Tunable Drivers with Adjustable Face Angle ... Huh?

[LuciusWooding]

I would recommend a cheap one, and adjustable loft wouldn't hurt, but the face angle will be bad in the long run; it will make it more fun at first, but hide flaws and hurt improvement.

[meenman]

Originally Posted by GregZ

Would anyone recommend an adjustable driver for an aspiring high handicap player due to the ability to change almost every setting possible while they learn to hone thier swing?

I would absolutely recommend one. Especially as someone that is working on their swing, you should have a driver basically fitted for you each time you progress. It beats the hell out of purchasing a new driver constantly.

[mvmac]

Originally Posted by GregZ

Would anyone recommend an adjustable driver for an aspiring high handicap player due to the ability to change almost every setting possible while they learn to hone thier swing?

Yes, it just gives you a better chance to be fit for your clubs.  And like you said, as the player improves he might need less loft, face more square rather than left, can even get a different shaft

[Tifosinumerouno]

As a tall guy, I like the idea of having lie angle changeable as well. I could see it for the shorter guys, too. YE Yang's driver appears to have a flatter lie angle, but that could just be my imagination.

[Danny H]

Yes they are.  They just cannot have any of the settings altered during the round.  As for (i), I don't think the pros can even have the tools in their bag that allow them to be changed (that's just hearsay, I could be wrong). Otherwise, Phil, DJ, and the dozens of other tour pros who play them would not be able to.

I forget what tournament it was but Mickleson actually had the head come loose. He had to ask permission to tighten it back up. Once he was given permission, he broke out the tool, tightened the head and smoked a perfect drive

[blue72ss]

Guys, if you have a driver that is not custom made, or a tour version driver, then your own driver is at least a degree or 2 closed.  "Tour" drivers, or "Players" drivers, are square or slightly open, every other driver is closed, the reason being the average person slices the ball.

To answer the OP, YES it is a big deal to adjust the face angle open or closed, you can go from a regular driver to a tour version driver, it is NOT a matter of making an adjustment instead of fixing your swing.

IF YOU CAN CONSISTENTLY 9 OUT OF 10 TIMES MISS IN THE SAME EXACT SPOT, THEN YOU HAVE THE SKILL TO MAKE THE SWING CHANGE, BUT MAYBE YOU DONT WANT TO FOR ONE OF MANY REASONS, SO YOU CAN TUNE YOUR CLUB TO STRAIGHTEN OUT BALL FLIGHT AND MAXIMIZE DISTANCE.

It is not as simple as making a club adjustment and you'll be shooting even par as some people on here seem to be suggesting when they criticize the adjustability of these new clubs.  As I said above that would only be the case if you had the skill to hit the same shot 10 out of 10 times, which most cannot do.

[vo-man]

Regarding the new Nike VR-Str8t Fit Driver;  How is changing the club head setting any different from rotating the shaft within your grip?

Seems like those two options accomplish exactly the same thing.  In reverse application, couldn't you change the head setting and simply compensate for that change in your grip by rotating the shaft & club head back to a neutral position?

[sebsmash]

That's exactly what it does. It's the same as just rotating the grip in your hands. I asked a salesperson at the local golf shop and he said that's exactly what it does. I guess it is better because the clubs are manufactured in a way in which the shaft is oriented in a way that provides the best flex, so by just rotating the head on the shaft you maintain this flex.

[blue72ss]

Originally Posted by sebsmash

That's exactly what it does. It's the same as just rotating the grip in your hands.

I asked a salesperson at the local golf shop and he said that's exactly what it does.

I guess it is better because the clubs are manufactured in a way in which the shaft is oriented in a way that provides the best flex, so by just rotating the head on the shaft you maintain this flex.

Its hard to rotate the grip in your hands to exactly one degree, or two degrees, because those small increments are not really noticeable to your eye.

I understand you can simply slam the clubface shut, or open it wide, but you cant get the precision of a simple one or two degree change..

[vo-man]

Ok...so let's say you've changed the setting of the club head to 2 degrees left to help reduce fade...

then do you grip the club using a reference marker on the shaft (or the grip) to orient the shaft the same way with the new setting as you previously had played it in the neutral setting?

The reason I'm asking these questions is because I purchased a Nike VR-Str8t Fit driver (10.5) a little over a month ago and, although I like it and am hitting straighter and a bit farther with it, (which could totally be all in my mind...new club-better results)

when I tried different head settings it seemed like I could have accomplished the same by just rotating the club in my grip.

Should  I be referencing a marker on the shaft or grip to maintain the neutral shaft/flex positioning after changing the club head, if, indeed, the shaft rotational positioning has anything to do with shaft design/flex performance?  The Nike manual says nothing about shaft referencing or orientation after adjusting the head.  Or at least I can't find anything on that.

I realize this should be simple science but the overload of information in the Nike settings chart boggles my brain and seems to be just a diagram of nice art work and settings-mumbo-jumbo to justify the adjustable head system and make it look scientifically advanced.

I keep coming back to the simplicity of it and yet can't quite get my mind around the correct way to actually use the head adjustment system so that it's effective.   So for now I keep it set at neutral which totally defeats the purpose of buying an adjustable club to begin with.    Maybe I'm over thinking it.   Where's my old persimmon driver!!!??  It's in the garage somewhere!!

[vo-man]

here's what Nike has to say about addressing the ball with an adjusted club head:

"set the club head on the ground in your stance and it will be adjusted to the new setting...grip it as you normally would"

The alignment aids are at the hosel;  red arrow, white arrow, and hash mark on the shaft.

[Ernest Jones]

This reminds of when people tell me that they install their grips 2* open or closed.

Wouldn't do anything for me, I don't use alignment aids on my grips, I just go by the leading edge of my clubface.

[hacker100]

Most pros don't use certain equipment because they prefer it. They use it because their sponsor tells them to use it. I take my grip on all clubs with the club head in the air and "look it square, open or closed". I don't want to take my grip with the club lying on the ground, therefore you can keep your adjustable drive. I have one. Adjusted closed but I square the club when taking my grip, so what difference does it make. $100-$200?

[clearwaterms]

I would recommend a cheap one, and adjustable loft wouldn't hurt, but the face angle will be bad in the long run; it will make it more fun at first, but hide flaws and hurt improvement.

I have the adjustable Nike Covert.  Honestly, a good swing is playable regardless of the face position (open, neutral or closed) and a bad swing is in the trees regardless of face position.

I firmly believe that the difference between open and closed on that club is probably like 7 yards in either direction.  If you were a slicer before, you likely didn't have a club that had an open face, so chances are that you still have to have a healthy swing to get healthy results.

[Ronald]

- put the adjustable head in the neutral position

- try to hit 20 or more swings at a flght scope or another swing analyzer

- find out what your average swing is

- make a correction with the adjustable head

- again hit another 20 or more swings and see if the correction is having influence at the results of your swings

If the first 20 swings with the head in neutral position are too different from eachother ... then it's unknown what the correction should be. Lots of people just change the settings of FTC and / or ASP to a draw or fade but forget to find out what their average swing is.

Last week i posted a discussion about  "Adjustable heads with spined shafts" here.

See the video what happens when you turn a less quality shaft into another FTC position.

[Lihu]

This question came up when I was talking to some other golfers in a store.

Are these tunable drivers legal in an SCGA (or other USGA amateur) tournament, if they are only tuned before the first round?

The other question is if they are tuned between days in a multiple day tournament.

We all agreed that you can't tune it once a round has begun, but that is possibly also in question.

[Golfingdad]

The other question is if they are tuned between days in a multiple day tournament.

Sure that's legal. You can switch clubs completely in between rounds, right? Pretty sure pros struggling with putting do this frequently. How would tuning your driver be any different than replacing it altogether? ;)

[MS256]

"Adjustable" drivers don't work for me at all because the flow of the shaft changes orientation every time it's adjusted. The only way it works is to find the right shaft orientation and leave it there regardless of whether it's the optimum face angle setting or not, or take a guess at the optimum face setting and have the shaft removed and reinstalled with the optimum shaft orientation.

Evidently it's not a problem that affects most golfers, because I never hear anyone mention it, but it's a very real problem for me. I play with an R9 but never adjust it (anymore).

I wrestled with it on different settings for quite a while with almost no success until it occurred to me what the problem was.