PXG (almost) full bag fitting experience

[Braehead]

Coming to the end of the 2024 season I have unfortunately picked up a nagging tendonitis issue in my left elbow. I'm doing plenty of rehab for it, but I also decided to see if graphite iron shafts could help too. I started another thread about graphite iron shafts, which I will update shortly.  I noticed PXG were offering free fittings, so thought I would go along to give them a try.  The closest fitting centre, Kings Acre, is a 120 mile round trip so I decided to do a full bag review to make the most of the journey.

This is the first time I've been to Kings Acre. It's located in Laswade, just outside of Edinburgh. The drive up to the clubhouse snakes through the course and I must say it looked very nice. I really should make the effort to go back and have a game there. I was early for my appointment and the fitter, Darren, was running a little behind due to very heavy traffic. I must compliment the clubhouse on a most fantastic bacon roll and coffee I had before I went through for the fitting. It was so good, I had another after!

The fitting was conducted by Darren. We had exchanged messages beforehand to explain what I was looking to get out of the session so once I had warmed up we were able to get straight into it. The priority was irons, so we started there with an explanation of all the heads in the current lineup and how they are designed to perform. The head that was theoretically closest to my current Taylormade P770's is the 0317T so we decided to start with them.

The P770's were fitted by SGGT two years ago and have stiff KBS Tour Lite shafts. I hit 10 or so shots with my current 7i to establish a baseline. On the course, I would expect to see 150-155 yards of carry with about 5 yards or so of rollout and that was pretty much exactly what we saw. Spin was good, averaging a touch over 6000rpm (range balls are not great) and the decent angle averaged 42°. Pretty much a perfect fit! If I wasn't struggling with my elbow, I would have no reason to be here.

We then tried the 0317T irons and went with KBS and Modus 105 steel shafts first to establish if we could replicate the P770's performance before moving through the graphite options. We couldn't get the 0317T's to perform as well as the P770's so Darren moved into the new Gen7P head. This is a stronger lofted head that reportedly produces more ball speed. We immediately saw a jump in distance but spin and decent angle were not good. Despite cycling through several different shafts and head weight options we were not able to improve on the performance of my current irons. The closest we got was the Gen7P with an 8g back weight and MMT80 shaft. I have to say that they felt good and performed nicely but not enough to justify a change. It would appear I need to do something else to help with the tendonitis.

Having parked the irons, we moved on to my hybrids. After several sessions with Adam at Auchterlonies, I have moved to a 3 hybrid set-up and start my irons at a 6i. My 4&5 hybrid are Callaway Apex Pro heads and my 3H is a new model Paradym, all fitted with Tour AD-DI hybrid shafts. We established that the gapping works well with my irons and that I'm generally happy with them, although I'm more comfortable with the 4&5 than I am with the 3. It was going to be a tough act for PXG to follow. Darren tried me in the Black Ops head in 5, 4 then 3 lofts. We tried the MMT shaft that worked well in the irons, but it didn't produce the same results in the hybrids. We then tried the Tensei Blue before finishing with the Denali Blue, which produced the best result. The PXG head is larger than my Apex Pro's, but smaller than the Paradym and it was easier to hit than both. With the Denali shaft, it also produced better results in terms of flight, distance and decent angle - especially in the 4&3 heads. Oh dear, I only came to try irons, this may be about to get expensive! £309 for a hybrid seems ridiculous.

Moving onto the 3W, I am very happy with my current Ping G430LST. I originally had the Mx head but found it to sit too closed for my eye and I had a nasty habit of hooking it. I found a used LST head on eBay and have been delighted with it since I switched. It's set at 15° loft but on the flat setting and has the Ping Alta CB black shaft. The baseline shots for the fitting were all bullets! Darren suggested the Black Ops 3w. There is something about the head that again just doesn't fit my eye well. It's quite a deep face and also appeared closed, I thought the head was an odd shape too and preferred the look of my Ping. I struggled initially until we switched it to a flatter setting to make it look a bit more open. The best results came with the Denali shaft again, but there was no material improvement over the Ping. Perhaps dispersion, but it was marginal. The Ping was certainly longer.

Finally, we moved into the driver. My current driver is the Ping G430 LST, 10.5° set to 9.5° and flat, which makes it look open at address. It's fitted with the Kaili White stiff shaft. Driving is one of the stronger aspects of my game and this driver is a large part of that. Darren talked me through the different head options and after seeing how I hit the Ping, suggested we try the standard Black Ops head. I really struggled with it at first as it looked so different to the G430 and also appeared to sit neutral to closed. As we had the 10.5° head he moved it to 10° and set it to the flattest setting he could, This significantly improved the visual appearance. This time the Denali didn't produce the best results and it was the Diamana shaft that worked best. I was seeing a better ball flight with more carry and roll than I get with the Ping, but I just couldn't take to the look of the head. My smash factor lagged the Ping but I was seeing 4-5mph more clubhead speed with the PXG so there was potential for it to perform even better than it already was. However, I just couldn't get comfortable with the way it looked at address, and I don't think I could play it. I should possibly have tried the Tour model, but by this time I was getting a bit fatigued and we were almost out of time.

Wedges - we established that mine are fine.

Putter - I'm not in the market for a putter. Darren showed me the new Adam model though and thought it was much nicer than the L.A.B. DF3 that I had earlier in the year. It's a much more traditional head shape and reminded me of the Blackjack model. If it combines the tech of a L.A.B. with more acceptable looks, then I think it will be a very successful club for them.

Conclusion

So, I went along to try graphite shafts in irons and came away thinking I should look at getting new hybrids and maybe a new driver (again) too.  We couldn't match or improve on the performance of the irons I already have.  It's not done anything to help my elbow tendonitis issue (I can tell you, it's sore tonight after hitting so many balls today) and may end up costing me way more than I first imagined.  

The PXG fitting experience with Darren was excellent and I would happily recommend him to anyone.  He is paid a salary as a fitter and while he makes his recommendations and gives you prices at the end, there is no hard sell. The fitting session itself is also free. I know the PXG adverts can be loud and gaudy, but the products are good and perform as well, or better, than anything else on the market. The hybrids were a real surprise as I thought mine were a good fit already! With my fitting today, I also saw the best results from their standard (no upcharge) shaft offerings, which makes a nice change too!

However, no purchases are being made right now as my first priority remains trying to find a more forgiving shaft for my irons that will help ease the issue with tendonitis. With that in mind, I have a further brand-agnostic fitting appointment to come to see if we can find a solution.  Once I've exhausted that, I'll take a further look at the performance of my hybrids and driver.  This could be an(other) expensive winter!

Edited October 23 by Braehead
spelling

[Hook DeLoft]

Thanks for the write up.  I did a PXG fitting in the summer and was really impressed with the process.  Of course, the down side is you are only hitting PXG clubs, so you can't do easy comparisons with other brands.

[Braehead]

20 hours ago, Hook DeLoft said:

Thanks for the write up.  I did a PXG fitting in the summer and was really impressed with the process.  Of course, the down side is you are only hitting PXG clubs, so you can't do easy comparisons with other brands.

Yes, that's the downside to all single-brand fittings.  I wrote up my thoughts on the Titleist GT launch day and said much the same.  They're trying to sell you their kit, rather than get more out of your own.  I had a second iron-specific fitting booked for the day after the PXG fitting (I'll write it up soon) which was brand agnostic and we found a shaft/head combo that improved on the performance of my current P770's.  

While I was there I mentioned the issues I was having with my Paradym hybrid.  The fitter altered the settings for me and it's now performing great again, so that's one less club to look at changing. 

But the PXG fitting proved that I can get better performance out of my other two hybrids and that there is considerable scope to improve my driver too.  I will wait for all the new product launches coming in Jan/Feb and do another "whole of market" assessment.     

[Rob Person]

Thank you for sharing your experiences!  Do you think the results would have been different, or tactics more aggressive if the fitter was making commission?

 

[Braehead]

2 hours ago, Rob Person said:

Thank you for sharing your experiences!  Do you think the results would have been different, or tactics more aggressive if the fitter was making commission?

 

That's a good question but I don't think there's a straight yes or no answer.  There is a good thread about custom fitting that's is worth a look.  

In my personal situation with this fitting, I knew what I was after and I also have enough knowledge that I can interpret the Trackman data myself.  I was looking for a particular combination of carry, spin, descent angle and distance.  It would have been easy to just push distance to someone who didn't know any better.  I was also definitely wanting graphite shafts to help with my elbow.  
 

There is still an element of hard sell at the end and "special offers" that the fitter can do, but that's only fair.  Their full bag deals and 7 club offers do represent good value - but only if the clubs fit you properly and you really want them!