How 5 days of club fitting changed my mind about golf equipment

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How 5 days of club fitting changed my mind about golf equipment

In early December, when I arrived in Carlsbad, California – home to (most) of the world’s leading golf club manufacturers – it felt like those first few days of college.

My future was made clear – a week long drive around Southern California, going from company to company, getting “Full Fits” for new golf clubs at each location. And I was embarrassed as 7 disabled people attended – I anxiously wanted to be there, the same way my 18-year-old self was interested in going to the University of Wisconsin. I knew my game when I arrived, but I also knew that this experience was going to be great for me. I knew that I would learn a ton, that I would have a bunch of people who cared about me, and that I would probably make some friends along the way. These collegial vibes make sense, I’ll soon learn, because like most things in golf, the golf course can feel a lot like college. There are entry-level classes, mandatory courses for majors, and 700-level stuff like the Spin Loft waiting to level you up.

You can be lazy about it and not care, choose the bliss of ignorance. One may pay your equipment, just like most parents pay for their children’s school. You can state your intentions primarily just as you would declare your commitment to a single producer. Maybe your friend declared the same way, and you wanted to be like them. That can be an expensive decision if you suddenly change things after years.

Of course, the other option is … dependence all the way in in mechanical education, seize the opportunity and come out the other side feeling like a graduate. (Knowing, of course, that there’s always a serious version of graduate school for golf if you want to continue.) These things are expensive, too! Like higher ed. You want to get it right. That’s why I was there. I wanted to fix it.

To keep this analogy going, we’ll say I gave up my mechanical education years ago. Cobra gave me a great opportunity in 2016, asking me to find any rods I wanted. I didn’t know if I could, so I asked for a set of forged blades – the ones Rickie Fowler used to win the 2015 Players Championship – and told myself, You will learn how to beat yourself up.

Does the appearance of clubs really matter? This 7-disabled thinks so | Full Fit 2026

By:

Sean Zak

This sent me down the wrong path, partly because I he did learn. My hitting got better from practicing alone, and my handicap got better around you. But was I meant to play those blades? I ditched the Cobras for a set of unforgiving Mizunos a few years later, worried about the way they looked, then sported a set of Titleist blades after that.

It probably wasn’t meant to be. Between my practice, my commitment to the game and my age, it has become clear that playing a set of butterknife irons – without boosting my ego – has led to gap issues and extreme inconsistencies towards the long end of the bag. And what my trip to California confirmed, day after day, is that there is a promised land somewhere just outside of Bladesville.

TDay 1 was at TaylorMade’s Kingdom, where the differences between the P770s, PTWs, P790s and P7CBs finally registered to me – much more than the letters and numbers in those names ever did. My TaylorMade gauge wavered between putting me in the Project X 6.5 (very firm) and 6.0 (firm), to match my average swing speed for the trip.

“Why are you opening the telephone pole?” he asked. My eyes, my mind is racing, I hope you’re kidding. “That’s what Rory McIlroy uses,” he continued, laughing. “You don’t swing like Rory McIlroy.”

And he was right. But as the install went on, I warmed to and felt comfortable with those 6.5 shaft-stiffness because, I had bent the swing to match them over the years, and that swing was not productive. terrible results. So we actually stuck with them.

Sean Zak golf.com — The author has read a ton about his golf equipment.

Adam Christensen/GOLF

A day later, at Titleist, we learned more. The players I brought with me were the Titleist T100s, designed for the consistent golfer who has no problem hitting trajectories consistently. I could make a good, high flight with everything from a 7-iron to a pitching wedge, which made those clubs fit perfectly. But it was the 4i, the 5i and the 6i that always stood out. Any of my strikes towards the heel or toe always fail to fly the distance I need, and tend to spin a lot, too. But as we worked with different metal heads, we discovered something:

The T150s and their extra forgiveness are just outside the sweet spot – right there mine common strike zone – have strong dispersion and travel distance. In simple terms, they were predictable. And when it came to getting those long irons off the ground, the T250 5-iron that launched higher would hit that 80-foot height more often.

Titleist 2025 T150 Custom Irons

The T150 Irons are designed for extra distance with unwavering precision. Designed for the player with a constant blade length, the T150 offers the precise combination of speed, stability, and consistency—giving you the confidence to hit and hold the green anywhere. Forged Forged Design Inspires Confidence Built into the player’s shape with a slightly larger head size for a purer feel with more durability. Higher Ball Speed 1° stiffer uppers (vs. T100) combine with an improved muscle channel with a 7-iron and a longer CG iron bottom to help improve speed, launch, and carry. Superior Flight and Stability Split high-density tungsten produces a perfect CG with incredible stability for precision shooting. New Speed & Spin New VFT technology and continuous groove design provide consistent spin and speed across the face in variable conditions.

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, Titleist

On the third day, at Cobra, the knowledge of three things in a row washed over me like a second semester foreign language. Was I fully fluent? Not really. But I understood what others in the class were saying. I understood what it meant when my partners kept adjusting my irons two straight degrees, and I really started talking about what I was feeling. After some time, it was not so difficult to speak in class. It helped that my colleagues – many of whom qualified as teaching assistants – stepped in and interrupted my synthesis, pressuring the teachers for more information about ME. (That may not help you, you homeschooler, who will probably figure it out on your own. But it’s a reminder to learn some band names before you get baptized in the clubhouse.)

My last two installations were often lumped together, but not in a bad way. They show a lot of wasted time over here instruments. In that area between the 3-wood and the 5-iron, you should be able to see the 10- to 15-yard gaps between the clubs. My gap has often been reduced to almost nothing. Everything seemed to go about 220 yards.

At Callaway, I had my first experience with a 7-wood – their Quantum Max – that almost fit in my bag (and may still be strong, when I tried it).

At Srixon, I hit more 5-woods than at any other time in my life. Just football… he left … in a way that 4-irons have never been seen before. That, above all, was the biggest learning of my week at the mission academy. The factors of my experience, my action, my strength, my skills, hand-eye coordination, my mind – all make a helluva lot more sense with fairway woods than they do with beautiful, small, aesthetically pleasing irons.

The clubs we went with – built for comfort, performance and looks – are all listed below, including a driver and 3 woods that I just can’t pass up. All I need to do now – metaphorically move my ball cap from one side to the other – is to use all the mechanics degree lessons I’ve learned in the real world, as they say. You know, on the golf course.

Check out more on Sean’s WITB here