We Got Custom Fitted For Every Club In The Bag!

In this video, Golf Monthly’s Johnny Percival goes for a full bag fitting at TaylorMade’s performance lab at the Belfry to see what extra performance could be unlocked!

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Introduction 0:00
Driver 1:26
Fairway woods 5:51
Irons 9:19
Wedges 14:17
Putter 16:33

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Right, we are here at the Belelfrey today and more specifically Tailormaid’s Performance Lab. Now, my name is Johnny Persal and I have never had a full bag fitting and today we are going to get driver all the way through to putter. Now, let’s see what we discover. All right, so before we get get started, tell me a little bit about your game. Obviously, you’ve told me your handicaps, you know, single figure golfer, so you’re good player. You know, tell me a little bit about about your bag, what you like, you know, what’s working well at the moment, what’s not working well. So, I would say at the moment, and I think this is I’m I’m struggling a bit off the tea. Okay. Um I don’t know quite why. It used to be probably the strongest part of my game. Okay. And it’s I think primarily a confidence thing, but um so that’s why I’ve got the kind of like the mini driver in. That’s kind of my fail safe off the tea. And then I’ve never really had a 3-wood I could get along with, which is why I went for a five. Um so I primarily just use that off the fairway long par fives. Occasionally, occasionally off the tea if it’s like a a particularly long par three. Okay. I’ve never been a particularly strong long iron hitter, so having something slightly chunkier with a bit more forgiveness has always been quite handy. And then these, yeah, I’ve had them in the bag for about a year and a half. They’re the AI200s. And then, yeah, uh wedges 50, 54, 58. I tend to do most of my chipping with a 54. Okay. Um and then if I’m hitting kind of little bump and runs, I’ll tend to use a pitching wedge. That’s emergencies only sand and 50 is kind of full full shots into greens. I’d say, you know, I’m looking at your driver here. It’s an 11 degree driver and then you’ve got a mini at 11.5. So yes, in your normal driver, if you like, you know, your full size driver, you know that, you know, it’s a longer shaft, slightly bigger head, when you get it, you know, you’re going to get a little bit more, but the, you know, the mini drivers now, you know, they are, you know, they are they’re quick. You know, they’re hot off the face. So probably on two good hits, you know, there’s probably not loads of difference. You know, you’re going to get a little bit of a good hit, but there’s not loads. So that’s a flag that we need to look at really. You know, if for me, if I can get you swinging it good with a full length driver, you know, obviously the performance hopefully is going to kick in that tea height. All right. Yeah, that’s spot on. Okay. On the feedback that you’ve given me and probably the swings that you’re putting on it, it you’ve lost a little bit of confidence in your driving. That’s not the club. That’s just, you know, if I give you, you know, within reason if you were hitting any driver now kind of where you are. So that’s my job to try and start to build that little bit of confidence up, which you’re obviously already trying to do anyway because you’ve gone and got yourself a mini driver, slightly smaller head, smaller shaft, little bit more loft. Ironically, it’s similar lot to what you’ve got on your own. Your path is moving left, but it’s being delivered with an open club face with not much loft. Okay? So, it’s just, you know, it’s it’s quite a uh, you know, it’s a shot which is going to cause you some problems at the moment on the golf course. We want to bring them Jenga blocks back and build that confidence up. And that does come from giving you a club that is um, a little bit easier to hit. Um, something with a little bit more loft. You know, when you look down, you see a little bit more loft to start to build that little bit of confidence. So, I’m going to give you something. I’m not going to tell you what I’m giving you. Okay? I’m just going to let you have a little hit. Yeah. See how it looks. see how it feels. And then as as you start to hit, I’ll start to explain what what we’re doing. There we go. Look at that. Good. That’s a good one. So, straight away, all right, we’ve picked up what, 11 11 yards of carry there from anything else that you’ve hit. Okay, good shot. Okay, just give that a hit for me. Again, not going to tell you too much about it just yet. How does this feel? Yeah, feels good. Five of those last six and take those out on the course every day. That’s 12° notched up one higher. So, it’s the static L. So the the static loft of the head is 12 there. I’m just again I’m just trying to breed that little bit of confidence. You can see a little bit of loft. You feel as though you can get the ball up in the air. I did notice it in the ball flight as well. It was kind of that slightly more towering in terms of look at address. That appeals to me more. Yeah, because you because of where you’re at with driving at the moment. Good. That’s the one. That’s absolutely fine with that as well. Building up a bit of a sweat. Really good. Really good. I mean, that’s that’s completely night and day. So on the driver fitting the numbers here we are seeing a 10 mph uh gain in ball speed. Certainly a huge significant jump but it would be certainly Johnny would be controlling this as much as the club just because it was a much more easier club for Johnny to use. Spin rate came down launch went up. Ultimately distance started to increase significantly. You know, we picked up a a carry from 210 to 244 and a roll out from 257 to 2 uh 286, which is significantly as say that’s not just the club doing that. That is certainly Johnny swinging a bit more freely because it was something that was much more suited for him. [Music] It’s all get it all gets a little bit congested up at the top end. So much of it tends to be kind of confidence based if that makes sense. So on paper, let’s say we were taking this out. Yeah. We have a fivewood, then we go to a three rescue. Yeah. Based on if we keep four iron down all the way with a three wedge set up plus your pitch, obviously say the word seven would or a nine would a golfer. Yeah. And they should have with the with the the thought of putting an extra head cover in the bag. Tommy Fleetwoods had a I think he started in the US Open uh in 2024 had a ninewood in and again they will have 15 16 clubs and you know kind of changed that round. That’s just that is just such an appealing head shape. Yeah, just slightly more square foot square footage just looks so good. Yeah, that was that was good. Yeah, that’s kind of what I’m looking for. Okay, good strike. So th this is going too close to what the the fivewood is doing. Yeah, because it’s coming out flat. Okay. So that’s a flag straight away that this for me cuz I like the fivewood. I like that shape. But this doesn’t get it in the bag. We’re not going to hold the green. It’s going to come out low. It’s going to run. that doesn’t make the grade in terms of getting into that bag. And we talked about lofted fairway woods. You know, this is where I’d be looking at that seven wood. So, what are we looking at here loftwise? 21°. 21. Yeah. Now, in fairness, that looks fun. Add a dress. Threewood doesn’t make it into the bag because dynamically we’re not presenting enough loft or getting enough launch. So, that fivewood that we have is is is your three and this is really your five. Okay. So, it makes sense to me. That’s one. Really good. [Applause] Lovely. Really good. Yeah. And that idea of what we’re saying to you that it’s a sevenwood, but it’s a fivewood for you. Yeah. I see hundreds of golfer during the during the year that they’ll say, “Right, h I’ve come for a fairwood fit in. I’m struggling with my 3-wood.” The reason why they can’t hit the 3-wood is there’s just not enough loft on on there for them. For me, a a typical 15 degree 3-wood now off the fairway. Yeah. Is is probably the hardest shot to hit because the modern day fairway, obviously, they’re a lot more low spinning. You need that loft to get up in the air. Now, if you got the technique and the speed to get that up, fine. If you haven’t, but you start to see you get that dippy one, you don’t get the carry and ultimately you’re not going to get the shot that you desire. we actually see that the six eye and the five I and the four iron are going to go exactly the same distance because the loft the speed versus the loft doesn’t activate properly and we don’t get that carry because the speed isn’t there for the for the launch and it’s exactly the same with fairway woods and and and rescues. Now, if a golfer has a certain swing speed when it gets to the lower level, the likelihood is they don’t need 14 clubs because the speed doesn’t dictate for them to get the right grouping of distances through the bag. I’ve got an idea. So, I think we I’d like to potentially go with the irons, which I think can some unlock uh some performance for you, but we’ll we’ll go through that and see where we come out. Cool. Going to give you P790. Mhm. I know we talked about the idea of combo. I like that idea. Shorter just to retain that little bit more control, maybe suit your eye a little bit. Okay, give that a hit for me. Thank you. what sort of distance you tend to see with your I know obviously we’ve got some numbers here but um I mean I’ I’d typically say my uh 7 iron carry distance is probably 160 165 I’d say on a good one probably very good that’s different ball flight isn’t it is a real good starting point to look at uh matching up to peak height so your club speed with a seven iron is 82 average with your own. Yeah. Um you’ve actually picked up a bit of speed. Not really sure what what that’s down to now cuz it’s the same shaft, but you’re at 85 mph. Now, I would want to see really as a starting point. Yeah. That in peak height in feet. Okay. So, yours is a lot lower than that with your own 7 iron. Yeah. Now, that one straight out the gate there was 88 ft. That’s a proper flight. Okay. It’s got more spin on it. It’s got a better descent angle in terms of the landing angle. It’s got a better peak height on it. So, right now, that’s a really, really good start. Lovely. I think But for you to see that height, I mean, that must be nice to see there. Really refreshing class. Really good. Since I used the P790s, I think my ball strike has probably improved a little bit. Yeah. which has kind of made me think, oh, maybe the P770 could be a good fit now. Yeah. Yeah, you strike it definitely well enough for 770. Um, I I think they also look absolutely sublime. So, not to say I like the P790s as well. Where would you where would you think in your head you would combo the set down? I think probably. So, depending upon if we go with that four iron, yeah, I’d potentially go like 56 790 78 9P 770. So these are a little bit weaker. So right now I I’ve got this as a standard loft on a 79. Yeah. And I would weaken the five and six off in the 790. Got it. Lovely. Really, really, really good. Just based on them two shots, that’s where I’d combo it as well. If you look at the peak height of that 770, 86 ft. Yeah. Versus 84 on the 790. The launch angle 15.6 6 to 16 ball speed 116 118 spin 66 69 carry 159 161 so that’s where the crossover point is and then it’s down to the golfer of kind of what they like I like the idea of you putting a 79 down in there but then giving you that little bit more forgiveness CD a little bit lower on the 790 and that five and six get the ball that’s where I’d say I know we spoke earlier about the fact that I wouldn’t I’m I’m when I say long irons Probably people a touch older than me grew up with two and three irons will smile at this. But six and five is where it’s probably the two clubs where I not weakest but where I start to get a little bit twitchy. Oh, this is a long iron now. You know a five and six iron for a, you know, for your handicap. If you’ve got a five and six iron into the green and you hit the green, you’re happy. Yeah. Absolutely delighted. Yeah, these feel lovely. It’s really good. Now, you see there’s just that little bit of movement in terms of the access of the golf ball to the right. I’m just going to tweak it one cuz I say I couldn’t change the loft and the light at the same time on the fitting system. So, we’re just looking at shape here really, aren’t we? I like that. Yeah. Where you know when you hit that iron, it’s going to pop up in the air. Loads of height, loads of control, spin on it as well because you weren’t getting the spin with with your own. But again, I know you’ve pulled that a little bit, but again, you take that that’s the one that’s going to run. And you you’re striking that comfortably. Yeah. To be able The strikes feel better. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we get slightly longer, slightly more upright. Yeah, that’s your club. That’s the bun, isn’t it? Yeah. Sounds better as well. It does. Yeah. So, we go four, five, six, and then seven to wedge in the 770s. And are they two 790s two degrees weaker? One degree. One degree weaker. Starts with two and then went to one. One degree weaker. Yeah. And then the 770s will be standard. Bob’s your uncle. Okay. Fantastic. [Music] Uh yeah, my pitching and shipping’s pretty pretty solid, I’d say. Famous last words, but So you like to use the bands? Yeah. 15 20 years ago, if you said to Joe Golfer, you know, you need a SBC grind. What What does that mean? You know, and and but the golfers are getting a lot more educated now, which is which is good. So, I’m going to literally going to start you with a uh standard bounce and a mil grind four. Yeah. Okay. And I literally just want to see you hit uh let’s pick a target or even just pitching it past that slope there. Slope. Yeah. Better better strike. Mhm. What we don’t want to see is it popping up to loft high right and weak. Yeah. You know, you want to see um you know, ideally I don’t, you know, the launch angle. You don’t want it to be too high, but you obviously want that that zip on it as well. But it’s interesting to see how you how you kind of see and that’s probably why you like to see a little bit of bounce. He feels that you’ve got that safety if you are playing that floaty one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Just hit that. I’m not going to tell you what it is. Yeah. Okay. And again. So good. Hit this for me again. I’m not going to tell you what it is. And a lot of the times, and I know it’s obviously off a mat, but we’re also listening for the Yeah. Yeah. You can really hear the difference. You can listening for the strike. Okay. Different. It didn’t sound Didn’t sound quite as clean, did it? Cuz there’s not enough There’s not enough bounce on this. Sounds dead, doesn’t it? Yeah. Okay. So, if we go back into this one, so that’s got 11° of bounce on this one. This one? Yeah. Is this the one we’re hitting first or first? Yeah. That was nice. Sounded good. Yeah. Yeah, that feels good. You like that? Really nice. Yeah. This already I can feel like even around the greens. It builds some confidence. Really builds some confidence. Yeah. So Johnny, we spoke about um you know looking at putters and you know obviously we we spoke about your putter, you know, your typical classic blade and you played that style um for a long time. Obviously, there’s been huge inroads um with a multitude of different manufacturers into this kind of zero to Yeah, absolutely. Putter because it is going to be very different to obviously what you have with your typical blade. Your blade obviously wants to swing kind of that open and shut door with a zero torque aren’t going to do that. You know, they are, you know, especially if you’ve got a kind of a a short put. It’s literally, you know, you you aim up, you aim up straight and you straight back through and you shoot and you’re going to go in. All being equal with it’s irrelevant stroke. When I held your putter, Mhm. it did have heavy weights in it for for that length. It felt nice, you know, in terms of that, you know, you probably get that stability feeling from it. So certainly with that zero torque and the weight of them, I think you are going to like the feel of that of of of that weight. Um, so it’ll be really interesting to see of how you roll it, how the ball rolls in terms of the uh the look of it. If you look at some zero torque putters, the way the design in the market, the shaft is obviously going back very back into into um into the head. This is kind of seems we’re getting it a lot closer. Yeah, we really tried the engineers who worked very very hard and that’s why we didn’t want to rush this out. If we’re going to do it, we want to do it right and we want to do it in a tailor made way. So yeah, let’s have a roll of it and see how you feel. I would say, you know, line the put up the ball up to you put. We’ll use our stripe golf ball so you get some instant feedback with a visual check. I would say I’ll probably make at best one of these around. Okay. To be completely honest, I’m intrigued to see just how much more kind of forgiveness this. So, this will have our same insert that our pure roll insert that’s in our spider putters as well. Very good. You can see that ball straight away rolling end over end. Yeah. I like the feel though in terms of like on takeback it feels really stable. Yeah. So you’re not going to get that kind of swing that probably you’re going to feel with with your uh with your blade. So you can see everything set. There’s no manipulation you have to do with a forward press. Everything’s in there for you. It’s lally just shoot and aim. Okay. So I would say you are see right now you’d have you’re aiming a bit right. You have to pull it to get a bit online there. So, I would have you in kind of obviously change your your your stance to it as well. Okay. Okay. Okay. That looks much better. Okay. I think that’s the uh it’s trying to get that technology bringing it in that spider package, which I think I mean it fits aesthetically really well into No, I think we’ll uh I think we’ll have a a real successful year with it. Excellent. Yeah, that’s lovely. Good stuff. Cool. Right, Dan. So, I’ve hit about 3,000 golf balls and we’ve worked our way through the entire bag. Some quite big takeaways, some big surprises for me. What are the kind of key changes? We’ll start with driver. Yeah, I think obviously with your driver that’s probably hurting other parts of your game because you probably lost a little bit of confidence with it. The driver you had is a great driver. It just wasn’t working right for you. So for me it was trying to input some confidence into that product for you. Now that is changing the style of of the head in terms of how it looks. Uh changing this the the makeup of the shaft that was in it as well and just giving you certainly a more forgiving driver. Ultimately what that did it unlocked some performance. We’ve seen that from the gains in terms of the ball speed, the overall length, but then what I could see is the fitter. It unlocked the confidence for you to start swinging freely at it. And then fairway woods kind of what I was expecting, but I have to say wasn’t expecting to go five and seven, but made sense, didn’t it? Yeah. I think that’s where the, you know, you knew kind of where where you’re at with a fur, but that’s where the education comes in and you can use the Trackman and you can use the numbers that you get given because essentially you don’t need a 3-wood because the firewood for you particularly is going better and further than the 3-wood because you need that loft. So, yes, we moved into a five and seven would in reality that’s your three and fivewood, you know. So, matching that up, you know, getting the gap in right and that blended lovely then as we moved into into the irons. It did indeed. And I kind of came into this telling you the occasional low one comes out. You solved that pretty quickly. Yeah, I could I could kind of see that from early on. You know, the fitting process starts from the minute you walk in. I’m getting as much information and I’m already thinking a few steps down the line. Well, I think this is going to work well. Based on the po feedback you given me, I quite like the shafts that you had in yours and and the shots that that you were hitting. just the iron spec wasn’t probably exactly what you wanted in right this this moment. So as we moved into something in a 790 which you know ultimately is a it’s forgiven iron. It’s it’s a player’s distance iron but we’re not putting that in the bag for you. We were doing it to get the um to get the the the right flight by. What we were able to do is just weaken that loft in them longer irons to get the height but then started hitting the numbers and the consistent of the yardage the uh the peak height was so much better. So having that in and then couple that in the 770s to get in the right uh blend of the lofts as well. I think the real key one for me which was nice to see is you had a a four iron in there which was a spoke kind of driving iron. We tried some of ours and it wasn’t really working and then I gave you the 790 which you thought wasn’t going to be the right one because it was a little bit sleeker. The performance was incredible. I was that was one of the biggest surprises of today. I thought I was definitely going to go into a Driving in 4 and then P790 kind of blew it out of the walls. And you got to take that confidence out cuz the way you were hitting that was incredible. And then to blend that out in through the set and this isn’t a kind of negativity on your behalf, but you didn’t realize the gap that you had from your pitching wedge to your 50. So the fact that we’ve got that, we’ve bridged that gap from I think yours was 7 to 8° difference when we checked it. Um, so we’ve got a nice gap now from the 46 into the 50. The gapping was good. And then we blended that well. And then giving you something with a little bit more bounce in that 60°. Suddenly, you know, you could hear the strike, you could hear the way you were clipping. It was much clipping it really nicely. Yeah, I was going to say big bounce guy. Kind of knew that, but that extra Yeah. two degrees bouncing to 60 and moving for 58 to 60, I think, is really going to give you more more options. And then and then the putter obviously that is very different to what what you’ve got. Zero torque is certainly hot at the moment. So, it’ be really interesting to see how you take that onto the course. You know, you were rolling them puts in well, so hopefully if you take that onto the course, we’ll be holding some more putts. Well, appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you very much for coming down. See you soon. See you soon.