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[chriswrightstuff]

Passive brag alert!!!! Actually, it's not even passive - it's an outright brag!
Went up the club tonight to hit some balls on the range but it was busy so ended up hitting a few and then played 3 holes.......
Went to the the first (380 yard par 4), playing a touch shorter off winter tees but wet fairways, cold air etc. Played by myself so usually play 2 balls but as I only had time for 3 holes I played 3 balls, no one was around so it didn't matter. I played the first hole (3 times) in 8 shots!
Ball 1 was driver, 58* from 85 yards to 3 foot, holed the putt.
Ball 2 was 3 wood, 52* from 120, miss green pin high right, chipped in.
Ball 3 was 2 iron, PW from 135 - pitch 18 inches past and spin back in 👌🏼

I couldn't believe it, and obviously now no one else will either as I was alone, never mind - I'll sleep well tonight 😉

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[chriswrightstuff]

New shoes arrived - Nike LCV's in white / silver. Look pretty damn sharp.

Als got a new putter en route - Scotty Cameron future 6m (Adam Scott style).

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[chriswrightstuff]

New putter arrived and I putted horribly with it on Sunday, it's definitely me that's the problem tho.
Putter does feel nice and stable during the stroke and the face is t as soft as I was expecting g (a good thing in my eyes).
Got another 9 holes tonight to see how it goes - hopefully a lot better!!!

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[Titleist_Baller]

I am trying to decide on this putter also. I almost bought one today.

[the beest]

How do you find the shoes in our typical British spring conditions??

[chriswrightstuff]

the beest, on 01 April 2017 - 11:01 AM, said:

How do you find the shoes in our typical British spring conditions??

Ive not used the shoes yet, although I did play y ester day and found our course to be firming up nicely so I might be able to break them out sooner than expected!

[chriswrightstuff]

Not updated anything for a while, bag has been set from the start of the season with no real changes. I did buy a Studio Stainless Newport last week in preparation for the winter as I find it really difficult to use a mallet on slow greens.
This evening I have an iron fitting with Titleist at their UK HQ in Cambridge. I've had my 714 AP2's for 3 full seasons now and not tried anything else since. Looking forward to testing the 718 line up and seeing how they work out for me. Will provide an update following the fitting and hopefully have some numbers too.

[chriswrightstuff]

I was recently invited to a 718 iron/hybrid fitting. I headed across to the St Ives facility last night and just thought I'd give a bit of a summary of my experience.
First off - a little about me and my game. I currently play off 4, I've been playing for about 15 years, I started when I was  I was about 14, I got down to 5 after 3 full seasons and have been around 4 or 5 since then. I think I've definitely found my 'level' and to get any lower I think I either need:
More natural talent (which I don't have).
OR
Time on the range and some lessons.

Generally speaking I'm a pretty good ball striker and generate a fair bit of speed so distance usually isn't an issue for me.  I'm a tall guy and have a naturally steep swing so my bad shots tend to be when I get too steep, this often results in a double-cross style pull/draw. My natural flight / shape is a high draw and I'm pretty comfortable shaping the ball and flighting it down too. I'm totally confident hitting my current irons 5-PW and then a little bit of confidence disappears in the 3,4 and my 712u 2 iron.

I've never had any 'real' fitting before so was very excited to get this opportunity. Previously I've just guessed at my specs so for me the real value in this experience was 2 fold; to try the new 718 line and to bottom out my specs. My last 4 sets of irons have been Titleist, 690 cb's, 690.cb's, 735 cm's and my current irons - 714 AP2's, Project X 6.5, 3/4" long, 1 degree upright, 1 degree strong - as I said, these were my guess specs!
I'm a big fan of all Titleist clubs but the irons are the main attraction for me - playable, attractive and well made.

I arrived at the fitting centre about an hour early as I had a couple of hours to travel and didn't want to miss out on it because of traffic or anything. When I arrived I met James, he said I could use any of the facilities whilst I waited but recommended not hitting too many balls before the fitting. I opted to go and hit a few chips on the short game area. James offered me a basket of balls "V's or X's?" - I went for a full basket of the X's and spent half an hour or so hitting chips and pitches (the new X's feel great on short pitches and still spin plenty too btw!). I then returned to the range and James was ready for me.

I hit a few full swings just to get loose and then he switched on his iPad and Trackman. I hit a few balls with my 7 iron on Trackman to get a baseline, nothing fantastic but I was relieved to make contact! We looked at the numbers, they were pretty much as I expected, a little low in terms of speed and distance but probably down to me still loosening up.

James then talked me through the 718 line, I already had an idea of who each clubhead was targeted at but it was good to hear a bit more about the science behind each of them and how each line has evolved. I was particularly interested in the CB and AP2 line, then maybe the AP3 or TMB for long irons.
We started with the AP2, PX 6.5, 1" long, 2 degrees upright - it felt very similar to my 714 and results were fairly similar, a bit longer but probably down to me loosening up and swinging faster. I then hit the CB (same specs), the CB looks stunning both in the bag and behind the ball. Results were similar again and James sais he'd be happy to fit me into either. It was a bit of a head Vs heart - the numbers were almost identical, the CB looks amazing, but the AP2 is still a very good looking club. In the end I couldn't ignore the fact that the AP2 offers more forgiveness and would be a bit more friendly on bad days. The AP2 is the most popular iron on tour, those guys play for millions of pounds and hit the sweet spot a lot more than me, besides - there aren't any shots I could hit with a CB that I couldn't hit with the AP2.

I then hit the AP3 and the AP1. James was keen to demonstrate the rest of the line too. The AP3 is still a fairly good looking iron but the real star here is the AP1. The numbers below are the averages of and AP2 and an AP1 - I was expecting about 5 yards more, as you can see - I got much more on some shots!

Anyone looking for forgiveness, height and distance - give these a go! My Dad plays off 13 but struggles with his irons - I'll be pointing him towards these for sure. I'd be a bit scared to go for them in a full set as I think my gapping would be all over the place and can't help but think there'd be a few "hot" ones coming off the face, especially out of the semi.







Back to serious testing…..
James got the impact board out and we decided that the best specs were 3/4" long and 2 degrees upright - so not too far from my guess!

We then tried a number of shafts, in short - nothing could beat the project X, I liked the feel of the Modus but the numbers were no better - and trust me to gravitate to one of the few shafts that carried an upcharge.

We moved onto long irons and agreed that 5-PW was right in the AP2. I hit a few with the TMB and the AP3. For me - the AP3 outperformed the TMB in the 3 and 4 iron. I absolutely loved the AP3 long irons. The data below is the 3 iron, these numbers are crazy good for me!



I also hit a few with a 718 H2 but the numbers and the consistency were no match for the AP3 3iron.

We called it a day after that, James has already sent me the recommended spec sheet as well as the trackman data.
I'll be putting an order in with my pro for the AP3 3 and 4 irons. Personally - I can't justify a full set of new AP2's just yet as the numbers were pretty much identical (and I got married in August so my credit card is still in la-la land).

I just want to say thanks to Hannah for her hard work in organising the trip and also a big thanks to James at the fitting centre - he made me feel comfortable and at ease for the whole session. He really knows his stuff and has an obvious passion and admiration for the product and the research behind it. I had a great time there, it was interesting, enjoyable and very useful - I will definitely return at some point.

Edited by chriswrightstuff, 10 October 2017 - 04:33 AM.

[qwertyb22]

Very nice!  Will you be replacing the 712u and the 3 iron with the AP3s, or do you plan on replacing the 712u and both the 3 and 4?  The lofts are strong so I'm assuming your gapping will be different at the top of your bag.  Did you find the offset of the AP3 at all difficult to adjust to?  I looked at the AP3 3 iron and nearly put one in my bag but the offset was a little more than I'm used to and I am wavering on the purchase.

[chriswrightstuff]

qwertyb22, on 10 October 2017 - 09:51 PM, said:

Very nice!  Will you be replacing the 712u and the 3 iron with the AP3s, or do you plan on replacing the 712u and both the 3 and 4?  The lofts are strong so I'm assuming your gapping will be different at the top of your bag.  Did you find the offset of the AP3 at all difficult to adjust to?  I looked at the AP3 3 iron and nearly put one in my bag but the offset was a little more than I'm used to and I am wavering on the purchase.

Very good question - I did notice the offset and it was a little off putting but I just couldn't argue with the performance, especially when the numbers backed it up. For you - I guess from a CB 4 iron to AP3 3 iron is quite a slightly more drastic transition.

I'll be swapping out my 3 and 4 irons for the AP3 equivalent, the 712u is still a bit of an unknown, I'll keep it in for the short term but I want to see what the gapping is on course when the AP 3 long irons arrive. I may look at getting a graphite shaft for it amd having it as a tee shot only style club, failing that - I'll take it out and change my wedge setup to something like 50, 55, 60.

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[gentles]

Bumping a slightly old thread, but it was fun to read through your fitting experience.

I'm curious, did you not have the chance to try out the TMB line? I would have thought that a 2,3,4 TMB would be perfect for what you're looking for.

[chriswrightstuff]

 gentles, on 13 December 2017 - 11:50 AM, said:

Bumping a slightly old thread, but it was fun to read through your fitting experience.

I'm curious, did you not have the chance to try out the TMB line? I would have thought that a 2,3,4 TMB would be perfect for what you're looking for.

I tried the TMB line too but the numbers for the 3 and 4 iron in the AP3's were better than anything else, I was a tiny bit disappointed that AP3's don't come in a 2 iron but to be honest I'm happy having a 3 iron I can hit 240 - my 3 wood goes about 260 so there isn't much of a gap there that gets exploited on a regular basis.

Waiting for the SM7's to come out to get a new wedge configuration.

[chriswrightstuff]

M4 9.5 ordered, will put my Tour ADGP straight in and see how we go, very excited!

[chriswrightstuff]

M4 arrived and I managed to get 9 holes in yesterday. Ended up with a 10.5 head and put my AD GP shaft in it. A few thoughts below....

• I've always been a fan of the M family carbon crown and paint mix. I'm fairly agnostic about the silver Vs white, I think they both look good.
  
• The shape of the M4 is vastly difference to the 2017 M2, or at least it is to my eye. Appears to have a smaller and narrower footprint, looks more condensed.
  
• Sound and feel are big improvements in my opinion, I know this is so subjective but my M4 sounded and felt a lot more muted than my 2017 M2.
  
• Admittedly I've gone up one degree in loft, but the overall flight is much better - I can't say how much of this is down to new tech and how much is because of the extra loft but I liked what I saw.

Overall, happy so far, more on course testing to come, will update on any significant findings.

[chriswrightstuff]

Really happy with the M4 - driving is much better now. Distance is pretty much same as all other drivers I've had but dispersion is way better for me.
My SM7's arrived yesterday, played 9 holes with a couple of balls and really liked the turf interaction, plus - they look amazing in the bag!

Edited by chriswrightstuff, 12 April 2018 - 09:21 AM.