Trouble to Hit Driver After Fitting (From Regular to Stiff Shafts)

[RickardSwe]

Hi,

I hope this is the right sub-forum for this posts.

Was just wondering on advise how to proceed in my situation. I worked myself down to a 15 handicap and got fitted for new clubs recently (zx5 and Ping g425 max for 4hybrid, 3wood, driver).

I went from using regular to stiff shafts (as my swing speed has improved during this year). I am overall pleased with the new clubs (mostly because my long irons and hybrid/wood is no longer hooking to the left but goes more or less straight most of the time). 

My driver however, became awfully hard to hit, unless I really feel like im getting the right hip and weight transfer to the left and give my arms enough time. However, my scores are suffering now as I just slice it too often. 

Was wondering if somebody else had the same experience changing shaft flex? 

I think my options are to just tee off with the 3 wood or put the old driver back in the bag? Does it make sense to use my new driver until it gets better? its bit of a confidence killer.

 

[billchao]

10 minutes ago, RickardSwe said:

Was wondering if somebody else had the same experience changing shaft flex? 

No, quite the opposite after a fitting actually. My dispersion got better because I was playing the wrong shaft.

How did you hit the driver compared to your old one during the fitting?

[RickardSwe]

5 minutes ago, billchao said:

No, quite the opposite after a fitting actually. My dispersion got better because I was playing the wrong shaft.

How did you hit the driver compared to your old one during the fitting?

My old driver was drawing more, with the occasional miss being a hook, while the new Ping had a more straight flight. 

I would however, be more comfortable at the course at the moment, to just play with my old club as the slice never happens.

[Vinsk]

37 minutes ago, RickardSwe said:

while the new Ping had a more straight flight. 

So it’s a swing issue yes?

[Jeremie Boop]

Sounds like it may be a flipping/casting issue. The softer shaft would allow the face close up due to being more flexible while the stiffer shaft maintains the open face causing the new issue. Just a guess.

I seem to remember somewhere that shafts that are more flexible will show up as more draw hook prone and stiffer shafts show up as push/slice?

Edited September 7, 2022 by Jeremie Boop

[RickardSwe]

13 minutes ago, Jeremie Boop said:

Sounds like it may be a flipping/casting issue. The softer shaft would allow the face close up due to being more flexible while the stiffer shaft maintains the open face causing the new issue. Just a guess.

I seem to remember somewhere that shafts that are more flexible will show up as more draw hook prone and stiffer shafts show up as push/slice?

Not sure if its a casting issue, on the downswing my club tend to be around 90 degree when my arms are parallel to the ground and the club becomes parallel around the time my hands are at same height as my pockets (at least with irons, dont have any recent recording off my driver swing).

Anyway, would it be crazy to play stiff shafts for everything except driver, as the new shafts have helped my ball flight in general. is that very unusual? 

Edited September 7, 2022 by RickardSwe

[Jeremie Boop]

3 minutes ago, RickardSwe said:

Not sure if its a casting issue, on the downswing my club tend to be around 90 degree when my arms are parallel to the ground and the club becomes parallel around the time my hands are at same height as my pockets (at least with irons, dont have any recent recording off my driver swing).

Anyway, would it be crazy to play stiff shafts for everything except driver, as the new shafts have helped my ball flight in general. is that very unusual? 

Honestly, I would see if it's a small adjustment needed with your driver setup/swing. It could just be something easy that would help you close the face up to get back to the straight/draw that you are looking for. It's not even a bad thing to have a straight/fade on the driver. You can post a video of your driver swing in the "my swing" forum and someone would probably be able to let you know what they see.

[RickardSwe]

3 minutes ago, Jeremie Boop said:

Honestly, I would see if it's a small adjustment needed with your driver setup/swing. It could just be something easy that would help you close the face up to get back to the straight/draw that you are looking for. It's not even a bad thing to have a straight/fade on the driver. You can post a video of your driver swing in the "my swing" forum and someone would probably be able to let you know what they see.

good idea, thank you. I will try to record my driver-swing in a high frame-rate and see if I can get some good feedback.

[billchao]

1 hour ago, RickardSwe said:

My old driver was drawing more, with the occasional miss being a hook, while the new Ping had a more straight flight. 

I would however, be more comfortable at the course at the moment, to just play with my old club as the slice never happens.

So during your fitting you weren’t slicing it? 

20 minutes ago, RickardSwe said:

Anyway, would it be crazy to play stiff shafts for everything except driver, as the new shafts have helped my ball flight in general. is that very unusual? 

There’s no industry standard for shaft stiffness so it’s not necessary to play stiff shafts in every club. I play stiff shafts in my irons and x-stiff in my woods (just driver right now because I never got around to buying new fairway woods).

How was the fitting process? Did you try a number of different shaft and head combinations? I ask because your driver, 3w, and hybrid are all the same model. When I was fitted for driver and fairway woods (separate fittings), the best clubs for me ended up being a Ping driver and Callaway woods.

[RickardSwe]

34 minutes ago, billchao said:

So during your fitting you weren’t slicing it? 

There’s no industry standard for shaft stiffness so it’s not necessary to play stiff shafts in every club. I play stiff shafts in my irons and x-stiff in my woods (just driver right now because I never got around to buying new fairway woods).

How was the fitting process? Did you try a number of different shaft and head combinations? I ask because your driver, 3w, and hybrid are all the same model. When I was fitted for driver and fairway woods (separate fittings), the best clubs for me ended up being a Ping driver and Callaway woods.

No, when I got fitted I didn't slice it, it was more like straight or small fade (at the time I felt good about it, since I knew I wanted to get rid nasty hooks as a miss). I think it's a bit different when I feel warm and loose.

We did try a few different brands and flexes even though I was probably leaning towards g425max in general, since I wanted very forgiving long clubs.

I will follow the advice above for now, about posting a swing video and take it from there.

Thanks for the input.

[TourSpoon]

1 hour ago, RickardSwe said:

Anyway, would it be crazy to play stiff shafts for everything except driver, as the new shafts have helped my ball flight in general. is that very unusual? 

No, not crazy. You are there to get the ball in the hole in the lowest score possible. And just because a shaft says stiff there is a lot more to it when you look at the shaft profile. I have regular stiff in most of my clubs but my driver has a tour stiff shaft. The tour stiff actually feels like a regular stiff because the profile is a soft handle with a super stiff tip to keep the flight and spin down. 

[RickardSwe]

Lately I kind of figured out how to play better off the tee.

I think I had a tendency to be too static/tensed.

Lately the only swing thought I have is feeling like my weight/energy moves left-right-left. It does require some kind of trigger to push the weight down left and then right to initiate the swing. Focusing on this while playing, especially with driver has made a huge difference to my game. It also speeds up the backswing I think and doesnt really allow for many swing thoughts for me.

I think this just makes me work more with the body first and give the face enough time to square. I know it's hardly any new idea but maybe it can help.

Today I had my best run ever in golf and was +3 over the first 11 holes, unfortunately it didnt quite last the whole round (ended up +10, still a very good round for me), but gave me a lot of confidence.

[dennyjones]

40 minutes ago, RickardSwe said:

Lately I kind of figured out how to play better off the tee.

I think I had a tendency to be too static/tensed.

Lately the only swing thought I have is feeling like my weight/energy moves left-right-left. It does require some kind of trigger to push the weight down left and then right to initiate the swing. Focusing on this while playing, especially with driver has made a huge difference to my game. It also speeds up the backswing I think and doesnt really allow for many swing thoughts for me.

I think this just makes me work more with the body first and give the face enough time to square. I know it's hardly any new idea but maybe it can help.

Today I had my best run ever in golf and was +3 over the first 11 holes, unfortunately it didnt quite last the whole round (ended up +10, still a very good round for me), but gave me a lot of confidence.

Very nice it is now working for you.   This is great that you came back and updated your situation.   Often people will come on the forum ask as question, get a few responses and never return.   Years from now, somebody may Google your situation and will arrive at this thread.   Thanks for sharing.

[arturo28mx]

Most times a stiffer shaft is a heavier shaft. Your problem may have to do with a shaft that is too heavy and is throwing your tempo off.