Terra Forza Golf Shafts - 2024 Forum Review

[Glenmore5]

Congrats testers...get out there...

[TylorJudd]

20 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

 

Testers Announced!

Can the proper golf shaft for your driver be determined solely by how you use the ground in your swing? As part of this "testers wanted" opportunity with Terra Forza Golf Shafts, we will find out!

About Terra Forza

Terra Forza has taken a new approach to shaft fittings and flexes. In this case, it is best to hear about their claims directly from them.

“Our theory revolved around the idea that how a golfer loads and unloads a shaft is directly correlated to how they use the ground. After many years of studying ground reaction forces (GRF) and pressure traces, Terra Forza Golf was born, validating that theory. After some trial and error, we were able to create a line of golf shafts that matched a golfer's pressure trace and pressure data. Our patented algorithm allows us to recognize those traces, along with all of the pressure data coming from the TF Pressure Plates, and objectively determine the proper shaft for any golfer. We welcome you to the new ERA of fitting shafts, from the ground up.”

Please welcome and congratulate our testers!

@ChiefMikeOfficer 

@MrBandit 

@GolfSpy BOS 

@tdc1

Congrats all testers!!! Shaft hoes unite on this one!

[MrBandit]

Schedule my Fitting for 4/15 at the Tour Proven Golf Complex. Looking forward to their fitting experience with the Terra Forza Pressure Plates devices.
This should be interesting.

[tdroma98]

Congrats Testers!  Looking forward to your reviews.  Never heard of Terra Forza golf shaft! Have fun! 

[ChiefMikeOfficer]

Fitting scheduled! Making a day trip out to Iowa to visit @GolfSpy_BNG on Tuesday afternoon, since he now has all the equipment for it. It'll be a long day, but hopefully we get some good results!

[tdc1]

I have my fitting scheduled for this Saturday.  A much easier drive than @ChiefMikeOfficer -- only a little over 2 hours.  Very curious to see what the process is like!

[tdc1]

Today I made the 2+ hour drive from my house to Larry Hamilton Golf (https://larryhamiltongolf.com/) in Rochester, MI to get fit for my Terra Forza shaft.  Before describing the fitting process I want to say how much I enjoyed working with Larry.  He was warm, welcoming, patient and informative -- everything you'd want in a fitter or coach.  Thanks, Larry!

Information about Terra Forza and their approach to shaft fitting can be found here:  https://terraforzagolf.com/.  Essentially, the fitting is based on each golfer's individual interaction with the ground ("ground reaction forces") during the swing.  Using information gained through a pair of pressure plates (see photo below -- sorry about my shadow) and an app, a proprietary algorithm determines the most likely fit for a given golfer.  As Terra Forza says, "After some trial and error, we were able to create a line of golf shafts that matched a golfer's pressure trace and pressure data. Our patented algorithm allows us to recognize those traces, along with all of the pressure data coming from the TF Pressure Plates, and objectively determine the proper shaft for any golfer."  As I understood it, TF assesses primarily vertical force during the swing.

 

This as a view of what the fitter sees (stock photo from TF website).

After warming up (I used 8 iron and Driver), Larry had me stand on the pressure plates and hit several shots with my current driver (Ping G425 Max in standard 10.5° and neutral back weight position) and shaft (stock Ping Alta CB 55 • R).  Data was collected using Trackman while hitting Titelist ProV1 RCT balls.  After discarding a couple of outliers, the algorithm determined that the place to start was with the Green spec shaft (from the TF website: "As the smoothest shaft in the Terra Forza range, this shaft allows golfers with the easiest of transitions to optimize their club head speed while being able to control their trace. Mass: 49g. Torque: 5.8º. Pressure Trace: Linear.")  This shaft is slightly lighter overall than my current shaft, and a bit softer in the tip.

The Green shaft was inserted into my driver head and I took a number of swings with it but not while on the pressure plates.  Trackman results showed an increase in carry and total of about 10+ yards over my usual set up, and with a better dispersion pattern.  At this point, Larry suggested I try another shaft.  His thinking was that while the Green shaft was a good fit in most areas, the tip was possibly a bit too soft.  The TF algorithm had a recommendation of Green+ (stiffer tip) but that configuration wasn't available in the shop.

The alternate shaft was the Orange spec (again from TF: "Designed for a player with a more linear trace, this shaft allows the player with a larger lateral movement to control their launch. This shaft also caters to the player who has a stronger transition than green.  Mass: 57g. Torque: 4.7º. Pressure Trace: Lateral"). It was put into my G425 head and the process repeated.  This shaft resulted in slightly shorter carry/total numbers (2-3 yds.) than with the Green but a significant improvement in dispersion over the Green.

Larry and Colin (TF President) will review the data and decide which shaft -- Green+ or Orange -- will make a better fit for me.  In either case, I am pretty stoked to get it out on the course when it arrives!

 

Edited April 14 by tdc1
Correct typo, clarification

[TJ Hall]

13 minutes ago, tdc1 said:

Today I made the 2+ hour drive from my house to Larry Hamilton Golf (https://larryhamiltongolf.com/) in Rochester, MI to get fit for my Terra Forza shaft.  Before describing the fitting process I want to say how much I enjoyed working with Larry.  He was warm, welcoming, patient and informative -- everything you'd want in a fitter or coach.  Thanks, Larry!

Information about Terra Forza and their approach to shaft fitting can be found here:  https://terraforzagolf.com/.  Essentially, the fitting is based on each golfer's individual interaction with the ground ("ground reaction forces") during the swing.  Using information gained through a pair of pressure plates (see photo below -- sorry about my shadow) and an app, a proprietary algorithm determines the most likely fit for a given golfer.  As Terra Forza says, "After some trial and error, we were able to create a line of golf shafts that matched a golfer's pressure trace and pressure data. Our patented algorithm allows us to recognize those traces, along with all of the pressure data coming from the TF Pressure Plates, and objectively determine the proper shaft for any golfer."  As I understood it, TF assesses primarily vertical force during the swing.

 

This as a view of what the fitter sees (stock photo from TF website).

After warming up (I used 8 iron and Driver), Larry had me stand on the pressure plates and hit several shots with my current driver (Ping G425 Max in standard 10.5° and neutral back weight position) and shaft (stock Ping Alta CB 55 • R).  Data was collected using Trackman while hitting Titelist ProV1 RCT balls.  After discarding a couple of outliers, the algorithm determined that the place to start was with the Green spec shaft (from the TF website: "As the smoothest shaft in the Terra Forza range, this shaft allows golfers with the easiest of transitions to optimize their club head speed while being able to control their trace. Mass: 49g. Torque: 5.8º. Pressure Trace: Linear.")  This shaft is slighter lighter overall than my current shaft, and a bit softer in the tip.

The Green shaft was inserted into my driver head and I took a number of swings with it but not while on the pressure plates.  Trackman results showed an increase in carry and total of about 10+ yards over my usual set up, and with a better dispersion pattern.  At this point, Larry suggested I try another shaft.  His thinking was that while the Green shaft was a good fit in most areas, the tip was possibly a bit too soft.  The TF algorithm had a recommendation of Green+ (stiffer tip) but that configuration wasn't available in the shop.

The alternate shaft was the Orange spec (again from TF: "Designed for a player with a more linear trace, this shaft allows the player with a larger lateral movement to control their launch. This shaft also caters to the player who has a stronger transition than green.  Mass: 57g. Torque: 4.7º. Pressure Trace: Lateral"). It was put into my G425 head and the process repeated.  This shaft resulted in slightly shorter carry/total numbers (2-3 yds.) but a significant improvement in dispersion over the Green.

Larry and Colin (TF President) will review the data and decide which shaft -- Green+ of Orange -- will make a better fit for me.  In either case, I am pretty stoked to get it out on the course when it arrives!

 

Sounds like a great experience!  

[GolfSpy_BNG]

41 minutes ago, tdc1 said:

Today I made the 2+ hour drive from my house to Larry Hamilton Golf (https://larryhamiltongolf.com/) in Rochester, MI to get fit for my Terra Forza shaft.  Before describing the fitting process I want to say how much I enjoyed working with Larry.  He was warm, welcoming, patient and informative -- everything you'd want in a fitter or coach.  Thanks, Larry!

Information about Terra Forza and their approach to shaft fitting can be found here:  https://terraforzagolf.com/.  Essentially, the fitting is based on each golfer's individual interaction with the ground ("ground reaction forces") during the swing.  Using information gained through a pair of pressure plates (see photo below -- sorry about my shadow) and an app, a proprietary algorithm determines the most likely fit for a given golfer.  As Terra Forza says, "After some trial and error, we were able to create a line of golf shafts that matched a golfer's pressure trace and pressure data. Our patented algorithm allows us to recognize those traces, along with all of the pressure data coming from the TF Pressure Plates, and objectively determine the proper shaft for any golfer."  As I understood it, TF assesses primarily vertical force during the swing.

 

This as a view of what the fitter sees (stock photo from TF website).

After warming up (I used 8 iron and Driver), Larry had me stand on the pressure plates and hit several shots with my current driver (Ping G425 Max in standard 10.5° and neutral back weight position) and shaft (stock Ping Alta CB 55 • R).  Data was collected using Trackman while hitting Titelist ProV1 RCT balls.  After discarding a couple of outliers, the algorithm determined that the place to start was with the Green spec shaft (from the TF website: "As the smoothest shaft in the Terra Forza range, this shaft allows golfers with the easiest of transitions to optimize their club head speed while being able to control their trace. Mass: 49g. Torque: 5.8º. Pressure Trace: Linear.")  This shaft is slighter lighter overall than my current shaft, and a bit softer in the tip.

The Green shaft was inserted into my driver head and I took a number of swings with it but not while on the pressure plates.  Trackman results showed an increase in carry and total of about 10+ yards over my usual set up, and with a better dispersion pattern.  At this point, Larry suggested I try another shaft.  His thinking was that while the Green shaft was a good fit in most areas, the tip was possibly a bit too soft.  The TF algorithm had a recommendation of Green+ (stiffer tip) but that configuration wasn't available in the shop.

The alternate shaft was the Orange spec (again from TF: "Designed for a player with a more linear trace, this shaft allows the player with a larger lateral movement to control their launch. This shaft also caters to the player who has a stronger transition than green.  Mass: 57g. Torque: 4.7º. Pressure Trace: Lateral"). It was put into my G425 head and the process repeated.  This shaft resulted in slightly shorter carry/total numbers (2-3 yds.) but a significant improvement in dispersion over the Green.

Larry and Colin (TF President) will review the data and decide which shaft -- Green+ of Orange -- will make a better fit for me.  In either case, I am pretty stoked to get it out on the course when it arrives!

 

Great write up Tim.  Can’t wait for Tuesday to fit Mike and really dive into this process. 

[tdc1]

41 minutes ago, TJ Hall said:

Sounds like a great experience!  

It was — relaxed, informative, and fun.

[tdc1]

12 minutes ago, GolfSpy_BNG said:

Great write up Tim.  Can’t wait for Tuesday to fit Mike and really dive into this process. 

Thanks, @GolfSpy_BNG.  I'm sure you guys will have fun with it.  I'm expecting to get some of my test data by e-mail so I can look at it more closely.

[ChiefMikeOfficer]

4 hours ago, tdc1 said:

 

The Green shaft was inserted into my driver head and I took a number of swings with it but not while on the pressure plates.  Trackman results showed an increase in carry and total of about 10+ yards over my usual set up, and with a better dispersion pattern.  At this point, Larry suggested I try another shaft.  His thinking was that while the Green shaft was a good fit in most areas, the tip was possibly a bit too soft.  The TF algorithm had a recommendation of Green+ (stiffer tip) but that configuration wasn't available in the shop.

 

This is helping with some of my skepticism already - I saw only 5 shafts with no flex options, and immediately thought it wasn't enough. But, if they can build things like + options on those shafts (and maybe other tweaks), it expands the offering a bit. I guess I'll find out in a couple days...

[tdc1]

9 hours ago, ChiefMikeOfficer said:

This is helping with some of my skepticism already - I saw only 5 shafts with no flex options, and immediately thought it wasn't enough. But, if they can build things like + options on those shafts (and maybe other tweaks), it expands the offering a bit. I guess I'll find out in a couple days...

I wonder if this is a question @MrBandit can explore with Colin during his fitting on Tuesday?

[MrBandit]

23 hours ago, tdc1 said:

I wonder if this is a question @MrBandit can explore with Colin during his fitting on Tuesday?

I'm looking forward to the fitting today. I'm wondering how the numbers will compare with the different shafts and the pressure plates.

[MrBandit]

18 minutes ago, MrBandit said:

I'm looking forward to the fitting today. I'm wondering how the numbers will compare with the different shafts and the pressure plates.

I mean base on my 4/2 trackman numbers the bar is already low. It can only go up.

                          Carry                                          Distance                                    Swing Speed                                           Smash

Edited April 15 by MrBandit

[tdc1]

1 hour ago, MrBandit said:

I'm looking forward to the fitting today. I'm wondering how the numbers will compare with the different shafts and the pressure plates.

In my fitting the pressure plates were used to get the algorithm's recommendations but not when testing the two TF shafts I hit.  It will be interesting to hear from others if the same process was used.

[MrBandit]

Good Evening.

Today I completed my fitting this afternoon at Tour Prove Golf with Colin Hamilton.

Colin explains how they use the "Ground Reaction Forces" Data to determine the shaft that best fits your swing. As it takes into account your body weight, body turn, shift between your feet, plus other Data that calculates what shaft would best work for you.
One thing that Colin pointed out was that they don't advertise on the site what is the flex of each shaft  ie. regular, stiff, x-stiff. Because they want the "Ground Reaction Forces Data" to determine the correct shaft and not to be based on the flex of the shaft.

After getting warmed up, Colin set up the pressure plates to begin gathering Data.

My Drive is TM Qi10 MAX set at 8.5  Loft with Fujikura Speeder NX TCS 50.

What I found interesting was that we only took 4 shots with my current setup to collect the algorithm. 
 Colin explains because all users swings are unique the Data collected is like a DNA for your swing.
I asked if he needed it to get on the plates again after getting the information on the recommended shaft. He said no because the Data would not change.

After the Data was collected, it was suggested between the Orange and White. Colin explains that I was right at the borderline between the Orange and White shafts.

We started testing with the Orange Shaft, 1st thing I noticed was how light it was specially in the tip. Even thou, the shaft weighs at 65 compared to my 50 of my gamer.
The swing felt loose on the down swing and didn't feel stable almost whippy. And this was do to the soft tip of the shaft.

Because of this we moved into the Yellow Shaft, this was stiffer and felt better, but still not as comfortable with this shaft.
Moved on to the White Shaft with a stronger tip. This had the desired feel and the ball speed and smash factor numbers jumped up.
Tweak the loft a few degrees up and down, but at the end we came back to my current settings of 8.5.

At the end the ball speed jump from 135.2mph to 139.8/140mph with the White Shaft.
Carry Distance jumped up from 194 yds to 211.7 yds and total distance from 221.8 yds to 227.5 yds



One of the things I had noticed was that when I put my game shaft back on my driver it felt much heavier than with the Terra Forza. Colin wanted to know why the big difference and we found out that even though my shaft weighs 50 the swing weight is set at D8.
Versus Terra Forza White Shaft weighs 65 but the swing weight is set at D5.

Colin is getting the White Shaft built and will have shipped hopefully by the end of the week. 

After the fitting I decided to go play a practice round at a course and am planning to play in a tournament on Sunday. This way I can compare the numbers on the course if I get the new shaft before Sunday.

Ironically , I drove the ball great at the course, and missed 3 fairways (just in the first cut). Average and longest drive, doesn't compare to the Trackman numbers distances. So now I am really curious to compare these numbers with the numbers of the new shaft. 

Edited April 16 by MrBandit

[MrBandit]

21 hours ago, tdc1 said:

In my fitting the pressure plates were used to get the algorithm's recommendations but not when testing the two TF shafts I hit.  It will be interesting to hear from others if the same process was used.

@tdc1 Apparently, once your data is collected on the pressure plates (its like a DNA for your swing) and according to Colin that Data will not change once you get into the Terra Forza shafts. 

[ejgaudette]

On 4/9/2024 at 4:39 PM, GolfSpy BOS said:

I'm looking forward to checking out this fitting method and seeing what Terra Forza is all about.  

 

For those nearby that want to try them out send me PM.  I have the full fitting kit and pressure plates from Terra Forza.

I'll have to set up some time at a local range and we can all hit some balls and go through the fitting app!

 

Is the fitting cart making any trips?

Looking forward to this one though.

[GolfSpy BOS]

1 minute ago, ejgaudette said:

Is the fitting cart making any trips?

Looking forward to this one though.

I had a successful test run of using the app over the weekend with my brother and @GolfSpy_SHARK I can take the setup out and about.

If you want to give it a try we can meet somewhere in the middle and give it a go! 

 

 

[cnosil]

3 minutes ago, GolfSpy BOS said:

I had a successful test run of using the app over the weekend with my brother and @GolfSpy_SHARK I can take the setup out and about.

If you want to give it a try we can meet somewhere in the middle and give it a go! 

 

 

Is it coming to Virginia at the end of May?

[GolfSpy BOS]

1 minute ago, cnosil said:

Is it coming to Virginia at the end of May?

If I still have it then I'm sure I could.  Now... transporting all 8 shafts might be more difficult, but I'll see what I can do! 

[GolfSpy_BNG]

3 minutes ago, cnosil said:

Is it coming to Virginia at the end of May?

If Bryan wants to lug it that far I’m betting we can work something g out with Colin and Terra Forza

[cnosil]

1 minute ago, GolfSpy BOS said:

If I still have it then I'm sure I could.  Now... transporting all 8 shafts might be more difficult, but I'll see what I can do! 

 

Just now, GolfSpy_BNG said:

If Bryan wants to log it that far I’m betting we can work something g out with Colin and Terra Forza

I was joking and know @GolfSpy BOSis coming a long distance.    I don’t know if it matters but the range balls at Kingsmill are limited flight.  

[GolfSpy_BNG]

6 minutes ago, cnosil said:

 

I was joking and know @GolfSpy BOSis coming a long distance.    I don’t know if it matters but the range balls at Kingsmill are limited flight.  

Shouldn’t matter on balls as this system only measures ground forces. Doesn’t track any ball or club data. 
 

If there is enough interest I’m sure Terra Forza would love the additional information on different swings

[ejgaudette]

22 minutes ago, GolfSpy BOS said:

I had a successful test run of using the app over the weekend with my brother and @GolfSpy_SHARK I can take the setup out and about.

If you want to give it a try we can meet somewhere in the middle and give it a go! 

 

 

No no just kidding, though we should set up a round sometime this year

[MrBandit]

During the Fitting yesterday.. Colin did mention a couple of items of interest.

1. There is a new a Blue shaft coming out soon, this is supposed to be in between the White and Orange.

2. PGA Player - Collin Morikawa - is schedule to get fit in the next week or so. This could be interesting to see this shaft on the PGA in the near future.

[ChiefMikeOfficer]

On 4/10/2024 at 4:23 PM, ChiefMikeOfficer said:

Fitting scheduled! Making a day trip out to Iowa to visit @GolfSpy_BNG on Tuesday afternoon, since he now has all the equipment for it. It'll be a long day, but hopefully we get some good results!

<Putting this up front so it's not misunderstood - this is a fun post about the adventure of today. This is not about the fitting. I still need to put things together for that and will post separately, probably tomorrow at this point>

Travel experience: 2/10. Would not recommend. At least not on a day like today. 

To be clear, on a nice day, it's a nice, fairly easy drive. It was basically a straight-shot down US-18 (often just 1 lane each direction, sometimes 2) -- but of course, sticking on 18 would have added like an hour to the trip vs. veering off at times. I followed some of Google's "faster" shortcuts, which ended up being not faster at all because the "city sounding" roads (like "take 120th St to bypass Postville") were actually loose gravel roads -- Google Maps thought they were 55mph, but I was skidding out a bit at 35-40 (pretty confident I would've had trouble staying on the road at 55, even on the earlier dry one). Pretty sure a couple of these added time, and I avoided them on the way home. 

Then...the weather. Woof. Mild on the way, but then about 5 miles out from the destination:

Luckily Mark's fitting location had a solid indoor setup (and honestly, I prefer indoor because it removes range balls from the equation - technically that wasn't relevant for this fitting, but still nice to see a consistent ball on the sim). Chatted for a bit, warmed up, knocked out the fitting, and then I got out of there because worse stuff was incoming. Worse stuff was also on the way home. Almost felt like storm chasing...only by accident, and I don't know how to do that safely. 

Pulled out my phone when things seemed really rough, and, TORNADO WARNING -- technically the warning was back where we did the fitting (hope everyone stayed safe), and after a refresh, I was only in a Watch: 

Stopped at a gas station to wait it out a bit -- the Wisconsin in me struggled with the fact that it was a Kwik Star rather than Kwik Trip, but I got over it. But...where's my wallet? I took it out during the fitting and put it on top of my bag, forgot to pick it up at the end.

Texted Mark - no wallet in sight. Dug through the bag and car as much as I could (but again, Tornado Watch), not finding it anywhere. Luckily I keep a credit card in the car. Continued on. This storm was moving roughly the same speed as the car, which made it a rough last couple hours (kept speeding up, getting into it, needing to slow down for visibility, getting out, speeding up, getting back in...there was another storm like 20-30 minutes behind it, so waiting it out wasn't much of an option). 

But, positives: got home before kids' bedtime (which was not expected, even with fair weather); emptied the bag and found the wallet down by the grips  (as much as I knocked the Stitch bag in last year's test, they had a feature that would've helped me find it immediately when looking at the gas station - with Vessel I had to pull everything out); got to spend some QT with the new ride, which I just picked up on Friday, and even avoided the hail! (that became a legitimate concern at one point). Oh, and the fitting -- that was also a positive, coming soon. 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 17 by ChiefMikeOfficer
Deleting extra pictures: Take 3

[tdc1]

5 minutes ago, ChiefMikeOfficer said:

Travel experience: 2/10. Would not recommend. At least not on a day like today.

Wowser, what an adventure!  And I thought my drive was going to be a bad one.  Glad you made it down/back safely (and found your wallet).  Hope Mark made it through the storm as well.  Looking forward to hearing about the actual Terra Forza fitting experience.

[ChiefMikeOfficer]

Alright, now on to the real fitting experience. First, a big thanks to @GolfSpy_BNG for coordinating – I wasn’t even going to sign up for this one until I saw that he was getting the equipment and was much closer than the official fitting locations (closest was ~8 hours, or a flight) – even at 5 hours, it made for a long day, but I feel like MGS and the forum have done a lot of good things for me, and traveling for a day for a test is one way to reciprocate (yes yes, I do get the shaft in the end, which is always a great perk, but a good reminder to those that want to test: don’t expect it to be an easy score of an item).

Also thanks to Algona Golf Ranch for allowing us to use the space. Mark described it perfectly when giving me directions: it’s off the beaten path, but an impressive setup. It’s a really cool little space on one of those gravel roads. I only got to explore a small part of it, but it seems super cool (see weather post – would have liked to use the outdoor facilities or stick around to do a few more things, but it was best to hightail it out of there).

My best, short description of the fitting: it was a long way to go for an 8-swing fitting, but I think they may be onto something. If they can make the process more accessible and extend the shaft offerings further, it might even be groundbreaking.

When I heard about this test opportunity, I knew nothing about Terra Forza (I’m a bit of a club/shaft junkie too – have played around with some of the smaller brands, but I guess I’m not deep enough into things to know this group). The fitting process seemed intriguing, but also fishy – ground forces determine what shaft you need, but also it’s one of these 5 shafts? I poked around their site, and made a guess – if I were to buy an “off the rack” shaft from Terra Forza based on specs, I decided I’d likely go with the Red, but I’d consider the Yellow. That just seems the logical choice, just like some of the other shafts on the market – like for my Graphite Design, I can review the specs and make a reasonable decision on which Tour AD model+weight+flex I should choose. The whole point of a fitting is to eliminate those questions and get to the best of the lot, right?

Because of weather, we ended up indoors, in this space:

 I actually like indoor fittings because I can use my own balls. Of course, I forgot to stock my bag with the typical gamer and only had me “spring scraps”, which were still new and competitive balls (see my “how long do you use a ball?” responses?) – once we started with the fitting process, I used a TP5x for every shot (warmed up with that plus a Vice Pro Plus). For other fittings, the ball is a factor; for this one, unless they actually use the “after” stats in the final decision, it’s not a factor, but it’s nice to see real numbers and remove potential inconsistencies. I also used the Qi10 LS - my current gamer that I've used for a total of 18 holes (in warmups, my fitted Stealth+ just didn't stand up to it).

Initial steps of the fitting saw a few challenges. The fitting system was having trouble picking up the ball – after some troubleshooting, we found it’s because the overhead lighting on the sim was too bright (or at least that’s what it seemed). Then, once we adjusted for lighting, the first swing got a “whoa, that’s not what I expected” response (not sure if it was the machine that misfired or if I just had a bigtime old-man swing – no offense to the older guys ). I also had some fun struggles with placing the ball correctly (seriously, try establishing your foot position, then walk up and put the tee in the right place – it’s surprisingly hard). But, the rest of it went well, and we got to some potential outcomes.

From the output, it looks like it’s between the Yellow+ (Yellow, but tipped an inch) and the Red – so, I was pretty close, but also didn’t know that Yellow+ was an option. Even if I did, not sure I would’ve landed there on my own – a few years back I grabbed a TS (between S and X) instead of an X, and kinda regretted it (but maybe the shaft itself just didn’t work for me – the TS certainly didn’t). But, Mark is sending the data off to Terra Forza and they are going to make the final call. A couple shots from the analysis (don’t know what any of these numbers mean, but the pictures seem…straightforward? Weight is forward, toe of back foot, heel of front foot?):

Then, the fun part – we get to try them. Mark had all of the options (note I did not try the Green – we threw that one out). We started with the Yellow+. First swing impression…it feels lighter than my typical gamer. Or maybe softer. Or maybe some combination. And what do I do with lighter/softer shafts? I pick up a hooker. And that’s exactly what showed on the screen. Because of the feel, I actually went back and adjusted the weights on the driver toward the toe – it helped, but still going left.

Next we went with the Yellow – same shaft, but not tipped. Hooks.

Then Red. First one, Hook? We’ll call it a Draw, just a bit left of target.

But…there was something very notable. For one, Mark mentioned this sim tends to exaggerate the left-spin. But also, there was an odd level of consistency. The dispersion was tight. Now I’m not going to pretend my warmup session had all pure shots (or any session of mine, for that matter), so I made a couple adjustments myself – first the weight toward the toe, then also weakened my grip a bit. Which led to…Bombs. The end of the Red set and the following Yellow+ (decided to try it again after hitting the Red so well) were both spectacular. Spin is comparable to my initial set with my gamer. Distance is also comparable, maybe squeaking a few extra yards out of the Terra Forza (unfortunately didn’t take pics of the before numbers…).

This is gonna be confusing, but Red is TF Yellow+ set 1, Cyan is TF Yellow+ set 2 (after all adjustments), Yellow is TF Yellow, and Blue is TF Red.

The Cyan set is ridiculous – “spin is a little high” is the feedback I’d get from my old GolfTEC coach (he wants 2200-2300), but come on… even my current gamer is in the same spin territory.

 

I'm very interested to see what the final shaft choice is, and am excited to bring it onto the course. I'm not sold yet...but it seems like there's something good here, and hopefully it helps my game this year.