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The recording of the session can be found HERE

What does a driver fitting with SGGT involve?

SGGT are brand agnostic, allowing you to find the optimal head and shaft combination for you and your swing, regardless of manufacturer. To get the most out of a session, you should go with an open mind and allow the fitters to do their thing. For more thoughts about how to get the most out of a fitting, please follow this link.

Your session will start with a chat about your current driver. How you feel it performs, good, bad shots, likes, dislikes and why you want to change. After you've warmed up, you will hit a few balls to provide the base data for the fitting. Then it's over to your SGGT fitter and you should trust them to do their job! They've conducted thousands of fittings and will have a good idea of what will or won't work for you just from watching your initial swings and the earlier chat.

The process usually involves narrowing down your shaft choice first, and then trying the best shafts in different heads. They will pick an alternative driver head to start with and then explore alternative shafts, narrowing the selection down through trial and error until they have a couple of contenders for the best shaft. You will then start trying different heads and go through a second process of elimination. It's amazing how differently the combinations will perform, so again, keep an open mind. By switching heads and shafts in and out, the fitters will try you with several combinations, fine-tuning all the time, until they come to a final recommendation. You will then spend some time hitting that one before comparing the data against your current club and coming to a conclusion.

Thoughts about my current driver

The Ping G430 LST is possibly the best driver I've ever played. Historically, I've been terrible at chopping and changing drivers, but this has stayed in the bag for almost two full seasons and I've had great success with it.

It is a 10.5° head, reduced to 9.5° and set flat. Despite my poor photo skills, the head sits slightly open at address, which I like with drivers and woods. It's fitted with a Kaili White 60s shaft and has a swing weight of D7.7. If you know about swing weights, that's heavy! I've never found the club particularly "easy" to swing, but as the Tangent data below demonstrates, it's been reliable. These charts are relative to a scratch golfer and are based on 140 rounds logged in the app. The most recent rounds have generally been in tougher winter conditions.

Tangent data highlights that my directional control is good, but I could benefit from improved distance and fewer mistakes. Distance is due to my swing speed and how well the club is fitted. Mistakes are a combination of poor course management, target selection and a few bad swings (we all make them). Overall though, there's not a lot to complain about and at 55 years old, I think I'm doing ok!

My fitting experience

Normally, the large TV screen in the studio displays all of the club data during your fitting, but today it was only Aaron and Jim that could see this information. In some ways, I found that to be a better experience and it definitely worked for what we were doing today. Sometimes, too much information can be a bad thing, and not seeing it allowed me to focus on looks, feel and ball flight. Indeed, that's what this section will focus on and the technical, data-driven chat is left to Jim and Aaron in the video. They can explain it all much better than me anyway!

The Heads

Titleist GT2 Titleist GT3 Ping G440 LST Cobra DS Adapt X Srixon ZXi LS TaylorMade Qi35 LS Wilson Dynapwr Carbon

The Shafts

Fujikura Ventus Blue Velocore+ Fujikura Ventus Red Velocore + Diamana Bluebird TPT Power 17 Lo Oban Isawa Gold

Sharp eyes will notice that the Callaway Elyte is not on the list above. I didn't like its appearance, either from below or at the address, so it didn't make the testing. However, it is performing well in fittings (and on tour), so don't let my biases put you off trying it. I prefer the visual appearance of the AI Smoke model from 2024 and you can read about my experience with the previous Max Triple Diamond head here.

You'll notice that we used several "low spin" heads. Historically, this style of head was often less forgiving than standard heads. If you caught them "out of the screws" you would get amazing results, but anything less than a perfect strike would be punished. That's not the case any more, with manufacturers now able to engineer considerable levels of forgiveness and lower spin into their heads. You may have noticed a shift in advertising that has moved away from just distance and more towards forgiveness and consistency. "Fargiveness". "Spincistency".

Thoughts about the shafts

My natural tendency is for a small draw, with my usual bad shot being a hook. If I don't rotate properly, I get a double-cross slice (normally when there's out of bounds over that side!). We were looking for shafts that would complement my natural shape.

I have a smooth swing tempo and transition, rather than being a "hitter". The intangible aspect of how a shaft "feels" is important to me. I have always tended to play shafts that would be described as "smooth". KBS in my wedges, Accra TZi in my irons, Graphite Design Tour AD-DI in my hybrids and fairway wood.

The shafts tried today were all at the standard SGGT length of 45". Many of the brands use shafts that are longer than this - Cobra, Titleist 45.5", Callaway, Taylormade, Srixon, Wilson 45.75", Ping 46". Some might even remember the Cobra "Long Tom" that came in at 48". However, there is a trade-off between speed and strike quality, and while physics dictates that a longer arc should produce a faster head speed, is that worth it if you can't find the middle of the club? You can find a good article about shaft length here.

Ventus Blue

First up was the Ventus Blue in the GT2 head. Ventus is probably one of the most recognisable shaft ranges on the market right now, finding favour with many tour players. It's almost as ubiquitous as the Graphite Design Tour AD-DI shaft that Tiger Woods used during his prime years. The initial results with this were so good that it was almost "one and done". I told you these fitters know what they're doing! However, the more we hit, the more I was prone to turning the ball over and finding the left side of the fairway. Close but not perfect.

Diamana Blueboard

This newly re-launched shaft is a recent addition to the SGGT fitting matrix. I seriously liked how this shaft felt. It was most definitely smooth! I liked how it loaded and found it easy to swing. But again, it was a bit too left-biased and probably more so than the Ventus blue was.

TPT - Power 17 Lo

TPT shafts have become more prominent in recent years and are certainly one of the more recognisable on tour. They are made in Switzerland and, as you would expect, are super high-quality. I also tried their iron shafts last year when I was fitted for my P770's. However, as I found with the iron shafts, they weren't right for me in the driver either. The feel was a touch too firm and I found it hard to swing smoothly.

Oban Isawa Gold

What a looker! Oban shafts always look great, but unfortunately, this was probably the least good option for me today.

Ventus Red

We saved the best for last. But being pedantic, if it hadn't been the best, then it wouldn't have been the last! This shaft found the sweet spot between feel and performance. I started it on a better line and either hit it straight or produced the small, controlled draw we were aiming for. It was swapped in and out of the different heads during testing, but was quickly the benchmark shaft.

Thoughts about the heads

Titleist GT2

This was the first one up. Having tried it before at the launch event (link), I already knew it could perform well for me, and it certainly did again. Like I said above, it was almost "one and done". Maybe it was just the contrast with my Ping, but I'm not the biggest fan of the shape of this head. I find it a touch too long from front to back. It is difficult to argue with the performance, though, and if I kept hitting it the way I did, I'm sure I would quickly get used to the looks

Titleist GT3

The shape of this model is much more to my liking. It's hard to see from the pictures I've used, but it has a distinctly more compact footprint. Having not particularly enjoyed how it felt at the launch day, my experience today was completely different. Perhaps it was due to the shafts we tried this time or from using premium balls rather than range balls, but the feel and sound were much better. The results with this head were excellent, generating impressive ball speeds while still delivering good forgiveness with less-than-perfect strikes. I thought the Titleist heads were the best looking on test. Just classic, clean heads with no fancy designs or gimmicks.

Ping G440 LST

I have to admit to a bit of bias, as this was the club I was most looking forward to hitting. Given I've had such a good experience with my own Ping, I felt that if they had improved the sound and feel, then it would be the immediate winner. Well, it wasn't quite that simple. Yes, the sound and feel are much better than the old model, but the performance couldn't quite keep up with the best of the other heads. Interestingly, Ping has made their standard shaft length 46" this year and I wonder if that is the real reason for their "faster" claims. I struggle with strike quality when using a shaft that long, and I'm sure I won't be the only person.

Cobra DS-Adapt X

While the Cobra produced some excellent results, I didn't like the way it looked. The shape is quite elongated, almost triangular, but it was the matt finish on the crown I disliked most. It made it look dirty or sticky. I wanted to wipe it with a cloth and give it a good polish!

Saying that, if you like the looks, then it did perform well and felt nice. It's a lower spin model rather than an out-and-out low spin model. I've had good results with that style of head from Cobra before (Fly-Z and F8), and this was no exception. While it didn't float my boat, I wouldn't put anyone off trying it.

Srixon ZXi LS

If only I could have hit this like Ryan Fox and Shane Lowry!

There was something very familiar about this driver - the sound. It is one loud driver. Louder than my G430, and possibly even louder than the older G425 head. That's a real shame, as I think it could put people off what is seriously a very good driver. This time, I liked the matte finish, and even though it's also quite long from front to back, it hides it better than some other heads. As with Mizuno, Srixon are better known for irons than woods, but this could be the driver that helps change that reputation. It's seriously quick and could surprise you.

TaylorMade Qi35 LS

This is a very attractive driver and the picture doesn't really do it justice. The shape, feel, and sound were all excellent. I didn't even mind the unusual colour of the crown which reminded me of the older SIM2 model. However, when addressing the ball, I felt it looked like it sat square or slightly closed. Possibly, because I play with a draw, a closed face is something I don't like. It makes me worry that I'm going to hit a hook. That possibly makes me subconsciously change my swing path to try to hold the face open, resulting in me pushing a few of these out to the right. That didn't help build confidence! So, despite a positive first impression and the guys saying it performed well, with good ball speeds and spin, I know I couldn't live with it.

Wilson Dynapwr Carbon

This was the surprise package of the session and could be the driver that finally gets Wilson back onto the "most wanted" lists. If you take a quick look on Google or YouTube you will see that it's getting rave reviews. I won't say anything here to take away from those reviews either. This is a really good club! Looks, sound, feel, and performance all stack up against the other clubs I tried today. The only thing I didn't like about it was the same issue I had with the Qi35. I thought it looked a bit closed at address, and that just won't work for me.

So, was there a winner?

The combination we kept returning to, and became the benchmark for everything else on test, was the Titleist GT3 with the Ventus Red shaft. Its higher swing speed (94.4mph vs 92.2mph) combined with greater efficiency to produce more ball speed (139 vs 135), carry (226 vs 213), and total distance (255 vs 250). I like its classic, simple look and how it sounds and feels. No drivers were massively longer than the others, as I am the real limiting factor in that equation, but the greatest improvements over my Ping were forgiveness on poor strikes and improved consistency. One key to low scoring is minimising the impact of bad shots, and that's where the GT3 excelled.

So there we have it, a new GT3 with Ventus Red shaft is now in the bag alongside the irons SGGT fitted me for last year (review here). Having played a few rounds with and a couple of range sessions, I am pleased to report that it's performing even better in reality than it did in testing. The range sessions below indicate further improvements in swing speed and distance as I become more comfortable with the club (and don't have the fatigue from a fitting), while the results on the course have been excellent too. Is this the year I get my club speed through 100mph? The GT3 ticks all my boxes and I'm a happy, grateful, golfer.

Thanks to the team at SGGT

This was a fantastic experience, and I must thank SGGT again for the invitation. It was the most exhaustive (and exhausting) fitting I've ever done and I came away with complete confidence in their final recommendation. If you are contemplating new clubs, now or in the future, and want an excellent fitting experience, I highly recommend visiting SGGT. You can contact them via their website https://www.sggt.co.uk/

Update: July 2025

Having played this driver for a few month, I have struggled with consistency. When I went along to the T-Series iron launch, I asked to try the GT2 head and GT280 mini driver. While I didn’t get on well with the GT280, the GT2 was giving me more consistent results than the GT3. While the best with the GT3 was longer, the worst with the GT2 was better than the worst with the GT2. It’s just a more forgiving and, hence, confidence-inspiring head. I have subsequently swapped to the GT2 head and sold the GT3 head. I am still using the same shaft.

All will be revealed soon….

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For those who read the previous posts about my full bag fitting at SGGT, you will remember that we didn't reach a conclusion regarding the driver. Since then I've been working hard on improving my strike while waiting for the new products to be released and available for fitting. I also had a dedicated driver lesson with Sandy at Ladybank and I've made a concerted effort to work on improving this part of my game. Jon Sherman's book "The Four Foundations of Golf" will give you plenty of evidence for why improving driving is so important for your whole game. For reference, my current driver is a Titleist TSi3 at a measured 10.7 degrees of loft, fitted with a Ventus Blue 6 stiff shaft.

Only part way through, but this book is essential reading.

Watching the product releases as they came through, there were only three clubs that I really wanted to try. The Ping G430, the Callaway Paradym and the Titleist TSr3. SGGT don't have a relationship with Ping so I can't get fit for that there. Ladybank Golf Club stock all three brands allowing a head-to-head comparison. Also, given I've been having lessons there with Sandy, I thought I would use him for the fitting. Ladybank have an excellent indoor facility and there is also the added bonus of being able to try the demo clubs on the course before making a final decision too.

Ahead of the Ladybank showdown, Sandy arranged a fitting appointment at the Callaway performance centre here in St Andrews to try the Paradym. The fitting was conducted by Mike Lander and it's the second time I've had a fitting with him (irons last year). As well as being the Callaway fitter, he is also a coach and has a really good approach to telling you what does or doesn't work and why. After a comprehensive fitting, the optimal setup was the 10.5 degree triple diamond head with the weight moved to the back and using the Tensei Blue 55 stiff shaft. This shaft is also part of the Titleist matrix so can be used when trying the TSr models. When we tried the Ventus Blue shaft in the Paradym we saw a marked drop-off in performance. It's a decent fit, but it isn't the best.

If I had one criticism of the fitting experience at the performance centre it's that you have to use their standard range balls. Given it's the main Callaway fitting centre I'd have hoped they would have more premium Callaway balls, but I guess the logistics of splitting them from the range balls makes that too hard. SGGT and Ladybank use Titliest ProV models.

Also, ahead of the final showdown, I was able to try the Paradym, Ping G425 LST and G430 LST on the course with the latter two not being fitted, just off-the-shelf demo clubs. So, onto the fitting appointment today. After warming up we took some baseline data with my own driver and started on the alternatives. First up was the Paradym and it performed pretty much as expected from the previous fitting session. It was again significantly better than my own driver for spin, carry, total distance, and dispersion. Second, we tried the TSr3 as it was fitted with the same shaft. It just felt harder to swing and I wasn't as consistent with it so was quickly eliminated and we moved to the G425 LST with Tensei orange. Other than the noise, this actually performed really well. In terms of ball speed and distance, it closely rivalled the Paradym but wasn't as consistent and had quite a wide dispersion. The G430 LST was up next, first with the CB55 shaft and then the Kaili. Surprisingly, it marginally underperformed the G425. The good shots were better, but I found it less consistent and harder to hit. It did sound much better though. Reviewing the results, the new options all outperformed my current driver making it pretty clear it should be changed. The best performer for me, by a considerable margin, and backed up by its recent performance on the course, was the Paradym Triple Diamond. Sound, feel, distance, dispersion, confidence - a proper winner.

Winner - now on order

Update - May '23 - having received the new driver and played a few rounds with it, I discovered it had a manufacturing flaw. It was subsequently returned and I switched to the Ping G430 LST driver instead after being properly fitted for it.

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What's so special about it?

If you read the post about my Callaway Tour Truck experience last year (link here) you may remember that this particular head was a "tour only" model at the time and the rep took delight in teasing people with it, claiming that "numerous" tour players had demanded it and were using it. The only data I can find to back that up is that it was the 12th most-used driver on tour in 2024 (link). Callaway eventually released it to retail late in the season as a strictly limited edition club. As a result, there is little information about it online and very few reviews. I believe it got lost in the hype surrounding the launch of the new Titleist GT and was just missed. The theory behind the club is that it should provide the forgiveness of the Max head combined with the lower spin of the Triple Diamond head. Having been fitted for and briefly played an original Paradym TD, I know it was long when you caught it right, but it would punish anything that wasn't perfect. Fortunately, mine had a manufacturing flaw which resulted in me replacing it with my current Ping G430 LST.

Why did I buy it and what are my initial impressions?

It's a head that has intrigued me since my Tour Van visit, so when I saw it reduced to £349 in the end-of-year sales, I thought it was worth a gamble. Especially given it's a limited edition club and second-hand ones were selling for more on eBay. There seemed to be little downside in experimenting.

I've also been thinking about a driver change for a while. Although my current one has been a good fairway finder, the late-season experiences at the Titleist GT launch and the PXG fitting proved I was missing out on some easy performance gains. I'll generally take the fairway over 10 yards further into the rough, but it's an itch I needed to scratch.

While the sole is busy and not the most attractive, I find the crown more appealing than the Ping and prefer its clean look. While the "turbulators" on the Ping have helped me with alignment, I don't particularly like them. My Ping is a 10.5° head, lofted down to 9.5° and in the flat setting. The Paradym is a 9° head and in the standard setting. I went with the 9° head as I've always felt I hit the Ping a bit high and the recent Titleist and PXG fittings also put me into 9° heads. In fact, the Titleist fitter even reduced the loft to 8.25°. I actually think I ended up in this Ping spec because the fitter didn't have a 9° head to try at the time! The Paradym has a stock Denali Blue shaft and the Ping has a stock Kaili White shaft, both stiff flex and both 60g. The Denali is supposed to be a mid-launch, mid-spin shaft and the Kaili is low-launch, low-spin. The Titleist GT fitting saw good results with the Tensei Blue, which is close to the Denali Blue and also the higher-spinning Denali Red. I like the smooth "feel" of the Denali shafts.

From the very first swing with the new club, I immediately preferred how it sounded and felt. It has a lower-pitched thud and seems softer off the face than the Ping, which can often feel quite hard/harsh. It was also considerably easier to swing and, to my eyes, at least, looked to be longer than my Ping. It was certainly straighter! I like the range at The Duke's because it is open air and you have more control over tee height (as you use your own) than the St Andrews Academy range (rubber orange, black etc), but it has no launch monitors to measure performance. Unfortunately, the academy range uses TopTracer which doesn't provide spin data, so I took the club to the indoor "Centre of Golf Excellence, St Andrews" (link) to get Trackman data.

What did the numbers tell me?

First, some static specification data. From the Ping website, it should weigh 208g, be 45.25" long and swingweight at D6. Mine weighs 212g, is 45.25" and the swingweight is D7. Unfortunately, the Callaway website only provides the shaft length at 45.75", but I measured the head at exactly 200g and the swingweight at D3.5. Despite the 0.5" difference in shaft length and different grips on the two clubs, they both weighed the same, at 130g. The Ping has always "felt" heavy to swing and these numbers back up my unscientific "waggle test".

The Trackman data was interesting. I used a ProV1x ball for the testing. Like the session at the Titleist GT launch (here), there was little difference between the best shots with each, which isn't surprising given driver heads have been maxed out for years. But, on average, the Callaway just edged ahead and was less punishing on the bad shots, which is exactly the same as I found with the GT2. If anything, the data from the GT2 was better than either of these, but that testing was done outside on a nice warm day.

I'm not a huge fan of hitting driver indoors as I always feel a bit constrained. Which is odd, as I have no issue hitting irons! As soon as the weather permits, I'll get both clubs onto the course and do a proper head-to-head test there.

Conclusion

Given this driver has already been replaced by the new Elyte line, the only way I could test it was if I bought it. That may have been a bit rash, but I didn't see a huge downside given the price I paid for it. Especially as the new Elyte TD comes with an eye-watering RRP of £599 and the price quoted by Titleist for the GT2 was equally expensive at £591. If I sell either of the two clubs, I should recoup most of what I paid for the Callaway.

From the testing I've done so far, the Callaway has the edge over the Ping, especially when considering how it feels to swing and hit. However, if I had been able to do this testing prior to purchasing, I'm not sure it would have been enough to justify the change. A full custom fitting session with the Callaway would have been interesting, though, as I wonder if a different shaft could have produced even better results?

For the moment, I'll keep both clubs until I get more course time with the Callaway. I'll also take both along to any further fitting sessions I attend once all the new product ranges are available. Then I'll make a final decision.

UPDATE - 15/1/25

I've now managed to get the driver out on the course. Before doing so, I changed the grip to the same Lamkin Sonar grip as the Ping, as the Callaway grip felt too skinny. While I still prefer how it sounds and feels relative to the Ping, there is little real-world performance difference. I didn't have the chance to conduct head-to-head testing on the course, but my drives generally finished in the same places they usually do. That shouldn't be surprising, as the only way to generate significantly better distance is if I find more swing speed. From the testing above, while I did see the highest individual swing speeds with the Callaway, it was essentially the same on average. After all, I'm the limiting factor here. My current Ping G430 LST is by no means a poor driver and has been an excellent performer for the two seasons it has been in the bag. The big difference between the two is that I have more confidence in the consistency of the Ping, and that's enough to keep it in the bag for the time being.

Firstly, I must thank Adam Legg and Auctherlonies for inviting me to the GT release VIP event at the Fairmont, St Andrews.

Having recently attended a similar event with Callaway, it was interesting to see the different approaches taken by both companies. Today, Titleist sent their fitting experts from Footjoy for shoes, gloves, socks (Blair Taylor and David Guthrie), balls (Andrew Butter) and clubs (Roddy Spence), effectively showcasing their entire product line. Michael Baxter, the main Titleist rep was there too, along with Adam Legg from Auchterlonies, who is now a Titleist ambassador and was also conducting fittings.

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I've not worn Footjoy shoes or gloves for some time, so it was interesting to spend time with Blair discussing their options (including a sneak preview of new premium shoes for next season). I've got awkwardly wide feet, so I was keen to do a fitting, but unfortunately, the high-tech shoe fitting machine didn't work well in the sun. I plan to do a full shoe fitting in the Auchterlonies store later. When discussing gloves, I also mentioned to Blair that I found Footjoy options a bit long in the fingers, despite being a good fit over the palm. He recommended what he felt was the best size he had available and asked me to try it during my fitting.

Titleist have made several design changes with the GT line, most specifically introducing a new material into the head and claiming a "transformative shift in performance". I don't intend to go into any of the technical stuff in this blog, but instead direct you to the Titleist website here if you want to read up on it. There are also lots of YouTube videos available.

General comment on fittings

While I don't have a problem being fitted for clubs inside, I prefer to do it outside and off grass. This allows you to experience the club's interaction with the turf and see the actual ball flight (can the computer really model wind impact?). We were given a great area of the range to work from, with plenty of good turf available. Certainly better than the area we had on the Callaway day. However, like with Callaway, the main thing I would change would be to use real balls rather than range balls. Given I was also doing a ball fitting today, it would have been great to do that first and then have the chance to hit a few of the chosen balls at the end of the club fitting. At least then you could see if the performance was any different. When you're being fitted for a driver with a RRP of £579, sacrificing a couple of balls to the range seems a small price for Titleist to pay. Using real balls is one of the main benefits of fitting indoors.

So why was I here and how did I get on?

The data above is from the 87 rounds I have logged in the Tangent app and shows my Strokes Gained Driving relative to a scratch player. For information, I am a 55-year-old golfer with a WHS index of 4.1 and a driver swing speed in the 95-100mph range. I live in St Andrews, playing links golf on the town courses and heathland/parkland golf at The Duke's Course, just outside town. I've always considered myself to be good with my driver. I'm not the longest, but I'm pretty straight and a reliable fairway/first-cut finder. That's backed up by the tracking data above and, I hope, would be confirmed by regular playing partners.

My current driver is the Ping G430 LST fitted with a stiff Kaili White shaft. It's a 10.5° head and set at 9.5°, which makes it sit a little open, which I like the look of. I've been using this driver for around 18 months, and it's been a great club that's surprisingly forgiving and consistent for a low-spin head. However, I've always had a niggling suspicion that even on my best shots, I've not been getting the most out of it, hitting it high and with less run than my playing partners. But, given how consistent I've been with it, I've not worried too much. Therefore, today's challenge was to see if the GT drivers could deliver the same consistency, but help me get a little more distance.

I also wanted to take another look at my fairway wood. While moving to the G430 Max has been a big improvement over the G425 LST, I've found that I hit it lower than ideal and have a nasty habit of hooking it too, especially when I "go after it". My main gripe is that I think it looks a touch closed, and if I increase the loft then I worry that it will just accentuate that further.

So how did the fitting go?

Roddy asked me lots of questions about my current driver, what my good and bad shots were and what concerns I might have. We then got some baseline data from it. The Trackman data confirmed what I've been seeing on the course. I'm efficient, fairly accurate and have decent dispersion, but I hit it high and it spins a bit too much. Remove the low spinning pull, and the average was over 3000rpm. If I'm consistently hitting the fairway, then that's not too much of a concern, but a bit more run for a club or so less into the green with my second shot would help my approach shot performance too.

We then moved to the GT line of drivers. Comparing the two models side by side, I'm naturally more drawn towards the shape of the GT3. It's just a touch more compact and more appealing to my eye. But Roddy wanted to start with the GT2, and what a start it was. A bit like Ethan Katzberg winning the Olympic hammer-throwing gold medal with his first throw, it was almost "one and done" with the GT2!

The 9° head with the Tensei Blue shaft performed well from the first hit. My strike was efficient, launch angle was good, and, importantly, the land angle and spin were both better. From roughly the same swing speed and ball speed, we achieved both longer carry and total distances. Not stopping there, we moved on to try the GT3. It has a subtle but obvious difference in shape, sound and feel, producing more of a dull "thwack". It's not better or worse than the GT2, but it is noticeable. I liked it! Despite preferring the shape of the GT3 and having so many more adjustment options with it, we struggled to get it to match the performance of the GT2. I just didn't hit it as well as the GT2. Trying different shaft combinations with the GT3, the HZRDUS Black felt too heavy, but we saw good results with the new Project X Denali Red (YouTube link). Using that in the GT2 produced slightly better consistency of strike relative to the Tensei. There wasn't a massive amount in it but I hit fewer poor shots with the Denali.

With the benefit of seeing the results from adjusting the GT3 we also moved the GT2 setting to C-1, which is -0.75° loft and a flat lie angle. This produced a more consistent strike and the desired flight. Roddy also tried some different head weight options, but we saw no real benefit from going heavier or lighter; therefore stuck with the standard setting.

The picture doesn't tell the whole story. I'd hit a lot of balls by now, was starting to get a bit tired and club speed was dropping off, but the GT2 still produced good numbers. The most impressive aspect was its consistency and dispersion, which is surprisingly where it most outperformed my current driver.

Driver conclusion

This was an interesting session. My best shots with the Ping were every bit as good as my best shots with the GT2. The difference was that I hit my best shots more frequently with the GT2 and saw less punishment from my poor ones. I didn't see the same low pull that I can get from the Ping. The Ping can't be considered a bad fit though and the Tangent data above demonstrates that it's not hurting my performance, but it can be improved. Roddy is there to fit the GT drivers and not to optimise my Ping though.

The closest I can get to the GT2 settings is -1° and flat, but at 9.5° that's still a significant difference in loft against the GT2 at 8.25°. It can also go to -1.5° / 9°, but not in a flat setting. Perhaps the 9° Ping head would be a closer match but then I'm probably just as well switching to the GT2!

Given how closely the Tensei Blue and Denali Red performed (Roddy "Which colour do you prefer?") and that the Tensei Blue was a stock offering in the previous TSR range, it would be interesting to see how the outgoing TSR2 would perform in the same C-1 setting. Can I get similar results for £200 less? The GT2 was good but it wasn't a runaway winner. I'm left with things to mull over and talk to Adam about.

Moving on to the fairway

This might sound obvious, but I want a fairway wood that I can hit from the fairway. I also want it to work off the tee, but I'm not looking for a driver alternative. I like the low-profile shape of Ping fairway woods and find it makes them easy to hit from grass. Moving from the G425LST head into the G430Max has generally been a good decision, but I launch it lower than I'd like and can hook it when I try to hit it hard. This was confirmed when hitting balls to get the baseline data for comparison.

Starting with the GT2 head, I just didn't like how it looked and struggled to hit it so we quickly moved into the smaller footprint GT3. This head also gave Roddy more adjustment options. It was immediately more appealing to my eye and produced significantly better results than the GT2. We used the same Denali Red shaft and a 15° head set at B-4, which is +1.5° and flat, with the CG setting at Toe 1. While the face is still deeper than I am used to with Ping, I found it easy to launch with a better, more consistent performance than my G430 Max. Swing speed, ball speed and spin were almost identical with both, but launch angle and flight were better with the GT3, resulting in a few extra yards of carry. I didn't hook it either, no matter how hard I swung!

Having established the performance of the GT3 we checked the gap with my first hybrid and confirmed that it was fine. We then double-checked the gap from my 3H to my 4H and again confirmed that this was optimal too. Just as well given the work we've put into that this year already!

Fairway conclusion

Again, like the driver, while I can try to replicate the GT3 setting with the Ping, the closest I can get is +1°/16° and flat but it still looks closed compared to the GT3. Can I get over that? Ideally, I need to get to the range and test it out in the new setting (driver too). The option of trying the equivalent TSR3 with a Tensei Blue is also interesting here, but Roddy implied that Titleist made changes to the GT fairway to make it easier to launch than the old TSR, so maybe it's not such a good idea! From looking at the Titleist website the new GT range now has a flatter sole, with a lower CG location that enhances launch conditions. My G430 Max was only recently purchased so I need to chat this over with Adam before doing anything further.

Ball fitting

I've done work on balls previously, so this was more of a checkup to ensure my current choice is still optimal. Despite producing quite high spin numbers with my driver, I'm relatively low-spin with my irons. When SGGT fitted my P770 irons one aim was to help generate more spin and stopping power but SGGT suggested I also use the ProV1x ball to get a little more help. Hitting some mid and short irons for Andrew today confirmed that this ball is still suitable, but to help improve length he suggested I try the "left dash" model. We hit a few on the range and saw a good flight window and modest improvement in carry, so they gave me some balls to take away and try over my next few rounds. If I start hitting it too low, I should switch back to the standard X ball.

Glove fitting

Having discussed glove size at the start of the fitting, it was obvious at the end of the session that the standard Footjoy sizes were not quite right for me and I would be better suited to a Kadet due to my chubby palms and short fingers! The good news is that Auchterlonies stock this size so I will pick one up the next time I'm in the store. They are supposedly more popular in America than they are in Europe. Trust me to have awkward hands as well as awkward feet!

Overall conclusion on the GT range and fitting day

This was an excellent experience and I want to thank Adam Legg, Auchterlonies and Titleist again for the opportunity to come along. We were helped by having glorious (if a bit windy) weather and access to the grass range at Fairmont. I'd forgotten how fantastic the views are from up there (ignore the cars).

The GT range of woods is as excellent as you would expect from Titleist and the fitting highlighted that my current driver and fairway can both be improved upon. I was very impressed with the performance of both the GT2 driver and GT3 fairway wood and Roddy did a great job of optimising the performance of both.

However, while the GT line performed well, it didn't blow my other clubs away and there's still the possibility of getting more out of them with some fitting tweaks. But that's for me to do rather than the Titleist guys. I've always loved the look and feel of Titleist clubs, and these new models don't disappoint. They've also got the performance to match the looks. But like all golf equipment now, that performance comes with a hefty price tag, and at a recommended retail price of £579 for the driver and £349 for the fairway, you need to be sure these are the right clubs for you before buying.

If you know the brand you want to buy, then days like today (and the previous Callaway day) are excellent opportunities to be fitted by a brand expert where you can access more shaft and head combinations than you would from a standard fitting cart. But if you are brand agnostic, working with an independent fitter like Adam will let you access a much wider range of equipment.

At the end of the session, I received a very generous goody bag to take away. It included the balls I was fitted for, a hat, a pair of socks, my glove and a smart GT key ring. As for the clubs, I've come away with plenty of food for thought, but no final decision. My first action will be to alter the settings of my current driver and fairway wood to see how that impacts their performance, then reassess.

However, I can confidently say that I was very impressed with the new GT line. Look, feel and performance are all excellent and these should definitely be on the "must try" list if you are looking for new woods.