OPERATION CALLAWAY: THE FITTING

[GolfSpy Dave]

OPERATION CALLAWAY: THE FITTING

An average Joe gets fit like a Pro.

(HERE) is the first article if you missed it.

 

 

Arriving in Carlsbad, CA…

As I headed north on I-5, leaving left my family behind in beautiful, although overcast, San Diego, my mind wandered through differing visions of what Carlsbad, CA would look like. Although I was visiting Callaway, I knew that other manufactures like Cleveland, Cobra, Taylormade, and Titleist are headquartered there as well. Perhaps my mental state was influenced by my previous two days at Disneyland, but that is what I was expecting, a golf theme park-like city. I did see Legoland as I pulled into town, but that is really where the theme park motif of the buildings ended. The golf companies are actually housed in what I would classify as a modern industrial park, where neighboring companies are involved in non-golf things like genetic research. It did not look like a place where the wonders of golf are created. Thankfully though, upon entering the Callaway building, it became obvious that the nondescript exterior did indeed contain the magic of golf inside.

 

 

The Callaway Experience: Registration and Introductions

So it is a bit of an understatement to say that I was nervous about getting fit for clubs at a manufacturer's headquarters. My swing often times has a face that only a mother could love. To unleash it on a poor unsuspecting fitter seemed not only cruel, but also likely humiliating for yours truly. Thankfully, my nervousness was met with warmth and welcome from the staff at Callaway. The receptionist Jeanne was very pleasant and welcoming. Upon entering the lobby, she directed me to a computer terminal where I read and signed a liability waiver and also a non-disclosure agreement should I see anything that was not yet ready for public consumption. To answer your question, no I do not have any cool prototype news that I am holding back from you. I was there for a fitting, not corporate espionage. Although I did keep my eyes open for secret stuff.

 

 

After a couple of minutes (I was early) my contact at Callaway, Tim, and my club fitter Marc Zien met me in the lobby and led me through the halls to the fitting room. Inside the building there were cool bits of golf memorabilia and icons of Callaway Golf. Large banners showing Phil, Annika, Ernie, Arnie, and others hung from the roof in the lobby. Walking past the Callaway Warbird robot made me believe that maybe I had indeed found a golf theme park.

 

 

The Callaway Experience: The Fitting

The fitting location in Carlsbad is one of the official Callaway Performance Centers. This center represents the state of the art Callaway fitting technology. Callaway has twenty-one of these Performance Centers worldwide at both corporate and retail locations (HERE). A general description of the Callaway Performance Center fitting process can be found HERE.

 

 

So once in the fitting room, Tim excused himself and Marc and I began the process of figuring out what configuration of clubs would work best for me. Marc asked me questions about my current clubs, my strengths, and weaknesses on the course, my usual misses, and etc. I told him that I putt fairly well, have an OK short game, and that I usually keep my iron shots in play, although seemingly a bit high. When discussing driving the ball, I am not sure that I used the words ‘train wreck' or ‘like a sprinkler' when describing ball flight, but I am sure that my description really made Marc look forward to fitting that club. After measuring my wrist to the floor distance and declaring me normal, we got to work selecting irons.

 

 

Fitting The Irons

Marc thought that some of my issues with the irons that I play currently, Ping G10's, could be a result of the sole being too wide and thus promoting a ballooning ball flight. Because of this, we skipped the Diablo Edge line of clubs and started with the Razr X (non-tour) irons. We started with a six iron shafted with a Dynamic Gold S300 shaft. After stretching and a few practice swings, we started recording my swing results.

 

One of the very cool things about the Callaway fitting process that I found very unique was the way the Callaway Performance Analysis System (CPAS) displayed the data. You actually get to see images of the top of the club head at three points before impact and one after. As someone who as issues with swing path, this was a great way for me to see the cause and effect relationship between swing input and ball output. Another fun thing about the fitting room is that although you are hitting into a net, there is a huge picture of the 18th at Pebble Beach to aim into. Marc said that the computer display used to also show the 18th at Pebble, but people would frequently aim way right to avoid the ocean. Thus the computer display shows a generic green field.

 

 

The fitting room itself is also a golf gear lover's paradise. Take a typical fitting cart, and turn it into a fitting room. The walls are lined with clubs. The back wall has a rack with hundreds of six irons, each with different head and shaft combos. The other walls are loaded with woods and hybrids. Large computer monitors are located where the hitter can easily see the results of the shots while the fitter controls the CPAS system from a very space-age control center atop a large Callaway chevron. Targeting shots toward a hole on my bucket list was just icing on the cake.

 

 

After a few warm-up shots/shanks, I settled down and we recorded some consistent swings with the Razr X/S300 combo. Marc then had me hit the same head with a lighter weight stiff True Temper Dynalite SL shaft that would be about the same weight as the AWT shaft in my G10's. Marc explained that it really only makes sense to change one element in the club at a time so that you can better track the influence of that change on performance. Again I hit a few balls and then data was collected on five similar shots. During the process, I told Marc that the club felt totally different. I felt that I could feel the grip and the head, but it was almost like there was an empty space in between them. Marc said that my comment was interesting and to wait until I saw the data.

 

 

Here are the data lines for the Dynamic Gold S300 (red) and the Dynalite SL (white). Marc said that it was quite obvious that the heavier shaft was a better fit for me. Not only was my dispersal pattern better, but also the heights of the shots were more consistent. For whatever reason, my swing is more consistent with the heavier shaft. Typically, one of the benefits of using a lighter iron shaft is that it increases distance. For me, this was the exact opposite. While I don't remember the exact numbers, I was about 10 yards longer with the heavier shaft. After figuring out that this shaft works for me, Marc had me hit a Diablo Forged six iron head with the S300 shaft. The interesting thing here was that the flight was about the same, but the dispersal was wider. Marc said that this would also be a possible iron for me, but I would have to work to get better with my hands through impact to hit it consistantly. While I love the look of the Diablo Forged, and sort of went into the fitting hoping that the Diablo Forged iron would be the one to fit me, I decided to go with the more consistent numbers from the Razr Xset.

 

Marc checked my fingers as I gripped a standard sized grip and determined that I should have the grips built up two wraps. He then handed me a grip that was +2 and I could see that with the extra tape the fingers on my left hand ended up touching my palm rather than pushing into it a bit. In honor of Callaway pro Phil Mickelson, I went with black and white Golf Pride New Decade grips on everything.

 

 

The last thing that Marc checked was the lie angle. I have hit off a lie board previously and have found it a bit unnerving. The board is 0.25” higher than the ground and its plastic nature makes me think that I am going to break it with the swing. While I know that I will not break it, I am sure that having that thought in my head affects my swing. What Callaway does to measure correct lie was very different from my previous experiences. Marc placed impact tape on the face of the six iron and then had me hit a ball that has a groove cut in it around the equator. That groove was lined up square to the target line and then hit. What this does is make a line in the middle of the dark circle on the impact tape and that line represents the club angle at impact. We did this twice and although you can see that I was not making great contact, the lines on the two circles were parallel. Using this as a guide, all of my irons were bent 2° up.

 

 

Here is a summary of the 6i swing data for those interested:

Club Head Speed: 85.2mph

Ball Speed: 112.1mph

Launch Angle: 20.1°

Side Angle: 5.7° (left)

Back Spin: 5865 rpm

Side Spin: 200 rpm (right)

Swing Path: 6.15° (left)

Angle Attack: 7.68° (down)

 

Wedge Selection

During the initial interview process, I told Marc that although I have a pair of Scratch wedges that I love, they currently reside in the garage. As part of my own experimentation, I had purchased the G10 sand wedge to match my current iron set and while it is not a showpiece in the bag like a Scratch wedge, I play better with it so it stays in the bag. Marc agreed that this was a good idea and he thought that based upon the state of my game right now, I would score better with a Razr X SW that matches the specs of the irons. I love the look of the Jaws slate finish wedges, but I think that at this point they would be just keeping the others company in the garage.

 

Irons: Razr X, 5-PW, AW, & SW, Dynamic Gold S300, 2° up

 

 

Hybrid and Fairway Fitting

There are definitely times for me on the course when I wonder if I should even bag anything with a graphite shaft. Marc gave me a Razr X 3H with the stock shaft to hit. In just a couple of swings, all the confidence that I had just gained in my iron swinging went flying into the retaining plastic in the side of the fitting room. Basically I was living the fear that I had going into the fitting. I was not able to swing the club well enough to even get a reading. After piloting balls into uncharted corners of the fitting room, Marc asked if I wanted a pointer. He said that he didn't want to step on the feet of my normal instructor, but I told him to step away, my normal instructor's help was 400 miles away. Marc and I had already discussed that I fight an over the top swing. I am sure that you noticed the left to right flight in the 6i graphic and data above. For the hybrid, I was swinging so hard over the top that lumberjacks were stopping by to take notes. Marc had me do two simple things. First, he told me to swing at the chair by the door behind my right shoulder on my backswing. Then I was to swing to the right of the target line through impact. Without a ball in place, I took some swings toward the door, and then toward Marc who stood to the right of the target line. After a few attempts, Marc said that I was doing it and that I should try it with a ball. I totally understand him moving out of the way though. That ball carried 204 and went from right to left. It may have been a watershed moment in my playing career to date. I can visualize that set-up and swing, even sitting here at the keyboard.

 

For reference...

 

Once I could actually hit the ball, the fitting results were similar to what we found with the irons. The stock shafts were a bit too light in both the hybrids and the fairways and when we switched to the heavier green Aldila NV fairway and hybrid shafts, my swing and resulting ball flight improved. There was a limit though. I did hit the hybrid with a steel shaft and it took mere moments to know that direction was not the way to go.

 

Woods: Razr Hawk Fairways 3 & 5 Aldila NV 75, Razr X Hybrids 3 & 4 Aldila NV 85

 

Driver Fitting

To the best of my knowledge, Marc did not put on body armor before I started hitting balls with a driver, but I wouldn't have blamed him if he did. My handicap is around 18 because my second shot typically involves recovering from a bad tee shot. If I can hit a fairway or even close to a fairway, the rest of my game gives me a shot at par. Finding a driver that helps me find fairways would have a huge impact on my score.

 

Marc had me start with the Diablo Octane driver with a 9.5° head and a stock stiff shaft. After a few swings it was easy to see that I was generating too much backspin spin with it. As soon as we switched to the Razr Hawk head, my spin numbers dropped off a bunch. It is not like the swing got better in two minutes either. The Razr Hawk head definitely spun less for me. Still not happy with the spin numbers, we went through a few different shafts, and even a few different shaft lengths. He then put a Diamana Blue Board 63g shaft into the head and commented that the price of the driver just jumped a bit. Of course, the Razr Hawk head with the upgraded Blue Board shaft produced the best spin numbers of the day. At this time he also asked how I liked the draw head. Huh? Draw head? Sure enough, during one of the changes, Marc had switched the head neutral head to a 9.5° Draw. I honestly had no idea. The draw head is the exact same shape as the neutral head with the weight placed differently on the sole. I was amazed. I have always associated draw-biased drivers with funny, oblong shapes. After a few more swings, including a few where Marc told me not to be afraid to go after it a bit more, I was sold.

 

Here is a summary of the driver swing data:

Club Head Speed: 102 mph

Ball Speed: 145 mph

Launch Angle: 15.5°

Side Angle: 2.5° (right)

Back Spin: 3234 rpm

Side Spin: 111 rpm (left)

Swing Path: 1.12° (right)

Angle Attack: 1.14° (up)

 

 

Bottom line is that with this driver, I am actually getting right to left ball flight. Not always, but I am confident that this club in particular will allow me to hit fairways or miss better and definitely improve my game.

 

Driver: Razr Hawk Draw, 9.5°, Diamana Blue Board (63g), 45.5”

 

 

Putter Fitting

After about two hours in the fitting room, Marc sent me out into another part of the studio to roll putts. As you may know from reading my posts on this site, I love putters. Perhaps too much, and too often, but I love putters. That being said, I am not a big fan of inserts. Being that Odyssey Putters are the putters in the Callaway stable, the lack of insert narrowed the field quite a bit. I went immediately to the Ti-Hot #2. I have rolled this beauty before and I like the feel of the milled titanium. It just feels a bit different, but in a good way. After a few balls in the cup with that one, I noticed the Black Series Tour Design #1 Wide. I was not very familiar with this putter and even thought that it would be face balanced because of the neck. The #1 Wide ended up having more toe hang than I am used to, and a site line that the Edel putter fitting told me makes me aim right. Maybe the spud neck compensated for the presence of the line, but I found it very easy to line up and make putts with.

 

After watching me putt with both the #1 Wide and the Ti-Hot #2, Marc said that either would be a good fit for me and it would be my choice. I decided to go with the Odyssey Black Series Tour Design #1 Wide. Marc asked me what my usual putter length was and he agreed that 34.5” was correct as I was choking up about 0.5” on the 35” one I was using. He then checked the lie angle and declared that I was good to go. While I love this putter, don't think for a second that my mind doesn't wander back to the Ti-Hot #2. It is a pretty safe bet that one will be in the putter stable before too long.

 

Putter: Odyssey Black Series Tour Design #1 Wide, 34.5”, standard loft and lie

 

Wrapping up the Fitting

Tim came back just as Marc was suggesting that I try the Tour i(z) and Diablo Tour balls. Marc gave me a few sleeves of each to try along with a folder showing the specs for the clubs, a series of photos of me with the driver, and a few swing stats. As an interesting side to the story, Tim had gone through a similar fitting not too long ago and was interested to see the comparison in the fitting results. I gave Tim the questions from the MyGolfSpy readers (answers to be posted soon). After a bit more casual conversation about important topics like which San Diego brewery makes the best IPA (Stone Ruination IPA, btw), I was back in the car and driving away from my day at what did in fact turn out to be a golfer's theme park.

 

A Fitting Reflection

I left the Callaway fitting studio feeling like I had been genuinely custom fit for clubs that fit my swing. Waiting for them to show up at the door was the longest five business days of my life. Yep, only five business days or one week of real time for a fully custom set of clubs to arrive at my door. Unwrapping those clubs left me with a feeling of almost disbelief and absolute gratitude for the efforts of Marc and Tim the previous week.

 

Was my fitting at the Callaway Performance Center the same that you can get at your neighborhood fitter? Probably not. That being said, I know from experience that local fitters can assess many of the same swing characteristics that they did at Callaway and fit you with a set that matches your game and ultimately allow you to play better.

 

 

If there is a Callaway Performance Center near you, or maybe not even all that near you, I really recommend you make the effort to get fit there. You can do what I did and plan your fitting as part of this year's family vacation. Getting fit at the Callaway Performance Center was an unequaled golf experience for me. Marc Zien's efforts were a large part of it, without doubt, but the fitting system he was using was amazing. It's like auto racing where success on the track hinges upon the combination of a great driver and a strong car.

 

What's Next?

So now that I have these fully custom fitted clubs, I had better play better, huh. That is where I will go from here. I am going to keep this bag set for the entire 2011 golf season*. While some of you see this as no big deal, those that know me know that those fourteen spots in the bag are constantly changing. I will start another thread in a week or so where I will chronicle the rounds that I play with the new Callaway gear. If the game is still hemorrhaging shots, I will also chronicle my lessons there. Because when it really comes down to it, the purpose of this fitting was for my scores to improve as the clubs work with my swing rather than against it.

 

Having this bag of Callaway goodness is really just the beginning of the story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*OK so in all honesty, I will keep thirteen of these clubs the in the bag for the season. I reserve the right to switch the putter at will. As a dedicated putter ho, I refuse to set myself up for failure right from the get go. Why even as I finish up writing this, that Ti-Hot #2 keeps singing its siren song to me, tempting me with its titanium and tungsten deliciousness…

[Matt Saternus]

Great write up, Dave. Sounds like a really cool experience.

[MmmmmmBuddy]

Sounds like a really fun experience...

 

FWIW

OK, Here is my Guess.

Driver: 10.5* Razr Hawk Draw with UST Proforce AXIV Core 69 stiff shaft. (Close)

Fairway: Diablo Octane 15* 3wd Stock Stiff Shaft. (miss)

Hybrids: Razr X Hybrids H3, H4, Stock Stiff Shafts, -1/2 inch. (Close)

Irons: Razr X Tour 5-PW. Project X 5.5 Steel Standard length, 2* up. (Nailed the Lie angle fit!!!)

Wedges: X series 50.12, 54.16, 58.8 slate finish, specs to match irons. (Miss)

All grips are the Golf Pride New Decade, +2 wraps. ( )

Putter : Odyssey Black Series Tour Design #2. (again... close)

 

 

Just think what I could do with a little time and you in person...

 

 

 

Have a great day.

N

[GolfSpy Tim]

GREAT write up!! Sounds like an amazing experience.

 

I've been wanting to get fitted for a while and this review makes me want to get fitted all the more.

 

Do you have an idea of how much one of these fittings would normally run?

[ninetails]

Very jealous. I might have to cough up more money for another driver fitting. Mine did not go so well this past weekend...sigh.

[GolfSpy Tim]

ninetails.... how/why didn't your fitting go well?

[GolfSpy Dave]

Sounds like a really fun experience...

 

FWIW

OK, Here is my Guess.

Driver: 10.5* Razr Hawk Draw with UST Proforce AXIV Core 69 stiff shaft. (Close)

Fairway: Diablo Octane 15* 3wd Stock Stiff Shaft. (miss)

Hybrids: Razr X Hybrids H3, H4, Stock Stiff Shafts, -1/2 inch. (Close)

Irons: Razr X Tour 5-PW. Project X 5.5 Steel Standard length, 2* up. (Nailed the Lie angle fit!!!)

Wedges: X series 50.12, 54.16, 58.8 slate finish, specs to match irons. (Miss)

All grips are the Golf Pride New Decade, +2 wraps. ( )

Putter : Odyssey Black Series Tour Design #2. (again... close)

 

 

Just think what I could do with a little time and you in person...

 

 

 

Have a great day.

N

 

That's because you are the man Nic.

Chris Carnahan was speaking kind words about your shop last weekend btw

[MmmmmmBuddy]

That's because you are the man Nic.

Chris Carnahan was speaking kind words about your shop last weekend btw

I never get tired of hearing that....

[ninetails]

ninetails.... how/why didn't your fitting go well?

 

I was really disappointed with the driver fitting which I told him was my primary focus before and during session. I had no issues with the irons fitting but that's the area of my game I am the happiest.

 

My fitter is an authorized dealer for Aldila and UST (from his website) so I was quite surprised how none of the shaft options that I wanted to try were available. I was looking for high launch low spin options. I was hoping to try maybe the axivcore blue or black, V2 high launch, RIP gamma, or maybe the attas. He didn't even know about the RIP line.

 

Ok fine, he would have some other shafts that would be higher launching and lower spin than my motore F3 60g I thought. I ended up trying 2 brands of shafts, SK and Wishon (He had some Alidia but he didn't offer me any to try). I'm sure they are good shafts but it didn't seems like he had many real high launch options. I also wanted to see if heavier shafts would be better for me so he gave me a SK Fiber TT S Flex~75g shaft. Too heavy for me, slower swing speeds by about 2-3 mph. We then tried two Wishons at 69 and 70g. For whatever reason, I hit these the worst. Lost consistency and majority of my swings led to poor contact usually high on the club.

 

At the end, he told me I was hitting my driver as wells as any of his driver shaft options. He told me to try to fix my casting motion which is the primary cause of my driving issues. He also told me shorter shaft could lessen the effects from the casting so he told me to choke up on my driver.

 

I basically got what was wrong with my swing instead of the driver & shaft options that could help save my swing flaws. If I get lucky, I go out 2-3 times a month. If I had the time and wanted to take lessons to fix my actual swing, I would have done that already.

[SPY ZINGER]

I just changed my shorts. This was awesome, thank you for the post!!

[Matt Saternus]

Dave,

 

Do you have your clubs yet? How are they working out for you?

[GolfSpy Dave]

I got them. How they are working out is a whole different article

 

Questions from the other thread should post today.

[GolfSpy Tim]

looking forward to hearing about how they're working out. I'll be doing a fitting pretty soon with Titleist and I think that's the thing I'm most interested to see, the difference between golfing with the random hand-me-down clubs I've got now and a custom fit set of clubs afterward.