My Long Game Fitting at PXG Cincinnati

[Shrek74]

As some of you are aware, I went in today for a long game fitting at PXG here in the Cincy area. I figured I'd put some thoughts down about my experience, for anyone who's interested.

I've been fit for PXG in the past, when I lived out in AZ. I've been to their Westgate and Norterra locations, plus I've even been fit at their HQ in Scottsdale. So this was going to be a similar experience, just a different store. What I've noticed is that not one of the locations I've been to were built out the same. The store, the layout, even the bays have been different. Cincy has 3 bays, where both Norterra and Westgate only had 2. I kind of like that personally. Not cookie cutter at all. Each one their own shop.

I got there about 30 minutes early, as I do for something like this. Gave me a chance to change shoes, pay for the fitting, and just get in and settled. Plus, I can do a little stretching ahead of time to try and use as little of my fitting time as possible. I chatted with Jake (store manager) a bit about various things while I stretched before he handed me off to Phil, who was going to be my fitter. Jake had reached out to me via text yesterday to get a sense of my intentions and other simple information. I had grabbed some screen captures of my Shot Scope data that I shared with him. He sent it over to Phil to try and save a little more time beforehand so he knew a bit more about me and my distances with my current long game.

In the past, I've had trouble finding the right shafts at PXG for woods which is why I don't have any in my bag already. I exclusively play PX HZRDUS Smoke Blue & Red RDX shafts in my woods/hybrids. Even if I pick up something off eBay or Callaway PreOwned or some other site, I'll look for replacement shafts almost immediately. So I wasn't sure what they might have to fit me into, knowing they only carry the HZRDUS Gen4 Black. But I was open to anything they wanted to hand me.

After a bit of warmup with my 7 iron, we dove right into the deep end with driver. I agreed with Phil that it would be best to utilize my best swings on that club, as it's always been the toughest for me to fit. We started off with the standard Black Ops 9* with a PX Denali Blue, which is a shaft I didn't realize they carried (and it's a stock shaft). We liked the feel, but I was still finding too much heel side and the launch was too high (18-20*). He switched down to the 8* head, and we saw better launch, but still too much heel. We also tried the AV Raw Blue, AV Raw White, Ventus Blue and a GD TR shaft as we went. Still too much heel (and I really didn't get along with the GD TR). He saw some baselines with my Ti 340 Mini at the start, and brought up the idea of going shorter on length. I replied with a simple, I was going to mention that.  So he essentially grabbed a long 3w shaft in the Denali, and off we went. Now we're cooking with gas. Far more centered strikes. I also realized I needed to place the ball a bit more toe side at address, once the club was resting on the ground. That combo of changes really started to pay off. I only dropped maybe 2-3mph on swing speed, but my efficiency finally got over 1.4 and my drives were going longer on both carry and total (although I ignore total in a fitting). Maybe not tons longer than my Mini's, but still they were longer on average and my capacity for length was higher as I saw a few carry farther than my longest total with the Ti 340 on course. This was roughly playing at a 43" driver length, which even I thought was a bit too short. He only had 1 shaft that got us to 44", a PX Evenflow. I hit it, but not well as that profile just doesn't work for me. But I think I like the length better. If I decide to buy the driver, I'll start there and adjust as needed. So after 45-50 swings with driver, we finished this part.

Next, we got into the fw woods. We had chatted a bit while I was warming up about how my 3w and 5w was going about the same distance 201/204. So I was occupying 2 slots with basically 1 distance. So we fully agreed that I needed to look at a 4w. And this didn't take long. He put the same Denali Blue shaft in at 70g and the first swing was dead center 15 yards longer than my other 3/5 woods (on carry). What was even better, I was able to replicate the shots many times over. Ended up around a 213 average carry with that club. What was crazy, was that first swing had a higher ball speed number than some of my driver swings which validated why I had been hitting 2w & 3w off the tee instead of driver the last few years. But even at the similar ball speed, driver was going longer which is why I'm likely to go that route off the tee. We still tried a 3w to see if that would get the launch down a bit, but it just couldn't match what that 4w was doing. So that was somewhat quick.

We then dove into the 7w. Again, same shaft just shorter. I was getting a bit tired by now and was a bit more erratic with my shots. But I was able to get enough quality strikes to show that it was producing a nice high launch with good spin. Landing around 50* with 5k+ spin, so it's stopping on just about any green. Plus, it was getting that 195-200 distance we needed to gap properly. So now 7w was settled. On to hybrid.

I was pretty gassed, but wanted to continue to see what we could do here. When he handed me the hybrid, it felt like a sledgehammer - heavy. The butt felt really heavy, and the head too. Yes, I was tired. But this just never felt right in my hands. We tried both the 3h and 4h with a couple different length shafts, but in the Denali Blue 80g Hybrid shaft. Nothing really clicked very well. I caught a few good ones, but still not as solid as the other fw woods. He even lightened the SW to try and help. But it just never got settled in my hands or my swing. We agreed that there were enough good swings and numbers we could call that good, assuming when playing a round and being more rested would help make better swing. I am likely not to look at this due to how it felt in my hands. It just never felt right, and I wouldn't just buy it in hopes it will.

Now, some 85 minutes later and 102 swings, here is where we landed.

Black Ops 8* w/ PX Denali Blue 60g 6.0 at 43" (or 44").
Black Ops 17* 4 wood, PX Denali Blue 70g 6.0.
Black Ops 21* 7 wood, PX Denali Blue 70g 6.0.
Black Ops 19* 3 hybrid, PX Denali Blue 80g Hybrid 6.0.

The upside is that it opens up a spot in my bag combining the 3w & 5w into a single 4w. That gives me some wiggle room in the hybrid/5iron area.

I told Phil I wasn't buying anything today and wanted to review what we came up with to what I had and get a few more things sold and out of my hands before picking up anything else. He never blinked or tried to push anything. He put the details into my account as is going to send me the info. If/when I do decide to do anything, I'll be calling him to ensure he gets the order. He worked for it and he deserves any fruits of his labor.

Once we were done, I figured I had a few good swings left in me so I asked if I could swing the Gen7 irons. He built me an XP 7 iron with the MMT 105S shaft (this shaft is stock, but not online to order). I had a really nice 160yd carry with my very first swing (more distance with a 7 iron than I'm used to with my flippy impact position I'm trying to fix). I had a few bad ones too, which was to be expected at this point. I talked about the Recoil Dart 75, knowing the experience Josh is having with it in testing now. So he put that on the head and I took a few more whacks. I had some good contact, but was sending it 120+ feet in the air. Too high. On the upside, it did still feel really nice and not too light at all. Phil thought the MMT 105S would likely be a really good option for me after seeing my long game swing and a few iron swings. So I'll be sure to make a trip back up here in the Spring to do an iron fitting with him, and maybe try the hybrid again.

So I have lots to think about now. I do still have my STMax 230 driver and the TD Max driver that I can look to cut down and give a go. Or just flip them, and get the BO driver. Hmmmm. 

Either way, it was a pretty good day and experience. Still didn't swing it perfectly, but well enough to get the job done. Plus, got a dozen PXG Xtreme Tour balls to try out for my trouble. I'll likely give them a go when I get home and see what they do, as I hit them pretty well at the fitting.

If you have a PXG store close to you (or even relatively close), go get a fitting. For $25 (which you get credited at purchase of a club), it's worth it. Great people, great product, and a fun experience.

[Josh Parker]

47 minutes ago, Shrek74 said:

Black Ops 8* w/ PX Denali Blue 60g 6.0 at 43" (or 44").
Black Ops 17* 4 wood, PX Denali Blue 70g 6.0.
Black Ops 21* 7 wood, PX Denali Blue 70g 6.0.
Black Ops 19* 3 hybrid, PX Denali Blue 80g Hybrid 6.0.

The upside is that it opens up a spot in my bag combining the 3w & 5w into a single 4w. That gives me some wiggle room in the hybrid/5iron area.

Great combos!  

I would say keep the mini in the mix and it fills out the bag.  

I currently am a little stacked on my bag at the top end and thinking of adding a 7w instead of the 5w.  

I'm playing a:

Driver

Mini

4w 

5w weak

Using all of them at my home course but do think a 7w may work for a few cases and alternate the 4w and 5w.

[Lefty11]

1 hour ago, Shrek74 said:

As some of you are aware, I went in today for a long game fitting at PXG here in the Cincy area. I figured I'd put some thoughts down about my experience, for anyone who's interested.

I've been fit for PXG in the past, when I lived out in AZ. I've been to their Westgate and Norterra locations, plus I've even been fit at their HQ in Scottsdale. So this was going to be a similar experience, just a different store. What I've noticed is that not one of the locations I've been to were built out the same. The store, the layout, even the bays have been different. Cincy has 3 bays, where both Norterra and Westgate only had 2. I kind of like that personally. Not cookie cutter at all. Each one their own shop.

I got there about 30 minutes early, as I do for something like this. Gave me a chance to change shoes, pay for the fitting, and just get in and settled. Plus, I can do a little stretching ahead of time to try and use as little of my fitting time as possible. I chatted with Jake (store manager) a bit about various things while I stretched before he handed me off to Phil, who was going to be my fitter. Jake had reached out to me via text yesterday to get a sense of my intentions and other simple information. I had grabbed some screen captures of my Shot Scope data that I shared with him. He sent it over to Phil to try and save a little more time beforehand so he knew a bit more about me and my distances with my current long game.

In the past, I've had trouble finding the right shafts at PXG for woods which is why I don't have any in my bag already. I exclusively play PX HZRDUS Smoke Blue & Red RDX shafts in my woods/hybrids. Even if I pick up something off eBay or Callaway PreOwned or some other site, I'll look for replacement shafts almost immediately. So I wasn't sure what they might have to fit me into, knowing they only carry the HZRDUS Gen4 Black. But I was open to anything they wanted to hand me.

After a bit of warmup with my 7 iron, we dove right into the deep end with driver. I agreed with Phil that it would be best to utilize my best swings on that club, as it's always been the toughest for me to fit. We started off with the standard Black Ops 9* with a PX Denali Blue, which is a shaft I didn't realize they carried (and it's a stock shaft). We liked the feel, but I was still finding too much heel side and the launch was too high (18-20*). He switched down to the 8* head, and we saw better launch, but still too much heel. We also tried the AV Raw Blue, AV Raw White, Ventus Blue and a GD TR shaft as we went. Still too much heel (and I really didn't get along with the GD TR). He saw some baselines with my Ti 340 Mini at the start, and brought up the idea of going shorter on length. I replied with a simple, I was going to mention that.  So he essentially grabbed a long 3w shaft in the Denali, and off we went. Now we're cooking with gas. Far more centered strikes. I also realized I needed to place the ball a bit more toe side at address, once the club was resting on the ground. That combo of changes really started to pay off. I only dropped maybe 2-3mph on swing speed, but my efficiency finally got over 1.4 and my drives were going longer on both carry and total (although I ignore total in a fitting). Maybe not tons longer than my Mini's, but still they were longer on average and my capacity for length was higher as I saw a few carry farther than my longest total with the Ti 340 on course. This was roughly playing at a 43" driver length, which even I thought was a bit too short. He only had 1 shaft that got us to 44", a PX Evenflow. I hit it, but not well as that profile just doesn't work for me. But I think I like the length better. If I decide to buy the driver, I'll start there and adjust as needed. So after 45-50 swings with driver, we finished this part.

Next, we got into the fw woods. We had chatted a bit while I was warming up about how my 3w and 5w was going about the same distance 201/204. So I was occupying 2 slots with basically 1 distance. So we fully agreed that I needed to look at a 4w. And this didn't take long. He put the same Denali Blue shaft in at 70g and the first swing was dead center 15 yards longer than my other 3/5 woods (on carry). What was even better, I was able to replicate the shots many times over. Ended up around a 213 average carry with that club. What was crazy, was that first swing had a higher ball speed number than some of my driver swings which validated why I had been hitting 2w & 3w off the tee instead of driver the last few years. But even at the similar ball speed, driver was going longer which is why I'm likely to go that route off the tee. We still tried a 3w to see if that would get the launch down a bit, but it just couldn't match what that 4w was doing. So that was somewhat quick.

We then dove into the 7w. Again, same shaft just shorter. I was getting a bit tired by now and was a bit more erratic with my shots. But I was able to get enough quality strikes to show that it was producing a nice high launch with good spin. Landing around 50* with 5k+ spin, so it's stopping on just about any green. Plus, it was getting that 195-200 distance we needed to gap properly. So now 7w was settled. On to hybrid.

I was pretty gassed, but wanted to continue to see what we could do here. When he handed me the hybrid, it felt like a sledgehammer - heavy. The butt felt really heavy, and the head too. Yes, I was tired. But this just never felt right in my hands. We tried both the 3h and 4h with a couple different length shafts, but in the Denali Blue 80g Hybrid shaft. Nothing really clicked very well. I caught a few good ones, but still not as solid as the other fw woods. He even lightened the SW to try and help. But it just never got settled in my hands or my swing. We agreed that there were enough good swings and numbers we could call that good, assuming when playing a round and being more rested would help make better swing. I am likely not to look at this due to how it felt in my hands. It just never felt right, and I wouldn't just buy it in hopes it will.

Now, some 85 minutes later and 102 swings, here is where we landed.

Black Ops 8* w/ PX Denali Blue 60g 6.0 at 43" (or 44").
Black Ops 17* 4 wood, PX Denali Blue 70g 6.0.
Black Ops 21* 7 wood, PX Denali Blue 70g 6.0.
Black Ops 19* 3 hybrid, PX Denali Blue 80g Hybrid 6.0.

The upside is that it opens up a spot in my bag combining the 3w & 5w into a single 4w. That gives me some wiggle room in the hybrid/5iron area.

I told Phil I wasn't buying anything today and wanted to review what we came up with to what I had and get a few more things sold and out of my hands before picking up anything else. He never blinked or tried to push anything. He put the details into my account as is going to send me the info. If/when I do decide to do anything, I'll be calling him to ensure he gets the order. He worked for it and he deserves any fruits of his labor.

Once we were done, I figured I had a few good swings left in me so I asked if I could swing the Gen7 irons. He built me an XP 7 iron with the MMT 105S shaft (this shaft is stock, but not online to order). I had a really nice 160yd carry with my very first swing (more distance with a 7 iron than I'm used to with my flippy impact position I'm trying to fix). I had a few bad ones too, which was to be expected at this point. I talked about the Recoil Dart 75, knowing the experience Josh is having with it in testing now. So he put that on the head and I took a few more whacks. I had some good contact, but was sending it 120+ feet in the air. Too high. On the upside, it did still feel really nice and not too light at all. Phil thought the MMT 105S would likely be a really good option for me after seeing my long game swing and a few iron swings. So I'll be sure to make a trip back up here in the Spring to do an iron fitting with him, and maybe try the hybrid again.

So I have lots to think about now. I do still have my STMax 230 driver and the TD Max driver that I can look to cut down and give a go. Or just flip them, and get the BO driver. Hmmmm. 

Either way, it was a pretty good day and experience. Still didn't swing it perfectly, but well enough to get the job done. Plus, got a dozen PXG Xtreme Tour balls to try out for my trouble. I'll likely give them a go when I get home and see what they do, as I hit them pretty well at the fitting.

If you have a PXG store close to you (or even relatively close), go get a fitting. For $25 (which you get credited at purchase of a club), it's worth it. Great people, great product, and a fun experience.

@Shrek74

Thank you for sharing your experience! I enjoyed reading about it.  I can't wait to get fit.

[Erin B]

@Shrek74 PXG does a great job! 

[TJ Hall]

This sounds like an awesome fitting experience @Shrek74!

[Coulter]

Just a heads up. I think either PXG is done with fittings for the season or the $25 offer for all fittings is over after this month. When I went to the website a couple of months ago to look at schedule times and locations you could change what month you were trying to schedule for. I didn’t have that option when I just went to check the website.

[Shrek74]

27 minutes ago, Coulter said:

Just a heads up. I think either PXG is done with fittings for the season or the $25 offer for all fittings is over after this month. When I went to the website a couple of months ago to look at schedule times and locations you could change what month you were trying to schedule for. I didn’t have that option when I just went to check the website.

Give them a call. I've done fittings all times of the year with them at that price.

[Coulter]

59 minutes ago, Shrek74 said:

Give them a call. I've done fittings all times of the year with them at that price.

I requested a call back. I’m assuming maybe they are going to go back to their normal price after this month and so for advertising reasons they don’t want anyone to be able to schedule a fitting and show up thinking they will only be out $25 just to find they aren’t running that special price anymore. 

[Shrek74]

20 minutes ago, Coulter said:

I requested a call back. I’m assuming maybe they are going to go back to their normal price after this month and so for advertising reasons they don’t want anyone to be able to schedule a fitting and show up thinking they will only be out $25 just to find they aren’t running that special price anymore. 

It's been $25 for a long time. I'll be shocked if it's not that when you talk to them. But you'll find out soon enough.

[Brad Boehmke]

Hey @Shrek74, just came across this post in my morning snooping around MGS.  I'm up in the Dayton area and my club (Country Club of the North) just became PXG sponsored and is starting to carry all things PXG and doing fittings, which will make them the only authorized PXG fitter in the area next to Cincy.

So, not sure if you are in Cincy or closer to Dayton but if the latter and you ever want to compare and contrast PXG experiences, would love to have you out to the club!

On 10/11/2024 at 8:10 PM, Shrek74 said:

As some of you are aware, I went in today for a long game fitting at PXG here in the Cincy area. I figured I'd put some thoughts down about my experience, for anyone who's interested.

...

[Shrek74]

2 hours ago, Brad Boehmke said:

Hey @Shrek74, just came across this post in my morning snooping around MGS.  I'm up in the Dayton area and my club (Country Club of the North) just became PXG sponsored and is starting to carry all things PXG and doing fittings, which will make them the only authorized PXG fitter in the area next to Cincy.

So, not sure if you are in Cincy or closer to Dayton but if the latter and you ever want to compare and contrast PXG experiences, would love to have you out to the club!

I appreciate that. I actually live in East Central TN, but my sister and nephews are in Lebanon. That's where I went to Junior High and High School, before moving away for college. I was in town visiting them back in October, and figured I'd go for a fitting since I don't have any PXG here in TN.