When do You Update Your Driver/Woods?

[billchao]

7 hours ago, ChiTown said:

Ah!  I see confusion here. I was responding to @tourproto who focused on COR. Whereas I was focused on the comment that there was little difference from drivers from 15 years ago. So I still think there are overall performance gains (even if COR was the same) between drivers today and from 15-ish years ago. 

Yea I agree. Today’s drivers are more forgiving, so the effective sweet spot is bigger. That helps basically everyone, since nobody hits it perfectly centered all the time.

Or to put it another way, how many tour pros would play 20 year old drivers if they didn’t have club sponsorships?

[tourproto]

8 hours ago, ChiTown said:

Ah!  I see confusion here. I was responding to @tourproto who focused on COR. Whereas I was focused on the comment that there was little difference from drivers from 15 years ago. So I still think there are overall performance gains (even if COR was the same) between drivers today and from 15-ish years ago. 

The performance gains are only relative to mis-hits. There is no gain in MAX distance (from a center-face hit with ideal launch and spin) with the same person swinging the club (and also assumes and efficient swing. My smash factor is 1.46+)

I had Club Champion shaft up a spare shaft to the driver head I was considering. So we could compare a) my driver+my shaft with b) their driver+my shaft with c) their driver+their shaft. 

I knew and re-confirmed that my current driver hit balls that were in the "performance window" recommended by Trackman. When using my shaft in the "new" driver head, there was no significant improvement in max distance, but there was improvement on the mis-hits on distance (toe only, not heel strikes). When using their head and their driver (a $900 setup BTW), again, no improvement in max distance. 

So my shaft is/was considered among the "best" shafts in the mid 2000s. It was an expensive shaft at the time. It held its own against the latest and greatest shafts of the 2020s (at least for me).

There were no significant MAX distance gains with the "modern head" regardless of the shaft. But there were gains in distance on toe mishits. No gain in heel mishits. 

While I am no Iron Byron, I am a pretty good driver of the ball. I was NOT leaving yards on the table with my typical swing, and my mishits were never awful. Per 9 holes (2 par-5s, 2 par-3s, 5 par-4s) the question was out of 7 drives, 4 of mine were fine, 2 were minor mishits (loss of 5-10 yards) and 1 medium mishit (loss of 20 yards). I really don't have bad mis-hits. So is a $900 driver worth getting back 5-10 yards on 4 tee shots per round due to greater forgiveness (minor mishits) and MAYBE 10-15 yards and medium mis-hits on 2 drives per round. 

For me $900 was not a good ROI for me. If I could use my shaft, it still isn't a $550 ROI for me. But when the driverhead goes on sale at 50% off in a year, I will probably pick one up or on a "pre-owned" factory site. for $300

YMMV.