MGAD

I ordered an 18 degree Nike Machspeed 2 hybrid from one of the online discount retailers last year when these clubs started to go on the clearance racks in the stores. I wanted something I could hit from the tee on tight fairways and/or layup shots. It fits very nicely behind my 3 wood and I was surprized by how well I can hit it from the fairway. It is my go to club anytime I need something long and straight.

I just bought a set of 3 Scratch wedges from an online discount retailer and was very happy with what I got. I was interested in Scratch based upon all of the good reviews I have read but have never seen their clubs in any of the local retailers. I know enough about what I wanted that I felt comfortable going through their online fitting system (they grind their wedges to three different specs based upon swing type) and ordering them sight unseen. I just dropped them off at the local Golf Galaxy to have them add +1 to the shaft and bend them 2 degrees upright which is where I was fitted for the rest of my set. They have a good deal at Rock Bottom Golf now on the Scratch wedges - $60 a piece for 2010 8620 milled wedges. I tested them on a couple of rounds last weekend before getting them adjusted and while I need the adjustments I can tell that I am going to be very happy with the clubs.

Medinah Country Club I caddied there for 2 years, including the 1990 US Open year. They let the caddies and other course workers play #3 once a year on Columbus day. I only qualified to play one year (minimum # of loops), started on #1 and unfortunately was rained out after #11 which means I missed out on the best part of the course. The highlight of an otherwise atrocious round was a chip in from the sand on #8 for birdie. Played the other two courses at the club a few times on Mondays but only played #1-11 on the championship course. I am looking forward to watching the Ryder cup next year as I still remember details for each hole (at least the ones they havn't changed).

Well, I picked up my driver from Golf Galaxy today with the Graffaloy Prolaunch Red shaft installed. I had them cut it to match my current shaft length (45") and had a Golf Pride multi-compound grip installed. All total between the shaft purchase, grip, and install I spent about $55. I hit a few balls on their simulator before I left and was pleased with the results. Launch angle was 15.5 to 16 degrees and the backspin was between 3200-3600. I know that these numbers are still on the high side but they are a whole lot better than the 4600-4800 spin numbers I was getting before. I took the club straight to the range and hit a few balls. I was very pleased with the trajectory and could tell a definate difference in the ball flight. The good shots were similar to what I could hit before and I was still getting plenty of distance. The big difference was on the less than perfect shots, I didn't hit any ballooning high floaters which have been killing me on the course. I still hit a few high fades, but they didn't float near as far offline as they typically do. I did miss-hit a few lower line drives, these hits are not going to have great distance but it is a much preferable miss in that it would still be in the fairway or at least findable. Overall I am cautiously optimistic. I don't think this is going to be a cure all however I am pretty confident that this shaft is a much closer fit for my swing than what I was playing before. I hope to hit the course later this week and will report back with results. On a side note as part of my research in picking this shaft out I was able to find a spreadsheet put out by Nike with recommended shaft replacements for their off the shelf drivers going back to my model year. They were recommending a Graffaloy Prolaunch Blue (high launch model) as the shaft that was closest to the stock model.

Quite the variety of responses here, I do appreciate everyone's time and input. As a 35 year old it is always good to be reminded that my swing speed is only going to be going down from here. Between the responses I got here and an overload of research other places over the last couple of days I did decide to take a chance and order a n ew Graffalloy Prolaunch Red (stiff) off of e-bay which I was able to get for $30 with shipping. I figure it isn't going to hurt to try it and i won't be spending so much that I can't go back to what I currently have if I don't like it. I am not expecting any miricles, but I didn't want to invest too much into an older driver and if this gets me through a year or two I will be happy. I also have started to experiment with a couple of minor setup changes based on what I have read here and other places. I am trying to tee the ball higher (to avoid hitting downward and promote an upward swing) and have started lifting the driver up off of the ground before I start my takeaway. I should get the shaft sometime next week and hopefully get it installed and test drove by the week after that. I will report back with the results. Thanks again for the input.

With my 17 HDCP I have in fact identified a few places to concentrate on to try and improve my game, one of which is using course management to make better decisions about when to keep the driver in the bag. Playing more rounds this summer I have started to become much more consistent with the driver (used to be very hot/cold) and can now feel what goes wrong when one gets away and make an adjustment on the next hole. The main reason I would like to lower my trajectory is that with my high ball flight even a gentle fade will seem to keep drifting and drifting before it lands and end up in trouble on what felt like a reasonably decent swing. I am realistic with myself about the amount of time I have to practice and would currently like to focus most of that time on improving my short game from 100 yrds and in. Learning to draw and improving the full swing is on the list of things that I plan to get to, but I don't want to overload myself with too many new concepts all at once. I am hitting my driver better and more consistent now than I ever have before but find myself losing a few strokes a round to this drifting fade that I feel like would stay in the field of play better if there was more forward velocity instead of upward velocity. I realize I may be looking for a magic pill here that may not be realistic and if that is the case I will continue to manage my current drive until I can work on my mechanics. I don't want to invest a lot of money in a new shaft, but if I could get something for $60-$100 that would help lower my ball flight it might help get me through the next year or two when I can get to a point with the rest of the game that I can focus on a swing change. Since my initial post I have been reading a ton on shafts and now feel like I understand the basics. From what I have read I am curious if something like a Graffaloy Prolaunch Red or UST Proforce V2 would give me just enough help to keep one or two of those out of bounds balls in the rough and one or two of the rough balls into the fairway. Again, I really appreciate the advice and I welcome additional thoughts, comments or expeiences. If I do decide to make a change I will spend some time with a fitter and do my homework before implementing the plan.

Thanks to everyone for the input. To date teeing the ball lower has been the way that I approached this issue. I tee the ball very low with the top of the ball just above the top of the head when I ground the club. This does help to reduce the trajectory somewhat but I still tend to hit it high, or loose length hitting it too low on the face. I think that there may be some merit to the comment that I am swinging too steeply. My practice time is limited but I don't want to be chasing equipment if the real issue is the swing. I have never used anything but off the shelf equipment and don't really have a good idea how much of a difference a non-stock shaft can make. Any other thoughts?

I was hoping someone could help educate me on the benefits/differences in different shafts, particularily for a driver. I have decided to re-dedicate myself to golf this year after 12 years of playing 8-10 times per year, half of which were scrambles. I have played about 20 rounds this year and have noticed some tendencies that I would like to address that I always wrote off to not playing enough in the past. I have always been a reasonably long hitter, my swing speed is about 110 and I can carry a drive about 260 if I hit it well. My concern is that I tend to have a very high ball flight that has a tendancy to balloon and does not get much roll. Many times I can find the ball mark in the fairway within a couple of feet of where the ball comes to rest. I will hit a few of them straight, but I generally get more high fades. I have particular trouble driving into wind which can result in drives of 200 yrds or less due to the high trajectory. I find myself teeing the ball much lower than most to try and combat this phenomenon, but there is a very fine line between low enough to get a good launch angle and so low that I loose a bunch of distance (220 yrds or so). I currently have a 2006 model Nike SQ driver with 9.5 degrees of loft and a stiff shaft. The shaft is the stock model that was on the driver from the store, the label reads "Diamana by Mitsubishi Rayon". I purchased the driver in Feb, 2007 and utilized a fitting session from the Golf Galaxy that I purchased the driver from to select these specs. At the time they tested me for X flex and decieded that S was a better fit. I also asked about the 8.5 degree model (I have always had a high tragectory) but was told that very few get lofts that low. I think I may have tested the lower loft, but don't recall all of the details. I do know that I did try several differnet makes/models/ and variations therein to get to the driver I bought. I recently test drove new drivers thinking that maybe I would hit the newer models better. I found that I was getting very similar results from new drivers. The salesman noted that I was getting excessive backspin on every model that I tried (approx. 4500) which he said was causing the high tragectory and fade tendancy. This led me to believe that a new driver is not necessarily going to fix the problem. I have read that one way to fix this would be to learn how to hit a draw. I am considering this route, however I have notices a lot of discussion on this and other forums about the importance and benefits of having the right shaft for your clubs/driver. I have no idea what a kickpoint is, or any of the other technical jargon that gets tossed around here but I have read enough to make me interested to learn about it. If someone would be willing to give me the basics of shaft alternatives and an opinion if re-shafting would help me I would appreciate it. Also, if someone were to be in the market for a new shaft where is the best place to find one? I assume that there would be some sort of fitting process? Who does installation? Basically I am starting from square one, any help is appreciated.