Tag: 3-wood

  • True Spec Golf: Next Level Club Fitting

    True Spec Golf: Next Level Club Fitting

    TrueSpec Golf - JupiterMost people are familiar with the concept of club fitting, and most golfers have probably been through some kind of fitting for their clubs at one point or another. As equipment has evolved, fitting has evolved with it. Adjustable drivers and interchangeable shafts have greatly benefitted club fitting professionals, allowing them to tune the clubs for each golfer. With the amount of technology available in the modern game, club fitting has become even more precise and important to get the best possible performance out of your clubs.

    The Technology

    Like many companies, True Spec Golf is taking advantage of technology to provide advanced club fitting for golfers of every ability. Unlike manufacturer specific fitting carts at those big box stores, True Spec Golf is brand-agnostic. Because of that, their fitting matrix stocks more than 30,000 combinations of club heads and shafts from all the leading equipment manufacturers. They combine that amazing selection with high performance launch monitors from industry leaders TrackMan and Foresight, and they use advanced tools like their patented Club-Connex adapter system to fit any shaft to any head, and the SST Pure Shaft Alignment System to ensure you get the best performance from your shafts.

    The Mission

    I visited True Spec’s fitting studio at Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida to get fitted for a three-wood. For years, finding a three-wood that performs the way I want has been like finding my personal golf unicorn. I primarily use a three-wood off the tee, so want one that has low spin and mid-low ball flight for distance, but I also want the club to perform well from the fairway if I want to go for a long par five in two from 250+ yards. Finding the perfect combo has been tough. I came very close last year with the Exotics CB Pro and have had some success with my newest gamer (an Exotics EX10 beta), but after several months of testing both clubs are just too spinny for me.

    The fitting process takes place in a clean, modern fitting studio that opens into the driving range at Trump National. No indoor hitting bays here! I want to see the actual ball flight, not a computer simulation. My fitter Matthew welcomed me and let me hit some warm-up shots with my own clubs to get loose while he watched and gathered some swing and ball flight data from the Trackman. Watching my swing and Trackman data while I warmed up helped him select a few shafts and heads to get the fitting process started with.

    The Process & Results

    Even though the True Spec fitting studio has over 30,000 possible shaft/head combinations available, an experienced fitting professional like Matt can use that Trackman data to quickly eliminate the shafts he knows won’t work for me, streamlining the process and saving time. Using True Spec’s Club-Connex system, Matt set up a trio of three-woods for me to hit, each with a different shaft & head combo. I would hit 4 or 5 shots with each and switch back and forth between clubs while he made loft/lie adjustments or changed out shafts and kept handing me different combos to try. All told, I hit fairway woods from Ping, Exotics, Taylor Made, Titleist, PXG, Callaway and a few others.

    After hitting about 50 shots, we started to zero in on the best performing head and shaft combinations. When you are using a top of the line TrackMan launch monitor you can be certain that the data you get will be accurate. In my case, the numbers don’t lie. Compared to my gamer three-wood, (Exotics EX10 beta with 13 degrees of loft fitted to a Graphite Design G70x shaft) the club Matt put together for me (Ping G400 14.5, turned down to 13.9 degrees fitted with Fujikura ATMOS Tour Spec Red 80x) was giving me 8.6 yards more carry distance and 10.3 more yards total distance. That’s a huge increase for me!

    How’d He Do It?

    How did Matt help me gain 10 yards with a new three-wood? Again, it’s all about the numbers. By selecting a club head (Ping G400) with a hot face and low spin, we were able to decrease my spin rate by an average of 678 RPMs! Because of the lower spin, we needed to increase my launch angle to maximize carry distance. By selecting a Fujikira ATMOS Red shaft with a slightly lower kickpoint, he was able to bring my launch angle up from from 9.3 degrees to 11. High launch – Low spin. That, my friends, is the recipe for greater distance.

    As I mentioned in another recent article, finding the right shaft & head combination for you can pay off big, with more distance and consistency. In that post I mated a Ping G400 driver with the new shaft from TPT golf to gain 9 yards off the tee over my previous gamer – the Ping G. Was it purely by chance that the G400 three-wood also happened to be the best performing fairway wood for me?

    I’m mildly shocked but very pleased about gaining 9+ yards with both my new Ping driver and three-woods, considering both clubs were fitted for me independently of each other. What that says to me is the Ping’s G400 line are very good clubs, especially when fitted with the right shaft by an expert club fitter. Even better, I finally found my golf unicorn – a versatile, consistent performing three-wood!

    You Probably Need A Fitting

    What is it worth to you to gain distance throughout the bag, while improving the feel and consistency of all your clubs? True Spec’s fitting process works, and it’s guaranteed. For more information, visit https://www.truespecgolf.com/ I’ve been preaching the benefits of club fitting for years, and I’ll continue to champion the cause. It really does make a difference in your game, no matter what your handicap.

  • Don’t Believe The Hype – TaylorMade’s Driver Alternatives

    2014-10-20 13.34.16The driver is the most popular club in many people’s bag, and the one club that consumers change the most often. This is why you see the massive marketing campaigns for each new driver that golf club manufacturers release. I’ve seen the game evolve in the last 20 years on the professional tours as equipment technology advanced. The predominant course management strategy is the bomb-and-gouge method where distance takes priority over accuracy. The idea is that one would rather hit a wedge from the rough than a 7 iron from the fairway.

    2014-10-20 13.35.25My own game is proof that the bomb-and-gouge approach can work for better players. Using the awesome new golf tracking device from GAME GOLF to track my stats over the last 18 rounds of golf, I am sporting a scoring average of 72.1 despite hitting only 47% of the fairways. While I would love to be more accurate off the tee, I know it hasn’t hurt my game too much to be in the rough, as I still managed to hit 66% of greens in regulation over that span.

    The problem is – Most average golfers can’t create the kind of club head speed to hit the ball out of rough with control like the PGA Tour pros and low handicap amateurs. So how can you improve your driving accuracy? Don’t believe the hype of that new driver that promises more distance, accuracy and forgiveness! The most obvious answer is by using something other than a driver off the tee.

    SLDR Mini Driver

    For the last few months I’ve been experimenting with a couple of clubs from TaylorMade adidas Golf (TMAG) that are designed as alternatives to the driver for those that are seeking more accuracy off the tee. The first is TaylorMade’s SLDR Mini Driver. TMAG noticed that tour pros and low handicap amateurs hit their 3-wood off the tee far more often than in the fairway, so they used that data to create a new club that fits somewhere in between the two. At 260cc, the SLDR Mini Driver is bigger than a typical fairway wood but far smaller than the average 460cc driver. The shaft is also a little bit longer than a 3-wood at 43.5″, compare to a driver’s modern standard at 45″. The SLDR Mini is available in 12, 14 or 16 degree lofts.

    TaylorMade sent me an SLDR Mini with 14 degrees of loft, and I eventually re-shafted it with the awesome new Aldila Tour Green 75TX shaft. (More on that later) The idea for me was that the SLDR Mini could replace my old Adams RPM 3-wood. With its larger head and deeper face, the SLDR mini is easy to hit and more forgiving than a standard 3-wood off the tee. The sole design also makes it easy to hit from the fairway, despite the bigger head size. This club hits bombs. I was easily getting 10-15 yards more carry than my Adams RPM 13 degree 3-wood, and the SLDR Mini was a joy to hit off the deck too. Even though I seldom hit 3-wood off the fairway, I know I can pull off just about any shot with it. For golfers looking for a club they can hit almost as far as a driver with greater accuracy, the SLDR Mini will be a godsend.

     

    Tour Preferred UDI – Ultimate Driving Iron

    The second driver alternative I’ve been messing around with is TMAG’s Tour Preferred UDI – Ultimate Driving Iron. The UDI is a hollow construction 450 carpenter steel faced driving iron that was designed to deliver distance and playability of a hybrid with the control and workability of an iron. Many of TaylorMade’s staff pros played the UDI at the British Open to help control ball flight in the wind. The UDI comes in 16, 18 and 20 degree lofts.

    The old saying goes “Only god can hit a 1-iron”, but that isn’t true any more. I’ve always loved hitting long irons, and have never been a fan of hybrid clubs, so I had a feeling I would love the Tour Preferred UDI 1-iron. To make room for the UDI (16 degrees) in my bag I took out the 18 degree Cleveland Launcher DST hybrid I’ve had for a few years. I have been hitting it for a couple of months and my numbers with it have earned it a place in my bag on most days. Over a testing period of 18 rounds, the UDI 16 is averaging 251 yards off the tee with a long of 294 yards and fairway accuracy of 71%. Considering the stock KBS Tour C-Taper Lite shaft is too weak for my swing speeds, I think that accuracy number will go up a bit with a properly fit shaft. As you would expect from a 1-iron, the ball flight stays very low and hot, with very low spin.

    The UDI is a great driver alternative on courses that play firm and fast, especially for the better player who can swing aggressively and find the sweet spot on a consistent basis. While the UDI is pretty easy to hit, the lower ball flight and more traditional iron-like shape and size may be more difficult to hit for mid to high handicap golfers. This is exactly why hybrids were created in the first place. What’s the difference between the UDI and a standard hybrid? As mentioned above, the UDI has the flat face and smaller size of an iron for control and workability with a hollow cavity and low CG for distance and some forgiveness. A typical hybrid club will have a slightly rounded club face like a wood and will offer a higher ball flight and slightly longer shafts for more distance.

     

    Conclusions

    The SLDR Mini is still a bit of an enigma for me, mostly because I may hit it too far in stock form. I know what you are thinking – what a good problem to have, right? With its longer shaft and higher ball flight compared to my regular 3-wood, I find the distance gap between the 3-wood and 5-wood is too great at about 25 yards. What I did to fix this is re-shaft the club and cut half an inch off the playing length. The new Aldila Tour Green 75TX shaft I installed at 43″ reduced the carry distance by 5-7 yards while increasing accuracy for me. With a little more testing and tweaking, I’m confident that the SLDR Mini Driver may become my new strong 3-wood.

    The Tour Preferred UDI 16 degree 1-iron is an instant favorite for me, but it won’t have a full time spot in my bag due to the specialized nature and lack of versatility of a 1-iron. Simply put, the UDI isn’t useful for me in softer conditions or on a longer golf course. The UDI 1-iron hits the ball very low and straight, so it will be used almost exclusively off the tee. I’ll play it on tighter courses, windy days or in dry conditions when the ball is rolling out. Since most courses in Florida play soft and lush, the UDI will probably be swapped in and out of the bag as needed with the 5-wood or 3/4 iron.

    The bottom line is, if you struggle off the tee, one of these two options could be a game changer. The SLDR Mini Driver is a legitimate driver-replacement option for all golfers, and the Tour Preferred UDI gives better players a deadly long-iron replacement option for tight courses and firm or windy conditions.

     

  • Premium 3 Wood Shootout

    Exotics CB4 Tour 3-WoodFor a while I’ve been searching for a replacement for my current 3-wood, which is an Adams RPM LP Tour Prototype with 13 degrees of loft, fitted with the awesome Fujikura Rombax 7W06 shaft. It is over five years old, but I have yet to find a club that can beat it. I put it in play at a US Open Qualifier 3 years ago and haven’t even thought about changing it until this year. Considering I picked it up for only $40 on eBay, I would say I got my money’s worth. I set out to test three new fairway wood models designed for better players in an effort to find the successor to the 3-wood throne in my golf bag. After several rounds and hundreds of range balls, I think I finally have a winner.

    Over the summer, I traded in a hybrid I won at a tournament for a Taylor Made R11 TP 3-wood, intending to sell it. When the buyer backed out I decided to give it a shot. It has 14 degrees loft and a Fujikura Motore F3 80x shaft. For the testing, it was set up neutral on the FCT adjustable hosel. I recently received the Tour Edge Exotics CB4 Tour 3-wood (15 degrees, Aldila RIP Sigma X-Flex) for review, and Nike Golf sent me their new VR Pro Limited Edition 3-wood (also 15 degrees, Diamana ‘Ahina, X-Flex) at the same time, so I decided to test the Exotics and Nike head-to-head with the Taylor Made. As a control, I used my trusty old Adams.

    Nike VR Pro Limited Edition 3-Wood All 3 clubs are fitted with high quality shafts, and all 3 are very solid feeling clubs. I didn't notice any measurable distance advantage with any club, but I would need to use a launch monitor to be sure. My Adams went the furthest, but that's because it has less loft than the others and I'm more familiar with it, having it in my bag for over 3 years. The Nike VR Pro Limited edition ($229 street price) and Exotics CB4 Tour ($299 street price) produced a mid-level ball flight that balloons just a tiny bit, but it’s predictable. The Taylor Made R11 TP ($299 street price) flew a bit lower with no ballooning (likely due to a stronger shaft and slightly lower loft). All 3 clubs are workable both ways, and they work well from a variety of lies. The Taylor Made tends to dig a bit and take a small divot, where the others glide over the turf. That is undesirable, and sometimes leads to fat shots and pop-ups. Both the Exotics and Nike look great, with no extraneous marks or graphics, but the Taylor Made is a bit distracting with the white paint, logo and pin stripes on the crown of the club. I’m not a big fan of the White clubs, but if they perform I can overlook it. For the most part, adjustable clubs seem like a marketing gimmick to me, but I really like the ability to adjust the club open or closed with the sole plate of the Taylor Made without having to remove the shaft. The adjustable FCT hosel has settings for lower or higher loft, but this is misleading. (See my note below for an explination) The Nike looks very clean and sharp, and the graphics and sole design are attractive. The all black head and shaft of the Exotics is very cool. I think if Darth Vader played golf, he would probably have this club in the bag. Taylor Made R11 3-Wood All three clubs sound great at impact but the Nike’s metallic click sounds the most like my gamer, so it wins the acoustic battle in my mind. However, some may prefer the CB4 Tour’s titanium click sound, which is a little higher pitched than the metal heads of the others. NOTE: Adjustable TaylorMade Woods & Dynamic Loft The TaylorMade R11 TP 3-wood features an adjustable design, allowing a player to adjust the club for lower, standard or higher loft. You can also adjust the sole plate to alter the face angle of the club. In theory this means the R11 can play at 13, 14 or 15 degrees of loft, but the way they achieve this is a bit confusing. Allow me to explain - When setting the R11's FCT hosel to the "lower" setting you think you are reducing the loft of the club from 14 to 13 degrees, but really what you are doing is simply opening the face angle of the club 2 degrees. Using an oft misunderstood concept called dynamic loft, when you open the face of a driver or fairway wood by two degrees and the club returns to the ball square, the resulting loft at impact will be about one degree lower, thus theoretically producing a lower ball flight. Conversely, if I set the club to the "higher" setting all I'm really doing is setting the clubface two degrees closed. When I make a swing and return the clubface back to the ball with a square face angle, the result is a higher dynamic loft of one degree and a higher ball flight. This is one reason why those closed faced, offset, slice-fighting drivers always seem to hit the ball so high. Since the sole plate of the R11 TP can also adjust the face angle of the club at address, you can create a paradox. For example - If you set the hosel on "lower" (open face) and set the sole plate to closed, the club will sit perfectly square, exactly the same as the neutral position. I can also set the sole plate to open, and the FCT hosel to "higher" (closed) and it is the same as the previous two settings. Perfectly square. The two adjustable features can cancel each other out, not affecting ball flight at all. Are you confused yet?

    Conclusions

    On the range and over the course of several rounds, I found every one of these clubs worthy of going in the bag, but in the end the Exotics beats the Nike by a slim margin. If price is a big factor for you, you may want to consider the Nike. The Taylor Made is a good club and performs well, but it was third in this test. A representative from Taylor Made told me their Superfast fairways would have fared better, so we'll revisit when I can test the Superfast. Don't feel too sorry for TaylorMade just yet, because the R11 (and R11 TP) Driver is one of the best on the market, and worth a hit for anybody. Here are my final notes:
    • The Exotics CB4 Tour has an edge in forgiveness over the Nike and Taylor Made, making it appealing to a broader range of players.
    • The Nike is the cheapest by $70, but the loft options are limited to 15 or 19 in the Limited Edition. You’ll have to buy the regular VR Pro to get the 13 or 17 degree lofts.
    • The Taylor Made is ugly. I like a clean, simple look. The the color, graphics and FCT hosel of the R11 TP makes this the ugly duckling of fairways.
    • With the option of all three clubs in my bag on the range, more people reached for the Exotics CB4 Tour first. Nuff said.

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