KZG Golf - Part II - The Clubs...

I came home on Friday to a box on the doorstep... Party time...

This morning I was able to get up early and get to the course when it was only 49˚. Luckily it warmed up to 53˚ by the time I was done. I was only able to play 9, and hit about 50 balls on the range, so here are my initial impressions...



Overall, I LOVE the 3 wood, but the driver and I still have some work to do. The driver I have been using is 2 inches longer, different flex and different launch...

THE FAIRWAY WOOD: KZG PTi Extra stiff shaft 15˚ - This club is beautiful, they both are. I love the all black look and the red accents. In my bag I was missing a club to fill the gap between my driver and my 3H, after only 9 holes, I can tell this is the club I was missing. Distances are about 20-25 yards longer than my hybrid and look to be about 20-30 yards shorter than my driver. The ball flight starts out low and starts going up about 100 yards out. It is a mid level fight and for me I was getting about 230 yards on a normal swing in damp conditions. I also like that I have a hard time slicing this club which is the reason I didn't carry a 3 wood in the first place.
Negatives: I have only hit this club about 25 times and there is already signs of scuffing on the sole. This doesn't effect play, but just an observation.



Driver: KZG PTi Extra stiff shaft - Again... a beautiful looking club out of the box. At 42 inches the club feels more comfortable in my hands than the 44 1/4 Burner I was playing. After getting fully fit, I was anxiously awaiting this, but after a bucket of balls, I just can't seem to get comfortable with this club. Maybe it's because I learned some bad habits with my old club that was not a good fit to my swing, but something is still amiss. It took me about 20 balls to figure out that I need completely change my stance... Once I adjusted my ball position, things started to straighten out but I still need to hit a few more buckets to get comfortable with this thing.
Negatives: #1 is the sound... I just can't get used to it. It's louder and echoes more than I expected... it's loud... #2 The scuffing - I attached a pic, but it's pretty bad. Again, this doesn't effect playability, but I didn't expect that much from my first outing.



Headcovers/Grip/Shaft: Not the typical sock, they are a pretty neat magnetic closure that I have never seen before. I like them a lot ( need to get pics), The grips and shaft are nice, KZG grip and NovoTech shaft look great and match the club perfect. I had the option of red blue or black shaft, I chose black, I like thinks simple...

OVERALL: This has been a great experience, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. The Golfers Edge in Rochester, NY and KZG were extremely helpful and professional in all of their communications and I would recommend both as excellent companies. The fairway wood is absolutely perfect and fills a much needed hole in my bag, but the driver needs some more practice time before I am fully comfortable with it.



UPDATE:  I've been able to get out on the course a few times, (twice in November, unheard of in Syracuse), and I still stand behind my love of the 3 wood.  I have been using the Golfshot app on my iPhone, and tracking my shots.  Besides the fact that I am actually hitting the fairway,  I am crushing the ball.  9 shots tracked with an average of 223 yard.  At that rate, I don't have a need for a driver, which is good because I still can't get used to the PTi Driver.  More on that later...

KZG Golf - Part I - The Fitting...

Back in July KZG joined GolfWRX as a sponsor and sponsored a contest for a custom fit Driver and Fairway Wood. I was recently notified that I was the winner. Here are the results of my fitting, and eventually a review of the clubs...

The contest - http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/494572-kzg-giveaway-custom-fit-driver-fairway-stand-bag/
Winners thread - http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/501231-kzg-winners/
KZG Website - http://www.kzgolf.com/
The Golfer's Edge - http://paulsandersgolfersedge.com

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So I went and got fit on Saturday for the KZG driver and fairway wood. I went to "The Golfer's Edge" just outside of Rochester, NY, and was scheduled for a one hour fitting with Paul Sanders who is rated as a top 100 Clubfitter.

I should mention a little about myself first before I get to into this... I have only been golfing for about 2 years, and I play about once a week, sometimes twice, but thats it... I have never taken lessons or been fit, and all the clubs I bought were just off the shelf. I typically shoot right around 95-100, and I know I need some work on my game, but at this point, I'm in it for the fun...

The Process:
When I got there, Paul had me warm up first and hit a few balls using my own driver while he set up the Trackman. My current driver is an 07 TM Burner with a Miyazaki Kusala Blue 72g Stiff. After a few swings it was obvious by looking at the Trackman data that I typically hit a slice, and I was swinging between 95-105 mph, and by ball was traveling around 240-260 yards, with a carry of around 220 or so. I was also able to see that by using impact tape that almost all my shots were off the heel of the club. Paul recommended that I use a shorter shaft and we tried a 44" shaft with the KZG PTI head.

After about 10 minutes and a few tweeks with my form (ball position and stance), I was back at it, but this time I was hitting the ball in the center of the face and more towards the toe, I was not hitting a slice on 7 of 10 swings. Th e slice was still there, but maybe only 4 of 10 swings. Typical ball flight was low and distance was about the same as well, but the ball was landing in the fairway with a slight fade. Paul then tried a couple different shaft weights and lengths, and played around with the head weights. We got my ball flight a little higher and made the face slightly draw biased.

The Results:
In the end I ordered a KZG PTI head with Novatech X shaft at 76g and 44" as well as a PTI 3 wood stepped down using the same specs to match. He ordered the clubs today, and I'm hoping they will be here within the week.

Overall, this being my first venture into properly fit clubs, I am very pleased. Paul Sanders understood that I was fairly new to the game and really walked me through everything (way more than I remember and posted here). He is going to email me with the Trackman data so I have that to look at as well. From what I have seen so far, and not being able to compare to any other manufacturers, and I very impressed with the fitting process and the use of the Trackman software. Everyone at "The Golfers Edge" including Paul Sanders was extremely helpful and the process will surely help my game in the long run. While I doubt I will travel an hour and a half to visit the shop for lessons, I am now convinced that I need to pursue lessons with a qualified instructor. Paul recommended a few, and told me what to look for when I go that route. I can't wait for the clubs to arrive, and as soon as they show up I will be sure to hit the range and post my results.

Once again thanks to The Golfer's Edge (Paul Sanders), KZG (Chris Lesser) and GolfWRX for the contest...