TST Driver Fittings at Callaway HQ Performance Center

[mvmac]

This Monday, myself, @tristanhilton85 and @Golfingdad visited the Callaway HQ Performance Center. The fitting location in Carlsbad is one of twenty-one official Callaway Performance Centers. This center represents the state of the art Callaway fitting technology.

These fittings are available to anyone, just call the center in your area to book an appointment. For those without a performance center nearby, Callaway also has custom fitting locations at retailers nationwide. Sessions last an hour and 15 minutes and cost $150, a portion of which can be credited toward a club purchase. Callaway recommends bringing a driver and a 6-iron. Visitors aren’t required to bring their clubs, but it's probably a good idea in order to compare your equipment to the fitted Callaway clubs. While tour players, club pros and competitive amateurs get fit at these facilities, the majority of visitors to the center have a handicap ranging from the mid single-digits well into the 20s.

The experience overall was great. The staff is friendly, knowledgeable and the sessions were fun as well as informative. @tristanhilton85 and @Golfingdad will add more later but they walked away knowing their specs and understanding what kind of clubs, what design benefits work best for their games . That's a huge thing, not just now but for clubs they'll have down the line. Drew and Tristan have different swings, create different launch and spin conditions so they need clubs that fit their swing characteristics. The videos below focus on their driver fittings. Both of them were fit for different drivers to optimize their tee ball, to make sure they're launching it high with low spin.

I recommend a visit to a Callaway Performance Center for any level of player. It’s an easy process, great way to get many of the same fitting benefits as the tour players and the price is reasonable. If you are interested here is a list of the Callaway Performance Centers near you.

Inside the fitting bay, a golf geek's paradise!

@tristanhilton85 getting warmed up.

White dots help Callaway capture the important clubhead data. High speed cameras take pics of the clubhead at 10,000 fps.

@tristanhilton85 driver numbers.

@Golfingdad fairway wood numbers

Checking out where the tour pro's clubs are made.

[saevel25]

That's a huge thing, not just now but for clubs they'll have down the line. Drew and Tristan have different swings, create different launch and spin conditions so they need clubs that fit their swing characteristics. The videos below focus on their driver fittings. Both of them were fit for different drivers to optimize their tee ball, to make sure they're launching it high with low spin.

Great video's Mike!

100% agree with this. If not for just getting new clubs, but just for the knowledge of knowing the general specifications that work for your golf game is great knowledge to have.

[Club Rat]

Looks like a great experience and means to test equipment with all the many options; shafts, club heads.

Would like to hear some thoughts about specs on shaft options?

Did they offer a various selection of golf balls into the fittings?

Thanks for posting, Club Rat

[Golfingdad]

Looks like a great experience and means to test equipment with all the many options; shafts, club heads.

Would like to hear some thoughts about specs on shaft options?

Did they offer a various selection of golf balls into the fittings?

Thanks for posting, Club Rat

Yeah, it was a lot of fun.  When you first walk into the Performance Center, there is the putting green right in front of you with all of the putters lining the edges, and to your left is the window into the club building area, where they put together the clubs for all of their staff members on the various tours.  It's neat when you figure that every new wedge or "Frankenwood" that Phil plays is born right there.

Opposite the putting green is the first fitting studio, and then up the stairs is the other.  Once the fittings started, it was 1 on 1, each of us in our own studio with our own fitter.  Even though we were there to get a driver, we were able to go through the whole fitting experience.

Ross and I started with irons.  I tried out Apex, Apex Pro, and XR irons.  I ended up hitting the Apex the best.  The interesting part, however, was how different the specs ended up being compared to my previous iron fitting when I got my i20s.  I went from 1 1/4" extra length and 3* upright to only 3/4" extra length and standard lie.  I liked how we did the lie fitting as well - instead of a lie board, he put a sharpie line around the ball and impact tape on the club.  After three shots, we looked at the tape and you could see a straight line in the middle of each impact mark where the sharpie line had been.  All three lines were nearly vertical ... hence standard lie works for me now.  I'd like to think that's because I have improved my swing in the last three years and my angle of attack is shallower.

From there, we worked our way up through hybrids, fairway woods, and then drivers.  I ended up loving the XR Deep 3 wood that I was fitted for, so I went last night and bought one at Golfsmith. I use my 3 wood off the tee more often than not so Ross thought that the deeper face would provide me with a lot of benefit off the tee, while still allowing me to hit it off the turf when the occasion arises.  (We also toyed with the idea of the Big Bertha Mini - basically a 2 wood for use almost exclusively off the tee - but that is a little too niche-y for my tastes, and I wasn't hitting it very well anyway ;))

With drivers, we went through just about all of the available heads, and several different shaft options.  I did not bring my driver inside with me and couldn't remember exactly what I had.  Somehow @mvmac could - like he's Rainman or something.  I thought I had an xHot, and he said, no you have the "Pro" ... turned out he was right.  I also gave Ross the incorrect shaft baseline to start (which you can kind of see in my video) by telling him I use an 80g Ahina shaft, when it turned out I have a 70g Kaili in my current driver.  Whoops.

It's no matter, though, because we went through a few different iterations, before finally dialing in on the Big Bertha 815 with a D+ (basically the newest version of the whiteboard shaft) 70g X-stiff.  I'm just barely over the (rough) border between stiff and x-stiff, and he saw no reason during the fitting to go away from the x-stiff.

We didn't fit for any wedges, but they did let us tool around and hit a few, and then if we wanted, we could have gone back to their putting studio and rolled a few, but since I'm married to my Edel, I didn't really feel the need.

All in all, a fantastic experience, and now that it's available to the public, I would highly recommend it to anybody in the market for some new Callaway clubs!

When we left, we received this nice readout with all of our specs, as well as a couple of sleeves of balls to try out.

A big giant thank you to all the guys at Callaway, and especially the guys at TST - @mvmac and @iacas - for giving us opportunities like this.

[Mr. Desmond]

Drew - surprised that the XR did not give you more ... more launch. Clubspeed was higher, so my guess is not  as solid contact as ball speed was lower.

Then I've also heard the 815 launches high.

I have a 10.5 XR in a Oban Isawa and it's a moon launcher ... slightly too high, higher than my V Series 9 set at +1, but then my AOA is +4-5.

I'm thinking XR 9.5 at 45 inches with another shaft - higher launch low spin, or the XR Pro.

Happy that y'all had a great time.

[mchepp]

Great post @mvmac and @Golfingdad ! I enjoyed reading and watching the videos.

[Golfingdad]

Drew - surprised that the XR did not give you more ... more launch. Clubspeed was higher, so my guess is not  as solid contact as ball speed was lower.

I think it might have been more that the 815 had the adjustability to counteract the mishits.  Ross gives a little explanation at about the 5 minute mark of the last video.  I was missing low heel side more often than not that day, so he had the 12 gram weight in the heel, and the heavy end of the gravity core down to move the cg down and in, closer to behind the ball.

An equally bad low heel miss was helped in the air by the weight distribution on the 815 moreso than on the XR.

But even if the distances ended up being more, I would still have stuck with the 815 based on the dispersion shown in the last graphic of my printout.  The pink oval is about half the size of the red one.

If I get to the point where I'm missing more on the toe side, I can swap those weights, and if I start launching it too high, I can flip the gravity core over and/or adjust the loft on the club.  Can't wait to get that club and try it out!!

[tristanhilton85]

I'll just add on to what @Golfingdad ience there was awesome. My fitter started with the driver and I hit both the XR and the 815 Alpha, and the two weren't even close. I hit the XR much better and the fitter played around with different shafts and loft settings until we found the right combination. In the end, he recommended the 9 degree XR head with the stock stiff shaft. His recommendation to me was to knock a degree off of that and play it at 8 degrees. It was a pretty eye-opening experience. For example, typical advice is that you'd want a shorter shaft in your driver for more control, however every time we changed the shaft to a shorter one, the numbers would get worse. With the longer shafts I was hitting up on the ball by about one degree, with the shorter driver shaft it was up 4 degrees. I thought that was interesting.

Another thing is that I typically sit on the fence between regular and stiff shafts as far as swing speed. With the driver, my fitter recommended that I use a stiff shaft but in the irons, we found that the regular shafts fit me just a little better. I was able to hit the Apex, Apex Pro, and XR Pro. While the look of the XR Pros were pretty nice and I had good results with a previous version (XHot Pro irons) they were the worst of the bunch for me. The Apex irons gave me good numbers and were by far the most consistent. I hit my best shots with the Apex Pro, but I also hit some pretty poor ones. Like the driver, we went through a number of shaft options and found the True Temper XP 95 shaft was the best fit for me. We also tried a Project X with a 5.5 flex as well as the Recoil graphite shaft, which I also really like. In the end, the fitter said that he would recommend a combo set of the Apex (4,5,6) and Apex Pro (7,8,9,P) for me.

This was followed up with hitting some hybrids, both the XR and the 815 Alpha. They were the exact opposite for me compared to the drivers. I couldn't keep the XR hybrid from going left, but the 815 Alpha was a good fit. I wrapped up my session by hitting the new PM grind wedge. As funny as the club looks with the high toe and grooves, it played really well. If I was in the market for new wedges, I'd definitely have to consider them.

[Mr. Desmond]

I think it might have been more that the 815 had the adjustability to counteract the mishits.  Ross gives a little explanation at about the 5 minute mark of the last video.  I was missing low heel side more often than not that day, so he had the 12 gram weight in the heel, and the heavy end of the gravity core down to move the cg down and in, closer to behind the ball.

An equally bad low heel miss was helped in the air by the weight distribution on the 815 moreso than on the XR.

But even if the distances ended up being more, I would still have stuck with the 815 based on the dispersion shown in the last graphic of my printout.  The pink oval is about half the size of the red one.

If I get to the point where I'm missing more on the toe side, I can swap those weights, and if I start launching it too high, I can flip the gravity core over and/or adjust the loft on the club.  Can't wait to get that club and try it out!!

I just found an 815 like new at preowned -- $200 with Diamana+ S 60 Stiff. Not as good as free but the shaft alone is worth almost as much as the club.

No need for the 816 in late August for $450+ Two gravity cores...

Oh, from feedback at various places, the 45.5 -46 inch shafts seem to result in a lot of heel hits - stopped when guys cut them down. I cut mine to 45 - no heel hits. Something to consider.

[saevel25]

So, @Golfingdad and @tristanhilton85 need to upgrade their clubs before the Newport Cup.

I guess they are that desperate that they think equipment changes will help them win.

[Golfingdad]

Oh, from feedback at various places, the 45.5 -46 inch shafts seem to result in a lot of heel hits - stopped when guys cut them down. I cut mine to 45 - no heel hits. Something to consider.

Yup.  I was hitting the 45.5 standard and spec'd me for a -1/2" for an even 45.  (Which is what worked for me in the RazrFit and the xHot as well)

So, @Golfingdad  and @tristanhilton85 need to upgrade their clubs before the Newport Cup.

I guess they are that desperate that they think equipment changes will help them win.

Hmmm, that smells an AWFUL LOT like jealousy.  Just sayin'

[billchao]

Pretty awesome, guys! Sounds like it was a great experience and you got a lot out of it.

I think it might have been more that the 815 had the adjustability to counteract the mishits.  Ross gives a little explanation at about the 5 minute mark of the last video.  I was missing low heel side more often than not that day, so he had the 12 gram weight in the heel, and the heavy end of the gravity core down to move the cg down and in, closer to behind the ball.

If I get to the point where I'm missing more on the toe side, I can swap those weights, and if I start launching it too high, I can flip the gravity core over and/or adjust the loft on the club.  Can't wait to get that club and try it out!!

The adjustability is what I love most about the the Big Bertha Alpha 815. I started to notice a tendency to hit drives off the toe so I moved the heavier weight out there. It's not going to fix my toe draws, but it will do just enough to make them more playable. It's a really cool feature and I'm glad you got a lot out of it.

For example, typical advice is that you'd want a shorter shaft in your driver for more control, however every time we changed the shaft to a shorter one, the numbers would get worse. With the longer shafts I was hitting up on the ball by about one degree, with the shorter driver shaft it was up 4 degrees. I thought that was interesting.

I have the same problem with shorter driver shafts (although I tend to hit more down instead of up). It took me a pretty long time of trial and error to experiment on my own, not to mention I made permanent changes to an extra driver which I basically made useless. It's pretty cool that you got to try all of those things out in one fitting day.

[Club Rat]

Thanks GD & Tristan, great write up and vids/pics from Mike of the facility.

That's a lot of information to absorb in just one hour.

Sounds like a great experience having tech reps who can offer so many variable means to accomplish the many various objectives with their products.

Also, does the fitting include any follow up questions if needed?

Let's say you come across a situation where you would like to discuss, maybe an alternative modification, or possible a different shaft if needed?

It would be great if you guys would follow up in a few weeks with actual on course experience's and results with whether they meet your expectations and objectives.

Go Team West.....

Club Rat

[saevel25]

Hmmm, that smells an AWFUL LOT like jealousy.  Just sayin'

I'm playing my Callaway Big Bertha, with my aftermarket shaft selection :). Self club fitting ;)

[Mr. Desmond]

Yup.  I was hitting the 45.5 standard and spec'd me for a -1/2" for an even 45.  (Which is what worked for me in the RazrFit and the xHot as well)

Hmmm, that smells an AWFUL LOT like jealousy.  Just sayin'

FWIW, I would have chosen the 815 over the XR -- a lot of people have a tough time acclimating to the XR, like me. My choices go V Series 9 deg, 815 10.5, then XR.

Good luck when you get it.

[GolfLug]

Thanks for the write up @Golfingdad . What does the efficiency number indicate in your specs? Never heard of that one.

[tristanhilton85]

Thanks for the write up @Golfingdad. What does the efficiency number indicate in your specs? Never heard of that one.

It's Smash Factor...

[Golfingdad]

Thanks for the write up @Golfingdad . What does the efficiency number indicate in your specs? Never heard of that one.

[quote name="tristanhilton85" url="/t/83149/tst-driver-fittings-at-callaway-hq-performance-center#post_1167380"] It's Smash Factor...  [/quote]When we were there, yes, it was basically the smash factor. 100% meant perfect solid, center face, contact. Absolutely no idea, however, what the percentages mean on the end of my spec sheet because they say 300% or whatever. No idea whatsoever what that means - could just be a glitch. ;)