It’s new product time!! This is one of my favorite times of the year. 30 years in the business and I still get excited about seeing new product. What about switching to new product? Funny how we fit people for new stuff all the time, yet when it comes to our own games, we sometimes fall into the same traps we warn our members about.

Last week I toyed with the new driver. First on the range with it. I grabbed what was there and hit it. 60 gram stiff flex? Cool. I’ll try that one. Hook. High too. Oh, a triple diamond. Nice.. I’ll try that one too. Hmmm… I faded that one. “Fade” is a generous description – it was a slice. Weird. As I was walking back to grab another club, I looked at the settings. (N/-1) with the weight at Fade. Got a wrench I can borrow? Where is that first one I tried? There it is… D/+2. That explains that. I never thought to look. Why would I? These are stock drivers. Who puts a stock driver away without adjusting it back to STD? Someone does.. Doesn’t matter. I’ll tinker when I get mine.

I did get mine the next day. 9* STD head. I took my Smoke TD Max 9* off the shaft and put the new head on it. I play that club at (N/+1), so same settings, right? Duh. Of course. Click, click, let’s go play golf!!

This thing goes sky high and left. WTF? “You guys mind if I change this thing?” I’ll change it to (N/-1), weight to fade, then resume playing golf with it. Now it starts right and fades. “Guys, one more time?” (N/S), weight to neutral. I’m that customer that I hate to deal with. This is a better setting, though. The ball goes straight and higher, but it feels light. I can’t really feel the head. Oh yeah… I think I added some weight to the head of my last 47 drivers. This doesn’t feel quite right. I hit it good, but the feel…

Every day, we do this. And yet, when I do it for myself, it’s like I’m fitting a toddler. I sat back after and took a breath and said to myself remember the steps. Start the player at N/S and adjust from there. It doesn’t matter that I’m N/+1 on my current driver. This is a different driver and won’t play the same.

Remember that YOU are just like everyone else. Start from square one and go from there. Follow the process. I know you love your Ventus Blue 6X, but maybe, just maybe… maybe it’s not still the right shaft for you. Maybe it is, but maybe it’s worth going through a fitting to make sure. Maybe you always play something long and upright. Maybe, just maybe… the specs have changed and you’re not either of those any more. Maybe, just maybe… you should restart from scratch. Go through the process.

I got home, added the same front weight to the new driver that I had in my TD Max, re-fit the settings, and now it’s money. Don’t take it for granted, then 6 months from now say I didn’t hit it as good as the old one. Right… It’s different from the old one and you can’t necessarily use the same settings. Maybe you can, but ride the fitting process to get there. Almost certainly, something will be different.

If it is for the players you fit, what makes you think it won’t be for you too?

Happy Fitting!!!

Jim Yeager, PGA