Finally Started My Club Champion Fitting

[DeeBee30]

Well, I caught a wicked stomach bug yesterday afternoon that had me laid out into the night, and I wasn't sure I'd have the energy to manage enough good swings for the first session of my full bag fitting today at the Willowbrook, IL CC, but I was able to push through it and get the irons done.

I worked with Roger Paiz and told him that I'd have lots of questions because I want to understand the process, not just go through it.  He was really accommodating and forthcoming with responses to my questions about why he was pulling certain shafts and heads, as well as what his expected outcomes were with each one.  Unfortunately, we only covered irons in the 2-hour+ session and didn't get to wedges/putter because of all the (needed) discussion.  We'll finish the bag in early Feb.

Today, I hit 6 different shafts and 6 different heads.  For shafts, the KBS Tour V stiff clearly provided the best results and felt the best.  As for heads, it was a near tie between the Mizuno MP-18 SC and the Titleist AP2.  The new Callaway Apex Pros provided some pretty good numbers too, but the spin was a bit low and they were a little clicky for my taste.  I currently game Mizzy MP-52s with DG S300s, and well-hit shots are just buttery smooth to the ear and hands.  So, the MP-18s eeked out the APs in terms of feel - I guess I really am a Mizuno guy now.  The KBS/MP-18 combo yielded an increase in carry distance of about 1 club (identical 31* loft as my MP-52) and a much tighter shot dispersion (which is my main focus).

This was my first time hitting on Trackman (my main indoor sessions have been on a GC2 w/out HMT), and I have to say the swing path and club head data was very enlightening.  Where I *felt* like I was coming a little over the top, Trackman showed it no more than -.4* out-to-in.  It'll be interesting to recalibrate that swing feeling with some empirical data.

Overall, the CC fitting has been a great experience so far.  I'm really looking forward to going through the top of the bag next time.

Once anecdote about Trackman: I had to ask the fitter to change the altitude setting from their standard sea level to 800', which is about where we are in Chicago.  I've posted elsewhere here that I learned on GC2 that it really makes a difference (about 10%), and I wanted results that were closer to real-world during the fitting.  Oddly, the fitter said I was the first guy to ask about this and request any kind of change.  I guess they prefer to standardize to sea level in all their locations except Denver, and customers don't question it.  Doesn't make sense to me, but it was an easy enough change.

Edited January 25, 2019 by iacas
removed extra whitespace