**Background:**
I am what might be known in the fitting world as “rapidly improving beginner,” Having improved from the low 30s to mid-single digits over the course of the past 8 months. I am obsessed and obsessive, playing somewhere in the 120 rounds range since June, and also having taken 14 lessons, practicing 2-3 hours per day and studying the game 2-3 hours per day.
The “long game” has always been my weakness both to my perception and to Arccos’s data collection. My driver game was that of a 15-18 handicap, and my 200+ game was of that of a 12-15 handicap.
Rocking unfitted clubs that were generations old and obviously terrible for my swing, it was time to go in for a fitting.
I went with the 2nd Swing Tour Van Long Game Fitting instead of Club Champion because of a prior good experience with 2nd Swing, and because I had a general idea of exactly what I wanted, and a general idea that I didn’t want to deal with the CC salesmanship (even though it’s completely avoidable).
I chose to work with Kevin Kraft, because he was a full time mini and Korn Ferry tour player for over a decade, is working toward the Champions Tour, I have been following his YouTube series on 2nd Swing’s channel, and because one of my friends had a long game fitting with him last season that transformed his game. Frankly, he seemed like the best golfer of the available fitters, and based on what I’ve learned from TXG, there tends to be a decent correlation.
**Introduction / Interview Phase:**
I explained to Kevin that primarily, my goal was to add 2 clubs above my 4 iron to improve my long game, and to find a driver shaft that was more stable and less generally shitty than the one I was gaming. I told him I typically carry 4 iron about 215, and so I was looking for something about 230-240 and 250-260.
I gave him the whole spiel above about my golf background, and also mentioned that my background is originally in bowling, where I’m the equivalent of a plus-handicapper. In other words, that I understand the value of technique, and that I am obsessed with perfecting it.
I told him my preferences were with the Ventus and Graphite Design products, basically because of their reputation and presence amongst the best in the world, and that I liked generally neutral looking clubs that sit fairly neutral to slightly open, and definitely not closed.
**Warm Up:**
The warm up phase of the fitting consisted of 15 shots with my 7 iron. I was happy to see that since my retrofit in November, where I replaced the TT XP 115 shafts that came with the irons with C-Taper 130X +0.5” 2° upright, my numbers improved across the board.
I was most happy to see that I had increased my average smash factor to 1.35, and was presenting an average of 23° of Dynamic Loft with a 33-degree 7 iron.
**Driver Retrofit:**
For the Driver portion of the fitting, I indicated that I was only interested in buying a shaft for my current driver, because I didn’t see the point in paying the extra $500 for a new head.
This process began with 5 shots with my current gamer, a Ping G410+ 9° with the weight neutral, with the Tensei Orange CK Pro 60X. Kevin expressed his displeasure with this shaft, and we talked for a few minutes about how I’ve heard a lot of people saying the same negative things about it, and how I never really felt comfortable with it.
One of the nice things about 2nd Swing is they have older stock, so Kevin grabbed another G410+ head and threw in the Ventus Black 7X. Immediately it felt incredibly more stable than the Tensei, my dispersion shrunk to what I would equate to throwing darts, my face to path was basically zeroed out, and I gained about 20 yards. It was immediately apparent this was the shaft to beat.
Next I tried the Graphite Design AD XC 7X, and it felt extremely unstable compared to ventus, as if the club was getting lost in space behind me and I could never make the face catch up. Significantly “less stiff” than the Ventus. Smash factor dropped down to 1.40, spin increased by 700 RPMs, peak height increased by 50 feet, and carry dropped 30 yards compared to Ventus. No good
We were pretty confident at this point that the Ventus 7X was the way to go, but he threw in the HZRDUS Smoke Hulk to see what would happen. Unlike the GD XC which was overly whippy, the Hulk was overly boardy and I couldn’t make it work. It performed worse in every category compared to both Ventus and XC.
Ultimately, I went with the Ventus Black 7X Velocore. It split the difference between the XC and the Hulk, and produced the most stable feel and best launch and spin numbers.
We had a long discussion about how I was basically leaving 30 yards on the table due to awful smash factor at 1.45, and then moved on to the hybrid portion of the fitting.
**Hybrid Fit:**
5 Shots with my current gamer, the SIM Max with Ventus Blue 7-S. I suspected that this club was defective, because it hadn’t been performing well lately despite good strikes. Through 5 shots, I produced an average of 142 MPH ball speed, but was producing about 5700 spin and a 130-foot peak height. This led to a land angle over 50, and a total distance of about 215 yards at a smash of 1.46. When I got this club, a similar strike would produce knuckle-bombs. My gut feeling is that the shaft is cracked in the hosel. Who knows.
The first batter up was the SIM2 with the ProForce V2 shaft, turned down to 18.5 degrees. It was immediately apparent that this wasn’t a good option, as I hit a 250 yard bullet that only spun 3500. Kevin immediately switched the club back to standard loft, and I hit 5 shots. This set-up produced great numbers. Average ball speed 142.6, smash 1.47, 4500 spin, peak height of 99 with a 44-degree land angle.
Then came the mack daddy. Ping G425 with the GD AD DI 95X. This blew away the competition. In 5 shots, I averaged 144.5 ball speed, 1.49 smash, 3700 spin, 227 Carry 240 total, and a 41.3 land angle. The shape of the G425 was the perfect balance between my old Sim Max and the new players’ SIM2, which is absolutely tiny. The AD DI felt night-and-day better than the Proforce V2, too.
**3-Wood Fit:**
We started with a brief discussion of what I wanted the 3 wood to be. Would it be a driver replacement, or would it be a fairway club? Truthfully, I didn’t know the answer. The conclusion we came to was that my objective was to learn how to hit driver, so the 3 Wood would be better off as a “jack of all trades” type of club.
With that in mind, we tried the G425 with the same GD AD that we put in the hybrid. It spun too much, so we went to the LST version, which also spun too much. We then switched to the Ventus Black 8X, and that killed the spin, but it also killed my ability to make decent contact. Had a couple of cold tops Molinari style in there.
Enter SIM2 Ti. Managed a 1.49 smash over 5 shots with the Sim2TI Ventus Black 8X combo. Producing an average carry of 252, average total of 269 (nice), with 3400 spin and 111 apex.
https://imgur.com/a/RBMHW9f (Red circle is SIM Ti)
**Conclusion:**
G410+ 8° Neutral, Ventus Black Velocore 7X
SIM2 Ti 15°, Ventus Black Velocore 8X
Ping G425 19°, GD AD DI 95X
These produced both the tightest dispersion and most distance for me, and represented tangible and considerable upgrades over what I went into the fitting with. I now have clubs that slot 240, 260, and 280+, and a 3 wood and hybrid that can be playable off the tee and from the fairway. These should gap perfectly and help take my long game to the next level.
I was happy with how I hit the ball today. Coming from a pattern of being steep and over the top, I maintained a path that was in-to-out and an angle of attack that was shallow. Surprisingly, I was positive with Driver, and barely negative with 3-Wood and Hybrid. My greatest anxiety coming into the fitting was that I’d perform poorly, or that my performance with a bad delivery would lead to a bad fitting, but I am confident that it’s all uphill from here.
Kevin did a great job of keeping the fitting from turning into a lesson, which I appreciated. He gave me one tip at the end, which was to not crowd the ball so much with Driver. He basically said I was running into my own body, causing some weird secondary tilts contributing to bad impact conditions. He even had a slo-mo video analysis with plane lines etc. drawn on my body, so he must have been doing some analysis as I was hitting. It was immediately apparent what he was saying, and it’s something I need to work in before the season starts.
It was a rather expensive endeavor, but I went all out knowing that I’m giving myself the best opportunity possible to hit my goal of +1 index by June 15th. I think that if I can produce the shots I produced in the 2 hours this morning, I will get damn close.
**Overall Opinion/Rating:**
I would rate the fitting process with Kevin as a 10/10. He seemed to be attuned to things that made sense and things that I’ve learned through watching countless TXG and 2nd Swing videos. He knows his stuff, knew what to recommend, and knew what to not recommend. Everything he handed me was an improvement, until we hit a point where it was obvious what the correct option was. He had a good perception of what was popular, what was good product, etc.
I would rate the 2nd Swing experience at an 8.5/10. Their shaft matrix isn’t going to be as big as someone like a Club Champion, for example. They have all the major Fuji and GD Shafts, but not all of the niche ones. If you’re looking for something that’s “exotic exotic” like a Speeder Evo VII or some of the more obscure GD shafts, you won’t find them at 2nd Swing.
Fortunately, I was mostly interested in Ventus and AD DI, which I knew they had. The only issue I ran into was they didn’t have the LH Cobra RAD hybrid, and they didn’t have a AD DI for the SIM2 hybrid. Kevin admitted that not too many of their customers buy pimped out hybrids.
I’d additionally take off 0.5 points for the fitting being Trackman. Club Champion is also Trackman, so it’s a moot point, but it would still be better to have GCQuad, as it performs better indoors.