amanda
21st August 2004, 07:09 PM
Bugger - I just typed a huge review and then pressed some stupid key on my keyboard that took me back a page and erased it all :evil:
So here goes again (I've typed this is in Word and copied it to be on the safe side) - it's a bit long - sorry!
Ashton 15.5* 3 wood and 19* 5 wood.
Both shafted with Nippon NS Pro GT 700 series (70g) shafts, R flex. Grip is a Golf Pride Whisper - not as soft as a Winn Grip - if I ever need to re-grip, I will change it to a Winn. 3w is cut to 42", 5w to 41". The 3w is swingweight C5 and the 5w C6. Shafts were FLOd and spined (Terence assures me this is a good thing). These clubs replace a 17* 3.5 wood - SMT Solitare. A great club when I bought it - straight and (at the time) long. Just recently it's started taking unauthorised right turns :evil: as my swing has become a little more tight and SS is now faster.
Looks:
The clubs have a nice shiny finish - black. The sole is also a mirror finish - however the sandy nature of my course means that it's moving more towards a satin finish! That's cool with me.
Clubs sit square and the face fills me with confidence - shallow so the ball will pop up quicker.
A lot of the sole of the club sits flat on the ground - this is quite different to the SMT where only the middle section of the sole about 2cm wide sits on the ground.
Playability:
Didn't hit too many fairways today. However, on the fairways I did hit, the club was easy to hit off nice fairway lies and tightly mown lies (I don't know what type of idiot they get to do the mowing - it's always almost down to the dirt :? )
Club was very easy to hit off light rough (which is where I was most of the time). Didn't try any deep rough - not enough rain here in Sydney to grow any!
Also easy to hit off the tee into some long-ish par 3s (145m, 148m) - I set the tee about 5mm off the ground.
Distance:
Boy is this club/shaft combo long! To use an expression from the SMT forums - this club sucks :twisted: Most times from 150m out, I would take 3.5w and then a half-PW shot to the green. Today, when 150-160m out, I was landing just short of the green and rolling on or just before :shock: . This is huge for me! Unfortunately my chipping game was crap and I would muck up my opportunities for good scoring caused by this amazing increase in length. I never really needed to chip a lot before - distances less than 30m - so it's a new experience. The ball flight is nice and high and I get a good amount of roll. Even shots I skulled/thinned went a good 120m.
I tested the 5w on our 2 longer par 3s (about 140-150m) - first one my swing got all out of control and I hit a worm burner into a tree :lol: . The second swing was much better. Usually on this particular par 3 I hit a 3w and then have to chip. This time, I was in the centre of the green :D .
Ball flight:
When I demoed these clubs, the ball flight was nice and straight - maybe a really small fade - I was swinging the club really well that day and releasing nicely. Today my swing was disastrous - couldn't drop the club into the slot and I also couldn't release very well - mostly resulting in big blocks right :evil: . In spite of this - the ball flight (excluding the block) was very straight, sometimes a small fade if I was trying to rush my swing and things got ugly.
The few shots where I did manage to get everything to go right were fantastic! On the par 3 where I landed on the green, usually I aim about 5m right of the left edge to counter the wicked slice. Today I threw caution to the wind and aimed about 1m left of the flag. I hit a beautiful shot that actually started to draw a little bit but was right on target.
All up, these things are bloody awesome! I'm not sure if it's the head, the shaft or a combination of both - but I'm a happy chappy :D :D
And as a bonus - I took the Gopher to the course today for his first round (somehow I've decided it's a male). Cover works really well, no signs of ever falling off - I just had to make sure he was always facing out so that he wouldn't complain about being buring amongst the other headcovers :wink: .
So here goes again (I've typed this is in Word and copied it to be on the safe side) - it's a bit long - sorry!
Ashton 15.5* 3 wood and 19* 5 wood.
Both shafted with Nippon NS Pro GT 700 series (70g) shafts, R flex. Grip is a Golf Pride Whisper - not as soft as a Winn Grip - if I ever need to re-grip, I will change it to a Winn. 3w is cut to 42", 5w to 41". The 3w is swingweight C5 and the 5w C6. Shafts were FLOd and spined (Terence assures me this is a good thing). These clubs replace a 17* 3.5 wood - SMT Solitare. A great club when I bought it - straight and (at the time) long. Just recently it's started taking unauthorised right turns :evil: as my swing has become a little more tight and SS is now faster.
Looks:
The clubs have a nice shiny finish - black. The sole is also a mirror finish - however the sandy nature of my course means that it's moving more towards a satin finish! That's cool with me.
Clubs sit square and the face fills me with confidence - shallow so the ball will pop up quicker.
A lot of the sole of the club sits flat on the ground - this is quite different to the SMT where only the middle section of the sole about 2cm wide sits on the ground.
Playability:
Didn't hit too many fairways today. However, on the fairways I did hit, the club was easy to hit off nice fairway lies and tightly mown lies (I don't know what type of idiot they get to do the mowing - it's always almost down to the dirt :? )
Club was very easy to hit off light rough (which is where I was most of the time). Didn't try any deep rough - not enough rain here in Sydney to grow any!
Also easy to hit off the tee into some long-ish par 3s (145m, 148m) - I set the tee about 5mm off the ground.
Distance:
Boy is this club/shaft combo long! To use an expression from the SMT forums - this club sucks :twisted: Most times from 150m out, I would take 3.5w and then a half-PW shot to the green. Today, when 150-160m out, I was landing just short of the green and rolling on or just before :shock: . This is huge for me! Unfortunately my chipping game was crap and I would muck up my opportunities for good scoring caused by this amazing increase in length. I never really needed to chip a lot before - distances less than 30m - so it's a new experience. The ball flight is nice and high and I get a good amount of roll. Even shots I skulled/thinned went a good 120m.
I tested the 5w on our 2 longer par 3s (about 140-150m) - first one my swing got all out of control and I hit a worm burner into a tree :lol: . The second swing was much better. Usually on this particular par 3 I hit a 3w and then have to chip. This time, I was in the centre of the green :D .
Ball flight:
When I demoed these clubs, the ball flight was nice and straight - maybe a really small fade - I was swinging the club really well that day and releasing nicely. Today my swing was disastrous - couldn't drop the club into the slot and I also couldn't release very well - mostly resulting in big blocks right :evil: . In spite of this - the ball flight (excluding the block) was very straight, sometimes a small fade if I was trying to rush my swing and things got ugly.
The few shots where I did manage to get everything to go right were fantastic! On the par 3 where I landed on the green, usually I aim about 5m right of the left edge to counter the wicked slice. Today I threw caution to the wind and aimed about 1m left of the flag. I hit a beautiful shot that actually started to draw a little bit but was right on target.
All up, these things are bloody awesome! I'm not sure if it's the head, the shaft or a combination of both - but I'm a happy chappy :D :D
And as a bonus - I took the Gopher to the course today for his first round (somehow I've decided it's a male). Cover works really well, no signs of ever falling off - I just had to make sure he was always facing out so that he wouldn't complain about being buring amongst the other headcovers :wink: .