Anyone had it with 460cc drivers?

[Ed Rooney]

A few years ago I had a Ping G15 driver finally kick my 975j out of my bag. Since then I've been steadily losing distance on my drives and all of my other clubs. I use to be fairly long with the driver. Maybe not "Internet" long, but I was swinging about 107 and getting 250-260 on average and some bombs out to 275+. I attributed my distance loss to being 44 years old and lack of flexibility. I've also had some back trouble. My distance loss came to a head when I joined up with a 68 year old man on the course one day and he was 25 yards longer than me. On my home course, I can no longer reach spots with my driver from the white tees that I used to hit with my 4-wood from the blues. The odd thing is that I can still register 105-110 on the speed stik at the local golf shoppe. So I got into the gym last summer. My company is a dot com and has probably the best corporate gym you've ever seen. My back is great, my core is stronger, and I'm still hitting the ball like a grandpa. I have enough game to still make it work and shoot in the low to mid 80's from 6100 yards or so. I have a history if being intolerant to club changes. I learned to swing with old blades and laminated wood heads. When I picked up golf again at age 32, I didn't make any progress or improvement until I dumped the oversize stuff and starting playing MP-33's and a 975D (that's a story for another post). Any time I try to change to GI irons, I have a good round or two then my entire game goes to garbage. I switch back and get my game going again. I always knew this was a problem with irons, but I never imagined it would be with the driver. Last week I went out and played my G-15 and R1 for 9 holes each, shot 88, but really tried to feel what I was doing with the club head. I came to the conclusion that I was somehow adjusting my swing to the big shoe box on the end of the shaft. Today I went to the range with my old 975J, a pristine 975D that I found for a few bucks in a used bin, and my old blade 6-iron. I warmed up with the 6-iron, them spent some time with the D. I felt more connected to the club, and was hitting it about 20 yards longer than my average shot now. I'm going to play the D for a month or so and see how it goes, as well as have an instructor look at my swing. Anyone else experience problems moving to forgiving, oversized clubs?

[Golfingdad]

No but I do have the opposite problem now. :). I had a 975D from 1998 until about 15 months ago and loved it. Finally succumbed to the new technology and I realllly love that! Have taken the D out to the range a few times since and couldn't hit it worth doo doo. Maybe ill try again soon since now you got me curious. :)

[Ed Rooney]

I think small heads just make me focus. A good player will just say "focus like that on every shot", but it just doesn't happen.

[smoothswing]

I hit the 910d3 that has a smaller head than all other shoe boxes out there. Completely agree with you on he heads being too big. I never know where on that huge head i'm supposed to hit!

The d3 has done much better for me than any other 460 cc head driver.

[clearwaterms]

Do you find that you need a closed head? Maybe look at tour preferred heads. Also the original Taylor made R9 (not the 460) was smaller around 400cc if memory serves. I believe that a lot of tour pros use 400cc heads as it gives them a little bit better workability on the club. Another thing to remember is that today's drivers have gotten longer and longer in an attempt to give people the occasional tour distance drive when they manage to hit the center of the do up face. The reality is that most golfers would probably do better with shorter drivers, so maybe consider finding a club that is a few years old and having it shortened to 44.5 inches, you might find that it's the best of both worlds.

[antnee94]

A fitter told me optimal distance for driver heads are 400-440 cc's.

Which is why the tour players use smaller heads...and to work the ball.

I can draw the ball consistently with the D3, not the D2. But then I spray the ball and lose control with that D3. In fact I hit more of a fade with the D2. The funny thing is it's the same swing. But, I also hit the center more often with the D2 thus maximizing my yards that way (and with the fade). I just brought home my 913 D2 and this year am determined to just play the fade. Line up open, and let it rip down the left and come back. Last year I obsessed over a draw that I all of a sudden I forgot how to hit with my 910 D2.

I was hitting the D3 in every simulator and mentioned it to my fitter who thankfully talked me out of it. Those big heads are very hard to work the ball. In my opinion.

[David in FL]

Originally Posted by antnee94

A fitter told me optimal distance for driver heads are 400-440 cc's.

Which is why the tour players use smaller heads...and to work the ball.

I can draw the ball consistently with the D3, not the D2. But then I spray the ball and lose control with that D3. In fact I hit more of a fade with the D2. The funny thing is it's the same swing. But, I also hit the center more often with the D2 thus maximizing my yards that way (and with the fade). I just brought home my 913 D2 and this year am determined to just play the fade. Line up open, and let it rip down the left and come back. Last year I obsessed over a draw that I all of a sudden I forgot how to hit with my 910 D2.

I was hitting the D3 in every simulator and mentioned it to my fitter who thankfully talked me out of it. Those big heads are very hard to work the ball. In my opinion.

Most amateurs don't need to worry about working the ball.  They need the biggest sweet spot possible to help them get close to it at least once in awhile!

[Kieran123]

Originally Posted by smoothswing

I hit the 910d3 that has a smaller head than all other shoe boxes out there. Completely agree with you on he heads being too big. I never know where on that huge head i'm supposed to hit!

The d3 has done much better for me than any other 460 cc head driver.

The center - which is probably the reason the OP is lacking distance

[ApocG10]

No way I could give up my 460cc drivers. They perform so much better than the older stuff. I don't think the driver is what is causing the problems though.

[Dave H]

I love my R11S. No way I'd trade for a smaller driver.

[patriot07]

Nope.  I had a lot of the 280-360cc clubs in high school when I was in great shape and hitting the ball a ton (or so I thought).  Played a ton of golf at a certain course and hadn't played it since high school til last year.  I still feel like I hit the ball pretty well, but not nearly as "hard" as I hit it in high school.  Anyway, I took my superfast 2.0 TP out there last year to play it again and I was easily 40-50 yards past where I was used to playing from.  These new drivers blow the old ones out of the water.  My dad, who I was playing with, had the exact same experience.  And he is 67 now and has definitely lost some distance from 3-4 years ago but was easily past where he was with those older, smaller drivers.

[NuclearMike]

Definitely not tired of the 454cc head on my Nickent Evolver.  It's the most dependable club in my bag.

[dak4n6]

IMO, woods and in particular the driver is where technological advances are actually real and valid. Not so much for irons (speed slot, seriously?)

[Rick Vaughn]

I play a tight tree-lined 6400 yard par 71 course that I joined last July.  Spraying my driver has cost me a bunch of strokes since missing the fairway generally means punching out with no shot at the green.  Had the best back side since I joined (+2 37 at an 11 index) last week hitting my R11 3 wood with an 83 gram Blueboard off every tee after a terrible front 9 driving the ball, which kept me in play.  I can feel the head during the swing with my 3 wood and feel like I can square it up since it's not a "balloon on a stick".  Since then I purchased a used R9 420 cc head with whiteboard at 44.5", and after a few range sessions and adding some weight to the head (about 10 grams from stock setup), I'm really excited about taking it out.  I am 5'10" and do not need a 46" driver by any means, and the newer heads seem lighter in addition to longer because of these crazy long shafts.  I have a fast transition and can get quick, and for me, a smaller heavier head just feels a lot better, if I play a stock setup.  I feel more confident swinging a shorter heavier headed driver, personally.  Big fan of the ability to add weight to the R9 head, by the way.... a lot of the newer offerings are designed to play at 45.5-46", and if you want to play a shorter shaft, the swingweight gets all jacked up.

[GaijinGolfer]

Its probably more the shorter shaft than it is the clubhead size.  Older, shorter shafted drivers are certainly easier to hit.