Driver Woes

[Travtex]

I'm really starting to wonder what the deal is with my driver. I'm always hesitant to place any blame on the stick, but it's starting to get a bit odd. My distances are hovering in this range (With about a 10-yard range of inconsistency with most clubs... The 10i is a 44*, it's part of the 3DX set. That 5 iron is lofted like a 3 iron):

PW: 115
10i: 125
9i : 135
8i: 145
7i: 160
6i: 175
5i: 190
4h: 200
3h: 215
3w: 230

And then comes the driver... at around 180, with 20-30 yards of roll. Is it just 'I suck with the driver'? It just seems odd to me that I'd be able to dial everything else in, seemingly appropriately, yet I've NEVER managed to put my driver up to even 200 yards of carry.

[Lefty-Golfer]

If you are correct on the yardages posted for the rest of the clubs, You certainly seem to have a problem with the club.

[Travtex]

Large "D'oh" on my wrong forum bad, by the way. On the club; It just seems that I would've gotten a hold of one by accident by now, at least. I'm swinging in the 95-100mph range, and judging by the way my distances are playing out a 240-250 expectation seems realistic to me.

[lionelp4]

I'm no expert but my best guess is that you are not creating enough backspin with your driver to keep the ball in the air. Your ball is therefore nosediving before the end of its natural flight. I experienced this recently when trialling the Ping i15 driver. My spin rate was down at around 2200 and when I upped the spin rate to around 2600 with the G15 I got an extra 25 yards or so.
I hope this helps.

Lionel

[Fatphil]

yeh we got a guy in our group,,,athletic, ex baseball guy hits the living crap out of the ball but can't break 110. If u are a 36 hdcp and hit 160 yd 7i u got power but like the guy in our league his swing faults glaring. This is where me as weekend player disagrees with all the "tour pros" who say learn how to hit the ball hard and then work on techique. I think a pro needs to get the player to swing properly, with coordination to hit the sweet spot with an inside attack and a square clubface. To me that is incredibly difficult to do at any speed let alone full bore. Look that the LPGA, they swing drivers in the low 90's and shoot 68's.

on an equip note, I can't hit Cleveland's to save my life..switched to Titleist years ago and never looked back.

[ks8829]

bring your driver to the golf store and hit it against other drivers and check it out on the launch monitor.

You will find out if it's the driver or your swing.

[Travtex]

yeh we got a guy in our group,,,athletic, ex baseball guy hits the living crap out of the ball but can't break 110. If u are a 36 hdcp and hit 160 yd 7i u got power but like the guy in our league his swing faults glaring. This is where me as weekend player disagrees with all the "tour pros" who say learn how to hit the ball hard and then work on techique. I think a pro needs to get the player to swing properly, with coordination to hit the sweet spot with an inside attack and a square clubface. To me that is incredibly difficult to do at any speed let alone full bore. Look that the LPGA, they swing drivers in the low 90's and shoot 68's.

Well, I don't really swing hard (When I do, I know it -- Giant balloon slice on woods, vicious pull hook on irons). I think the 3DX lofting makes me seem longer than I really am. As a general rule, my "7 iron" is my 150 yard club. Nickent's 3DX clubs are just lofted strong. But, you're right -- I have plenty of distance for what my game is. It's all about consistency for my problems.

When I remember to keep controlled, I can feel like I'm at about a half swing without losing distance and improving accuracy. Just hard to keep the body disciplined like that.

[James_Black]

Forget about the driver

You can hit the rest of your clubs far.
Work on those.

[wubskis]

Forget about the driver. You can hit the rest of your clubs far. Work on those.

I agree, if you can hit your 3w 230 off the tee, even if you're not comfortable hitting your 3w off the deck you're still hitting your 3h 215, and if you're not comfortable with hybrids you're hitting your 5i 190. That's 420y in two shots without using your driver. If your distances are right, that's a setup that will easily leave you with a wedge into most par 5's. I'd forget about your driver for now and work on it at the range.

[clubchamp]

I agree if you're hitting your 3w 230 yards you will be fine until you figure out your driver.

[Travtex]

Actually had a better range day with the thing... oddly, it was brought about by it being one of my worst range days in recent memory. I was even having problems hitting my PW. It was atrocious.

Basically, all I did was loosen up -- I had far too much tension creep into my arms and hadn't really noticed it until I swung one loosely.

Not dramatically better, mind you, but I did manage to land a few past the 200 yard marker with the longest rolling out to about 240 or so.

But those first thirty or forty balls were "I'm gonna quit" ugly. *laugh*

[Bogey ball]

I'd go out to the range hit some balls and maybe have someone else look and see whats happening with the driver, but yea, that's odd

[PrairieParson]

IMHO, if you are hitting all the other clubs that well, then the problem is that you have the wrong driver. My recent experience is similar. I have made some recent radical swing changes but they have resulted in much better control and more consistency. But my Mizuno MP-600 I could only get a slight fade at best. Many were low slices. Some shots even went out about 125 yds and just seemed to die like a duck shot out of the sky.

I finally came to the conclusion that it must be the club. I am going to try a Ping G15 with 12 degree loft. In the store, it shows a more consistent higher launch angle, more spin and straighter. Tiger Woods switched this year to a 10.5 loft. His statement was loft is our friend. (longer carry) I figured that if Tiger needs 10.5, I need at least 12. We'll see how it works on the range.

[GolferNewb]

I would try hitting some new drivers. If you have the opportunity to go to a local shop and try other clubs I would try the "buffet" approach. If you are swinging 95-100 then regular shaft? Maybe you are topping the ball or teeing it too high?