Driver Fitting Results

[onafriday]

(should have done this $$'s / Yrs ago!!)

I just had my first formal driver fitting session, having grown increasingly frustrated by my own efforts at fitting (ie working with what i know and have extensively researched about ball speed / launch & angle of attack / spin). I went in with the following priorities (in order): Control, Distance, Workability.

The system was awesome. It's indoor, but there's loads of cameras a doppler radar system, etc, that spat out loads and loads of data to the fitters laptop. Every conceivable number was at our fingertips.

The fitter had me warm up and hit a bunch with my current big dog (G15, 10.5* Serrano S). We started by finding the right head looking at 4-5 from my shortlist (Superfast TP, 9064LS, Supertri, Superdeep, FT Tour, etc). I was getting 151mph ball speeds with the G15, but was getting upwards to 163+ with the FT Tour (9.5*). The numbers with the FT Tour were better all the way around (better launch, lower spin, better ball speed).

Then we rolled through what seemed to be a dozen shafts. My swingspeed hovered between 112 and 115, so the fitter had be look through alot of X shafts (which i've not played before). All the Mitsubishis, Myazakas, Oban, Aldila.... We had to use the R9 head because all the available shafts were part of Taylor made's system of interchangable shafts.

The numbers kept coming back to better launch and lower spin with the Oban Kiyoshi X. I was achieving some amazing smash numbers (1.38 with the G15, up to 1.46 and 47 with the Oban configuration).

SO I ended up heading in with the G15 10.5* Serrano, and let with an ordered up FT Tour 9.5* with Kiyoshi X, and based on the numbers, about 15-20 more yards. The guy thought this was about as close to optimal as i'd be able to achieve. 160+ ball speed, 12-14* launch, 2400 spin rate.

Now this stick is expensive, for sure, but I'm incredibly jacked up to get it, and lord knows I would have spent through the money seeking out a better driver (unsuccessfully) on my own.

Any chance you guys have FT-Tour experience with the Kiyoshi??

[caseyc1]

congrats, i think over winter im going to go in for a driver fitting just to see what the best shaft for my Supertri is.

[rachel22]

great review, im looking at the ft tour too. How did it feel to hit? easy as teh ping g15??? how deep is the face?

Thanks

[WoolyMc]

Do you mind me asking how much this fitting costs? Sounds great, and I would really like to check into getting fit, but live in a rural location, which hampers the process.


Thx,

WoolyMc

[wcbjr]

Fitting by my local place is free, but is rolled into the cost of buying the driver from them.

[nikemike]

Sounds great till you make a swing change

[onafriday]

The fitting was $100, but applied to the club.

If anything else, I learned a TON about my swing in the hour working with some great technology, and someone else who knew how to use it.

I really liked the G15 - but I put too much spin on it. Even that could have been remedied, but ball speed is as critical as anything to distance, and that's where the FT-Tour shined. It was putting alot more speed on the ball. Forgiveness is probably less with the FT-Tour. But i'll take a less forgiveness if it means better launch / spin - i usually hit the driver pretty well (now we can optimize this guy).

With the Kiyoshi, i'm getting a little help in the launch dept, but killing the spin by 5-600 RPM, which is getting me alot closer to optimal numbers. The data suggested alot better performance - FOR ME.

I'd say fitting itself is really, really fun. If your into clubs and technology and launch and spin and aftermarket shafts (this is my first one), than I recommend it.

[HitEmTrue]

Sounds like a cool experience.

Here's my stupid question for the day...does the shaft not have to be matched to the head? Once you determined the club head you wanted, were you optimized just because you used an R9 head of the same loft (and weight, perhaps)?

[onafriday]

HitEmTrue - not a stupid question, the very same one i asked.

What they were able to do is extrapolate the head data to the shaft data to forecast the best match. I guess the software is designed to do this given it's unlikely any fitter has every available head and every available shaft (though this guy had a lot of combos).

So we found the head that gave me the closest results to what the FT Tour was giving me, and then worked out the shaft from there. The FT Tour head was getting me great ball speed and good launch. So the fitter took the most comporable taylor made equivalent and found the shaft combo that maintained the launch data but brought spin down. When I saw the data with the Kiyoshi with the Taylor, spin was still hovering around 2900-3000, but with the SAME SHAFTS (the control was Voo Doo I think - 9.5* X in both the FT and the R9) the FT Tour was giving me about 500RPMs less spin. So he then found the shaft giving me the lowest spin in the Taylor, and applied extrapolated the results to the data from the FT Tour.

That's how we concluded the way we did.

Really, really cool technology. It was loads of fun.

[HitEmTrue]

Thanks for the info...so when your new driver comes in, do they put you on the monitor again? If you need to change shafts, do you get full credit on the one in your club?

[onafriday]

Yeah, that's right. If it's messed up, the fitter said he'd make it right - probably by swapping another shaft in there.

However, given how much time and effort went inot the fitting and based on the numbers i saw, I can't imagine i'd chase anything further.

The feel on the Kiyoshi was pretty awesome.

[NWS Alpine]

I've got an FT Tour with a Kai'li and it is very long. I had the chance to put the Kiyoshi in it but I put it in my DET 3 wood. That 3 wood is a cannon! Nice launch and goes forever. Usually longer than my entire groups drivers.

[keyser]

Make sure the clubmaker measures the specs of the driver. Usually the screw system in Ping's will increase the weight of the club by 3-4 swingweights, so you might end with a much lighter club if he doesn't know that. Also have him measure loft, a japanese magazine measured a Ping head 4* off spec! I also think the shafts don't go quite as far down into the hosel with some of these fitting systems, so your possibly getting a bit softer tip/shaft than the final.

[Jamboy72]

Glad to hear you had a good experience...fwiw, I wouldn't pay too much if I can't hit a combo outside...or at least out of an inside bay to be able to see downrange ball flight...I think this is hugely important...

[onafriday]

Keyser- That's all sound advice, but i'm actually dumping the Ping and moving to an FT Tour w/ an Oban.

I DID ask all the requisite questions about preserving swing weight, etc, in the FT.

I also made sure he has loads of experience with FT Tour reshafting, as there are some horror stories out there about reshafting other FT's (9's and 5's seem most affected) and not protecting the head adequately and actually loosening the glue within the composite head, resulting in splitting / breaking.

Either way, i'm pretty confident in this guys abilities and knowledge to get it right.

Can't wait to go get it tomorrow!

[JCAG]

[quote name='onafriday' timestamp='1288122199' post='2760498']
Keyser- That's all sound advice, but i'm actually dumping the Ping and moving to an FT Tour w/ an Oban.

I DID ask all the requisite questions about preserving swing weight, etc, in the FT.

I also made sure he has loads of experience with FT Tour reshafting, as there are some horror stories out there about reshafting other FT's (9's and 5's seem most affected) and not protecting the head adequately and actually loosening the glue within the composite head, resulting in splitting / breaking.

Either way, i'm pretty confident in this guys abilities and knowledge to get it right.

Can't wait to go get it tomorrow!
[/quote]

Seems you have a lot of folks questioning/what iffing. I expect most have neither the money nor trust to be fit properly as you did.

I wish you nothing but the best with your new driver.

[onafriday]

I get it. I'm actually grateful that all these items are being raised - all of them were considered (as were others going into this process).

I'm into golfwrx for exactly these reasons - i wanted to make sure i was as prepared as possible heading in.

Yes, it would have been ideal to have every available head available with every available shaft, at an outside location, but it wasn't an option.

Outside of flying to every OEM's fitting facility, i'm confident that this was the way to go and that i nailed all the variables at the fitting.

It was way better than i'd have ever been able to do on my own, even with what i've researched independently on all the variables.

[brianmontgomery2000]

Thanks for the post -- I'm encouraged to go get fitted myself...