The Weeky Golfshake Podcast now on Youtube. Ryan and Matt sit down to discuss all things tour, all things golf and the latest topics in golf right now.
Tommy Fleetwood isn’t a choker, after all.
Time for some winter sun
New Equipment releases.
What makes the perfect driving range
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Hello and welcome to the latest golf Shake podcast as you can see can see now me and M live on video so um yeah we’ve started uh videoing the podcast now so that you can actually watch it on our YouTube channel as well as list into it if you’re driving around the country
Going to and from work or wherever you digest your podcast from Matt hello how the heck are you hello this is nice isn’t it isn’t it I can actually see you look at you don’t know whether it’s better or worse if I’m honest but anyway we’ll crack on but but yeah it’s been
Another busy week in golf mate hasn’t it and personally I’ve not been on the golf course which is no surprise but I’ve I’ve hit some balls I’ve done some practice and I’ve done some Club reviews which we’re going to talk about a little bit later but what has the last week
Held for you mate what have you been doing uh so the last week I very um last minute and unexpectedly went and got my fitting for my new Cobra dark speed driver and Fairway Woods which um I’m not expecting this week but it shouldn’t be too long after this week
Hopefully time we go to Portugal then yeah I would have thought so definitely yeah um uh yeah then played over the weekend didn’t didn’t have me best didn’t have me best golf actually to be honest I think I uh I kind of hit a wall yesterday afternoon but still managed to get
Get a couple of twos on the scorecard which was nice um but yes I mean it’s dry but it’s very cold at the moment down here so um yeah so I’ve not really been doing much to be honest mate just in the gym I mean we’ve had a bit of a
Cold snap this week haven’t we in the UK and it’s it’s due to get a little colder I think over the next few days to be honest and um certainly I mean I’m down in basing Stoke at the moment it’s one degree outside um it’s cold um we do a
Little bit of snow I think maybe the day not maybe not tomorrow day after I was going to say the day after tomorrow but I don’t think it’s going to be as bad as that um don’t know if you’ve ever seen that film but pretty apocalyptic but
Yeah it’s um we’re not going to get snow that bad but um yeah it’s going to be cold I don’t think I don’t know whether we’re going to get enough to close golf courses and stuff like that I’m not sure I think up in leads it’s not going to be
Too great I don’t think but we’ll we’ll see um but I don’t think it’ll put the likes of yourself off playing golf or or getting down the range so this week we we’ll run through a little bit of what we’re going to talk about so we’re going
To have a bit of a go over what what’s gone on on the DP World Tour and the PJ tour in the last few days we’re going to have a bit of a chat about um some of the gear that we’ve been reviewing on the YouTube channel lately and kind of
Talk through a little bit about what we’ve seen I mean we’re not going to we’re not going to go into too much depth because I think we could probably do a podcast on each brand that’s that’s um that’s released new stuff um this season season so we’re not going to
Drone on about that uh we’re also going to have a bit of a look ahead to next week on each of the tours as well and see what’s going on and also we we were having a bit of a chat before the podcast started about our kind of Ideal
Practice facilities and all of us using ranges this time of the year and not get into the golf club as much as we’d like to so um we’re going to have a bit of a chat about what we like to see at a drivein range as well and it be great if
If some of you guys want to comment on this as well let us know below um if you’re watching on YouTube you can pop it in the comments section down there and if you’re listening to it on the podcast um you can get onto our social
Media so either on the golf Shake um Facebook account the X account or even speak to us on Instagram me and Matt are pretty active on that as well so um you can also tag us into anything or or link us into it and have a chat with us if
You want to and also if you got anything you really want us to talk about during the podcast we’d be great to to hear from you about that and and yeah see what’s going on in your world of golf not just ours but we’ll crack on with what’s happened in professional golf
Matt so did you watch much of the golf over the weekend uh yes uh so I didn’t annoyingly because I played Saturday and Sunday morning I completely missed both the kind of um the the you know the the weekend rounds on the uh on the DVP
World Tour which was um which was a shame I did watch a fair bit of the golf in the evening um I’m not not right into it it’s not an event I get I get right right into it’s just one of the ones I put it on I have a watch and basically
Until I fall asleep um so yes I was wasn’t too into it um this week uh but I watched what I can as I normally do um it’s difficult it when it’s cold and wet and miserable here and there’s mud everywhere and you’ve got you know your
Choices are Hawaii or Dubai I think we’re just jealous aren’t we really L way in in uh yeah watching those guys playing in you know polo shirts and and uh it’s just absolutely boiling the balls going miles and bouncing and all that kind of stuff and complete polar
Opposite to what we’ve got in the UK at the moment but but yeah I mean the time differences don’t help Dubai like you say is quite on quite early and Hawaii obviously because it’s bloody miles away is on very late so we don’t generally
Just get to see the end of the golf but um we’ll start with PJ T so we saw Grayson Murray win um you know it’s well documented some of the things that have happened or been going on with him off the golf course but great to see him uh
Come to the front um Ben an really had a very good chance to take it into a playoff didn’t he missed that quite short um was it about three or footer um that he missed to to kind of extend it of that I think isn’t he yeah and I saw
He was using one of those like longer counterbalance sort of Putters as well so he’s obviously been struggling with his putting because that’s the only reason you would use one of them so um yeah I mean I mean he’s obviously a very good player and so it’s Grayson Murray
And and it’s great to see that he’s kind of exercised some of those demons he’s been dealing with and and got himself in the winner circle and very early on in the season obviously secured his his PJ tour future for a while with that win as well
Yeah it’s uh it’s good good for him and it’s uh because Chris Kirk had also struggled hadn’t he and he was he was doing well yeah good news stories I think indeed yeah absolutely it was really really good and over on the DP World Tour we saw um probably I’d
Imagine it’s everyone if he’s not your favorite golfer he’s certainly everyone’s second favorite Tommy Fleetwood um come to the front and win in Dubai Invitational event um we saw some very very good golf played and we also saw some very very bad golf played
Um in that event I don’t know if you saw the uh bottom of the lead of board um but there is a golf pro American golf pro who is is actually the pro at um Michael Jordan’s course which is it called The Grove 23 I
Think um old Ken he uh he struggled a little bit um I think was he 53 over par think four rounds which is quite a few I mean I mean that’s like over 13 over per round but yeah um wrong I’ve shot that as a professional but not four rounds in a row
No yeah it’s a difficult one that um but I’m sure it was quite difficult for him you know playing off the European torti and um obviously playing as well playing in the DP tour World Tour event for the first time and it you know it being one
That you’ve got the likes of Rory and Tommy lewood streaking away um so yeah um 72 shots behind them for four rounds though takes some doing yeah I was uh I was really pleased at Tommy got the job done to be honest I um me too I mean I
Just love watching it it just seems like I mean I was lucky enough to to meet him when uh when Nike looked after me for a long time we went it was in Dubai actually we we met him and Ross Fisher and to olison at an event um and he did
Did like a clinic for us he’s just the nicest guy ever really and and great to watch and when I’ve been to events since and watched him hit balls he’s always just so impressive and so particularly with irons and wedges he just looks like he can’t miss um I think he was
Developing a reputation wasn’t he of getting himself in good positions and kind of not getting the job done um or kind of weak fourth rounds but yeah maybe see him finish in the way that he finish you know with I would say he probably doesn’t win as much as he
Should do for how good he is but it wasn’t that long ago that he was looking like he was going to drop to the challenge tour and then he looked where he is now do you know what I mean he I would say he’s he’s definitely a success
Story within golf Tom Tommy Fleetwood and and great for him to get a win this early you never know what he can do and he’s obviously got the game to he wasn’t far away at the open last year was he just fell away a little bit but I think
Um I wouldn’t put it past him winning an open you know and trun could be a venue that he does really well at because it’s it’s just one that’s not it’s not stupidly long and you’ve got to be be a very good iron player around there and
And you never know really I mean I think Rory will be disappointed he didn’t win if I’m honest I he was in good position that so three put they had from two feet uh was just crazy and then for him to snipe one in the water off the tea at
The last was very unra as well considering how well he driven it um during the week but but you know I mean shooting that opening round 62 I think he kind of he probably I don’t know maybe wasn’t expecting that himself maybe then took his foot off I don’t
Know you’d have to speak to him but um I’m sure it’s not performance he’ll be that bothered about because I think it’s so early in the season that he’s you know obviously wanted to win and he didn’t but I I don’t think he’ll take too much from from that really he’ll
Just see that his game’s in Fairly good shape going into the season it’s good good place to be this time of year yeah definitely you know for him the the majors of the focus aren’t they you know I don’t think he would care if he didn’t
Win at all this year if he won a major do you I mean I think be bothered about any other event um and who’s to say he won’t I mean he was he was very impressive last year extremely consistent year before was pretty good and was knocking on the door A lot of
The time and um yeah I I don’t think he’ll be too far away in in the majors this year barring a good draw obviously which which you need in in a major championship but yeah obviously looks like his game is in good shape so next week they’re going to move staying in
Dubai I mean it must be tough three weeks three weeks in a row um so they it’s got Desert Classic next week which is which is a very popular event we’ we’ve been to it with go shake a few times and covered some of the things going on there we’ve been lucky enough
To go with Callaway at times and have a bit of a look at them fitting some of the players into new equipment and and I think that the Desert Classic this week will be more of the same you know it’s a fantastic course that they play on at
The magicus uh the Emirates club and and um some iconic t- shots the eight Springs to mind that one where they’re hitting it towards all the skyscrapers over the corner of the sand and stuff like that which which looks very very good um and yeah I’m sure there’ll be a
Host of fantastic players there to to compete because it’s it’s a massive event and um you know the likes of Rory will will probably be there W won’t be too far away and and yeah he he loves it in Dubai so yeah there another another solid field as well this week isn’t it
Who’s your money on um you know there’s one person I always look at I always think he’s got the game to win any style of any golf course if he’s on that’s two will Happ yeah yeah absolutely he’s done well there in the past as well yeah I do
Think he’s a really he’s just all round solid um yeah so I wouldn’t yeah there you go if you want to pick off the cuff I hadn’t even thought about that I just yeah you go I don’t think he’s ever a bad pick to be honest tohan so yeah I’d
Be pretty happy with that I mean um have you got the field in front of you there runers through runers through some of yeah I’m just so you’ve got um obviously you got the big guns you got Rory you got Francesco monari Tommy food Nichola hoard Hatton [ __ ] uh both Hoy guards
Are in the fields um then you move down to your uh friston Lawrence who had a good good round good final round didn’t he on Sunday he did um uh your man Daniel Gavin’s in the field uh yeah I think Marcus is as well I don’t know going down going down L Donald
Brian Haron oh nice very good this week um Marcus is in Marcus is in good yeah yeah yeah quite well there last year as well so I that could be a course that suits him nicely and he got in decent position and then had a bit bit
Of a funny weekend I think but yeah um but Roar is your defending champ isn’t he yeah you’re could to be hard pushed to be he always does well run there as well so yeah and um was it Victor the year before that as yeah yeah um I guess he’s
Not playing uh I didn’t see him in the fields um t b Allison is another one who yeah he play niely really really good and very good quality player yeah and Lucas H he’s someone that plays well around there as well yeah absolutely yeah good good golf to watch in Dubai
It’ll be an early one again for for those of us in the ukuk wanting to watch it so coverage normally starts around 5:00 in the morning or something Cy like that doesn’t it so yeah um so yeah you’ve got to get up early to watch that PJ tour moves to linter in California
This week so um they’ve got the American Express over there um and a is this the course that has got like a real colored definition between the Fairway and the rough it’s almost like all the rough is dead I don’t know not sure can get some pictures up there on it
Might be because there’s one there’s one event that’s quite early is it is it one of these ones that’s played over two or three different courses as well you might be right yeah and because I know there one early in the year where it’s like the fairways are green but all the
Rough he like dead dormant like yellow like Wire yeah yeah and I always I always enjoy watching it because I just think it looks a bit unusual um where it looks very unusual for the PJ talk it’s just not all green and um straight but uh is it one where
Max Homer won round before done really well around before possibly a bell I think you’re probably right but yeah um if it if I’m sure it is what you’re talking about yeah because I I remember it last year because Ram won the first two events didn’t he and then this was
The third um third event of the calendar again last year and yeah it was it was that golf course you’re talking about yeah so it is yeah yeah it does look pretty tricky when you get offline and quite you get some pretty buried and wiry it’s almost
Like playing playing out of a brow pad isn’t it that you get off the Fairway yeah I mean I’m sure that’ll uh that’ll show some real good ball Strikers out to be honest youve got to be good to to play well in those conditions another strong field as well Sheffer Klay cha
Winden Clark Tom Kim Jason day Kirk fenale Burns Fowler Justin Thomas mimu Lee Shane Lowry will zat Tores who’s obviously coming back from his injury Bobby McIntyre’s playing very good yeah good obviously because of the world points list and and the money that he’s he’s last year with the PJ
Toour card W it so yeah so yeah shame we’re not going to see him in in Dubai but um yeah no the DP World T loss is the PJ tours gain so yes it’s three courses Pete D Stadium Course as if we doubted the complete golfing official the Nicholas tournament
Course so um so yeah three courses so I’m assuming there won’t be a cut until the third day yeah um yeah and and one of those coures is definitely the one I enjoy watching so I’m going to tune in this week and watch a fair bit of that I
Think um I I will definitely watch some of the stuff from Dubai because it’s a perfect time when we put it on in the shop to be honest when we get to work um not that we get to see much because obviously it’s quite busy but you can
Kind of hear what’s going on in the background um gutted I’m not there to be honest it’ be great um but yeah uh really really good event to go to that I mean that was the only thing I thought was disappointing looking at the goal from Dubai over the
Weekend they just didn’t look like was many people there um I mean the Desert Classic normally gets a bit of a better field obviously because the uh sorry a bit better spectator kind of numbers because of the field being slightly better should see a few more players
There and the you know the hospitality there behind the 18th and that kind of second shot that we see people take on over the water um they on 18 as well kind of adds up had a bit of drama but yeah when I’ve been there before it’s
Still it’s still not busy I mean you can walk around the golf course and see you know obviously a lot of people follow Rory and and players like that but you can go see some amazing players and literally be the only person following that group on some of the holes which is
A bit disappointing I think in places but but it’s still um I think over the weekend now they they I think the tickets used to be free and now they’re not or something like that um but um but yeah me is still a great event to get to
And if you are in Dubai and you’ve never been go because it’s absolutely awesome um right so that’s professional golf done and finished off so we’ll talk a little bit about gear right so some of the stuff that’s been released the um obviously said at the start of the the
Podcast that I’m down in basing Stoke and the reason I’m here is because tomorrow I’m going to tailor made HQ which is located down here I’m going to get to um kind of go to to the office have a bit of a tour around they’ve got
The tour Department there as well as the kind of offices the UK and Europe sort of offices there um so we should get to see some of the tour department and what they’re working on for some of the players out on the DP World Tour and
Also um a bit of a presentation on Qi 10 I know some of you will have watched the reviews that we’ve done on the YouTube channel and you can still get on those and have a look at those now so um and and yeah if you’ve got any questions
About qy1 you can do that through there too um but yeah I’m just looking forward to to seeing what Taylor Made say we’re kind of going for a bit of training on how to fit it better as well and kind of learn some of the intricacies of the
Product that some of the people that designed it have kind of seen and the guys working with it every day on the DP World Tour we have seen when when using it with the players as well so we’ve obviously seen players switch into it very quickly Rory’s already switched
Into a different model of driver than what he started with I don’t know whether that’s due to the golf courses that he’s playing at the moment and needing to just hit it higher and carry it further or whether he’ll switch back to the ls um version later on I don’t
Know um yeah really looking forward to that it’s one of the kind of perks that we get with um you know being a stockist of tailor made that you get invited to events like this and um I’m actually going with with one of my friends who’s a tailor made have like a loyalty
Program with with Pros who do um quite a lot of business with them um and my friend Scott who’s been on the um channel before on YouTube he’s done some of the tuition stuff that we did from dun Donald a couple of years ago uh he’s
Pro at bral golf club up in um well Manchester way in brammo Cheshire and uh he’s like a I think they call it tailor made Master fitter so someone who who does a lot of Taylor Made through his account fits a lot of players at his Club there um so he’s coming to
Obviously learn same as I am about about fitting the product but but yeah more more importantly just getting to see kind of the inner work of tailor made UK and and and Europe and see see what’s going on at the office so pretty excited about that but yeah like you’ll have
Seen Matt on the channel and I’m sure you watch all the content that we do as well because you’re Avid golfer just like I am but there’s just so much to talk about at the moment isn’t there there is a lot of stuff coming up there
Is a lot of stuff um you were talking at the start about your fitting then what did you find when you’ve gone and hit the product you did hit it at lamanga didn’t you last year when you went on the media trip yeah um but then obviously you you’ll have not hit it
Since then you’ll have played a bit more golf we’ coming out of winter season now what was it like actually going for a fitting for the product this week so what what is worth me pointing out right so when when you go to the media days you’re hitting the stuff but you’re not
Really getting fitted for the stuff so it’s more about um Aesthetics it’s more about the sound it’s more about the feel the look um learning about the tech inside it and then you can go and hit some you’re hitting some with range balls when you go and go for your fit
And obviously so you’re in a you know it’s a one-on-one environment you’re not in a rush because you know that’s what you’re getting fit for um you’re using your own balls that you play with um so it’s nice to then kind of drill down on the actual physical numbers um and I’ll
Be honest I wasn’t I wasn’t swinging it um as well as what I had been doing during the fitting but it was in terms of speed it but it was consistent enough to get a decent reading out of it so I’m not I don’t find the middle of the club
Face with a driver consistently enough for example to hit the low spinning model um as much as I’d love to have a low spinning model it just it’s just not right for me um so I I got fit into the um into the X model which is the same as
What I had in the AO jet the year before um I’ve always not gone with the low spin option um and what I was most impressed with actually was um as I said I wasn’t swinging it as fast it was uh I’ve got the info here because I wanted
To share it with you um so I was um swinging at about 100 mph which is probably about 5 six M hour slower than what I would normally swing it at um but I was really impressed with the bull speed numbers um I was I was I had a
Couple over 150 mph bull speed with um averaged that about 148 with 100 mph swing speed um which for pretty efficient then isn’t it really which was for me was pretty impressive um uh as I said I wasn’t hitting it great but there was a few carries up to you know over
250 for me but they were consistently kind of like 245 to 250 um and then the odd offc Center hit was like 238 which is exactly what I’m looking for you know I don’t I don’t pretend to Carri the golf ball 270 280 um 245 250 is enough for me where I’m playing
Um so yeah so I’m looking forward to uh looking forward to getting that and um they got more I found that they had better shaft options this year so we had a we had a play around with the shaft options um yeah the thing that I mean
Obvious I’ve done the review this week as well which hit the channel a couple of nights ago and I’d never used the normally when when I do reviews The Standard shaft that gets sent is just really weak and not particularly great that link shaft that they’ve got in
Three different colors this year is actually really good um first time I’d ever used it and obviously they do it in the red which matches the max so it’s a bit lighter and higher low and spinning they do the blue which is a bit kind of
Middle of the road aimed at The X model and then they do the white which is the one that’s made for the ls but obviously they’re all interchangeable in the different heads and depending on you know how you get fitted and which one’s going to suit you best you can use one
Of those they’re a shaft made by us um not one I’d ever heard of before to be honest I think um Cobra the first brand to to stick it in as a as a kind of on the Shelf option but yeah I take it you
Tried those yeah yeah so uh so I ended up with the white shaft but with X head so yeah I got that that combination um just a little bit more stable that shaft what I found with that sha was just a little bit more stable for me through
The swing yeah um and a little bit more forgiving so I think out of the 10 15 balls um that I hit the dispersion was so much tighter than any other setup um yeah and there was you know one there was one in particular that I felt like
I’d hit off the planet and it only went about 20 feet 25 feet to the right um but I was expecting it to see like you know maybe 40 50 feet yeah um you know I thought it was next Fairway stuff but it held um which was pretty impressive as
Well so that was definitely the um yeah definitely the be best option for me yeah I think um like I say from from hitting them myself and and I said this in the video with with Cobra I just don’t know what to expect with it right so I know it
Sounds weird like I know with Callaway what I’m going to get right and I know with tailor made what I’m going to get to to some extent right what I would say this year is that the tailor made product is Miles better than last year’s qi1 is better than stealth 2 I’m just
Telling you that right now it’s more forgiving it feels better off the face it looks better everything about is better um Paradigm AI smoke very similar to Paradigm but it is more forgiving which is exactly what they say it’s going to be if you hit it out the middle
Of the phase I think it’s going to be fairly negligible whether it’s any better than the Paradigm one from last year um but if you tow it and heal it you are going to get loads more forgiveness and loads more distance compared to Paradigm so if you’re already using last year’s driver this
One is better and it’s demonstrably better as well you can show it when you’re actually doing a fitting for someone when they tow it and heal it it comes off quicker right now the thing with Cobra is I don’t know whether you’re going to get a driver that’s
Amazing and I don’t know whether you’re going to get one that’s really quick or you’re going to get one that’s really forgiving and goes really straight right right and and I think this time they’ve got one that’s kind of a bit of both and particularly the ls when you hit it that
Is so long ridiculously long I mean um it’s not the most forgiving but it’s not designed to be you know what I mean it it’s designed for someone who’s going to hit the middle of the face quite often um and if you tow it and heal it you’re
Not going to get away with it as much which personally I would I would use it 100% because I know I’m going to hit it barely middle most of the time and I think it’s forgiv enough that if you’re you know half a ball to a ball out the
Out the heel and the toe it it’s all right you know what I mean you’re going to get away with it but for that one that you hit out the middle of the face my God Is it better than anything else I mean um I I alluded to it again in the
Video when we did it but the I thought the X was great you know and it normally those kind of standard models if you like that are kind of made for the the the vast majority golfers I just spin the hell out of them and and they don’t
Go far enough but but this one I’m just getting the numbers on my phone here just to have a look but the the dark speed X still only spun at 2,100 RPM which is until I’d hit the ls probably the lowest spinning driver that I’ve hit
In quite a few years and you know it was so the average carry I was getting was about 285 and it was running out to 316 which is basically what I’m getting out of the ls in the qi1 and also the new paradigm um Triple Diamond as well right
So so they the paradigm was about two yards longer I think and was carrying a couple yards more but they’re within two yards of each other all three of them drivers right when I’ve hit that dark speed LS all of a sudden the ball speed has jumped up five miles an hour which
Is just mental um so I’m I’m getting shots now that are spinning less than 2,000 RPM which is which is quite low really and certainly lower than I’ve ever had but they’re carrying like 295 through the air with low spin so they’re running out at like 327 328 and I hit a
Couple that were in the sort of mid 330s in in the test which is just I I don’t hit that and I never have done when doing a club review before and I think it’s a combination of the head being really good but also that link shaft is
Very very good as well yeah um I um i’ got be honest I’ve watched obviously being a cobra nerd I’ve watched a lot of the a lot of the online reviews and and it seems like everyone saying the same um by one one person I think um who’s that
Oh I can’t say his name on the podcast it runs with schin right yeah so I I I watched Peters and and I watched James Robinson they’re the only two I’ve watched right James and I spoke to James actually the other day and he um found
Very similar to what I did really that it was literally out the middle of the face is an absolute rocket I think Peter did say that but he did he just found it difficult to hit a fairway so it might be that he just wasn’t swinging it particular don’t know but I think
Industry and more so people that are into golf YouTube they they’re going to go and watch Rick Shields first and foremost right he the biggest he’s probably the best um and and I know that I know that the guys at Cobra probably really really pleased with what he had to say about it
As well I’ve not I’ve not seen it but um compliment everyone’s first Port call isn’t it but I mean the other thing is that we haven’t spoke about as well is is the price the price on the Cobra is about 100 quid cheaper isn’t it than than the others see I think don’t
Actually know because I I’ve done obviously my buy for the shop for this year but until it actually hits the shelves and you see what some of the online guys are doing with it I don’t you don’t really know what the price is going to be I think the recommended is
Something like 450 460 whereas the caway and the tailor maid is closer to 550 560 yeah well I think um so the the Callaway and tailor made sort of the the QI 10 Max and Qi 10 are going to be 499 oh okay that’s better and the low spin is 529 so
Okay I think paradigms followed suit where the triple Diamond’s more expensive the others yeah but it’s still going to represent a sort of 50 Quid difference in price and 70 quid if you’re comparing it with the low spin um so yeah I mean yeah Cobra’s always been
That brand that you know price points are a little bit lower but the quality is right up there and certainly this driver backs that up even more because um I I actually think if you were if you that player who swings it very quick and
Hits it pretty hard and wants to hit it as far as you possibly can you wouldn’t choose any other driver out there that that LS in the dark speed is the longest I’ve I’ve ever hit in my life is it is it long is it forgiving enough that you
You’d play it I think it probably is um and I’m looking forward to when we go to Portugal I will definitely take the one I’ve been using in the fitting Center and give it a hit out there because it it’s it’s all well and good hitting it
On the on the track man but you want to get out on the course and actually have a fairway to aim at and see see whether you can find it and and like I said on the video I think because the spin’s so low you can almost Loft it up a bit more
And you’re going to get even more carry then I could see myself carrying that driver 310 through the air which is just mental um and particularly as like you were saying in your fit in I didn’t feel like I was swinging it particularly fantastic when I did the um review
Either I was swinging it about 114 115 and I’m normally 117 and a bitsh if I’m swinging it well so it’s was a couple of miles an hour down speed wise and and getting just for people that are not aware right that’s going to equate to what is it 2.5 yards a carry
For yeah so generally yeah generally with the drive obviously depending on Spin and stuff but yeah um yeah that’s kind of what you’re looking at so I would expect you know another five six seven yards maybe carry and if I can keep the spin under control that you
Know I’m going to I’m going to be hitting drives close to 340 which is just NS really um you know if you can if you can hit it somewhere near the Fairway at 340 you’re not going to have a lot into most greens are if anything yeah I just think it was
Uh I just I was so surprised by it do you know what I mean and I did did the review and literally couldn’t wait to hit it again and and can’t can’t wait to get back to the club and again this week and do a bit of more testing with it so
I think it looks great feels great performance was really good and yeah yeah fantastic and and certainly the longest driver I’ve hit while I’ve been doing Club reviews which is probably about six or seven years now for golf Shake I’ve not got anything that’s touched that distance
Wise um but yeah there there are lot there’s lots of great equipment out there and I’ve not really had chance to be properly fitted with Taylor Maid or Callaway I’ve obviously used shafts that I’ve got at the club and I’ve used a Callaway driver for a long time so I’ve
Put my chaft in in the new paradigm AI smoke and got really good numbers like I say it was 318 I was hitting it and it was it was good um but whether I think we are planning to do some work with cway this year where we go over to one
Of their fitting centers and and one of the European tour guys is going to go through the fitting process with us and and kind of make sure that we’ve got the best driver that we can possibly get so who knows we might get something that is
Very close to the sort of numbers we were seeing with dark speed the other day and uh you know with potentially that little bit more forgiveness that that Paradigm gives you so yeah if you know if it was a case of it being one yard between the the all you you would probably
Choose Paradigm I think because it’s the most forgiving um but it’s not it’s 10 yards longer then you kind of think well you know for an extra 10 yards here and there is it worth being offline a little bit so is isn’t it for 10 yards so I
Don’t know but you may find different things all of you now can go out there and book fittings and try these products for yourselves and I’m really interested in that actually getting the general public and you kind of you know normal handicap golfers into to the performance
Enter at howy try all these products and see if you see exactly what I’m seeing you know if if I’ve got a player that spins it a lot I know I’m going to push them or try them in Cobra because I just know how low spin they are whereas if
They’re someone who needs tons of foress you probably looking Qi 10 Max or or Paradigm really to get that bit of forgiveness the one driver that we haven’t spoken about is Ping right so that that was unveiled last week and uh has got some really good reviews on on uh the various
Different YouTube channels and um I’ve I’ve not hit it yet so I don’t know um what it’s like but you know I’ve tried the g430 stuff and thought it was okay when when we tried it this year um I don’t don’t think it was particular amazing if if I’m honest and certainly
Not close distance-wise to what we’ve just been talking about the three that we’ve tried it goes very straight just doesn’t go very far when I’ve hit it really but I’m reliably informed that this new um g430 max 10K is not only very low spin also very forgiving so
That sounds like it could be right Street you know fingers crossed we see even better performance from from ping and and get kind of in that in that arena there as well but who knows so away from the driver technology we’ve seen some new irons released as well so
Wilson which our review is coming a little later than scheduled because I’ve actually done the review that I did so I I’ve done the new um staff model blade and staff model CB which look beautiful they’re honestly the nicest looking forged iron I’ve I’ve seen for a long
Time they look very traditional um even the numbering on the bottom looks very kind of 80s really I I just think it looks awesome it kind of looks like the irons that my dad used to use when I you know when I was a kid you know in the in
This you when he was playing through the 70s and 80s he was having these sort of Max Fly irons that he used to have and I remember kind of early 90s when I started paying attention to it he was using sort of maxfly and and uh and I
Think yeah I think they’re all maxfly that he had there and they just look pure these blades are really really small really nice and these Wilson ones look just like it and they’re they’re absolutely beautiful but they’ve got another iron coming out next month and I’ve done a comparison review of all
Three so because the other model that I can’t talk about hasn’t come out yet we can’t release the video so that was a bit stupid on my part so I should have just hit those two I didn’t know going to separate the releases really but yeah
They were very very good and for an iron that’s not going to suit that many people because it’s a blade um they were actually quite forgiving and went a decent distance even though they were um traditional Loft so I think with the blade I averaged about 183 with a 7 iron
Which is which is pretty good um but going back to COBRA I did a f my first few hits with the dark speed iron the other day the seven iron and it was averaging like 203 yards it’s absolutely crazy I mean look these these um these
Iron sets are um designed to be so because obviously I know a little bit more about the range like the Cobra irons I’ve got they’ve not got new they’ve not got new one of that that model coming out this year so I’ve got the CB MB combo set but when they bring
Out the new drivers every year and I’m sure most manufacturers do it this way they’ll bring out a new set of irons under the same uh umbrella name design that are designed to be your forgiving your your player Improvement clubs aren’t they so yeah I actually remember
Hitting the four iron on the Range in L manga um and I’m sure I was carrying that four iron like 225 230 um which I don’t carry my free Iron that far normally to be honest um no I mean it is really strong I think I think the seven
Iron is something like 29 I might be wrong 29 degrees which is basically like between a five and six really I know people get very uppy about Loft but sometimes the reason these manufacturers do it isn’t just to make it go further it’s it’s actually because
There’s so much weight low in the head to help game improvs get it in the air that if they didn’t crank the Loft a bit you would just be hitting it to the sky and it would just not go anywhere but um what they’ve actually achieved with that
Power Bridge technology that they’ve got in the ions is huge distance off the face but also something that is going to um basically be AIT a bit more kind of controllable I suppose so some of these ions you normally get just go quite flat for a lot of
People but then there’s always that goal for and and I teach a lot of them that hits so far across it that they generate so much spin so so the launch is very very high they kind of add Dynamic Loft to the face as well when they’re hitting
It so that they’re almost negating that Loft strength that the manufacturer put on because at impact the face is like this yeah so the manufacturers are doing it to try and get it back somewhere near where it should be um to help likewise you could you could get that 4 and you
Could hood that probably about 250 I mean they’ve actually sent me like a a demo set and um I’ve not hit any of the long clubs yet but I mean the 79 like I say was probably averaging 205 when I was hitting day it was just silly um but
Yeah it be interesed to see how far the four iron goes because we did the QI iron from tailor made it was the same I mean I hit a couple of four irons there it went about 265 just silly just too much but yeah I I imagine that dark speed’s going to be
Quite similar but they actually look really nice behind the ball too and the secret is just getting properly fitted for it as well so you know making sure you get the right shaft that you’re going to deliver the right Loft and you hopefully get the sort of height that
That you want but but yeah there’s lots and lots coming when it comes to gear you can check all this out on the golf [ __ ] YouTube channel we’ve got tons of hours of videos for draw through good content and it yes and it’s to be honest
It’s been good fun to do so so yeah that’s all the gear out the window so the first the other thing that we spoke about firstly on the podcast was we talked a lot about practice okay and we talked a lot about that everyone’s going to the range at the moment it’s winter
Um people are working on the games a little bit more and some driving ranges are better than others so you you kind of brought up this idea of chatting about kind of what we would like to see from a driveing range or or a practice facility Matt and um I’ll let
You take it away then if you want so what where do you practice at the moment and kind of what’s it like um so uh so the reason the reason for this conversation is right what I’ve struggled with at the moment is I struggled to find the perfect range
Right so I’ve got two local to me which I use one I find the and the balls are really really good um the shop is quite nice you can get a coffee there Etc um but when I’m actually hitting balls the bays are very and it’s and this one’s
Got flood lights um but the bays are very very uh kind of small and Compact and you ra feel like you haven’t really got enough room and if I’m working on something in particular I want to F my swing and send it to Sam um I can’t do
That I can’t get my phone far enough back but then I’ve got another driving range where I have got loads and loads of room but the map aren’t as good the balls are not as good and the lighting is really bad so you put your tripod up
You get set your phone up and actually you can’t really see what you’re swinging anyway yeah and then that one hasn’t got um flood light so you have to use that before it gets before it gets dark this time you so that kind of got me thinking what would you need you know
Like there’s there’s some absolute kind of non-negotiables for me to make a good driving r one is one you’ve got to have good mats you’ve got to have good balls I mean that’s basically your product in a nutshell right um if you haven’t got good balls or
You’re not on top of your balls you’re not maintained you know you get them you hit them and they just and they like spin all over the place those the ones that draw unfade yeah yeah yeah they’re like wind blowers like when you a kid you playing football at the beach and
Just you hit it and you just have no idea what direction it goes um so yeah so you’ve got to have the mats you’ve got to have the balls um and then I just put the question out there you know what is um you know what’s what’s desirable some people want heaters
Um our good friend Kev paver had a lot to say about this actually oh really yeah funly enough there’s definitely a theme with people that live up north um uh so I just go through some of the responses actually um yeah so Kev P said good targets is another one that come up
Quite often um but yeah Kev P said heers um and good balls with no cues he doesn’t like waiting um personally I don’t mind a little bit of wait at the dve range it shows it’s busy which is not a bad thing for the business um yeah Alex hook my brother
Said bulls and mats are the priority anything else I think you can work with um I think it’s mtbs MTB sports fan said distance targets for every mat not just every other you know some you get little signs that tells you how far away the flags
Are yeah um top Trac is another one that come up quite a lot um yeah a few people said top Trace obviously whether that’s top Trace whether it’s trackman I think people were liking the addition of of Technology on the driving range although I did go to a top Tracer range a few
Weeks back and it was shocking not top tracer’s fault the range’s fault yeah okay you paid a premium for the balls and the the range just wasn’t picking up any of the shots um and I’m reliably informed it wasn’t the top tracers thought it was the range they should
Have put a sign up to say that sorry we haven’t got flood light she’s not going to pick up your balls or the flood lights are not strong enough basically so so yeah so top tra have come up quite a bit people liking a technology
Um yeah what about you I mean I’ve got two kind of schools of thought on this one the way I like to practice best is on grass on my own with just one flag in front of me yeah that’s all I care about nothing beats a little bit of turf and a
Bucket of balls that is to me the purest form of practice right so practicing and want to work on my golf that’s how I want it to be now get that in Britain between probably November and March that ain’t going to happen very much because the weather’s
Garbage but if I’m going to practice at the or go to the range I’m not I’m doing it more to just hit balls than I am to practice so for me I would want it to be like a top top Tracer range yeah so something that is on a few different
Levels something that’s got got food and beverage somewhere you can get a beer somewhere that’s got music playing somewhere you can actually track the ball for I would want to turn up in a pair of jeans and trainers and just hit balls for a little bit and just keep my
Swing going I’m not that bothered about where the ball’s going um because I know that in that scenario I’m not actually going to be playing any com anything competitive that soon whereas if I was actually getting ready to play a tournament I’d want to be hitting off
Grass and you know that scenario we’ve just spoken about the first one I have learned something just now Mt one that you’ve got a brother which you didn’t know and two that he plays golf and has an opinion on it so is he better than
You are you better than him what no no no no he’s um he’s he’s a beginner he’s only been playing a couple of years year or two okay so yeah’s he’s fully covered up and he’s is he older or younger than you he’s younger younger yeah very good
I’ve got a younger brother he’s a lot better than me at golf is he brilliant um but yeah but yeah I don’t know I think like I say those two scenarios for me but if I was just hitting balls and going to range I’d want it to be like a top Tracer one
Because I just think they’ve got it absolutely nailed they’ve got a great shop um food and beverage is good you can get a beer you can listen to music they’ve got heaters they’ve got targets everything you’ve just said is there um maybe someone got short game ER as
Well would be ideal y definitely a range some ranges I’ve been to I think nice indoor little putting greens or even some of them have got indoor short game areas as well which which is absolutely amazing um or maybe even to the side of the range it’s still flood lit somewhere
That you can just do it’s definitely a benefit having that I mean the P Green at my my Humes we’ve got flood lights on it and you press a button and it lights up for half an hour but I don’t know like a daylight today I
Don’t know if I went out there now and switched it on I don’t know if it be on but yeah it’s good for you know if you’re playing early and there’s competition you can you can you know light up absolutely yeah hits and PS which is good so yeah I
Mean be interesting to see what you guys think as well you know are there any ranges near you if you’re really happy with the range you go to please yeah tag them in a post tag them in a comment we’d love to hear that as well um because obviously it’s becoming more and
More important some of you might do it indoors you know you might it might be a simulator that you practice on and stuff like that which a lot of people come to the performance center at Howley and use that this time of year it’s getting more
And more popular that is people so it would be really interesting to hear from all of you on how you practice during the winter the preferred ways you do it and whether you’re the same as me and Matt or not but that’s all we got time
For this week on the podcast Matt I know you’ve got to get off because you’ve got legs bums and Tums class to get to absolutely bunny I’m sure you’re going for the legs bums and Tums that’s exactly where I’m going is that your second workout of the day uh Yes
Actually I was in there this morning doing some weights you like it more you’ll be playing more gy it’s too cold to go and hit balls if I a 4on tonight you’re going to know about it so i’ rather get in the warmly right we’ll let you go thank you
All for watching listening and we’ll see you all next week 1239
