Impulse buy - oops...

[TR1PTIK]

We'll see how it goes, but RBG had way too good a deal on the Mizuno ST190 driver and fairway wood for me to not do anything. Bought the prior gen CLK hybrid too since I've never been particularly fond of my Nike. Hopefully it works out, but if not I won't be out too much (compared to current club prices). $560 for all three clubs (tax included) with free 2-day shipping. Clubs should arrive Friday and I already have a tee time for Saturday. Fingers crossed!!!

[TR1PTIK]

So the clubs will be here tomorrow and I already had a brief exchange with Club Champion about getting them optimized. For the price I paid I can actually squeeze some really nice shafts into my budget so even if there’s the potential of a better fit out there, I think this should work really well. I honestly don’t see how I can do worse right now. Upgrading from a 2013 driver that’s bone stock, a 2006 fairway with a head size that’s often confused for a hybrid, and a hybrid that I’ve almost always had trouble with.

[TR1PTIK]

First round with the new clubs went well. Absolutely in love with the sound and feel off the face and I definitely saw an improvement in distance. The one thing I didn’t bother to pay attention to when I purchased these was the shaft weight and swing weight. In comparison to my Ping G25 and Titleist 906F2, the driver and fairway use 10-gram lighter shafts but are either the same or close enough to the same swing weight to not be a huge issue. The hybrid uses a 10-gram lighter shaft as well and is noticeably different on swing weight. However, I was able to make them all work by using a very deliberate takeaway. The wind was blowing between 15 and 20 mph for most of the round so I didn’t hit as many fairways as I would have liked to see, but I typically wasn’t off by much. What was really cool to see was that I launched three drives over 300 yards which has never happened before in my life - wind or no wind!

This may also be the best driving handicap I’ve ever had on Arccos - not paying too much attention to the rest of the handicaps since I never set pin positions but obviously they need some work. I should certainly be hitting more greens than I do.

[DawgDaddy]

Good stuff,  keep us posted on your progress. 

[TR1PTIK]

I'll hopefully get out again come Friday - probably the same course. Hoping for a calmer day to really get a feel for the difference. I'll be especially interested to see how these clubs do when I go back home to visit family and play courses I'm much more familiar with. Like I stated before, I plan to go to Club Champion (hopefully soon) to get the clubs optimized for me which should take care of the weighting issues. At least I'm able to make them work for me as-is and don't really have any buyers remorse about it. 

[juspoole]

For those prices - I cannot blame you.  Plus you get a great shaft already.  Obviously, those may not work fro you, but the ATMOS is a pretty nice shaft option.  Hope it works well for you throughout the year.

[TR1PTIK]

25 minutes ago, juspoole said:

For those prices - I cannot blame you.  Plus you get a great shaft already.  Obviously, those may not work fro you, but the ATMOS is a pretty nice shaft option.  Hope it works well for you throughout the year.

I think I would like it better if it were the Tour Spec version, but the stock shaft is a watered-down version made for the masses. Though trajectory was higher than I’d like, it performed quite well once I dialed my tempo back. I’ll definitely be looking for something a bit heavier and more tip stiff when I go to Club Champion. I’ve also contemplated taking the clubs back home to a local fitter who’s a Mizuno Top 100 fitter, but he’s got a small shop and won’t have the same kind of shaft selection CC will.

[juspoole]

20 hours ago, TR1PTIK said:

I think I would like it better if it were the Tour Spec version, but the stock shaft is a watered-down version made for the masses

Definitely agree.  The profiles usually seem much weaker than the tour spec version.  I should have known it wasn't tour spec.  One thing I do like about Mizuno, is that they seem to have more premium shaft options than just about anyone else without a ridiculous upcharge.  

I have the Mizuno MP 18 SC's and got the AMT Tour Issue shafts at no upcharge.

Edited March 3, 2020 by juspoole

[TR1PTIK]

So I'm starting to get into the weeds on shafts as I ponder the endless possibilities of a CC fitting. I paid a visit to the Cool Clubs website to checkout their shaft explorer tool and curiously, the Alidla RIP Alpha already in my possession is a "perfect" fit based on the limited data required for a recommendation. Think I may have to take it with me when I go to have them install a Mizuno adapter and see how I get along with it. I'd really feel like I'm getting away with murder if that works out! 

[TR1PTIK]

Well, in an effort to hold my attention for a few weeks until I can get a proper fitting scheduled, I traded in a couple clubs at Dallas Golf to get  a Mizuno adapter installed on my Aldila RIP Alpha. I was also able to pick up a ST190 Tour Spoon they had for cheap. I got to thinking that I might like the adjustability to gap the top end of my bag or even just to be able to remove the head for travel. I’ll wait until CC to decide which fairway I actually go with, but thought the option would be nice. Curiously, I feel like the TS model sits a bit closed compared to the glued-hosel ST190.

[TR1PTIK]

Got the Aldila RIP back from the shop and went to a local range with a readily accessible Trackman booth to see how things looked.

• I do think I'll stick with the lighter weight stock shaft for the time being, but could easily game the Aldila if I wanted - though I did see club speed drop 1-2 MPH.
• I think I reached the same conclusion with the fairway woods. I picked up the Tour Spoon model because it would be easier to tinker with and stuff, but to keep the weight progression consistent through the top end of my bag, I've decided to game the non-TS version. However, results were quite similar between the two.

I won't get too far into the weeds with data as the setup wasn't ideal IMO (2-pc range balls off a mat), but ball speeds were healthy across all of my new purchases. After clearing a few outliers, I averaged the following:

• Driver - 102.5 MPH CS, 152.6 MPH BS, 1.49 Smash
• Fairway - 98.7 MPH CS, 146.4 MPH BS, 1.48 Smash
• Hybrid - 91.9 MPH CS, 138.9 MPH BS, 1.51 Smash

I was somewhat surprised to see my club speed was lower than expected. While I am up from a couple of years ago when I was constantly mowing yards, I'm down from the 105 MPH average I used to maintain. Granted, I'm still heavier than I was then and I did play golf the day before which may have impacted things a touch.

All else aside, I'm happy with the clubs and have something new to focus on when I practice.

1. I haven't seen a video of my swing in a while and I've let the backswing get a tad long - I'd like to tighten that up.
2. I also need to work on attack angle if I really want to get the most out of my long game - I'm hitting down on everything! AoA with driver was -2.1, fairway, -3.7, and hybrid -7.6 (OUCH!!!) AoA with the fairway is probably okay and isn't far off from tour standards, but I definitely could stand to work on the driver and hybrid. I'd ideally like an AoA around +2 with driver and tour average AoA for hybrid is -3.5.

Well, that's the latest update on my new equipment. I think it'll be at least three months before I really have anything substantial to add. I'm going to use that time to work on my fitness and work on my game then re-evaluate. I'll save my pocketbook from any further damage by going to CC right now. I'll try to tap into the potential I know is there and get my fitting done at a later date.

[TR1PTIK]

Any hopes I had of some sort of fitting session at CC are practically dead thanks to COVID, but I thought I'd do a quick update seeing as courses here are still open and I've been able to get more rounds in with these new clubs. I was really concerned about the lighter weight of all the shafts, but have actually been getting along really well with them. I'm getting plenty of distance with all clubs and accuracy has been great as well. I'm still interested in seeing if there's something that could make them even better, but I won't be disappointed at all if I continue to play the stock shafts.

I've really been impressed with the distance I seem to have picked up, but it is possible that the courses here in TX simply play a bit firmer than the courses back home. I am anxious for the opportunity to tee it up at home on my next visit and see if I find myself standing a few yards ahead of my usual shots on the courses there. I think that will be the best way for me to determine if I've really picked up the distance I think I have.

[TR1PTIK]

Well, I finally broke down and got a new speed radar to use with SuperSpeed Golf after I smashed the last one. Took it with me to the range a little while ago and was clocking 109 average with driver. I'm willing to admit that the radar could be providing generous numbers, but they were very consistent. Nonetheless, I think the lighter shaft and overall lighter weight of these new clubs has been mostly beneficial.

The only problem I have now is that I seem to have lost my swing over the past two weeks or so. I had been working on wrist flexion at the top of the backswing and had a really great couple of weeks with it. Then out of nowhere, I just lost my motion. I started to get something back toward the end of my range session, but nothing I truly felt comfortable with. Playing a new course on Friday so I'm going to be working on it at home as much as I can tonight and tomorrow.

Also, I'm heading back to MO for a week at the end of the month so I may see if I can sneak away to Springfield for a chat with the Mizuno fitter. If not, I'll at least try to schedule some time with Pro to get his thoughts on things. Maybe if I'm still struggling with the swing he can straighten me out too.