My Titleist TSR3 Hybrid Fitting

null · February 23, 2023

The Titleist 818 H2 has been in my bag since it released back in 2018. It does everything I want it to do from a shotmaking perspective, but as my swing has evolved, I have noticed a slight gapping issue. My H2 is good for about 223-227 yards of carry. Fantastic for my 20* hybrid, but the problem was once I added a beefier 4 iron two years ago, I noticed that the gap between 4i and hybrid might be a bit too tight, while the gap between my 3W and hybrid was almost 30 yards of carry.

I sold one of my extra putters and that gave me enough to cover the costs of a new Titleist TS3R hybrid. They his stores today so I scheduled my fitting. I have a Tour AD DI shaft that I love so that was going to be the shaft I used during my fitting. Main goal was to figure out what loft, sleeve and weight settings would give me what I needed. I arrived at the shop and warmed up and then went and hit my 4 iron, current hybrid and Ping G425LST 3W

4iron carry: 215 yards

818 H2: 225 yards

3W: 255 yards

So right away my suspicions were concerned: 10 yard gap on the low end and 30 yard gap on the high end.

We started with the 21* TSR3 set on C1 (my setting on my 818 h2) and... I couldn't find the middle of the face. Bottom groove after bottom groove. Drop in distance because I couldn't hit the middle. Shook it off. He swapped me into the 19* head and it was more of the same. The TSR3 head was only 2g heavier than my 818 H2 head, but it felt COMPLETELY foreign to me. I could not make a consistent swing with it. After moving the weight slider and changing the hosel a bunch, we just couldn't get it to a spot where I had any sort of consistency.

He put my 818 H2 back on and it was back to the usual middle of the face contact with 225 carry.

Not always a bad thing to have an trusty club, not matter how old it is. Maybe I would search out a 19 degree head on ebay and see if I could squeak out a few more yards. The fitter than randomly said "why don't we just try the TSR2 for fun". He brought over the 18* head and put it in my AD DI. The head looked good. Looked like a mini fairway wood which, through bigger than the 818 H2, didn't bother me.

Waggled it down by the ball and it felt much more similar to my H2 in terms of waggle feel (I am very sensitive to change swing weight). He confirmed that he weighed the head and it was identical to my 818 H2 head.

First 5 swings were carbon copies of each other. Great ball speed, high launch with a little baby fade and the carry yardages on my first 3 swings was as follows: 227, 227, 226, 227, 227.

Holy friggen consistency. It felt incredible, sounded incredible and was so easy to hit. But we just needed more distance. I told him I have no problem choking down an inch and hitting a high fade to take yardage off, so we wanted to push the standard swing carry distance higher so he swapped in to the 18 degree head.

First 5 swings:

236, 237, 237, 236, 235

Baby fades. Perfect launch. Spinning around 3500-4000. 120ft peak height. 45* descent angle

Just incredible numbers in the exact window I was hoping to get my yardage up to.

I hit some more shots with it and noticed a big difference in forgiveness. I didn't have any toe hooks or heely spinners. Big difference from my 818 H2

Before we made the final decision we put the 818 H2 head back in and I took a few more swings. Topped out at 227 yards. Mishits were noticeably more penal.

Moral of the story? GET FIT.

If I were to have just blindly bought the TSR3 thinking it was going to be a plug and play solution for me, I would have been massively disappointed.

Cannot wait to get my new TSR2 Hybrid on the course!

null · February 24, 2023

Gonna go to the range today before the wind picks up here. Can't wait to hit this again

null · February 28, 2023

So it's been rainy cold and windy and it looks like that for the next week or so.

It's killing me that I haven't been able to get it on the course

GolfSpy_KFT · February 28, 2023

Awesome breakdown of your fitting process! That TSR2 is what my hybrid dreams are made of. I like the more "fairway" looking head and currently have a Burner Superfast 2.0 hybrid. Really, really tempted to get out and hit the TSR 2 hybrid, but not so sure I want to spend that kind of money this year. Might give it a whirl next time I'm at a shop just for the heck of it, though.

GolfSpy_APH · March 1, 2023

Been fun to follow this and sorry for not having posted in here sooner. What is it about the shaft that like you like so much?

GolfSpy_APH · March 1, 2023

As a follow up, did you or were you tempted to try different shafts? Do you think that would have impacted the purchase between TSR 2 and 3.

More importantly how is it playing! You're making me want to go and look at them... for better or worse though we don't have a fitting center close with LH options so the wallet is safe for the time being.

hoppman · March 1, 2023

Actually just ordered the TSR2, 21deg with Tensei 75g shaft. I was looking to replace my LTDx 21deg and I wanted higher launch and better descent angle and similar distance. Was going to go Paradym X as I initially hit that better, but the more I hit the TSR2, the more consistent it became.

I think the LTDx with the 85g KBS PGI shaft is just heavier than I want.

What I liked about both the TSR2 and the Paradym X was the larger head and the ability to really go after either one if I need to. I hit each club at least 5 times at different places to make sure they met my needs.

Edited March 1, 2023 by hoppman
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