Driver woes - SOLVED!

[RichF]

I think....

Okay, latest update on my driver quandary. I went to my local golf-club tonight and had a custom-fitting/driver session to see what's up with me and my driver-woes:

So, out comes my own TaylorMade Burner , standard 46" shaft, Fujikura Re*Ax 50, 10.5° loft, 1.5° closed-face. Had 7 or 8 drives with it - maxed-out at 238 yards, slight fade off-centre, swing-speed at 85-88mph. (these results aren't surprising cos I've actually measured out my longest drive on the course with this and it was 247 yards.)

Then I tested a Titleist 907-D2 with Aldila VS-Proto 65 shaft - stiff, 9.5° loft. (so I'm moving up from Regular to Stiff with a shaft weighing 15g more).
Results: 10 drives, maxed-out at 262 yards, most of which had either a slight draw or fade to them (that's okay cos I know this is a 'workable' driver). Max swing-speed 94mph.

Next up, Callway FT-i Tour - Fujikura 686 shaft, again stiff, 9.5° loft with the 0.5 open face (so again, this is a 15g heavier shaft with stiff flex) - this baby blew everything away: 15 drives, longest being 268yards, ALL STRAIGHT, shortest at 229 yards (pulled left off the heel). Swing-speed: 98mph?!?

What's happening here???? Two months ago I was told that my club-head speed would be best suited to Regular-flex shats and furthermore, I wasn't good enough to use the 907-D2!!
Even weirder: isn't the FT-i meant to sacrifice distance???

[sonicblue]

Any chance you just got loosened up as the test went on? Should have re-hit the Burner at the end.

[RichF]

Any chance you just got loosened up as the test went on? Should have re-hit the Burner at the end.

I've had the Burner for 2 months and the results have been pretty identical on the driving-range/course: distance and trajectory have been pretty consistent.

Still doesn't explain why I swing faster and get more distance with a stiffer/heavier shaft -that's what's confusing.

[Masa]

It's not all about weight. Sometimes a heavier shaft just feels more comfortable and works better with your individual swing. The FT-i and FT-i tour have a 45.75" shaft by the way. That's one of the things the Callaway rep mentioned when he was telling us about the driver. By expanding out the back of the club, the stability is increased, but at the expense usually some distance is lost and accuracy gained. To offset that, they extended the shaft in an effort to gain some of the lost distance back and figured that 3/4" was the optimal balance between distance gain before accuracy was sacrificed too much. As for why the swing speed went up, no idea, that's probably more of a mental thing than anything else. It could also be just that the heavier shaft and different balance just felt more comfortable and enabled your swing to proceed naturally instead of fighting itself for whatever reason the Burner has been relatively unsuccessful. I'm currently playing a 55g shaft in my driver, but after hitting some other shafts, I found that the results I got were more consistent with a heavier shaft. Whatever it is about the setup just works better for the way my swing is. I have a 75g shaft sitting around waiting to be put into the driver but I haven't had a chance to do it yet.

[SwingBlade]

First, sounds like you had a good experience on the range. That is always fun. Also, the D2 is very good driver and easy to keep in the center so I don't know who gave you the impression you weren't ready for it. The FT-i is a high MOI driver and it isn't designed to be shorter or be a compromise driver at all. It is perhaps not as workable as the FT-5 or the D2 but it is just as long or close to it and it gives better distance on off center hits than those other drivers. All are great drivers including your TM Burner.

Some pro's will only hit a new driver maybe 4 times before deciding whether to pursue it or forget it. The right combo can make a huge difference without any swing change. It sounds like you found a head and shaft combination that really works for you and that is a great event for anyone. It doesn't mean the FT-i is a better driver, just that you may have found a combo that optimizes your swing. Keep experimenting and enjoy.

By the way, with those distance variables I would hazard that making consistent center contact with the driver is a bit of a problem for you right now. We all sometimes have that particular problem, especially when trying to hit the ball farther. On some drivers, a 1/2 inch miss can result in a 40 yard drop off. Again, the FT-i is specifically designed to minimize distance loss on off center hits. It may be a great club for your current swing.

[RichF]

It's not all about weight. Sometimes a heavier shaft just feels more comfortable and works better with your individual swing. The FT-i and FT-i tour have a 45.75" shaft by the way. That's one of the things the Callaway rep mentioned when he was telling us about the driver. By expanding out the back of the club, the stability is increased, but at the expense usually some distance is lost and accuracy gained. To offset that, they extended the shaft in an effort to gain some of the lost distance back and figured that 3/4" was the optimal balance between distance gain before accuracy was sacrificed too much. As for why the swing speed went up, no idea, that's probably more of a mental thing than anything else. It could also be just that the heavier shaft and different balance just felt more comfortable and enabled your swing to proceed naturally instead of fighting itself for whatever reason the Burner has been relatively unsuccessful. I'm currently playing a 55g shaft in my driver, but after hitting some other shafts, I found that the results I got were more consistent with a heavier shaft. Whatever it is about the setup just works better for the way my swing is. I have a 75g shaft sitting around waiting to be put into the driver but I haven't had a chance to do it yet.

Thing is, I was sold on the Titleist 907-D2 with the stiff-flex shaft....my drives were straighter and around 10 yards further than the Burner.

However, when I then tested the FT-i Tour, I really wasn't expecting this to perform any better (in fact, I'd demo'd it a few weeks back and wasn't that impressed with the distance-loss, mind you, this was a standard, off-the-shelf FT-i weith regular Speeder shaft). I'm really surprised at my results with the FT-i tour, but as has been pointed out, the shaft more than anything accounts for the drastic changes.

[RichF]

First, sounds like you had a good experience on the range. That is always fun. Also, the D2 is very good driver and easy to keep in the center so I don't know who gave you the impression you weren't ready for it. The FT-i is a high MOI driver and it isn't designed to be shorter or be a compromise driver at all. It is perhaps not as workable as the FT-5 or the D2 but it is just as long or close to it and it gives better distance on off center hits than those other drivers. All are great drivers including your TM Burner.

The driving-range session after the custom-fit was good - to be honest, apart from the price, the results from the 907-D2 and FT-i Tour are also minimal....contact felt better with the Titleist and I could see with the flight-direction why people would use this to 'work' the ball.

The FT-i did was it syas on the tin: very straight....and the more I relaxed and hit through the ball, the more distance I got with this. I'm taking them both out onto the 9-hole course today for further testing.