Titleist GT Long Game - 2024 Forum Review

[Rearviewmirror]

19 minutes ago, Golfspy_CG2 said:

It’s going to be 95% off the tee.  I just don’t have the speed to hit it high and try to reach greens. 
But like @Rearviewmirror said.

Right now my primary goal for a 3W is to consistently carry 220yds off the fairway. I would sacrifice total distance to make that happen if I saw narrow dispersion and not spin up into the wind. If I somehow find a unicorn that can do that AND roll out, then game on.

On a separate note, I came across this from Ping and thought it was fascinating in the context of top of bag thinking by swingspeed:

[Golfspy_CG2]

12 minutes ago, Rearviewmirror said:

Right now my primary goal for a 3W is to consistently carry 220yds off the fairway. I would sacrifice total distance to make that happen if I saw narrow dispersion and not spin up into the wind. If I somehow find a unicorn that can do that AND roll out, then game on.

On a separate note, I came across this from Ping and thought it was fascinating in the context of top of bag thinking by swingspeed:

I dream of 220 3 wood carry

i have those chsrts in my PING fitting book.  And the advance set up on the bottom. Im almost exactly as listed for the 74-80 High Launch makeup. 

[Rearviewmirror]

Just now, Golfspy_CG2 said:

I dream of 220 3 wood carry

I'm a long lever ape man human. Swing speed isn't my issue, direction is

[Shrek74]

3 hours ago, Rearviewmirror said:

Right now my primary goal for a 3W is to consistently carry 220yds off the fairway. I would sacrifice total distance to make that happen if I saw narrow dispersion and not spin up into the wind. If I somehow find a unicorn that can do that AND roll out, then game on.

On a separate note, I came across this from Ping and thought it was fascinating in the context of top of bag thinking by swingspeed:

Those charts are awesome! I wish these existed for all the OEM's and available to us.

[Golfspy_CG2]

40 minutes ago, Shrek74 said:

Those charts are awesome! I wish these existed for all the OEM's and available to us.

Most of the data would  translate to any OEM.  

[revkev]

Like always those charts represent starting points - they would not work for me nor were they what my Ping fitter put he in nor what I was got into in regards to irons recently. 
 

I can’t recall the last time that I gamed a 5 iron and they would have me in one. Given how strong the lifts are in my current irons I couldn’t see myself in a 6 iron either. 

Edited August 19 by revkev

[RetiredBoomer]

1 hour ago, revkev said:

Like always those charts represent starting points -
they would not work for me
nor were they what my Ping fitter put me in...... 

I can’t recall the last time that I gamed a 5 iron
and they would have me in one.
Given how strong the lifts are in my current irons.
I couldn’t see myself in a 6 iron either. 

Why wouldn't you need just one utility long iron to play low, run-on shots, Rev?

7- and 9-woods are great clubs for high, soft landing shot. We certainly agree on that.

But there are times, especially in windy conditions, when one needs to play a links style, run-on, line drive.

I wouldn't begin to know how to do that with a high-number wood; can it be done?

You're a better player than I am, but I can't recall seeing anybody hitting 9-wood stingers!

This is something to consider especially when you're playing with thirteen clubs as you do

and have room.

And there are so many really good, forgiving ones now.   You wouldn't want to mess around with 18°, but you mind find 20° do-able with that modern, hollow head, low tungsten weighting.

Edited August 19 by RetiredBoomer

[KC Golf]

Can’t wait to see everyone’s custom shaft and lofts on their GT weapons.

[ctg44]

I ordered my GT2 (8° with +2 gram rear weight and a -1/2" off of standard length Tour AD VF 6S shaft) on Friday.  I did 3 total fittings before getting dialed in on the 8° GT2 head and the VF shaft.  The 1st fitter concentrated on the GT3 head, but without as much weight and with limited shaft offerings, so I was kind of  non-plussed with it and was still leaning towards the 8° AiSmoke Triple Diamond w/ Ventus Blue (stock...non-Velocore+ or TR) I'd held off on buying despite hitting really well because I knew I had both the indoor and an outdoor GT fitting scheduled.  Cue the outdoor fitting w/ an actual Titleist fitter and ALL the shaft options...and I still end up getting pushed towards a heavier shaft and the GT3 with extra weights to try and bring down the spin...but he wouldn't consider the GT2 8° for me because he thought it would spin too much since I was still over 2,400 RPM w/ the GT3 combo he put together (like a 75TX Tensei Black shaft tipped 1" and 14 grams total of weighting biased towards the heel...craziness).  In between the 1st and 2nd fitting, PGA Superstore emails and offers their fitting for free too.  I'd planned on having my son do this because, surely, the outdoor fitting would be enough for me to decide between the GT series and the AiSmoke, right?  Well, he hit a 10° GT3 w/ neutral weighting and a stock Tensei black 75TX shaft so far he was dropping bombs on people on the 5th fairway (over the 75' driving range new) about 325 yards away from where we were set up.  Well, he didn't need to see anything else from Titleist then, did he? 

 

Thus, I kept my fitting appointment on Friday for myself, and was going in without any expectation that the GT series was going to knock a Callaway out of the top of my bag.  Well, lo and behold, I'll be bagging the aforementioned GT2 once it arrives (supposedly at the end of this week? Pleeeeeaaaaaassseeee?!??!?!) because flight, spin, dispersion, consistency...everything was just all you could want out of a driver, and all at under 160 mph ball speeds.  Even when I "stepped on it" the VF shaft was up to the task and was able to get me even a little more distance and ball speed, though it really wasn't necessary since with a reasonably controlled / consistent swing I was getting 280+ carry and 300ish totals.  Outside in Texas, I'm going to get even more than that downwind and the lower ball flight is going to save me a ton of distance into the wind.  Even when it's wet out, I'm still carrying the ball long enough and it's landing at a shallow enough angle to avoid stopping dead.

 

Given how bad I hated the TSR2 / TSR3 (and don't even get me started on the TSi series) and how bad I hated my 917F3 3W, I could not be more shocked that I'm moving into a Titleist driver.  In the end, I figured that there was little to lose.  If I did end up not being happy, PGASS offers a 90-day guarantee w/ store credit back if you don't like it after a fitting, so I can still end up in an AiSmoke if I want with little to no risk and probably still getting into a Ventus Blue TR or Velocore+ in the AiSmoke Triple Diamond for about the same as the GT2 w/ the Tour AD VF shaft.  As bad as I've been off the tee lately, I can't wait!

[CFreddie]

3 minutes ago, ctg44 said:

I ordered my GT2 (8° with +2 gram rear weight and a -1/2" off of standard length Tour AD VF 6S shaft) on Friday.  I did 3 total fittings before getting dialed in on the 8° GT2 head and the VF shaft.  The 1st fitter concentrated on the GT3 head, but without as much weight and with limited shaft offerings, so I was kind of  non-plussed with it and was still leaning towards the 8° AiSmoke Triple Diamond w/ Ventus Blue (stock...non-Velocore+ or TR) I'd held off on buying despite hitting really well because I knew I had both the indoor and an outdoor GT fitting scheduled.  Cue the outdoor fitting w/ an actual Titleist fitter and ALL the shaft options...and I still end up getting pushed towards a heavier shaft and the GT3 with extra weights to try and bring down the spin...but he wouldn't consider the GT2 8° for me because he thought it would spin too much since I was still over 2,400 RPM w/ the GT3 combo he put together (like a 75TX Tensei Black shaft tipped 1" and 14 grams total of weighting biased towards the heel...craziness).  In between the 1st and 2nd fitting, PGA Superstore emails and offers their fitting for free too.  I'd planned on having my son do this because, surely, the outdoor fitting would be enough for me to decide between the GT series and the AiSmoke, right?  Well, he hit a 10° GT3 w/ neutral weighting and a stock Tensei black 75TX shaft so far he was dropping bombs on people on the 5th fairway (over the 75' driving range new) about 325 yards away from where we were set up.  Well, he didn't need to see anything else from Titleist then, did he? 

 

Thus, I kept my fitting appointment on Friday for myself, and was going in without any expectation that the GT series was going to knock a Callaway out of the top of my bag.  Well, lo and behold, I'll be bagging the aforementioned GT2 once it arrives (supposedly at the end of this week? Pleeeeeaaaaaassseeee?!??!?!) because flight, spin, dispersion, consistency...everything was just all you could want out of a driver, and all at under 160 mph ball speeds.  Even when I "stepped on it" the VF shaft was up to the task and was able to get me even a little more distance and ball speed, though it really wasn't necessary since with a reasonably controlled / consistent swing I was getting 280+ carry and 300ish totals.  Outside in Texas, I'm going to get even more than that downwind and the lower ball flight is going to save me a ton of distance into the wind.  Even when it's wet out, I'm still carrying the ball long enough and it's landing at a shallow enough angle to avoid stopping dead.

 

Given how bad I hated the TSR2 / TSR3 (and don't even get me started on the TSi series) and how bad I hated my 917F3 3W, I could not be more shocked that I'm moving into a Titleist driver.  In the end, I figured that there was little to lose.  If I did end up not being happy, PGASS offers a 90-day guarantee w/ store credit back if you don't like it after a fitting, so I can still end up in an AiSmoke if I want with little to no risk and probably still getting into a Ventus Blue TR or Velocore+ in the AiSmoke Triple Diamond for about the same as the GT2 w/ the Tour AD VF shaft.  As bad as I've been off the tee lately, I can't wait!

Love the thoroughness here @ctg44 - can't wait to see the post-arrival write-up!  

[ctg44]

1 hour ago, CFreddie said:

Love the thoroughness here @ctg44 - can't wait to see the post-arrival write-up!  

Just to be clear, I'm not one of the "selected" testers, but I am happy to share.  Golf gear is expensive, and I tend to hold onto those things that work for me for a while, so I prefer to get stuff I really like and play it long past when I should (i.e. my Epic Flash Tour Certified Driver), so I really was pretty meticulous in figuring this out.  I mean, the guys at Golf Galaxy know me by name at this point, so yeah, I might have been through there for a few of their free fittings over the last year...

[CFreddie]

1 minute ago, ctg44 said:

Just to be clear, I'm not one of the "selected" testers, but I am happy to share.  Golf gear is expensive, and I tend to hold onto those things that work for me for a while, so I prefer to get stuff I really like and play it long past when I should (i.e. my Epic Flash Tour Certified Driver), so I really was pretty meticulous in figuring this out.  I mean, the guys at Golf Galaxy know me by name at this point, so yeah, I might have been through there for a few of their free fittings over the last year...

Totally - that’s the beauty of this community. A lot of non “official” testers joined in on the DF3 test this year, which was awesome to see, and contributed more to true user-focused testing & reviews. 
 

Speaking of GG’s free fittings, those are a really bad idea for someone like me

[GolfSpy_KFT]

So driver was TERRIBLE for me on Saturday at my club championship. Went to the range today to work on getting some things straightened out and was able to hit good shot after good shot. Going to keep hitting the range this week as my fitting is coming on Monday the 26th. Should be really fun, especially if I can keep hitting it like I was today. 3 wood was also great off the deck and tee. GT is going to have some stiff competition. 

[ctg44]

4 minutes ago, CFreddie said:

Totally - that’s the beauty of this community. A lot of non “official” testers joined in on the DF3 test this year, which was awesome to see, and contributed more to true user-focused testing & reviews. 
 

Speaking of GG’s free fittings, those are a really bad idea for someone like me

Oh, I have had to exhibit a LOT of restraint, especially yesterday when I was striping the Callaway Ti Fusion irons ($299 apiece? WTA__?) or a couple of weeks ago when I was even more in love with the new TaylorMade P770s (ironically, much more similar in feel and ball flight to my P7MCs than the fairly awful feeling new P7CBs) that are at least available at a more "reasonable" $180ish apiece, and that's before I'd be able to apply an ID.me discount to them at TaylorMade.com...

I mean, 175 yards on a 7 iron with steel shafts for an almost 51 year old guy without having to rely on game improvement gimmicks and rollout and rocket-propelled faces like those on my wife's 923 Hot Metal HL irons?  Sign me up!  Oh wait, yeah, I just bought a driver and would have to find a way to sleep in the kennel with the dog if I bought new irons too...

 

The good news in all of this iron testing / playing around with new gear is that I think I found a way to overcome the semi-absurd D8+ swingweights of my Toura CB irons I'd been testing and hit them longer, straighter, and more consistently.  More on that to come in that review thread in a day or 2...unfortunately, I have to get back to work!

[Golf2Much]

I thought I’d go into a bit more detail on why I believe participating in the Titleist GT “long game” review fits many of the challenges I face with my game.  This data will help create a baseline from which the Titleist driver and fairway woods will be have to compete against. 

In my introduction, I included the graphic below of the high-level shots gained with respect to my handicap group (10).

A deeper dive into some of the numbers hopefully will illustrate how an optimize set of woods should have a positive impact on my overall game.

First, let’s look at how many times I actually use my woods.  The chart below is taken from my Shot Scope data collecting all the shots I’ve taken so far in 2024.  There’s a distinct pattern here. 

Not surprising, the putter is my (and almost everyone else) most used club.  Thirty-seven percent (37%) of all my shots so far this year have been with a putter.  At the other end of my bag, the next most commonly used club is my driver at just over 17%.  Again, probably not too surprising.  One might say the next set of most commonly used clubs best represents my game. 

The numbers show I rely heavily on my fairway woods and then collectively with my wedges (predominately my 50-degree gap and 55-degree sand wedge).   As mentioned before, I’m typically short off the tee.  That means for most par 4’s I’m hitting a fairway wood, coming up short and a wedge to the green.    That pattern shows in my club use data.

If I consolidate the club usage into families, at a high level, I hit my woods (driver and fairway), hybrid/irons/wedges and putter all about 1/3 of the time each.    Breaking down the woods usage, other than my driver, I rely heavily on my delofted Callaway Heavenwood (basically my 5 wood).  Almost one of every ten shots is with that 5 wood. 

The high use of my wedges (my gap and sand wedges represent 20% of my shots) might suggest that I’m typically short and not as accurate with my approach shots (again mostly my fairway woods) than I should be.  We’ll see later if that holds up.

Let’s drill down and get into some additional driver and approach shot data.

My age and physical limitation have had its impact on my golf game.   Below is a summary of this year’s performance average woods distances.

These 2024 distance numbers are similar to my 2023 numbers with the exception of about 4 extra yards with my driver.   That increase can be attributed to moving from my Ping G400 SFT driver (which cracked) to a new Ping G430 MAX HL.  The rest of the numbers are within 1 yard of last year.  The 7W number in yellow is result of changing Shot Scope tags and represents just a few rounds.   Doing some quick math shows that par 4’s longer than 360 yards will require driver, 5 wood and a wedge chip or pitch shot to make the green.   Welcome to my world!

When I was young, I carried a driver just so I had somewhere to put my towel!   I just could not hit it and relied on a 13-degree fairway wood off the tee.  After some injuries and repairs (including new body parts), my game did a 180 degree change.  Things I relied on (e.g. long irons) I couldn’t hit and those clubs that challenged me (driver and putter) became a strength.  Below is a summary of this year’s driving accuracy.

Even though I don’t hit my driver very far, I am pretty accurate.  The scatter plot shows that my fairways hit in regulation is about 72%.  That’s about 24% better than my handicap peer group.  What makes that number a bit better than it looks is that my home course fairways are relatively narrow with trouble on both sides of many fairways.  A closer look at the scatter plot shows a few things.  First, when I miss, I typically do not miss by a lot illustrated by the density of “dots” close to the left and right edges.   I tend to miss both left and right with equal frequency.   The graphic also shows can par and bogey from the rough (the orange and light green dots respectively), which would suggest my reliance on my wedge play and putting.

The above graph is the shots gained from my tee shots by hole distance.  As you can see, I hold my own on short par 4’s (less than 350 yards) and not too bad against my peer group on long par 4’s (450+ yards).  But it’s the 350-450 yard par 4’s that are my biggest challenge.   That data helps validate why the Titleist long game review mays fit me “to a tee.”  If I can get a few more yards from my driver, be more comfortable using my 3 wood from the fairway more often, and maintain the confidence in the five wood, I likely can show improvement in that 350-450 yard hole distance range.

In summary, I’m not the longest driver of the ball, I tend to be fairly accurate in hitting fairways in regulation and getting a few extra yards off the tee could certainly be a benefit to my game.

Now, let’s go deeper into my approach game.   If I filter my approach shots to include those from 150 to 225 yard, the graph below represents the approach shot performance of my fairway woods. 

As you can see, my performance from those distances is not very good.  I hit only 4% of the greens in regulation from that distance.   One might say at that percentage is equivalent of hitting greens with my fairway woods “by accident”.  Even though I miss left and right about the same (3% and 5% respectively), the 86% of my mid to longer range approach shots come up short.  Again, validating why I use my gap and sand wedges so much.

How short?  Le't see!

If you look at the proximity to the pin from hitting from that 150 to 250 range, my average proximity is 192 feet (or 64 yards).

Not very good by any stretch of my imagination.   Yes, 99% of those 192 feet are being short!  People will ask me how I got so good at chipping and pitching the ball.  My response is that I hit those shots too often!

So how does my approach shots compare to my handicap peer group?

I basically loose a stroke due to the approach portion of my game at that 150-250 yard distance.  Given the previous data, that shouldn’t come as a surprise. 

Interestingly enough, when you break it down the shots gained/lost by approach shot distance, it’s pretty glaring where my issues are.

I’m actually not bad with 100 yards or less and 200 yards or more, showing positive strokes gained.  However, the data clearly shows my Achillies heel is in that 150-to-200-yard fairway wood range.   

Stepping back and looking at these numbers, one could say I’m a poster child for this Titleist Long Game review.   For the GT driver, the ability to accurate drives and maintain the high level of fairway hit in regulation will be tested and getting those few precious yards off the tee will be welcomed.  But it’s the fairway woods that likely will be my biggest opportunity.  Having a set of fit and consistent specification fairway woods alone should have a positive impact on my consistency and overall fairway wood performance in the 150-200 yard range.

If some of you fall into this category of golfer I just described, I hope I can provide you with some insight into the overall performance of these Titleist GT long game review. 

[RichL85]

Comparing to @Golf2Much, who seems to have the gapping at the top of his bag pretty well set up, mine is currently a bit of a disaster, as you can see here.

Granted, I'll clarify that the 3 wood and 19 degree hybrid have been used for some situational shots that will have some impact on the data, and my current 5W does not have enough shots recorded to be useful at this point. As you can see though, there's a fairly sizable gap between driver and 3 wood for me, and basically no gap between the two hybrids, both from the view of potential distance or the recent averages. I'm hoping that with the GT clubs I can get the averages closer to the longest shots, and fix the gapping issues as well. The 3 wood also does not have a ton of recorded shots, so those few shots have lowered the average, and I have to look at a combination of the data to see where the clubs realistically should be. I would like to see distances more like Driver at 265-270, 3 wood around 250, next club around 230, and the 22 degree around 210. My usual issue with the 19 degree is that I tend to hit it low, while the 3 wood and driver can both be plagued by the snap hook. Since something like the Titleist GT2 13.5* would be 2.5* stronger than my current 3 wood, we will see what the fitter can do with me.

[revkev]

@golftoomuch - wow you good too much.  kidding I very much fit into your category with the exception that I’m a tad longer and hold too little. You are the tester I have my eye on here. Thanks for being a part of this test. We do need to figure out how to play someday this winter season. I need an excuse to get back down to the keys anyway.

[Shrek74]

18 hours ago, Golf2Much said:

I thought I’d go into a bit more detail on why I believe participating in the Titleist GT “long game” review fits many of the challenges I face with my game.  This data will help create a baseline from which the Titleist driver and fairway woods will be have to compete against. 

In my introduction, I included the graphic below of the high-level shots gained with respect to my handicap group (10).

A deeper dive into some of the numbers hopefully will illustrate how an optimize set of woods should have a positive impact on my overall game.

First, let’s look at how many times I actually use my woods.  The chart below is taken from my Shot Scope data collecting all the shots I’ve taken so far in 2024.  There’s a distinct pattern here. 

Not surprising, the putter is my (and almost everyone else) most used club.  Thirty-seven percent (37%) of all my shots so far this year have been with a putter.  At the other end of my bag, the next most commonly used club is my driver at just over 17%.  Again, probably not too surprising.  One might say the next set of most commonly used clubs best represents my game. 

The numbers show I rely heavily on my fairway woods and then collectively with my wedges (predominately my 50-degree gap and 55-degree sand wedge).   As mentioned before, I’m typically short off the tee.  That means for most par 4’s I’m hitting a fairway wood, coming up short and a wedge to the green.    That pattern shows in my club use data.

If I consolidate the club usage into families, at a high level, I hit my woods (driver and fairway), hybrid/irons/wedges and putter all about 1/3 of the time each.    Breaking down the woods usage, other than my driver, I rely heavily on my delofted Callaway Heavenwood (basically my 5 wood).  Almost one of every ten shots is with that 5 wood. 

The high use of my wedges (my gap and sand wedges represent 20% of my shots) might suggest that I’m typically short and not as accurate with my approach shots (again mostly my fairway woods) than I should be.  We’ll see later if that holds up.

Let’s drill down and get into some additional driver and approach shot data.

My age and physical limitation have had its impact on my golf game.   Below is a summary of this year’s performance average woods distances.

These 2024 distance numbers are similar to my 2023 numbers with the exception of about 4 extra yards with my driver.   That increase can be attributed to moving from my Ping G400 SFT driver (which cracked) to a new Ping G430 MAX HL.  The rest of the numbers are within 1 yard of last year.  The 7W number in yellow is result of changing Shot Scope tags and represents just a few rounds.   Doing some quick math shows that par 4’s longer than 360 yards will require driver, 5 wood and a wedge chip or pitch shot to make the green.   Welcome to my world!

When I was young, I carried a driver just so I had somewhere to put my towel!   I just could not hit it and relied on a 13-degree fairway wood off the tee.  After some injuries and repairs (including new body parts), my game did a 180 degree change.  Things I relied on (e.g. long irons) I couldn’t hit and those clubs that challenged me (driver and putter) became a strength.  Below is a summary of this year’s driving accuracy.

Even though I don’t hit my driver very far, I am pretty accurate.  The scatter plot shows that my fairways hit in regulation is about 72%.  That’s about 24% better than my handicap peer group.  What makes that number a bit better than it looks is that my home course fairways are relatively narrow with trouble on both sides of many fairways.  A closer look at the scatter plot shows a few things.  First, when I miss, I typically do not miss by a lot illustrated by the density of “dots” close to the left and right edges.   I tend to miss both left and right with equal frequency.   The graphic also shows can par and bogey from the rough (the orange and light green dots respectively), which would suggest my reliance on my wedge play and putting.

The above graph is the shots gained from my tee shots by hole distance.  As you can see, I hold my own on short par 4’s (less than 350 yards) and not too bad against my peer group on long par 4’s (450+ yards).  But it’s the 350-450 yard par 4’s that are my biggest challenge.   That data helps validate why the Titleist long game review mays fit me “to a tee.”  If I can get a few more yards from my driver, be more comfortable using my 3 wood from the fairway more often, and maintain the confidence in the five wood, I likely can show improvement in that 350-450 yard hole distance range.

In summary, I’m not the longest driver of the ball, I tend to be fairly accurate in hitting fairways in regulation and getting a few extra yards off the tee could certainly be a benefit to my game.

Now, let’s go deeper into my approach game.   If I filter my approach shots to include those from 150 to 225 yard, the graph below represents the approach shot performance of my fairway woods. 

As you can see, my performance from those distances is not very good.  I hit only 4% of the greens in regulation from that distance.   One might say at that percentage is equivalent of hitting greens with my fairway woods “by accident”.  Even though I miss left and right about the same (3% and 5% respectively), the 86% of my mid to longer range approach shots come up short.  Again, validating why I use my gap and sand wedges so much.

How short?  Le't see!

If you look at the proximity to the pin from hitting from that 150 to 250 range, my average proximity is 192 feet (or 64 yards).

Not very good by any stretch of my imagination.   Yes, 99% of those 192 feet are being short!  People will ask me how I got so good at chipping and pitching the ball.  My response is that I hit those shots too often!

So how does my approach shots compare to my handicap peer group?

I basically loose a stroke due to the approach portion of my game at that 150-250 yard distance.  Given the previous data, that shouldn’t come as a surprise. 

Interestingly enough, when you break it down the shots gained/lost by approach shot distance, it’s pretty glaring where my issues are.

I’m actually not bad with 100 yards or less and 200 yards or more, showing positive strokes gained.  However, the data clearly shows my Achillies heel is in that 150-to-200-yard fairway wood range.   

Stepping back and looking at these numbers, one could say I’m a poster child for this Titleist Long Game review.   For the GT driver, the ability to accurate drives and maintain the high level of fairway hit in regulation will be tested and getting those few precious yards off the tee will be welcomed.  But it’s the fairway woods that likely will be my biggest opportunity.  Having a set of fit and consistent specification fairway woods alone should have a positive impact on my consistency and overall fairway wood performance in the 150-200 yard range.

If some of you fall into this category of golfer I just described, I hope I can provide you with some insight into the overall performance of these Titleist GT long game review. 

Damn, this is some killer understanding of your game and where you need the most help. We all should have these kinds of insights into our games. Nicely done. Now I'm going to go back and look through my SS data and see what I can find.

[Rearviewmirror]

Yesterday I did my long game check in at 2nd Swing with Kevin Kraft. Every time I work with him I just come out feeling well taken care of (and secretly wanting to try millions more clubs). He's so good at figuring out what works/doesn't work for you - so definitely check him out if you're in the DC/VA/MD area. I appreciate that he both listens to what you're saying and also looks at the data to try to figure out if there are any extra gains to be had and immediately take the bad clubs out of your hand. I feel like a good fitter is such a great find.

On to the data!! 

One note - I always aim center line on these tests, even though I know my shape right now is predominantly a fade. It helps me compare apples to apples and also get a sense of “miss” vs aiming left edge and cutting back to the center line.

I think I’m about as dialled as I can get for this test - even if yesterday wasn’t an amazing day for driver (getting over a cold and struggled to stay above 100mph for the duration of the fitting).

Things we tried:

• Dropping driver loft down from 10º to 9.5º to get more carry and knock down spin a touch 
• Lofting the 3W up a degree to try to get better height/launch conditions
• Switching the 4H to the flat setting 
• Switching shaft on the 4H to a lighter Alta CB shaft

Changes we made:

• Kept the driver lofted down 0.5º - gained around ~3yds and knocked spin down about 300rpm
• Switched out the 4H shaft for the Alta CB and went to the flat setting
• Left everything else where it was in terms of loft/shafts

Main takeaways:

• My 3W really isn’t doing much for me and honestly I think I’m going to leave it in its headcover until I do the Titleist fitting. For whatever reason I can’t consistently launch it, and the dispersion was not great and mirrors what I’ve seen on course recently
• My current fit is as close to optimal as I can get it - so I feel like this will be a good baseline for the GT competition!
   

Slightly mediocre 9 holes of play this morning, but honestly think I was a bit gassed from so many swings yesterday! I'll be very interested to see how 18 goes with my dialled kit next weekend.

 

 

 

Edited August 20 by Rearviewmirror

[RichL85]

Let's do this! 

Sneak peek of the results. The new 3 wood had higher ball speed than my current driver. Just saying. 

[Rearviewmirror]

1 hour ago, RichL85 said:

Let's do this! 

Sneak peek of the results. The new 3 wood had higher ball speed than my current driver. Just saying. 

So they only had one shaft for you to try?

[CFreddie]

3 hours ago, RichL85 said:

Let's do this! 

Sneak peek of the results. The new 3 wood had higher ball speed than my current driver. Just saying. 

Holy crap - I’m not sure what I’d be able to do with all of these shaft options

[RichL85]

4 minutes ago, CFreddie said:

Holy crap - I’m not sure what I’d be able to do with all of these shaft options

I basically just let Matt the fitter do his thing. Here's a picture of my personal graveyard of shafts that were tried. I'll do a more in depth write up on the fitting once I'm all settled down for the night. It's been a lot of driving today and I need to decompress and spend some time with the family before I write up anything major. 

[RichL85]

After a bit of a winding path along Grimes Canyon Road, I eventually made my way down Championship Drive. As I continued through an area that is far above the means of peasants like myself, I passed Augusta Drive and Trevino Drive on either side of the road I drove. I arrived at Moorpark Country Club about 20 minutes before my fitting appointment and immediately think that I don't play at courses that look like this at the entrance.

After warming up for a little bit the fitter, Matt, and I discussed things to get a baseline for what the purpose of the fitting is, primarily, I went in thinking that I am leaving some distance on the table with my current driver. In addition, I wanted to make sure the rest of my long game clubs were gapped appropriately. My day started out with about three hours of driving to the fitting. This was partially my own choice in order to get the fitting done because the next opening closer to me would have been September 1st. I was already planning to be somewhat in the area for work anyway, so an extra 40 minutes to the fitting was a small price to pay. 

We spent most of the time on driver, trying a total of 14 different setups for the driver spot, whereas the fairway ¨metals¨ were much quicker. As you can see, there was quite a few options that we ended up running through to find the best setup.

Realistically, I think this table comparing the ball speeds across the fitting says that there is definitely some potential in these clubs for someone like me. Now to wait for arrival while the remainder of the testers wait for their fittings.

I will say that when it comes to the driver, there is very little that ended up being ¨Standard¨as Matt ended up needing to make all kinds of changes to get things squared away. Towards the end of the fitting my snap hook swing started creeping in with my swing path getting too far from the inside, but he did a good job with the fitting despite myself trying to make it a challenge. Now the wait.

 

Edited August 21 by RichL85

[sirchunksalot]

2 hours ago, RichL85 said:

After a bit of a winding path along Grimes Canyon Road, I eventually made my way down Championship Drive. As I continued through an area that is far above the means of peasants like myself, I passed Augusta Drive and Trevino Drive on either side of the road I drove. I arrived at Moorpark Country Club about 20 minutes before my fitting appointment and immediately think that I don't play at courses that look like this at the entrance.

After warming up for a little bit the fitter, Matt, and I discussed things to get a baseline for what the purpose of the fitting is, primarily, I went in thinking that I am leaving some distance on the table with my current driver. In addition, I wanted to make sure the rest of my long game clubs were gapped appropriately. My day started out with about three hours of driving to the fitting. This was partially my own choice in order to get the fitting done because the next opening closer to me would have been September 1st. I was already planning to be somewhat in the area for work anyway, so an extra 40 minutes to the fitting was a small price to pay. 

We spent most of the time on driver, trying a total of 14 different setups for the driver spot, whereas the fairway ¨metals¨ were much quicker. As you can see, there was quite a few options that we ended up running through to find the best setup.

Realistically, I think this table comparing the ball speeds across the fitting says that there is definitely some potential in these clubs for someone like me. Now to wait for arrival while the remainder of the testers wait for their fittings.

I will say that when it comes to the driver, there is very little that ended up being ¨Standard¨as Matt ended up needing to make all kinds of changes to get things squared away. Towards the end of the fitting my snap hook swing started creeping in with my swing path getting too far from the inside, but he did a good job with the fitting despite myself trying to make it a challenge. Now the wait.

 

It looks like you got some pretty impressive increases in ball speed across the board and that looks like a LOT of shafts you went through. I think it's cool that Titleist is letting y'all get fit for the more premium shafts for the test. 

[KC Golf]

Wow, those Ventus and GD shafts all look very nice.

[ctg44]

8 hours ago, RichL85 said:

I basically just let Matt the fitter do his thing. Here's a picture of my personal graveyard of shafts that were tried. I'll do a more in depth write up on the fitting once I'm all settled down for the night. It's been a lot of driving today and I need to decompress and spend some time with the family before I write up anything major. 

I'm guessing neither of the Tour AD VF options made the final cut?  Couple of Ventus options on the cut line there too.  Interested to see what you went with!

[Golf2Much]

On 8/20/2024 at 7:01 AM, revkev said:

@golftoomuch - wow you good too much.  kidding I very much fit into your category with the exception that I’m a tad longer and hold too little. You are the tester I have my eye on here. Thanks for being a part of this test. We do need to figure out how to play someday this winter season. I need an excuse to get back down to the keys anyway.

@revkev, can you ever really golf too much?  

[GolfSpy_KFT]

Getting a fitting “fix” today at my course to tide me over till my Monday GT fitting. TaylorMade is on site so going to hit the P770s and 790s. Couldn’t resist the urge!

[Golfspy_CG2]

On 8/20/2024 at 4:08 PM, Rearviewmirror said:

Yesterday I did my long game check in at 2nd Swing with Kevin Kraft. Every time I work with him I just come out feeling well taken care of (and secretly wanting to try millions more clubs). He's so good at figuring out what works/doesn't work for you - so definitely check him out if you're in the DC/VA/MD area. I appreciate that he both listens to what you're saying and also looks at the data to try to figure out if there are any extra gains to be had and immediately take the bad clubs out of your hand. I feel like a good fitter is such a great find.

On to the data!! 

One note - I always aim center line on these tests, even though I know my shape right now is predominantly a fade. It helps me compare apples to apples and also get a sense of “miss” vs aiming left edge and cutting back to the center line.

I think I’m about as dialled as I can get for this test - even if yesterday wasn’t an amazing day for driver (getting over a cold and struggled to stay above 100mph for the duration of the fitting).

Things we tried:

• Dropping driver loft down from 10º to 9.5º to get more carry and knock down spin a touch 
• Lofting the 3W up a degree to try to get better height/launch conditions
• Switching the 4H to the flat setting 
• Switching shaft on the 4H to a lighter Alta CB shaft

Changes we made:

• Kept the driver lofted down 0.5º - gained around ~3yds and knocked spin down about 300rpm
• Switched out the 4H shaft for the Alta CB and went to the flat setting
• Left everything else where it was in terms of loft/shafts

Main takeaways:

• My 3W really isn’t doing much for me and honestly I think I’m going to leave it in its headcover until I do the Titleist fitting. For whatever reason I can’t consistently launch it, and the dispersion was not great and mirrors what I’ve seen on course recently
• My current fit is as close to optimal as I can get it - so I feel like this will be a good baseline for the GT competition!
   

Slightly mediocre 9 holes of play this morning, but honestly think I was a bit gassed from so many swings yesterday! I'll be very interested to see how 18 goes with my dialled kit next weekend.

 

 

 

Ah Damn!! I wish i had known you were set up with Kevin!  I would gladly offered to pop over and get some pics or video for you for the review.   I know Kevin well.  I have him fit me for anything that isn’t Titleist.   Just absolutely the best in the business.  
 

I literally told someone the other day that I referred to him, how he can tell ij 3 swings if a club or shaft is right for you.