How much distance am I losing?

[VoidOfEnigmas]

I play an old Taylormade R540 that I bought in high school 10 years ago and still play. Recently i've been seeming to lose my touch and am considering the switch to a new callaway driver. commercials all talk about the distance PROs gain but who here has made the switch from a 10+ year old driver and how much distance did you gain?

[Mr3Wiggle]

Originally Posted by voidofenigmas

I play an old Taylormade R540 that I bought in high school 10 years ago and still play. Recently i've been seeming to lose my touch and am considering the switch to a new callaway driver. commercials all talk about the distance PROs gain but who here has made the switch from a 10+ year old driver and how much distance did you gain?

That club vs. a new driver, properly fitted using a launch monitor could be costing you 10 to 20 yards.  Who knows, maybe more.  I hit that club some when that line of drivers came out.  Even then it wasn't as long as the Ping TiSI or the Callaway Great Big Bertha II.  Last year I switched from a TM R7 to a newer Callaway.  10 easy yards.  Better mishits too.

[VoidOfEnigmas]

that's the big thing i'm looking at, my mishits with that older driver I know are costing me. I'd love to get a new drivers hopefully here in another 2 months Them things be EXPENSIVE :P

[Mr3Wiggle]

Ask about a personal use discount.  Pretty much every manufacturer will give it to you if you're a pro.  The pro at my old course used to get me $500 drivers for less than $200.  $300 FJ Classics for less than $100 too.

[Infamous 273]

I was using a 2008 TM Burner until recently.  I found a Big Bertha Steelhead (1998 model year) with an after market Aldila shaft.  I've gained about 20 yards in my drives.  I chalk it playing with a 75g X flex vs a 50g S flex in the TM.

new technology distance claims are due, in part, to less weight and increased shaft lengths.  golf companies who claim pros have an increase in distance with new technology clubs are full of it.  take a look at driving distance averages: there are 15 players currently on tour averaging >300 yards.  in 2005, 26 players averaged >300 yards.  maybe the pros were all using unreleased RBZ prototypes back then?

[hendog]

I played a R580XD for years. One day it sounded weird and I found a small crack. I went to Golfsmith and tried a few and ended up with a Burner. I played it for 6 months but then decided I needed something more tuned to me so I did a fitting and got an R9 Supertri. Adjustable face angle was the key for me. I needed an open face. Once I got this I was off to the races. Took a little time to dial it in but I went from a 15 to an 8 and picked up probably 30-40 yards on average although I rarely hit the old drivers consistent enough to get an average.

Proper fitting is what will add yards IMO. Don't believe any marketing campaign.

[WUTiger]

There's always a chance the R540 could be showing "cumulative trauma" to the internal clubhead after a decade of play.

Also, the TV and magazine ads on how much yardage was gained doesn't go into causes. The guy who gained +24 yards might have had too stiff a shaft on the old driver, or not enough loft to really get the ball airborne. So, the new driver could just not be as bad as the old one, not necessarily "better."

[VoidOfEnigmas]

Originally Posted by WUTiger

There's always a chance the R540 could be showing "cumulative trauma" to the internal clubhead after a decade of play.

Also, the TV and magazine ads on how much yardage was gained doesn't go into causes. The guy who gained +24 yards might have had too stiff a shaft on the old driver, or not enough loft to really get the ball airborne. So, the new driver could just not be as bad as the old one, not necessarily "better."

I want to take my r540 into a swing shop and compare it to a few drivers and see which I get the best results with. They're desperate for sales would do it then use my pga references to try to find a cheap club.

[AmazingWhacker]

I think it would definitely depend on your swing.  I think it must be hard to tune a driver to somebody who doesn't have a pretty consistent swing.  I still am holding off getting fit for a nice driver for that reason - if I made 10 good swings with my driver they could land in a space that is 50-60 yards wide and 30-40 yards deep.  Better for me would be to just hit some balls and see how it feels - probably don't need to bother with a launch monitor or anything like that.

But I didn't even do that when choosing my current driver, lol, I just bought a TM burner because I figured if so many other people play them they must be decent enough.  The driver I had before that was 20 years old.  The new driver feels better and I certainly wouldn't want to switch back but I couldn't say that I gained any yardage or accuracy because of the upgrade.

[VoidOfEnigmas]

I went to the golf shop today and compared my r540 to the Razr Fit from Callway. Oh man, I was flying it 15 yards further and getting almost 8-9 more yards roll. Went from an average of 287 to 309. Gonna have to look into getting one very soon.

[lostine]

Go visit a launch monitor and get fit.  Unlike the marketing campaigns for new golf equipment, the results don't lie.

[saevel25]

I went from an old Titleist to a Ping G10, now i am playing a 910D Titliest, but that switch was near a 10 year difference. I probably gained 15-20 yards on perfect hits, but gained alot better on mishits due to the forgiveness and larger clubface. Difference between 910D and G10, better feel, more workability, and maybe 5 yards more distance..

[vo-man]

I played the same Taylormade Metalwood Driver for 25 years...bought it back in the 80's.  Sometimes I'd go through bouts of ill will with it and leave it at home, using my 3 wood off the tee until I could get the driver back on course. Then about 3 years ago there was an off brand driver laying around our office that had been used in a tv commercial shoot.  It sat in a corner of our conference room for several months before I asked about it.  The boss said 'take it home' so I did.  It's a Matsushita or something like that and much bigger than my old Taylormade but not as big as the newer 460s.  I hit the ball straighter with it but not any farther than my old Taylormade metalwood.  But I stuck with it and left the Taylormade at home.  This year I bought a new Nike VR-S 460 driver.  My drives are still straighter than with the old metal driver and I hit more fairways with it but a couple of rounds back I took the old metalwood and the Nike and hit a couple of drives with each.  Distance was almost the same.  The Nike got the edge on the old driver with about 10 yards more distance.  I'm not a long hitter to begin with but directional accuracy with the Nike is much better for me.  Bigger sweet spot.