What You Need To Know
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GTS Metals
Roundtable
Tom Coyne, Mike Shade, and Neil Schuster talk golf for a living. You know them from The Golfer’s Journal, Chasing Scratch, and No Laying Up—they represent three of the sharpest and most authentic voices in the game. But when the call came to test GTS at the Titleist Performance Institute (TPI), they shut off their editorial brains and simply showed up as golfers looking to get more out of their game.
But despite their excitement, there was also skepticism.
All three had previously been fit for a GT driver they loved. So, the question that was on all their minds was whether anything could actually beat what was already in their bags.
I love this club. I’m very skeptical you can beat it because it’s just been the best one I’ve ever played.
- Mike Shade, Chasing Scratch
Their fitter for the day was Lucas Bro. With 10 years under his belt at TPI fitting many of the world’s best players, Lucas understood the challenge at hand. GT would be tough to beat. But he also knew that he had more levers to pull for each player, thanks to GTS featuring the most robust and precise fitting system Titleist has ever built.
Tom Coyne's Block Party
Tom stepped up first, confident in his GT, but honest about the limitations of his driving game. Tom was dealing with a big block right that would show up just often enough to creep into the back of his mind over certain tee shots. And while he was inclined to chalk it up to user error, Lucas saw something that GTS could fix.
“If we can match your delivery and what you’re trying to do in your swing with a center of gravity position, it’s really hard to get wrong.”
Tom’s Miss: Big block to the right.
Lucas’ Analysis: Too much MOI would actually hurt Tom’s performance. High-stability drivers reduce twisting through impact—more forgiving for many players, but for a draw player like Tom, that resistance was preventing the clubhead from fully turning over. It was making his right miss worse.
The Fix: Maintain loft. Reduce spin. Find CG that lets the clubhead close.
The Fit: GTS3 | 11°| B1 Hosel (slightly flat) | H2 Track (heel) | Forward Weighted (STD)
For Tom, the instinct to chase forgiveness was a big part of the problem. But by the end of his fitting he had a driver fit to his natural swing, not a setup working against it.
GTS ROUNDTABLE
When you take the technology, put it together with such a great fitting... it all adds up to confidence. And playing with that kind of confidence is really, really fun.
- Tom Coyne, The Golfer’s Journal
Mike Shade's Loft Epiphany
After watching Tom split fairways with a tight, controlled draw, Mike had a tough act to follow. He had already expressed his skepticism about finding a better driver, but he was also honest about the possibility of improvement, admitting that one or two shots a round were ending up in someone’s backyard. And those were the shots that were killing his scores.
Mike’s Miss: Occasional big misses that put him outside the white stakes.
Lucas’ Analysis: Mike had plenty of ball speed. But his ball flight was flat. At 12° of launch and just 2,100 RPMs of spin, his drives were struggling to reach peak height—and they weren’t carrying as far as his speed deserved.
The Fix: Add loft. Let the ball climb. Keep him aggressive through the swing.
The Fit: GTS3 | 10° | A1 Loft (STD) | N Track (STD) | Forward Weighted (STD)
For Mike, the impact of GTS was immediate. He picked up 10 extra yards of carry before Lucas even got to fine-tuning his specs. But the bigger shift was mental. Mike came in assuming better players needed lower loft. However, his numbers told a different story.
GTS ROUNDTABLE
I always thought the better the player, the lower the loft. If you hit an 8° driver, you’re good. [But] there’s no reason for that stigma to be on there.
- Mike Shade | Chasing Scratch
Neil Schuster is a "4 Guy" Now?
Neil went last, and he came in with a clear read on his own misses. The right miss was predictable. Even playable. But the left miss was a completely different story. That’s the one keeping him from really going after it off the tee, because he never knew when the next big miss was coming.
Neil’s Miss: Spinny right. Disaster left.
Lucas’ Analysis: Neil showed a tendency to want to swing left. Rather than trying to change his technique, Lucas worked from the extremes of GTS performance—moving him through the lineup from GTS2 to GTS4 to find out where loft, spin, and CG could be pushed and where it needed to be reined in.
The Fix: Reduce spin on his right miss. Eliminate the left miss entirely. Let him commit to his natural swing and delivery.
The Fit: GTS4 | 10° | A1 Loft (STD) | H2 Track (heel) | Forward Weighted (STD)
Before his fitting, Neil was hedging against his expected miss and inadvertently introducing a more catastrophic one. Now, with his right miss tightened, Neil had a driver that finally let him swing with total confidence—and take out the left side of the course in the process.
GTS ROUNDTABLE
When you can just swing away and go on offense, that’s when I have the most fun on the golf course... GTS is going to enable me to do that.
- Neil Schuster | No Laying Up
The Drivers They Didn't Know They Needed
Each golfer came in with a distinct problem. Each golfer left with a fit that surprised them.
Tom used CG position to close the face and free up his draw. Mike found 10 yards of carry by adding loft he had assumed was too much for him. Neil dropped spin off his right miss to erase his left miss for good.
Different swings, different faults, different fits—same outcome. The driver that let them swing freely was the driver that unlocked their absolute best. All three walked in loving what they were already playing. All three walked out with a GTS that found something more.
