PXG Fitting, first fitting in a few years

[Shrek74]

I finally got a chance to get a fitting in this Spring. Luckily it was inside since the weather wasn't the best outside when I got there. I haven't had a fitting from anyone in about 3 years, so this was long overdue. I always like to give PXG a chance when it comes to clubs, especially with their value to Veterans and their families along with the quality of their products. I have an OEM-neutral fitting on the 13th, so we'll see how things go then too. But for this, it's all about PXG.

My fitter's name was Rafe, and he's a really nice guy. He was on the PXG staff for a few years before transitioning to the sales/fitting side of things. He's also been a golf instructor, so we did get into a few tweaks during the fitting that I'll try and hit on if I can remember. Needless to say, after 2.5 hours and 152 swings, with a 60 minute drive there and then again home, I'm pretty wiped. So forgive me if I stop making sense at some point.

He had me go to another area of the facility to get warmed up while he finished up with someone. The Fairways and Greens facility is MASSIVE!! Let's just say that if I lived in the area, I'd pretty much live there. So I grabbed my 7-iron and Swing Setter and headed over to the hitting net area. Something I knew going in and had it reiterated to me at the end is that I really need to stop talking about getting back in shape and actually make a plan and do it. The popping and cracking sounds while I was warming up reiterated that fact as well.

He came over and grabbed me after I had a chance to warm up and he finished with his previous client. As typical, he had me hit a few shots with my gamer. And as typical, it was a bit of a mixed bag of shots. Fat has become my normal miss at this point, if I'm playing proper shafts (I found a few of the shafts we tried caused bad hooks). That's been mainly due to my flip, and now it tends to happen as I overdue my attempt to get that negative AoA and transition to my front foot. That was a theme that happened all day, but as I continue to work on my swing I'm hoping it will become less and less.

After a few decent representations of my gamer, he made up an interesting starting point for me. Gen6 P in an MMT 70R shaft. My 83 year old dad plays the 70R. *shrug* After 2 swings he'd seen what I could have told him - too light and too whippy. So he swapped to the 80S. Still too light. Now to the 105S. Much better. Numbers weren't where he wanted to see them though - too much dynamic lie, launch was too high, and not enough output for the input. So he grabbed an XP head, 2* flat. So strange as I've always been an upright lie guy, but then again not everyone's lie angles are the same and I've changed over the years. Just an very interesting change, especially since the Mizuno Shaft Optimizer just 2 weeks earlier said I needed 1* upright. *shrug again* The 105S with the XP head just felt so SW heavy. As if I was swinging an E0 or something. Just couldn't make it work with the XP head. So we went on to another option, and he actually stepped away to bend the head 1 more degree flat since his fitting heads only went to 2* flat. After a couple more options, he handed me the KBS Tour Lite Stiff. Ok, now we're on to something. Center contact gave us that launch, lie, smash, height, and descent we need. I wasn't perfect all the time, but I was far better than I'd been to that point. A few more good swings and results before we changed out again. Next up, Nippon Modus 105S. Again, great contact and numbers with the Modus 105S. We were finding the 100-105 weight range seemed to be right at that point. We tried a few more shafts just to make sure. DG115MidS, Accra 80S, Steelfiber PR 95S, among others. But after coming back to the Modus, he had me swing again just to validate. 1 swing, perfect contact. Done. Then the KBS Tour Lite one more time. 2 swing, perfect. Ok, so option 1 & 2 shafts done with the XP head. I didn't necessarily want to get into that head due to lofts and stuff, but after talking through it and seeing all the numbers (not just distance), it's just a matter of what club for what distance and ignoring the lofts. Next up - Driver.

Here's where Rafe was really going to earn his money, so to speak. I've yet to find a driver that I could hit center face consistently and out hit my 2W. My best swing with the 2W to start out was about 245 carry, 260 total. He had his work cut out for him. We started with the Black Ops head and Riptide CB shaft. Never really got anywhere with that. After seeing all the heel strikes, he agreed with my comment about needing a shorter driver. Everything hereafter was 44.5" playing length. Ventus Blue, Tensei White, at least 3-4 Graphite Designs, HZRDUS Black Gen4, and others I can't remember. We even went back and forth with the Tour-1 and standard Black Ops heads. Nothing could get that center contact. I'd be high middle, high toe, high heel, lower heel, but not center. I think with all the swings with driver, I found the dead center maybe twice. I was seeing lower spin than I've ever seen, in the low to mid 2000's with several of the combos, just nothing with any consistency. I'd hit something 250 with a slight fade, then 220 strong draw, then 240 dead straight. My good swings (at 95-97 mph mind you) would get to 260 total with 2k spin. But just couldn't make it happen often enough. He then thought of an idea to crank the lie down, like the irons. The PXG adapter allows the lie to be set 3* flat, without altering loft. You can see that below in the adapter setting image. I was surprised at that, but it's pretty cool.

So we continued to dabble with the heads and shafts. He then noticed the way I was at address, a bit more on my toes. He grabbed a rubber "bump" and put it under the toes of my back foot. Immediately we got closer to the center of the face. From 22mm heel to 6mm heel in a few swings. That's pretty drastic. I still wasn't getting much out of it, but I was getting tired. We agreed to take a break for a snack and to allow him to set up some paperwork on his laptop for my fitting. I really needed that after around 100 shots in a little over an hour.

We ended up on the standard head with the HZRDUS Black Gen4 shaft at 44.5", 3* flat. He wants me to work on getting more towards my heels at setup and not getting to my toes at impact like I was. I will likely pass on the driver at this point. I can grab the Gen5 at $200 with the same shaft and work on my swing mechanics. My 2W was till right around the same distance, granted I was a bit worn down. I have a Taylormade BRNR Mini I still need to test as well that might work out better. But we'll see.

At this point we moved on to FW woods. He had me hit both a 3W & 5W, with the lie flat on both as well. I was getting more with the 3W than the 5W, and the 5W seemed to gap pretty well. HZRDUS Black Gen4 here too after several GD's and the Riptide. I play all HZRDUS now and find it works well for me. 3W was getting out about 230 and the 5W about 215-220.

As time was winding down and I was running close to E, he had me swing a few hybrids while there was still some fuel in the tank. We found the 3H was the best for gapping between the estimated 5i and the 5W after trying the 4H. Hit the 200'ish mark, where the 5i would estimate around 190.

With the tank dry for full swings, he handed me a Sugar Daddy II and wanted me to give that a few swings. First time I'd ever hit one. I can understand where at least some of the hype comes from on those. I hit some of the most pure 52*, 56*, and 60* wedge shots I've ever hit. And even when I didn't get it perfectly, I still got the distance. I'm thinking regardless of what irons I end up with after my other fitting, at least 1 SDii will find it's way into my bag.  Just need to determine the grind.

Rafe did give me some tips on wedge play, which I found very helpful. Especially since the more lofted clubs have scared me with more full swing shots. But with his suggestions, I was hitting them really well. So I'll keep working on his suggestions with the wedges and I might actually play more than my 50* inside 100yds.

So the final fit looks like this:

Black Ops Driver, HZRDUS Black Gen4, Stiff, 44.5"
Black Ops 3W & 5W, HZRDUS Black Gen4, Stiff
Black Ops 3H, HZRDUS Black Gen4, Stiff
0311 Gen6 XP, 5-GW (SW might also be included), Modus 105S (or KBS Tour Lite S), 3* flat
Sugar Daddy II, 54* (maybe), 60*, same shafts as irons

It's doubtful I'll go full bag like this. I'll pick and choose what I like after my other fitting and go from there. Now to go ice down my ENTIRE body. 

[BreakfastBall15]

PXG gets a bad rap from the commercials but they make some quality clubs and their fitters are really good at their jobs. Looking forward to how your OEM neutral fitting goes compared to the PXG