When to get fitted - driver?

Hi all,

Was wondering if I could get your take on this - for my birthday back in February I got a driver fitting voucher at a top-end custom fitting centre near me. It's the one club in my bag that is still very variable (see my swing thread for details); when I get all of it and launch correctly, it's around the 300 yard mark, but all too often I'm back at 240. Much of this is to do with launch and yesterday I finally started working out the last few bits to get this up to the 15/16 degree mark, but it's not yet perfect in terms of consistency. My question is, how near to perfectly consistent should I wait before getting the fitting? My aim is within the next month or so and will take lots of range sessions in between with the driver to consolidate what I did yesterday, but does it really make that much of a difference or will they go off the good shots...?

Thanks,

Ben

Thanks! Will look at booking it after our holiday next week then - really excited about it, but didn't want to do it too soon.

A good driver fitting with a launch monitor doubles as a lesson because the guy should at least be trying to get you to hit up on it to see if you're more comfortable getting better launch through a swing or if it has to be accounted for with settings. So I wouldn't hold off too much. Only time I'd not bother with the fitting was if I was fighting an unmanageable slice like I had last year. If you're just working on optimizing or getting better, that's not an issue.

So, I've booked the session for Monday week and I'm not really sure what the best way to prepare is. Would you try to narrow down to a list of five, ten etc or go in with a totally open mind? Should I try to get fitted on good swings or the promise of what I'm hoping to achieve or the average? It'll be my first ever fitting and I'd like to go in with my eyes open as much as possible! Thanks Ben

I just completed a driver fitting so I'll share some of my experiences and lessons learned.  My swing speed averages 95mph and tops out at about 102mph.  My typical ball flight prior to fitting was a fade with old driver.  I tested the following drivers all with stock shafts and regular stiffness, ranked in order of results

1. Ping G30 SF Tec - the one I ended up buying but with a stiff shaft.  At $350, it's a great value compared to the prices of the other drivers I tested.
2. Titleist 915D2 - Great driver, even tried the stiff shaft in it but it couldn't match the distance of the Ping for me.
3. Mizuno JPX 850 - Was a good all around driver but didn't excel in distance or dispersion
4. TM R15 - I don't think I have the swing speed required to get the max distance out of this or the Callaway or we just couldn't find the right setting.  There are so many options to adjust on this driver I think it was overwhelming
5. Callaway Big Bertha Alpha 815 - nice looking driver but like the R15 the distance was disappointing.

After numerous swings with all the drivers my best results were the Titleist and Ping.  I was getting slightly more distance with the Ping but the Titleist had a tighter dispersion and over half of my shots were slight draws with it.  I was ready to pay the $450 for the Titleist when the guy I was working with suggested we swap out the regular shaft in the Ping for a stiff shaft.

The sales rep told me the regular shaft in the G30 SF Tec was really whippy and while I don't have a high swing speed the way I load the club was too much for the regular shaft.  I hit another 20 balls with the Ping with the stiff shaft installed and the results were even better than the Titleist.  My swing speed average was higher, my dispersion was tighter and on average I was getting about 10 yards more carry with the stiffer shaft which I believe was also due to the slight draw on almost every shot.

In all honesty I've never been a big fan of Ping and wanted the Titleist to be the better driver but in the end I want to shoot lower scores not impress people with my clubs so I bought the Ping.

Some lessons learned: You have to stretch and warm up before you use any of the swings for comparison.  It took me about 20 swings before I was loose enough to test the clubs properly.  I was on the sim and could see the numbers change as I warmed up with big differences in swing speed and spin, etc.  I made three trips to compare the drivers because I didn't want to be rushed into a decision.  The first two were to narrow down my selections and the last trip was to compare the final two and get fitted.  The guy I worked with was very patient worked with me to figure out what the driver was best for my swing.

Just a note: Cobra makes a weight set for the Fly-Z drivers that you can swap out if you need more or less weight. For example if you need more launch you could swap the stock weight for one with a few extra grams. I know Ping made heavier weights for the G25.

That's really helpful - thanks! The Ping G30 range are some of the ones on my list to try, as are all of the five you mentioned, so will bear that in mind. Did the SF noticeably straighten your ball flight, out of interest? [quote name="DrvFrShow" url="/t/80990/when-to-get-fitted-driver#post_1122825"]Just a note: Cobra makes a weight set for the Fly-Z drivers that you can swap out if you need more or less weight. For example if you need more launch you could swap the stock weight for one with a few extra grams. I know Ping made heavier weights for the G25. [/quote] I've never hit a Cobra, but some of the reviews of the latest ones look really good so will give those a try.

I would go into it with an open mind...if you don't you will try too hard on hitting the driver you want and it might actually end up being your worst one because you are overswinging.  If you go in not caring what the name on the driver is but that you hit it well you will be doing yourself a huge favor.  I also wouldn't try to "kill" every driver when you are swinging.  Take nice swings even if they are 80% swings it is much more beneficial than trying to overswing.  Just keep an eye on your swing speed for each driver and how far they are going with that swing speed and that should tell you which will be better for you, if you start overswinging we all know what happens, they go left and they go right on us.

Couple thoughts on the drivers:

Nike Vapor Flex - this is the driver I ended up getting, I am a Nike guy (that's why I said go into it with an open mind), but this driver is a bomber for me...I can work the ball both ways with it no problem and it feels great.

Ping G30 - I think this is the best driver that was released this year, this thing is a beast...I tried one after buying my Nike and it goes a little further than my Nike, but it was hard for me to play a nice tight draw like I can with the Nike.  My buddy went from the Taylormade SLDR to the G30 and its about a 30 yard difference..

The SF Tec installed with the stiff shaft caused my ball flight to be consistently straight to slight draw over the slight fade I had with my old driver and the results I saw with the other drivers (The 915D2 and G30 SFTec with regular flex was about 50/50 fades and draws).  You're a better golfer than I am and if your swing speed is higher I'd encourage you to try the G30 and G30 LS Tec.

I would add the Cobra to your test list, it's a nice driver but when I went there they didn't have a lefty regular flex to test so I excluded it from the list.

I'd suggest you try to go during the week or off hours on the weekend so you're not rushed.  It takes a fair amount of time to properly test each driver after you've warmed up.  All total I probably spent 3-4 hours trying different drivers and reviewing the results.

I think this is easier said than done.  Most of us have biases towards equipment manufacturers but you have to allow the results to dictate your choice, not your bias.

My personal bias heading in was I wanted to buy the Mizuno, Titleist or Callaway and in the end the results narrowed it down to the Ping and Titleist.  When the fitter swapped the shaft on the Ping it became a no brainer.  I might not have wanted to buy a Ping when I walked in but I'm100% convinced it was the best choice for my swing and it was also the least expensive.

What flex was the shaft on the G30 you tested because I had the same issues with the G30 when the regular flex shaft was installed.

Cool - I wouldn't say I really have any particular brand loyalty. My irons are Callaway, and I'm very happy with them after a set of TaylorMade Rocketbladez that I really didn't care for, but I wouldn't discount their drivers as it seems (other than RSi) that they put more effort into their woods. On my hit list as things stand are: [LIST] [*] TaylorMade R15 460 and 430 [*] Ping G30 and variants [*] Callaway Big Bertha Alpha [*] Titleist 915 [*] Cobra Fly-Z [*] Mizuno JPX 850 [*] Callaway XR (not sold on the looks though) [*] Nike Vapor (although this would have to really surprise me...) [*] TaylorMade Aeroburner (ditto Nike, I think it'll be verging on uncontrollable) [/LIST] Missing anything? Based on looks alone, I really want to like the R15 or G30, but would be very happy with any of them if they go well!

I was going to get the R15 after having the SLDR, but with the 2 weights it was hard for me to get a consistent ball flight.  My local golf shop said its best to have the weights separated one at the top and one at the bottom or somewhere in there otherwise the mishits are really bad.  It wasn't as long as the Nike for me, and I couldn't hit the draw or fade on command like I can the Nike.  Its a love it or hate it type of club I think...

This ended up being quite a long story. I went for the first fitting (after going through my irons setup) and found out that my angle of attack was pretty much always -8 degrees. Rather than fit me for it, the guy was brilliant and sent me away with a few drills and thoughts to try to improve things - he also said he'd do the fitting again free of charge later. 2 months later and I've just got back from the re-booked fitting. I wasn't sure whether I'd totally sorted the issue out, but I've done a lot of work with my evolvr coach, Brian, who's really helped. In the meantime, I'd hit a few different heads (G30 LS Tec, R15 and D3) and didn't really get on much better with them. The fitting today was brilliant; he first measured the current driver to find that the shaft was 46 inches, and the loft was 1 degree strong. The shaft basically wasn't worth much and for the whole fitting really we just played around with that. I'll have some numbers later when they come through, but my jaw dropped when he gave me (no word of a lie) 30 yards immediately by changing the shaft out for one that was less whippy and dropped my spin massively. We played around a bit more and worked on the AoA, which isn't perfect yet, but settled on the same head (Callaway X2 Hot) with a Project X Black 6.5 shaft and a new grip. Altogether, I'm delighted as I've tried loads of heads out and the X2 Hot gives me loads of feedback and feels easiest to swing. We will re-evaluate in the summer once I've tried to push the numbers further, as he's given me a few more thoughts to work on, but I couldn't be more complimentary. To anyone in the south of England, I'd thoroughly recommend them: [URL=http://www.precisiongolf.co.uk]www.precisiongolf.co.uk[/URL]. Phenomenal service and clearly pride themselves on getting the result right rather than making a quick buck. I'll keep this updated as I go, but very pleased as things stand :-)