Very confused and somewhat disappointed Irish man

[PaddyHarrington]

Today was suppose to be a good day,today was the day I buy my new driver for 2010...

I have a Taylormade Burner Draw '07 model.
As I have a very unwanted slice I bought this type of driver to give me a little help and for the most part it did help,I was hitting about 70% of my drives straight or just off straight,it was the 30% that was killing me though because when it did go to the right it went very right,so when the driver developed a little crack on the bottom(not sure how it happened but guess maybe happened at the range) I decided to treat myself to a new driver.

My local Golf shop in Dublin was selling the Nike Dymo SQ 2 for €125 which I thought was very reasonable and after reading many many reviews on how straight this club was I decided to go for it and hoped that maybe it would help make 85-90% of my drives straight...As you can see I am not a low handicapper so being able to shape the ball makes no odds to me I just want to be able hit it straight!!

So I went along today and bought the driver,before I bought I used the simulator they have,I was delighted to see my drives were all going straight if maybe a slight bit shorter than with my Burner but I figured I could live with this if I was able find the fairway 90% of the time,I hit about 50 balls and they all went down the middle or if they did go right it was only slightly right the guy that operates the simulator showed me the results from the computer and told me that my swing was fine for my handicapp and I was hitting the ball fairly good and this Driver seemed to suit me.

I had no hesitation then in handing out the money,and to make things better I got the club for €100 instead of the €125 it was displayed at...

All good so far I hear you say.....Until..
On the way home I stopped off at the local Driving range..
Tee'd up my first ball and took a swing....To my horror it went so far to the right it nearly came back around and hit me
So I tee'd up again and took more time and concentrated a bit harder and let fly at it again,and once again the ball flew way right..
So on and on I went and hit the whole bucket of balls and about 80% of the drives were way way way right...
I felt gutted..

So now I'm confused,was the simulator lying? or can I really judge with range balls? the balls I used in the simulator were Pro V1's .
I am going playing a round in the morning and will probably bring my Burner now instead of my brand new Nike..

[Belt Sanders]

Something is not right?
I would have a talk with the place you bought it from.
Good thing you still have your old driver.

[RCF]

Same thing happened to me last year when I got a new 5w. Three days later I went back to the range and everything was fine. It's probably you not the club.

[Über$winG]

First, it might be in your best interest to contact TM and see if they can replace the old driver or give you some kind of credit to get a new one – something to that effect.

I’m not a big fan of simulators as they are, after all, simulators. I don’t think that they “lie,” but my feeling is that they can be manipulated to produce results that are commensurate with closing a sale.

My mantra is: The swing is the thing. If one has sound swing mechanics one should be able to play well with a shillelagh.

[andef]

the swing is what hits the ball straight...it must have been that you weren't hitting it well on the range
and the balls always have a huge effect on the shots so it could also be the range balls

[Shanks A Million]

In Soviet Russia, driver hit you!

Everywhere else, you hit the driver. Odds are, the simulator was one that only measured where the ball hit. Never pay attention to those. But you hit the driver after all, and this is a very, very forgiving driver, so give it some time, get used to it, and see what happens. Check your swing before you check your equipment. As was said earlier, with the right swing, you can hit a croquet mallet or a shovel long and straight.

[WUTiger]

Posted by PaddyHarrington -
...So now I'm confused,was the simulator lying? or can I really judge with range balls? the balls I used in the simulator were Pro V1's .

You hit 50 balls on the simulator, and then stopped off on way home to hit more balls.

A college coach I took lessons from down in Oklahoma gave me this advice on drivers: Hitting drivers and fairway woods is the most tiring form of golf practice. The shafts are long, and it burns up a lot of energy keeping the long sweeping swing under control.

Teaching tip: If you're practicing drives, do it right after you warm up. Don't do it while you're tired.

Go back to range another day, warm up, and see if the maximal launch returns.

[Shanks A Million]

One thing I see countless people doing on the range is getting a bag of 120 balls, then starting with the driver. How crazy of an idea is that? They hit 30 drives, then a bunch of 3 woods, maybe some long irons, then go back to the driver. They might hit a few wedges, and maybe a few short irons, but it's mostly the driver.

Now, how many tour pros do you see doing this? None? That's right, none. Almost all good players warm up with a short club, usually a sand wedge, or a pitching wedge is good too. I start with something from L-8. I then work my way up, usually 2 clubs at a time, so S, 9, 7, 5, 3, 3w, D, etc. If you start with your driver, then your warm up is with the longest, hardest to hit club in the bag. How can you expect to hit it well without getting your bearings with a shorter club? Tiger can't, Phil can't, Paddy can't, Steve can't, Ernie can't, Vijay can't, so why should you?

[WUTiger]

One thing I see countless people doing on the range is getting a bag of 120 balls, then starting with the driver. How crazy of an idea is that? They hit 30 drives, then a bunch of 3 woods, maybe some long irons, then go back to the driver. They might hit a few wedges, and maybe a few short irons, but it's mostly the driver.

Now, how many tour pros do you see doing this? None?... How can you expect to hit it well without getting your bearings with a shorter club?

If you're warming up to play a round of golf, L through 8i followed by longer clubs makes sense.

But, if you really want to work on your driver, the Okla pro's advice was to warm up with some shorter clubs, and then practice your drivers and woods before you get too tired. If you're hitting 120 balls, you might get more done hitting drives as shots # 25 -50 while you're still fresh.

If I have a day when I can hit quite a few balls, I take breaks during the session so I don't get so tired out. Also, I can finish up and hit some chips and short wedges at the two hour mark and still get good results. If I try to hit medium to long clubs at the two-hour mark, I'm really all over the place. (As opposed to sometimes all over the place when I'm better rested.)