Seriously Confused

[kilbyman]

So I had a golf lesson today with my driver, and I was hitting a lot of push fades. The pro looked at my club, saw it was a regular shaft (10.5 degree), and said "there's your problem." I then tried his club (R7 Superquad, stiff shaft stock, weights at neutral), and I was hitting straight down the fairway. So later, I pulled out an old driver I have (Big Bertha 454, stiff prolaunch blue, 9 degree) and was hitting pull slices like crazy. All with exactly the same swing, although I seemed like I had a lot of ball marks from the heel of the club. I was hitting the center of the sweet spot with my Rapture, but the whippy shaft was making the clubhead lag too much (from video). Is there a good way to stop being victimized by the gear effect? (Sorry if I'm posting in the wrong forum).

PS I am going to the Nike demo day here tomorrow, and will let you know after I play with toys if I can find some good gear.

[westcyderydin]

dont think about it at all tonight and then without thinking go out and hit that big bertha again tomorrow. then see what happens. maybe you were doing something i little different without noticing like if you were tired out or something.

[Shanks A Million]

So I had a golf lesson today with my driver, and I was hitting a lot of push fades. The pro looked at my club, saw it was a regular shaft (10.5 degree), and said "there's your problem." I then tried his club (R7 Superquad, stiff shaft stock, weights at neutral), and I was hitting straight down the fairway. So later, I pulled out an old driver I have (Big Bertha 454, stiff prolaunch blue, 9 degree) and was hitting pull slices like crazy. All with exactly the same swing, although I seemed like I had a lot of ball marks from the heel of the club. I was hitting the center of the sweet spot with my Rapture, but the whippy shaft was making the clubhead lag too much (from video). Is there a good way to stop being victimized by the gear effect? (Sorry if I'm posting in the wrong forum).

Pretty simple, if the shaft can't go back to square in time, it stays open, and you get a push-fade. As for the older Big Bertha, probably just a different swingweight or feel that throws off your swing a bit. Even the look of the club can make you close it faster or slower mentally. I find I pull-slice draw biased clubs. That's why I prefer a slightly open face, and no offset.

[jamo]

With the Big Bertha, hitting it off the heel will lead to pull slices.

What can I say, the Superquad is an awesome club.

It is just that the shaft characteristics in the different clubs are very different. You should try to get fit for a shaft.

[kilbyman]

So went to Nike's demo day... got fitted for the VR St8-fit (2 degrees flat, neutral settings), a 4w Machspeed with a 3w shaft, and a VR 3 hybrid. With the driver, I was hitting it straight. I have never been fit for clubs before and I think my problems were about using equipment that was not fit well for me.

[killerduck]

I have a Bertha 454 and I hit it pretty well atm. If I had one piece of advice for anyone it'd be to stay away from Nike Golf!! I know a few people all with nike drivers. They sound terrible, and the guys have to work REALLY hard to get even an average hit out of them! lol

That is obviously a REALLY unfair comment to Nike, but I had one, I've hit many, and none of them seem to work!!

[Shanks A Million]

I have a Bertha 454 and I hit it pretty well atm. If I had one piece of advice for anyone it'd be to stay away from Nike Golf!! I know a few people all with nike drivers. They sound terrible, and the guys have to work REALLY hard to get even an average hit out of them! lol

Obviously it's you then, cause all the drivers out there are pretty much the same. They are limited to .83 COR, 5900 MOI, 460ccs, and 48" of shaft length. And of all the drivers on the market, the Nikes are among the most forgiving I've hit, and that's the only real test of a driver anymore.

[senorchipotle]

So I had a golf lesson today with my driver, and I was hitting a lot of push fades. The pro looked at my club, saw it was a regular shaft (10.5 degree), and said "there's your problem." I then tried his club (R7 Superquad, stiff shaft stock, weights at neutral), and I was hitting straight down the fairway. So later, I pulled out an old driver I have (Big Bertha 454, stiff prolaunch blue, 9 degree) and was hitting pull slices like crazy. All with exactly the same swing, although I seemed like I had a lot of ball marks from the heel of the club. I was hitting the center of the sweet spot with my Rapture, but the whippy shaft was making the clubhead lag too much (from video). Is there a good way to stop being victimized by the gear effect? (Sorry if I'm posting in the wrong forum).

some food for thought. all drivers today are for all intents and purposes, the same. the shaft is really what makes the club. if you really want to spend the moolah on a new driver, go ahead. but i guarantee you can find a pre owned driver for 100 bucks that will hit the exact same.

[saevel25]

Its pretty true, wonder why taylor made makes all there drivers now with custom weight and custom lie positioning, because they know that there isn't much more they can do to sell you on shape and materials used. Really Nike & Adams are going with soemthing new in there groves under the club. The speedline thing. really i can hit my Titleist 975 D about as far as my Ping G10, but when i mishit my 975D 9.0 degrees of loft, its not pretty... But its still one hell of a driver, i might resurrect it here soon. I had that sucker with an EI-70 golf shaft, the sucker was a monster. Draw, Fade, High, Low. The only reason i switched was because i had to play a harder golfball to take some side spin off the sucker. If i played a Pro-V, it would be hard for me to keep the ball in play. So i upgraded so i can play a higher spin ball for around the greens.

[Shanks A Million]

Its pretty true, wonder why taylor made makes all there drivers now with custom weight and custom lie positioning, because they know that there isn't much more they can do to sell you on shape and materials used. Really Nike & Adams are going with soemthing new in there groves under the club. The speedline thing. really i can hit my Titleist 975 D about as far as my Ping G10, but when i mishit my 975D 9.0 degrees of loft, its not pretty... But its still one hell of a driver, i might resurrect it here soon. I had that sucker with an EI-70 golf shaft, the sucker was a monster. Draw, Fade, High, Low. The only reason i switched was because i had to play a harder golfball to take some side spin off the sucker. If i played a Pro-V, it would be hard for me to keep the ball in play. So i upgraded so i can play a higher spin ball for around the greens.

I still play an EI-70, there is no better shaft on the market, low launch, low spin, stiff as a telephone pole, and it goes a mile. I've had it in 3 drivers now. I will probably play it until it breaks.

But the reason for all the weights and adjustments is actually one I favor. It allows you to fit the club to you. Almost no one, in fact, no major OEM offers fitted fairway woods or drivers. All you can get is standard lie, and sometimes a draw model. The problem is, that most modern fairway woods are flat bottomed, so people who are very upright like me are doomed to the awful feel of the toe hitting the ground with our fairway woods. On days when my swing gets a little steep, I can't consistently hit a fairway wood to save my life. Most FW woods are about 2-3° too flat for me (I am somewhat tall, have short arms, and I cut my FWs down shorter than standard). Fortunately, these new adjustable woods can be set upright, so no more toe drag. To me, this is one of the best innovations ever in golf. When the new VRs come down in price, I'll probably snag a set. When I look down at address, I need to see an open face, or I slice the piss out of the ball (I get too scared of hooking it). I can set them all upright and open the face 1-2°, plus they have a rounded sole. You can't ask for a much better wood than that.

[kilbyman]

I still play an EI-70, there is no better shaft on the market, low launch, low spin, stiff as a telephone pole, and it goes a mile. I've had it in 3 drivers now. I will probably play it until it breaks.

That's why I could hit the Nike well. It was the adjustable VR. I have really long arms for my height, so getting fit is very important to me. However, the only OEM's who offer any wood custumizability are TM and Nike right now. With the Nike woods, I can flatten out the lie angle, which does wonders for straightening out my shot (opposite of shank's problem). So as far as the material, size, COR, etc. I agree that no one driver is better than another. But the ability to fit my lie angle (which really did make a huge difference) is what I believed helped me hit the Nike better and why I am waiting for it to come in now.

It was set for neutral, flatter lie angle. Same swing, straighter/lower ball flight. Which brought me to the conclusion that swinging clubs that are fit for me gives me much better results than just going standard everything. This week I'm getting my irons fitted, too. I'm amazed at how much getting fit can improve golf shots!

[ControlJunkie]

As a side note to all this, I think there is one other piece to the puzzle that I don't think was mentioned about TM and Swoosh. It seems to me that the one place they differ is the actual shaft weight on their drivers and fairways. TM leans more towards the lightweight shaft, whereas Nike puts more of a normal weight shaft in theirs. Of course, there are certainly options on both sides, depending on what you prefer. I know my swing goes to absolute crap if I cant feel a little bit of weight, but I know people that are exactly opposite too. It's just one other characteristic you might want to keep in mind if one feels radically different than the other.

Cool to hear you're going through the whole fitting process though, I think it will do a lot for you!

[saevel25]

Well when my swing is going well, i am a standard OEM guy. When i got my ping eye 2's about 10 years ago, i was straight black dot, standard lie through all clubs. Didn't need any adjustments. I did have to get my irons adjusted for gap distances, with my new ones. So its allways nice to make sure your playing clubs close to what you need. I recommend it.

My current Shaft in my ping driver is a UST Proforce V2 75X Shaft, closest thing i could find to my EI-70 shaft. Low torque, low spin, very stiff. The sucker just absolutely launches the ball. my ball flight is like a rocket, goes on a nice straight line up and out, and the ball peaks and falls down nice, getting max carry. But if i don't release the club on that sucker it can do a nice push or weak slice. because there no forgiving in the torque.