Well folks it’s the inaugural episode of Imposter Syndrome: A Golf Podcast. Hosts Todd Howe and Shaun Fagan are kicking off 2024 with The Sentry Tournament, the state of professional golf, trying to decipher Xander Schauffele’s shortcomings and discussing new equipment releases.
Hosts:
Todd Howe – Custom club builder & owner of NCNO GOLF LAB
Shaun Fagan – Master Fitter at TrueSpec Beverly Hills
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Todd Howe – NCNO GOLFLAB: http://instagram.com/ncnogolflab
Shaun Fagan: http://instagram.com/skfgolf
Expect anything different all right welcome to episode number one the inaugural episode of impostor syndrome a golf podcast I’m your host Todd how I’m a custom Club Builder from Los Angeles California and uh I’m excited to welcome my coach host my good friend smartest man on the
Podcast uh and in my opinion the best club fitter in Los Angeles Mr Shawn Fagan how are you sir I am great how are you Ace I’m doing good I’m doing really good uh the first week of 2024 is just come and gone did you
Play did I play um let’s see I did play in the desert I went out to Palm Springs we played Tera Lago with a couple friends my uh my friend June Host this massive uh winter Golf Camp from uh bunch of people from Korea there’s over
100 players that come in from Korea for three months it’s called golf Story winter camp uh June rented I believe he said 18 houses and he’s got over a 100 players uh some corn faery some very highlevel worldclass M players bunch of Junior players it’s this massive turnout
And they’re out there for like three months had a chance to play with him and some of the Korean press we had a great time uh and it’s really cool to see like you know how many different ways and onion or layers of the onion there are
In golf right I mean it’s a sport that’s worldwide truly and you know in my business it’s really nice I get to interface with people from literally all over the world and you know some of my friends are doing some like real things uh internationally so it was cool to see
And you know I played like crap I made a couple birdies for the uh for the press that was there but it was uh it was cold it was windy you know perfect time of the year in the Palm Desert so it was a
It was a lot of fun though how about you did you play I was meant to yeah we were we were uh meant to head down to Navy destroyer on Sunday which uh for those of you who have never uh been to California Navy destroyer is the course
Where Tiger Woods grew up and learned to play the game it’s an awesome track the green complexes are absolutely amazing and you know I’m up at 5:30 ready to get down there by 7:30 spend an hour at the range for 8:30 tea time and get a text
Saying it’s blowing an absolute gal I think we should cancel and uh I was I was up for playing the other guys not so much uh I grew up playing in a lot of wind so I don’t really care but I haven’t played yet well from where I’m
From in Massachusetts where they got a foot of snow um you know cold windy you know golf conditions out in the Palm Desert are still still better than a foot of snow in a nor Easter through Massachusetts so you know we uh we have it real tough out here in Southern
California for sure yeah even even less tough in Hawaii um where this weekend uh just gone um Chris Kirk shot 29 under to yeah just 29 under he was uh shot eight under for the final round um he beat uh sah to go our local boy here in California who
Shot 10 under for the final round left out of Birdie part on 18 to uh he could have gone to 29 under but finished 28 under and uh came runner up um but yeah there was you know I it was a good tournament I got to say the first two
Rounds were probably overshadowed by Jason day um sporting malbon for the first time uh very polarizing on social media I think uh some there were people that just could not wrap their heads around what malbon’s about um luckily luckily I think we can but uh yeah some some
People just didn’t get it it was either love it or hate it um but yeah look Chris Kirk played really well um hit just a monster shot from 209 yards uh to about two feet to birdie 17 and uh and his heart rate probably jumped to 58
After that shot yeah so did mine I’ll tell you what it was so exciting yeah no it’s a really good win won a hell of a lot of money and uh you know I was I was rooting for sahith I love sah I’ve been following him since uh since he won the
Scga Amer in 2018 or 2019 over at Lakeside um just won hell of a good golfer he’s going to have a good year um yeah AE batia another local boy from from the valley here um yeah and a lefty Sean’s a lefty by the way everybody um
Switched to the Mez uh the lab mes putter he went from 183rd in putting last season to First this week at the Sentry so what do you make of that I wouldn’t know uh I haven’t had a lab in left-handed yet so if anyone wants to uh
Make one or hook it up I’d like to at least test it but you know it’s a it’s a theme when you’re a left-handed golfer uh equipment is not necessarily at your beck and call you just kind of play with what you got and I think it’s a little
Disingenuous to have an opinion on a product you haven’t actually tested yourself so um all I know is the lab poters have obviously given certain players either a physical or mental or maybe even physiological Edge you know we’ve seen a lot of success over the last few years using it um and that’s
About the extent of what I know about it because you know it’s one thing to swing a putter right-handed but with my feels like I need to experience it Lefty and I haven’t quite seen a lab putter yet to uh to fully experience it and give you a
Real opinion from a club fitter perspective there’s two different types of people right there’s a guy or gal who uses a new putter every week and there’s the guy or gal who hits the same putter for years until they they you know finally decide to change out of it and I
Fall into the latter category I don’t know I’m I’m in the abyss right now with putting so we’ll get in we’ll get into that with our 2024 goals for sure later but putting boy oh boy that is one hell of a Dark Art the hardest thing and the
Easiest thing about golf it really is it’s the ultimate Paradox just going back to J day um you know his uh from from an equipment perspective I really I really love that he’s now you know he’s he’s essentially a free agent and he’s got a bag um a brand
Agnostic approach to his bag um what are your thoughts on that look I I’ve been brand agnostic in my career for the last five years I’m a firm believer that all clubs are great they all just do slightly different things now and even to that point like let’s talk irons for
Instance you know just because there’s such a prevalence of different Iron uh products and you know those the specifications are all over the place at my shop truspec in Beverly Hills we have I don’t know probably 80 different Club heads all six irons and they range from
23 to 31 degrees um so obviously there’s a tremendous variance in the interpretation of a six iron not from just company to company but product to product and despite all that you know you try and like consolidate all of the different options into the real fundamental Arch type models there’s
Always going to be the single best product execution from someone each year in each category right and being able to be brand agnostic allows for a much wider variety of different shapes and sizes and feels despite all potentially being in the same style of iron for instance like you know blades are always
Going to be pretty similar you can only do so much with a blade but you start getting into the players cavity backs the players you know uh distance irons things like that even the game improvement irons there’s a lot more potential options to fit each individual delivery Club head speed Miss Etc and
Being brand agnostic allows you a much wider variety of options than just signing with one particular company you know like if I’m getting fit by for instance Titleist you know with how I play as a player and a relatively low handicap player with not a tremendous amount of
Speed I’m going to basically be into either the T100 the t150 which I play or the T200 maybe in the longer irons and that’s about it but if I can open up the the potential for being more brand agnostic in my Approach I might learn that while the t150 goes nice and high
For me if I’m looking to hit the ball a little bit lower I could go into maybe a stricken ZX7 or if I want a little bit of a softer feel off the club face I could look at a callow uh Apex CB so the point is every brand
Has their different interpretation of each product and if you’re limiting yourself to just one brand you get that interpretation and you have to fit yourself into it um whereas fitting more brand agnostically gives you a much greater variety of outcomes and ultimately you know from the professional level if you’re a brand
Agnostic you know you’re you might get a contract that pays you a couple hundred grand a year to play a certain Club but as we see even like last weekend right Chris Kirk just won $3.6 million and if you go into a brand agnostic approach and truly find
Something that’s better for you you’re G to make way more money in being that brand agnostic you know selection process over forcing yourself into a brand that might leave a little bit of meat left on the bone right and I think it brings into a broad oh go ahead no I
I think that’s more so what I was getting at you know at the pro level I think uh you know I I think being brand brand agnostic has probably had a had a positive effect on Jason day’s Resurgence yeah so so also what I think is you know Jason day is probably the
First person to really jump through the individual individuality and style you know Jason uh John Daly used to wear loudmouth pants right I was ridiculous it kind of became a little bit of a side show to be honest um Jason brings the malbin brand in with his you know more
Baggy pants and like you know a little bit of a different look you’ve seen the joggers over the last few years but I think Jason day is like the guy who’s kind of broken down the door and I think you’re going to start seeing that spill over not just into what they’re wearing
But what they’re playing as well um because honestly like with the amount of money these golfers are making and to a bigger picture uh my belief is the game is starting to get like noticeably easier for the highest level player and there’s some reasons why we can talk
About later on as we dive deeper but I think you’re going to see players be far more open to trying new things and one of those things is I think I’m going I’m probably not alone in this category I think other people have said this but I
Think you’re going to start seeing much different equipment interpretations over the next few years probably the most obvious being more graphite iron shafts I think you’re going to really start seeing graphite iron shafts played at the highest level you know the equipment and like the engineer ing behind it
Probably hasn’t been uh nearly as good as it is today the materials the quality control is getting so much better from everything in the manufacturing process because since the clubs are so good that’s what the manufacturers are really investing money into is hey let’s develop a product that not only is going
To be unique but is so repeatable from box to box that we ship out that even a tour player is going to trust that over an old school you know steel shaft X100 that the tour players have widely played for you know the last 30 years at least
No absolutely and look you know you talk about you talk about uh the manufacturing tightness I mean I’ve built sets of golf clubs with the Fuji Cur axium which you know we’ll get to that later but for 2023 for me that was probably the equipment um
Highlight uh of 2023 for me I mean you would take 7x and 125x shafts out of a box and they’re all 125 grams give or take 0.1 or point two of a gram I mean it’s it’s just ridiculous that’s great yeah like I’ve always looked at steel is
A little bit more medieval and a little bit more analog almost you know from a build perspective Todd you’re going to have a better sense but you know graphite to me appears more digital right like you can put material in any particular spot you want you can
Replicate it I think a little bit easier you can really customize the bend profile the EI profile of a graphite shaft a little easier but the challenge was always creating a graphite shaft that was stiff enough in the tip section especially at that diameter and you know axm and
Vore uh you know I think that’s going to that’s really the the big leap up is you can finally start making a heavyweight graphite shaft that is stiff enough in the tip section to also scale down at lighter weights and I think that was kind of the Breakthrough that the golf
Touring Pros kind of needed to trusted under the highest pressure and I wouldn’t be surprised if you know you start seeing more uh aggressive outfits for lack of a better word and the brand agnostic approach in the Pro game the Touring game I think is going to start
Really taking over yeah absolutely look give J credit for that oh 100% look I want to talk about axm a little more um a little bit later cool but yeah look I I think you know as an Australian I love the fact that you know and that’s
Someone who loves being brand agnostic I love the fact that Jason day’s doing what he wants and I love the fact that Jason day’s playing Great Golf um sticking with the senty um scoring average on Sunday was 66.7 the lowest scoring average ever at kaaloa um it beat the record that was
Set two days prior man 2900 is just ridiculous and look I got to say um yeah it’s there kind of a bigger bigger conversation to be had about progolf but you know as it relates to to equipment and we can keep this relatively high level I just get the
Sense that the equipment’s just too easy for these guys to hit so what’s the solution yeah yeah I actually think the ball is the bigger issue and this isn’t like pro ball rollback I just think that the golf ball is so good it goes so
Straight it spin so low and you know the Moi on like the drivers are so good as well plus I mean they have solved a number of different challenges that have led to you know the illusion and Mystique of golf for a long time right like they’ve all figured out the most
Optimal way to deliver the golf club club we understand launch monitor numbers so well and what tolerances you want right with a certain ball speed you want to correlate that to a launch and spin rate that makes the most sense um the golf ball goes dead straight uh they
Work tirelessly you know give Scott faucet a lot of credit for understanding the Moneyball aspect of golf right the probabilities while older players used to use that to their advantage the golf ball spun so much that was a lot more variance in where it was going to go
Time and time again and even from like box to box I think you could probably go back 50 years and get a brand new set of golf balls and if you had the ability to launch monitor test those things they probably all worked a little bit differently so once those variances
Start going away and you know okay if I swing this club at 97 miles an hour hit down on at 6 degrees 3 degrees across and deliver 26 degrees of Loft here you know on the iron it’s going to go 183 yards it’s going to land it’s going to
Have 6,800 spin it’s going to land and maybe move a little bit to the left and then you know because I know what the greens do because I have the green book I know that once it catches that slope it’s going to dump itself pretty close
To the hole tiger was kind of the first guy over the last 20 years or so to actually start doing this uh new modern game and I think it’s fair to say that like you know not every no one’s Tiger Woods obviously but all of the modern
Players are playing the same type of game that Tiger Woods was playing in the late 990s and early 2000s I think the equipment and the golf ball itself have simplified so much on top of the strategy element where you can plan for something and the ball actually does
What you’re planning to do and I just don’t really believe that’s how it was you know for the Hundred Years leading up to this new era yeah yeah God I’m looking at the Sentry I’m trying to figure out uh you know obviously Scotty Scotty sheffer’s his teer green is just
Phenomenal I think he was in the top five alltime Strokes gain teer green uh last season and you know couldn’t putt worth the damn um he’s got himself a new Logan Olen Putter and his putting’s getting better he he shot Seven under to finish 25 under for the tournament so he
Had a great tournament um and he’s had some improvement in his punting since he made that switch to the the the Logan Olson putter but you know I I honestly don’t know where I’m standing with with Pro Golf I mean they’re all hitting those shots I’m I’m wanting to battle
I’m not I’m not seeing I’m not seeing any fight yeah yeah it’s there’s some sterility to it you know what I mean for sure and that’s why like I’m just of the belief that golf has kind of become a little too easy and and obviously those guys yeah let’s
Clarify that yeah it’s it’s like becoming too easy for the world class player and obviously you know everyone’s short game at the tour level is excellent so that raises the floor of their scores they can hit the ball terrible and shoot 72 or 73 and survive
To live another day but the offense is so great you know 320 yard carries and you know eight irons that can go 135 fet in the air and you know like the ability to just attack these holes I mean the most notable probably Lac Last Summer of
Course I played a bunch and Ricky Fowler and Xander shley just shot 62 there day one the course was way too easy for them and it was playing like 7600 yards they’re hitting nine irons in the par five uh par fours that I’ve literally hit three Woods in seven Woods into like
It’s just a totally different game and that’s great and all but I feel like in the past you felt like you could almost relate a little bit more than the current player now um I don’t have a good solution for it other than make the
Golf ball spin year right but I mean why would you do that like sex cells hit the golf ball 360 yards you know but what about the equipment I mean look look I the clubs too I mean these guys are you know you’ve got uh you’ve got guys hitting
T-50s you got guys hitting some guys hitting t200s the the long end of the bag is completely different to what it used to be yeah um so much easier to hit and I think I think you know driver is just these guys aren’t missing Fairways that much it just it’s different it’s different
And you know it it it wasn’t that way before you had guys playing blades you had guys hitting one irons you had and and I’m not reminiscing about the good old days here either I just you know it kind of comes with uh you know some some
Kind of Hope of well what’s the solution like I would love to see these guys all hitting blades and or or or you know you talk about bats wooden bats in baseball versus any other forms of of of am baseball um man I would I would love to
See that I would love to see more US Open setups I would love to see things more penal uh titer Fairways like it’s got to be something to make this this a better display of the abilities of the best golfers in the world yeah no I I get it right um I just
Think the standard has gotten so much higher yeah that’s true one last thing on the centry I’m watching the last nine Xander sha um he’s eight consecutive passs on the back nine um and then Eagles the last he finishes 24 under tied for 10th eight straight passs As I said he’s had
11 top 20 finishes last season the most anyone like his his stats I’m going through his stats and the reason I want to go through his stats is because like the guy just doesn’t win much you know and I love Xander Shuffle but like I
Don’t see an eye of the tiger um and I he always seems to just come up short I’m trying to figure out why I would love to know why um you know I even went I even went had a look at at his his putting stats um but I mean look he
Last year he was Ninth Place Strokes gra Strokes gain T to Green he’s 47th off the T I mean he tightened that up this week but he’s third in Strokes gain approach 60th in Greens in regulation though he seems to have some issues in in approach proximity in the areas of
125 to 150 from 75 to 100 I mean he’s he was 87th last year from inside 100 yards he’s he’s average ing 28.4 four puts per round 32 I mean that’s that’s obviously ridiculous but you know we’re talking about talking about the PGA Tour and then I get across his his his finishes
Per round right so he’s 23rd Place average 23rd Place in putting um for round one 100th Place uh for round putting in round two 14th place in round three and then 65th Place in round four in terms of putting average equal with Scotty Sheffer who we
Know is had an absolute dog over year on the greens last year and you know if if he puted well he would have won a hell of a lot of tournaments and then I’m looking at that and I’m thinking well 100 place in round two uh on
Average he’s also he’s also made you know pretty much I I think he’s number one in Cuts made or something like that so I’m thinking to myself is he is he taking his foot off the gas on Friday and just letting it slip a little bit and then what’s happening on Sunday he’s
Just not making it what’s the pressure there like the guy has the ability I mean he made a lot of three puts on Sunday as well but I don’t know I think there’s a mental thing going on with Xander chuffle that that I just there’s a there’s a barrier there that’s just
Not allowing him to win I think he’s uh I think it’s all mental uh maybe there’s some mechanical stuff there too but I think it’s more between the ears with Xander yeah I mean I was uh you know I had a chance the first time I saw Xander
It was in TBC Boston at the uh the FedEx event there you know this is probably six or seven years ago this point and I didn’t know who he was I just saw this dude with a big uh a big ass hitting bunker shots next to Andrew Landry who’s
This little tiny slight guy relative to most of the golfers on tour and I was just watching a physical specimen and I was like what is this because Andrew Landry is you know one of those players with amazing skill and touch but he just doesn’t have the horsepower of like the
True show ponies that are out there and I couldn’t tell who it was cuz you know he’s in the bunker he’s wearing all black it was like 105 degrees he was super tan I thought it was Jason day at first and I was like that’s not Jason
Day who is that guy I feel like he was still pretty new on the scene out of SDSU and I had never really seen him in person and all I know is he was like competing against Andrew Landry out of this bunker from about 50 yards away I
Was watching and it looked so unbelievably unfair of a fight between the two that I was like I don’t know who that guy is but if he’s not a top five player in the world I’d be shocked find out at Xander schafle uh finally got to
See his face and I was like wow I can’t believe the talent of this guy um it just jumped off the page immediately I’m not the first one who said that obviously right um look I can’t be in his head I think you know all it takes
Really realistically to not win on tour is to miss one putt right like look at some of the scoring from this week one of my favorite Traditions is always looking at the leaderboard at the end of the tournament and identify a guy who played great Golf and had no chance of
Winning right and tied for 33rd this week you had Sam Burns right he shot 69 68 68 69 finished 33rd Place get the hell out of here like he’s so far behind the field and what did he miss like one putt around to keep him
Out of the top 10 I mean I heard a stat and I have to verify it but everyone was talking about how Ricky Fowler was in this huge slump over the last few years right well his scoring average was like like one shot higher than it was last
Year when he broke out of this the the slump so look I’m sure and I’ll bring it back to Xander like the eight iron he hit on 16 at the Masters the year he had a chance to win you know he claimed that he got gusted and he purered the shot I
Think was pretty clear he did not hit a good shot and yet he just kind of refused to admit it which was I thought was interesting goes to tell you a little bit about his psychology I I think or at least the pressures that you
Know uh his his father’s kind of put on him or whatever I don’t want to go into you know his backstory too much but look I just think that you know you can be incredibly talented and not necessarily have that killer instinct to fully rise above your fear inside right the
Impostor syndrome like that’s a good example of him standing on the tea at 16 at Augusta and thinking if I hit this shot I’m going to win The Masters and in that half a second from the top of his swing into impact I would guess he probably had a little
Bit of a whisper in the back of his head that said something that distracted him you know like I don’t want to say Xander is not you know someone who can perform at the highest level because I’ve seen him win golf tournaments before but I
Think it’s really hard to do I miss the best players in the world competing like I think I think that’s part of it as well with Pro Golf part of it at the Sentry I mean Rory’s not there it’s an elevated event um you know so many good
Plays have left um in a couple of years it’s going to be a little different um you know I think when it’s when it all comes together again but you know for the moment it’s just I think it’s a little bit out to lunch for me um
That said I’m still watching I’m still watching I’m still watching but I I want I want the game to come full circle you know we’re obviously in this weird spot right now where the golfers are kind of putting their own personal interests and business interests in front of the glory
And I get that and I think that’s a necessary evil in any competitive sport where you have this massive economy around it um but I’m still going to be super super stoked you know come April you better believe it what what do you think was the best equipment release of
2023 um the best equipment release I mean I mean the layup is autoflex because I mean I guess it wasn’t even released in 2023 so it doesn’t count for me without a doubt the best release of 2023 um total Game Changer was the release of the fujiu axium iron shaft
And the reason I’m going to say that I mean I it is the first Shaft for me that performs like steel um and is as tight as steel feels like steel delivers like steel and you know look I’ve I’ve seen let’s take the axi and
125x I’ve AB it with you know a plus one handicap golfer who plays p790s with x100s he’s hitting the x100s the the launch is is just dead straight and then I hand him the axm 125x exactly the same I mean exactly the same and then I get his take on it and
He says they feel no different like and they they they were performing identically on the range and then I go out and I bu myself a 105s with the ston ZX7 and it is just a machine yeah and so so for me you know I I gamed um the Fuji
Pro the the precursor to the axium and for whatever reason it wasn’t right for me I lost all my swing confidence went back to the to Steel shafts and got it back um kind of vowed never to to use graphite again in Iron shafts but the
Axum’s changed my mind and I think the Axiom will I mean it’s going to do what Ventus velor did like just become the biggest selling iron shaft of next year and the year after it’s going to be it it’s in basically every test I do now
Because of what you said and and I do believe you know we touched on it earlier in the podcast like golf or or tour players are going to start playing these a lot more common you know you seen the mmt a little bit on tour like
AB aner was using the mmt 105x for a bit Bryson was famously the first golfer to use all 14 clubs in his bag with graphite shafts uh in a tournament and I believe he won the US Open playing all 14 graphite shafts Bryson’s obviously the anomaly um steel fiber’s been on
Tour for a while you know Matt coocher made a ton of money playing steel fiber for a long time I don’t believe he’s playing it anymore but the Axiom is like the one product that creates the the stability to fight against gear effect at impact in a graphite shaft while also
Offering you know proper vibration dampening and the proper weight and and and like you said it delivers like steel that I think that is kind of the big breakthrough that the graphite iron shaft world has waited for for a long time and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s further iterations of Axiom you
Know they’ll probably even make you know like they did with Ventus higher launching model like a red axm a blue axm a black axm I don’t want to speculate on what Fuji cor is doing but they can spin that product into a ton of different opportunities and
All yeah and all the other manufacturers are going to follow suit I mean why wouldn’t you right and it really comes down to how good the manufacturers have gotten at building the golf clubs and the shafts properly and consistently that’s the key and look I you know look
Fuji Cur have just knocked it out of the park absolutely out of the park with the axium but so that’s 2023 I mean there’s a number of releases uh announced today I mean we saw new I for ping ping blueprint we’ve uh you know the D430 Max
10K wow that’s a mouthful AI in 10k is this going to be 2024 I mean you got to create a new story every year right now again like some of we can just end right there like you said it all you said it all the products are so good that they have to
Come up especially the publicly traded companies I mean think about it they have a fiduciary duty to create and drive growth and revenue for their shareholders and if they don’t thousands of shareholders start actually losing money on their investment as publicly traded companies you have a duty to come
Up with the latest and greatest at all times and it’s funny I was listening to Marty Json talk about what Ping did they’re using like a cent fuge in order to like inject the steel or or excuse me the titanium face into a platform that creates a perfectly flat surface when
Building the 10K among other things and it’s like okay so these companies and paying ton of respect for them the engineering company that builds golf clubs truly and really the the founders of proper Club fitting to be frank like they’re coming up with new machines to manufacture the clubs more precisely
Right because yeah you can only make the driver go so fast and they have to find new stories to you know Drive revenue and find committed investment towards these new products and anything that they can do to show it is great I mean the funny thing about the 430 and the
425 and the 410 and the 400 that preceded it um you know they have a patent on their Center center of gravity I mean that’s why they don’t want to change it because that driver is the most straight the most forgiving Club each and every year it might not be for
Everyone I would argue ping is probably the most polarizing brand and products on the market but I’ve also found that when a client comes into my fitting Bay with a ping product they leave with a ping product far more often than any other manufacturer loyalty that I see
Right when you come in with a brand agnostic approach you’re L looking at well let’s try all of these and see which one works better and whether you come in with a Titleist a Callaway a mauno you know a c um a stricken whatever chances are there’s a pretty
Good shot another manufacturer might win your business but when you’re with ping like it’s 5050 which is really unique because when you start understanding and feeling where that center of gravity on the driver is it’s hard to kind of move off of that and I think the 10K is just
Another iteration the most perfect version of their fantastically forgiving driver and yeah you know look they’re all forgiving like they’re all forgiving of course they are I mean look we have all the math are the buzzwords of 2024 yeah but like they really are but we
Have all of the math to prove that if you build a driver like this the ball flight works pretty good so you know Callaway spends millions of dollars on their Microsoft superu computer to start running and testing in real time all these different iterations of face topography and they figured out I think
They went from like 15,000 to 25,000 to 35,000 different face models to create the most forgiving and straight face on their Paradigm AI smoke and you know like how much better can these things get this is like part of my my conspiracy theory on the ball roll back
If you were to change the golf ball because all of the equipment is at the theoretical limit or at least pretty close then that opens up another 10 15 20 years of product Innovation where we have to start developing the products fundamentally different to support the
New golf ball and you know if I’m looking at it with my tin foil hat on I feel like that kind of makes sense I mean these companies are billion dooll companies and because of that you know publicly traded fiduciary duty man like it doesn’t necessarily hurt to be given
A gift of changing a variable to create another 10 or 15 year runway for Innovation right and like I’ve been saying that since day one I don’t know I might be totally crazy but it makes sense to me and I just like to to use logic to to come up with insights you
Know yeah I I also don’t think that if uh someone had to choose which one of us had a tin foil hat um that who it would be I just questioning uh yeah um Muno out coming out with some new blades I’m auno Fanboy I love that
Like Paradigm versus AI smoke I mean how much difference is there really in those two clubs like how much is it a little bit of forgiveness I mean I again I think it’s you can’t look at it as oh like this is going to be so much better
Right the process is different like they’ve gone throughout the process they’ve made a better driver from the ground up using all of the available information they’ve been able to glean look every driver each time they come out they’re going to be a better product than they were in the past outside of a
A failure right which has plagued the industry at times like there’s companies I won’t name names that put out products that just aren’t as good as the product before it because they’ve wanted to innovate with something new and give them credit for taking the risk but you
Know when you already have a really great I’m I’m GNA guess when you already have a great I’m GNA guess really because the next thing I was gonna say was was you know did Taylor Maid take a step back with stealth because I don’t think that you know and and we’re
Talking about the new qi1 I don’t think Taylor Ma has had a uh a drive ahead that’s you know been as good since the OG Sim I mean yeah the Sim was like the the perfect driver of that first generation of titanium you know drivers or like and you get into this new
Generation where you know the the the entire industry is focused on we need to do AI we need 10K we need all this stuff like one of the big advantages of change like one of the restraints I should say of the modern driver is while everyone thinks titanium is this really
Lightweight material relative to Steel its lightweight but it’s still a heavyweight metal look it up on the periodic table and when you have a 460cc driver with a big old forgiving face on it you know that club face is 50 grams a driver only weighs maybe 190 to 200
Grams so you have a massive amount of the weight right on the club face which means the center of gravity is going to be forward and ultimately that driver is going to lose stability in Moi okay if you can change the club face to a lighter weight material like carbon and
Save 15 or 20 gr to the front of the club then ultimately you can put that weight further back which would increase thei of the driver like just based on basic physics right so the idea is not new but you know tailor made was bought by another company right before they
Released stealth and again I don’t know anything internally on that side but I wouldn’t be surprised if a little new ownership syndrome came in and they said hey let’s release this product we’re the new owners we want to make a big splash with our new acquisition of tailor made
Golf and they may have rushed stealth one and it was plagued with a couple you know quality assurance issues where the face kept popping off and unfortunately it kind of rolled into last year as well my take on on qi1 is it is the proper stealth the way that it was designed to
Be built in the first place and they’ve had a couple years to really perfect that process and I would expect that driver to still maintain some of the advantages of the lighter Weight Club face but also you know perform like in OG Sim and I would expect this to be a
Great year for them if it isn’t then you know I don’t I don’t really know what they’re going to look at right so I would put look like a TI list yeah like I would put Faith in the institution that you know tailor made’s going to
Come out with a truly good product that not only the the a truly great product that not only all the tour players love but I mean as usual they’re most likely going to be the best selling driver because tailor made is the marketing company that builds golf clubs it always has been right
Absolutely what are the most common problems you see in golf bags you know when people come in the door even with low handicap is is it length is it Flex you know like just just give me the quick the quick three yeah people play golf clubs that
Are too heavy and too stiff for them per period a tour player swings a six iron somewhere between 95 and 110 M hour and the amount of force that they’re putting into that golf shaft is unique compared to the amateur player who has a full-time job or has other life
Interests isn’t specifically training to swing a golf club right when you’re swinging a driver 105 106 107 miles an hour and you’re playing a tipped you know Venus TR 7x that aor mroy was swinging at 125 who’s also built like a golf machine like an iron Byron chances are it’s
Probably not going to work for you now there’s always exceptions to that rule but it’s one of the easiest things that I can diagnose and fix you know I just I have so many people come in and it it’s they go by clubs and they assume that they standard
Length they assume that they’re standard Li Li angles like like if you buy a set of clubs and you know you’ve bought them off eBay or or wherever first thing you got to do is go and get everything checked because you just don’t know what you’re going to get and even that
Extends to new clubs I mean make sure that you get your stuff checked I mean manufacturing tolerances there a lot better like they they have improved significantly of late but you know you just need to make sure that the stuff that you buy you get it checked and the
Specs are correct yeah I mean like think about it right like if you’re not getting something custom built by a custom buil shop okay like truspec for instance who I work for who’s literally cutting the shafts they’re bending all of the clubs to the exact Li angle like
We have a tremendous amount of capability in getting something dialed in exactly to the right at enino golf Labs you have that same thing right you’re cutting the shafts to the exact length that we want them to you’re bending the club heads to the exact same Loft and lie that you
Want them to if I’m a company you know a major manufacturer and I know I’m selling 200,000 sets of this product in the first quarter of 2024 I don’t have 5,000 Todd house to make sure I’m going through and building each one to an exact spec I mean that’s just the reality
Couldn’t agree more couldn’t agree more all right I’m goingon to fire I’m gonna fire uh rapid fire 10 questions at you okay number one number one bucket list Golf Course Augusta I’m a lefty come on favorite ever major and why um there’s a lot of them I mean the
Tiger at at Cory is is hard to argue obviously I mean that was incredible kind broken leg uh clearly yeah broken leg and and just making that putt on 18 like against everything like the PO is bouncing so much like for that putt to
Go in we all knew it was going in and yet it still went in like I mean that’s kind of the answer it’s my favorite major Tournament of all time yeah 2008 third question how far back does your memory of watching golf go what tournament uh
Memory of watching golf I don’t know man like probably going to the Greater Hartford open which is now The Travelers you know as like a 5-year-old kid 105 degree heat thunderstorms and outside of hardford and Cromwell Connecticut probably that uh seeing David Duvall uh you know hit the golf ball three times
Out of bounds and yet he still somehow made par on that hole like that’s a burning memory in my head uh and I guess I wasn’t that young for it but I specifically remember him hitting three balls out of bounds and some he carded a
Four on that on that hole so uh they must have found the first one just in bounds I guess that kind of answered two questions at once um first tournament you ever went to Y was the next question yeah greater heart open what is the greatest golf shot of
All time in your opinion I think it’s hard to argue Tiger’s chip in at austa is maybe the greatest shot of all time if you really think about it because at first it’s like there’s no way that’s the greatest shot there’s been so many other shots like it’s hard to argue
That’s not the most iconic shot ever hit I mean think about the how many people saw it the moment obviously the ball just falling over the edge like how can you argue that and I I think in time it’s gotten more and more impressive and the moment was so incredible and how big
His eyes were looking at it like he saw everything he executed it absolutely perfectly I mean that a perfect golf shot in my mind in your life in your life have you ever seen anything like that I did not Vern that was the only time dream forsome anyone living or dead
So my dad Tiger Woods and the third one or the fourth guy to round this out I’d probably say like I think it’d be super cool to play with uh with JFK right like I think that’d be super interesting like cuz all of the stuff he knew back back
In the 50s and 60s like I just want to know that man I I Would Be Jack Black as long as he sung his wh around the go course Jack Black okay yeah um I mean we’re playing PA golf here uh is there a phrase that you say when you hit a ball
Flush uh I I can’t think of one I mean I just every time I hit a a a perfect shot like it’s one that I remember I mean it’s that simple like I I don’t I don’t say something as much as I feel that that moment right and like everyone talks
About the cliche it’s like oh well that’s the one that keeps you coming back like when you hit a perfect golf shot it makes your day it makes your week and you know I’m sure I’ve said some colorful language when I’ve hit shots like that but I usually like can’t
Get over it and I try and tell people did you see how good I hit that shot whose golf swing do you want um mine I want to own my swing I’d take Freddy Couples any day uh it’s a good one favorite favorite golf of all time yeah I
Mean it’s silly not to say Tiger Woods in this situation obviously but um I mean I I I think that Ben Hogan is probably like the guy that I would look at as you know if I could I would say he’s probably my favorite I mean one of the reasons being
Just he was not a very big guy and it took him a long time to finally break through and win and he just dug it out of the dirt and then obviously overcame you know uh almost dying in a car accident um but he used to get beaten up
Uh all the time on the golf course by Byron Nelson they both grew up you know outside in in Texas next to each other and Byron just beat him up over and over and over and over again until finally Hogan conquered so I would say his story
Is probably the most interesting to me and uh I would pick him best golfer currently either PGA or live oh I mean John ROM like John ROM is the best golfer like I don’t think there’s much argument there you could argue Sheffer is also the best golfer
Right but um Rah has a certain sense of uh in Artistry that like you can’t Sheffer just cannot compete against JN J is ends up being the golfer of his generation I think when it’s all said and done he’s damn good I saw him at Tory Pines yeah just
Incredible who’s the golfer you just can’t stand um I can’t stand oh there I mean there’s definitely some good answers here uh give me one you don’t even have to have a reason yeah I mean it’s hard to like to know why it’s hard to talk crap about these guys right
Uh commit to the shop dude come on I’m not gonna say Patrick Reed I’m not gonna say Patrick Reed I’ll say Patrick Klay I don’t I’m not a fan I’m not a fan of Patrick Klay in in any capacity um you know good good for him good for him that
That’s about the extent of of how excited I am about Patrick Klay love it great player no question great player not interested I’m with you on that one I’m with you on that one all right what do you got for me um obviously you were a musician okay you toured around the
World where was the coolest place that you ever played Amsterdam Paradiso wow okay who is best venue in the world what’s that best best venue in the world best venue in the world cool haven’t been there need to do it um who was the the person
In music that you either met kind of by accident or you were truly Star Struck by in your touring days man Um I met Michael styp and Hansen in the same room on the same day met Hansen yeah yeah it was a it was a charity relief thing um I honestly can’t remember now well I did a lot of things in my 30s dude remember um Michael styp Hanson met Robert Plant
Played Yan McGregor’s birthday party I met I met a bunch of other people made a full of myself in front of a lot of people too that’s cool that’s cool you got to make you got to be memorable you know yeah um what’s the you have any golf
Superstitions and like do you bring anything out on the golf course that you have to have in order to play you know with a with a clear mind no okay um what do you mark your golf ball with a custom ball marker that I’ve just had made from an incredible
Club Builder um based in Orange County’s name is Brandon Marino from nebula Golf and and it says the aceman uh and and Ceno golf lab on it um I had two Aces last year so I put aceman on it and that was the only nickname
I’ve ever had in my entire life so yeah it took a while that’s great I have two myself ball marer yeah once you make one it’s you win you know you can’t you have no regrets it’s great what’s the best shot you’ve ever hit second Ace the second Ace what which
That was that in the rer cup event we played yeah so was the Los ver days we were playing a match play against penmar it was the 12th hole we’d gone to up through 10 and it was howling 20 M an hour on the 11th hole which is a long PA
Four um the penar guys are are an absolute riot um Jared and I pulled out it was a it was a risk reward Par Four short Par Four howling downwind and he pulls out a hybrid I pull out the three wood or the fourwood and the two panar guys call call us
we end up probably 20 ft short of the green and they just pull both of their drivers left through the green we walk off with birdie to go three up and they’re super pissed and uh the next hle is a 150 yard uphill par three uh we’ve
Got the honor I step up to the tea that 20 M an hour is now blowing from left to right and and I just hit the most flush drawer held up dead straight into the breeze I saw and as soon as I hear I was like that’s gonna be good that’s gonna
Be real good because it was going right at the flag and I knew it was going to be the right number and it just bounced I heard it hit the flag and I couldn’t see it it was an uphill par three and then one of one of our guys
From the t- t- box behind just runs down he says it’s in the hole and that was just that’s the best shot I’ve ever hit best best golf shot best most memorable moment of 23 as well that’s fantastic that’s FAS would would you rather fight 100 ducks or one horse siiz
Duck oh man do I have any tools no tools no no weapons except for your ballark from nebula golf I don’t know I I’d fancy my chances against the duck wh siiz duck oh interesting that’s hell of a Bak but yeah that’s I mean look I like you know it’s
It’s a David and Goliath story yeah yeah true that um where’s your favorite place you’ve ever been on the globe damn h H boy I couldn’t tell you it’s a big place a lot I I’ve been to a lot of places like my experience of Barcelona is driving into Barcelona pulling into
The venue doing a show leaving and driving to France like I’ve been to so many places and never really spent time in there yeah you know time there yeah um I’m gonna have to I’m gonna have to give you an answer on the next episode
Wow okay I stumped him I stumped him you stumped me yeah uh last meal what would my last meal be I would have to be Italian either either a really good pasta or Ki Indian okay who makes the best fastf food Burger not including In-N-Out I don’t rate In-N-Out at all
I’m not even a fan of In-N-Out controversial we might lose some listeners here I don’t really like it either I think it’s fine but I’d rather a Five Guys burger I really would yeah it’s not the burger it’s the fries but who makes from all the Big Chain fast
Food restaurants who makes the best burger damn I’m so not fussy dude it’s really situational for me I will eat anything I think Wendy’s makes the best one you should try it does a good burger does a good burger we got a Shake Shack that opened up that’s good too but that’s not
Really no it’s not really I mean it took 45 minutes to get her order the other day but like it’s 900 yards away yeah um yeah all right and last one uh goto wedge bounce and grind uh just bouncing grind uh it can be Loft it I want Loft I want bounce I
Want grind like which is the one that you’re trusting around the green if you only had one to carry yeah 58 degrees less than uh four degrees of boun uh well six degrees or less of Bounce okay okay and grind I would have to be very similar to a t grind Voki
Really okay so you open that thing up a lot I I grew up when you know we didn’t even know what bounce was and so a lot of a lot of stuff was low bounce and I just play lay bounce yeah yeah hard surfaces in Australia too yeah and here
Yeah it’s just I love a good lay bounce I love a hard pan lie yeah all right one bonus question just for fun um aliens are they real yes definitely I love it I love it that was good that was a good rid fire well I guess that does it for this
Episode one of Pastor syndrome a a golf podcast I’ve been your host Todd how uh huge thank you to you Sean Fagen my co-host uh don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcast or Spotify whatever your listening platform is and if you’re driving now uh don’t subscribe
Right now we want you to practice responsible driving on and off the golf course uh if you love the vibe of the podcast please leave a review wherever you can you can follow us on Instagram at imposter gopod you can follow us on YouTube at imposter gopod uh we’re
Currently in the throws again a website uh set up so we’ll give you some more information on that in the up and coming episodes uh you can follow me on Instagram at Eno golf laab you can follow Sean on Instagram at SKF golf uh if you got any questions at all
Regarding fitting and building uh send us a DM on Instagram right now at imposter golf pod bye for now Peace [Applause]
1 Comment
Would definitely have the Freddie swing over the Fagan swing 😂