DevRickus
The Dirty Jerz
Try reloading. I moved them and reposted them.
Jumbo Max Grips Review Thread
Try reloading. I moved them and reposted them.
Nebgolfer
Active member
Working now. Great recap. It took me awhile to remember that you are a lefty, and when you said you usually miss left but don't hook it, I was scratching my head. I think your results are in line with everyone else that on mid irons and wedges this has been a positive change, but the driver is a different story initially. It will be interesting to see if that changes as you get used to the weight, or if the grip is just too heavy to work with the ultra-light drivers on the market today.
I'm really thinking about getting larger grips next season.
DevRickus
The Dirty Jerz
If for no other clubs I might get these for my wedges. I would imagine the extra weight would be extremely helpful getting the ball out of a greenside bunker.
Got back into town this afternoon and promptly installed my three grips and headed to the range.
Installation: I used my air compressor to install these and when they say they do not stretch, they mean it. It was difficult to get on but with over 100 psi I was able to install them.
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Range session:
50* wedge: Full swings felt good as I did not notice any difference in shot shape or feel. I was able to hit partial wedges without any loss of feel or control. This surprised me as I anticipated having to adjust more with the shorter “feel” club. After hitting a dozen balls I didn’t even think about the grip size and being able to completely relax my hands definitely helped in my release.
7iron: This was fun. My irons are my weak point as I do not hit them consistently as I seem to lose the club at the top. The large grip made me feel more connected to the club and I pounded 15 straight irons. Even with Pinnacle range rocks it felt like I was compressing the ball as I fully released the club. I wanted to swing this all night but I had to move on to the driver.
Driver: I was most worried about regripping my driver as I was finally in a good groove after a summer of inconsistency. My normal ball is a power fade as I line up down the left and have it move back to the center. Initially the ball was moving more left than normal and then I remembered reading about strengthening your grip a hair. After moving a half knuckle stronger, the ball straightened out. The baseball bat feel had me wanting to hit the ball but relaxing my hands and letting the club release through the ball gave the best results.
Chipping with 50*: I finished the session on the chipping green seeing how the grip performed in shots requiring a lot of touch. Here the grip felt like my SuperStroke on my putter as it quieted my hands and kept me from flipping the club head past my hands. It will take more practice to get the feel totally down but I can see the advantage using a bigger grip here also.
Final thoughts: The design seems sound as you are able to relax your grip but still maintain control of the club. Firm feel but not hard. I could easily play without a glove with these. My left wrist started to hurt soon after I started and then I realized that I was trying to hold the grip in my fingers instead of my palm. After adjusting the club deeper in my hand I had no further problems. Let the grip fill your hand.
Range again in the morning and then 18 holes to see them in real action.
Installation: I used my air compressor to install these and when they say they do not stretch, they mean it. It was difficult to get on but with over 100 psi I was able to install them.
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Range session:
50* wedge: Full swings felt good as I did not notice any difference in shot shape or feel. I was able to hit partial wedges without any loss of feel or control. This surprised me as I anticipated having to adjust more with the shorter “feel” club. After hitting a dozen balls I didn’t even think about the grip size and being able to completely relax my hands definitely helped in my release.
7iron: This was fun. My irons are my weak point as I do not hit them consistently as I seem to lose the club at the top. The large grip made me feel more connected to the club and I pounded 15 straight irons. Even with Pinnacle range rocks it felt like I was compressing the ball as I fully released the club. I wanted to swing this all night but I had to move on to the driver.
Driver: I was most worried about regripping my driver as I was finally in a good groove after a summer of inconsistency. My normal ball is a power fade as I line up down the left and have it move back to the center. Initially the ball was moving more left than normal and then I remembered reading about strengthening your grip a hair. After moving a half knuckle stronger, the ball straightened out. The baseball bat feel had me wanting to hit the ball but relaxing my hands and letting the club release through the ball gave the best results.
Chipping with 50*: I finished the session on the chipping green seeing how the grip performed in shots requiring a lot of touch. Here the grip felt like my SuperStroke on my putter as it quieted my hands and kept me from flipping the club head past my hands. It will take more practice to get the feel totally down but I can see the advantage using a bigger grip here also.
Final thoughts: The design seems sound as you are able to relax your grip but still maintain control of the club. Firm feel but not hard. I could easily play without a glove with these. My left wrist started to hurt soon after I started and then I realized that I was trying to hold the grip in my fingers instead of my palm. After adjusting the club deeper in my hand I had no further problems. Let the grip fill your hand.
Range again in the morning and then 18 holes to see them in real action.
- Joined
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WOW...is the word to describe my round this evening. After my range session on Friday I can say I was extremely skeptical about teeing it up on the course with these grips. So instead of hitting up the range I went straight to the 1st tee box. For most of us that first shot can dictate/set-up the type of round to expect for the day. My mind set for the day was course management that would allow the most use out of those clubs with the JumboMax grips. Below I will comment on the followin three aspects of the grips: FEEL, SHOT SHAPE, and DISTANCE.
DRIVER:
Recap from Range Session
Today was a different story...6/7 FW's.
Feel: Significantly the same feel and set up as I had on the range. I felt as if I didn't grip the club as strong as on the range.
Shot Shape: Today I was able to move the ball from left to right, right to left, and straight down the middle. I think this was attributed to get my hands through the hitting zone without leaving the club face severly opened or closed.
Distance: I didn't notice a loss or gain of distance. Of the 7 drives I hit I was averaging about 245 yards. *Pennslyvannia had a lot of rain over the weekend, so I didn't see much roll.*
8 Iron:
Today was a typical 8 Iron day...trajectory was definitely decreased from what I experienced on the range. Of the four shots I took...the beaut was a 160 yard shot on a par 3 within 6 feet. Prior to installing the JumboMax grips I would either push or pull my full 8 iron shots. Of the four I took today my shots started on the line I intended and finished where I expected.
Feel: Definitely felt my wrists not turning over. The large size of the grips prevent that from occuring.
Shot Shape: I was able to fade and draw the ball at free will. :good:
Distance: About 5-10 yards better than my normal 8 iron.
60 Degree:
Can you say...MONEY!?!?! Today I made sure I left myself shots from the sand, short rough, and fairway. Out of the three lies, the fairway gave the worst outcome. I am still struggling with the full shot with my wedge, as I still am digging under the ball and shooting it up in the air. Of the two shots from about 50 yards out I left myself 30 ft. Out of the sand different story...I was able to get spin and have the ball check up more than I ever have been able to. Short rough...I am a CHUTTER!!! Due to the fact I have had issues of flipping the ball which 9 out of 10 times result in thinly hit or the two foot pop up that still ends up in the rough. I felt these grips allowed me to keep my hands in front of the club head through the ball with little to no wrist movement. Definite plus.
Conclusion: I ended up shooting a 39 which I was extremely happy with. The round felt stress free. Was this a result of the grips? I think partially yes, especially around the green with the wedge. My drives maybe lacked distance, but I was able to work the ball in all directions. Normally I will send a drive way right on 9 holes...not today. Even my miss was barely off the fairway. Take away...while my range session was atrocious my play on the course was the extreme opposite. The only frustration I am having are with the full wedge shots with these grips. I think I will work on range later this week.
Relation to my other clubs...while I didn't have any misses left or right with the Oversized grips today, I did have a few large fades with my 5iron today. Whether this is attributed to the size difference of grips in my bag is still to be decided.
Feel free to send me any questions you may have.
DRIVER:
Recap from Range Session
Today was a different story...6/7 FW's.
Feel: Significantly the same feel and set up as I had on the range. I felt as if I didn't grip the club as strong as on the range.
Shot Shape: Today I was able to move the ball from left to right, right to left, and straight down the middle. I think this was attributed to get my hands through the hitting zone without leaving the club face severly opened or closed.
Distance: I didn't notice a loss or gain of distance. Of the 7 drives I hit I was averaging about 245 yards. *Pennslyvannia had a lot of rain over the weekend, so I didn't see much roll.*
8 Iron:
Today was a typical 8 Iron day...trajectory was definitely decreased from what I experienced on the range. Of the four shots I took...the beaut was a 160 yard shot on a par 3 within 6 feet. Prior to installing the JumboMax grips I would either push or pull my full 8 iron shots. Of the four I took today my shots started on the line I intended and finished where I expected.
Feel: Definitely felt my wrists not turning over. The large size of the grips prevent that from occuring.
Shot Shape: I was able to fade and draw the ball at free will. :good:
Distance: About 5-10 yards better than my normal 8 iron.
60 Degree:
Can you say...MONEY!?!?! Today I made sure I left myself shots from the sand, short rough, and fairway. Out of the three lies, the fairway gave the worst outcome. I am still struggling with the full shot with my wedge, as I still am digging under the ball and shooting it up in the air. Of the two shots from about 50 yards out I left myself 30 ft. Out of the sand different story...I was able to get spin and have the ball check up more than I ever have been able to. Short rough...I am a CHUTTER!!! Due to the fact I have had issues of flipping the ball which 9 out of 10 times result in thinly hit or the two foot pop up that still ends up in the rough. I felt these grips allowed me to keep my hands in front of the club head through the ball with little to no wrist movement. Definite plus.
Conclusion: I ended up shooting a 39 which I was extremely happy with. The round felt stress free. Was this a result of the grips? I think partially yes, especially around the green with the wedge. My drives maybe lacked distance, but I was able to work the ball in all directions. Normally I will send a drive way right on 9 holes...not today. Even my miss was barely off the fairway. Take away...while my range session was atrocious my play on the course was the extreme opposite. The only frustration I am having are with the full wedge shots with these grips. I think I will work on range later this week.
Relation to my other clubs...while I didn't have any misses left or right with the Oversized grips today, I did have a few large fades with my 5iron today. Whether this is attributed to the size difference of grips in my bag is still to be decided.
Feel free to send me any questions you may have.
Smallville
#ICanHitADraw
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2008
- Messages
- 98,737
- Reaction score
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- Kansas City, Kansas
- Handicap
- In Flux
I am very interested in these grips, and after hearing many talk about the weight of the grips, I have been checking out the Winn Oversized Lite grips. (Their regular oversize grips are 50 grams, the Lite grips are 24 grams!)
So first, I realize that some of this will retread what others have already said, but I want to make this as complete as possible for my own experience.
A little about myself to start. I’m about a 14 handicap right now who generally drives the ball pretty well and hits the irons pretty solid, but I sometimes struggle with distance control and missing short and right. I also have a history of crap short game play, which I am doing my best to remedy with lots of practice this offseason. Honestly, I’ve been pretty skeptical about these grips. My outlook on them has fluctuated between optimism, hesitance, and straight up fear over the last two weeks, so it will be really interesting to see how they actually perform, since I don’t tend to struggle with a pull.
The Package
So today I arrived home to finally see the grips sitting on my doorstep. I opened up the box to find the now familiar to you welcome letter, JumboMax flyer, installation instructions, grip tape, and three Small sized JumboMax grips:
Package contents:
The size of these suckers is really a bit shocking if you haven’t seen them before. To show you what I mean, here are a few comparison photos between a regular grip, JumboMax grip, and the grip on my tennis racquet. The fact that the JumboMax is about halfway between the standard golf grip size and the tennis grip size, even in the Small size, should give you some perspective on how big these things are.
NDMC grip vs. JumboMax vs. tennis grip
NDMC vs. JumboMax vs. tennis grip from end
Installation
Since I had to go out anyways and I have no solvent in the apartment post moving, I decided to just take the grips and my clubs over to the golf shop and have them installed – cost me a whole $3, so I was pretty OK with it. I decided to install the grips on my R11S driver, and Adams CMB 7 iron and GW. The pro was rather flabbergasted that I would consider grips this big when I don’t struggle with pulls, but after we discussed how I came about getting them he actually became very interested, and even asked me to let him know what I thought of them – maybe I can recruit another THPer!
Impressions of installed grips
I’m honestly a bit surprised at how comfortable these feel – I expected a much clunkier, bulky feel, but they actually fit quite well in my hand. I definitely feel like more of the grip lays in my palm vs. the fingers, but not so much that I don’t feel that I have control of the clubhead. Being a tennis player, it actually feels a bit like using a tennis overgrip, which gives you a great deal of control in that sport.
Gripping the NDMC
Gripping the JumboMax
Since I haven’t been out on the range yet, this will be all I have for now, but I plan to go out after work tomorrow and put these guys through the paces. I’m feeling encouraged after actually holding the grips, but we’ll see how it goes! Will report back tomorrow evening.
A little about myself to start. I’m about a 14 handicap right now who generally drives the ball pretty well and hits the irons pretty solid, but I sometimes struggle with distance control and missing short and right. I also have a history of crap short game play, which I am doing my best to remedy with lots of practice this offseason. Honestly, I’ve been pretty skeptical about these grips. My outlook on them has fluctuated between optimism, hesitance, and straight up fear over the last two weeks, so it will be really interesting to see how they actually perform, since I don’t tend to struggle with a pull.
The Package
So today I arrived home to finally see the grips sitting on my doorstep. I opened up the box to find the now familiar to you welcome letter, JumboMax flyer, installation instructions, grip tape, and three Small sized JumboMax grips:
Package contents:
Spoiler
The size of these suckers is really a bit shocking if you haven’t seen them before. To show you what I mean, here are a few comparison photos between a regular grip, JumboMax grip, and the grip on my tennis racquet. The fact that the JumboMax is about halfway between the standard golf grip size and the tennis grip size, even in the Small size, should give you some perspective on how big these things are.
NDMC grip vs. JumboMax vs. tennis grip
Spoiler
NDMC vs. JumboMax vs. tennis grip from end
Spoiler
Installation
Since I had to go out anyways and I have no solvent in the apartment post moving, I decided to just take the grips and my clubs over to the golf shop and have them installed – cost me a whole $3, so I was pretty OK with it. I decided to install the grips on my R11S driver, and Adams CMB 7 iron and GW. The pro was rather flabbergasted that I would consider grips this big when I don’t struggle with pulls, but after we discussed how I came about getting them he actually became very interested, and even asked me to let him know what I thought of them – maybe I can recruit another THPer!
Impressions of installed grips
I’m honestly a bit surprised at how comfortable these feel – I expected a much clunkier, bulky feel, but they actually fit quite well in my hand. I definitely feel like more of the grip lays in my palm vs. the fingers, but not so much that I don’t feel that I have control of the clubhead. Being a tennis player, it actually feels a bit like using a tennis overgrip, which gives you a great deal of control in that sport.
Gripping the NDMC
Spoiler
Gripping the JumboMax
Spoiler
Since I haven’t been out on the range yet, this will be all I have for now, but I plan to go out after work tomorrow and put these guys through the paces. I’m feeling encouraged after actually holding the grips, but we’ll see how it goes! Will report back tomorrow evening.
Wow, woke up this morning to discover a ton of great feedback - awesome work fellow testers!!
Seems like among us we are starting to see some trends: great experiences with shorter clubs and some struggles with the driver. I saw that Orange Hog is also playing the R1 so curious how that goes since we have the same driver.
My irons are arriving tomorrow so I will put the Jumbo Max on the 7i I believe and then have a range session Thursday before a round on Sunday.
Keep up the great work, this is a fun one to participate in and read through!
Seems like among us we are starting to see some trends: great experiences with shorter clubs and some struggles with the driver. I saw that Orange Hog is also playing the R1 so curious how that goes since we have the same driver.
My irons are arriving tomorrow so I will put the Jumbo Max on the 7i I believe and then have a range session Thursday before a round on Sunday.
Keep up the great work, this is a fun one to participate in and read through!
Interesting to read how some are struggling with the driver and seeing great success with the irons. I know I can get too handsy with my irons, particularly my wedges, so I can see how a larger grip could be useful.
sparksjr
Active member
great reviews so far fellas. keep up the good work!
Nice thoughts Hog! I'm headed out to the range with the exact same setup (D, 7i, GW) for the first time as well once I get home from work. Unfortunately I think I will be hitting off mats (wet fall/winter turf = mats around here), but hopefully I'll still be able to get a good idea.
Agent Jay
Grandaddy Alumni
Enjoyed reading your thoughts guys! The new driver I got from callawaypreowned has a large grip on it, I need to check if it's the same as this. It feels like they used a couple of layers of tape on it if not. As a guy with smaller hands, this may be a benefit for me. I'll double check when I get home.
Keep it up fellas, good stuff!
Keep it up fellas, good stuff!
Took these out to the course today. Being the first one at the course I took my three clubs to the range and started hitting 50* shots. I was sticking them nicely right on the pole I was aiming at. I also hit several half wedges and some little knock-down spinners. Then one of the pros came running out to tell me the range was still closed due to "frost". That killed my range time for before my round.
Todays on course results:
Gap wedge: I hit several nice wedges today from 100 yards up to ten yards from the green. This is where these shine. This might be due to my Cleveland 588 CB's being a little head heavy and the weight of the grip doesn't effect them as much. The larger grip does keep you from flipping the wrists to much on short chips.
7i: I got sucked into playing from the tips with another twosome and had long irons into most greens today. The two 7 irons that I did hit were both pushes right. I will choose a better tee tomorrow looking for more 150-160 yard shots into greens. On the range yesterday I was hammering my 7i dead straight but that did not carry over to the course. I will wait until after tomorrows round to make any judgement.
driver: This is where I struggled today hitting only 4 fairways. I was afraid of messing with my driver since I had been striping it fairly good lately. Today I saw most of my misses going right as in way right. My dependable fade was a horrid push/slice. I definitely feel a difference with the heavier grip on this club as I have lost all feel of the clubhead during the swing. Almost like I am swing a raw shaft. I have tried other superlight drivers before and have failed miserably with them. I shall try to work things out during the next few times I take these out. If I do not see any improvment then I will move this grip to my 4 altitude as I have been pulling that club lately.
Todays on course results:
Gap wedge: I hit several nice wedges today from 100 yards up to ten yards from the green. This is where these shine. This might be due to my Cleveland 588 CB's being a little head heavy and the weight of the grip doesn't effect them as much. The larger grip does keep you from flipping the wrists to much on short chips.
7i: I got sucked into playing from the tips with another twosome and had long irons into most greens today. The two 7 irons that I did hit were both pushes right. I will choose a better tee tomorrow looking for more 150-160 yard shots into greens. On the range yesterday I was hammering my 7i dead straight but that did not carry over to the course. I will wait until after tomorrows round to make any judgement.
driver: This is where I struggled today hitting only 4 fairways. I was afraid of messing with my driver since I had been striping it fairly good lately. Today I saw most of my misses going right as in way right. My dependable fade was a horrid push/slice. I definitely feel a difference with the heavier grip on this club as I have lost all feel of the clubhead during the swing. Almost like I am swing a raw shaft. I have tried other superlight drivers before and have failed miserably with them. I shall try to work things out during the next few times I take these out. If I do not see any improvment then I will move this grip to my 4 altitude as I have been pulling that club lately.
Ok so got back from the range a little bit ago, and I’ve had some time to mull over how it went over there. The short answer is that it went a lot different than I expected it to, but in a good way.
Previous installation and unboxing thoughts: HERE
Summary
I had to hit off mats unfortunately as the grass tees were closed, but I still feel like I got a good idea of the initial performance. I hit PW first to warm up, then GW with JumboMax. After that 8 iron, 7 iron w/ JumboMax, then driver with JumboMax, and 3W.
Gap Wedge (50*)
I first hit about 5 or 6 balls with a regular gripped PW to warm up, and hit them all well about the expected distance (with limited range balls and damp 50* air, so about 1 club shorter than normal). I then proceeded to the JumboMax GW. At first I just gripped the club like I normally would, and the results were rather disastrous. A few big shanks and slices, just absolute hack work. Then I remembered the recommendation in the letter from Dale that we strengthen our grip slightly to compensate for the grips’ resistance to the wrist turn. So I adjusted my grip so that one more knuckle was showing on the top of the club, and proceeded to try again…and all of a sudden it clicked. Great contact, perfect distance. Hit about 10 balls with this grip and hit nearly every single one flush (thinned one badly). I will say that especially with these short clubs, I seemed to be a bit more susceptible to missing high on the face and hitting the ball short and high.
Switched back to the PW to see if I could still hit it – had no problems, but boy did it feel heavier. I had an even better awareness of the clubhead after hitting with the Jumbo.
7 iron
Again started with the standard gripped club (8 iron) to get a baseline. Hit 5 shots pretty square, but all of them had my trademark slight fade. On to the JumboMax 7. Having learned my lesson from the gap wedge, I began with a strong grip and started hitting balls. I think I overdid it slightly, because I started pulling the ball a bit. Weakened it a bit, and started piping them, straight to a baby fade. On the flush shots, I actually gained a bit of distance vs. my normal 7 iron distance (with range balls). Again, switching back to the 8 caused no undue problems. The feel through the ball is actually excellent, and you can really feel the shock absorbance. This could be perceived as a problem, because you lose some of the feedback from mishits, but I sure don’t mind it. You can still detect the mishits, but there is no sting.
Driver
Heartened by the success with the irons, I moved on to the big dog without trying a regular gripped club first. The club feels super light compared to before with the new grip. I was a little nervous to try the driver considering the issues that other testers have had with it…I should not have been. I stepped up and hit a really nice ball right down the middle. OK, cool, wonder if I can do it again. Pow, another perfect drive. And then another. And another. I hit about 25 balls with the driver and hit every one straight to just a really slight fade, with the exception of one where I tried to kill it and left it right. Considering that my miss before was right, this made no sense to me at first. However, I have a theory. When I miss, I tend to swing outside in and leave the face open, causing a pull fade. I believe that this grip is limiting my outside in swing path by limiting the wrist turn, which drastically reduces how open the clubface is at impact relative to the swing path. Suffice it to say, it seems to really work with the driver for me. My distance was at least as long as what I normally see, maybe even longer. Hard to tell at the range I go to, because past 225 yards you can’t see the landing area, but the distance didn’t seem lacking. Switched to the 3W to see if I could hit it still with the small grip, and had no problems as before.
Pitches (using GW)
I also got a chance to try some half swing wedges into the practice green, and to be short they felt really nice. I didn’t have nearly the tendency to hit it fat as I sometimes do with half swing wedges. I had a really good awareness of the clubhead as well. I used the same strategy as with the full swing, using a slightly strong grip to compensate the quiet hands. I will say though, that I had a few misses thin that I don’t usually have in this area, so I will have to keep an eye on that.
Final Thoughts
So far, I am enjoying these grips much more than I thought I would, particularly with the driver. The distance has not seemed to be a problem so far, as I have achieved essentially the distances I expect or a little more. There appears to be a bit of a tendency to miss high on the face with full swing irons/wedges and hit it too high and short, so will have to be careful of that. I also seem to have a slight tendency to miss a little thin on the half swings – another thing to keep in mind. I think I hit everything here, but if anybody has any questions, fire away!
Previous installation and unboxing thoughts: HERE
Summary
I had to hit off mats unfortunately as the grass tees were closed, but I still feel like I got a good idea of the initial performance. I hit PW first to warm up, then GW with JumboMax. After that 8 iron, 7 iron w/ JumboMax, then driver with JumboMax, and 3W.
Gap Wedge (50*)
I first hit about 5 or 6 balls with a regular gripped PW to warm up, and hit them all well about the expected distance (with limited range balls and damp 50* air, so about 1 club shorter than normal). I then proceeded to the JumboMax GW. At first I just gripped the club like I normally would, and the results were rather disastrous. A few big shanks and slices, just absolute hack work. Then I remembered the recommendation in the letter from Dale that we strengthen our grip slightly to compensate for the grips’ resistance to the wrist turn. So I adjusted my grip so that one more knuckle was showing on the top of the club, and proceeded to try again…and all of a sudden it clicked. Great contact, perfect distance. Hit about 10 balls with this grip and hit nearly every single one flush (thinned one badly). I will say that especially with these short clubs, I seemed to be a bit more susceptible to missing high on the face and hitting the ball short and high.
Switched back to the PW to see if I could still hit it – had no problems, but boy did it feel heavier. I had an even better awareness of the clubhead after hitting with the Jumbo.
7 iron
Again started with the standard gripped club (8 iron) to get a baseline. Hit 5 shots pretty square, but all of them had my trademark slight fade. On to the JumboMax 7. Having learned my lesson from the gap wedge, I began with a strong grip and started hitting balls. I think I overdid it slightly, because I started pulling the ball a bit. Weakened it a bit, and started piping them, straight to a baby fade. On the flush shots, I actually gained a bit of distance vs. my normal 7 iron distance (with range balls). Again, switching back to the 8 caused no undue problems. The feel through the ball is actually excellent, and you can really feel the shock absorbance. This could be perceived as a problem, because you lose some of the feedback from mishits, but I sure don’t mind it. You can still detect the mishits, but there is no sting.
Driver
Heartened by the success with the irons, I moved on to the big dog without trying a regular gripped club first. The club feels super light compared to before with the new grip. I was a little nervous to try the driver considering the issues that other testers have had with it…I should not have been. I stepped up and hit a really nice ball right down the middle. OK, cool, wonder if I can do it again. Pow, another perfect drive. And then another. And another. I hit about 25 balls with the driver and hit every one straight to just a really slight fade, with the exception of one where I tried to kill it and left it right. Considering that my miss before was right, this made no sense to me at first. However, I have a theory. When I miss, I tend to swing outside in and leave the face open, causing a pull fade. I believe that this grip is limiting my outside in swing path by limiting the wrist turn, which drastically reduces how open the clubface is at impact relative to the swing path. Suffice it to say, it seems to really work with the driver for me. My distance was at least as long as what I normally see, maybe even longer. Hard to tell at the range I go to, because past 225 yards you can’t see the landing area, but the distance didn’t seem lacking. Switched to the 3W to see if I could hit it still with the small grip, and had no problems as before.
Pitches (using GW)
I also got a chance to try some half swing wedges into the practice green, and to be short they felt really nice. I didn’t have nearly the tendency to hit it fat as I sometimes do with half swing wedges. I had a really good awareness of the clubhead as well. I used the same strategy as with the full swing, using a slightly strong grip to compensate the quiet hands. I will say though, that I had a few misses thin that I don’t usually have in this area, so I will have to keep an eye on that.
Final Thoughts
So far, I am enjoying these grips much more than I thought I would, particularly with the driver. The distance has not seemed to be a problem so far, as I have achieved essentially the distances I expect or a little more. There appears to be a bit of a tendency to miss high on the face with full swing irons/wedges and hit it too high and short, so will have to be careful of that. I also seem to have a slight tendency to miss a little thin on the half swings – another thing to keep in mind. I think I hit everything here, but if anybody has any questions, fire away!
Smallville
#ICanHitADraw
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2008
- Messages
- 98,737
- Reaction score
- 531
- Location
- Kansas City, Kansas
- Handicap
- In Flux
So do the testers who are having driver issues with this grip think it might work better with a lighter grip on the longer clubs? Such as that you could feel the clubhead more during the swing?
Seems like with the shorter clubs, the weight of the grip is not as much of an issue.
Seems like with the shorter clubs, the weight of the grip is not as much of an issue.
This is my thinking right now. I will try again tomorrow and see if I improve over today.
Nice thoughts last night from SkiBum & MileHigh.
MH seeing same results as me and SB having additional success with the driver. MH: I think there could be something to the wedge having additional head weight. If I struggle tomorrow with the driver I will be seeking out some lead tape as I gotta be able to hit driver being a shorter hitter.
Installing grip on 7i tonight with range time tomorrow, excited!
MH seeing same results as me and SB having additional success with the driver. MH: I think there could be something to the wedge having additional head weight. If I struggle tomorrow with the driver I will be seeking out some lead tape as I gotta be able to hit driver being a shorter hitter.
Installing grip on 7i tonight with range time tomorrow, excited!
Has anyone who has struggled with the driver or feels that it is too light now with the heavier grip thinking about adding lead tape to get the swing weight closer to where it was before?
I mentioned it in the post previous to yours. After tomorrow's range session I may need to find some before Sunday.
DevRickus
The Dirty Jerz
I think part of it is the fact that the iron shafts are more compact and heavier so you dont notice the weight as much. These companies work so hard on making drivers light with lightweight shafts to increase swing speed. What I find interesting is if you look at their website this is one of the claims they make:
Seems like all of the testers so far have experiences a little bit of distance loss. Maybe it just takes some time to get used to. The reason I like them on the 6 iron and the PW is because, as a sweeper, the extra weight really helps me drop the head of the club and hit down on the ball. Maybe it's just a mental thing, maybe its not but I hit some of the best iron shots of my life over the weekend with these grips. Hitting the range tonight so will hopefully have some more feedback on the driver.
DevRickus
The Dirty Jerz
Good thoughts MH. I agree 100% and I dont think it has much to do with the head weight. I have mine on my stock Rocketbladez PW and experienced the same thing. Took all my crappy wrist action out of my pitches and chips and made for a really good day around the greens. Really gave me alot of confidence around the greens with the larger grip.
I may be in the minority here, but with my lightweight SpeedBlade shafts, I'm having a bit more "feel" issues with the 7 iron and AW than the driver. They almost feel counter-balanced--or even heavier in the butt of the grip than the club head.
DevRickus
The Dirty Jerz
I have graphite shafts in my Rocketbladez so I know what you mean about the lightweight shafts. I actually like the counter-balanced feel. I dont think they are heavier in the butt section but I think its pretty close to the same. Maybe that's why it is working better for me? I really dont know.
Interesting thought. What's the weight on those?
My driver is 55g IIRC while my wedge is like 120g. My 7i will have CTL for this testing.
DevRickus
The Dirty Jerz
I know the question wasnt asked of me but the shafts in my R-Bladez are 65g (6 iron and PW). The driver shaft I am playing with the grip is a White Tie 4x3 which is 50g.