Tuesday, June 11, 2024

Club Champion Driver Fitting Review (Cleveland) - Swing Into Summer With Club Champion Guest Review

The winner of my Swing into Summer with Club Champion driver fitting had himself a day!  081 is clearly a golf nut and as you read his review you can legitimately feel how exciting it was for him.  And to say 081 is a big fan of Club Champion now would be a massive understatement.

081 says his Club Champion fitting was "an amazing experience throughout the entire process," and he gained significant "carry and total distance gains," (almost 22 more yards total) with "consistent and tight dispersion numbers" (nearly twice as tight) even at the end of his fitting when he got a bit tired.

In his own words, here's what 081 (@mi11enIANfalcon on X) thought about his Club Champion fitting and the driver that wound up best for him. 

First let me say thank you to Pete and Club Champion for an amazing opportunity!  I had so much fun throughout the whole fitting process with Mike.  Seeing all the clubs heads and shafts available was incredible, and hitting them all I can say is wow!  The whole process was informative and just plain fun!

The first thing Mike did was ask me about my gamer and what type of shafts I had in m woods and irons.  Mike also asked if I had been through a fitting before, which I had not and I was glad I hadn’t because going in blind was in my opinion better.

Going in blind let me have no expectations and made it easier to go with the guidance Mike provided.  I have a Cobra LTDx with the HZRDUS RDX Smoke shaft.  However I don’t really get on that well with the Cobra and added a 2023 Mini BRNR last year and it worked relatively well for me last year.  I also carry a Cobra F Speed 5 wood in R flex from about 18 years ago for when I’m really struggling off the tee as it has been incredibly reliable for the better part of 2 decades now.  Below are the numbers for my Mini BRNR swings to start the session. 

The first club Mike gave me to try was the Qi10 core model with an Aretera 65 05 shaft, and I can say it is a very solid option for the top of the bag.  I like the feel and ease of swingability with the club and the shaft felt similar to the RDX.  I also noticed a slight whistle when taking a few practiced swings and noted that it SOUNDED fast!  I hit the Qi10 core much better than my LTDx and it was very comparable to my BRNR, but it just didn’t jump out as a immediate replacement for me. 

The numbers are below.  And what is truly amazing and hilarious was my last swing.  When I got to the top of something felt off and transitioning into the downswing I heard a snap.  Upon striking the ball the head flew forward into the screen just behind the ball.  The shaft adapter had broken off at impact and Mike, my son, and I had a good laugh about the forgiveness of the driver on all shots/swings afterwards. 

 
 

Next up was the Callaway AI Smoke Triple Diamond with the Fujikura Ventus Velocore+ 6X.  This combination was incredible!  On the first swing I felt the shaft load at the top and it felt eerily similar the the swing that really tested the forgiveness of the Qi10.  This caused me to rush my transition fearing another shaft adapter incident. 

After 3 swings Mike made a small change to the head and handed it back to me and this is where things started to gel!  I was finding a slight right to left flight with predictable consistency.  Towards the end of the session we also tried the head with a heavier 14 gram weight in it, but the feel wasn’t there and the consistency dropped off.

 
 

Next up was the AI Smoke Max as I wanted to compare this to the Triple Diamond in an attempt to see if I could get better numbers. While this driver and Graphite Design HD6X shaft were good the feel wasn’t the same. They were solid but they just didn’t hold up to the Triple Diamond which really did surprise me as I thought the larger footprint would equal better results.

Enter the Ping G430 Max 10K driver with the same Ventus shaft.  The 430 10K is incredibly forgiving and kept shots that would have gone way left and right on the fairway.  But the dispersion was nowhere near the Triple Diamond and the distance dropped off by a good amount.  I also noted that there was a noticeable feeling of drag during the downswing.

Titleist TSR2 with the Ventus was the next club to try and it was a very solid option.  The face felt a bit firmer and louder than the Callaway.  Dispersion was very similar but the distance was about 10 yards shorter in total.  For lack of a better description it just didn’t’ feel as good or hot as the Triple Diamond.  Overall the Titleist was a very solid club but just not quite as good in my hands.

Qi10LS was the real competitor to the Triple Diamond.  The feel and sound of this driver are incredible and it’s numbers were/are fantastic!  I was able to hit shots that were almost identical to the Triple Diamond in carry and total distance.  But the dispersion is where the big difference came into play.  The distance numbers looked similar but the Callaway dispersion couldn't be beat (Callaway is blue and TaylorMade is purple).

 
 

Finally, Mike had me come back to the Triple Diamond one last time to validate our findings to this point in the fitting and the results speak for themselves.  Up to this point I had swung all of these different drivers and shafts 70 times.  The data below are swings 71-78.  I was tired and yet still able to produce consistent numbers and dispersion with the Callaway.  The numbers and dispersion comparison from the Triple Diamond and Qi10LS are below (Callaway is blue and TaylorMade is purple). 

 

Mike provided an amazing experience throughout the entire fitting process and I would recommend him to anyone in the Northeastern OH area!  When I was getting a little swing happy he engaged me in conversation that had a settling down affect on me and helped me focused in on putting forth my best possible swings!

I have four boys and two of them are avid golfers that go with me about 90% of the time.  I’ve mentioned this to Pete a few times in discussing club options for them.  Well Pete mentioned this to Mike and they had swag bags for both of them!  This thoughtfulness was so amazing and blew me away!  I was already planning on taking them back to see Mike when their games are ready for a driver fitting and this act of kindness made me even more certain I won’t be taking them anywhere else or to get fit by anyone else!

Mike and Club Champion made an impression on me and my kids and we are BIG fans of them both.  However none of this would have happened without Pete!  Pete is a NEO guy and I was already a big supporter of his.  Now I’m the biggest he has!  What Pete does for the game is incredible!  He is constantly providing opportunities like this for golfers everywhere.  If you haven't checked him out please do so.  His reviews are stellar, his generosity unmatched, and he’s just one hell of a cool dude!  Thanks again Pete and Club Champion you guys ROCK!

Absolutely fantastic review 081!  Love your passion and it sounds like you had a perfect Club Champion driver fitting in every possible way.  Sounds like 2024 is going to be a great year for you with driver!

Anytime any of you want to write a guest review just shoot me a DM or email and we'll get it done.  Your guest reviews have all been fantastic and I know a lot of my readers absolutely love getting different perspectives from different people with different playing skills and goals.  It's all about having fun and the guest reviews are as fun as it gets.

Cheers all!

1 comment:

  1. Fantastic write up WB! Loved the details and data to help direct you into the club best suited for you! Bonus points on the bag swag for the boys!!!

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