Rev's Golftec experience

[revkev]

Having reached the age of 66 and 4 months I've decided to start collecting social security - disclaimer - this is a personal decision that we determined was in my family's best interest.  Everyone's financial situation is different and you should seek professional advice as you reach the age of 62 as to the best time to start collecting - for us, it was now.

 

Anyway, this happened in February which meant that my first payment came in March - however I was too busy for a fitting at that time so scheduled one for this week, yesterday May 1 to be exact.  We have a well decorated fitter in our area whom I've used in the past.  I like him and will continue to go to him for repair work but as a fitter he's not a great listener and he seems more interested in fitting the pros in our area - there are tons of them- than an ordinary Joe like me.  

 

We have a new Golftec around the corner from my work and I've heard that they have good fitters so I figured why not?  I'm happy with everything in my bag except my wedges but really wanted to try driver out to be absolutely sure that whatever is in my bag is the best fit for me.  

 

I arrived about 10 minutes early so that I had ample time to stretch - yesterday was a full work day so I would not say that I was fresh but I'm rarely fresh when I'm able to play because I work often seven days a week, nearly always 6 days.   If I'm unwilling to play when I'm less than fresh, I won't ever play golf.

 

My fitter was a nice guy named John, class A pro and certified fitter who has been doing fittings for 15 years.  I brought my full bag so that he might see what I'm gaming, I told him that I've had a number of fittings up to and including the tour fitting experience at TPC Sawgrass.   He took static measurements and measured my 7 iron and my driver while I warmed up to be sure they were what I thought they were.  They were but he was not happy with the shaft length of driver.  (I hope Chisag is seeing this because I know he'd have been ecstatic).  He'd also that my irons were 1/2 inch shorter but I let him watch me hit some 8 irons and he said, "Well you must have adjusted to them because you are flushing them.  They are also a perfect choice for a guy like you, clearly a single digit guy who could use some distance help. Ideal candidate for a players distance iron."  

 

In regards to John, I will say that we hit it off.  He recently moved here from Scottsdale, an areal that I know well, but was originally from Milwaukee which I know better.  He went to High School there and once I told him that I lived in 0Sheboygan we started talking about Blackwolf run and Whistling Straits - (he had me at "I prefer Blackwolf.)  Then he said he played in some PGA sectionals with a club pro from Sheboygan whom he mentioned by name - I told him, "I played some golf with him, too.  He was a member of my church there.  He was also the very first one to fit me for a driver, really fit me, 20 years ago."  We really connected.  Nice guy, clearly knowledgeable.

 

I hit five drives with my driver and we had base numbers.  I liked that I was able to use my ball for the fitting - I didn't like that it was inside but it is extremely difficult to get an outdoor fitting with real live golf balls (ones that I would use) in my area at least.  Also, I'm not bothered by hitting indoors, it was a very large space so comfortable.  After watching my swing, he suggested three heads - no shockers - Stealth 2, Paradigm, Titleist TR2 - I was going to ask to try the TR2 had he not suggested it and secretly thought it would be the derby winner.  With my driver, the numbers were pretty consistent with what I'm used to, swing speed 90 mph, AoA up 3, ball flight, slight draw, spin rate mid 2,000's, 14 degree launch, reasonable descent angle - all pretty good numbers - fairly decent dispersion, carry distance 205, total distance low 220's.  The one thing that he kept harping on was shaft length - my club face misses were consistently high, heal - he felt that I was leaving 15 to twenty yards on the table.  

 

He pretty quickly got me into a head/shaft combo for the Stealth 2 and Paradigm - I have a consistent swing so I'm not that difficult to work with - we played around a but with shaft but it was always going to be a similar shaft to what I'm currently using (I was fit for that shaft) just shorter length.  I was almost certainly going to be a 10.5 loft again.  I've been fit a number of times and that seems to have become my number the last few times.  I hit that driver well, a bit better than mine, certainly with dispersion and then tried the Paradigm which was the biggest surprise for me.  I have never gamed a Callaway driver, tried them a number of times but never found one that I liked and have given up over the past few iterations.  I liked how it looked, loved how it felt and hit some very nice drives with it - he then said I want you to hit that Stealth 2 again with the same tempo you're swinging at now - bang!  I peel off three straight drives, baby draws, over 215 carry, high 230's with roll out, everything we were looking for.  We set that one aside and moved to the Titleist.  

While I hit my longest drives with that club - one approaching 250, I also hit the wildest shots with it - baby fades (I hit draws) or significant hooks.  Try as we might we could not find a shaft/head combo that worked in that one.  I also tried the newest Ping because I have a great history there but nothing doing with that one.

 

We went back to the Stealth 2 and I was still on it pretty well - after an hour and a half it was time to stop.

 

Interestingly I ended up with the very first combo that he suggested - the Stealth 2 with a Diamana-S-LTD 60 - my ball speed was up 3 mph, launch angle nearly one degree, spin rate down a hair, distance up 12 yards of carry.  Oh and if Chisag is looking - 44.25" shaft length.  So dispersion was significantly better. 

 

As a final word of warning though - just because I had a good experience on this day at Gofltec does not mean you will or that I would with a different fitter.  I'm fairly content with my current driver and will hang onto it until I'm convinced that this one is better for me.  As my fitter said the fact that I hit the old one relatively well is testament to how forgiving modern drivers are.  I agree.  I will be selling my SIM2 though - no need to keep that one.  I will follow up and let you know how the driver works once I get it.  A big selling point to me was that Golftec receives the driver and checks it to be sure that we get what we ordered.  Looking forward to getting the new one here and in the bag.

[cksurfdude]

On 5/2/2023 at 9:39 PM, revkev said:

As a final word of warning though - just because I had a good experience on this day at Gofltec does not mean you will

Sounds like you had a great experience there, Rev!

But .. unfortunately .. it seems knowledgeable and conscientious fitters like your guy John are all too rare anywhere.....

Good luck with the new boom stick!!

[Bucky CC]

You had me hooked at the Wisconsin connection.  Good to see you had a worthwhile time @revkev

[revkev]

41 minutes ago, cksurfdude said:

Sounds like you had a great experience there, Rev!

But .. unfortunately .. it seems knowledgeable and conscientious fitters like your guy John are all too rare anywhere.....

Good luck with the new boom stick!!

Sad but true and it ends up making people skeptical about fitting.    

[revkev]

32 minutes ago, Bucky CC said:

You had me hooked at the Wisconsin connection.  Good to see you had a worthwhile time @revkev

I loved my time in Wisconsin, you know that Bucky. Great people there, great place. 

[revkev]

So I picked up my driver yesterday and took it to the range today. 

I hit 3 with my old driver and averaged 227. I hit 10 with the new one and averaged 236 without tossing any out - long was 246 and short 229 out of those 10. 
 

And that was with range balls.

I do like the shorter shaft, saw the same 2 mph average ball speed increase and over 1 degree higher with less spin, much better smash factor - 

 

I also like the sound and feel of the Stealth 2 better than the original srealth

[Rockerdude]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm getting fit at golftec next saturday and excited for it. I am doing a full bag because, although I bought irons last year, I was never fitted and curious to see if there are better fits for me. The advertised a 2-1/2 hour fitting for the full bag so i need to stretch well before hitting. Hopefully my fitter is as good as yours.

[revkev]

On 5/18/2023 at 1:11 PM, Rockerdude said:

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm getting fit at golftec next saturday and excited for it. I am doing a full bag because, although I bought irons last year, I was never fitted and curious to see if there are better fits for me. The advertised a 2-1/2 hour fitting for the full bag so i need to stretch well before hitting. Hopefully my fitter is as good as yours.

How did it go? 
 

I am definitely hitting the ball farther with the new driver - I had two career drives yesterday - I’m starting to developed a very consistent ball flight - 

[chisag]

On 5/10/2023 at 3:35 PM, revkev said:

I do like the shorter shaft, saw the same 2 mph average ball speed increase and over 1 degree higher with less spin, much better smash factor - 

 

I also like the sound and feel of the Stealth 2 better than the original srealth

 

... What a great review of your fitting.   It's just maddening how so many think shortening their driver shaft will result in shorter drives. As you said, everyone is different but many more than not will swing a shorter shaft faster, hit the center more often and hit longer and straighter drives. How much shorter is always the question and that's awesome you had professional help to find the right length for you. Rory McIlroy recently went from 44.5" to 44" and gained yardage.

... I also could not agree more with the TaylorMades. I didn't like much of anything about the original Stealth and quickly went back to my Sim2. But I really like the Stealth 2. Look at address, feel/sound and most importantly performance was much improved for me too. 

[Rockerdude]

36 minutes ago, revkev said:

How did it go? 
 

I am definitely hitting the ball farther with the new driver - I had two career drives yesterday - I’m starting to developed a very consistent ball flight - 

It went well. We ended up keeping the irons I have because they were pretty spot on with the minimal fitting I got for those. Driver we ended up going with the ping G430,  lose to the same distance but a lot more in the fairway so that’ll be nice. Got a 4H since I struggle with long irons and everything else in the bag was good to stay. Minimal damage but the fitter was great. Now to work on my swing 

[revkev]

37 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... What a great review of your fitting.   It's just maddening how so many think shortening their driver shaft will result in shorter drives. As you said, everyone is different but many more than not will swing a shorter shaft faster, hit the center more often and hit longer and straighter drives. How much shorter is always the question and that's awesome you had professional help to find the right length for you. Rory McIlroy recently went from 44.5" to 44" and gained yardage.

... I also could not agree more with the TaylorMades. I didn't like much of anything about the original Stealth and quickly went back to my Sim2. But I really like the Stealth 2. Look at address, feel/sound and most importantly performance was much improved for me too. 

Thanks and I thought of you when the fitter was advocating for 44.25 - he agreed that I could handle the longer length but his question was "why?"  Why use something that causes me to have to make adjustments.  It was a very good point. My swing speed did not increase with the shorter length but the ball speed and smash factor have, the launch is up a degree and the spin down - all prescriptions for longer and straighter.  

[chisag]

1 hour ago, revkev said:

Thanks and I thought of you when the fitter was advocating for 44.25 - he agreed that I could handle the longer length but his question was "why?"  Why use something that causes me to have to make adjustments.  It was a very good point. My swing speed did not increase with the shorter length but the ball speed and smash factor have, the launch is up a degree and the spin down - all prescriptions for longer and straighter.  

 

... That's just awesome. So many factors involved from age, strength and of course quality of your swing. Some will swing a 45.5" driver faster than a 44.5" and some will swing the shorter driver faster. But as you stated and found out, many will find an increased ball speed and smash factor. Considering you lose 5-7yds for every 1/4" you miss the sweet spot and many miss by a full inch on a regular basis that's 20-28yds you are losing by missing the sweet spot. I have played with too many golfers that hit a really big drive and say "Now, why can't I do that every time? I'd love to know what I did different!" The answer is they hit the sweet spot for a change. 

[tony@CIC]

1 hour ago, revkev said:

Thanks and I thought of you when the fitter was advocating for 44.25 - he agreed that I could handle the longer length but his question was "why?"  Why use something that causes me to have to make adjustments.  It was a very good point. My swing speed did not increase with the shorter length but the ball speed and smash factor have, the launch is up a degree and the spin down - all prescriptions for longer and straighter.  

 

1 hour ago, revkev said:

Thanks and I thought of you when the fitter was advocating for 44.25 - he agreed that I could handle the longer length but his question was "why?"  Why use something that causes me to have to make adjustments.  It was a very good point. My swing speed did not increase with the shorter length but the ball speed and smash factor have, the launch is up a degree and the spin down - all prescriptions for longer and straighter.  

Interestingly, my son just had a fitting in Ohio last week. The fitter (who I've worked with and have a high regard for) recommended a 44.25 length for his new 425 driver. 

BTW which Golftec did you go with?  When we're back in September, it'll be time to see if the Stealth 2 or any other driver. works better than my SIM2.  

[revkev]

5 hours ago, tony@CIC said:

 

Interestingly, my son just had a fitting in Ohio last week. The fitter (who I've worked with and have a high regard for) recommended a 44.25 length for his new 425 driver. 

BTW which Golftec did you go with?  When we're back in September, it'll be time to see if the Stealth 2 or any other driver. works better than my SIM2.  

The one in north St Pete - on 4th street. 

[revkev]

I've got an appointment for an Edel wedge fitting on July 5th.  I'm consistently seeing the results that I got in my fitting on the golf course.  If anything I'm longer on the course than I was on the monitor inside.  Getting close to 240 consistently is really making the game more fun although I did take the wrong lines a couple of times yesterday - it's a course that I haven't played in a couple of years - I had a couple of oops shots where I hit it well but went through the fairway.  I also had a career drive on 9 - this is a course that I've played a lot, probably the 3rd most since moving to Florida after my club and the local muni.  I play the blended tees, senior/men's - I was on the regular men's on 9 which is where I've always played that hole from - the first time that I played there was 12 years ago or so - I've probably got 75 rounds on this course so a career best at a place that I've played that many times is extremely significant.  If was 249 uphill on shotscope -  even with the pin way back I had gap wedge in - I'm sure I've never had less than an 8 iron to that back location from those tees.  I don't recall ever having gap to a front pin on it.  I had maybe a 5 mph breeze at my back.  

[Timbis88]

Thanks for posting your experience.  I am currently taking lessons at Golftec and will be getting a fitting in the spring time.  From reading everyone's experiences makes me feel prepared for the fitting.