ShotShySheriff

I had a Callaway XR and a TaylorMade R15 last year and sold both. Ive tried all this years new ones and for me they are no better than last year. Ping G25 was better than all these by the way. I was looking around the net last year for peoples suggestions of longest and most accurate drivers EVER and quite a few came back to the same driver, Callaway FTiz. I purchased a FTiz Imix Tour in 9.5 degrees last year with three shafts, all three were 43" and there was a reg, stiff and x stiff. Im generally classed as Reg flex but the stiff flex was just spot on. I sold the other two flexes on as didnt get on with. I absolutely loved the driver, hence why I sold the XR and R15, and I am still using the driver to this day, although it blew up last week and bottom cracked so am currently awaiting a shipment from USA of a replacement head as wanted exact same one. I found it really high launching with low spin, so was absolutely perfect for distance. Just looking back at last time I used on GC2 my average launch was 18.2 degrees with avg spin of 1747. 1.45 smash factor with a 101.2 swing speed and 146.8 ball speed. I changed the grip to a Lamkin jumbo oversize and it just lets me rip it, giving me better swing speed than had with longer shaft drivers. It is a very straight driver for me and im carrying 265 with 291 avg total. If peak height etc means anything to you then peak was 39 and descent 40. I absolutely love it, but as the version I have is hard to obtain so it still cost be £90 for a replacement 2nd hand head. Hopefully it lasts. Id urge anyone to try one of these if they can get one cheap. Forget these new drivers, no better for me personally. All too long as I lose distance from lack of control. The Cobra King F6+, Ping G LS Tec are probably the two longest of new ones, closely followed by XR 16 and M1. For a cheaper price though, the Cobra FLY Z will surprise you for distance. Its long, and not the newest model. If you want low spin and dont struggle with launch, then Cobra King LTD Pro is pretty low spinning from tests.

Yep, I question them also. I used http://www.leaderboard.com/SWINGWT.HTM as I dont have swing weight scales. Interested to see how the site compares with the scales if someone who has one could try. I went with MOI matching in the end anyway and used Tom Wishon spreadsheet that I asked him to send to me.

Yep, correct.

The 5 Wood by the way is buggered :) If I threw my hands as fast as I could I just about manager to get a straight shot, but went no further than the 3 iron. Producing the stable release swing I could not keep it from flying way right as obviously cut down way too much. The 8 iron, well, for some reason there just seems a complete lack of comparison compared to other clubs, both before and after adjustment. Actually, perhaps it that I just hit the 9 iron better and further. I think ill cut the 9 iron down a further quarter inch also so that it increases the lie and brings back to center a bit more as I was leaving that marginally right on most of the shots and does now not match how most of the other clubs are acting, i.e slight draw. What I have noticed is that the 3-6 irons are now slightly more inconsistent front to back in carry, which is not a good thing. They have gone from averaging around 7 yards front to back to 11, so a 50% increase. Something I need to see if I can get use to by improve my consistency of strike.

Its the average of left to right, same as any trackman, flightscope summary etc. A + number means to the right of target and a - number equals to the left of target. It was done with gc2 and foresight sports indoor sim. It has definitely tightened up compared to off the shelf. That was the point of my test, as 6 iron to 3 iron were always too long for me and I lacked control. Taking the furthest left and furthest right the figures before and after are this much tighter after : - 3 Iron - 23 yards tighter 4 Iron - 15 yards tighter 5 Iron - 18 yards tighter 6 Iron - 19 yards tighter 7 Iron - 6 Yards tighter 8 Iron - 5 Yards tighter 9 Iron - 4 Yards tighter PW - 2 Yards tighter SW - 4 Yards tighter Not sure what difference my handicap makes as Ive always been someone who hits GIR or chips from the edge, I am just a rubbish putter, who very rarely ever 1 putts. I also play on quite a short course, which helps, as generally, apart from maybe 2 non par 3 holes, Im never any further than 7 iron for GIR shot. I have only hit these change today indoors. I have not hit on course yet, and wont for a while as I cant carry due to bad back and we have trolley bans everywhere because of the bad weather.

Here are the GC2 stats of before "off the shelf" standard and "adjusted myself".

Ah, apologies, didnt read correctly.

Made some further changes and calculations after using the MOI spreadsheet supplied by Tom Wishon. These sets are hybrid sets, 3-6 are hybrid and 7-SW are different. The two I hit the best were the 5 iron from the hybrids and the 9 irons from the non hybrid, so I have matched MOI for hybrids to the 5 iron and MOI matched the others to the 9 iron. My final spec, still not tried yet is now I have cut the shafts down to lengths as follows 3 iron 38.75 4 Iron 38.25 5 Iron 37.75 6 Iron 37.25 7 Iron 36.75 8 Iron 36.25 9 iron 35.5 PW 35.5 SW 35.25 MOI Matched 5 Wood 4,690 3 Iron 4,687 4 Iron 4,656 5 Iron 4,665 6 Iron 4,654 7 Iron 5,048 8 Iron 5,043 9 Iron 5,048 PW 5,049 SW 5,044 MOI matched to 99.31% for Wood an Hybrids MOI matched to 99.89% for NON Wood an Hybrids

You can figure out your path and face angle yourself for ball flight laws without one of these. Its quite simple, so save your money.

Decided to go with MOI for swing weights instead of same swing weights for all. My 9 iron was the bench mark as this was the club I got most out of from changing from roll release to stable release. No distance loss at all, but every other club did, so used this to calculate MOI from for all club so that hopefully feel the same swing for all irons now. 9 iron swing weight was C 3.5 after changes, although I am not 100% that has calculated correctly, but it does not really matter as it has all been done as a ratio. I used http://www.leaderboard.com/SWINGWEIGHT My final swing ratings then are 5 Wood B 9.5 3 iron C 0.5 4 Iron C 1.5 5 Iron C 2.5 6 Iron C 3 7 Iron C 3.5 8 Iron C 4 9 iron C 5 PW C 5 SW C 5.5 I have not swung these yet, but will do some GC2 data in the next couple of days if I can and then compare to see how drastically these have been affected.

I buy and sell quite a few used 2nd sets, drivers, putters etc so I'll put this from the selling perspective to maximise price and perhaps the opposite would be true when looking to purchase for as cheap as possible. 1 - Good quality photos 2 - Demand 3 - Accurate Description 4 - Flex 5 - Season So if you are buying, the bargains will be for clubs poorly described, not cleaned (see beneath the dirt), not a regular flex (most demand) and not a set in high demand (perhaps new model out and not a classic) and buy them out of season. Prices will go up in the summer, clean, well described, regular flex and are a club that are still popular and in demand.

You might be right, however, the SW, which i am not amending further, is already at C6 and is my most accurate club, even over other gap and lob wedges I have. Generally, wedges are 1 SW more than other clubs in set anyway, so be interesting to see what C5 comes out like. C5 is pretty much around a ladies spec anyway isnt it. With regards weight, i have some little ones which are 1 SW each, and they are thicker than standard tape. I will play around with the MOI with the weight also on different locations of the iron head. These clubs already have the sole speed slot in them so that should also help to a degree with forgiveness, as should be shorter in general. Im not fussed that will feel stiffer either to be honest, as have played stiff in different other clubs, and do so in my driver.

I have also trimmed down an Adams Tight Lies 2 5 wood from 42" D 5 to a 39.25", which Ill also swing weight to C5, currently B 8.5 after all changes. I know by doing this ill have a big gap at the top of the bag as my 5 Wood is around 210 prior to change, so probably 195 after. My driver is 265 carry, so massive gap between. I should condense my gapping lower end though as I also have a gap and lob wedge and I dont think the gap will be needed, so can replace with a 3 wood. All very interesting playing around, and I look forward to the results and tinkering whilst I cant get on course.

If you are looking to hit 50 yrds with a 3/4 swing you are going to have to go super low. Assuming you are launching your 54 at around 35 ish degrees and with 8000 spin then your ball speed is around 85mph. Id hazard a guess that your ball speed for 64 degree would be around 75mph. Stick that with say 9000 spin and a launch angle of around 39 degree then your full carry would be around 85 yrds with a full swing. A 3/4 swing would still be too much for a 64 degree. 73 degree by the way, lets say launch angle around 41, spin around 9500, ball speed around 58mph, full carry would be 73 yards, so 3/4 wouldnt massively be off 50 ish yards, but still over. But you should be able to work it out based on knowing your 3/4 carry of the clubs you currently have. That or go and test some in a shop. :)

Yep, similar. I've done plenty of looking into and as I am a software tester by trade I am quite analytical so therefore like seeing GC2, Trackman numbers etc. I have a bad back which means I cant carry so as we have now had months of trolley bans I am more of a summer golfer, but not through choice. I am not one of those people who go for lessons, have done in the past, I just want to enjoy my golf in the limited time I get to play it. So, for me, it is about getting the club to do what suits me and my bad back, especially the off days, and not about getting me to suit the club. The way I started off with this I first wanted to stop being erratic on my bad days, and that erratic-ness was to roll my hands too much to compensate for not being able to rotate correctly. What this led to was shots left and shots right, so the first thing I did to these clubs was go to a jumbo grip size to stop me going left. It prevents me from rotating my hands and now I have pretty much eliminated the left hand side of the fairway. I am now always right of target. With this in mind I now want to minimize the right of the target to home in further. The lengths of these Adams as standard were 3 iron 40.75 4 Iron 39.75 5 Iron 39 6 Iron 38.25 7 Iron 37.5 8 Iron 36.75 9 iron 36 PW 35.75 SW 35.25 After doing some GC2 work etc my figures in yards for being right of the target and my carry were as per below 3 iron 201 4 Iron 195 5 Iron 182 6 Iron 181 7 Iron 160 8 Iron 133 9 iron 129 PW 114 SW 84 Now the first thing I decided to do before amending the clubs was to change my release. Ive changed from a roll release to a stable release as suits the grip, and my back better. By doing this Ive lost ball speed, but I really dont carry about that. I am not concerned by distance, I am concerned by accuracy. As a result, ive now lost a club length, but my dispersion has tightened up, well except longer irons, but that is the back and not being able to control. My carry and dispersion is now as follows 3 iron 189 16 4 Iron 180 12 5 Iron 167 10 6 Iron 158 8 7 Iron 143 6 8 Iron 135 4 9 iron 129 4 PW 106 2 SW 83 1 I should also point out that the clubs originally were swing weight D 0.5 to D 1.5, but the 25g extra from grips took them to C6 to C 7.5 ish. My swing path is pretty much near neutral or slightly into out so making the butt heavier has helped the club head catch up a bit and I guess become a little more closed. I already play with a driver at C5 so I like having less weight in the head. Assuming that 0.5 " of shaft equates to +1 degree and 1 degree equates to 4 yards I decided to make some changes. I cant amend the lie angle as cast and pretty much wont move much in this set. By making the shafts shorter I should in theory increase the lie angle and probably go a little more into out to produce a draw and maybe a little more distance. I have cut the shafts down to lengths as follows 3 iron 38.75 4 Iron 38.25 5 Iron 37.75 6 Iron 37.25 7 Iron 36.75 8 Iron 36.25 9 iron 35.5 PW 35.5 SW 35.25 This should, in theory, in very basic terms bring my dispersion a lot tighter back to centre, and hopefully be marginally right, or very marginally left. Of course golf isnt that simple and club building is a lot more complicated than this which is exactly why I want to do this as an experiment to see what happens. Cutting down the shafts though has amended my swing weights and will roughly be as per below. 3 iron C 0.5 4 Iron C 1.25 5 Iron C 1.25 6 Iron C 3.5 7 Iron C 3.5 8 Iron C 5 9 iron C 4.25 PW C 5.85 This is just done on calculations at present but ill double check properly once I put the new grips on when they arrive. I want to roughly put these at about C 5 so I will do some GC2 work as they are above to see where they are, and then use lead weighted tape strips to bring to around C5. See weather I need them on toe, heel etc etc Looking forward to see how badly these have buggered up, or perhaps created a miracle :) Still awaiting grips at the moment so at the moment my progress is that they are all cut down and ready to go. I dont mind if I bugger them up, but you never know, this might turn out useful for someone as all I could really find on the web was about people cutting down there driver, so this may answer some questions. I know what a club fitter would say, but I am one of those people you likes to have tested both ends of the spectrum to see what happens, not get fitted based on a 7 iron.

What is your swing speed, ball speed and carry with your current wedges when hit full ?

Has anyone ever fitted their entire set of irons themselves ? By that, i mean tested every club, adjusted their own lie angles, lofts for gapping, desired spin, shaft lengths, swing weights etc etc This is a topic that interests me and there is very little informative information out there about it that is recent. So decided to give it a go as an EXPERIMENT to find out results. Purchased a new set of of the shelf Adams Idea 2014 irons for the experiment and I'm in the process of cutting them down etc etc. The reason why I chose these irons is I have hit before, quite liked, and they are not adjustable for lie or loft really as cast (might move a little) so I really wanted to see the affect of manipulating lie from amending shaft lengths etc. I like to know what my clubs are doing and why, so this is a learning experiment to understand just how I can change my own shots / game etc Anyone had a go at this to see what happens as a DIY project ? Don't worry, I have another set of TaylorMade Rsi 1, so I dont care if I bugger these up. If I do bugger them up then ill probably learn more from it. :)

Add an extra 1/2" in length to the shaft and I bet that might counter the 1 deg closed. Or add a bit of lead tape to the toe so that the toe closes slower than the heel.