Letters from Santa DAY 12 PGAPappas 12 Days of Christmas Golf Giveaway: Club Champion Iron Fitting and Custom Built FULL Set of ANY Irons YOU Want

You might call this one the Merry Mic Drop.  For the grande finale gift of DAY 12 in my 12 Days of Christmas we're going to get one of you hooked up with a Club Champion Iron Fitting and Custom Built FULL Set of ANY Irons of Your Choice baby!  And Santa gives it his BIG Ho-Ho-Ho approval.

Santa's letter to me tonight is brief and succinct but also Festive and Mighty.  And I'm having an eggnog or two tonight "with a little of that extra holiday spirit" if know what I mean.  Here's a Kringle Toast to ALL of You!

First, here's Santa's actual letter to me.

If you want to hit good iron shots a Club Champion iron fitting is an absolute must.  Club Champion will take you through the paces, analyzing every characteristic of your swing during the fitting and ultimately build a set of irons that are perfectly fit to your unique swing, ability, and style.  You're not only going to hit better iron shots with a Club Champion custom fit iron build, you're also going to hit better irons shots more consistently.

I'm going to tell you about my recent Club Champion iron fitting in a review below.  I can tell you right now however it was my favorite fitting at Club Champion - ever.  Yes because we achieved outstanding results that surpassed even my highest expectations.  But also because I learned more about my own game, swing, and even what I want and expect from my irons.  The fitting experience was all-around outstanding.

Now let's get into my fitting review because again, it was exceptional in every possible way.

The Club Champion Master Club Fitters

Let me first say a few words about my Master Club Fitter Mike at the Club Champion Studio in Warrensville Heights, Ohio.  You won't find a better fitter anywhere.  And I say this because he checks off all the boxes you'd want from a fitter, and then also goes above and beyond even that.

Mike is extremely knowledgeable and has years upon years of experience.  He's genuinely engaged in your fitting, to the point where I'd even say he's invested in you.  Mike wants your fitting to be perfect.  He wants you to be perfectly happy with the fitting experience and the ultimate build of your new clubs.  Mike always listens to everything I say, always answers all questions I have for him, and somehow always also teaches me something new.

When I'm being fit by Mike it also feels like a partnership in the sense that we have a back-and-forth as the fitting unfolds that makes it abundantly clear he's taking everything I have to say and all the feedback I'm giving into consideration as he works his fitting magic.  I don't exaggerate one bit when I tell you it's absolutely worth it to take an out-of-state road trip just to be fit by Mike.

The Club Champion Fitting Process

When I arrived for my fitting I had something very specific in mind.  I told Mike my favorite irons are almost always cavity backs and muscle cavity styles.  Of course I review all styles and models of irons throughout the season every year, but those smaller, compact shapes seem to fit my eyes best.  Mike suggested we hit about six or seven different models and boom, we were off.

Club Champion fitters always begin your fitting with multiple shafts testing first.  You'll work with your fitter to eventually narrow it down to one or two shafts you like best and perform best for your swing.  And the process is almost like putting together the pieces of a puzzle.  Your Club Champion fitter will watch and analyze ball speeds, spin rates, trajectories, and your delivery and release of different bend and weight profiles to fit a shaft or shafts uniquely suited to your swing.

It can be shocking to see how various shafts perform so differently for your swing.  Two of the shafts I tested I hit very well.  But I expected this as I play these shafts (the Aerotech SteelFiber and True Temper Dynamic Gold Mid) in other iron sets.  What I didn't expect was how I hit two other shafts that were new to me before coming in for my fitting.

If you've followed me for a while you know I only write reviews about gear and apparel I like.  If I test something and don't like it I don't write a review about it.  And I mention this now because there was a shaft I was excited to try and it was an absolute stinker for me.  It had very little feel, it didn't give me performance that was anywhere close to ideal.  And the crazy thing is it had an almost identical launch and spin profile to the SteelFibers that I love.  There's no way I would have guessed the performance would be so different without a Club Champion fitting.

You can always try and test any shafts you want during your Club Champion fitting.  And your fitter is always going to also make recommendations based on your goals, objectives, and performance analysis of the shafts you're hitting.  The SteelFiber and DG Mid were great.  But Mike had a feeling about a new, different shaft I'd never hit before.  And sure enough these wound up being the best shafts for my new irons build.

I don't want to make this a review of the new Project X Rifle Red iron shafts but I do have to say a few things about them.  These feel every bit as stable as the original (blue) Project X iron shafts and dispersion numbers verified the stability.  What I liked most about the Red however was they also gave me a little more spin, a little more height, and a little better descent than the other shafts I tested with the same heads.

This helped me not only on misses but also on pure strikes getting closer to ideal launch and trajectory for my delivery and swing speed.  These new Red also feel much smoother than the stout feel of the blue but they don't play soft or whippy at all.  And if not for my fitter Mike I'd have never known as these weren't even on my radar.

The Club Champion Fitting Execution

We moved on to hitting different heads and the first real contender was the Srixon ZXi7.  During your Club Champion fitting you can try any heads you want and your fitter is sure to make recommendations as well.  But my very first swing with the ZXi7 had me completely loving the feel.  And I'm telling you Srixon has brought ZXi7 to the point where these have to be in any discussion of best feeling irons on the market.  The soft, deep feel at impact is addicting.

The ZXi7 performed exactly as I thought they would.  I had strong ball speed, carry, and smash factor numbers.  We also went back to look at ZXi7 performance with the SteelFiber versus the Project X Red and Red was confirmed to be better for me.  With Red I had about 1 mph more ball speed, 2 degrees higher launch, higher peak height, and almost 3 degrees steeper landing angle.  I was loving it all.

The next contender was the Ping i230 and I was immediately taken in by the more explosive feel off the face.  i230 was giving me almost 3 yards more carry, about 500 rpm more spin, greater height, steeper descent, and even tighter dispersion by about 3 yards.  I was telling Mike, "Oh yeah, these are the ones."  There wasn't a night and day difference between ZXi7 and i230 but you take every advantage you can get when you play this game.  And this also illustrates how the Club Champion fitting gives you those advantages.

But Mike wasn't satisfied.  I'd have been happy leaving with the ZXi7 or i230 at this point to be honest, but Mike had other plans.  Knowing my preference for compact irons he pulled two more for me to try.  I'd notice after our fitting was done that the ZXi7 and i230 have very similar blade lenghts.  And the next two irons Mike had me hit also had similar blade lengths but were both clearly smaller than ZXi7 and i230.

Enter the Mizuno S3.  Ball speed was a tad lower than the i230 but smash factor was a tad better.  S3 launched lower than i230 and spun higher by about 100 rpm.  i230 also had slightly higher peak height and slightly steeper descent.  Because the i230 was about 3 yards longer overall I was thinking yeah, I'm sticking with the i230.

Then Mike pointed out my club path consistency was better with S3.  With the S3 I hit more shots that looked identical in direction and height than I did with i230.  S3 gave me a more repeatable shot shape.  I was torn.  Do I go with the i230 for slightly better total yards and descent angle?  That matters.  And it's not like i230 didn't have great dispersion, it absolutely did.  Or do I go with the S3 that was producing more shots that looked like they were on loop.  What was I to do?

The Club Champion Fitting Final Masterpiece

Throughout the fitting process Mike was making adjustments like tweaking lie angles to the shaft-head combos trying to give me every competitive advantage and maximize my ideal launch, height, spin, smash factor, and consistency across all performance categories.  And to this point I honestly thought he'd accomplished it all.  Both the Ping i230 and Mizuno S3 were phenomenal.  It was now up to me to decide which of their strengths was more important to me.  But Mike had one last card up his sleeve to make my decision an easy one.

Out came the Miura TC-202.  And TC-202 had it ALL.  I showed you a picture of my face impact on X/Twitter and I'm not saying hang it in the Louvre.  But layers on layers on layers, shot after shot after shot, impact in pretty much the exact same location is freaking awesome.  Across the board TC-202 gave me my best consistency numbers in club speed, ball speed, smash factor, launch angle, spin rate, carry, attack angle, and club path.  I even had about 3 mph more ball speed and slightly greater peak height with TC-202 over S3.

Remember that champagne popping make me wanna shout scene from the Wedding Crashers?  That was me and Mike at the end of my fitting.

The Club Champion Fitting Brass Tacks

A Club Champion iron fitting leaves no stone unturned to put you into a set of irons that will have you playing your best golf.  Most of us have experienced hitting clubs better when they look better to our eyes.  And Club Champion takes that a step further by making your custom fit clubs more efficient as well.

You'll find the center of the face more often after a Club Champion fitting and build.  You'll find the center of the face more consistently after a Club Champion fitting and build.  I'm not saying you'll become an elite iron striker.  But even your misses are optimized in the sense that launch angles, spin rates, and descent angles are less penalized because your fitting takes into account and analyzes everything about your swing.  And then your ultimate custom build puts you into a set of irons that maximize your swing strengths and minimize your swing weaknesses.

So go ahead and swing your swing.  Because Club Champion will unlock and release all its potential.The same material in the Blue Frost however stiffened the tip too much and brought the launch down so Project X went to a 30 ton fiber and moved it up the shaft in the Blue to maintain the mid-launch, mid-spin profile while also still allowing Blue to benefit from improved rotational stability. 

Remember you always have three different ways to win the daily gifts in my giveaway this year.  And if you miss a day don't worry.  You can enter ANY of the DAY Giveaways anytime throughout the entire 12 Days of Christmas.

On X/Twitter just repost my giveaway announcement and follow all; on Instagram repost and follow all; and here on my blog leave a comment in the section below in the daily DAY review/giveaway, Jingle BAM, Jingle BAM Bigger, Letters from Santa, Santa Dared Me, Santa Triple Dog Dared Me, Hot Koffee and a Kringle, Kringle Gonna Kringle, and Run It Back Kringle articles.

These gifts are great prizes of course, but also some of the best equipment and gear in their class that I played and reviewed this season.  And I hope these mini reviews and recaps give you an idea of why I rate them so highly.

Merry Christmas all, and here's Santa's letter to me again.

Hear me out Petey.

The Best Christmas Golf Giveaway Party in The World HAS TO wrap it all up with The Best Golf Equipment Fitter in The World.

So for DAY 12 of your PGAPappas 12 Days of Christmas Golf Giveaway let’s do it! A Club Champion Iron Fitting and Custom Built FULL Set of ANY Irons the winner wants.  Light it UP like a Christmas Tree baby!

And your 12 Days overall this year?  You understood the assignment.  Then you rewrote the textbook.  Excellence, executed.  Take a victory lap.

And know this buddy.  Whatever you do.  Wherever you go.  You can be my wingman anytime.

SC