St Andrews Performance Centre

 What’s the first thing you usually do when you got to test drive a car ?

You get in it adjust the seat, the steering wheel and the mirror.

Why ? Because we are all different shapes and sizes and need to adjust the seating to what suits our style of driving better.

Can you imagine if car seats could not be adjusted??

Yet there are still 1,000’s upon 1,000’s of golfers who just buy their clubs straight off the shelves.   

I don’t think most golfers realise there is not even an industry standard when it comes to irons. You could take 5 different irons, from 5 different manufactures and they would be different lengths, different lies and different lofts.

These days most club pro’s and golf retailers offer a custom fit option for most manufacturers, but we thought we would take it to the next level.

Callaway Golf have a Performance Fitting centre in St Andrews, so with a drive of just under 2 hours we thought lets go and see what’s on offer.

For the purposes of this article Callaway fitted our criteria perfectly.

Callaway offer 3 different styles drivers and fairway metals, 6 iron styles and have a complete ladies range.

Too many companies have either no ladies clubs or a choice of 1 style, Callaway offer the same style of all their woods in ladies options and 3 different styles of irons. You have to give Callaway full credit for helping grow women’s golf.

Now booking a fitting at the Callaway Performance centre could not have been easier.

Simply go on the Callaway Europe web site, www.mycallaway.eu , and click on Custom fitting. Then go down the page and click on the St.Andrews link, then pick you time & date, it is so simple its frightening.

Callaway then send you a confirmation e-mail back.

In it they give you a booking reference number and a breakdown of what to expect on your visit.

They also tell you to bring your clubs with you, this allows them to assess how you strike your existing equipment.

So car packed off I set for St.Andrews.

It does not matter how often you have been to St.Andrews as a golfer you still get a buzz as you drive into the town.

You turn off at The Old Course Hotel, drive past it up to the range where the Performance Centre is based.

As you walk from the car you just find yourself staring at the 15th green and then as you go in the range you look down the 16th fairway to the green and 17th tee, if you don’t get a genuine buzz then you should not be playing golf!

After checking in at reception I was introduced to my custom fit specialist Martin Jones.

Going into the fitting studio I felt like a bairn in a sweetie shop.

Every club head and shaft you could imagine.

A key part of the whole fitting process is Trackman, which is a stunning piece of technology.

It is basically a radar system that breaks down how you are hitting the ball.

It gives you club speed, ball speed, swing plain, spin rate of the face, smash factor to name a few of the things it gives you.

After a few warm up shots to get loose I was asked to hit my 6 iron, this was my trackman template if you like. Trackman stores all this in its hard drive and you see it displayed on a huge flat screen TV.

Now here is a tip, do not get baffled by the information displayed. If you are not sure about anything just ask, the specialist fitter will be more than happy to explain it all to you.

At this point I could go into huge detail on the irons, I could tell you about how stunning the beautiful the X forged are, how sweet the X-Hot pro’s feel but I am not going to.

This experience is not about what is the best iron or shaft you can get from Callaway, this experience is about which product is best for you.

Put it this way there was a head I loved, I felt I was striking it better than any of the others and I loved the way it looked and sat behind the ball.

If I had been hitting it on a range, by myself and without Trackman I would have bought them, everything just looked and felt right.

I could not have been more wrong!

There was another head, same shaft, same lie angle that I had hit before it.  

To my eye, probably my minds eye if being honest, I had hit the 2nd head longer and cleaner, this is were Trackman comes into its own.

I hit the first club’ on average, 12 yards further than the 1 I liked and the dispersal area was around half of the 1 I liked. 

I hit both clubs at same speed, same swing plane so it was not down to me.  

12 yards! Smaller dispersal area! A total non brainer, this is what saves you shots and drops your handicap.

This is why going to somewhere like the Callaway Performance is so important if you want to be the best golfer you can be.

The 1st head produced a lot less “impact” spin for me and gave me a far purer smash factor.

I hit another 20 ball’s with both clubs to make doubly sure, the stats were virtually identical to the 1st 20 I hit with both.

I was so enamoured with the 2nd head I honestly believe I was looking at it with rose tinted glasses, simple as that.

Now not only was I hitting the 1st head 12 yards longer than the 2nd head I was hitting it 20, yes 20, yards longer than my current 6 iron.

The reason for this was the shaft, we tried 5 different shafts before we found the one that dramatically increased my swing speed. For 2 years I have been playing a stiff graphite shaft, this was a lightweight steel shaft that just suited my swing 100%.

There is a huge choice of steel, and graphite, shafts to chose from, the only way to find which shaft suits you is to hit as many as you can, trust me its worth.

So with irons sorted its was on to hybrids and fairway metals.

Again I set the template by hitting my own and once again the Callaway’s out performed my own clubs. 

Unlike the irons there was a clear winner here to both my eyes & trackman, I gained a full 15 yards in distance but gained a lot more accuracy.

Again, I think, the shaft was a huge part of this. I hate to repeat myself but it really is a case of trying different shafts till you find what suits you.

Now the big dog!

I currently have a Callaway FT9 tour driver, I love it, love it, love it.

In my mind I thought the new drivers may match it but not beat it.

All 3 of Callaway’s current range bet it, 1 handsomely so.

Again, repeat alert, you need to hit different shafts to find the perfect fit for you.

Now at this point I need to mention the coolest thing about the RAZR fit xtreme driver, custom colouring. 

Callaway offer you a choice of 8 different crown and sole colours and the results are really brilliant, the blue in particular appealed to me.    

I have got to admit that overall this was a brilliant experience, I learned a lot about my golf swing and the equipment I was using compared to what I should be using.

Would I recommend it, without hesitation.

In the past experiences like this has been reserved for the pro’s and highly ranked amateurs, but not anymore.

If you are a scratch golfer or a 28 handicapper this can only improve your golfing experience.  

BUT you must go into it with an open mind and be willing to listen to what you are told and what the data tells you.

Callaway want you to enjoy your golf by using the equipment that will give you the most from your game and this is the easiest way for you to find that.