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Question about driver fitting results


GregZ
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Can an extremely low lofted driver for a high handicap hide or exacerbate a poor swing even though the results are great?

I am a high handicapper with an ever "evolving" swing.  This past week, I spent some time with an experienced club fitter that fit me to a Ping G20 8.5 degree driver with the tour stiff stock shaft.  I have never been fit for any clubs, but reading on the internet I just assumed that I would need a higher lofted driver.

My stats for this driver were:  swing speed: ~103 mph.  Launch angle: ~13 degrees and spin: ~2800.  Distance: 240-260.  We tried almost every brand head and shaft combination that I have ever heard of so I felt that he did a very thorough job of fitting me to the equipment for my swing that day.  Should

During my lunch break today, I went to a local store that had the driver in stock and proceeded to hit the driver about 20 times.  The results were the same as before.

Am I over thinking this?

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Loft and handicap aren't really related. Your loft is set more by your swing speed. 8.5 is a bit low (on average) but my understanding is that pretty much every retail head has a higher loft than the one indicated so your Ping might really be closer to a 9.5.  Looking at your numbers they seem to be pretty solid. I think in the ideal world you  should be launching about 1 degree higher and have slightly (~200) less spin but your numbers are close enough to be in the range of machine error.

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Handicap is a crappy indicator of driver loft, just like shaft flex. It's more about your angle of attack, swing speed, and spin that determine it. Also as x129 mentioned there can be some trickery with the loft measurements (such as measuring on an angle, making the sole cause it to sit differently at address, or just plain lying), and some designs play differently than others with the same loft.

If you have a low lofted driver and a high handicap, and can get good results, you have a good swing . A low loft would, if anything, be harder to hit than a higher one; if you can launch the one you have and hit it straight, a higher loft probably wouldn't help. Think of your results as indicative of your swing, not your equipment. If you hit the ball well and consistently, leave it alone I'd say.

If you are worried about swing flaws, get lessons. The G20 is a forgiving driver, which is helpful to any level of golfer. Irons and wedges are more important with regards to correcting your striking to get accuracy. If you play a set of shovels (super forgiving irons), maybe they can hide swing flaws, but the driver is a tool for hitting fairways. Think of the irons and wedges as scalpels, while the driver is an axe. If you can put the ball in play with it, it doesn't matter if you can hit targets so much. (And on the subject of forgiving irons, by the way, I have more of a problem with the stupid loft setups and the massive offset than the higher launch and bigger sweetspot. It forces you to slice to hit them straight, essentially, and distance control is more or less shot to hell.)

In My Bag:

Adams Super LS 9.5˚ driver, Aldila Phenom NL 65TX
Adams Super LS 15˚ fairway, Kusala black 72x
Adams Super LS 18˚ fairway, Aldila Rip'd NV 75TX
Adams Idea pro VST hybrid, 21˚, RIP Alpha 105x
Adams DHY 24˚, RIP Alpha 89x
5-PW Maltby TE irons, KBS C taper X, soft stepped once 130g
Mizuno T4, 54.9 KBS Wedge X
Mizuno R12 60.5, black nickel, KBS Wedge X
Odyssey Metal X #1 putter 
Bridgestone E5, Adidas samba bag, True Linkswear Stealth
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In my opinion, yes golf clubbing fitting is very helpful, but it can only help "tune" your swing.  I have a TM R11 which I just do not hit as well as I would like... and I have tried several shafts, some clubs just do not fit some individuals.  It might help if a golf pro helps examine your swing while driving.  I am not the swing advise person, but there is typically a few telling traits leading to a large slice... I'm sure a qualified pro could point out a few items to help rid yourself of a slice.  Best of luck... interested in which driver works best for you.

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Thanks for the responses guys. Ill probably go with the G20 unless I can find a fitter with the new Nike driver locally, I believe its the only one that the fitter didnt have to test out.

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Personally I feel the shaft has much more to do with ball flight than the head.  I have 4 Ping drivers, a G15 9.5, G15 10.5, and two identical G20 9.5 with identical stiff shafts.  One of my G20's feels like it is a 13.5 and balloons my balls way up in the air (horrible against the wind) while the other feels much lower and closer to the 9.5 rating.  The difference in identical off the shelf clubs is so startling that it has completely changed my outlook on how important it is to get properly fitted before and after a shaft fitting and club purchase.  Personally I would stay away from an 8.5 and stick to the 9.5 and simply get a shaft that gives me good launch monitor results.  After market shafts that are identical to the shafts that come stock with the shaft are world's apart.  If you don't want to spend a lot for an after market shaft, then get a G20 with a tour preferred shaft, that probably is a better choice and has a little better tolerance control.

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One of the selling points of ordering from this fitter was that the clubs would be assembled by the same ppl or company that puts the PGA pros clubs together instead of some factory machine.  I dont really know if its true but it sounds good and maybe the QA on them would be higher than off the shelf.

At this point I need to stop procrastinating and over analysising things and just order the recommendationed Driver, FWs, and Irons.

Originally Posted by spearq8

Personally I feel the shaft has much more to do with ball flight than the head.  I have 4 Ping drivers, a G15 9.5, G15 10.5, and two identical G20 9.5 with identical stiff shafts.  One of my G20's feels like it is a 13.5 and balloons my balls way up in the air (horrible against the wind) while the other feels much lower and closer to the 9.5 rating.  The difference in identical off the shelf clubs is so startling that it has completely changed my outlook on how important it is to get properly fitted before and after a shaft fitting and club purchase.  Personally I would stay away from an 8.5 and stick to the 9.5 and simply get a shaft that gives me good launch monitor results.  After market shafts that are identical to the shafts that come stock with the shaft are world's apart.  If you don't want to spend a lot for an after market shaft, then get a G20 with a tour preferred shaft, that probably is a better choice and has a little better tolerance control.



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GregZ,

What the others have said is pretty well on target. But, we would need more info from you to answer your original question - will a low-lofted driver hide swing flaws .

You have a 27 HDCP... are you pretty new to the game? Is your swing still stabilizing? Have you had lessons recently, if so, are they helping?

You have a high driver clubhead speed... Any chance you overswing on your irons, causing control problems at the top?

Flipping the question, if you hit the driver really well but struggle elsewhere, could your driver swing give you clues to improve overall swing?

Focus, connect and follow through!

  • Completed KBS Education Seminar (online, 2015)
  • GolfWorks Clubmaking AcademyFitting, Assembly & Repair School (2012)

Driver:  :touredge: EXS 10.5°, weights neutral   ||  FWs:  :callaway: Rogue 4W + 7W
Hybrid:  :callaway: Big Bertha OS 4H at 22°  ||  Irons:  :callaway: Mavrik MAX 5i-PW
Wedges:  :callaway: MD3: 48°, 54°... MD4: 58° ||  Putter:image.png.b6c3447dddf0df25e482bf21abf775ae.pngInertial NM SL-583F, 34"  
Ball:  image.png.f0ca9194546a61407ba38502672e5ecf.png QStar Tour - Divide  ||  Bag: :sunmountain: Three 5 stand bag

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Some background info:

I have been playing for about 6 years and really had no idea what i was doing until about 2 years when I made an effort to swing better and play more often. Lots of youTube videos brought my typical score down to 94-100, but I was still spraying balls left and right.

This past November I started Evolvr lessons and they have made my ball striking 100% better on all clubs 5i-LW. I can now control where the ball goes most of the time on the shorter clubs, but still struggle with the longer clubs even though I fell like the swing isnt that bad. Therefore, for the past month I have been thinking that maybe its the shaft flex on my woods being the culprit to spraying balls in all directions. My current set is an Adams GT2 Driver-pw with regular flex shafts that I wasnt fitted for and knew nothing about golf when I bought them on the internet.

My entire fitting results where:

Driver and FWs: G20 8.5 Tour Stiff

Hybrids: Couldnt hit a 3 or 4 to save my life. No recomendations.

4-PW: AP1, XPS300 .5 inch longer, 2degrees upright

GW, SW, LW: Cleveland 588's .5 inches longer.

I am pretty dedicated to learning more and playing better golf.  It just seemed strange that i could hit an 8.5 degree driver that well with straight flight and it feels so solid when hit.  Part of my apprehension is that I dont want to buy equipment that would neccesary be bad for my swing mechanics, but I dont know that i can argue with the results.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WUTiger

GregZ,

What the others have said is pretty well on target. But, we would need more info from you to answer your original question - will a low-lofted driver hide swing flaws.

You have a 27 HDCP... are you pretty new to the game? Is your swing still stabilizing? Have you had lessons recently, if so, are they helping?

You have a high driver clubhead speed... Any chance you overswing on your irons, causing control problems at the top?

Flipping the question, if you hit the driver really well but struggle elsewhere, could your driver swing give you clues to improve overall swing?



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  • 2 weeks later...

Thought Id update for my own musings.

Ive spent six range sessions demoing the driver recommended to me and videoing it each time and have come away with an understanding of how I was hitting it so well one day but not every time.  I flip the club massively and when my timing is perfect, I hit it great, but my timing isnt perfect very often.  My setup for the driver has been to tee the ball up atleast 4 inches just past my forward toe. I purposely have always tried to bottom out about 8 inches behind the ball to hit it on the upswing aswell.  I also tend to move my upper center forward a lot too.

In doing some searching I have found what appears to be proper setup so Im gonna give it a try and send in a video to evolvr.

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I recently hit the G20 and it felt pretty good. I have been trying to get the ball to the 13 degree launch angle without adding the extra spin. Something that helped me was getting the aldila rip shaft. It has less torque than most shafts and really has lengthened my drives. It also has made me way more accurate. If you like the G20 check out the titleist D3. I love mine.

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Quote:

My stats for this driver were:  swing speed: ~103 mph.  Launch angle: ~13 degrees and spin: ~2800.  Distance: 240-260.  We tried almost every brand head and shaft combination that I have ever heard of so I felt that he did a very thorough job of fitting me to the equipment for my swing that day.  Should

103 mph, you might be able to get away with a tour stiff (x-stiff) shaft. But you might be loosing some loading in the shaft at that speed. Might want to try just a stiff shaft.

The loft on the clubhead has little to do with launch angle, you'll get more change if you go from a high kick to a low kick on the golf shaft, as well as stiffness of the shaft. Basically the loft on the club will dictate spin on the ball.

Matt Dougherty, P.E.
 fasdfa dfdsaf 

What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

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I think I pretty much wasted the driver part of my fitting by not having a sound repetable swing and setup when hitting the driver.  Therefore, I dont think its smart to buy a new driver right now, but I do think i need a different driver shaft than the swim noodle like shaft that I have been using.  I did really enjoy hitting the G20 and it felt very solid, but my swing is going to have to change and Im not sure if after changes that I will need such a low lofted driver.  Ill be shopping for a used one this week and maybe an adjustable one at that.

Thanks for all the replies,

Greg

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Originally Posted by GregZ

My setup for the driver has been to tee the ball up atleast 4 inches just past my forward toe. I purposely have always tried to bottom out about 8 inches behind the ball to hit it on the upswing aswell.  I also tend to move my upper center forward a lot too.

In doing some searching I have found what appears to be proper setup so Im gonna give it a try and send in a video to evolvr.



Hi Greg, those numbers you shared from the driver fitting look great, 13* launch with 2800 spin.

4 inches past the forward toe may be too far forward, play just forward of your left armpit.  Look forward to seeing you on Evolvr

Mike McLoughlin

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Note: This thread is 4405 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!

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