2018 TT Ultimate Experience - Winner Review

That sounds like an awesome experience. Titleist has a fan for life!

A tad bit tardy in posting this, but echoing my son’s previous comments, I was beyond fortunate to be my son’s guest for this “golden ticket” experience. While I won’t regurgitate the itinerary he laid out, I wanted to share additional in-depth high-lights and insights of the trip, particularly from the perspective of a “older” (late 50’s) and higher 14 handicap golfer.

If you have a passion for golf, as well as a healthy interest on how and why things are done in the golf business, this hits grand slam home runs on every front. The time spent with my son, the numerous Titleist staff members, the stories they shared, and everyone’s passion for the game were 3 days of being in nirvana.

Regarding my tour fitting session, it also was the highlight of the trip. I had the opportunity to work with Joey Saewitz as my expert fitter. Different than my son, after a long conversation about my game, where there could be area’s of improvement and my general approach to the game, there was a warm up period and we focused on iron fitting first. Starting with a 7 iron, it was quickly determined that distance, dispersion, and angle of descent of the AP1’s with Tensei Red AMC regular graphite shafts with a 4 degree upright position were the answer. Also, the AP1’s came with 48 and 53 wedges, which adds another level of scoring capability in the short game from 125 yards on in. This is when things became interesting. I had always carried 4-PW irons, but focusing in on angle of descent, it was clear the new 818 H1 hybrids would better fill the gap for 23, 25, and 27 degrees, replacing my TM 4-6 irons. What a difference! Once we had the irons (7-PW) and hybrid’s figured out, we moved to the driver and fairway wood fitting. Oh my – the TS2, 8.5 degree driver clearly showed increased swing speed, better dispersion, and 15 yards of extra length (Tensei Blue AV 55 gram regular stiffness and 45” shaft length). Instead of a 13 or 15 degree 3 wood, the carry of the 18 degree TS2 fairway wood with Tensei Blue 65 gram regular shaft and 42.5” length, more than bridged any gaps from the driver, and complemented gapping to the 818 hybrids. In moving to the wedge fitting, it was, as my son mentioned, almost the best part of the fitting. I had never truly understood the difference around degrees of bounce, and Joey made sure any wedge I hit, I had no clue as to the loft or bounce. As it turned out, with my swing path, a high degree of bounce makes a huge performance difference. The 56 degree, 14 degree bounce F grind and the 60 degree 14 degree bounce K grind were amazing from tight lies and sand (Dynamic Gold R300 shaft, 1 degree upright) – more importantly, the ability to consistently spin and hold a ball on the green was something I wasn’t used to being able to do regularly. Oh, and the brushed steel finish is pretty darn sharp looking. My last fitting centered on a Scotty Cameron putter – so many beautiful and amazing options. With toe flow being a big focus these days, it was interesting to see and feel the differences from the Newport 2/3 line versus the Futura line of putters. The Futura 5W 34” putter was the clear winner.

Bottom line, an amazing trip, an awesome experience, and all the folks at Titleist are simply the best! If anyone in the TT community has any questions, feel free to ask.

I have broken bread, shared fine wine and even played golf with these guys!!!! So wouldn't you think they would have taken such a good friend along???? I mean REALLY!!!..... CONGRATS GUYS!!!!

What an experience! I'm truly jealous! I hope I can repay the favor to everyone by winning the trip in 2019! :)

What a fantastic experience! I had the privilege of spending a couple of days at TPI the year before last (wife of the year bought me the Vokey Wedge Fitting Experience) and I was able to visit both the Scotty shop as well as conduct a driver fitting with Glen. All well worth the trip and highly recommended if you ever get the chance. I would head back in a heart-beat - especially for this sort of win!

Congratulations fellas - you have a bunch of pretty envious TT folks out here happy to hear about the experience. Good luck to the rest of us for 2019!!!!

Unreal.

Congratulations!

WW

Thanks for both of the write ups of your trip and fittings. This is why I come to the community, to read about the trips and experiences that the members are involved in. I'm super jealous, but also am very happy that you got to experience this with your dad/son.

Titleist for the win.

Impressive and thank you fir taking the tine to share a nice write up.