What golf clubs does an elite level golfer play? What were the top driver fitting trends of the year? Those are the main topics in this week’s episode of the 2nd Swing Thoughts podcast.
2nd Swing Master Fitter Harrison Arnold is a former collegiate golfer who advanced to the final stage of U.S. Open Qualifying and made it to the match play portion of the U.S. Mid-Amateur this past year. He reflects on his golfing journey and dives into the equipment in his golf bag.
Then 2nd Swing Master Fitters Jake Montgomery and Mark Olson break down the Top Driver Fitting Trends they’ve seen in the fitting bay in 2025.
00:00 Introduction
04:30 Tommy Fleetwood WITB Fitting Insights
11:11 Elite Level Golfer’s Equipment
31:25 Top Driver Fitting Trends of 2025
39:00 Conclusion
The 2nd Swing Thoughts podcast, presented by 2nd Swing Golf, covers anything and everything in golf equipment and club fitting. The 2nd Swing Thoughts will feature experts in the golf industry sharing insights and latest trends in golf clubs and club fittings. 2nd Swing Thoughts will also cover the latest in professional golf.
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Which driver is best suited for your golf swing? We’re talking the top driver fitting trends of the year. Plus, a Second Swing Master Fitter who just happens to be an elite level golfer as well discusses how he makes his own equipment decisions. That and more on this week’s Second Swing Thoughts podcast. Hey golfers, welcome in to the Second Swing Thoughts podcast. Joining us today is second swing master fitter Maxwell Bush who’s filling in for Drew this week as Drew is uh out on a golf trip. So, uh lucky him. Little jealous, not going to lie, but I also just got back from one. So, I kind of feel the pain. I’m the jealous one of both of you. Yeah, Max, we got a we got a great show here today. You know, we’ll we’ll talk P DP World Tour. Um kind of look into some of the equipment decisions of Tommy Fleetwood and how we what we see in fittings. Absolutely. Um you sit down with our very own Harrison Arnold. Yeah. um kind of learning a little bit about his game. He’s from England. He’s got a cool story, really good player. And then we also have uh Jake Montgomery and Mark Olsen talking top driver fitting trends. So, should be a pretty good show. Yeah. Bunch of bunch of different faces of uh elite club fitters, let’s say, and then maybe one elite player in Harrison. I’m not gonna give myself that uh tag quite yet. Yeah, it wasn’t Max if you were watching. He’s a good player, but he’s he’s not quite Harrison’s level. Yeah, just marginally off there. So, yes, you’ll enjoy you’ll enjoy both those conversations. Really good stuff. Kind of gives you want to look into how elite players, you know, the what they’re looking for when it comes to, you know, maybe swapping out a club and then also just what our fitters have seen with drivers. So, we’ll get to that in just a little bit, but first we’re going to kick things off with the turn. And it wasn’t a a busy week in the world of golf, but you did have the DP World Tour uh hosting the DP World Tour India Championship. And uh Tommy Fleetwood continuing uh his run seven under 65 to close it out for his eighth DP World Tour win. Of course, he had his first PGA Tour win earlier this year. He’s had a few more on the DP World Tour, but thought what made this one pretty cool is the first one with his son Frankie in attendance. I did see that. He kind of talked about how that almost like almost motivated him there on Sunday. I just wanted to, you know, embrace him on the 18th green. Yeah, it was a feel good feel good moment on the 18th. Yeah. Him hugging his son. Yeah. Is there a I mean, I know Scotty Sheffller’s kind of on his own planet when it comes to just being consistently great, but has there been a hotter golfer in golf over the last two months than Tommy? I It’s hard to argue, right? I mean, he won the tour championship finally kind of getting breaking through, let’s say, that PGA Tour barrier, just getting his first win. Um, and then going into the RDER Cup, I mean, he was he’s one of the hardest guys to beat at the Ryder Cup. So, it’s like then you go and wins the the India Championship. It’s I mean, it’s hard to argue. He’s he’s really hot going into, you know, kind of the off season for the PGA Tour, but I’m sure it’s, you know, momentum he’s going to carry into next year. Little scary. Yeah, for sure. Almost a little reminiscent of what Victor Havlin did two years ago at the end of the year where he just went on that tear in the FedEx Cup playoffs and carried that right into the RDER Cup. Exactly right. Pretty good stuff there. And then just looking at the at the India Championship, you know, it was a pretty tight course. And uh one of the most interesting, you know, club choices that I think stood out was 60% of the golfers didn’t have a driver in their bag for the week. Yeah, that was very interesting. I only caught the final round of the tournament, but what I noticed was like almost not jungle, but thick vegetation about, you know, 5 to 15 yards left or right on most every hole. So, and it also only played 6,900 yards from the tips playing par 72. So for all those guys who are moving the club that fast, a little more accurate option at the top of the bag that still goes plenty far is a good good thing to have at that tournament and clearly worked well for for Tommy. Yeah, Tommy was one of them. Roy Moy put his driver away cuz he said he he only needed to hit shots 270 280 off the tee and Roy Moy uh he could probably do that with seven iron if he wanted to. Exactly. Um but yeah, we’ll take a look at Tommy’s bag here. I just want to kind of hear what you’ve kind of seen, you know, in the fitting bay and specifically in regards to kind of his the woods section of his bag. I’ll go through kind of the bottom of his bag first. He’s still got that tailor made Spider Tour Black putter. Um has a mix of Tailor Made wedges there. Has a high toe in the 52 and then goes with the the Proto, which I believe is the MG5 and the 56 and 60°ree. Then of course plays the P7TWs. Um but then at the top of his bag, you know, without the driver, he typically plays a tailor made Qi10. Yep. Um, but he started off with his R seven quad mini driver. I know Mini drivers have kind of risen in popularity here recently. Huge this year. Um, and he’s kind of been one of the poster childs for the Mini driver. Um, but when you’re in a a fitting, are most people that are looking at mini drivers looking at it more as an off the tea club or are some of them looking at maybe just a little stronger lofted three where they can give them a little more oomph? I would say most often it’s an off the tea club. uh if you’re gonna be hitting that off the deck typically need a decent amount of speed, but I would say more often than not it was higher speed players who were going with these. So maybe a multi-purpose tool for some of them. I did actually find that mini drivers were worked pretty well for some people with like slower swing speeds needing a little bit more loft and just a little bit easier to sometimes find the center of the face for people. Almost that aim small, miss small type of thing. But the R seven quad was awesome for some of the older folks swinging like, you know, 70 to 80 mph with driver just cuz it was so easy to hit high at the, you know, 13 and a half for loft. Um, but I would say it was, yeah, more so an off the tea club for for me in the in the fitting bay. Uh, personally can’t hit a mini driver. I’m just not not quite that player. But it was it was a a big rise in popularity just in 2025 compared to 24. Um and then I mean we move into like the the high lofted woods, the the five and the ninewood. It was that trend took off even faster. Um yeah, with with kind of the that kind of leads us into our next segue here is you know talking about the uh you know the higher lofted woods. I feel like Tommy Fleetwood’s kind of one of the the poster childs to not use that word again, but of kind of the modern golfer’s bag, right? You got mini driver and then you go fivewood. There’s no three in the bag. Mini driver kind of replaces that and he goes to a ninewood. So when you’re kind of looking in that, you know, why would a player, you know, maybe have that? Why would a fivewood maybe work better than players even just four than a three-wood? Yeah, I’ve I found myself fitting a lot of like fivewood, seven wood combos this year. maybe four wood, seven woods. Having a little bit extra loft at that say lowest lofted wood um was just allowed people to one launch it a little bit higher and then kind of get it to that carry distance more often than not of what we’re looking for typically to gap out the top of the bag. We’re kind of looking for the the club below it. So that ninewood to kind of roll out to where the fivewood comes in close to carrying or at least that’s how we ideally like to fit the top of the bag. And for a lot of people the the higher lofted woods there were were just an easier way to get that carry number and kind of minimize some of the roll out that you see with 3-woods especially just being at you know typically 15° of loft. So definitely for for some of the more moderate swing speed players the the four-wood 7wood combo was huge this year. I know Ping and Titus both had the the fourwood 7wood combo that I found myself fitting a decent amount for. I mean, even high-speed players, too. We got a couple guys on our staff who are rocking the 47wood combo. Peak height with with Fairwaywoods is always tough when you’re not, you know, a super elite player if we’re not practicing every single day or if we’re just going out and playing on the weekend. So just having a little bit more loft almost as like a a bit of forgiveness to where that ball goes higher as opposed to flatter is what I saw in the fitting bay and and it end up putting a sevenwood in the bag for myself too and it it kind of worked wonders just being able to hit the ball higher as a lower ball flight player I guess. Yeah, I know. I mean, I know Sevenwoods I feel like they’ve definitely been like the headliner when it comes to high off fairway woods, but you are seeing, you know, a few more Nwood sneak into these tour players bags, especially when it was at the US Open. I know it was interesting. Um, are you seeing, you know, 9wood also being, you know, a great option? And ultimately, how do you decide if, you know, if a ninewood or a hybrid or, you know, a long iron ultimately what are you looking for to feel like that person’s, you know, got the right club for their game? Right. For me, it it all kind of boils down to consistency and and I guess dispersion of where that that ball’s landing and carrying to. Um, I look a lot for kind of consistency of carry, too. So, getting that plus minus number on track, man, as low as we can for the carry. When it comes to the ninewood, uh, messed around with it myself, but I did find myself fitting a decent amount of people into it or at least putting it in people’s hands to try. For Tommy, he plays five to pitching wedge in the TWW, so he kind of uses it as like a four iron replacement. That’s where I I found it fitting for for most people this year, too. Four iron can be a tough club to hit for a lot of people. You know, typically speed is is needed or swing speed to to get that golf ball launching in the, you know, a high enough window for it to to carry to that number. When you have a 9-wood with center of gravity pulled a little farther back than that four iron, just makes it like that much easier to get the ball up in the air. When it came to say going four hybrid or ninewood typically came down to player preference, although a lot of people hadn’t really ever hit a 9wood, I guess. So, just seeing the same thing go kind of boils down to that consistency. if the four hybrid was a little more consistent, maybe the the player was worried about hitting it out of the rough or having a little more versatility. Typically went four hybrid. Um, but 9inewood was, you know, was sneaking into into people’s bags after fittings, too. So, it it for me it kind of boiled down to a combo of consistency as well as just preference of the of the player. All right. Awesome. Well, appreciate that insight there, Max. And that kind of wraps up the turn here. And now it’s time for, you know, the first of two featured interviews. This one with our very own fitter, Harrison Arnold, who is, you know, a collegiate golfer, played for the University of Minnesota, comes over here from England. Yep. Um, so really, you know, he kind of introduces himself and his story and then him and Max kind of dive deep into, you know, what’s in his bag and why. So enjoy it. Now joining us on the Second Swing Thoughts podcast, Master Fitter Harrison Arnold. Harrison was an elite level college golfer at the University of Minnesota as well as the University of Central Arkansas. Um, and as well as an elite level player after the fact as well. Uh, thank you for joining us, Harrison. And why don’t you just go about kind of telling us how you your golf journey, let’s say, and how you made it here at Second Swing. Okay. Well, thanks for having me on the pod to start with. Um, absolutely. So, yeah, originally kind of from southern England, so kind of southwest of um of London. Um, where I kind of came from to kind of even get to the States in the first place was I was kind of playing back home and no sort of aspirations to really go play college golf. I always kind of knew it was in the back of my head like would be a great option, right? Yeah. Um, went to play the European Boys and Girls Open out in Frankfurt, Germany. ended up getting connected with Justin Smith, the current um coach for the Gophers. Um yeah, she came to watch someone in my group that wasn’t me. Um but we ended up having a great chat all day and couple months later he says, “Oh, do you want to come to the University of Minnesota and come for a visit?” And I was like, “Well, one to start. Where’s that?” Two, it sounds great. So, yeah, sure. So, you know, had a great time. Best experience ever. Uh spent four great years there. Yeah. Played that extra like you said at University of Central Arkansas. had that kind of COVID year to use. Um, so I kind of made the most of some warmer weather to see if I can bring my game to that next level. Exactly. Right. Um, but yeah, so like six years, so started in Frank in Germany. Now six years later, I’m now kind of working a second so I can kind of plan this trade. Yeah, it’s I mean it’s a cool journey to say the least. Um, this past year you did uh make it to the match play portion of the US Midam. Uh, that is an awesome accomplishment. I know we were all uh pulling for you here at Second Swing. um talk on that a little bit about just playing in such a high level event. I know you also made it to the final qualifying of the US Open uh one year. I guess differences between that and say your normal college, you know, match or whatever it might be. Is there a different mindset going into that or how do you approach those things? Yeah, I would say I mean it’s a great question. I think like college events was was a very similar kind of prep than I did for the US Open final qualifying this year. Sure. Being that it was 36 holes in a day, same kind of thing we had in college. So, y you know, that was a very similar preparation where I’m kind of going into it trying to get me everything as sharp as I possibly can to see if I can, you know, hold enough putts to go to the US Open. That’s um so worked really hard coming into that. A lot of a lot of it just really came down to how much um how many kind of like yardage drills I’m doing. You know, how much how many times can I hit a wedge inside three yards of my intended distance? That’s a big thing for me. When I know I’m on my game, I know when the ball comes off the face, I’m going to know within 3 to 5 yards how far that thing’s gone without having to look at a screen, which is great. Yeah. Um so really coming into that one was like Yeah. So like coming into that event was different. like really trying my hardest to kind of be really prepared cuz I know I was going to be playing against live golfers, PJ tour golfers, European tour winners. I was very fortunate to actually play cuz I was a Ben Coohl’s PJ tour when winner Cornfrey Tour order merit winner, right? So really cool experience to come and do these things and compare your games. I think the mid was slightly is a slightly different preparation, you know. Um didn’t really know what to expect with that week. um being it was my first time there, freshly 25, so I can kind of finally now start competing with some with the older generation, right? But yeah, so like that was slightly different. I think I went there more the of going there for the experience and kind of seeing, okay, let’s see how far I can really get, see what the competition is really like. Now I’ve kind of seen it one time, became filled with a lot of confidence. There’s a lot of really good players there and to make it a match play, I think it just drives me to kind of go there again next year. That’s awesome. give it another go. Um, you know, bowed down in the first round of match play this year. Um, took it to the 19th hole though. I did. That desert looked awfully nice when I got to that tea box. So, I think I managed to find the only tree in the whole of the desert. So, um, that was Yeah. So, yeah, it was great. I mean, very two very different experiences. Midam way more relaxed than a college event, way more relaxed than a um like the US Open final qualifying. It was a little it was a little bit strange kind of like well it’s quite nice really in a way just to kind of be at a tournament. Obviously we’re taking it very seriously but it was nice to kind of just have a fun time out there you know right um you know everyone’s there who’s you know taking a couple days off work to be there right so it’s like how can you not enjoy the the Arizona sun and be on these lovely golf courses right exactly did you I guess when you were playing did you notice I mean did you play any better playing with less pressure? Did you notice like it was easier to do certain things without maybe something in the back of your head? Yeah. Telling you something or Yeah. No, definitely. I think um I think that first round for sure I got I got pretty hot for the first apart from it beingund something degrees out there. I got kind of hot with my putter as well, which is cool. Um so like yeah, that first day I was a little bit le I was a little bit less stressed, you know. I was kind of just like letting everything be free kind of I got to what six under through 16 or something. So sure, you know. Yeah. Don’t ask me to do it again. But um but yeah, so like but then like the next day where now I’m like, “Oh, I’m actually in a chance to kind of win the stroke play now.” Like I’m in a kind of a good spot here. Um I think that then I kind of felt that pressure again. I used to feel like college events or something like that. Didn’t play too hot the next day. But it was more of a survival day, you know, get to the match, play, see how far you get. So I think there is definitely differences where when I was feeling very calm, very relaxed in that first round, I was it was a very different Harrison to the next day where I’m like, “Oh my god, just don’t freak out.” Yeah. Make as many pars as possible. Exactly. Yeah. Very cool. Well, yeah, that’s awesome. And thanks for kind of giving us a background of how you made it here. Um let’s I mean, being that we’re we’re kind of club junkies here, let’s uh let’s get into the golf bag and kind of what you’ve got top to bottom. Um, I know we did just make uh a driver change recently. Might have made a change back, kind of feeling out the driver, but give me a little bit of a deep dive into into what’s in the bag. Yeah, so starting with the driver, like you said, kind of changed into like a GT4 recently. Um, I’ve been using the Mizuno SDX all year. Really like it. Just um lacks a well for me kind of just lacking a little bit of speed. Not the highest spin uh speed player. Sure. You and me both. You know, I’ve got my physical limitations. Um, so you know, I’m trying to basically just trying to find a chase yardage. You know, I could um get a little few more miles an hour ball speed out of that Titus GT4 model. They’ve been really quick for us in the bays this year. So, I wasn’t too surprised to kind of see my efficiency go up. Um, especially when I was going kind of those firm firmer conditions down in Arizona, I was thought, okay, this is probably the time to make the change, kind of battle test it, as you will, you know. Yeah, exactly. Um, and it worked great. I really enjoyed it. And I think the biggest thing that that made a huge difference was shortening the shaft. Kind of moved to that GT4 because been living in that heel all year. So, okay, when I’ve been hitting those little heel shots, balls been spinning up quite a lot. So, really the main idea was to find myself a driver that is a little bit shorter to kind of move that impact location back towards the middle. And then two, when I do hit it in the heel, because I’m I’m still going to hit it in the heel. Um, just to see that spin drop again. Yeah. So, I don’t lose as much yardage. M absolutely. And then just to hit on it, we had the Ventus Red uh TR 7X in there. I know you’ve mentioned that’s one of your kind of preferred shafts, whether it be driver, 3-wood. Um what about it do you love? Well, I love kind of how that how stable it feels. Yeah. To start with, I think when you’re kind of swinging at kind of high, we’re not going to say high speeds, but higher speeds, moderately high, you kind of need that stab that feeling of stability. You don’t want to feel like that you have a chance for that ball to kind of balloon out the air, right? Sure. And I think that red is really good. Um, kind of working with my with some of the fitters from the Mazuno um Europe team, kind of from the from their tour team kind of explained to me in the way of if I’m going to get the club a little bit stuck behind me, which I’m glad that he noticed very quickly. Um, it wasn’t wasn’t didn’t take any offense to that at all. Um it’s quite nice to kind of have something that’s a little has a bit of a softer midsection like that like that red um red does have because it’s just going to help me to kind of release that club a little better square the ball up a bit more. Absolutely. Another thing why I kind of like playing the red kind of play the red between my three-wood in my two will kind of touch on too. I like to kind of hit a lot of like flighted like lower kind of punch stinger shots might be kind of where it grew up. Might be kind of why I do that. But um so by doing that having that sort of high launch in those shafts just helps kind of keep that ball in the air for me. Right. Just a little bit more. Exactly. I don’t want don’t want to see the ball kind of diving out of the air because you know if I start seeing my ball pitching the right side of the fairway and it keeps running into the right rough. It’s a tough game. It is a tough game and it’s a hard game already doesn’t need to make it harder on ourselves. Right. Um I And then just question for myself. Are you more of a a cut is your preferred ball flight a cut off the tea? Oh, yeah. I like to play cuts off the tea. Okay. Irons. I’m going to call it a draw, but it’s more of a pull really. Yeah. You and me both. Yeah. So, you know, I’ll be honest. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. That’s cool. And that makes sense with the, you know, the GT4 cut being maybe a little higher spin ball flight, but, you know, trying to minimize that and squeak out all the distance like you were talking about. Yeah. Um, really cool one that you have going in the 3-wood. The RBZ stage two. Yeah. talk about it. I mean, that was probably the first time there was an RBZ stage 2 at the US Midam in quite a few years. So, I just I had a few I did get a few comments. Um, well, it’s to start I think I think it’s I mean, dad might be able to correct me on this, but um but I’m pretty sure that that was the first adult three with I ever owned. Okay. So, when I was like 12, 11 or 12 years old, I think that was first one I ever owned was a RBZ stage two, I believe. Okay. Or it might be in the stage one. Either way, I played it for a very long time. Always when I put that thing down, it just looks great to me. When I put other throughwoods down, for some reason, it doesn’t suit my eye. I’ve always had a bit of an issue with threewoods. If it see kind of spinning up on me, I kind of So, I’m kind of in and out of thwood in the bag. Okay. But whenever that thing’s in the bag, it’s kind of perfect, right? So, love it. I always kind of say through is a bit like a dark is a bit dark magic. If you find one that works, stick with it. 100%. Yeah. It’s definitely a tough part of the bag for a lot of people. Um maybe, you know, a little bit of a comfort factor there being that it was the first one you ever swung. Yeah, that’s very cool. Um and then I on top of that too, I I want to say it’s historically one of the hotter 3woods that’s ever hit the market. Yeah. I mean, I I I’ve not tested one since that’s kind of given given the same numbers. Sure. Um, could just be in my head, but well, definitely is in my head, but it’s a um, yeah, it’s a non-negotiable at this point, I think. Stand that is very cool. And then Ventus Red uh, 7X or 8X in there. I believe that one is eight. Yeah, I think we eight. Might be the first time a Ventus Red 8X has ever been in an RBZ as well. So, that’s cool. Yeah, when I put that in there, it didn’t feel didn’t feel right, but it seemed to work. Hey, that’s we don’t question that at that point, right? Um, very cool. Uh let’s move into kind of two iron, three iron. What what do you do there to kind of gap the irons in the woods? Yeah. So kind of two iron, three iron is kind of where I’d start switching out the bag for cost pendant. Um two iron, really good club. I’ve got the Mazuna 245 in the two iron. Same in the three iron. Okay. Difference is in the three I I play the same shot that’s in my irons, the rival 6 and 12. Yeah. Um at Project X two iron, I’m going to play that red Ventice again. Yeah. I don’t get too much use out of that club in in the Midwestern, but when I’m back home, yeah, playing some links golf, it’s money, right? So, um so majority of the time that three rounds in play, kind of go for that more forgiving model just to kind of give myself a little bit more launch, kind of get see if I can get that peak land angle up as high as I possibly can. Um really, it’s for those longer path 3es or those sort of mid-range path fives where I got to come bring I need to bring something down nice and soft to give myself a good birdie or an eagle try. Right. Right. Yeah, that yeah, it makes total sense. Um I personally wish I had the abilities to hit a three iron, but seven wood has become my jam. Uh but this is not about me. This is about Harrison. Uh let’s talk iron set. Mazuno 241. Yep. What about him do you love? Well, one Mazuno, which is a classic Mazuno look, right? It’s um as good of as of a blade’s ever going to look. Yeah. Just has minimal offset, nice thin top line. I’m a little bit picky with top lines. If he hasn’t got a thin top line, yeah, usually don’t like it too much. But um switch this year is going to go four iron through pitching wedge in the 241s. I had the 243s in the four and five last year, but I did have noticed when I sort of switched between that six and the five, all flights were kind of was just in slightly different windows and I just wanted to see a little bit more consistency. So, um kind of went to the 241s all year. Okay. I’ve been liking it a lot more. I think it gives me a little bit more control out the rough as well. Definitely gives me a little bit few more options there if I want to sort of open the face and hit I kind of call them like a flop shot five iron right where I’m trying to get the ball come down nice and soft out the rough kind of gives me that ability with those with the two 43 just a little bit hotter wasn’t didn’t really work out how to do that with those without you know looking like I’m doing a trick shot so um you know definitely definitely made the game a little bit easier for me this year even though it’s an all blade setup right maybe counterintuitive for for most people but uh for a golfer of your caliber. That makes sense. Uh what do we have in the wedges uh this year? Do we make a switch? Yeah, wedges kind of same. Made the switch again this year, just playing the new the new model. So Mizuno’s um T1s as well there. 50, 55, 60. Kind of got them all three in different um same same shafts again. Um but all of them have slightly different bounce profiles. Okay. Why I’m doing that? Just to give myself a little bit more variety around the greens. So got um eight in the in the 50, 12 in the 55, six in the 60. mainly use 60 around the greens for most shots. I like I like to be as one-dimensional as I possibly can around the greens. Um I’m horrendous from long from um long side. Way better from short side. Getting very counterintuitive, but absolutely that’s why I kind of use that 60 a lot just kind of pretend like I’m hitting a short side of shot from long side. Yeah, exactly right. It works. So, kind of not not messing around with it, but have a bit more bounce on that um 55 just in case I kind of need a a club for a different situation. Right. Sure. Exactly right. Yeah, that Yeah, makes total sense. Very cool. I think for me in the fitting bay, at least this year, kind of the say mid bounce in the gap, higher bounce sand wedge and then the low bounce lob wedge. That’s been very common I feel like. Yeah. Uh, a lot of people just like, like you said, wanting the versatility whether it’s out of the bunker, short-sided, long, you know, or longsided if you would. Yeah. Um, very cool putter. It’s a, you know, it’s a touchy subject for a lot of people. Yeah, it’s a very touchy subject for me. Um, I may have sw I think I may have switched it pretty much every single event this year. Um, yeah, I need to I need to learn how to just stick with one. But right, um, pattern at the moment, I’m using the Odyssey O works. It’s a 330M. Yep. I actually put that in play the week of the the mid. I was kind of arm locking before. Sure. Just for whatever reason, I got something stuck in my head that I needed to switcher. Um it’s a mental game, right? It’s tough working in a golf store and been around golf clubs all the time. Um so it was kind of So basically I just found this one in in one of our vaults. It’s a older model. It was a little bit beat up, too, which you know, just added to the um factor of that’s why I need it in my bag ASAP. Um but I really like the head shape. It’s kind of that mid mallet half moon kind of shape. Y I’ve had previous success with that in the past with other models like the Pingana. Um but this one had a plumbers’s neck on it which I’ve always liked the look of a pl’s neck on a putter. Yeah. You and me both. Yeah. Too much for whatever reason helps me get my hands forward which is something that I really struggle with. Um talk talk a lot with one of our other fists Larry Pogra about us before. Um I book intro lesson. He’ll tell me the exact same thing. Move that hand forward. So having something like that going to sort of push me towards that just helps me kind of line the ball up a little bit better. I like having that sort of rounded shape on the back. I tend to aim a little further right and kind of what we usually see with guys, those more rounded shapes. Yeah, we tend to aim a little further left. So for me, just whatever isn’t helps me kind of aim a little bit better. Absolutely. Yeah. Very cool. And then talk on golf ball. What are we playing? Playing the pro one at the moment. Just again kind of going back. It’s kind of all goes back to that driver really whenever I just keep that spin as low as possible on those m hits. kind of why I’m playing that pro every one just because it’s slightly lower but in spin ball played it for a long time too so like there’s a familiarity there again right um you know again it’s kind of like one of those things where if it’s not broke why fix it I’ve used it for a long time you know so not really too much with that I’m not huge I’m not huge on changing ball too much but it’s just feels nice off around the greens and it spins well on my driver so yeah and I mean one thing we tell to our fittings too when they ask about golf balls is if you can keep it consistent in a game of, you know, many inconsistencies, if you can try to keep at least one thing consistent, it can, you know, help a lot of things, but also just that familiarity factor like you’re talking about. Great feel, uh, all that. Well, Harrison, thank you very much for coming on the podcast, kind of introducing yourself to to all of us here and and how you got here. Uh, if you at home are looking to come in to get a fitting or book a fitting with Harrison, head over to secondwing.com to get that booked. So, that was Harrison Arnold sitting down with Max here. And, uh, Max, you even switched seats there. Pretty uh, pretty impressive how quickly you did that. Um, yeah, Harrison, he’s he’s an outstanding golfer. you know, we followed along with him on, you know, he’s playing in that mid AM, you know, losing 19 holes, tough stretch, but I think, uh, still really, really impressive. Um, obviously had a great collegiate career and, uh, you know, coming from England, I feel like he does have a different perspective on different styles of clubs. You know, I feel like the United States, a lot of it’s, you know, we play a little softer courses, you know, getting the ball high. England, you know, playing that link style golf, keeping out of the wind. So, having to like find his game here has been pretty cool. Pretty interesting. and we’ll have a lot more with him coming up on the YouTube channel. He’ll be doing a lot more, you know, club testing videos and, you know, probably bring him on the podcast as well. But, uh, what kind of stood out to you within that conversation? The 3-wood was probably my favorite part. I think, like I said, the I think it’s probably the first time Aventus Red’s been in an RBZ stage, too. Yeah. But it was just a comfort factor for him, which is cool. You know, he said it was the first fairway wood that he ever hit and then just kind of goes back to it because he knows it does what he wants. It’s al it was also just cool. I like talking to elite golfers and hearing their experiences about playing tournaments and very high level tournaments at that too. So it was fun fun talking to him. Yeah, I remember when he he kind of did a what’s in the bag for us at the mid and he was talking about the fairwood and he said it was kind of you know blending you know vintage fairway wood with kind of modern technology. It’s pretty cool. And then yeah then just hearing him about his wedges and he was like I know when I hit it I know the number it’s going. I’m like I wish that must be nice. But, uh, hoping. Yeah. So, really cool story there. Really, uh, interesting stuff to hear from Harrison. Like I said, we’ll have much more with him. But now, we’re going to transition into our second featured interview. This one, we’re going right into the fitting bay. We have Second Swing Master Fitters Jake Montgomery, who you all know very well, and he’s joined by Mark Olsen, who’s a fitter over at our Minnetonka store, and they’re talking about the top driver fitting trends of 2025. Hey golfers, Jake Montgomery, master club fitter from the Minneapolis store. Joined here by Mark Olsen, master club fitter from the Minnitonka location. I brought you in here today to talk a little bit about drivers. So, we’ve kind of reached the end of the season here. We have a pretty good idea of what most head models are doing. I wanted to ask you kind of what are some of your best recommendations or recipes for golfers with different swing speeds and styles. So, I would say we’re seeing more and more athletic golfers come in the bay, a lot of former athletes converting into golfers. When you have that guy with a really high club head speed, what are kind of some of the models or even shafts that you’re going to? Yeah, great point about about a lot of guys kind of getting into the game, even some of the guys that kind of got in during COVID kind of looking to get a get an upgrade, get a new driver. There’s really a lot of really great options this year. I mean, from everywhere from Ping has Ping is always great when it comes to consistency. So, for most guys, if we’re looking for forgiveness, if we’re looking for consistency directionally, spin rate wise, Ping has always been very good. They’re they’re always a great go-to. Titalist has been another good one this year, especially for mitigating spin. If we got a player that’s spinning a little bit too much, whether that’s speed, whether that’s delivery, Titalist, whether it’s GT3, has been really solid. Even going to the four, and in some scenarios, even the two does a great job of kind of controlling spin. uh titleist across the board does a great job along with that. Tailor made and Callaway both have phenomenal options across the board as far as kind of differing differing heads especially on the low spin side. Callaway did a great job this year introducing their tour draw as well as their as well as their triple diamond max. Yeah, I had a lot of success with those as well. Yes. Uh just different options for for the golfers and everybody needs something slightly different. And so the more options that we have from different manufacturers, it just gives us more tools in our tool belt to help the golfer. Yeah. I mean, I I know both of us are very fond of the GT2. It’s what we’re currently gaming. Um, Titles has been just very successful with really with a wide range of players, but especially players that swing really fast and need to reduce speed a little bit. I mean, even people that come across a little bit more, which we’ll kind of get into down the road, like I haven’t been afraid to put them in a GT3 because even off the toe or the heel, the the miss is still pretty consistent as far as ball speed goes, but it just kills their spin so much more than a typical draw bias driver would. Um, on the other end of things, let’s say you have a player that’s been losing speed, they’re trying to gain a little bit more carry, more height, more distance. Is there a a head in particular that you’ll recommend and or a brand you like to use? Ping is again is always a really nice one. 12 degrees from their from their G440 Max or even their HL line with the uh with the Altiqu something where we can throw something a little bit lighter as far as a shaft in their hands. Help get launch up a little bit, help get their speed up a touch. Both can do really solid options with that G440. GT1 has been another one kind of where we talk about Titus, they kind of kind of nail the whole range as far as their spectrum. GT1 does a great job of launch and getting that ball up in the air. We see so many people with the golf ball not spinning as much right now. We need to get launch up. We need to get spin up just to keep that ball up in the air. We want to maximize carry. We want to maximize uh total distance. Keeping that ball up in the air is very valuable, especially for some of those slower golfers. GT1 did a phenomenal job at that. I would agree with you there. I mean, Ping’s fantastic. They they do kind of have that older market really locked down, especially when it comes to ferrywoods and irons, but yes, the GT1 was a cheat code. Um especially if you paired it up with that Ventus white. I mean, there were times where I would gain someone, I mean, maybe they’re 180 yards, we’re getting the carried to 210. Like, it it made a pretty big difference. Um, and then one that we see a lot is someone that tends to come across their body, hits a a pretty spinny cut or slice. Um, is there a particular head that you were kind of drawn to this year? I would say for for me, the first one that I was going to was the Elite X. It’s one where you can if you loft it up a little bit, throw it in the draw setting. as far as their uh as far as their hoszle throwing weight in the heel as well. They there’s just so many different ways that we can put that driver into more of a left bias for the player that does miss it right closing down that face. That was always the first one that I went to grab. Obviously, there are really good options kind of you mentioned titleist as well where if we need to mitigate a little bit of that spin as well, putting it into an upright setting, moving weight to the heel, it’s a great way to go there as well. Yeah, I mean I I would agree that players that tend to come across their body, Callaway almost across the board works really well. I mean even the Elite Irons I had a lot of success for people with excessive spin. Um but yeah, in that kind of low spin draw bias category as well, Callaway has a driver that kind of stands on its own with that triple diamond tour draw. It’s to my knowledge the only draw biased low spin driver on the market. I mean, you can set up other drivers, like we said, the GT3 to be more draw bias, but it already has more mass in the heel and then with their cog, you can put it in that draw setting. It works really well for that kind of across the body player. Yes. Um, and then on the other side, someone that is in out like myself who tends to hit it on the toe or especially hook it, what were some recipes that you found worked well as far as that goes? The biggest thing that I’ve that I’ve seen especially from titalist is kind of my favorite for that just because you can loft it up well flattening out the line. So C4 setting is a great one where hey we need a little bit more height. We need a little bit more launch but we also want to kind of guard against that left miss. Titalist does a really good job at that. The flat setting from Ping does a does a phenomenal job at that as well. Just anything that we can do where we can raise loft without getting that face too closed. Yep. That’s really been my recipe as far as that goes. Yeah, we’re in complete agreement again. I mean, it it’s cool that especially at the end of the season here, we’ve kind of found the same things as we’re going through our fittings. I mean, fittings really are to a certain point kind of an experiment. We’re we’re trying different variables and seeing what’s going to work for that player. Um, there’s a lot of great options out there for a lot of different players, but yeah, there are there tend to be ones that kind of rise to the top there. Um, and then I’m going to throw a little curveball at you. With the kind of the rise of 10K drivers, is there one out there that you had a favorite with? As far as the 10K, it’s really been kind of a a cool little niche as far as the market goes, maximum forgiveness, kind of getting getting as much MOI in somebody’s hands. As far as the 10K drivers, the one that I was actually very surprised by this year was a Cobra. Uh it did a very good job as far as it still mitigated spin. It wasn’t wasn’t super spinny. It was very quick off the face. That was that was probably the one where I Cobra’s always kind of the the little bit of a dark horse. they’re not at the tip of the tongue when you talk about kind of the top drivers, but the Cobra really performed well for a lot of golfers, whether it was high swing speed or low swing speed, especially that that Max K did a really good job. Yeah, the the Dark Speed was definitely a dark horse. Um, what golfer are you typically fitting into a 10K driver? Yeah, that’s a another great question. It’s kind of what you said. It’s a little bit of an experiment every every time we go into it kind of finding what players it works well for. high swing speed players was typically the one that I saw, especially the guy, hey, we’ve got a ton of speed, but we need to have that consistency across the face just with how quick they move the club head. The face really wants to deflect quite a bit. So, if we can add a little bit of forgiveness, it’s going to add consistency both horizontal, kind of that left to right dispersion, as well as front to back. So, high swing speed is typically the the first one that I go to. But really, anybody that needs a little bit of help on some of those mis hits is going to be the big thing. That’s great stuff, Mark. golfers, no matter the swing, we have ahead for you. If you want to work with a fitter like Mark or myself, come into a Second Swing store or work with one of our master fitters on our website at secondwing.com. So, yeah. So, that was Jake and Mark talking top driver fitting trends. Uh really interesting stuff to kind of hear him list out, you know, some specific models that and specific heads that worked really well for, you know, certain types of golfers. Obviously, every golfer is still different, but kind of a general consensus, right? Um specifically when it comes to drivers who slice the ball, because I feel like that describes, you know, most golfers, right? Um you know, Callaway Elite X, Titus GT, there. Were there any others that kind of stood out to you in the fitting bay that worked pretty well for, you know, golfers that tend to, you know, leak it to the right if you’re a righty? Yeah. Yeah. The So the Elite X was awesome this year for me as well. Um on top of that, the G440 SFT. SFT. Yep. Cuz you had the draw weight and then you had the draw plus. So lot of weight in that heel. And then they offered uh actually a lower lofted option this year. So you could even add a little bit more of an upright lie angle too if you went up, you know, one and a half. So it’s kind of that anti-right driver if you would. But that and the Elite X were probably the two best for me out there. Yeah. Interesting stuff. Interesting stuff. And so hopefully hopefully you enjoyed that conversation. You know, those are just, you know, general guidelines to, you know, what we saw in the bays that worked really well. Obviously, the best way to dial in that driver is to come in for a fitting at one of our stores or talk with our online fitters and they’ll kind of help fine-tune that driver for you to help you, you know, be confident when you step up to the T- box. Um, so good stuff there. Um, yeah, we got a lot of good stuff on YouTube. We’ve had some, you know, old golf ball versus new golf ball comparisons. Uh we had, um, Sam Udovich, who’s a freshman golfer at TCU, testing out a 2009 version of the Prov1 and comparing it to the 2025. Um, very interesting results. I mean, I think you can kind of guess what might happen, but just to see it the differences that 16 years of golf ball technology. Um, pretty impressive. So, we got that. And then, of course, Jake and Drew tried out Rory Maroyy’s Roars Protoirons, which Glad Yeah, I uh that just hurt watching them swing. So, uh yeah, so check out that. Plenty more good stuff coming up on the YouTube side. Uh on the podcast side, if you missed last week, we uh Jake and Max actually talked about their most memorable fittings of the year. Um just a few of the ones that really stood out to them. Really good stories. So, go check that out. And of course, we had our first episode of the McCully Sister Show, Bella and Reese McCaulay kind of breaking down, you know, how they approach tournament play. Um, which if you’ve played in golf tournaments, you kind of like, you know, individual tournaments specifically, you kind of know there is a difference in the way you you prepare and just the pressure and everything. So, really interesting to hear kind of their insights on that. Um, yeah. So, thanks for tuning in. As always, make sure you hit that subscribe button. Follow us. Otherwise, follow us along on your favorite podcast platform. And Max, thanks again for uh joining us and filling in for Drew. And we’ll see you all back here next week.
