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Bridgestone J40 Driver Review Thread

SuperStroke
TripleBogieTim said:
Much better day with the driver today. I hit a small bucket of balls with it just before the round and I found out for me at least this shaft really prefers and smooth tempo...anytime I really get after it, I start getting some big hooks..but it's probably my crappy swing more than anything.

I hit 11/13 fairways with this baby today only missing once per side...on the second hole I blocked it out to the right and was in the right rough and the after striping it on 16 and 17, I got overconvident and really went at one on the long par 4 18th and hooked it off the planet OOB.

No 290 yard bombs today....but I had one over 280 and a couple over 270...solid hits just seem to carry forever.

I am hoping to get done with work early enough tomorrow to get out and play another round.
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11/13 is stellar! I can only dream of being that accurate. I'm hoping that the UPS guy comes early on Monday so that I can get to the range at some point with it. I'm thinking of playing a round on Wednesday on a pretty long course so that I can take driver on every par 4 and par 5. On my "home course", there are at least 4 holes where less than driver is the play so it's not the best course for driver testing.
 
So most drivers that I get now a days are adjustable. First thing I do is crank it closed and I tend to hit it well. The J40 is of course not adjustable. And at least to my eye it looks quite open although the website states square. Well it has now ruined me on the closed face driver.

Time after time as I test the Covert against the J40, it is not even close. I am crushing the J40 and I can't seem to get into a groove with the Covert. I'm pull hooking it or it's just coming up shorter than the the J40. Plus it just looks weird at address. I have no clue what has happened because part of the reason I purchased the Covert was because it looked so good at address. The J40 has ruined that club for me.
 
Chunkylover77 said:
So most drivers that I get now a days are adjustable. First thing I do is crank it closed and I tend to hit it well. The J40 is of course not adjustable. And at least to my eye it looks quite open although the website states square. Well it has now ruined me on the closed face driver.

Time after time as I test the Covert against the J40, it is not even close. I am crushing the J40 and I can't seem to get into a groove with the Covert. I'm pull hooking it or it's just coming up shorter than the the J40. Plus it just looks weird at address. I have no clue what has happened because part of the reason I purchased the Covert was because it looked so good at address. The J40 has ruined that club for me.
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You are a changed man, I like it!

How big of a distance gap are you seeing now that you have gotten a few sessions in thus far?
 
mikedean441 said:
You are a changed man, I like it!

How big of a distance gap are you seeing now that you have gotten a few sessions in thus far?
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I can only go by the range really. There is a green that is at the 225 mark. With the Covert I am generally hitting that green or a little short on bad hits. With the J40 I am flying that green on good or slight bad hits. I cannot tell how far past the green the balls are landing though. I would say at the very least it's 10 yards. That does not include roll out which I feel the J40 will get quite a bit out of
 
Chunkylover77 said:
So most drivers that I get now a days are adjustable. First thing I do is crank it closed and I tend to hit it well. The J40 is of course not adjustable. And at least to my eye it looks quite open although the website states square. Well it has now ruined me on the closed face driver.

Time after time as I test the Covert against the J40, it is not even close. I am crushing the J40 and I can't seem to get into a groove with the Covert. I'm pull hooking it or it's just coming up shorter than the the J40. Plus it just looks weird at address. I have no clue what has happened because part of the reason I purchased the Covert was because it looked so good at address. The J40 has ruined that club for me.
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That's awesome dude, I am so excited to get mine in my hands!
 
TripleBogieTim said:
Much better day with the driver today. I hit a small bucket of balls with it just before the round and I found out for me at least this shaft really prefers and smooth tempo...anytime I really get after it, I start getting some big hooks..but it's probably my crappy swing more than anything.

I hit 11/13 fairways with this baby today only missing once per side...on the second hole I blocked it out to the right and was in the right rough and the after striping it on 16 and 17, I got overconvident and really went at one on the long par 4 18th and hooked it off the planet OOB.

No 290 yard bombs today....but I had one over 280 and a couple over 270...solid hits just seem to carry forever.

I am hoping to get done with work early enough tomorrow to get out and play another round.
Click to expand...

11/13 FIR, I could live with that. Nice work.
 
Chunkylover77 said:
So most drivers that I get now a days are adjustable. First thing I do is crank it closed and I tend to hit it well. The J40 is of course not adjustable. And at least to my eye it looks quite open although the website states square. Well it has now ruined me on the closed face driver.

Time after time as I test the Covert against the J40, it is not even close. I am crushing the J40 and I can't seem to get into a groove with the Covert. I'm pull hooking it or it's just coming up shorter than the the J40. Plus it just looks weird at address. I have no clue what has happened because part of the reason I purchased the Covert was because it looked so good at address. The J40 has ruined that club for me.
Click to expand...

I had the exact same thing happen to me. I had the Covert and the J40 on the range and while I hit both well, the J40 clearly fit me better as I was 15 or so yards past the new Nike almost every single time.
 
Chunkylover77 said:
I can only go by the range really. There is a green that is at the 225 mark. With the Covert I am generally hitting that green or a little short on bad hits. With the J40 I am flying that green on good or slight bad hits. I cannot tell how far past the green the balls are landing though. I would say at the very least it's 10 yards. That does not include roll out which I feel the J40 will get quite a bit out of
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Lasers ftw! As Ive been driving the ball well as of late, its gotten me more and more excited to get this thing in hand. Especially enjoy following your success stories along as we have the same setup...well done man!
 
I think the biggest thing this driver does is it really minimizes penalties on
Mis-hits. You're going to lose a bit if distance, but your not going to be penalized left or right as much as some other drivers. That gives you a lot of confidence when you're stepping up to the dish.
 
JB said:
I had the exact same thing happen to me. I had the Covert and the J40 on the range and while I hit both well, the J40 clearly fit me better as I was 15 or so yards past the new Nike almost every single time.
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It's so strange to me. I was hitting the Nike pretty well. Plus I just can't get over how the Nike looks now. It just looks strange to me. Going to work on changing lofts and maybe setting it square just to see if I can dial it in to at least compete with the J40
 
Chunkylover77 said:
It's so strange to me. I was hitting the Nike pretty well. Plus I just can't get over how the Nike looks now. It just looks strange to me. Going to work on changing lofts and maybe setting it square just to see if I can dial it in to at least compete with the J40
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I like Covert. I think in the right hands its a solid piece of equipment. Those hands are not mine however. Im in the minority in which I dont mind the looks, however I know what you mean, side by side with the J40, it looks out of place.
 
mikedean441 said:
Lasers ftw! As Ive been driving the ball well as of late, its gotten me more and more excited to get this thing in hand. Especially enjoy following your success stories along as we have the same setup...well done man!
Click to expand...

Freaking lasers! I think you are going to love the combo. It really feels like you can unleash on the ball and that shaft is going to stay right with you. If you have a higher flight, this should bring it down a touch. I am seeing very minimal side to side movement. It's pretty darn straight
 
Chunkylover77 said:
Freaking lasers! I think you are going to love the combo. It really feels like you can unleash on the ball and that shaft is going to stay right with you. If you have a higher flight, this should bring it down a touch. I am seeing very minimal side to side movement. It's pretty darn straight
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I'll take minimal side movement all day long...and the thought of getting some roll out will be amazing
 
Chunk, that's some good stuff right there man! Love hearing that this driver is forgiving too.

Anyone put this up against the classic?
 
Just logged onto the UPS site and saw this regarding the delivery of my driver today: "Emergency conditions beyond UPS' control."

Then I remembered where the UPS facility is: Watertown, MA. I guess things aren't back to normal over there just yet. Hopefully my driver comes in soon.
 
arydolphin said:
Just logged onto the UPS site and saw this regarding the delivery of my driver today: "Emergency conditions beyond UPS' control."

Then I remembered where the UPS facility is: Watertown, MA. I guess things aren't back to normal over there just yet. Hopefully my driver comes in soon.
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Ugh, so close yet so far! Hopefully it gets here today so you can get it out on the range
 
Chunky saying it's one of his best drivers........TBT hitting fairways; nice start!!! Like the driver set-up Thain.
 
Thats amazing that JB and Chunky both saw considerably more distance with the J40 over the Covert because I have heard so many great things about the Covert. Makes me excited to finally get my hands on mine!
 
Anyone know how or if the weight can be removed from the head? If so how did you do it? I really don't want to re shaft the driver if I can just pull the weight out and get the piece of epoxy out that way.
 
So after stressing for most of the weekend about this club, I got out to the range today for a little while and hit about 50 or so balls with the new J40. Through some changes in my grip and slowing my swing a little, I have gone from a huge banana slice to a slight fad that I can deal with (for now). I am not seeing 280+ yard drives like others have but that has never been something I have been capable of ( unless we are talking internet distances ). I am going to work hard to get to a point where I am comfortable with this club again and hope that does not take too long.
 
White Rhino said:
So after stressing for most of the weekend about this club, I got out to the range today for a little while and hit about 50 or so balls with the new J40. Through some changes in my grip and slowing my swing a little, I have gone from a huge banana slice to a slight fad that I can deal with (for now). I am not seeing 280+ yard drives like others have but that has never been something I have been capable of ( unless we are talking internet distances ). I am going to work hard to get to a point where I am comfortable with this club again and hope that does not take too long.
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Good plan WR. This driver is solid. I really think right now it's a little bit mental. I think by the time the MC comes, you will be smoking this
 
White Rhino said:
So after stressing for most of the weekend about this club, I got out to the range today for a little while and hit about 50 or so balls with the new J40. Through some changes in my grip and slowing my swing a little, I have gone from a huge banana slice to a slight fad that I can deal with (for now). I am not seeing 280+ yard drives like others have but that has never been something I have been capable of ( unless we are talking internet distances ). I am going to work hard to get to a point where I am comfortable with this club again and hope that does not take too long.
Click to expand...

There is definitely an adjustment period. But once you get dialed in with this thing and get an idea of how it feels, it's game over. GAME OVER MAN!!

[video=youtube;DhS-i-c1XxI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhS-i-c1XxI[/video]
 
So I had a big long post about this then my iPad died. The worst.

Anywho, I played this driver yesterday in attornment(a tournament, Thanks Siri!), along with my Callaway fit, and came away rather pleased. I do fear that I ordered it touch long though, and I am wondering if I should trim it a little, or just get used to it. There were a few drives yesterday that I crushed with the Callaway driver, and It left me wondering why it wasn't farther. I am in the camp that think shorter drivers are far too overrated and I think I am going to run with the 46 inch set up. I am happy that I ordered it this way because if I had have ordered it at 45 or less, I would have been disappointed that I didn't give myself the opportunity of hitting a longer driver.

On the drives that I did hit they were rather straight and fairly long, but I teed them low in effort to keep away from pop-ups. I knew the driver was longer than what I was used to and I wasn't going to gamble just yet. Yesterday I had some low to mid liners with some good roll out.


One thing I have noticed though, and I don't know if it is the shaft or the length or just the driver, is that this set up has slowed my transition fairly substantially. But my speed through the downswing and into the impact zone/hitting area has increased substantially. This has allowed me to focus my speed on the golf ball and maximize the results of the set up. I am looking forward to getting some range time, with a pop up protector on this bad boy, and getting used to the setup. I am going to bring it out on the course Monday which will be my next round.
 
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