Trackman Fitting at Golf Principles

[AndrewPI]

I spent last season without a driver in the bag for most of it and used my longest hybrid off most of the tees. While this was fine a lot of the time I felt I was giving myself problems by being further out from greens than I needed to be. I had also worked a lot on my swing with my pro and felt I had the swing a lot more nailed down.


So, after reading a few reviews on here I decided to book a session with Jason MacNiven at Golf Principles. I turned up early doors to be greeted by Jason and while admiring the array of toys on offer we talked about my game in general, what I was looking for and also a bit about what I am working on swing wise. I said what I wanted was to get an idea of drivers but if we had time to look at my irons, as they are a few years old now and I felt my swing had changed somewhat. I also mentioned that my pro had said me felt my irons weren’t long enough for me.

We started off with my hitting my 6 iron a few times and after a few shots Jason said straightaway that we should be able to find something a lot more suitable. I was putting decent swings on to most of them but the results were varied. Some went very high and I had a range of shots over about 30 yards.  I tried out the following shafts with 1/2” extra in length. KBS Stiff, KBS softstepped, Project X 5, Black Gold and DG SL300. We quickly settled on the DG SL300 as the performance was a lot better with a much tighter dispersion.  Also managed to increase carry by almost 9 yards and total distance by 6. I tried out a few iron heads and eventually decided to go with the MP 52’s. I was finding my current irons a bit to clunky in looks and wanted something a little easier on the eye.

Based on my swing with the irons, Jason already had a rough idea of what to go with driver wise. We started with an HD6 in the R9 460 head. I instantly liked the look of the club at address and was getting decent results with the shaft. However Jason felt we could find something to get more club and ball speed. We went through using a Javln, Voodoo, DVS 60, Kai’li and then just because it was there the TP6HD. The standout shaft on feel straight away was the Kai’li and this was also backed up with the stats with the best club and ball speed along with good dispersion. So to add to the order I had the R9 460 with the Kai’li installed. The results should also be better with that set up as I could only try the shaft in a Nak head which was low spin head. The extra 500rpm should get the carry up even more.


After sorting that out I had a quick go with the hybrids but this was just to get some distances set. Jason said at the start of the session that we would not even need to have a look at them as he knew the Bassara shafts were a good fit. I was able to see that I have around a 10 yard gap between each club so that I now have carries between 190 and 210 covered. With the 4 iron of the new set likely to be around the  180 mark I should have a nice set of distances covered.


Overall the visit was very enjoyable and professional. Jason took his time to explain what we were looking for and how each piece would do this. It backed up what had been said on here previously about the guy and the place.


I am heading up again soon to pick up the toys to allow me to have a hit with them to ensure I am happy with them. I will also look to see if I can get the shafts on my wedges either cut and re-gripped of re-shafted as I have just noticed that the 54 and 60 are the same length.


Also attached my trackman report for the stattos if interested.

[3puttwizard]

Looks good. I see that spin is in italics not bold...No sticky tape on the ball?

[AndrewPI]

Looks good. I see that spin is in italics not bold...No sticky tape on the ball?

Nope. Didn't notice any. I assume that is to get a better idea of the spin rate?

[mattyarse]

Nice write up Andrew.

[jonnyc]

For the Scots amongst us, the Kingsfield site for Golf Principles is now up and running.

I have been in email discussion with Jason for a few weeks now and they had a delay in getting everything set up. He has all the gear that he has at his other site and will be doing fitting himself....although only Saturday and Sunday for the moment. Not sure if someone else is doing fittings during the week but can find out if anyone wants to know.

Tel No. 01506 671607

[runonpark]

For the Scots amongst us, the Kingsfield site for Golf Principles is now up and running.

I have been in email discussion with Jason for a few weeks now and they had a delay in getting everything set up. He has all the gear that he has at his other site and will be doing fitting himself....although only Saturday and Sunday for the moment. Not sure if someone else is doing fittings during the week but can find out if anyone wants to know.

Tel No. 01506 671607

Thanks Jonny - going to check this out.

[JohnC]

Yeah thanks Jonny, I'm interested in this too.

[AndrewPI]

You guys wont be disappointed. Planning to catch up with Jason over the winter again to get the clubs checked over.

[Tin Pot]

Looks like your stats are improving with your scores  

[3puttwizard]

To get the full benefit of TM I'd personally want to see all the actual figures rather than calculated ones.

[MisterS3]

To get the full benefit of TM I'd personally want to see all the actual figures rather than calculated ones.

+1 if possible. eg AGT @ St. Andrews.

Saying that the person fitting is pretty important too.

[Gareth]

To get the full benefit of TM I'd personally want to see all the actual figures rather than calculated ones.

To get the full benefit of TM you really want to use it outdoors and with an expert to help interpret the data properly and in context.

Jason is very good is this regard.

[Tin Pot]

+1 if possible. eg AGT @ St. Andrews.

Saying that the person fitting is pretty important too.

A little, but aren't the "major" stats all good?  All the Club and Launch statistics in bold are the ones I tend to focus on.  Carry is the only other useful one, imo but that's calculated anyway. Spin, but less so.

[AndrewPI]

Surely unless you are a low capper with very consistent results then something like exact spin rate isn't so important. As long as the fitter can get a decent idea of spin rates they can then decide from that where to go.

[MisterS3]

I like hitting outdoors because the results can be seen.

Saying that, as long as you use your own clubs as a baseline and work from that you can do well indoors. It when you hit indoors without a baseline that things get a bit tricky. eg they can set it up so that you are hitting in 30*C with favourable conditions so that you all of a sudden think you are hitting better with a certain club. Not saying that happens on purpose.