look around please and he said yea sure, so i stepped in and was in heaven! He introduced himself as Ian and said he was the European tour fitter. I had the best time ever in there, was in there from 12-2 just talking and watching him build clubs. Had a look around, was shaft pulls there, alot of Grafalloy Comp NTs, couple of BiMatrixs, NVs... There was just hundreds of shafts there (see pics) mostly NV, VS proto and Prolaunch. I asked what he fitted most guys on tour for and surprisingly he said the stock Fuji that you can buy in any club in the shops... I asked why and he said there that good theres no need for an upgrade.... I asked what David howell was playing at the moment and he said its an XLS head and he made him a whiteboard, blueboard and redboard up and guess what... He plays the Redboard! He wanted to keep the same set up but was persuaded other wise and now is very happy with what hes got! Then i spotted some wedges laying around, picked them up and they said CLEVELAND PROTOTYPE IC60. He said they were for a seniors tour player and belive me, this thing was cool, had 3 bounce grinds! He had a 60* and a 56*. Then i said what about Vijay, whats he playing these days... he went over to a bag and picked out two wedges with V S engraved on the hosel and my eyes lit up! He said anything Vijays done with he gives to Ian! The grooves were SHARP and had been played for over a year! I said thats really cool, and he said thats not all and pulls out some CG1 BPs and i just laughed, they had double hardstepped Black gold Xs and were sweet... Then i asked the big question, was that his driver under the headcover and low and behold... out comes an 8.5* with lead tape on the heal and a ION plated whiteboard x5ct 83g X stiff tipped 1" 3/4s. This thing was amazing, i also made a point of asking if he plays the Shaqx painted as a whiteboard, he said no, Ian makes his clubs personally and he assured me its a whiteboard. He asked what i played and said a whiteboard and he said if he was to take the grip off mine it would have a serial number but his would say "tour proto", then i said no it wouldnt, i got mine from the Nike european tour van :clapping: I took the best pictures i could and apolagise as i only had a camera phone with me so caught the pics as best i could... He also showed me his putter which was a Never Comprimise with a UST filter frequency shaft at 365g. I asked what it felt like and he said the only was is to hit it so said just go outside and have a go! And boy oh boy, this thing was soft, i didnt even feel the ball! I went back in and he showed me how to build a club properly step by step and really taught me alot, let me hang around and gave his time to explain and answer any questions i had. A couple more things i will point out is i asked about DGs and PX usuage and he said 1 in 10 people will use something other than DGs, all X100s. He also said that the new CG tours are something to steer clear of which i was surprised at but he said the CG1s are miles better!

Anyway, enjoy the pics and any questions let me have them and ill try and answer them for you!

Jamie

[SDGolfing]

I got lucky. A friend of mine had a legit reserved tee-time (you gotta register with them, fax your information, etc.) and a family member had to bail last second. I have a two-week old son and my wife understood completely that I had to seize this opportunity.

 

If you're New York State resident it's like $61.00

That HAS to be the best bargain in golf, period.

 

Out of state I think is double, which still isn't bad...

 

I forgot which hole it was, but it was a doozie. They all are.

 

I hit TWO GIR's. The first one on a Par 3 (got an incredibly lucky kick of a side-slope, ball stopped 8 feet from the flag where I proceeded to 3-putt) and on the 18th, hit a hard fade (okay it was a slice) layed-up to the first cut about 75 yards from the flag, then hit the best 52° of my life to within 4 feet, missed the Par putt and tapped in the bogey.

 

My score was really rough, I know I'm better than a 121 but it was my first time and sand is my enemy. I'm NOT a good bunker player. On one hole I hit a towering approach with a 4 iron that dropped straight down and plugged into a green-side trap, 4 inches from the lip. I sh*t you not, the white part of the ball that was visible was the size of a dime. It was buried. It took me 5 strokes just to get it out, and then I had a 25 foot putt to negotiate.

 

Next time I play I will manage the course much better. I had nothing to lose and I went in there with ZERO expectations, I was really in awe most of the time, but I would be much smarter next time around. And I would avoid the traps at ALL COSTS!

 

If he is playing a real whiteboard it is something he just recently put into the bag because he has never played one before. One of his drivers sold on EBAY and it even showed the markings on the shaft.

[SHERO]

Great thread. Did you try the hole in one pitch thingy?

[projamie]

Thanks!

 

No was too busy trying stuff out and chatting to people... Did manage to get 5 mins to grab a J Lindenberg shirt and talk to a nice young lady in a very short skirt about property development in turkey, i guess there even trying to get 17 year olds to invest these days :clapping:

[SHERO]

haha, nice, I'm gonna go next year.

[bloodredsun]

You mean this little thing......

 

I had a blast with it :clapping:

[projamie]

Thats the one!

 

You can appreciate what i mean when i said it doesnt feel like anything at all! Felt nice with that Burner TP head aswell didnt it?

 

I cant wait to get mine!

[bloodredsun]

I was there on Friday so it was a lot quieter.

 

To me it felt like a tighter VS Proto with that same sort of kick but also had something of the NV to it - weirdly it felt like an Aldila. That might sound a it odd but I get to hit a lot of shafts for Bag Chatter and with this one I felt that I could have closed my eyes and picked it out of a line up. Incredibly stable and very very good.

 

I was also told that this is not the finished paint job although it is close to it.

[mat562]

Interesting stuff...

 

Were you asked to turn out your pockets before being allowed to leave? :clapping:

[projamie]

I agree its very stable, its just an increadible shaft. He never mentioned anything about the finished graphics but with that performace, who cares?

 

Did you get to hit the Prototypes in his irons?

 

And Matt, belive me they wernt letting anything out of their sight, i tried to persuade Ian on the Cleveland van to unload a couple of shaft pulls and maybe a wedge or two but he wasnt having any of it lol...

[DaveyH]

on friday my coach was there working with paul hurrion.

GEL PUTTERS i think it was

said it was quite empty and the putting green or something wasnt finished.

[uncc18]

Thanks for info. Where in London was the show at?

[projamie]

It was at the Excel center near the docklands... Was a looooooong train journey... Was quite funny on the way home, you just saw everyone on the London underground with putters, wedges, drivers... was a unique sight lol

[bloodredsun]

on friday my coach was there working with paul hurrion.

GEL PUTTERS i think it was

said it was quite empty and the putting green or something wasnt finished.

The green was finished by lunchtime. Here's a link to some pictures of the green and the new Paul Hurrion range from GEL. http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/index.php?sh...=161450&hl=

[bloodredsun]

It was at the Excel center near the docklands... Was a looooooong train journey... Was quite funny on the way home, you just saw everyone on the London underground with putters, wedges, drivers... was a unique sight lol

 

It was a 10 minute ride on the DLR for me. But you are right about half of London wandering around with some sort of golf equipment, I even saw some people with full bags!

[uncc18]

It was at the Excel center near the docklands... Was a looooooong train journey... Was quite funny on the way home, you just saw everyone on the London underground with putters, wedges, drivers... was a unique sight lol

 

Nearly to the airport. I would've like to see so many golf clubs journeying around London.

[markheardjr]

I love hearing good reviews for the voodoo, I've been swearing by it since November. IRONS!?! oh man, I need to save money, not unload for some voodoo iron shafts! Thanks for the review! cheers :clapping:

[J-J]

It was at the Excel center near the docklands... Was a looooooong train journey... Was quite funny on the way home, you just saw everyone on the London underground with putters, wedges, drivers... was a unique sight lol

 

I was there on friday. A long train journey you say... I drove two hours to Calais, 35min crossing and another hour or so to get to the Excel centre... And I was there at 10am for the fourth time in a row...

I agree it was a good show.

[Viking Golfer]

Keep the pics coming ;)

[projamie]

I love hearing good reviews for the voodoo, I've been swearing by it since November. IRONS!?! oh man, I need to save money, not unload for some voodoo iron shafts! Thanks for the review! cheers ;)

 

Yea it really is quite something, speaking to Ian the Cleveland guy, i asked if they had any on the van and he said that each manufacturer got 12 each so even he didnt have one. But what a shaft...

 

And belive me those iron shafts were SWEEEEEEEET, i hate graphite in irons and wernt expecting much, especailly with Callaway heads which i wernt expecting much feel from but nice and stable again like the Voodoo... Might have to look into those further but like the new Diamana thumps i have a feeling they will cost £££

[spooky]

Damnit. I was given free tickets but couldn't go ;)