I have officially lost the ability to hit my driver

Back in November/December I was driving the ball damn well, to the point where I stepped up and expected to hit the ball 250ish in the fairway.  Fast forward to this past weekend, and good f'ing god it's a mess.  Missed every single fairway, miss has gone from a hook to a banana slice (which I thought I'd fixed 5 months ago). It's seriously ruing rounds, as I'm playing my second shot out of the trees every time.

What's changed since I was hitting it well: new driver, switch from '08 TM Burner 10.5* with 50 g stiff shaft to R11s 10.5* with 60 g stiff shaft; I take the club back on plane(ish) now, whereas when I was hitting the ball well I had a very handsy, inside takeway.

I hit my irons better than ever, and feel comfortable standing over everything down to a 4 iron on a good day, and I don't shy away from hitting a 3 iron off the tee.

Considering going back to the Burner, though I hate blaming anything on equipment.  I would like very much to fix this...again.  Any tips, suggestions, etc. would be greatly appreciated.

I feel your pain.  I cycle through hitting my driver great and hitting it so bad that I leave it at home.  I wish I knew the answer for you!

Were you fit for the driver?  Did you ever hit the R11s well?  Or did it fall apart as soon as you took the R11s out for a spin?

I was fit at golfsmith, and hit it well on the monitor (which doesn't mean crap).  At first I had a 9*, took it too the range and could barely get the ball off the ground.  I opened that up to 10* and actually hit it pretty well for a while, at least 50+% of the time.  I exchanged that for the 10.5* and basically fell apart after that.  Doesn't make sense to me that .5* MORE loft would hurt....

So its doesn't sound like you've ever hit the driver well, in which case it could be the club.  You should go to the range with both drivers and see if you lost your swing.

I would hate to take the loss on the R11 (already used my free exchange), but in the event I figure out the club isn't right for me, any recommendations on what to try?  I really only tried the R11s, the RBZ, and the Titleist 913 D1 (which I could not hit even on the simulator).

I like the suggestion to bring your current R11s and your old burner back to golfsmith.  Get on the monitor with both clubs and see what's going on.  Should tell you very quickly if you have a swing problem or a club problem.

Thinking about it, I'd feel a lot better if it was the club.  Because if it's not, I'm going to have to go back to my. . .unconventional swing with the driver, which, while it isn't textbook, at least it worked.  I just don't like have different swings for different clubs.

Nine times out of ten it's not the club :)

but it would probably help to see a video. Also, how did you fix it before?

I shared the same pain where i lost my ability to hit my driver last October  after a short holiday break.

I was playing the best golf before that .

My slice last me for 4 months until i got my swing back after watching some drills from this site.

http://free-online-golf-tips.com/fix-golf-faults/golf-slice-tips/

Hopes it helps .

I am just coming off a 2 or 3 month spell of bad driving. Was pull-draw/hooking everything. The fix? It was one that I have re-learned over and over throughout my golfing life: Slow the fock down and swing within myself. When I slow down it allows time for my body parts to get to the right positions at the right times. And, I can actually control the club face and work the ball. And (of course), I hit it farther. It seems that when I am driving it well, I start cranking it up unoticeably over time until I start mishitting it a little, which will cause some crookedness and loss of distance (the old 'the harder you hit it the shorter it goes' paradox), which leads to my trying to hit it harder, until I reach the point where I am wondering what is going on, and then I back off and start the whole silly process over again.

Ditto ...!

Try hitting the 3 wood for a few weeks off of the tee and leave the driver at home until you develop some confidence.  Then bring out the driver, and mentally tell yourself that you have a 3 wood.  Then if your driver still goes awry, you can pull out the 3 wood for a few holes.  As a beginner I never hit a wood off of the tee, because of how erratic I was. Once my confidence grew, I knew I had a "go-to" club if the driver wouldn't cooperate.

I had a Ping driver that I couldn't hit, period. Ended up selling that to a friend who hits the shit out of it. That left me without a driver and so began the search. While I was searching for a driver I used my 3w which I always hit nice and straight. I ultimately found an older Cobra S2 which I love and I hit it straight. I also went back to my instructure to tune up my swing so I think it was a conbination of the two.

The R11 is a great club and you can adjust it. I would recommend to see a good instructure and see whats going on before I sold it. Who knows you may get another driver and have the same problem.

Agreed, most times I've lost my swing is because I've either started to swing really fast. When I slowed down and brought the club up slower, I started to get better results. The longer the club the "slower" the swing in relation to your body. You want the club to lag behind the body.

The first mistake was getting a 9 degree when you were hitting a 10.5. Then you went from a 50g shaft to a 60g shaft. Who knows whether the flex of the two shafts were approximately similar. So now you have a 10.5.

You OPENED a 9 to get to 10 on the first R11S? If you opened a 9, you went to 8, and opened the face. So I take it you closed to get to 10.

Okay - see if you can go to an upright lie angle and adjust the R11S 10.5 to a higher loft with a slightly closed face, and see what happens. Let's try to get less sidespin and more backspin for a straighter flight.

If that doesn't work, the shaft might not be right for you, you're working harder, and it's effin' with your swing. See what happens when you do not try to swing so fast. The various problems have probably screwed with your tempo and transition, making for a sloppy swing.