On Friday, I had one of the coolest golfing experiences this year, when I had a chance to get a complete club fitting through Totally Driven, in Edina, MN.
Totally Driven has been in business since 2006. They used to be located in Woodbury but this year moved to Edina, which is a lot closer for me. This Christmas my parent-in-laws got me a gift certificate for here. I finally felt like my swing was getting into a groove so a full fitting was scheduled. I was really pumped as they have been ranked as one of the top 100 club fitters in America, and their facility is top notch.
My appointment was at 1:30PM so I went to the range to be warmed up before heading over. For those who know the area, Totally driven is just north of 494 and just west of Bush Lake Rd.
When you first walk into the office, there is a receptionist to greet you. I was greeted by Andy, one of the founders. He introduced my to my fitter for the day, Jesse VanRiper.
The majority of my day was spent in the full swing hitting area. They have 7 stations, each equipped with FlightScope and Trackman monitors. Here you can see Jesse entering in some of my status into the FlightScope system.
We began our fitting using a Mizuno swing analysis device. This is basically an iron with a computer attached. It measures swing speed, tempo, lag, kick, and face position. This device is used to essentially give a ball park idea to the fitters on appropriate shafts to try during the fitting.
Next we decided to jump into the driver fitting. This is typically the most tiring fitting so they recommend doing this first. We got the FlightScope warmed up and I began by hitting 8 shots with my driver to get an average analysis of its performance. I hit a couple of stinkers that Jesse excluded from the analysis.
We then started trying different clubs, and switching out shafts and adjusting the lie and other settings on the drivers to dial in the specs to be as optimal as possible. I hit several clubs, including the Nike Coverts, Cobra Amp Cells, Ping G25 and Anser, Taylor Made R1, Rocketballz, and Titleist 912 D2.
During this time I was also hitting a couple of balls. Jesse had asked me before we began what ball I played, and told him I really did not use a standard- but played what I found. We started with the Srixon Z-Stars, as that was the last ball I had bought. After seeing the stats of the clubs with that ball we switched balls until we found one that was performing the best- the Bridgestone B330 S.
Of the drivers the best match for me was the Titleist 913 D2 at 12 degrees of loft. I tend to have a negative AOA with my driver and this loft was giving me an average real loft of 9.6 degrees. Once we got the club dialled in, we continued to try more specific club settings and shafts.
After the driver we moved on to the fairway wood. I currently have a Nike 3 wood that I have a love hate, relationship. I can absolutely stripe the thing nearly as far as my driver, but I also frequently hit it very poorly. Again, we started out hitting my club. Several screaming dogs and a few OK shots gave us a baseline. Again we went through hitting various models. This test had some really interesting numbers. You can see below a chart showing some of the clubs and the numbers I was getting.
Most interesting is with my club, I was hitting with an average swing speed of 102mph and was only getting an average 170 yard carry. With the eventual winner, the Titleist 913F, my swing speed dropped up to 6mph but my carry went up to 230 yards! That is just crazy to see a 60 yard increase with a slower swing! Also with the club tweaked the spin axis was going from 1.39 degrees left to almost zero (0.3 degree left). Those numbers are just sick. The one club I wanted to hit here, that they did not have for lefties, was the Ping Answer. I looked at one of those in a store and just loved the way it felt at address. But with the kind of just numbers from the 913F who can complain?
After the woods fittings, I was a bit winded. I think these 2 fittings took about 2 1/2 hours to complete. To allow me to rest a bit we went to the putting area to do a putter fitting.
For the putter we began by Jesse watching me make several putts around their putting surface. We talked a little bit about my putting game and how I approach a putt (setup, lining the ball up, etc.) I feel like I am a pretty good putter but feel I tend to get a bit handsy.
Next we tried a distance control test- putting to a string laid across the green, with the objective of stopping it right on the string. I was none to consistent, rolling them all by several feet.
After watching this Jesse picked out a putter for me to try but first we set up the Edel laser sight. This is basically a circular device the size of a golf hole with a laser embedded in it. The laser shines out to your putter, and a mirror attached to your putter then reflects the laser back onto a backstop. This allows you to attempt to align a ball up to the "hole" and then the ball is removed, allowing the laser to reflect back and show your actual alignment and also loft.
I normally line up my put using a line on my ball and then square my putter to the ball's line. After attempting to line myself with the laser I quickly realized that I was not at all consistently aiming the putter. Jesse had me try to aim the put without using a line on the ball and I got a little bit better but was still not close.
Finally we talked about the putter grip itself. the Talyormade comes with a crappy plastic feeling grip. Jesse recommended a Super Stroke grip, as he said he has used them and help to quiet the hands. We looked at several options they had and I picked out a grip.
After the surprising putter fitting we went back to the fitting area to work on Iron fitting. Jesse measured my clubs swing weight and then we worked with a Mizuno MP-59 club and started dialling in optimal swing weights using contact tape. This was another shocking experience, to see how changing the swing weight changed the consistency and location of my ball striking. For me, switching to a D4 made a crazy improvement where all of my strikes were centred on the face.
Next we went back to the FlightScope monitor and started out by hitting my clubs. We started with both a 6 and 7 iron. as all of the manufacturers had at least one of these clubs to compare against. After another exhaustive comparison I found the best combination of launch, spin, rotation, and carry was the Taylormade Rocketballz Tour irons. I loved the feel of the Mizuno Mp-59 but they had too low of spin. The Ping i20 were another really great feeling club- but they spun too much. Finally the Titleist AP2's had great feel but the spin axis on those got to be a little too out of control.
One club they did not have left handed was the Callaway X-Hot Pros. I was really keen on hitting these, but similar to the fairway woods, with the numbers the Rocketballz gave me, I really wasn't too upset.
After the wedges we did a comparison with hybrids. Currently I carry 2 hybrids- a 3 and 4 iron equivalent. This was the one test where it showed I really didn't gain a lot by any different club. So the current Adams hybrids stay in the bag. This is the only club that will remain. That is another great thing about Totally Driven. They are not there to push you into new equipment. If something you have is shown to work for you, then they tell you so.
The final club fitting were the wedges. I have always used Cleveland wedges, and never tried anything else. We started out with Titleist Vokey wedges on a contact board. I have a tendency to go underneath the ball with my wedges and the contact board showed why. The Vokey's have some of the highest bounce of any wedge offering, but I needed even more. Jesse consulted with Andy and it was decided I try out a new Edel wedge that just came in called the Driver. This wedge has even more bounce, and the very first time I hit with it, the contact tape was spot on the sole grind!
The total experience of a full bag fitting took 5 1/2 hours. It was a bit of a marathon session. They do offer to split the full bag fitting into 2 sessions if you are not inclined to bash balls as long as I did. I did notice that my swing speeds dropped through the day and I had a tendency to leak shots left the more the day went on.
I cannot recommend a fitting like this more highly. Specifically, everyone at Totally Driven was very helpful, and very patient. Jesse never made me feel rushed and was totally open to me hitting as many clubs as I wanted, and for me to keep switching back and forth. The numbers that the monitors bore out for my essentially off the rack clubs, compared to dialled in components is truly mind blowing.
One funny thing I did find out about my clubs: I supposedly had them custom made for me when I ordered them through one of the big-box retailers. I was supposed to have +.25 inches on my clubs. When Jesse measured them they were all over the map. One club (my 6 iron) is actually 1 inch longer!
Grrr, check out the un-awesome goodness that is my 3W
The other surprising thing to see is how different a change in ball can have on the exact same equipment. I never really bought into how different balls can make an impact but the numbers certainly tell a different story.
I went ahead and placed an order based on the finding during my fitting. In only 2 to 3 weeks I should have my clubs!
Totally Driven
6529 Cecilia Circle Edina, MN 55439
952-681-2728
952-681-2728
Monday - Thursday 9am to 6pm
Friday - 9am to 5pm
Saturday - 9am to 4pm
Playing Update
The only club that I was able to take home immediately after my fitting was the putter. I played the next day with it for the very first time with no practice. It was absolutely sick. I could not believe how true I was rolling my putts. I think I missed one putt inside of 5 feet all day. Any putts that I did miss were just a tap in second putt. A never even sniffed a three putt. With a mediocre day away from the greens, I still would have broke 80 if not for a stupid penalty shot on a hole. With my new putter it was just lights out once on the dance floor. If my other new clubs make as much difference as my new putter, breaking 72 is seriously within sight.
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