Hoyoymac

@matt_puttercup Having dealt with occasional painful flare ups of Plantar Fasciitis intermittently over the past twenty or so years and also now playing golf almost daily I have a few thoughts on how to deal with both the symptoms and the underlying cause. I play a lot of golf. Over 200 rounds a year. I also walk regularly with the assistance of an Alphard Wheels V2 assisted Bag Boy Quad XL cart. The two brands of golf shoes that I have found most effective in reducing my plantar fasciitis symptoms and also be comfortable, stable, supportive and durable are Footjoy Premiums and Ecco Bioms. Off the course and around the house I now most often wear Geckoman by Walkhero slip on shoes. I never walk around barefoot. To treat my Plantar Fasciitis pain over the years I have used insoles, supportive socks, night time sleep splints, foot rollers. You name it I have tried it. For immediate pain relief the foot roller is the best treatment for me. Insoles help to cushion and support the foot and reduce pain, but they don’t treat the cause. But for long term relief the one thing I have done that reduces my symptoms more than anything is doing daily Standing Calf Stretches and holding the stretch for 30 seconds or more. I do my calf stretches in the morning while having my first cup of coffee. I have added some back stretches over time as well. It takes about 3 minutes and my wife has taken to calling it my “Coffee Yoga” routine Since starting with the daily calf stretches about 4 or 5 years ago I have not had a significant flare up of Plantar Fasciitis pain. But if I miss several days in a row of stretching due to travel or some other disruption to my normal morning routine I can feel the difference and start to get twinges of pain again. Hope you get relief soon and best wishes to you for success on the golf course.

It is taking me awhile to process everything that happened yesterday. Kind of a whirlwind 24 hours. I got home around Midnight and this morning it has been tough to get going. Back is sore from 150 or so swings followed by several hours of car rides, shuttle buses, airport trains, waiting area seats and cramped, full flights. My body is also a little out of whack from the disruption to my normal routines with meal times and bed times being skewed by travel and time changes. Despite all of that, I would gladly head to the airport right now and do it all over again! That is how good of an experience I had as part of this TPT Golf shafts adventure. Something that wasn’t planned, not part of the program and just sort of accidental that happened yesterday turned out to have a big impact on me. It is hard to convey how meaningful it was to have Bill, Rick and Zack all be there yesterday. It really created an Esprit de Corp amongst us all. Being part of a group on a shared journey elevated this experience to another level. On to the fitting itself. @ZackS@William P and @RoverRick have done a really good job of describing the process of the fitting. At the beginning of my fitting I told Jon that the three clubs that I was being fit for have been working extremely well for me. We started with my Driver. Cobra LTDx LS 9 degree with a Diamana ZF 60S shaft playing at close to 46” with the Arccos sensor in the grip. Set in the Standard draw setting and playing at D4 swing weight with a 14g weight in the heel and a 3 gram weight in the toe. After a number of shots he told me that I hit the driver very well and that it would be a challenge to beat. It seemed to get him fired up. My highest single swing speed of the day was with my current driver at 104 MPH and my average Driver swing speed during the fitting was hovering right around 100 MPH +/- 1. We cycled through a number of shafts. Nitro 16 HI, Nitro 17 LO, Nitro 18 LO, Power Range 17 HI, Power Range 18 LO. At the end he encouraged me, like he did with Zack to not hold back, because he wanted to see what happened when I went after one. Here are the dispersion circles of the final recommendation: TPT Power Range 18 LO at 45” in green compared to my current shaft in White. When I hit the last shot with the TPT Power Range 18 LO at 45”, Jon said, “I think we found your Driver shaft.” This is the screenshot of the Trackman optimizer of that shot. He was able to beat my current set up despite using a shaft that is about an inch shorter. But the shorter shaft gave me better efficiency due to a more consistent strike location and my already good left to right dispersion became insanely good. The Fairway wood that I brought for the fitting is the Cobra LTDx 15 degree set at 16.5 with a Graphite Design Tour AD DI 7S shaft at 43”. This club has been a game changer for me. I’m extremely confident with this club and one of my playing partners has even told me to “Never take it out of my bag.” I really went into this part of the fitting with low expectations. How could Jon beat my favorite club in the bag? It didn’t take long. We tried the TPT Power Range 18 HI, 18 LO, and 17 HI. Within a few shots we found that the 17 Hi set at +1.5 at 43” was a real winner! Here is a comparison between my current setup and with the 17 HI: The reason there are only two shots captured on Trackman with this set-up is that Jon wanted to go outside and confirm things off the turf. I hit two off the ground and two off a tee and they were so good that I was literally giggling like a little child and told Jon that we didn’t need to hit anymore. It was ten yards longer and if you threw a beach blanket down it would’ve covered all of them! The hybrid fit was a bit hampered by not being able to plug and play shafts directly into my Cobra LTDx 24 degree hybrid with a Fujikura Fuel HY 85 Stiff shaft because it has a bonded hosel. Jon devised a workaround and we hit the Power Range 18 LO, 17 HI and 17 LO. The 17 LO was just an instant winner. We went outside to the grass and I hit a couple off the turf and a couple off the tee and we were done. I believe I was the only one of the four of us to be fit into 3 different shafts: Power Range 18 LO for Driver, 17 HI for Fairway wood and 17 LO for hybrid. If I had tried to fit myself and buy these shafts on my own just based off of the published specs and comparing to what I’m playing now I might have gotten one or two of them right, but definitely not all three. I would have probably gone too stiff on the driver shaft for sure. How did the fitting compare to other fittings I’ve had? The pre fitting conversation and warmup were quite similar. Essentially, Jon gathers information so he can understand who and what he’s working with and start to mentally narrow things down to a few shafts to start with. Some key differences emerged though. Jon was very good at setting expectations at the beginning of the fitting. He was very clear that he was not going to talk much at all about what he was handing you to try. He really just wanted you to hit them and then give him your feedback on the shaft and whatever feelings you had about it. He is super focused on what you are doing and how you are reacting to the changes he is making. Jon Sinclair exhibited a quiet confidence throughout the fitting. He has a clear plan in mind based on the information he had gathered and his initial observations of your swing. But he is not rigid in his thinking. As the fitting goes along and he sees how you are reacting to things he adapts and comes up with new solutions. It was very obvious when a shaft felt right and performed well. Within a shot or two sometimes. He was extremely quick to take something out of your hands. He recognized immediately by what you did, said or how you reacted that you were uncomfortable with something and he did not want me to start adapting my swing to make the shaft work. He would cycle back to a shaft that worked to confirm that it was a good fit. The Driver fitting took the longest for me, the fairway wood fitting was pretty quick. The hybrid fitting was last and although a bit hindered by not having an adjustable hosel plug and play hybrid we got it sorted out pretty quickly. Jon told me that I was extremely sensitive to shaft torque. One of the most sensitive golfers he’s worked with. I had begun to suspect as much over time but was happy to have someone confirm it. He shared that in the golf shaft industry there are a variety of thoughts currently regarding torque with many companies claiming that torque is mostly just about feel. He disagrees, “Torque is not just feel, it is real!” He also was concerned with Swing Weight, recording all of the club specs of your current set-up and was especially careful about confirming all of the specs with the final recommendation for the build. Jon Sinclair told us after Zack’s fitting that he took us through exactly what he does with visiting PGA Tour players. The only difference being is that after their fittings he builds up their shafts on the spot and they leave with them that day. Finally, as I mentioned yesterday, being able to watch Zack’s fitting after going through mine was extremely helpful. During the fitting you kind of get lost in the fog of everything and being able to step back and watch really helped me gain perspective on what I had just gone through. After yesterday I’m extremely excited to get these shafts in hand and put them into play.

Fueled up the rental car, got it returned then took the shuttle to the Terminal. Checked my golf bag and went through security. First trip after getting enrolled in TSA Precheck and it definitely sped things up. Never ate lunch today. So was pretty hungry. Sat down at Pappadeaux’s and had a Bllue Moon beer with the Salmon burger and fries. Just wonderful. Service and food were great. Had a chance to unwind a bit while eating, review a few things from the fitting and get caught up with the rest of the world.

After Zack’s fitting the four of us had a nice discussion with Jon Sinclair and were able to ask a bunch of questions. Got a nice picture of all of us before we left with Jon.

Rick has arrived. The boys are all here!

Watching Zack’s fitting is really cool. I was so absorbed in my fitting to see or notice everything. Now I can sit back and watch and take it all in. I’m relaxed and enjoying myself. The only thing better would be if I had a cigar and a liquor drink!!

My fitting is over and very pleased with how everything went and the results that were achieved. I’ll post more in depth about my fitting later today. Bill came in and observed my fairway and hybrid fittings. We are both observing Zack’s driver fitting now. Wow! The sound the ball makes off his driver is different. He just hit one with a TPT shaft that generated 170 MPH ball speed!

Look who showed up! Bill and Zack are in the house!

Inside the fitting studio. Lots of equipment to measure, adjust and work on clubs. This is where the magic happens!

Didn’t bring all of my clubs. Just a half set in a lightweight carry bag.

Nothing going on here. Move along. Just professional golfers getting fit for the highest quality golf shafts ever made.

Outside of Jon Sinclair’s fitting building and from the outside it is giving off vibes of “Secret Lair”!

Arrived at the course! Pretty place.

Slept pretty well and after a rather just adequate hotel breakfast I’m up and at ‘em. The sun is shining and the birds are singing but it’s a bit frosty out. 46 degrees. A bit of a shock from the 82 yesterday at home. Bundled up, though I imagine that I’ll be working up a lather soon enough. Heading to the Texas Star golf course in a few minutes.

Golf clubs retrieved, rental car secured, checked in to the hotel. Going to hit the hay after I get settled in. Staying about 2 miles from the Texas Star Golf Club where I’ll be headed in the morning for the fitting. Sweet dreams of fairways found and distance gained!

Landed in Dallas. Some light reading on the plane: and a libation:

A little slower today. Probably didn’t warm up enough.

Waiting at the Savannah, GA airport for my flight to Dallas. Golf clubs are checked. St. Patrick’s Day is a big celebration here with the 2nd biggest parade in the country I believe. The fountain in front of the airport had it’s water dyed green.

Headed to Dallas Tomorrow Night! Excited and a bit nervous. Hope that my recent driver swing comes with me. Been hitting my driver very well this past week. Curious. Eager to meet Jon Sinclair not only to get fit for the TPT Golf shafts but also to learn more about the fitting process in general.

They arrived yesterday!

A few more personal bests achieved today! The trend is looking good.

There was a good article about the new Footjoy and Jon Buscemi 2024 collaboration on the MyGolfSpy main page that inspired me to take a closer look. The new Premiere Field LX reminded me of my favorite shoes ever from Footjoy, the Split Toe Professional. Was able to order a pair yesterday on the day the shoes launched. By the evening the limited release shoes were sold out. Looking forward to getting my shoes in a few days and will post more about them when they arrive.

Achieved several personal bests today!

Thought I might share some reviews that I’ve found on the TPT Golf Shafts for everyone to watch while you are waiting for our fitting results.

Back at it. Set a couple of personal bests today.