Whoa! My fitter struck gold

[tony@CIC]

For those of you that followed a few of my posts, you’ll know we just moved – during the hottest time of the year and way too fast since we had to be out of our house in 4 days. I had the brilliant idea of scheduling a fitting 2 days after our move. Figured it’d be a nice break for my wife and myself. Little did I realize how tired both of us would be – note to myself; moving doesn’t get easier as you get older or in temps that feel like 100*!

As additional background, both of us went to the fitter (Windmill Golf Center) last summer; my wife got a complete new bag less driver; Big Bertha irons, mix of Callaway Hybrids and Ping Fairway Woods. Her 8-year-old Burner was as good as anything he fit her into so no new driver in 2019.   Of course, that blew the budget so I couldn’t get (re: afford) the D-7’s, although I did get a F-Max 5 Wood and Ping 9 Wood as consolation.  

Jump ahead to 2 weeks ago – her fitting: Not sure if it was the Superspeed protocol, OW work or the new clubs from last year, but her index so far this year dropped 5 strokes and her scores continue to head downward. Regardless, she is still fixated on improving distance and dispersion.  The fitter tried several different head and shaft combinations (he carries virtually every OEM’s fitting cart), the end result was a Ping Plus head and an Alta 55 g. men’s Senior Flex shaft. She picked up 13 yds, over her Burner, and every other combination he tried. Nice!

On to my fitting: In my initial back and forth emails to him, I told him I favored the D-7’s that were on the top of the list last year but open to try anything else he might recommend. He immediately came back with 919’s, T300 and SZ. Note; follow-up email from him, the 919’s are sold out – that was a bummer.  As additional background, I’m still gaming the C-300’s/KBS 90g steel, from 2 years ago. BTW I like the irons and get a fairly narrow dispersion with them but feel I can get more distance. Since I play on average 170 rounds a year , they’re also looking a bit tired.

Before we even started the process, we talked about everything that was out there that would fit me. Knowing my swing, and what worked and didn’t work last year, he had a pretty good idea. This hot and weary body was ready to start, albeit very slowly.

I cropped the Trackman graph to make it easier to see the ‘carry’ results, which clearly demonstrate the winners and losers. Additionally, to make this more readable, I also just included the irons under consideration

Brown: At the low end of the scale for distance but fairly tight dispersion are the C300’s. These were the first to hit for a baseline and to get warmed up,(even though I was already tuckered out). I was also hitting these as he went into the back to sort out several combinations - that’s why you see so many hits in comparison to the others.

Red:  MAVRIK MAX CATALYST 5.5. were second on the list.  I initially thought I’d like these, but not much difference between them and the C300’s. I’m not spending money for the same or worse results. Next please!

Purple:  T300 TENSEI RED REG, slight improvement over the C300’s but not for the additional $$, no matter how nice they looked.

Blue: D7 RECOIL 460 F3, now that’s what I call distance improvement for the $$ spent! They felt as good as last year – not quite as pretty as the others but…….

Jump ahead another 30 minutes of hitting balls with different head and shaft combinations - note: this body is now getting really sore, tired and hungry so now last on the list:

Yellow: KING SZ RECOIL 460 ESX F3. Wow what a combination distance and pretty! The dispersion wasn’t there, but heck my hands were sweaty, the grips were slightly smaller than I’m use to, etc. etc. I can make these work Sold! Wrap them up please - well not quite, I wrote the check and am now patiently waiting.

In the end it was (almost) a toss-up between the D-7’s and the SZ in terms of distance, and the D-7’s did have a slightly tighter dispersion, but the SZ’s just felt better, plus the best number had them at 7 yds longer carry and yes I’ll admit they looked better!

Here’s another way to look at the heads that made it to the top – I averaged the top 3 carry distances. I also included the average SS, which surprised me as there was very little variance.

Heads	Average SS	Avg Carry Distance
W/S C300	69.4	115
Mavrik	69	103
T300	69.2	111
D-7	68.4	123
King SZ	68	130

 

Now that I’m rested and back in gear with the SuperSpeed protocol, it’ll be fun to see how much my swing speed increase. And for those very few on this site that continue to wonder about the benefits of a fitter – there ya go.

[TBT]

Nice write up.....what is your swing speed? You also did say what iron you were hitting.
I’m in the market for new irons and a couple of those are on my short list


Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy

[tony@CIC]

1 hour ago, TBT said:

Nice write up.....what is your swing speed? You also did say what iron you were hitting.
I’m in the market for new irons and a couple of those are on my short list


Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy

My swing speed matches my age - for a 7 iron that is . Typically my 7i is around low 70's and will occasionally max out at 75. That's the club I was hitting - only so i could compare it to last year's results. 

[fixyurdivot]

Glad to hear you found a match. What other brand/models did your fitter offer?  

[sirchunksalot]

8 hours ago, tony@CIC said:

For those of you that followed a few of my posts, you’ll know we just moved – during the hottest time of the year and way too fast since we had to be out of our house in 4 days. I had the brilliant idea of scheduling a fitting 2 days after our move. Figured it’d be a nice break for my wife and myself. Little did I realize how tired both of us would be – note to myself; moving doesn’t get easier as you get older or in temps that feel like 100*!

As additional background, both of us went to the fitter (Windmill Golf Center) last summer; my wife got a complete new bag less driver; Big Bertha irons, mix of Callaway Hybrids and Ping Fairway Woods. Her 8-year-old Burner was as good as anything he fit her into so no new driver in 2019.   Of course, that blew the budget so I couldn’t get (re: afford) the D-7’s, although I did get a F-Max 5 Wood and Ping 9 Wood as consolation.  

Jump ahead to 2 weeks ago – her fitting: Not sure if it was the Superspeed protocol, OW work or the new clubs from last year, but her index so far this year dropped 5 strokes and her scores continue to head downward. Regardless, she is still fixated on improving distance and dispersion.  The fitter tried several different head and shaft combinations (he carries virtually every OEM’s fitting cart), the end result was a Ping Plus head and an Alta 55 g. men’s Senior Flex shaft. She picked up 13 yds, over her Burner, and every other combination he tried. Nice!

On to my fitting: In my initial back and forth emails to him, I told him I favored the D-7’s that were on the top of the list last year but open to try anything else he might recommend. He immediately came back with 919’s, T300 and SZ. Note; follow-up email from him, the 919’s are sold out – that was a bummer.  As additional background, I’m still gaming the C-300’s/KBS 90g steel, from 2 years ago. BTW I like the irons and get a fairly narrow dispersion with them but feel I can get more distance. Since I play on average 170 rounds a year , they’re also looking a bit tired.

Before we even started the process, we talked about everything that was out there that would fit me. Knowing my swing, and what worked and didn’t work last year, he had a pretty good idea. This hot and weary body was ready to start, albeit very slowly.

I cropped the Trackman graph to make it easier to see the ‘carry’ results, which clearly demonstrate the winners and losers. Additionally, to make this more readable, I also just included the irons under consideration

Brown: At the low end of the scale for distance but fairly tight dispersion are the C300’s. These were the first to hit for a baseline and to get warmed up,(even though I was already tuckered out). I was also hitting these as he went into the back to sort out several combinations - that’s why you see so many hits in comparison to the others.

Red:  MAVRIK MAX CATALYST 5.5. were second on the list.  I initially thought I’d like these, but not much difference between them and the C300’s. I’m not spending money for the same or worse results. Next please!

Purple:  T300 TENSEI RED REG, slight improvement over the C300’s but not for the additional $$, no matter how nice they looked.

Blue: D7 RECOIL 460 F3, now that’s what I call distance improvement for the $$ spent! They felt as good as last year – not quite as pretty as the others but…….

Jump ahead another 30 minutes of hitting balls with different head and shaft combinations - note: this body is now getting really sore, tired and hungry so now last on the list:

Yellow: KING SZ RECOIL 460 ESX F3. Wow what a combination distance and pretty! The dispersion wasn’t there, but heck my hands were sweaty, the grips were slightly smaller than I’m use to, etc. etc. I can make these work Sold! Wrap them up please - well not quite, I wrote the check and am now patiently waiting.

In the end it was (almost) a toss-up between the D-7’s and the SZ in terms of distance, and the D-7’s did have a slightly tighter dispersion, but the SZ’s just felt better, plus the best number had them at 7 yds longer carry and yes I’ll admit they looked better!

Here’s another way to look at the heads that made it to the top – I averaged the top 3 carry distances. I also included the average SS, which surprised me as there was very little variance.

Heads	Average SS	Avg Carry Distance
W/S C300	69.4	115
Mavrik	69	103
T300	69.2	111
D-7	68.4	123
King SZ	68	130

 

Now that I’m rested and back in gear with the SuperSpeed protocol, it’ll be fun to see how much my swing speed increase. And for those very few on this site that continue to wonder about the benefits of a fitter – there ya go.

That's awesome! The SZ are beautiful irons and it's great to see they performed for you. 

[Grand Stranded]

@tony@CIC  I love a story with a happy ending!!!

I realize you can't hit everything, but I'm looking at your sig, and you have a few Pings in there. I'm assuming you've already tried the G410 irons?

Edited July 24, 2020 by Grand Stranded

[tony@CIC]

10 hours ago, Grand Stranded said:

@tony@CIC  I love a story with a happy ending!!!

I realize you can't hit everything, but I'm looking at your sig, and you have a few Pings in there. I'm assuming you've already tried the G410 irons?

As someone who started with G20's, I was hoping that they would work. Interestingly, while I have a SFT and 410 hybrids, none of the Ping irons worked. They were at the bottom of the list like the Mavrik and T300 for performance.  That's not to say they won't work for someone else - just that for me the D-7's and SZ blew by them for performance. 

[Grand Stranded]

6 hours ago, tony@CIC said:

As someone who started with G20's, I was hoping that they would work. Interestingly, while I have a SFT and 410 hybrids, none of the Ping irons worked. They were at the bottom of the list like the Mavrik and T300 for performance.  That's not to say they won't work for someone else - just that for me the D-7's and SZ blew by them for performance. 

Golf is certainly strange.

We are two lets say well seasoned(?) golfers. You are enjoying the 410 woods, I struggled with them. You were disappointed with the irons, I hit them Monday with the power spec lofts, and I loved them. I have an appointment for a fitting on Monday.

Crazy game...

[J.B. TexasEx]

On 7/23/2020 at 11:57 AM, tony@CIC said:

For those of you that followed a few of my posts, you’ll know we just moved – during the hottest time of the year and way too fast since we had to be out of our house in 4 days. I had the brilliant idea of scheduling a fitting 2 days after our move. Figured it’d be a nice break for my wife and myself. Little did I realize how tired both of us would be – note to myself; moving doesn’t get easier as you get older or in temps that feel like 100*!

As additional background, both of us went to the fitter (Windmill Golf Center) last summer; my wife got a complete new bag less driver; Big Bertha irons, mix of Callaway Hybrids and Ping Fairway Woods. Her 8-year-old Burner was as good as anything he fit her into so no new driver in 2019.   Of course, that blew the budget so I couldn’t get (re: afford) the D-7’s, although I did get a F-Max 5 Wood and Ping 9 Wood as consolation.  

Jump ahead to 2 weeks ago – her fitting: Not sure if it was the Superspeed protocol, OW work or the new clubs from last year, but her index so far this year dropped 5 strokes and her scores continue to head downward. Regardless, she is still fixated on improving distance and dispersion.  The fitter tried several different head and shaft combinations (he carries virtually every OEM’s fitting cart), the end result was a Ping Plus head and an Alta 55 g. men’s Senior Flex shaft. She picked up 13 yds, over her Burner, and every other combination he tried. Nice!

On to my fitting: In my initial back and forth emails to him, I told him I favored the D-7’s that were on the top of the list last year but open to try anything else he might recommend. He immediately came back with 919’s, T300 and SZ. Note; follow-up email from him, the 919’s are sold out – that was a bummer.  As additional background, I’m still gaming the C-300’s/KBS 90g steel, from 2 years ago. BTW I like the irons and get a fairly narrow dispersion with them but feel I can get more distance. Since I play on average 170 rounds a year , they’re also looking a bit tired.

Before we even started the process, we talked about everything that was out there that would fit me. Knowing my swing, and what worked and didn’t work last year, he had a pretty good idea. This hot and weary body was ready to start, albeit very slowly.

I cropped the Trackman graph to make it easier to see the ‘carry’ results, which clearly demonstrate the winners and losers. Additionally, to make this more readable, I also just included the irons under consideration

Brown: At the low end of the scale for distance but fairly tight dispersion are the C300’s. These were the first to hit for a baseline and to get warmed up,(even though I was already tuckered out). I was also hitting these as he went into the back to sort out several combinations - that’s why you see so many hits in comparison to the others.

Red:  MAVRIK MAX CATALYST 5.5. were second on the list.  I initially thought I’d like these, but not much difference between them and the C300’s. I’m not spending money for the same or worse results. Next please!

Purple:  T300 TENSEI RED REG, slight improvement over the C300’s but not for the additional $$, no matter how nice they looked.

Blue: D7 RECOIL 460 F3, now that’s what I call distance improvement for the $$ spent! They felt as good as last year – not quite as pretty as the others but…….

Jump ahead another 30 minutes of hitting balls with different head and shaft combinations - note: this body is now getting really sore, tired and hungry so now last on the list:

Yellow: KING SZ RECOIL 460 ESX F3. Wow what a combination distance and pretty! The dispersion wasn’t there, but heck my hands were sweaty, the grips were slightly smaller than I’m use to, etc. etc. I can make these work Sold! Wrap them up please - well not quite, I wrote the check and am now patiently waiting.

In the end it was (almost) a toss-up between the D-7’s and the SZ in terms of distance, and the D-7’s did have a slightly tighter dispersion, but the SZ’s just felt better, plus the best number had them at 7 yds longer carry and yes I’ll admit they looked better!

Here’s another way to look at the heads that made it to the top – I averaged the top 3 carry distances. I also included the average SS, which surprised me as there was very little variance.

Heads	Average SS	Avg Carry Distance
W/S C300	69.4	115
Mavrik	69	103
T300	69.2	111
D-7	68.4	123
King SZ	68	130

 

Now that I’m rested and back in gear with the SuperSpeed protocol, it’ll be fun to see how much my swing speed increase. And for those very few on this site that continue to wonder about the benefits of a fitter – there ya go.

You should consider getting your Wilson C300 irons refinished if you still like 'em, Tony.

There's a guy right there in Ohio that'll makeover your set of 8 for $350. Ken Flanigan at Flanigan Bilt Putters. Check out some of his jobs at his Instagram account - https://www.instagram.com/flaniganbiltgolf/