And the award for back-pedaling goes to...

[TxAggie2018]

This was my point. The tech is not going to fix my problems and that's what made this such a dumb purchase. If I'm going by a small sample size like those at the fitting, the numbers on the course show this is not as forgiving or as long as my previous driver. Changing a setting on the adjustable head has as least reduced the misses to the right.

As for this being unarguably a big upgrade, so far it's been a bust. How a club performs in a hitting bay does not matter unless it delivers on the course or even on an outdoor range. While I know better than to base an iron set purchase on how I hit a club off a mat indoors, I didn't think that would be the case with the driver - yet, here I am.

I'll continue to work on it and will likely try another shaft... only because of what I paid for it. I just need to start putting practice time in with my older driver as it may very end up back in the bag.

You dropped your spin by like 800 revs vs the Maltby. That is what was killing your distance earlier... your driver was spinning up like a 3 wood.

This club's got the extra 15 yards you need in it. The only thing stopping you from harnessing it is more practice reps.

 

[JonMA1]

You dropped your spin by like 800 revs vs the Maltby. That is what was killing your distance earlier... your driver was spinning up like a 3 wood.

This club's got the extra 15 yards you need in it. The only thing stopping you from harnessing it is more practice reps.

The fitting showed there may be the potential, but as of now with my current swing, that potential isn’t being realized. At best it’s been a wash after a lot of reps.
The end goal is to get less penalties without a substantial loss in distance. Whichever club provides that will be the club I play. If the Callaway helps me keep it in play - even at the expense of a few yards from last year - it’ll be the club. But I’m not going to play this club based solely on numbers from a LM and the idea that it should be better. If the club that gets 3200 rpms does a better job of keeping it in play over one that gets 2700, that club will improve my scores.

Control is so much more important than distance right now.

 

[LLIB]

As for the club itself, I took some swings out behind my house and the club pretty much lived up to the hype. For the first several swings, I was hitting everywhere on the face except the center and the ball flight looked good. On shots when I did make solid contact, I got some decent distance.

I’m as impatient as anyone with new clubs so I get being frustrated but you’re giving up on it after 1 round and 2 weeks of practice. You probably hit as many balls with it at your fitting and in your backyard as you have in the last 2 weeks. Give it some time. Stop worrying about the misses and distance while you get used to it and just swing. If you’re still having the same issues in a few months then move on. Or take some lessons.

 

[Hawk]

Not to pile on, but I agree with @LLIB

It seems like you're mindfreaking yourself a bit on this. Swing faults aren't going away overnight, but there was obviously something there in the fitting. If you continue to have issues, I'd reach out to the fitter and just see what he has to say. Much better than rabbit holing shaft changes, etc.. But, I'd clear your mind a bit and just let things happen first.

 

[Sean]

The tech is not going to fix my problems

Don't get too down on yourself. Give yourself and your swing a bit more time and hopefully you will see positive results.

I used to buy and sell frequently, but not anymore for the reason you enumerated. Frankly, unless a person's equipment is quite old, he probably won't see much difference with the latest and greatest. I learned it's not about the equipment, it's about the swing. I also find "forgiveness" be be a bit overrated. Regardless of the type of club you play, you still have to put a good swing on it to get good results. If I buy anything now, it's more about wanting something new than it is about hoping it will make me a better golfer.

 

[JonMA1]

Thanks guys. I just wanted to update the post.
Only one other time have I struggled with a new club like this. In that instance, I struggled for a couple years before getting struck with a bolt of common sense and going to a different shaft.

Bad shots come with my game more than most. But they are usually limited to a few spastic 2-way misses within a bigger series of decent swings. And there isn’t normally the feeling of being lost that I’m getting with this combo.

Confidence is huge. Maybe it will come eventually with the new club???

 

[JonMA1]

Don't get too down on yourself. Give yourself and your swing a bit more time and hopefully you will see positive results.

I used to buy and sell frequently, but not anymore for the reason you enumerated. Frankly, unless a person's equipment is quite old, he probably won't see much difference with the latest and greatest. I learned it's not about the equipment, it's about the swing. I also find "forgiveness" be be a bit overrated. Regardless of the type of club you play, you still have to put a good swing on it to get good results. If I buy anything now, it's more about wanting something new than it is about hoping it will make me a better golfer.

I'm not beating myself up too much about it. I know what the reality is but every so often, a reminder is apparently needed. Of course, new equipment isn't going to work miracles and I don't think that's what I described (at least I didn't mean to). I just didn't think for one minute it would be a step backwards.

If a club takes months to get used to, it isn't a good fit.

You probably hit as many balls with it at your fitting

Not even close. We tried so many clubs at the one hour fitting. I hit 20 shots (?) with this shaft and head. From those, he deleted a few duffs and I was left with 12 shots for data review. Of those 12 shots, 5 had really good numbers and the other 7 shots were... ok. The point of the recent post is that I don't think I've hit 5 shots with those better numbers in 300+ shots since taking the club outside.

On the course, shots measured with Shotscope backed up the practice sessions and were poor compared to last year's SS numbers. The 50% FW misses to the right side led to the hosel adjustment and what seems to be improvement with that particular miss. But I've yet to get into any kind of groove where I hit even a few good shots in a row or feel like I'm hitting anywhere near the sweet spot. While practicing outside last night, my LM indicated an average smash factor of under 1.3, though it also measured decent CHS and backspin. Distance was weak from the poor contact.

The fitter didn't suggest I buy this club. He only said it was the clear winner among the clubs we tested. When I did reach out to describe the issues he only said "that's the right shaft for you". Ok... well, I guess we'll find out.

 

[Phil75070]

The fitter didn't suggest I buy this club. He only said it was the clear winner among the clubs we tested. When I did reach out to describe the issues he only said "that's the right shaft for you". Ok... well, I guess we'll find out.

A different shaft with a different weight to it, and given that there is no standard for flex, though it might say it is the same as what you typically use, can "load" totally differently. Experiment with your ball position.

 

[JonMA1]

A different shaft with a different weight to it, and given that there is no standard for flex, though it might say it is the same as what you typically use, can "load" totally differently. Experiment with your ball position.

Isn’t there a generality about those having a slower tempo needing a lighter flex or weight, and the opposite being true?

 

[Phil75070]

Isn’t there a generality about those having a slower tempo needing a lighter flex or weight, and the opposite being true?

I am 76 and got fit last June at the local PXG store. I don't know how my transition would be described, but I fully expected to be put into one of the lighter, 40g shafts in senior flex. What I ended up getting was an almost 60g shaft and in "R" flex. I had a terrible day driving the ball yesterday, with a lot of pull hooks. Today, I moved the ball forward in my stance and absolutely killed the driver. Shot Scope said my P-AVG with the driver yesterday was 219 with an AVG of 194. Same golfer, same course, same club, similar weather and my P-AVG today was 232 with an AVG of 211! I also went from hitting 36% of the fairways yesterday to hitting 64% today. Again, the only difference was really ball position.

 

[JonMA1]

I am 76 and got fit last June at the local PXG store. I don't know how my transition would be described, but I fully expected to be put into one of the lighter, 40g shafts in senior flex. What I ended up getting was an almost 60g shaft and in "R" flex. I had a terrible day driving the ball yesterday, with a lot of pull hooks. Today, I moved the ball forward in my stance and absolutely killed the driver. Shot Scope said my P-AVG with the driver yesterday was 219 with an AVG of 194. Same golfer, same course, same club, similar weather and my P-AVG today was 232 with an AVG of 211! I also went from hitting 36% of the fairways yesterday to hitting 64% today. Again, the only difference was really ball position.

I have been playing around ball position to a small degree. I’ve also tried looking for a low spot a bit in front of the ball with goal maintaining a positive AOA. I’ve tried a few minor things since my “normal” swing has been yielding such poor results.
Regarding the shaft weight, there seems to be a few different schools of thought regarding weight and flex. Just as is the case in instruction, if those more knowledgeable than me can’t agree chance do I have in knowing who’s right or wrong.