JimMurphy99

I'd go demo a few drivers first to see what impact the different ones have on your particular game. We are all different and what works for one person may not work for another. Then based on that you can always go to a store and have it fitted to your particular swing. Might be worth having a look at the various rental and demo sites that are out there.

you could always look at demo'ing some clubs first even before buying. GolfRedefined.com have a lower membership tier that you can subscribe to even for say 3 months and get to try a whole bunch of drivers - only a season out so instead of the TM R1 for example for $69 for 3 months you could try say the TM R11... might be worth looking at...

To be honest I think we are all slaves to the shiny! Probably just as well - otherwise we wouldn't buy anything!

try one out first before you purchase one... great service that allows you to demo whatever driver you want - they ship it to you and you can keep it for as long as you like i signed up a few months ago - have tried the Ping anser (9.5, stiff) and the r11s (r11s, 10.5) will try the TMr1 when it is available

tend to agree that the newest are not always the best. that being said the technology is improving things a lot so playing with even 3 or 4 year old clubs mean you are probably not getting out of your game what you might get from a newer set...I've finally upgraded to the r11s - well on demo from golfredefined dot com but it has made a huge difference to my drives. had it tweaked by my local golf pro, even though it is a demo. I'm longer than my old R9 by about 20 yards and my tendency to slice it "drastically" reduced.

pretty cool stuff...

i've just got a r11s from golfredefined but I know they have the cobra amp as well...you can choose from 2 lofts and 2 shafts...and just take it for a demo. pretty cool service that allows you to try out different drivers...

Personally I have just received a TM R11s (9.0, stiff) from GolfRedefined.com . Great service and I get to demo clubs when I want them. I've had the R9 up to recently, not trying the 11s and it certainly has "meat". I'm also hearing good things about the Titleist 913 D2 which I am going to try shortly.

As homer simpson would say Duh! To be honest I think using apps like swingplane and so forth where you can video your swing and then submit it to a pro for review are always of benefit. Feedback is essential and particularly when trying to figure out what it is you are doing wrong!

Honestly I would look at an investment in a GoPro Hero... They have by far the best movie cameras for sports out there. Check out their home page at http://gopro.com/products/?gclid=CMWBg4mC8rMCFcuZ4Aod5HIA0w Good luck - will make a great Xmas present for yourself!

Quite the funny tweet from Bubba Watson about this:

The website you refer to doesn't even exists anymore it seems...

Would love to know which golf store that is...and where...thanks

Hahaha... well you know what they say - garbage in - garbage out....

And therein is the problem I think with these playability and mulligan guarantees- it is for a store credit and you only ever get back a percentage of the price that you have already paid out...

Great to see the lengths that some have gone to get a somewhat definitive answer! I still think it makes a difference but maybe not as much as I had expected previously...

Thanks for the info. and appreciate it. Still with the same driver but I am looking at upgrading once the new models come out. Will do my research then!

Thanks for that information. I have contacted them already!

I am looking for recommendations for the best swing analyzer website where you can upload videos to the site and have them analyzed by a professional. I did a general google search but there are so many small outfits that it is impossible to tell which ones are more popular etc. Would really love to hear some testimonials and recommendations. Thanks

Bottom line - min $1 per drink and feel free to hand over more... not a time to be cheap...

Certainly not - a 365 golfer...but I do have to travel...gets too cold here in NY :)

I would have to agree - think tape on a club face would make a massive difference. I would even go so far as to say you wouldn't be even able to accurately compare drivers... Think about how much engineering goes into CG, sweet spot etc. Tape, even at 1000th of an inch thick would have a significant impact....and it is a compressible material so you would definitely lose something at the point of contact

So what was your decision in the end given that we are coming into the season when the new 2013 drivers will be announced. Curious to know whether you will take the same approach in 2013...

I think most of the time they will give you a credit but you won't always get 100% credit if you have demo'd a club. This is still one of my biggest challenges - how to really demo a club properly...