Ball Fitting Numbers

[gogolfing]

Looking for some advice.

I did the Bridgestone ball fitting today; recommend it to anyone. Anyway, they gave me my numbers off the launch monitor with my driver and the PROV1x.

They were:
Club head speed: 112.6 mph
Ball Velocity: 154.6 MPH
Launch Angle: 11.9˚
Backspin: 3175 RPM
Distance: 265 yards

He was looking for a ball to help reduce my backspin rate to optimal which is 2290 RPM, but when I tried the B330-s and the B330-RX, my backspin rate went up to 3680 RPM with the B330-S and even higher with the RX.

I am figuring I have some kind of swing flaw that is getting my backspin rate that high? Any suggestions as to what is causing this? What factor does the shaft play in this?

I know it is costing me distance; with my club head speed at 112.6 mph I should be getting a ball velocity of 166.6 mph and 291 yards with ideal backspin. I know there are a lot of factors in this, but I would like any advice as it is obviously costing me distance.

Any thoughts or advice?

[jaj23]

With that swing speed I would think you should have an extra stiff shaft with a high kick point. That may help reduce backspin.

[saevel25]

Ball fitting is nice, but i talked to someone about this there are two types of spin, one for irons and one for driver. The golf ball reacts different between the two. You can have two similar golf balls that spin the same off a driver but one might spin a ton off a wedge. I would say, don't worry much about the golf ball, find one that fits you better around the green.

3175 isn't that bad, you proably want 2500-2700 or so, but loosing that bit of spin will only increase your distance by 5 yards or so, not that big of a deal. I would focus on a ball that works good around the green.

[gogolfing]

With that swing speed I would think you should have an extra stiff shaft with a high kick point. That may help reduce backspin.

I thought about this as a possibility; I think I may try to get on a launch monitor with some different shafts to see how the numbers looks.

Bridgestone actually told me to stick with the PROV1x; I am more wondering if anyone has swing advice/explanations to help reduce the backspin... is there a common flaw that could be causing this? Or advice like try some different equipment like jaj23 has offered. Thanks guys.

[rebby]

A lower spinning shaft may be the ticket, or even a stiffer VooDoo might do it for you. For me the difference between the VooDoo and Diamana WB is night and day, I was even able to keep an S flex shaft (my swing speed is about 116 w/the driver).

[gogolfing]

A lower spinning shaft may be the ticket, or even a stiffer VooDoo might do it for you. For me the difference between the VooDoo and Diamana WB is night and day, I was even able to keep an S flex shaft (my swing speed is about 116 w/the driver).

Thanks; I'll try this out. I know my club has the Titleist fitting cart with the XStiff Voodoo. I tried it out when I was demoing the clubs, but no launch monitor was avaiable. I wasn't sure if I could handle the XStiff.

[Shindig]

I'll echo the shaft comment. I'm glad to see someone else might be benefiting from the Bridgestone challenge in terms of club specs.

You might want to find out if they'll be back in your area soon, and if so, try to find a driver that will help with that problem beforehand. That way, you can re-do the ball fitting and perhaps find out if the ones they tried would help.

What did they say for the optimal of each?

Also, I believe Bridgestone drivers are known for being low spin. I could be mistaken on this, but it might be worth looking into if you're considering changing more than the shaft.

[gogolfing]

I'll echo the shaft comment. I'm glad to see someone else might be benefiting from the Bridgestone challenge in terms of club specs.

The optimal for backspin was 2290; I was at 3175. I believe they may be coming back, so I could get the pro to set up a D2 with an X Stiff Voodoo from the fitting cart. Good idea; thanks.

[zeg]

Just went down for a fitting. Unfortunately, I had the clever idea to play 9 holes (at a different course) just before, so I was pretty tired and it really showed by the time we got to hitting their recommendation... Still, I was mostly after an idea of my swing characteristics. The guy ("Perry") who did the fitting was great, made it a lot of fun. They asked what one thing I'd like to fix most of all, and I said "hit it straight." I then went up to warm up before using the sim and, of course, pasted 3 or 4 consecutive dead straight career-class drives. Fun.

Hit the Titleist NXT as my "old" ball (truth is I play whatever I happen to find). The average stats with that ball were:

Clubhead Speed: 93.5 mph
Ball Velocity: 128.2 mph
Launch Angle: 14.0°
Backspin: 2198 rpm
Sidespin: +478 rpm
Distance: 213 yds.

The numbers are pretty for the average, need a little more backspin (they suggested ideal was 2500 rpm or so). My launch angle average is within half a degree of the ideal, but that's sort of a trick of the average: my individual swings were either 11° or 18° (or so), averaging to ideal. The sidespin also tended either to be a dead pull or a slice, so at least my usual swing flaws showed up perfectly during the trial.

They suggested an e7 or perhaps an e5, though I was swinging poorly when I tested so my numbers were worse, basically slicing everything. Still, it's nice to have the numbers in a better test than the few times I've tried drivers at Golfsmith---here I was warmed up, using my on equipment, etc.

The guys also seemed to think I had a pretty good swing, which was sort of rewarding after all the effort I've been pouring into it lately. Maybe they were just being nice, but they seemed pretty genuinely surprised when it fell apart at the end...

In all, a very nice experience, plus I got some free golf balls out of it! If you see 'em in your area, it's worth the 20 minutes. Just don't do it right after playing!