ZackS

Today I went to a different practice green to try and get a little better footage for the review off of the 9000 putter head. The problem is there is NO deviation in the ball roll. I built the 9000 to repeat the same putting motion over and over again and it does that flawlessly. And, the tour X rolls flawlessly on the same exact line over and over again. 
It does not matter how it is oriented. The ball rolls where the putter head wants it to go, simple as that. The Max Alignment Technology looks cooler as the ball rolls away, but, if you have a repeatable putting stroke, with this ball you have repeatable results on the green. 
It actually has me in awe! And I really really want to stack these balls against some Chrome Softs and ZStars I have, still in the sleeve, in my garage. But that is not part of our mandate, and will have to wait until chipping testing, which starts Thursday, is completed. 
The repeatability of these balls could make my final report rather dull and quite short. Kind of like trying to report on large pane of glass that fills a living room window.
The glass is smooth and clear and stops the outside weather from getting inside. We had to put semi clear stickers on the glass to get the birds to stop smashing into the window..... 

We are in florida this week so a little trip for the Tour X align



was lining the ball up on all tee shots and putts. It is not a very distracting line at all and I think I prefer it to the triple track.

Play for sure

Yea, when I played them in the wind.

Not sure if this is average for a chipping net. But I just got this off Amazon. They have a special $20 off coupon too. Makes it 35 bucks.

A company I used months ago to aquire a large hitting net, messaged me 2 days ago for their chipping net. It came in today and is so lightweight and easy to setup.  Came with everything you need.  2 different chippy mats, 6 golf balls and 6 foam balls
I probably won't use it inside, but it's perfect for settimg up almost anywhere. 

20240312_184422.mp4    

Play for sure

I got some more range time with the Qi10 today.  I was able to bump several up in distance to the 245-260 range.   I know I am fighting my winter-onset over the top swing, but even so the Qi10 standard is impressing me with its firepower.
That shot rolled out to 261, even with my over the top.  (Working on fixing it.  It is costing me tons of clubhead speed.)


This range time was after playing 18 holes, poorly.  But not the driver’s fault.  It was solid. I will have more to share from today’s round in a follow-up post.
Here’s a teaser:  the Qi10 popped off again on the course.  

I was able to play with the grips yesterday and very much liked the feel. I still get feedback on strike but I do think vibration was dampened some which one of the things interesting about these as well as I do get some elbow pain from time to time. I don’t think it’s all golf related but if these help then I am all for it. I can’t say I have noticed a big performance gain. I did strike iron as well or maybe slightly better then normal and can turn it over if needed. More testing but happy so far and at minimum they feel more comfortable. 

Edwin Watts is out with their spring catalog. Some good deals with/without coupons. I plan on taking advantage of the Titleist buy 3 dozen get 1 dozen free offer. 

Rockbottomgolf has a great deal on rapsodo mlm2pro with coupon code LUCKY

I was able to get to the simulator and try out the JumboMax grips! To summarize the session; I was VERY impressed with the performance gains. I was mainly focusing on my new LTDx Dr because I wanted to get the settings dialed in. Every time I changed the hosel setting, the rib along the back was in a different spot on my grip and, I will say, this was mildly annoying (I don't know if it's because @ZackS mentioned it or not 😆). I did end up finding the best setting for me so far and it was having my 9* head set at -1.0* (8*). 
Now onto the grips' feel.
I usually grip my clubs pretty tight, on the 1-10 scale, I usually put 7 or 8. For whatever reason, it feels like I don't need to grip with much pressure at all and I would say I was moved down to a 4 on grip pressure. 
The tacky and soft feel of the STR8 is very good and comfortable. The only uncomfortable part was the rib when the grip wasn't aligned with the Dr face as I said above.
Another feel thing I noticed was the swing weighting on my 5w and 5hy. Those two clubs had midsized Lamkin PXG grips installed on them and they must be quite a bit heavier than the STR8 UltraLite grips because I noticed the head weight much more than previously.
And for performance.
The LTDx driver performed significantly better. However, this is not all because of the grips. I think a lot of the performance improvement is from dialing in the hosel setting. My previous driver average carry distance was 274.6 yds and during this session it was 281.8 yds.
I was most surprised with my 3w performance. My previous 3w average carry distance was 246 yds and during this session my average carry was 255.8 yds. My 3w has never felt so easy to hit and I think that reflected in how consistent the shots were. Previously, I would hit the 3w nicely, but there would always be some severe mishits that made the averages lower.
The 5w and the 4hy both had 4 yard average carry distance gains!
For those concerned with not being able to turn the club over ( @IndyBonzo ), I did NOT have that issue at all. My stock shot is a slight draw and I was able to draw the ball no problem. See the dispersion chart below from my driver. Every shot was a draw of varying magnitude. I definitely did not have trouble drawing my hybrid and actually had to concentrate on keeping my hands still through the shot to prevent overdrawing it.

More to come on the course and then eventually longevity.

Definitely the chrome tour for me.  Huge ball speeds and low spin off the tee. Exactly what the doc ordered. 

Introduction:
Let me start by saying how much I appreciate this opportunity and big thanks to MSG and TPT. Also to John Sinclair for his time in for the fitting. My name is Zack, I was born and raised the Dallas TX area and lived here most my life other then a few years in California for college. I worked in the golf industry throughout most of my 20’s primarily in a teaching role where I was a lead instructor for a city course teaching both adults and kids then an indoor facility with Edwin Watts. I have moved into IT engineering for my career and I am a single dad. My son is starting to have some interest in the game so I get to do some practice with him but the majority of my golf is sneaking out after work when my son is at his mom’s.

 
My Game:
A little on the history on my game. I started playing 24 years ago in high school. I picked up the game pretty quickly and was constantly shooting in the 80s by end on freshman year. My last few years of high school was was consistently in the high 70s. My game was at its best in college where I got down to scratch. Throughout my time in the industry I didn’t keep a handicap but my average score was mid to low 70s with a bad day being high 70s. After years of averaging about 1 round per year I played a handful of time last year and have got the bug again. I still don’t keep a handicap but currently averaging about 8 over par when I play. For a few reasons, I still don’t get play as much as I would like so I practice more than I play currently but with my analytical, perfectionist mindset, I enjoy practicing.
 
Manufacturer claims and My Thoughts:
TPT has a proprietary manufacturing process that allows for ……..You know what they explain it better then me. So give it a watch, I’ll wait 😆
This has me very excited as if this it true I should see a noticeable difference in dispersion and hopefully from this distance due to the added confidence and ability to play a softer/ligher shaft.
 
How I plan to test:
Going to start by comparing the shafts in the SIM bay against my current for launch, spin, ball speed, distance and dispersion.
Current shafts:
Titleist TSR3 Driver - Graphite Design AD DI 6X and Accra TZ6 55 M5
Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond 5 Wood - Graphite Design AD TP 7S
PXG 0317 Gen2 22 degree Hybrid - Aldila NV Blue 90S
And obviously I will have to put them to the test on the course and what performance benefits it can provide. For these to stay in my bag the primary thing would be dispersion as that has always been the weakest part of my game. But of course some added distance along with that will be welcome.
 
Final Review 5/4/2024
 
Initial Impressions: (10 out of 10)
Since Jon our fitter had the shafts sent to him so he could build them I was able to just pick them up so there was no unboxing. But Jon also let me know how much head weight needed to be added or subtracted from each club while there. Since I knew the weights I had in the driver and 5 wood I knew I had what I needed already at home and Jon gave me what I needed for my driver. I will need to find some wights for my PXG Gen2 hybrid but for now I have just removed a few of them to get the correct weight. Overall my initial impressions are very high. I love the looks, I am sucker for good matte finish which these have just a few layers of clear coat so you can see the graphite which has a unique look I am assuming it due to their patented manufacturing process. Add to that the matte yellow that really pops and makes them standout.

The feel and performance during the fitting and the first range session are great and confidence inspiring. Here are quick highlights from the range.
Lastly even though getting fit from Jon Sinclair is not something everyone looking at these shaft will get to do but I was lucky enough too and it was a great experience. You can see more detail on that here
Aesthetics: 19 out of 20
With shaping and other things like that not really being a thing with shafts there is not a lot to discuss on aesthetics. That said I love the looks, I am sucker for good matte finish which these have just a few layers of a matte clear coat so you can see the graphite. The graphite has a unique look I am assuming it due to their patented manufacturing process where they sand the graphite down to create the flex profile.

Also the matte yellow that really pops and makes them standout. The only thing I would change is make it orange instead of yellow because I like orange.

I am sure some won’t like the look but I though the QR code they have on the shaft that take you to a page to be able to register your shafts and a few other things including this document which give some more info on shaft profile. https://linktr.ee/tptgolf_QRCode
 
The Numbers: (17 out of 20)
I will start by saying that I am grading on a scale where a full 20 out of 20 would be that it was better is every single way. That said my current shafts where pretty good for me already and in terms of sheer numbers (launch, spin, ball speed, distance, etc) thing were similar as you will see from examples below. I did a multiple sessions to make sure it was not just a good day with one shaft or another for some reason. Also this allowed me to get a decent sample size and not having to make a bunch of swings all at one were I would inevitably end up being tired and a shaft would get the short end of the stick in the comparison.
Driver: 
One note from the first session is I hit double the amount with the TPT shaft, half being me trying to swing faster and the dispersion is still better.


5 wood:
You will notice in the 2nd session I was all over with my swing with this club so number are down and dispersion is wider but the TPT was still more consistent


Hybrid: 


Where the TPT shafts did standout was dispersion. In every session weather swinging good or bad dispersion was better with the TPT shafts. Also the consistency numbers especially in spin where better in almost all cases.
 
On Course: (16 out of 20)
I will again preface this score by saying that on my scale a 20 out of 20 would be the shafts were completely game changing. Since we already established that base numbers are very similar so so can’t classify it as game changing on that front. While I would say I am seeing the same improved dispersion on course that I have seen in the SIM comparisons. I can’t say the shafts completely eliminate big misses or have gotten rid of my left miss with my 5 wood “my issue not the shafts” and unfortunately shafts can’t fix my brain, haha. Though I will say my confidence is growing with that have the shafts especially the driver. One example of this is in one of my rounds on a whole that is a hard dog leg left around the river and the tees. Where up a box from normal and I decided to. Be aggressive and took a driver over the river and trees and put it 40 yards short of the green.

Which if that trend continues could be become game changing as they has always been a weak point of my game. And while I didn’t get to play as much as planned due to weather and schedule not matching up well in some cases. But it can’t be ignored that over the 46 holes I was able to play doing the testing period I was a total of 4 over par. This did have a good amount to do with good putting and short game but what good rounds don’t. But since I started getting back into golf over the last about 2 years I have mainly been in the 6 to 12 over par per round range. This has been my best stretch of golf in a long time. The rounds during the testing include a even par 72, a 9 hole 4 over 40, a 9 hole even par 36 from the very back tees to test my tee game and a 10 hole even par day. If you would like to see some details on these see the links below.
 
 
The Good, the Bad and in-between: (8 out of 10)
Overall my experience with the TPT shafts has been all good. I love the looks and the feel on of the shafts. On the feel side I don’t notice a difference whether I try and smooth one or really go after it which is confidence inspiring. They just load and unload very nice and consistent. The in-between for me is base numbers (launch, spin, distance) are very similar to my current shafts. The only thing I would classify as bad is they are pricy and not a widely available as some other shafts. The availability is not really their fault and I do understand with the propriety process, super tight tolerances and high end material is not cheap still at the end of the day $400 for the Power range and $650 for the Nitro is not something everyone can afford and you don’t get the benefit of it being offered as a up charge option from a manufacture where it can be a little less expensive.
 
Play it or Trade it? (20 out of 20)
This one is pretty easy for me as despite not seeing a big jump in distance I have seen a difference in consistency and dispersion which is the main thing I needed. So from what I saw during this testing there is absolutely no reason I see to take these shafts out of the bag and as mentioned in other sections my confidence is growing especially with the driver so I am thinking they could get even better for me.
 
Conclusion:
TPT claims that through their proprietary manufacturing process that is completely automated that creates a shaft with no spine and zero off-axing when bent. What is allows for is greater consistency in strike and dispersion allowing you to play a softer shaft and gain distance. During my testing I have found the claims of consistency to be true. As far as distance goes my numbers for launch, spin, ball speed and distance as very similar across. On that front when it comes to hybrid and 5 wood I don’t need more distance I need them to go a certain distance for gaping. On the driver I think this could be that I really didn’t go softer in flex. We did try one softer I didn’t get a little faster ball speed but had a little worse dispersion as well. Though I still think I could see improved distance as my confidence to swing harder with the TPT shaft in the driver is growing. The other claim from TPT is 3 shafts one feel with the Power Range of driver, fairway and hybrid shafts. I ended up with the Nitro shaft in the driver but still found this claim to be true with the like profile but I could feel a slight difference in between the Hi and Lo shafts. But to be honest I don’t think I would without hitting them back to back. Bottom line is these are very good shaft that I feel for the most part live up to the claims. There is the consideration of price as all this technology comes a price that while not out of the realm of other premium shafts are right there with most premium shaft in the Power Range and on the higher end of the spectrum in the Nitro Range. That is a decision that each person has to make and with my normal budget I can’t guarantee you I would purchase these on my own. That said if you are in the market for premium shaft and doing a fitting you should certainly have the TPT shafts on your list and I would argue it should be at the very top of that list.   
 
Final Score: (90 out of 100)

I was able to add another layer of tape to the bottom half the grips and I seems that will hopefully do the trick. Also was able to hit a few balls in the simulator today and definitely liked the grips. Nice and tacky and not overly firm. It was just one session and a small sample size. So could have just been one of those days but my launch angle with my 7 iron was about a degree and half lower than normal. Which I would be very happy with if it became my normal. 

After hassling the Callaway rep the last time I saw him at the range for a sleeve of balls to test first, I'm now locked and loaded for the '24 season with new balls. Great feel off the face, and good stopping power even on short chips around the green. Saw a small increase in ball speed across the board, and decent increase specifically on my driver shots vs the old model Chrome Soft balls. I reckon Callaway finally has a real competitor to the Pro V1 here
 

During the conversation around TPT shaft manufacturing process Jon did advise that he recommends longer necked clubhead covers for use with the TPT shafts.
This stems from the fact that TPT applies only two coats of matt clearcoat over the raw machined (sanded) shaft allowing for approximately 20% more material to be utilized in production of the shaft achieving higher strength and stability. 
As you can imagine, clubs rubbing against the shaft during walking rounds or transport will wear through the coating faster than the more conventionally fabricated shafts which have many more coats of paint which can add up to 20% - 30% of total shaft weight.

Great job so far!  I am really looking forward to the results!  

Another tidbit of wisdom from Jon Sinclair. I told you these things would continue to come to mind. There was simply too many pearls of wisdom to string together into a cohesive necklace the first time. I said that all my shots were to the left side of the fairway or the left side of the green. I rarely missed right. 
He said let me show you something. Then proceeded to drop a net that covered from “the center of the fairway” which was directly over the line of baskets left. 
You can’t really see because of my big butt in the way, but from my point of view, in order to hit one down the line and not hit the net, I have to aim to the trees on the right. 
I have noticed when watching the pros on tv with the camera directly behind the player, the ball usually seems to take off to the right. It’s really a perception thing. The ball appears to start right but goes straight. When the ball appears to go straight, it goes left. When it starts left, it usually goes right. 

I should look for a thread here from 10 years ago where I wrote about 7 o’clock is the perfect time to hit the golf ball. In it, I didn’t really reference time at all, just that if 12 o’clock was towards the target, 6 o’clock was directly away from the target, then striking the ball in the 7 o’clock position with the club face towards 12 o’clock would produce a slight draw to the target. 

TPT fitting with Jon Sinclair
Jon Sinclair's Golf Training Center is located at one end of the Texas Star Golf Course driving range and is nicely situated to afford a degree of privacy in a calm and quiet setting. The swing bay is nice in that it allows you to observe actual ball flight which I much prefer over a sim screen. The equipment is state of the art and as you look around Jon's shop you will find everything needed for teaching/coaching, fitting, club building, and alterations. TrackMan is the technology of choice for data acquisition during the fitting process. Jon is also sought after for his knowledge in the use of 3D technology and boasts the world's largest database of over 200 professional golfers.


I arrived early to assist Rick with pictures and video and was able to observe and get a feel for the process before it was my turn in the limelight. 
As Rick was finishing up and putting his clubs away Jon showed us his putting training area. Some kind of nice is all I can say! Fully programable bed with overhead graphics projection which are used to assist in teaching green reading. And the wrap around background of TPT home in Switzerland was cool too...

While Rick enjoyed a little putting practice, he is a dang good putter by the way, I started warming up during which Jon was observing intently and noting swing tendencies. I'm pretty sure I had his head spinning...😅   This would be the only part of the session I would consider normal in reference to previous fittings. From that point on, it was all business and I enjoyed it immensely! One significant note is that all balls used for fitting, Pinnacle range balls, are brand new out of the box.
I lost count of the number of shafts tested during the entire process, but the number used for the driver was 6 with two of them being reintroduced multiple times as a means to validate benchmarks as we progressed. Clearly Jon manages the process and is driven by a quest for optimum performance. 
Protocol was to make 3-5 decent swings, under his watchful eye and then Jon would make any head adjustment or shaft change he determined required, hand the club back and repeat the sequence. Of the total balls struck, approx.130 useable, I would estimate that roughly 70-80 were used on the driver fitting.

Jon took the time to explain all the data parameters he was monitoring and what results he was looking for. There came a point after the 3rd or 4th shaft that I was in a state of information overload for which there was no recovery... Just trusted in the fact that Jon knew what he was doing and looking for.
He commented that with shaft selection he could move the ball 2" up, down, left, or right. I was unable to strike the ball high in the face due to my AOA being fairly constant at about a negative 4-5*. Jon went, what I consider as, "above and beyond" in attempting to help me remedy this issue with potential equipment changes. We first tried increasing clubhead weight by 5 grams which didn't produce desired effect. He then went into his 2024 driver clubhead drawer and pulled out the TSR3 head and added weight to no avail. Next, we tried the Ping G425 LST and the G430 Max 10k heads with no success, so it appears I have another issue to add to swing improvements needed for 2024. This one is worth about 20-30 yards total according to Jon so it will be a priority!
Based on all the results Jon settled into the Nitro 17 Lo as the preferred shaft and moved on to the Fairway and Hybrid clubs using the same process. However, my angle of attack, while a little steep, is more favorable with these weapons and 50+ balls later we closed the fitting out with a quick review of the results. 
Driver:     NITRO   
                Model                                Flight                                  Weight                                    Torque                                Raw Length                      CPM           

Fairway: Power Range

Hybrid: Power Range

 
To say the time with Jon was interesting, informative, and fun would be an understatement. He is very knowledgeable of the industry and will take the time to answer any questions or offer any opinions.
Again, I want to thank the MGS Team, and TPT for this opportunity!
Also, a special thank you to my wife and daughter for taking their Sunday to support me on this journey!

I played today and hit irons good by timing with the driver wasn’t there. This is not abnormal for me though my driving has improved some. What was odd is the miss was mainly left. My only other round this year I was missing a little left as well but not my much and it was a great driving round. But still odd that I have had 2 rounds with the tendency being left as I have predominantly had a right miss for 15 years. Anyway, this just makes me even more ready for my fitting and to get testing. 

Testers,
Has there been any "UH HUH" moments that would make you choose either ball and put it in play going forward?

Haha, I have looked for stencils to be able to do something similar on the Srixon balls but they are all half ball stencils and with something like this it need to be exact to get the desired feedback this is for and don’t trust I would do that. 

That is their Tru Track ball. It’s Callaway version of Taylormade Pix ball. It is one of the reasons I wanted to try the Callaway as the Srixon I currently play doesn’t have anything like this. I personally like the look of the Pix better when I rolls as it stands out more, plus orange is one of my favorite colors. But when I did testing I was getting a little better numbers with the Callaway. I might go do one more ball fitting just to validate the numbers I saw the first time but I am leaning towards getting the Callaway on the current sale. At this point to be honest the deciding factor to go with them over the Srixon I currently use is they are made in the USA and I like to support companies that do that. Taylormade make their ball partly in the USA as well. Side note the new Bridgestone BX was right there on the numbers as well.