Jump to content
Check out the Spin Axis Podcast! ×
Note: This thread is 5426 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

Recommended Posts

Posted

Hi all.  I should start off by giving a bit of history.  I'm currently 27 and took up this wonderful/horrible game when I was about 12 or 13 years old.  I played through high school, then joined the military and didn't touch a club for 10 years.  All my clubs were in storage with my parents the whole time.  As of this season I'm back into the game and have a lot of catching up to do.

I'm still rocking all my old clubs, which includes a top-of-the-line Taylor Made Burner Bubble driver.  At least it was top-of-the-line when I got it for my 15th birthday.  Now, it feels like I'm emerging from a time capsule when I walk around in a golf shop.  When I was a teenager, the Ti Bubble 2 and the Biggest Big Bertha were the sideshow freaks of the driver world, and they were both around 290cc or so, IIRC.  Now, I read on this forum about how some people are interested in trying "smaller" drivers with only 400-420cc

So my question is this.  I'm wondering if it would be worth it, so to speak, to give a 460cc driver a try.  If so, what would be a good club to go with?  I have no interest in going with the latest and greatest of 2011, and would be more than happy with an older model with a couple of rounds on it already.  I can hit my Burner Bubble very well at times, but the consistency isn't always there.  I absolutely am not looking for an equipment solution to a swing problem, but I can't help but wonder if I'm genuinely hindering myself by playing a driver that's so out of date with current technology.

Sasquatch Tour Bag | '09 Burner driver, 10.5* | Speedline F10 3W | Mashie 3H | Viper MS irons, 4-SW | CG15 60* | White Hot XG #7

 

 


Posted


Here is a good one on the cheap($40) if you want to go with a 9.5 and stiff shaft.

http://www.golfsmith.com/products/MG1100/MacGregor/MT_460_Driver #

Originally Posted by ochmude

Hi all.  I should start off by giving a bit of history.  I'm currently 27 and took up this wonderful/horrible game when I was about 12 or 13 years old.  I played through high school, then joined the military and didn't touch a club for 10 years.  All my clubs were in storage with my parents the whole time.  As of this season I'm back into the game and have a lot of catching up to do.

I'm still rocking all my old clubs, which includes a top-of-the-line Taylor Made Burner Bubble driver.  At least it was top-of-the-line when I got it for my 15th birthday.  Now, it feels like I'm emerging from a time capsule when I walk around in a golf shop.  When I was a teenager, the Ti Bubble 2 and the Biggest Big Bertha were the sideshow freaks of the driver world, and they were both around 290cc or so, IIRC.  Now, I read on this forum about how some people are interested in trying "smaller" drivers with only 400-420cc

So my question is this.  I'm wondering if it would be worth it, so to speak, to give a 460cc driver a try.  If so, what would be a good club to go with?  I have no interest in going with the latest and greatest of 2011, and would be more than happy with an older model with a couple of rounds on it already.  I can hit my Burner Bubble very well at times, but the consistency isn't always there.  I absolutely am not looking for an equipment solution to a swing problem, but I can't help but wonder if I'm genuinely hindering myself by playing a driver that's so out of date with current technology.




Posted

Taylormade superfast 2010 model, new online for 149, used for about a hundred bucks.  Alittle funky looking but it really bombs the ball with great launch and low spin.  I personally still use the 983k and love it.  There are so many drivers out there, it really comes down to your budget.

Founder/President, AroGolf Premium Milled Putters
Titleist 983K 9.5 / Adams Insight 3W / Rotation of hybrids/long irons
Ping i3 Blades White Dot 5-PW / Ping Tour Wedges Green Dot 52, 58
AroGolf iON1 FB BLACK mil-spec putter


Posted


Originally Posted by arogolf

it really comes down to your budget.

I'm looking at about $150-ish, give or take whatever I think I can sneak past my wife.  My interest in the new drivers was prompted by seeing a rack of TM '09 Burners at Dicks Sports for $99.00 last week.  I'm sitting here at work right now wondering if they have any left and thinking I may have passed up a really good deal.

Sasquatch Tour Bag | '09 Burner driver, 10.5* | Speedline F10 3W | Mashie 3H | Viper MS irons, 4-SW | CG15 60* | White Hot XG #7

 

 


Posted

go with the 2010 burner superfast, $149 brand new right now as retailers blow out their inventory.  cant go wrong.

Founder/President, AroGolf Premium Milled Putters
Titleist 983K 9.5 / Adams Insight 3W / Rotation of hybrids/long irons
Ping i3 Blades White Dot 5-PW / Ping Tour Wedges Green Dot 52, 58
AroGolf iON1 FB BLACK mil-spec putter


Posted

The driver I listed above is just as good as the 09 Burner at 40% of the cost!  Should make your wife happier too!

Originally Posted by ochmude

I'm looking at about $150-ish, give or take whatever I think I can sneak past my wife.  My interest in the new drivers was prompted by seeing a rack of TM '09 Burners at Dicks Sports for $99.00 last week.  I'm sitting here at work right now wondering if they have any left and thinking I may have passed up a really good deal.




Posted

I've always hit a 10.5 regular flex.  The price is definitely right, but I'm not sure if it will fit my swing.  I could probably deal with 9.5* without issue, but stiff shafts really don't work well for me.

Sasquatch Tour Bag | '09 Burner driver, 10.5* | Speedline F10 3W | Mashie 3H | Viper MS irons, 4-SW | CG15 60* | White Hot XG #7

 

 


Posted

Picked up a TaylorMade R9 460 used(been played with a few scratches (like I care) but it was in decent condition) from E-bay for $68 (you should be able to find them in the 80-110 range easily if you can wait a few days to find a good one).  I've tried the regular R9 and the R9 460 I much prefer my 460 and it fixed my slice (mostly) since you can adjust face angle.  I've always played the time capsule clubs(I laughed at the Big Bertha when it came out) but I can tell you that its so impossibly easy to hit that 460 and you can even be off center an inch and still hit the hell out of it(they claim only 4yd reduced distance with 1" off center). I hit far(yes really I do) and between the adjustment and the size It has allowed me to focus on other aspects of my swing since I KNOW I'm gonna hit it that that giant head. I would highly recommend at least trying one.  I was pretty resistant to it, but my dad had one and let me hit it at the range and after that I was in his bag every round... it really made a difference to my game.  The 460 hits a little higher so you might want the 9.5 but the 10.5 are usually even less expensive.


Posted

I play the Burner Superfast in a 9.5 with a stiff shaft. My shaft is cut down to 45" and it is an absolute bomber off the tee. It has a strange shape (So do most of the burner drivers) but if you can get over that I would give one of those a try.

A standard burner for $99 is a great deal, too.


Posted


Originally Posted by JlawTitleist

Cant go wrong with a taylor made driver.


LOL ..... Most TM drivers have too long shafts, look terrible and have flexes that are softer than stated. Besides if you ever would buy a new one, 3 months later it will be the previous model !

Cal Razr Hawk 10.5 | TM Superfast 3W | Adams Idea Pro Black 20 | MP-68 3-PW | TW9 50/06 + 58/12 | Ram Zebra Putter


Posted


Originally Posted by Gerald

LOL ..... Most TM drivers have too long shafts, look terrible and have flexes that are softer than stated. Besides if you ever would buy a new one, 3 months later it will be the previous model !


I agree with all of this and it is true for all of their woods... my 5 wood is supposedly stiff but its the floppiest club i own, its like 8 models behind the newest and its almost as long as my 3 wood.

But the proof is in the pudding my friend and to me TM Drivers and Woods hit really good even though looking at them objectively they look like akward shaped noodle shafted things designed more to make you part with your money then improve your golf game.

nickent.gif4DX Evolver Driver, ping.gif Rapture 3 Wood, taylormade.gif Burner 08 5 Wood, nickent.gif 3DX RC 3-4 & 5DX 5 Hybrid,
nickent.gif 6-PW 3DX Hybrid Irons, cleveland.gif High Bore 09 GW-SW, touredge.gif 60* Wedge, maxfli.gif Revolution Blade Insert Putter
 
Yes I'm Aware That's 16 Clubs!

Posted

Well, thanks for all the help everyone.  I decided to bit the bullet and get a new driver.  I went back to Dicks and they had one '09 Burner left with regular flex and 10.5*, so I grabbed it for $99+tax.  Played 9 holes over the weekend after hitting a small bucket with it to get a feel for the huge increase in head size.  Normally I hit between 0-2 FIR for 9 holes, but I hit 4 with the new driver, and the misses still were playable from the rough.  Not one single ball ended up in the woods all day.  I'm a believer!

Sasquatch Tour Bag | '09 Burner driver, 10.5* | Speedline F10 3W | Mashie 3H | Viper MS irons, 4-SW | CG15 60* | White Hot XG #7

 

 


Posted


Beware of the honeymoon!

Originally Posted by ochmude

Well, thanks for all the help everyone.  I decided to bit the bullet and get a new driver.  I went back to Dicks and they had one '09 Burner left with regular flex and 10.5*, so I grabbed it for $99+tax.  Played 9 holes over the weekend after hitting a small bucket with it to get a feel for the huge increase in head size.  Normally I hit between 0-2 FIR for 9 holes, but I hit 4 with the new driver, and the misses still were playable from the rough.  Not one single ball ended up in the woods all day.  I'm a believer!




Note: This thread is 5426 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Want to join this community?

    We'd love to have you!

    Sign Up
  • TST Partners

    Carl's Place
    PlayBetter
    Golfer's Journal
    ShotScope
    The Stack System
    FitForGolf
    FlightScope Mevo

    Coupon Codes (save 10-20%): "IACAS" for Mevo/Stack/FitForGolf, "IACASPLUS" for Mevo+/Pro Package, and "THESANDTRAP" for ShotScope. 15% off TourStriker (no code).
  • Posts

    • I would think of it in terms of time. The time it takes to get the arm angle into a good position to deliver the club with proper shaft lean. Another component is rotation, but that is also a matter of timing. It relates to how the body stalls to give the golfer time to hit the ball. If you have to get 80+ degrees out of that right elbow in one third of a second versus 50 degrees in the same time then you have to steal time from somewhere. It is usually body rotation. That does not help with shaft lean.  I agree in that amateurs tend to make the swing more complicated than pro golfers. 
    • I haven't been able to practice like I wanted and won't for the next week.  1. The weather sucks in Ohio this year. I have been mostly inside hitting foam balls. Just kind of my basic stuff.  2. I woke up last Saturday with a left side rib muscle on fire. If I turned or leaned a certain way it would spasm that almost buckled my knees. I have been taking a break to let that settle. I don't want to get a long term injury. I think I pinched a nerve or just aggravated a muscles.   3. I am going on a mini-vacation to Florida (screw you Ohio weather) with a friend, and rolling that into a work conference I have next week. I will be with out my clubs for a week.  I will be back next in two Fridays to hit the ground running with some warmer temps and better weather in Ohio, hopefully. I would really like to get more out on the course and the range.     
    • Day 580 - 2026-05-04 Played eight holes. Sometimes golf kicks you in the nuts. 😉 
    • I work with a lot of golfers who want more shaft lean at impact, who currently have AoAs that range from +2° to -2°, and who love to see the handle lower and more "in front of their trail thigh" from face-on at P6. And a lot of these golfers try to solve the issue by working on the downswing. They do something to drag the handle forward. Or they just leave their right thigh farther back so the same handle location "looks" farther forward. Or they move the ball back in their stance. Or they push themselves down into the ground to get the handle lower and increase (decrease?) their AoA (to be more negative). The real fix is often to get wider in the backswing. To do LESS in the backswing. To hinge less, fold the trail arm less, abduct the trail arm less. I had a case of this over the weekend. Before, the player had 110° of trail elbow bend, "lifted" his trail humerus only a few degrees, etc. The club traveled quite a bit around him, and he tended to "pick" the ball from the fairways. In the "after" swings below (which are mild exaggerations — this golfer does not need to end up at < 70° of elbow bend. These were slower backswings with "hit it as hard as you normally would" intent downswings), you can see that he bent his elbow about 70° instead of 110° and lifted his right arm an extra ~15° or more. You can't see how much less this moved his hands across his chest (right arm abduction), but it was also decreased. His hands stayed more "in front of" his right shoulder rather than traveling "beside" them so much. The two swings look like this: The change at P6, without talking about the downswing one little bit (outside of him telling me that he tends to pick the ball), is remarkable: Without 110° of elbow bend to get out (which he gets to 80°, a loss of 30°), the golfer actually loses slightly less elbow bend (70 - 50 = 20), but delivers 30° less elbow bend, lowering the handle and letting the elbow get "in front of" the rib cage… because it never got "behind" or "beside" the rib cage. If you look at this video showing the before/afters of P6, you'll note the handle location (both vertically and horizontally) and the shoulders (the ball is in the same place in these frames). This golfer's path was largely unaffected (still pretty straight into the ball, < 3° path and often < 1.5°), but his AoA jumped to -5° ± 2°. I've always said, and in talking with other instructors they agree and feel similarly, that we spend a lot of time working on the backswing. This is another example of why.
    • We had a member of our senior club who developed a mental block on pulling the trigger. I played with him to see what the membership was talking about. I timed him a few times when he would get over the ball. 45 seconds. He knew he had a mental block and would chide himself, “Just hit it!” Once on the green he was okay and chipping was a bit better. It was painful to watch him struggle. Our “bandaid” was to put him in the last tournament  tee time with two understanding players. We should have suggested to him to take a break from our tournaments. I agree with the idea that when a player realizes they have a problem, the answer is to go fix it and not return until they are able to play at an acceptable pace.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Welcome to TST! Signing up is free, and you'll see fewer ads and can talk with fellow golf enthusiasts! By using TST, you agree to our Terms of Use, our Privacy Policy, and our Guidelines.