New Sticks!
I am about to enter the 2021 season in March. I am super excited to compete again and have been preparing for my third season of professional golf. Most of the preparation has been on my mental and physical game, but I have also decided to make some changes in equipment as I prepare for the year.
The last time I was fit for a set of irons and wedges was my senior year of high school and I have continued to play with those irons and wedges for the last 6 seasons (I did get new wedges through college, but always got the same spec set up). It was time to get some new sticks!!
There are a lot of places you can go to get “fit” for clubs, however, not all places provide the same quality of work. I decided to go to the local Club Champion and I had a great experience working with the fitter there. Club Champion uses Trackman to gather and provide data through the fitting session. They also have a wide variety of brands for club and shaft selection so that players can find exactly what they need.
After warming up, I used my current set of irons and wedges to gather information using Trackman and communicate with the fitter what I was looking for in a new set. The irons I have been playing for the last 6 seasons are the Taylormade RSI TP model 4-PW with KBS Tour stiff steel shafts. They are a small cavity back iron and the 7-4 irons have a “speed slot” insert in the bottom to add forgiveness in the longer irons. They have performed well but moving on from these, I wanted something made for better ball striking and made with less technology. I was looking for some blades.
The first thing we wanted to narrow in on was a good shaft option for my swing. As mentioned above, I was using the KBS Tour stiff steel shaft and I have had those in my last two sets of irons going back all the way to my freshman year of high school! I have always liked the KBS brand, but I also wanted to have an open mind so I tried everything he handed me. I tested about 8 different shafts and ended up choosing the KBS C-Taper x-stiff shaft for the iron set. Through the testing, I wanted to find a shaft that offered tight dispersion on shots as well as the ability to work the ball and fly in a mid trajectory window. There were other shaft options that performed well, but I chose the KBS because they were the most consistent in performance and I felt they fit my swing tempo the best.
Moving onto iron heads, I also wanted to keep an open mind, so we chose about 6 different irons to test with the KBS shaft inserted. I tried Titleist, Taylormade, Mizuno, Ping, Srixon, and Callaway. Although blades are not made with a lot of different technology, each brand does have its own shape, sound, and feel. The performance of all the irons was very similar, but there were slight differences in spin numbers that affected carry distance, dispersion rates, workability, and ball speeds. I ended up choosing the Callaway Apex MB iron. Based on the Trackman numbers and their performance in my hands, I believe they will be a great tool to use for high levels of performance.
My fitting also included wedges. After the fitting process with irons, the information was used to guide our direction in wedges. I wanted to stick with the same shaft, but I decided to go one-half step softer in flex because I never take full or hard swings at wedges. I have been using Cleveland wedges for several years and I wanted to stick with them because I like their design so much. I did try some other options out of curiosity but after the testing, it was clear to me that I should stick with the brand for wedges in which I got a 50, 54, and 58 to complete my set.
Of course, a good fitting and new equipment come at a high price... the grand total for this adventure and investment came to $3,300! 7 iron heads, 3 wedge heads, and 10 upgraded shafts plus the price of the fitting and an additional quality inspection once they are built. Golf equipment is expensive and you do pay extra for the big name brands. At the end of the day, I am trying to be the best in the world at this craft and I know paying for a good fitting and expensive equipment is all part of the journey.
If you are in the market for some new clubs, I recommend getting fit at a place that does quality work. Let me know if you have any questions and I can point you in a good direction. My season will start in March and I can’t wait to get back on the road for some tournament golf. I believe this will be a great year of competition and growth in my career! I am ready to see what God has in store for me. And I am also ready for the delivery of my new clubs!
