Jump to content
TESTERS WANTED! ×

ULTIMATE FAIRWAY REVIEW (video added)


Tony Covey MGS

Recommended Posts

  • SPY VIP

Publication Begins Monday and Will Run Through Wednesday

An Introduction, Delays, and Other Whatnots

 

As many of you who have watched the original ULTIMATE FAIRWAY WOOD TEST thread in the forum are aware, earlier in the season we began planning for the biggest head to head test in MyGolfSpy's history.

 

The idea was to bring 10 fairway woods in for testing, have a segment of our regular testing pool hit the clubs, collect the data, and ultimately (pun intended) score and publish the results. Call it step 1 towards making a run at the Hot List.

 

What we quickly learned was that a project of this size is a huge undertaking.

 

We faced delays in receiving the equipment.

 

Two months passed as we waited for a software update for the launch monitor (it never arrived), and finally we ran into medical issues, which would ultimately (I did it again) force us to deviate from the original testing plan.

 

We should have been done two months ago, instead, we're finally ready to publish (just as new models are being announced). It has been frustrating.

 

To borrow a page from the Cobra-PUMA book, we've learned…and learned fast, and we'll be armed with a much better understand of what it takes for an outlet of our size to pull something like this off in a timely fashion.

 

Long story short, things didn't go as planned, but we won't be dissuaded from tying something like this again. Like I said, we've learned a lot, and I can promise you we are going to be better for it. We learn by doing. This test is no different.

 

So with that said, Monday we will begin publishing the 3 part ULTIMATE FAIRWAY WOOD Test.

 

Day 1 will focus exclusively on distance. Day 2 will focus on accuracy. Day 3 will bring it all together.

 

This thread will be updated with more information about the test itself (procedures, scoring, etc.) and will provide anyone who reads it with the opportunity to ask questions about the clubs, the tests, testers…whatever you want to ask about. We believe in full transparency, and this test is no different in that respect.

 

Getting Product & Fitting Testers

 

At the onset we submitted requests to 9 companies for fairway woods. Much to our surprise, 9 companies responded positively and agreed to send product. Adams told us they would like to participate, however; at the time they were severely backordered on XTD fairway woods. Unfortunately, despite it being one of the primary reasons we wanted to do this test, we wouldn't be able to put the XTD head to head against the RocketBallz.

 

We offered to provide each company we contacted with previous launch data, as well as (hopefully) meaningful descriptions of our testers swings (tempo, transition), and their tendencies. We gave each OEM the opportunity to make a best guess custom fitting for each of the testers. Some chose to send stock, several provided custom options. In those cases where we had a custom fit option, we started with that. If we thought we could do better we tried another combination.

 

When adjustability was an option we used it to its fullest capabilities to get the best numbers we could from our testers. Keep in mind best isn't always the same as ideal, but we made the effort where the tools allowed.

 

What is a 3-Wood?

 

As product started arriving, the very definition of “3-wood” became a point of ongoing discussion between GolfSpy X and myself. Bridgestone, for example, doesn't make a “standard” 3-wood loft. Some companies chose to send us strong (usually in the 13* range) woods, some sent us a mix of “3-wood” lofts, and as I said, when adjustable loft was in play (Titleist 910), we tweaked the loft to try and get the best results for each tester.

 

When all was said and done we tested so-called 3 woods in the range of 13 to 15.5 degrees.

 

We are anticipating some blowback. The generally accepted principle is that a lower lofted fairway wood is always longer.

 

I've been told by a few fitters (both inside and outside OEMs) that loft on a fairway wood (particularly a 3 wood) should be treated as just another fitting variable. Not everybody hits the more strongly lofted club further.

 

Nobody assumes an 8.5* driver is always longer than a 10.5*, and yet many assume a 13* fairway wood is always longer than a 15*. Frankly, when shaft lengths are equal, it's an assertion that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

 

For my part I made sure that shaft lengths on the strong clubs were consistent with those on the more standard lofted ones. We also did some additional testing on the side and concluded that what I had been told is true. Not everybody got more distance out of the 13 degree club. Some did, but others did better at 14.5 and 15 degrees. As with the driver, it's all about getting as close to optimal as you can with launch angle and spin rates.

 

I certainly hope you'll check back on Monday to read Part 1, and I hope you'll come back here to join the discussion, and ask any questions you might have about anything related to this test.

 

Fire Away.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thoughts on Day 1 (DISTANCE)

 

Now that the distance piece of our ULTIMATE Fairway Wood test has posted, I wanted to provide a bit more info on how we tested.

 

 

First, I want to be very clear about something. In a perfectscenario, testing wouldn't take place over several days; it would take placeover several months. In just about any situations where statistics areimportant, the larger the sample set you can create, the better your resultswill be.

 

That's not how the business of club reviews works. You'vegot to be quick, because something new is always on the horizon. If you spendall season testing a product, or products, by the time your process the data(an extremely time consuming task), write it all up, and format it…it's toolate. The nature of the business does not allow anyone to be thorough enough toaccount for all the variables. Like most everyone who does what we do; you'reas thorough as reasonable time and resources allow for.

 

We believe, as do all of the OEM's we've spoken with aboutthe subject that human testing is more valuable than robot testing (althoughthere will certainly be a robot-guy or two before the dust settles on this latesttest). That's not to say we wouldn't love to include a robot one day, butrobots cost money, as does testing itself…testing with a robot; more moneystill. You get the picture.

 

Humans Deviate…from themselves

 

To provide as much balance as we could, testers hit theclubs in two groups. One set hit 5 clubs on Day 1 of 3 wood testing, and theother 4 on Day 2. The other group in 4 on day 1 and 5 on day 2. Each tester hitthe clubs in a different order. The goal was to balance things as much as wecould by making sure that each tester hit the clubs in a different series. Noclub always went first…no club always went last.

 

For each club we looked at the initial launch monitornumbers. If the OEM provided us with a specific shaft for a tester, we startedwith that. If the numbers looked good, we rolled with it. If they didn't wetried one of the other options we had at our disposal.

 

When we tested adjustable clubs, we made adjustments.Sometimes we opened them, sometimes we closed them (and we quickly learned thatwhat works open on one club, might need to be neutral or closed on another…forthe same tester). With the Titleist 910 we adjusted lie and loft.

 

Sometimes changing shafts and making hosel adjustmentsresulted in immediate change (sometimes good, sometimes bad), and sometimesthrowing everything we had at the numbers made little difference.

 

Some heads simply don't fit some golfers.

 

Our testers hit several shots with each club to try and findthe best fit. Once we had that ironed out, we played for keeps. Testers wereinitially asked to hit 10 shots. If there was a gross mishit (topped, totallychunked, etc.) we asked our testers to rehit. Our goal was to reach a tally of10 ‘solid contact shots' for each club.

 

Solid contact isn't meant to imply perfect, nearly straight,or even playable in the real world. It means solid…and nothing more. As youknow, sometimes solid doesn't go as far as you'd like, and sometimes solidtails 40 yards to the right. It's about decent contact, regardless of theresult.

 

When I processed the data for each club, I took the 7 best(best defined as highest value after distance minus accuracy e.g. 250 yards, 10yards offline has a value of 240 – this is the same scoring model we use fordriver testing), and calculated the averages for distance (as well aseverything else).

 

Those 7 shots are used as the basis for determining not onlythe longest, but also the most accurate, and the overall best.

 

7 Shots doesn't sound like a lot…and it's not. But to arriveat those 7, our testers probably hit an average of 25 shots with each clubs.Some clubs a little less – others quite a bit more.

 

Extrapolated out over 9 clubs, well…that's a lot of shots,and a lot of time, which was why we split testing over several days.

 

For Day 1 we're simply looking at overall distance; theaverages (both individual and group) for each club in the test.

 

Tomorrow I'll go into more detail about how we looked ataccuracy, and in the final post, I'll cover how we arrived at our overallscores.

 

As always, I encourage you to ask questions…assuming you have any.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

GolfSpy T's Notes on the Accuracy Portion of Our Test

 

When I was writing this up, and looking at the accuracy piece the numbers (already knowing the final outcome of the test) didn't make sense based on where certain clubs were finishing. Honestly it was the TourEdge that first stuck. When I stepped away from the data and started to think about what happens in the real world, I was basically struck by something that should have been completely obvious (given how much time I spend doing this sort of them) that had somehow I had failed to fully factor into the equations (both literal and figurative) when we consider distance.

 

Unless the ball is hit perfectly straight (or is drawing or fading gently towards the center of the target line), the farther the ball travels up the fairway, the more offline it will wind up. It was kind of a derp moment for me. Those of us who play with guys who hit the ball significantly shorter than we do ourselves witness this first hand all the time. If our shots start of on an identically (bad) trajectory, his lands in the rough (sometimes even the fairway), mine ends up in the trees.

 

While the results in this situation obviously favor my opponent, the reality is he didn't hit a better shot, or even a truly more accurate shot, he just hit a shorter shot. If we extrapolate his ball flight to the same distance as my shot flew, he very well might actually be even more offline than I was.

 

This is where the concept of truAccuracy came from (albeit at basically the last minute)

 

When the TourEdge proved to be shorter than anything, but then subsequently also proved to be more accurate (yards offline) we thought, "well duh, it didn't fly as far". I felt it was imperative we look at "accuracy" data a little bit differently. As I tried to explain to X last night when I dropped this last minute bomb on what probably should have been his family time; accuracy does not exist in a vacuum. There is alway a correlation to distance, and just because we've never consciously considered it before, that doesn't mean we should ignore it for this test.

 

The math behind truAccuracy is anything but high-level calculus. It's total distance divided by yards offline. What this tells you is how many yards up the fairway (good distance) did the ball traveled for every yard it traveled offline (bad distance). The higher the value, the more trulyAccurate the club. You can also do the math the other way (yards offline divided by total distance). In this case, a smaller number is better, but the results are decimals that you need to bring out to 3 or 4 places to separate. For most of us, it's easier to discern that 27.05 is better than 24.08 than it is to figure out that .0370 is better than .0415.

 

So that's truAccuracy in a nutshell. When we ranked the clubs in this test we based it on truAccuracy rather than yards offline.

 

Incidentally, the XCG5, the club that initially threw up the red flag, turned out to be far and away the most accurate (based on truAccuracy) club in our test. As you can see from our charts, there is some reordering that occurred as a result of moving from yards offline to truAccuracy, but speaking as a guy who was present for all of the testing, I believe truAccuracy paints a more accurate picture of the accuracy component of this test.

 

About the 5 Woods

This is the forum, and the forum is where I don't sugarcoat anything. What I'll call the 5-Wood situation is the single most disappointing thing that's happened since I've been writing for MyGolfSpy (at least among those things for which I had even a modicum of control). The original plan was to use the 3 woods to determine distance, and the 5 woods to determine accuracy (much the same as we had planned to do in any 1-off fairway wood review). Just as we do with irons, 5 woods were hit to targets set to a reasonable distance for the tester and club.

 

As I've mentioned before, we had delays waiting for clubs (and FWIW (ultimately nothing) we used each of the delays to re-engage Adams to try and get the XTD for this test). We had delays while we waited for a FlightScope update (we're basically waiting for an update to the indoor trajectory model...it got delayed...delayed again...and again). As you can imagine we felt we had little choice but to push forward with the aboutGolf simulators.

 

We were probably just shy of halfway through the 3 wood tests when one of our testers suffered a serious medical emergency. He nearly died. While that was going on, outside commitments made it next to impossible for one of our other testers to come in to finish up his portion of testing. Very long story short, given that we'd been working on this in one capacity or another since June, that newer models are slowly replacing the clubs in our tests, and that I still don't have any definitive word when/if the tester will have medical clearance to resume hitting golf balls, we felt that moving forward with what we had. This meant relegating our partial 5-wood results to basically anecdotal/subjective footnotes, and essentially turning our fairway wood review into a 3 wood review.

 

As I said, I am extremely disappointed (bordering on miserable about it really), but we have to move forward, and I suppose be proud of what we were able to do, and to a degree even be excited about what we've learned and how we can apply it to the next round of testing.

 

Ok...rambling a bit here, so if you've got any questions about this piece...or anything else, fire away.

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GolfSpy T's Final Rambling Thoughts

 

 

 

Sorry guys – I had planned to post again shortly after we published the final part of the series last Wednesday, but I decided my time would be better spent getting myself ready to leave for Callaway, so that's what I did.

 

Clearly there were some surprises in the test.

 

I think it's safe to say that the MP-650 outperformed our expectations. The same is probably true of the Callaway RAZR FIT. Having a bit of experience with the RBZ already, I expected it would prove to be the longest of the bunch, and truthfully, if we looked at the data a bit differently (and we will in future reviews), my expectation is that the RBZ would have probably picked up some yards on the competition.

 

And then there's the Cobra AMP. This remains perhaps the biggest question mark of the entire test. Not only was there a tremendous disconnect in our tester's minds between the 3 wood and the 5 wood, but the numbers suggest that with the right setup, it could be a bomber.

 

If you're looking for another club that I think could be better than its finish position suggests, it's the Bridgestone J40. Clearly it's a club that favors the better player (consistent ball striker), and while you could argue the same about the Titleist 910, the difference in ball speed suggests to me that the Bridgestone has more potential.

 

The remaining 3 clubs (PING G20, Nike VR_S, and TourEdge XCG5) were all among the highest spinning clubs in the test. I'll freely admit that the majority of our testers would qualify as mid-high spin guys. The mid guys…they're true mid spin guys. With the right combo there spin numbers will drop significantly (with the Anser and i20 drivers for example my concern was not enough spin), but with a higher spinning rig, the numbers will jump substantially. That's what happened with the G20, VR_S, and XCG5. With the latter two it was especially pronounced.

 

None of this suggests that any of the 3 is a bad clubs. My job (as I see it) is to give you the data, and then tell the story of each club. Who is it for, why did it perform like it did, etc.. When you consider that the both the XCG5 and G20 come from each manufacturer's respective game improvement lines, and that outside of the VR Limited, recent Nike offerings have had a game-improvement slant to them, it's not surprising to me that none of them proved to be an exceptional fit for the majority of our testers.

 

Each could be a potentially brilliant fit for the guy who typically has trouble getting the ball in the air, and generating enough ball speed and/or spin to keep it there.

Fundamentally this illustrates one of the biggest issues consumers face when buying golf clubs. We've all been led to believe that if your handicap is X than you should look at this club. The suggestion is that a USGA handicap can tell enough of a story to make an educated guess about fitting. It's wholly preposterous.

 

Unfortunately most golfers don't get fit, or have access to launch monitors. Many don't even take lessons, and when they do, more often than not they're told nonsensical things like “You'll never hit the ball straight if you don't slow down”. Many don't have any idea if they have a slow, smooth, or quick tempo. They've never looked to see what they do to the shaft during the transition. They've never looked at a launch angle, or a spin rate, or even ball speed. They know little to nothing about their swing and they're being told 1) Because your handicap is this…this is the right club for you 2) Change your swing.

 

And all of this is before we even start talking about the merry band of absolute idiots who will tell you that unless you can consistently deliver the club on plane, there's absolutely no point in getting fit.

 

The point of this rant is that there's not a single number any of can go by to determine what's going to work best for us. Different people will achieve different results with same clubs (which is partly why we didn't want to get into who hit what shaft in what head). Does it matter? Contrary to what people believe more expensive shafts aren't always better. One of our testers proved to be substantially longer (and more accurate) with Callaway's stock “made for” Aldila then with the Graphite Design Tour AD-DI. The perceived quality of the shaft is meaningless if it doesn't fit. We tried to fit our guys, not simply hand them the shaft with the highest price tag.

 

And with all of that said, in some cases…high priced shafts, low priced shafts; the heads simply produced too much spin for our testers. It was just that simple.

 

We shot two videos (tester interviews). We had planned on shooting 4 or 5, but well…you know that story. Nothing fancy. No clever branding, or lead-ins, or anything like that. If somebody (ManBearPig) has any ideas for something simple, yet almost classy, we'd love to hear it, but this time around, I'll poste ‘em raw and un-edited. It's a beginning right.

MyGolfSpy is only major golf site that refuses advertising from large golf companies. With your support we can keep it that way. Donate Today
 


Subscribe to the MyGolfSpy Newsletter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 95
  • Created
  • Last Reply

I can't wait! Sounds like a great review.

MY BAG-

Driver- Taylormade SLDR 12* (Speeder 7.2vc tour spec S)

3 Wood- Taylormade R11(bimatrix prototype S)

3 Hybrid- Ping I20(stock S)

Irons-Taylormade Tour Perferred MC ( C Taper S)

Wedges- 50, 54, and 58 SCOR4161( KBS)

Putter-Taylormade Ghost Corza.

 

All Left Handed!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just in time for the snow to fly in MN, looking forward to a interesting read though!!

Driver: :taylormade-small: SLDR w/ Fujikura Ventus Black

3w: :taylormade-small:'16 M2 hl w/ Diamana D+ 82

5w: :cleveland-small: Launcher HB w/ HZRDUS Yellow

Hybrid: :cleveland-small: 22 deg. Launcher HB w/ HZRDUS Black

Irons: :cleveland-small: 5i - gap Launcher CBX w/ Nippon Modus 3 125

Wedges: :cleveland-small: 54 CBX & 58 Zipcore w/ Nippon Modus 3 125

Putter: :odyssey-small: Red 7s

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Been looking forward to this one!

MENTOR, L4 COACH & TRAINER  FIRST TEE GREATER HOUSTON
HDCP: 8.3  (GHIN: 3143312)
In my bag, April 2023
:titelist-small: TS3 Driver & 4 Wood Hzrdous Smoke Shaft (Stiff Flex)
:titelist-small: TS2 Hybrids  Mitsubishi Tensei Shaft (Stiff Flex)
:mizuno-small:  MP-59 5-PW; KBS Tour (Regular Flex)
:titelist-small: SM8 Wedges

EVNROLL ER2  Putter
SRIXON Z-STAR DIAMOND BALL
Sun Mountain Cart Bag
:Clicgear: 4.0 Push Cart (I'm walking 9 outta 10 rounds!!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awesome! I'm really looking forward to this. In my mind the fact that OEMs will be releasing new FMs in the near future isn't a major issue. While im interested in the advances in new clubs, im not sold out on having the newest, when balanced against performance (and potentially $$ value).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looking forward to it. Just remember when new models come out, it's peak time to scoop up the old models at discounts :).

Yup!

MENTOR, L4 COACH & TRAINER  FIRST TEE GREATER HOUSTON
HDCP: 8.3  (GHIN: 3143312)
In my bag, April 2023
:titelist-small: TS3 Driver & 4 Wood Hzrdous Smoke Shaft (Stiff Flex)
:titelist-small: TS2 Hybrids  Mitsubishi Tensei Shaft (Stiff Flex)
:mizuno-small:  MP-59 5-PW; KBS Tour (Regular Flex)
:titelist-small: SM8 Wedges

EVNROLL ER2  Putter
SRIXON Z-STAR DIAMOND BALL
Sun Mountain Cart Bag
:Clicgear: 4.0 Push Cart (I'm walking 9 outta 10 rounds!!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • SPY VIP

Is the video you were talking about before coming with this?

 

I shot post test interviews with 2 of the guys. I'm hoping to shoot one more before all is said and done. Nothing fancy, just two dudes at a table. We need to put together some sort of branded intro for our videos, but I got no skills in that area...yet.

MyGolfSpy is only major golf site that refuses advertising from large golf companies. With your support we can keep it that way. Donate Today
 


Subscribe to the MyGolfSpy Newsletter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • SPY VIP

I shot post test interviews with 2 of the guys. I'm hoping to shoot one more before all is said and done. Nothing fancy, just two dudes at a table. We need to put together some sort of branded intro for our videos, but I got no skills in that area...yet.

 

I may be able o arrange this if the "yet" part doesn't pan out

Yo #JustPlayBetter


Follow @GolfSpyMBP

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I look forward to this, many of my students fair better with a weaker lofted 3 wood or 4 wood since they are able to get a little more height on the ball for increased carry.

Ping G410 Plus Oban Kiyoshi Tour Limited
Ping G410 LST 3 Wood Oban Tour Prototype V430
Titleist U500 3 & 4 Oban Kiyoshi Purple Tour Reserve
Titleist 620 MB 5-9 Oban CT 125
Titleist Vokey 47* Oban CT 125, 51*, 55*, and 59* Shimada Tour Wedge Black
Bettinardi Studio Stock SS28

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow. Can't wait for the review. Was dreading Monday, but I am not dreading it near as much now. Was very interested in the xtd vs rocketballz but there is still plenty of other stuff that will be great.


  1.  
    In my Adams Hercules cart bag...
    DriverPing I15 9.5* TFC stiff
    Hook MachineTaylormade Burner Superfast Rescue 18*
    3 HybridAdams ProA12 20* stiff matrix Ozik Altus
    IronsCleveland CG16 Tour Black Pearl 4-PW True Temper Dynamic Gold S300
    Birdie-MakerMizuno JPX 50*-10*
    Piece of CrapOrlimar 56*
    On the wayCleveland 588 forged 62*-10*
    Mid-Round FuelSnickers bars
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh man do I have questions here - I can't wait! Plus with my adjustable bad boy I can make mine do about whatever I want it too.

 

Sadly I don't know what optimal numbers are for a 3 wood so I'm looking forward to learning that too.

Taylor Made Stealth 2 10.5 Diamana S plus 60  Aldila  R flex   - 42.25 inches 

SMT 4 wood bassara R flex, four wood head, 3 wood shaft

Ping G410 7, 9 wood  Alta 65 R flex

Srixon ZX5 MK II  5-GW - UST recoil Dart 65 R flex

India 52,56 (60 pending)  UST recoil 75's R flex  

Evon roll ER 5 32 inches

It's our offseason so auditioning candidates - looking for that right mix of low spin long, more spin around the greens - TBD   

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This will be good!!

 

AJ

WITB

Driver: Ping G25

FW: TM RBZ

Irons: Miura 57 Series w/KBS C-Taper

Wedges: Vokey SM4 52-08,56-12,60-04

Putter: Watch This Space

Ball: SRixon Z Star

Other: Tourstriker 7i

 

"Go Hard or Go Home"

 

"Do or Do Not. There is NO "TRY"

 

"Be normal, and the crowd will accept you. Be deranged, and they will make you their leader"

 

"I don't fail. I succeed at finding what doesn't work"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Perfect timing on this one... I'm on the hunt for a fairway wood right now (playing without one is pretty tough!) Great to see that the review's finally coming - I've been waiting for it for weeks!

 

One thing I'm kind of disappointed about though is that Ping didn't send you guys the i20, which I've heard many good things about.

In the bag as of now...

Driver: Titleist 909 D3 9.5* w/ Diamana Kai'li 60 X
3-wood: Callaway RAZR Fit 15* w/ Diamana Kai'li 70 S
5-wood: Callaway RAZR Fit 18* w/ Diamana Kai'li 70 S
Irons: 4-PW Mizuno MP-64 w/ Project X 5.5
Wedges: Mizuno MP T-11 52*, 56*, 60* w/ Dynamic Gold Spinner
Putter: Byron Design 007 w/ Superstroke Ultra Slim 1.0
Balls: Taylormade Penta TP5 or Tour Preferred X

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • SPY VIP

Initial post updated with basic thoughts on Day 1 (Distance)

 

Read Article

MyGolfSpy is only major golf site that refuses advertising from large golf companies. With your support we can keep it that way. Donate Today
 


Subscribe to the MyGolfSpy Newsletter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Initial post updated with basic thoughts on Day 1 (Distance)

 

Read Article

 

Just read through both how you did the review and the part 1 itself. Looking forward to the rest.

 

Based on using the RBZ for a season now, the results aren't too surprising. When I can actually hit it, the ball absolutely flies off the face. On my off days, I don't think any fairway will help me out :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I mentioned in another thread on this topic that I own the Mizuno MP650 fairway wood. I can attest that the distance is truly remarkable. I am hitting it off the tee near my driver. I picked up 25 yards compared to the R9 TP I was previously gaming. A couple of comments:

*** I am very interested to hear about the accuracy comments and results that will be posted tomorrow. This wood has an open face and fade weighting , so I would not be surprised to see the accuracy numbers off. Also, the stock shaft is a beast (to me) - very stiff to flex and boardy. I replaced it with an Excaliber fairway wood shaft, and the difference in ball flight, feel, and accuracy is staggering. I went from hitting push slices with the stock shaft to nice tight draws with the Excaliber.

*** I assume part of the review will cover looks. This is where I think this fairway wood will shine compared to the RBZ. It is a classic, simple, pleasing design.

 

I can't wait for the rest of the review - great stuff.

Driver: Callaway Optiforce 440 9.5* with Diamama Blue S+ 62g Stiff shaft

3 and 5 wood: Callaway Big Bertha with Fubuki Z65 Stiff

Hybrid: Wilson FG Tour 4 hybrid

Irons: 5 iron: Cleveland Altitude Stiff; 6 -PW Callaway Apex Pro, KBS Tour-V Stff

Wedges: 51*, 55* and 58* SCORE with Genius Stiff

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • SPY VIP

I mentioned in another thread on this topic that I own the Mizuno MP650 fairway wood. I can attest that the distance is truly remarkable. I am hitting it off the tee near my driver. I picked up 25 yards compared to the R9 TP I was previously gaming. A couple of comments:

*** I am very interested to hear about the accuracy comments and results that will be posted tomorrow. This wood has an open face and fade weighting , so I would not be surprised to see the accuracy numbers off. Also, the stock shaft is a beast (to me) - very stiff to flex and boardy. I replaced it with an Excaliber fairway wood shaft, and the difference in ball flight, feel, and accuracy is staggering. I went from hitting push slices with the stock shaft to nice tight draws with the Excaliber.

*** I assume part of the review will cover looks. This is where I think this fairway wood will shine compared to the RBZ. It is a classic, simple, pleasing design.

 

I can't wait for the rest of the review - great stuff.

 

On day 3 we're going to cover the aesthetic qualities of the clubs. It's something we decided not to score...that is to say the results of our subjective surveys do not factor into the overall score, but we are going to briefly discuss some of the things our testers liked and didn't like about the clubs.

MyGolfSpy is only major golf site that refuses advertising from large golf companies. With your support we can keep it that way. Donate Today
 


Subscribe to the MyGolfSpy Newsletter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good read- can't wait to see the rest of the review. I was surprised by the performance (or lack of) of the XCG5. And like everyone has already said, it's too bad about the XTD. I may be in the market to replace my Adams Fast 10 (just because), so this is timely. Thanks again for the great info.

PING i20 8.5*, TFC707D (S)
Callaway RAZR Fit 15*, neutral setting, stock shaft (S)
PING i20 20*, TFC707H (S)
Adams Pro a12 23*, Matrix Ozik Altus (S)
PING i20 5-PW, TT DG S300, 1.5* flat (purple dot)
SCOR 50*,54*,58*, Genius 12 KBS Tour (S), 1.5* flat, -1/4"
STX xForm 3, 35"
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • SPY VIP

Good read- can't wait to see the rest of the review. I was surprised by the performance (or lack of) of the XCG5. And like everyone has already said, it's too bad about the XTD. I may be in the market to replace my Adams Fast 10 (just because), so this is timely. Thanks again for the great info.

 

The XCG5 is an absolute puzzler to me...especially when it came to Brian. He'd hit ball after ball that sounded absolutely pure, the ball would appear to be in the air forever, and the numbers came back and it just didn't go anywhere. Time and time again, and almost tester after tester. We did everything we could to bring the spin down and the distance up, but nothing panned out.

 

All of this...the entire test really, reaffirms the notion that everyone should get custom fit.

MyGolfSpy is only major golf site that refuses advertising from large golf companies. With your support we can keep it that way. Donate Today
 


Subscribe to the MyGolfSpy Newsletter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great review so far. What would be the possibility of listing the specs of each club for the testers? For example shaft length would be of great interest to me, as it seems that may have some effect.

Stunned about the tour edge xcg5. Stunned.


  1.  
    In my Adams Hercules cart bag...
    DriverPing I15 9.5* TFC stiff
    Hook MachineTaylormade Burner Superfast Rescue 18*
    3 HybridAdams ProA12 20* stiff matrix Ozik Altus
    IronsCleveland CG16 Tour Black Pearl 4-PW True Temper Dynamic Gold S300
    Birdie-MakerMizuno JPX 50*-10*
    Piece of CrapOrlimar 56*
    On the wayCleveland 588 forged 62*-10*
    Mid-Round FuelSnickers bars
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aside from the content, I would like to give a shout out to the writing of the blog. It was a great read, and can be read simply for its entertainment value, not to mention there may be some useful information in there.

 

I am not turned on by distance on a fairway wood. To me it ease of hitting it off the deck and sole design. Distance, to me, comes from the shaft, I am sure the face has some effect on it, but if I can not hit it off the deck consistantly than what difference does it make how far it goes off the tee. I already have a driver for that. But that does not mean that I did not care, it is just not as important.

:ping-small:G430LST 10.5° on     T P T    POWER 18 Hi Driver 

:ping-small:G430MAX 3w  on     T P T    POWER 18 Hi Fairway 

:ping-small:G425 3H on     T P T    POWER 18 Hi Hybrid 

:taylormade-small:P790 Black 4-A 
on :kbs: TGI 80S
 

:mizuno-small: ES21 54-8° & 58-12° on :kbs: Hi Rev

:L.A.B.:DF2.1 on :accra: White

:titelist-small: ProV1  

:918457628_PrecisionPro: Precision Pro  NX7 Pro

All Iron grips are BestGrips Micro-Perforated Mid

Driver, 3w, 3H are JumboMax JMX UltraLite XS 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nit picky editor mode engaged

 

RBZ section

"and perhaps picking up some additional yards due to rule". I presume that should be roll?

 

J40 section

"Our testers produced high-average launch angles (14.86°), and average spin (1407.26)." 3407.26?

 

On another note, I've gushed about it before but I really enjoy the charts at the end. The data being the findings makes all the comments snappier.

I laught at your claims to fight a zombie apocalypse when most of you can't stand up to a Spider

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • SPY VIP

Nit picky editor mode engaged

 

RBZ section

"and perhaps picking up some additional yards due to rule". I presume that should be roll?

 

J40 section

"Our testers produced high-average launch angles (14.86°), and average spin (1407.26)." 3407.26?

 

On another note, I've gushed about it before but I really enjoy the charts at the end. The data being the findings makes all the comments snappier.

 

FML - both of those errors were caught (and fixed) last night. Unfortunately X and I were stepping on each other's toes (him with banners, me with last minute edits). His banners won, my edits lost. I went back through this AM, but clearly I missed a couple. Dammit.

 

Thanks for the heads-up. I'm trying to be less of a half-ass with these details.

 

 

MyGolfSpy is only major golf site that refuses advertising from large golf companies. With your support we can keep it that way. Donate Today
 


Subscribe to the MyGolfSpy Newsletter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great review so far. What would be the possibility of listing the specs of each club for the testers? For example shaft length would be of great interest to me, as it seems that may have some effect.

Stunned about the tour edge xcg5. Stunned.

 

Have you ever even hit the XCG5? I wasn't impressed at all. It's place does not surprise me. The CB line is where TEE shines.

What's In The Bag:

 

Adams 9064LS

Ben Hogan Edge CFT Ti

Ben Hogan Apex Edge 4-PW

TaylorMade ATV 50* 54*

Mizuno Bettinardi BC3 Tour Issue

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • SPY VIP

Have you ever even hit the XCG5? I wasn't impressed at all. It's place does not surprise me. The CB line is where TEE shines.

 

They are most definitely very distinct product lines. Still...given how good the CB line is, coming up that short was surprising to me.

MyGolfSpy is only major golf site that refuses advertising from large golf companies. With your support we can keep it that way. Donate Today
 


Subscribe to the MyGolfSpy Newsletter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great read so far, can't wait to see how the rest of the article turns out.

 

I'll put up a 2nd vote for see specs of all the clubs that were actually tested. I'm guessing maybe that comes at the end?

 

Also maybe I just missed it, but where were the testers hitting off of? Mats, grass, tee's?

Driver: :taylormade-small: SLDR w/ Fujikura Ventus Black

3w: :taylormade-small:'16 M2 hl w/ Diamana D+ 82

5w: :cleveland-small: Launcher HB w/ HZRDUS Yellow

Hybrid: :cleveland-small: 22 deg. Launcher HB w/ HZRDUS Black

Irons: :cleveland-small: 5i - gap Launcher CBX w/ Nippon Modus 3 125

Wedges: :cleveland-small: 54 CBX & 58 Zipcore w/ Nippon Modus 3 125

Putter: :odyssey-small: Red 7s

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...