syndicate559
Sweet Trajectory
Well, I made it into Dick's today to try some different drivers and see what works for me. Had the launch monitor to myself for over an hour and hit a LOT of balls. The results, were very interesting and not what I expected.
I warmed up with my 9.5-degree Burner 2.0, which I can't seem to get to launch very well anymore. As I thought, my best drives were around 240-ish with it and I was pull/hooking it. Backspin was high too, which I think was one of my biggest issues with not getting any distance out that club.
Started off with the Amp Cell at 9.5 degrees. Honestly, the results weren't great, which was disappointing, because that's the club I wanted to like the most. I was hitting it around 250-255 yards but working it more right to left than I wanted. I'd got back to it later and hit it at 10.5 degrees. Still not the best of the bunch for me. More loft got me more backspin. But the biggest issue was that it just didn't set up right for my eye. Felt a little weird at address and the mis-hits didn't feel very good.
Hit an X-Hot 9.5 as well. Also hit a 10.5. The club felt good to me, nice and light and I liked the look at address. Liked the sound of it too. I hit some good ones, for sure, got some out there over 260, backspin wasn't too bad, launch angle was decent. The only thing I was kind of hesitant about was that my misses were more erratic with this model.
The third one I hit was the R1. Although I have a lot of TM product in my bag, this was the club I was least hoping to enjoy. I don't know why, but it just seems a little cliche to me to just run out and buy the newest, coolest TM driver. Started at 9.5 with square face and was overdrawing it a little bit. Went to 10 degrees and 1 degree open and saw improvement. Went to 10 degrees and 2 degrees open and wham! I started smoking it (for me). Even though I was getting tired (I'd already hit well over 100 balls in a very short time span), I was launching it nicely and the backspin was much lower than any of the other clubs. My pattern stayed within about 10 yards of the center line on all of the shots. Carry distance was getting up around 235-240, which is really good for me and was still drawing most of my shots.
I wanted to try a Stage 2 after the R1, just to see if I really needed to spend the extra $100. I liked the feel of it, because it's lighter than the R1. But I got right back to the issue of too much back spin with it and my misses were all over the place. Hit the R1 again and right back in the groove.
So, needless to say, I walked out of there $400 lighter, but I'm looking forward to hitting the course with this bad boy tomorrow and seeing what I can do with it outdoors. The ability to adjust face angle was basically what made this club work for me. Crazy, because 6 months ago, I was slicing my driver so bad and now, after working with a great teacher, I'm drawing the ball and actually had to OPEN the face. I'd have called anyone who predicted that crazy not very long ago. The other thing I like about my purchase is that, say something changes with me or I just start hitting the club poorly, there's a lot I can do to make it better. Gotta love technology!
I warmed up with my 9.5-degree Burner 2.0, which I can't seem to get to launch very well anymore. As I thought, my best drives were around 240-ish with it and I was pull/hooking it. Backspin was high too, which I think was one of my biggest issues with not getting any distance out that club.
Started off with the Amp Cell at 9.5 degrees. Honestly, the results weren't great, which was disappointing, because that's the club I wanted to like the most. I was hitting it around 250-255 yards but working it more right to left than I wanted. I'd got back to it later and hit it at 10.5 degrees. Still not the best of the bunch for me. More loft got me more backspin. But the biggest issue was that it just didn't set up right for my eye. Felt a little weird at address and the mis-hits didn't feel very good.
Hit an X-Hot 9.5 as well. Also hit a 10.5. The club felt good to me, nice and light and I liked the look at address. Liked the sound of it too. I hit some good ones, for sure, got some out there over 260, backspin wasn't too bad, launch angle was decent. The only thing I was kind of hesitant about was that my misses were more erratic with this model.
The third one I hit was the R1. Although I have a lot of TM product in my bag, this was the club I was least hoping to enjoy. I don't know why, but it just seems a little cliche to me to just run out and buy the newest, coolest TM driver. Started at 9.5 with square face and was overdrawing it a little bit. Went to 10 degrees and 1 degree open and saw improvement. Went to 10 degrees and 2 degrees open and wham! I started smoking it (for me). Even though I was getting tired (I'd already hit well over 100 balls in a very short time span), I was launching it nicely and the backspin was much lower than any of the other clubs. My pattern stayed within about 10 yards of the center line on all of the shots. Carry distance was getting up around 235-240, which is really good for me and was still drawing most of my shots.
I wanted to try a Stage 2 after the R1, just to see if I really needed to spend the extra $100. I liked the feel of it, because it's lighter than the R1. But I got right back to the issue of too much back spin with it and my misses were all over the place. Hit the R1 again and right back in the groove.
So, needless to say, I walked out of there $400 lighter, but I'm looking forward to hitting the course with this bad boy tomorrow and seeing what I can do with it outdoors. The ability to adjust face angle was basically what made this club work for me. Crazy, because 6 months ago, I was slicing my driver so bad and now, after working with a great teacher, I'm drawing the ball and actually had to OPEN the face. I'd have called anyone who predicted that crazy not very long ago. The other thing I like about my purchase is that, say something changes with me or I just start hitting the club poorly, there's a lot I can do to make it better. Gotta love technology!
