PROFILE OF GOLFERS

Name : Douglas TAY

Handicap Index : 3.0

Courses played most often : Tanah Merah Country Club, Singapore Island Country Club, Jakarta Ave.

Clubhead Speed : 115mph

Douglas and Carl are both former Singapore National Team members who enjoy bringing pain to a little white dimpled sphere by sending copious amounts of force to propel the said white sphere prodigious distances.

Name : Carl CHAY

Handicap Index : 6.0

Courses played most often : Singapore Island Country Club and anywhere where there's a game! Ave.

Clubhead Speed : 110mph

Having represented Singapore in the past at the highest level of amateur golf in the Asian Region at events like The Putra Cup, Nomura Cup and Eisenhower Trophy, they both now take on a more leisurely approach to golf and play whenever and wherever they can whilst in between jobs in the finance industry and family life.

Name : Mark TAN

Handicap Index : 7.7

Courses played most often : Anywhere his golf buddies want to play and Keppel Club Ave.

Clubhead Speed : 100mph

Mark is a man who takes exercise seriously; rising in the pre-dawn hours to train for ultra-marathons. When not limping across finishing lines, Mark sits behind a desk as a legal eagle. Balancing a day job, family and training, no surprise Mark sometimes needs to wander off to de-stress. A favourite of his is to smack a small white ball around with his buddies or to represent Keppel Club in the National Inter-club Golf league.

Name : Douglas TAY Previous Driver : Taylormade M1 (2017) 8.5 deg with Mitsubishi Diamana White Board 70X flex (not custom fitted) Ave. Ball Speed : 165.9mph Ave. Total Distance : 272.4m Custom Fitted Driver : Titleist TS3 9.5 deg with Mitsubishi Diamana Blue Board 70X flex tipped 1/2 inch. Ave. Ball Speed : 170.2mph Ave. Total Distance : 286.1m Ave. Ball Speed Gain : 4.3mph Ave. Total Distance Gain : 13.7m Name : Carl CHAY Previous Driver : Taylormade M1 (2016) 8.5 deg with Mitsubishi Diamana White Board X flex shaft (not custom fitted) Ave. Ball Speed : 161.6mph Ave. Total Distance : 264.1m Custom Fitted Driver : Titleist TS3 10.5 deg with Mitsubishi Diamana D+ White Board 70S flex shaft tipped 1 inch, shortened to 44 inches and +2g added to standard swing weight Ave. Ball Speed : 162.2mph Ave. Total Distance : 272.8m Ave. Ball Speed Gain : 0.6mph Ave. Total Distance Gain : 8.7m

Previous Fairway Metal : Taylormade M1 (2016) 15 deg (not custom fitted) Ave. Ball Speed : 153.6mph Ave. Total Distance : 231.3m

Custom Fitted Fairway Metal : Titleist TS3 15 deg with Fujikura Pro 84 Tour Spec X-stiff shaft tipped 1 inch and 42.5 inches long Ave. Ball Speed : 155.3mph Ave. Total Distance : 247.2m Ave. Ball Speed Gain : 1.7mph Ave. Total Distance Gain : 15.9m Name : Mark TAN Previous Driver : Titleist 913 D2 with Graphite Design Tour AD DI-7 stiff flex shaft (custom fitted) Ave. Ball Speed : 147.8mph Ave. Total Distance : 240.9m Custom Fitted Driver : Titleist TS2 9.5 deg with Mitsubishi Diamana S+ 60 Blue Board S flex shaft shortened to 44.5 inches, -2g less than standard swing weight Ave. Ball Speed : 148.6mph Ave. Total Distance : 250.6m Ave. Ball Speed Gain : 0.8mph Ave. Total Distance Gain : 9.7m

Golfasia (GA) : Ok guys, you’ve had your hands on your custom fitted sticks for a while now, what are your thoughts on the on-course performance vs the custom fitting at the Titleist National Fitting Centre at Sentosa?

Douglas TAY (DT) : The driver is solid on impact, the sound is great with a nice feedback, and the feel off the face is quite hot.

I was able to shape the ball quite easily while managing my way around the course with the new driver and some drives were 30m past where I usually hit to! I can't wait to give it a go again in my next round!

Carl CHAY (CC) : I honestly had absolutely no expectations of the new clubs. My last Titleist fitting was with the 915, it didn't seem to perform as well for me so I subsequently switched to the Taylormade M1 460, which then made a diference to my game.

I always had to use a very heavy X-flex shaft to keep my spin down and to help launch. As I golf much less these days and hardly practice, the M1 was getting more difficult to hit. I wasn't getting as much consistency as I would have liked.

So I went through the fitting for the TS metals, which appeared (on paper) better than my existing clubs. But the acid test for me is the real world performance vs fitting performance. I was totally surprised, the TS metals are as smooth as they felt during the fitting. I can totally crank it up and the ball still goes straight. The dispersion is so much tighter plus it's easier to swing with the new lighter and more flexible shafts. I'm very impressed and totally blown away.

What happened at the fitting has happened on the course as well. I've had many bad experiences in the past with fitting vs actual hitting on the course; and the reasons thrown up to me were that the weight and flex of the clubs used in the fitting differed slightly from the actual product. That could have been true in some aspects as there are manufacturing variances, but for these clubs, they performed as well, if not better on the course for me.

Mark Tan (MT) : I felt my new TS driver performed really well. I felt I got 10-15 meters more on the good hits and it also didn't seem to lose much yardage on the bad hits. I'm the shortest hitter in the flight today but didn't feel I was that far behind the others with my new driver, in fact I kept up on some holes! The dispersion was also tighter and I was never in serious trouble off the tee.

The new club gave me exactly what I expected after the fitting. Which was more distance with tighter dispersion. I know this can't always be taken for granted so was pleased to see this during an actual round of golf.

GA : Would you guys care to share more on your custom fitting experience with Titleist?

CC : Andrew Rogers (the Titleist Fitter) is a great professional with such a depth of knowledge. He dialed in what I needed in such a quick time that I didn't need to experiment very much.

His explanation of the technologies and how the club would react was so detailed that what was tweaked during the fitting was easily understood. Great experience overall.

DT : I felt like a pro! Andrew was very professional and didn't laugh at my bad shots.

MT : It was a really good experience. Andrew was extremely patient and very professional in assessing the best head and shaft combination for me and I do believe we landed the right one in the end. I had been feeling that my old club was a tad heavy and that I might benefit from a slightly lighter one, and this was confirmed during the fitting process.

GA : Any other parting comments?

MT : I love my new driver! I had always felt that my last Titleist driver (also the first Titleist driver I had used) was the best I ever had. Based on what I've seen so far, I'm quite sure that my new driver will surpass the old one in performance.

DT : I wish I didn't try to be a hero and hit the ball so hard during the fitting!

CC : I've been a long-time Titleist fan but over the past few years I have used other brands. The TS metals show that they are making a big comeback. Kudos! I'm definitely not paid by Titleist to advertise, but everyone should head down, have a hit and be surprised by what it can do for you!

For Titleist Custom Fitting Appointments : https://www.titleist.com.sg/golf-club-fitting/appointments

Fitter : Andrew Rogers, PGA of Australia Email : andrew_rogers@acushnetgolf.com