First Time Club Fit (Driver), Should I?

[NHpro]

Yes, you are correct. That is why ball position at address is very important. It basically shapes your shot.

[Crim]

I have a fitting for early next week. I can only buy brand new right now. Because of Covid, they are not allowing the fitting of used clubs apparently. 

My fitter is supposed to be Larry Bobka, seems like pretty good credentials to me. 

Larry’s resume is perhaps one of the most impressive and versatile in the entire golf industry. In his 35 years of experience, he has worked as a golf professional, golf equipment designer, and club fitter. He spent 30 of those years working for Wilson and Titleist, where he had the opportunity to work closely with the best Tour professionals in the world. Larry teamed up with Tiger Woods to build the Titleist 681 T Forged irons that Woods used to win multiple major championships in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Larry’s extensive knowledge and terrific customer service are a great fit with the Golf Digest Top 100 club fitting team at 2nd Swing’s Minnetonka location.

[Used2PlayALot]

6 years ago, I bought a used Rocketballz RBZ 10.5* driver from Ebay for $55. 
45.5" Regular flex shaft

I went to Golfsmith and had a guy check out my swing.

My swing speed is about 85-89mph.
He said it's nice and smooth and regular flex shaft is right for me.
Great, so far, so good!

Measured wrist from ground....He told me to cut off 1.5" off the shaft.
Got it cut down to 44" and a new grip for a whopping $7.

Total cost for a "fitted" driver is $62..

I tipped him $20 for not trying to hard sell me $1000 worth of bling.

 

[Crim]

10 minutes ago, Used2PlayALot said:

6 years ago, I bought a used Rocketballz RBZ 10.5* driver from Ebay for $55. 
45.5" Regular flex shaft

I went to Golfsmith and had a guy check out my swing.

My swing speed is about 85-89mph.
He said it's nice and smooth and regular flex shaft is right for me.
Great, so far, so good!

Measured wrist from ground....He told me to cut off 1.5" off the shaft.
Got it cut down to 44" and a new grip for a whopping $7.

Total cost for a "fitted" driver is $62..

I tipped him $20 for not trying to hard sell me $1000 worth of bling.

 

Nice. Sometimes you get lucky. My entire set of TM burners were $20 at a garage sale, divorced wife that wanted to get rid of them asap. It's a great set and i actually hit a high percentage of fairways with the driver. But driver is my favorite club and i just feel i should be carrying quite a bit more. Im not looking forward to paying a boatload of money, but i think the process will be fun, and a bit of an education for me.

[Crim]

Well i got fit for the first time this morning (just driver) and it went great, although a bit tiring for my back and we were seeing me lose a little bit of distance by the end as i was feeling tired. As i suspected, my old driver was carrying around 230 and rolling to around 250. I forgot to take notes on swing speed and ball speed but im pretty sure my swing speed with the old driver was around 102. One thing he noticed is that i have a very high ball spin rate and so we tried a bunch of different drivers and adjustments to get the spin down. He also had me switch from a stiff shaft to standard to put some ease on my back. In the end, with my new Taylormade Sim Max, im carrying the ball an average of 252 and rolling to around 275. That's exactly what i was looking for. My swing is right around 106 and 107 average with the new driver with a smash of 1.5 i think it said. I don't understand smash, ball speed, or spin rate but the fact that im carrying as far as i was rolling out on my old driver, im very happy.

[NHpro]

An old time golfer once told me to only swing with 80% power to gain consistent control over my shots.

It's a lesson that has won me many rounds of golf........

[Double Mocha Man]

22 minutes ago, Crim said:

Well i got fit for the first time this morning (just driver) and it went great, although a bit tiring for my back and we were seeing me lose a little bit of distance by the end as i was feeling tired. As i suspected, my old driver was carrying around 230 and rolling to around 250. I forgot to take notes on swing speed and ball speed but im pretty sure my swing speed with the old driver was around 102. One thing he noticed is that i have a very high ball spin rate and so we tried a bunch of different drivers and adjustments to get the spin down. He also had me switch from a stiff shaft to standard to put some ease on my back. In the end, with my new Taylormade Sim Max, im carrying the ball an average of 252 and rolling to around 275. That's exactly what i was looking for. My swing is right around 106 and 107 average with the new driver with a smash of 1.5 i think it said. I don't understand smash, ball speed, or spin rate but the fact that im carrying as far as i was rolling out on my old driver, im very happy.

Now that is when a fitting is very advantageous.  Even if your bill was over $500.  Comes out to about $20 per extra yard.  "I'd like to buy, oh say, 15 bonus yards please."

[Crim]

1 hour ago, NHpro said:

An old time golfer once told me to only swing with 80% power to gain consistent control over my shots.

It's a lesson that has won me many rounds of golf........

Indeed, i swung about 80% ever since my back injury last month and i have better control. I swung about 80% to 90% in the fitting today and still got a bit sore. But yeah when i threw my back out last month i was definitely swinging close to 100% 

58 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

Now that is when a fitting is very advantageous.  Even if your bill was over $500.  Comes out to about $20 per extra yard.  "I'd like to buy, oh say, 15 bonus yards please."

Yeah i dig it. It come out to $499 exactly but the way i look at it, ive played the same clubs for the last 5 years for $20 at a garage sale and i play quite a bit of golf (about 3 times a week). I felt it was time to test out a fitting of a brand new club.

[Crim]

Update: I've been playing the same courses I normally do and going to the driving range and I have not seen the distances I achieved on the launch monitor apply to the course at all. I'm hitting the Sim Max about exactly the same distance as I was my TM Burner. A bit frustrating to say the least, however the standard shaft does seem to be quite a bit easier on my back, I can do a full range session with the standard shaft as I was dialing in the Sim Max driver whereas the stiff shaft on the burner would wear me out with just half a bucket of balls. 

The person who fitted me said I can bring it back at any time for some tweaks, so I guess I'm going to do that. What do y'all think? What if I continue to carry just 230 with a roll out around 250 just like my old club. Hopefully I can get some answers otherwise there was no point in spending that much money (aside from the ease on the back).  

[Double Mocha Man]

17 minutes ago, Crim said:

Update: I've been playing the same courses I normally do and going to the driving range and I have not seen the distances I achieved on the launch monitor apply to the course at all. I'm hitting the Sim Max about exactly the same distance as I was my TM Burner. A bit frustrating to say the least, however the standard shaft does seem to be quite a bit easier on my back, I can do a full range session with the standard shaft as I was dialing in the Sim Max driver whereas the stiff shaft on the burner would wear me out with just half a bucket of balls. 

The person who fitted me said I can bring it back at any time for some tweaks, so I guess I'm going to do that. What do y'all think? What if I continue to carry just 230 with a roll out around 250 just like my old club. Hopefully I can get some answers otherwise there was no point in spending that much money (aside from the ease on the back).  

Dang!  Everything was so good in the fitting bay.  Did the guy lean over and throw a switch on the monitor when you tried the Sim driver?  😄

[Crim]

8 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

Dang!  Everything was so good in the fitting bay.  Did the guy lean over and throw a switch on the monitor when you tried the Sim driver?  😄

I'm not going to lie...I thought about that, haha. Yeah I even had a few in the hitting bay roll out to 282 through 285 yards. Did he throw a 20 mph artificial wind behind me?! haha. Nah we had a couple drivers going in the 270's not just the Sim, but the Sim felt the most comfortable, so I'll just have to go back in get some answers. 

[Mr22putt]

3 hours ago, Crim said:

Update: I've been playing the same courses I normally do and going to the driving range and I have not seen the distances I achieved on the launch monitor apply to the course at all. I'm hitting the Sim Max about exactly the same distance as I was my TM Burner. A bit frustrating to say the least, however the standard shaft does seem to be quite a bit easier on my back, I can do a full range session with the standard shaft as I was dialing in the Sim Max driver whereas the stiff shaft on the burner would wear me out with just half a bucket of balls. 

The person who fitted me said I can bring it back at any time for some tweaks, so I guess I'm going to do that. What do y'all think? What if I continue to carry just 230 with a roll out around 250 just like my old club. Hopefully I can get some answers otherwise there was no point in spending that much money (aside from the ease on the back).  

LOL....you've been had....the guy jacked up the sim to shill/sell you the Sim Max.😁

Bring your old driver in along with the Sim Max and hit both and see how the numbers compare....I was kinda shocked of the 3's you were getting from the Sim Max vs. your old driver.

[Vinsk]

This is why I was so fortunate to do my fitting outdoors with a TrackMan to actual targets. The monitor couldn’t cheat as it would be pretty obvious if I’m hitting to the same target but getting significantly different yardages. I was able to compare my old set directly against the clubs I was trying out. Made it much easier to see the differences.

[DrvFrShow]

On 7/3/2020 at 10:52 AM, Crim said:

Update: I've been playing the same courses I normally do and going to the driving range and I have not seen the distances I achieved on the launch monitor apply to the course at all. I'm hitting the Sim Max about exactly the same distance as I was my TM Burner. A bit frustrating to say the least, however the standard shaft does seem to be quite a bit easier on my back, I can do a full range session with the standard shaft as I was dialing in the Sim Max driver whereas the stiff shaft on the burner would wear me out with just half a bucket of balls. 

The person who fitted me said I can bring it back at any time for some tweaks, so I guess I'm going to do that. What do y'all think? What if I continue to carry just 230 with a roll out around 250 just like my old club. Hopefully I can get some answers otherwise there was no point in spending that much money (aside from the ease on the back).  

The lighter shaft is easier to hit. I have a bad back and found I prefer a 50 g shaft even though I'm more accurate with a 65 g shaft. I've tried an S and it's like swinging with a board even though I have the SS to play one... it isn't worth it. A shaft that makes it easier on my back is always worth it.

It comes down to something called COR. It's been the same for years. Coefficient of Restitution. This is defined as the ratio of the final velocity to the initial velocity between two objects after their collision. Basically COR is a measurement of the energy loss or retention when two objects collide. That's why the claim of 5 yds further is bogus. Drivers are more forgiving across the faces today than they used to be because they've gotten better at making the driver faces and widening the "sweet spot." Still there is that main sweet spot where you get the max distance. 

Which driver are you more comfortable swinging? It seems like you answered that. It's your new one. Enjoy your Sim Max. 

[Crim]

20 hours ago, DrvFrShow said:

The lighter shaft is easier to hit. I have a bad back and found I prefer a 50 g shaft even though I'm more accurate with a 65 g shaft. I've tried an S and it's like swinging with a board even though I have the SS to play one... it isn't worth it. A shaft that makes it easier on my back is always worth it.

It comes down to something called COR. It's been the same for years. Coefficient of Restitution. This is defined as the ratio of the final velocity to the initial velocity between two objects after their collision. Basically COR is a measurement of the energy loss or retention when two objects collide. That's why the claim of 5 yds further is bogus. Drivers are more forgiving across the faces today than they used to be because they've gotten better at making the driver faces and widening the "sweet spot." Still there is that main sweet spot where you get the max distance. 

Which driver are you more comfortable swinging? It seems like you answered that. It's your new one. Enjoy your Sim Max. 

Understood, but it's not $500 more comfortable, and my old driver with a standard shaft would be just as comfortable and i actually like the look and feel of the old driver better. My main purpose was to try and gain more distance, easier on the back was secondary, and that seems like a shaft issue. Either way i dont think they'll let me return, but maybe we can tweak a few things. 

[DrvFrShow]

On 7/5/2020 at 9:42 AM, Crim said:

Understood, but it's not $500 more comfortable, and my old driver with a standard shaft would be just as comfortable and i actually like the look and feel of the old driver better. My main purpose was to try and gain more distance, easier on the back was secondary, and that seems like a shaft issue. Either way i dont think they'll let me return, but maybe we can tweak a few things. 

Usually they let you return for store credit. If you don't like it, take it back and get something you like. I bought a G410 Plus last October. I went through a fitting. By the time it came in the season was over. I hit some at the range and it felt fine. On the course this spring I was not impressed. I grabbed a used Callaway Mavrik Max.that I wasn't fitted for that I like a lot better. I couldn't get used to the way the G410 sits open at address. So I'd say take it back and see if they'll give you credit for it and get something you like. I'd look at the Mavrik Max.

[Crim]

12 hours ago, DrvFrShow said:

Usually they let you return for store credit. If you don't like it, take it back and get something you like. I bought a G410 Plus last October. I went through a fitting. By the time it came in the season was over. I hit some at the range and it felt fine. On the course this spring I was not impressed. I grabbed a used Callaway Mavrik Max.that I wasn't fitted for that I like a lot better. I couldn't get used to the way the G410 sits open at address. So I'd say take it back and see if they'll give you credit for it and get something you like. I'd look at the Mavrik Max.

Thats good to know, hopefully they'll allow me to do the same. My "refitting" is tomorrow. The one thing i didnt like last time is we focused on overall yardage and roll out quite a bit. I think im going to ask if we can just focus on carry this time, i just want to be confident in my carry yardage...hoping for consistent 250 yd carry. Roll out i dont care as much anymore. I don't know, they're the experts.

[billchao]

1 hour ago, Crim said:

My "refitting" is tomorrow.

Good luck, man. I can't help feeling like they gamed your fitting, based on everything you've posted here.