My first Demo Day....

[chilly]

My home course held their annual demo day last Thursday with Ping, Callaway, TM, and Adams participating. I have had my MP52s for only two months, so I wasn't really in the market for irons. Decided to concentrate on drivers since I'm happy with the rest of my clubs, and really just try to take advantage of the Trackman being available since there are none in Richmond to use. I should say that I was swinging the driver as well as I ever have on this day, and I am throwing out numbers for my "decent or better" swings, I'm not saying that as a 15hcp I "average" 260+ off the tee even at the driving range.

First tried the Callaway FT Tour and Diablo Edge. Found that the FT Tour in 9.5* with S flex Voodoo was the ticket. Spin was still in the 3300rpm range, but it was a consistent club for me. Side by side, I hit this combo 10yd further then the Diablo and liked the feel much better. Long drive was 289yds, most decent swings were in the 260s total distance, well struck got me into 270s. Club felt a lot like my FT-3 but with better sound.

Hit the Ping i15 w/Axiv Red in Stiff, and tried one in Xstiff. The 9* version hit the ball amazingly high, this supposed to be a low spin/low launch combo. I know Ping will add loft to drivers, so I had him install an 8* head and it definitely helped, although it still hit the ball higher then the FT Tour. I was hitting the ball 30yd high on the Trackman with the FT Tour, so it wasn't low flight. The Ping was VERY consistent for me, and hit long carry bombs, although no Trackman at the Ping booth so I don't know true numbers. I'd have loved to see Trackman info on the i15 so I'd know spin, and carry/total distances. Feel of this club was terrific, balance was perfect for me. I hit the G15 with same shaft and pulled it left.

Hit the Speedline Fast 10 with 8.5* and Xstiff Matrix shaft. Flight almost the same as the FT Tour but I lost a lot of these to the right, shaft may have been too stiff. MY SS was very consistent 110-111 so I'm in between stiff and xstiff. Just didn't like the combo as much, although when hit right it was very long.

Final club was the TM Speedfast TP with Matrix HD6 in Stiff. I know this club isn't available yet. I hit a few more of these right because I was getting tired, but I rested a bit and managed to hit the last three pretty well. Trajectory seems a touch higher then the FT Tour combo, but lower then the Ping i15 setup. Hit two in the mid 270yd range which is better then normal, final swing I hit perfectly with 13.4* launch, 3150rpm and got 280yd carry and 293 total. This shot felt like the best drive I've ever hit anywhere/anytime. This club felt very "easy" to swing, and feel when well struck is very good. Ping feels a little better, but my gut feeling is the Speedfast combo was longer for me. I plan to hit both i15/Speedfast TP back to back when I'm fresh and decide on one. Unfortunately the TM rep couldn't tell me what the difference was between the Speedfast and Speedfast TP, other then the shaft upgrade from the Matrix 4.8 (or whatever it is) in the Speedfast.

So, I learned a few things. One is that my SS is around 110mph, not 117 as recorded in golf galaxy's launch monitor during my driver fitting (not the simulator). I suspected that 117 figure was high, as I'd be seeing a lot more 280yd shots even when not perfectly struck. I found that I hit down on the ball around 2*, which I always suspected, causing me to put a good amount of spin on the ball. Also, the Trackman let me "see" what good driver trajectory looks like for optimal distance, and I guarantee it's higher then most people think it is. I'm not just referring to myself, I watched a lot of guys hit the ball and checked their Trackman info so I'd know what "good" looks like.