Thread: Cool Clubs - Demo Evening - Long Drive and Near Pin Contests

Cool Clubs - Demo Evening - Long Drive and Near Pin Contests

Why not come along and check out the coolest addition to the Tokyo golf scene?

Ever striving to improve your game? I know I am!

If you’re looking to give yourself an extra edge on the course, why not get a club fitting? Even if you’re not in the market for a new set of clubs, if you’ve never had a fitting before, you’re bound to get some invaluable info and advice on how your current set is affecting your game.

And to this end, here’s a superb offer from one of the game’s top young companies, Cool Clubs.

Cool Clubs, based out of Scottsdale Arizona, home to many a USPGA Pro, has recently opened its first centre in Japan*. And the fine gents from Cool Clubs, Eric (CEO) and Pete (Head fitter) have extended a special invitation to some Golfjin members to come check out their facilities, get some free fittings and also compete in a long drive contest and near pin competition with the winners getting a full hours fitting with the club/s of their choice (Driver, irons etc.)

Here’s a rough plan for the evening:

Session 2 (Thursday, August 25th):
6:30-7:00 - Meet and Greet
7:00-7:15 - Introduction of Cool Clubs by Pete Weber (Head Fitter)
7:15-8:30 - Demo driver fittings for 2 randomly selected participants + Putter fittings for everyone
8:30 - 9:00 Long Drive Contest & Closest to Pin Contest**
9:00 - Libations in the nearest watering hole if you’ve worked up a thirst

*Conveniently located within easy walking distance of Hiroo station (exit 2)
** Cool Clubs has a state-of-the art simulator and tracking system that’s accurate to within a foot at 100 yards.

An excerpt from Cool Clubs Mission statement:

“All players, regardless of skill level, want to play better golf. Serious golfers know that the fastest way to a better game is using the right equipment, which means having the highest quality clubs custom fit to match a player's unique swing characteristics.”

And if you still need convincing, here’s a list of some of the company’s past and current clients:
Phil Mickelson
Matt Kuchar
Robert Allenby
Tim Clark
Aaron Baddeley
Tom Lehman
Ryan Moore
Hale Irwin
Rod Pampling
Cristie Kerr
Betsy King
Yuko Saito

Just confirming final details for Thursday:

Attendees:
1. Andrew Cheek
2. Akira Niwayama
3. David Cocquempot
4. Toshi Ishizaki (Switched with Hilmar)
5. Frank Marsillo
6. Mak Ozawa (In place of Jason)
7. Shiori En
8. Justin Hobday

Standby: Marcus

How to get there:

QIZ Building, B1/B2
5-1-11 Minamiazabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 106-0047, Japan
Tel:+1-888-284-9292

Google map: Link

Directions:
Come of Hiroo station (exit 3) and turn right. Walk about 200 yards or so and you'll see thr Lambourghini garage. The Qiz building is on the other side of the road.

Plan of action:
6:30-7:00 - Meet and Greet
7:00-7:15 - Introduction of Cool Clubs by Pete Weber (Head Fitter)
7:15-8:30 - Demo driver fittings for 2 randomly selected participants + Putter fittings for everyone
8:30 - 9:00 Long Drive Contest & Closest to Pin Contest (2 winners get a full 1 hour fitting at another time with the club/s of their choice)

What to bring:
- Your driver
- Your 100 Yard club
- Your putter
Optional: golf glove/golf shoes

If anyone has sent their clubs by takyubin to a course they're playing at this weekend, not to worry. There are plenty of demo clubs you can use there and Pete can still assess your optimum settings easily enough. It would be helpful though if you knew the specs of your current driver/putter etc (shaft flex, make, weight, length etc.)

Have a good one!

I can go on the 25th. I haven't ever been fitted for irons, and
this sounds like a great opportunity to do so.

Greetings all! This is Pete, the head clubfitting specialist at Cool Clubs Japan. Looking forward to meeting you all at what looks like a fun night. In the meantime, if anyone has any questions about what we do or help with equipment in general, fire away.

Thanks,
Pete (aka PWebUSMC)

Maybe this will help straighten out my shots ;)

Originally Posted by alongdriver

Maybe this will help straighten out my shots ;)

Miracles can happen

Originally Posted by Granto

Miracles can happen

OW!

Foul!

Ref! Give 'em a yellow card.

Seriously though, I have enough swing faults to fix. I can't see how the clubs lie at setup and at impact to see if that is a factor that contributes to errant shots as well.

Just kidding mate.

I can hit banana shots with the best of them.


Well, not quite a spectacular as Massie 78 (Chris) though. He's special

Pete, what arrangements can you make on Monday's?

Originally Posted by bradox

Pete, what arrangements can you make on Monday's?

I think they're closed on Mondays.

Open every other day though.

Originally Posted by Granto

I think they're closed on Mondays.

Open every other day though.

As it stands right now, yes, we are closed on Mondays. Since I'm the only full time fitter right now (training another one as we speak), we don't have 7 day a week availability. Hopefully soon we will be able to offer that.
Our hours of operation are:
Tues-Fri
12:00n - 8:00pm
Sat-Sun
10:00am - 8:00pm
*we can start fittings as late as 8:00pm and will stay until finished.

Please let me know if you have any other questions!

Thanks
Pete

Hi Pete, Glad to see a true fitting studio for consumers is opening here in Tokyo. As I am based in San Diego, I've been fortunate to have been fitted at multiple manufacturers,, as well as at Fujikura and Matrix. I've always wanted to be fitted by someone not influenced by the company they are working for. Couple questions:

- I understand from these experiences that all levels of golfers can benefit from fitting but the hardest players to fit are those that can't consistently swing the same, (regardless of good or bad). comments?

- Visiting Fujikura and Matrix in the US, (both fitters are PGA Professionals that work the tours), I was fitted into shafts throughout the bag that are different in performance, (spec wise). At Matrix, the fitter actually worked 90 min on changing my swing before we got to the fitting... thoughts on changing the swing to fit the equip or fitting the equip to the swing even if the swing has faults?

Looking forward to the event.

Originally Posted by niwayama

Hi Pete, Glad to see a true fitting studio for consumers is opening here in Tokyo. As I am based in San Diego, I've been fortunate to have been fitted at multiple manufacturers,, as well as at Fujikura and Matrix. I've always wanted to be fitted by someone not influenced by the company they are working for. Couple questions:

- I understand from these experiences that all levels of golfers can benefit from fitting but the hardest players to fit are those that can't consistently swing the same, (regardless of good or bad). comments?

- Visiting Fujikura and Matrix in the US, (both fitters are PGA Professionals that work the tours), I was fitted into shafts throughout the bag that are different in performance, (spec wise). At Matrix, the fitter actually worked 90 min on changing my swing before we got to the fitting... thoughts on changing the swing to fit the equip or fitting the equip to the swing even if the swing has faults?

Looking forward to the event.

Akira,
Great questions! I will try my best to answer them!
First off, there is a good amount of truth to the first statement about players who can't swing consistently. Part of what we do, though, is inspect a player's current club set up to see how their equipment 'flows' throughout the set. Are the flexes consistent? Are the shaft weights correct depending on what club it is? (ie. are the fairway wood shafts heavier than the driver, etc) What we have found is that when these and other factors aren't correct, the feel and performance of the clubs are very inconsistent. For example, lets say someone has an x-stiff shaft in their driver and stiff shafts in their irons. Depending on how these clubs actually frequency out, it could cause two very different swings. We use frequency matching for our fitting, which provides a stiffness reading that can be used to compare two shafts from two manufacturers. If the frequency profile of the x-stiff driver shaft and stiff iron shafts are way different, then it takes two different swings to make contact. A properly fit golf shaft (or set of shafts) allows the player to release the club properly the same way with every club. Give someone a club too stiff and generally they will release it to early. Give someone a club too flexible and they will do everything in their power to not release it at all. What we do is find that ideal frequency number and match the set the whole way through. Again, there are a lot of other factors that go into it but that is a quick rundown of how we approach someone who can't swing consistently.
The second question you raise actualy ties into the first question. Yes, we have had people come in who just flat out needed to work on their swing. That is going to happen in this business, plain and simple. However, if we go back to the example of the x-stiff driver shaft and stiff iron shafts we can examine it a bit further. Lets say the x-stiff driver shaft is a good fit for the player and they hit it extremely well and release it properly. If they apply that same swing and release to their stiff shafted irons, then chances are they will be all over the map but mostly to the left. The shaft will 'kick' a little too early and the clubface will close. Now they have to ingrain a 'hold-off' move with their irons. Now they have two swings to try and work on. One will work well on some days, the other will will work on some as well, but rarely will the player be able to make both moves work EVERYDAY. In short, properly fit clubs help you improve quicker because the efficiency of practice is greater. Ask yourself this: How many golfers do you know that excel greatly in one aspect of the game and just flat out struggle with others? How many good iron players do you know who couldn't hit the ocean from a boat with a driver? Any how often do those players change drivers? I'm not saying that we have all the answers and can wave a magic wand and fix everything. But if someone is serious about getting more enjoyment out of the game and want to make sure things are right, then we can help.
One of the most important things I want everyone to keep in mind is that our motto is "Play Better Golf", not "Buy New Clubs". While selling equipment is obviously key to our business, it is not our driving motivation. We want to help people play better, and if your club or clubs are a good fit for you then we will tell you that and recommend that you keep them. That happens more often than people think! With our fittings, there is absolutley no commitment to buy. We will give you an unbiased opinion of where your clubs are at and where they may need to be improved. We can also tell you what factors in your golf swing may be hindering your improvement. The core technology behind what we do is the Trackman launch monitor and our own fitting software. Trackman reads 21 different aspects of every golf shot and provides us with a great deal of information that will benefit your game. For those who want more information about Trackman, visit www.trackman.dk .

Sorry for the long winded response. But, honestly, I could talk about this stuff all day :) I love the process of helping people improve their golf game, whether it is with their clubs or with their swing.
Looking forward to meeting you and everyone else. If you have any other questions, feel free to fire away. Hope my answers helped!

Semper Fi,
Pete

Pete,
Even though you answered Niwayama-sans question, I found some great information that I was looking for, so thanks for the response.

Originally Posted by Granto

Just kidding mate.

I can hit banana shots with the best of them.


Well, not quite a spectacular as Massie 78 (Chris) though. He's special

No worries braddah. I've seen my swing on video and I can confirm that I have surpassed bananas and am now up to boomerangs. So, let's see if Pete can work miracles

Originally Posted by alongdriver

Pete,
Even though you answered Niwayama-sans question, I found some great information that I was looking for, so thanks for the response.

Anytime I can help, just let me know.

Pete,

Thank you so much for the detailed responses. This explains some of the things that the Fujikura guys did for me. They put me in a 55-60 gram stiff shaft in the driver, a 65 gram shaft stiff of the same model in my 3wood, then r-flex in the irons. Also, I never thought about having to deal with 2 different swings due to the different performance of shafts through the bag, (let alone 1 swing!!), as an issue that I may have, (because it obviously can't be me!!). Taking stats over the last 2 years, I hit 60-70% of the short grass on drives, but only 35% of GIR's!! maybe due to having to deal with poorly fit clubs....

Last question, What's your thought on the ever lengthening driver shafts and lowering weight? If there is a standard, it's 45-45.5 inches, but there is quite a bit of creeping towards 46 inches, (a la Burners, vs. the R series at TMaG, or Cleveland Launchers). At a certain point, the trade off of control vs. a bit of extra distance becomes an issue?

Thanks again for putting up with my never ending quest to get better!!

Originally Posted by PWebUSMC

Anytime I can help, just let me know.

Small steps for me Pete, I was just an 0331

Originally Posted by alongdriver

Small steps for me Pete, I was just an 0331

No worries :) I was just a Grand Pouge 0151. But I do believe that true beauty is a belt-fed weapon.

Originally Posted by niwayama

Pete,

Thank you so much for the detailed responses. This explains some of the things that the Fujikura guys did for me. They put me in a 55-60 gram stiff shaft in the driver, a 65 gram shaft stiff of the same model in my 3wood, then r-flex in the irons. Also, I never thought about having to deal with 2 different swings due to the different performance of shafts through the bag, (let alone 1 swing!!), as an issue that I may have, (because it obviously can't be me!!). Taking stats over the last 2 years, I hit 60-70% of the short grass on drives, but only 35% of GIR's!! maybe due to having to deal with poorly fit clubs....

Last question, What's your thought on the ever lengthening driver shafts and lowering weight? If there is a standard, it's 45-45.5 inches, but there is quite a bit of creeping towards 46 inches, (a la Burners, vs. the R series at TMaG, or Cleveland Launchers). At a certain point, the trade off of control vs. a bit of extra distance becomes an issue?

Thanks again for putting up with my never ending quest to get better!!

I don't necessarily disagree with what Fujikura did with your iron shafts. As clubs get shorter, clubhead speed goes down and the flex of the club needs to be a little bit softer. The thing is that we would have to see just how much softer the irons are than the woods. If there is a big gap, then it could be a problem.
When it comes to driver shaft length, what we like to see is people playing the longest and lightest driver shaft that they can control. Sure, length does add clubhead speed. But it can be harder to hit as well. If longer driver shaft increases someone's clubhead speed 5mph, but their ball speed goes down because they can't hit the sweet spot then it is too long. Also, if someone still hits hit solid with the longer shaft, but they aren't accurate it is probably too long. Our longest demo shaft is 45 inches because that is a pretty efficient length for most golfers. So I don't necessarily disagree with what the manufacturers are doing, but the individual golfer needs to find out what the right balance of length, shaft weight, flex, etc. is right for them.
One of those things that make me almost cringe is when someone says they bought a driver because of how it looks. Yes, the looks of a club is important because that plays into confidence. And, yes, we can help someone make the club they like looking at play better. But, to me, the only thing that looks good in golf is a low score on the card.
I don't mind the questions at all! Keep them coming!

Originally Posted by PWebUSMC

One of those things that make me almost cringe is when someone says they bought a driver because of how it looks.

I love those white-headed drivers. They look so kawaii!

Originally Posted by Granto

I love those white-headed drivers. They look so kawaii!

They do. Hopefully PWeb won't cringe at this, but as for me, the way a driver sounds is what gets the money flowing out of my wallet :P

Originally Posted by PWebUSMC

No worries :) I was just a Grand Pouge 0151. But I do believe that true beauty is a belt-fed weapon.

The sound and looks of an M60E3 tops just about everything. Luckily it is also effective

I did check the swing weights and club weights of all of my clubs, and will bring that list on the 25th just in case.

I do have a question though, my 100 yard club is my sand wedge, but it is not from the same manufacturer. My Titleist irons (3i-PW) have True-Temper Dynamic Golds and are all D1's and D'2s, while my SW is a TaylorMade 54* and is a D3 (I think). In light of what your wrote concerning swing weights above, do you think this discrepancy (D1-D3) going to drastically affect my swing? Or should I say the direction of my ball flight?

Originally Posted by alongdriver

They do. Hopefully PWeb won't cringe at this, but as for me, the way a driver sounds is what gets the money flowing out of my wallet :P



The sound and looks of an M60E3 tops just about everything. Luckily it is also effective

I did check the swing weights and club weights of all of my clubs, and will bring that list on the 25th just in case.

I do have a question though, my 100 yard club is my sand wedge, but it is not from the same manufacturer. My Titleist irons (3i-PW) have True-Temper Dynamic Golds and are all D1's and D'2s, while my SW is a TaylorMade 54* and is a D3 (I think). In light of what your wrote concerning swing weights above, do you think this discrepancy (D1-D3) going to drastically affect my swing? Or should I say the direction of my ball flight?

Now, sound doesn't make me cringe. Sound has a huge roll in how a club feels and I think is a very important aspect. Yes, a club looking right at set up is important. But some people totally disregard performance for looks. That just doesn't sit well with me :)
As far as your swingweight goes, your SW is spot on actually. Wedge heads are heavier and therefore swingweight out a bit heavier. This slight increase in weight makes the club more controllable for shorter shots. Imagine trying to hit a delicate pitch shot with a feather. The ideal swingweight depends on the primary use of the club being looked at. For clubs used for 'touch' shots, a little heavier has been proven to be better. 1-2 swingweight point differences aren't noticeable by most golfers, so a slight variance throughout the set is okay to see. Most tour pros can't tell the difference between a D1 and a D2. I've read stories of Tiger noticing a .5 swingweight difference, but who really knows with him

One more quick thing about alongdriver's last post.
-A 1 point swing weight difference will not create a problem with accuracy. However, the lie angle and shaft flex CAN have an impact on directional control. But swingweight, unless it is way off, will usually not have an impact.

Originally Posted by PWebUSMC

Now, sound doesn't make me cringe. Sound has a huge roll in how a club feels and I think is a very important aspect. Yes, a club looking right at set up is important. But some people totally disregard performance for looks. That just doesn't sit well with me :)
As far as your swingweight goes, your SW is spot on actually. Wedge heads are heavier and therefore swingweight out a bit heavier. This slight increase in weight makes the club more controllable for shorter shots. Imagine trying to hit a delicate pitch shot with a feather. The ideal swingweight depends on the primary use of the club being looked at. For clubs used for 'touch' shots, a little heavier has been proven to be better. 1-2 swingweight point differences aren't noticeable by most golfers, so a slight variance throughout the set is okay to see. Most tour pros can't tell the difference between a D1 and a D2. I've read stories of Tiger noticing a .5 swingweight difference, but who really knows with him

Thanks, that makes sense. I have read the same thing regarding a 1 swing weight point difference not being detectable. I understand completely about a shaft's flex in relation to direction. I have had 3X shafts in drivers (now 1X) and Regular flexes in my irons, and can certainly see the results.

As for Tiger, he was "swinging" a lot in the past, so he may have been able to detect THAT

Do you have a map for the location in Hiroo? The Google map on the CC website looks like its near Shinjuku.

Is the the right place... Golf Sanctuary Hiroo