Driver Length Test
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This will be very interesting to see. I went the opposite way and played the SZ in a tour length shaft, and am certain that I'm giving up yards so will definitely be going longer this time around. Maybe not 50" though, that would be crazy!
I suspect any long driver builds will serve their purpose temporarily and ultimately end in lengths in the 44 to 45.5 range. Playing the launch monitor game is fun until the pressure is on and a fairway needs to be hit.
orchard53
Active member
Looking forward to this! I have a 48" shafted driver that I use for scrambles, no team needs 240 even if it's in the middle. It usuall results in maybe 1 or 2 drives being used, usually after I have had a beer to relax,
I would be curious to hear your thoughts on shaft selection using a normal driver head at 6-8* with a swing speed of high 120s for long drive purposes. I'm not ready to purchase a long drive head yet and just want to swap shafts for competition until I hit a high enough swing speed and upward angle of attack to justify a 5* or less long drive head.
A couple things immediately jump to mind here, and please don’t take offense to any of them. Upper 120’s is no joke.
To compete you need to be at least in the middle 140’s. I placed 4th in a regional contest with a CHS of 144 20+ years ago. There was less than 5 yards separation from winner to 4th. Top 3 moved on to nationals or whatever they called it back then. I think I was right around 380. I think I won a putter, lol. One more mile of CHS would have got me there.
How old are you? Have you done any overspeed training? What specific thing do you do to increase speed to well above what most can get to? Can you PM me a swing video? I’m not qualified in most areas but I can help someone gain speed.
If you’re young enough (matters) and haven’t done serious weight and overspeed training, you can get there.
As to specific shafts, I’m going to suggest a couple very simple and low cost ones. Last I looked on EBay I could get one for about $100 for either.
Project X Black 70g class (I think it’s 76g’s) 7.0. They no longer offer this flex but consider it about TX flex. It’s as low spin and firm as you can find. It’s an oldie but goodie.
The Rogue Silver TX (120? 125?) MSI that was standard in the Wilson Triton line. They’re tough to locate. Not the Triton head that will explode your eardrum at your swing speed indoors, you can find those anywhere. You might contact @badolds on that one. He had one at one point and if he’s currently in possession and not using it I bet he’d be willing to part with it to another THp’er. I can’t speak for another man, but I’d be willing to place 50/50 on that, if in possession.
Driver heads. Well known among standard heads that there are three that are just absolute bombers IF you hit the sweet spot. The first one I’d suggest would be the 7.5* M1 430 cranked down to 5.5*. You can monkey track the weights on the front rail, put the heavier one (or get two heavy ones, even better) into the side you want to be fade or draw biased. 2 heavy front and center is the best route.
The R15 430. I hit the longest measured drive on a course in my life with that one. Again you probably wanna add a weight center track (I think it only has one, just like...)
The SLDR 430. This one may be the longest and least forgiving factory head ever produced. But if you can center it one out of 8 times, it may perform better than any out there. Make sure you get the adjustable weight version (the 430 might only have this option, but a bought a 460cc that didn’t have any weights for the kid for one point).
I’ll help in any way I can. I mean, THP is pretty much what I do outside of work. Pm me a swing vid or post it here. I can prolly pick out something that’ll help you pick up a little CHS. If you haven’t done overspeed training, do so. I (at 40 years old) went from 120 to 133 over the winter of 2017/2018. I since had some major trauma and I’m no longer a long driver, but I still know some stuff there.
Oh yeah, you need to work on that AOA. You’ll hit nothing other than high spinners. I won a hundred bucks at the local Trackman 4 place a couple days ago. There was a big ol boy swinging an M3/4 (didn’t get a close look) with a stock Tensei Blue at 122 CHS. He came over and watched my kid as we were testing out the mystery balls sent to us from THP. We started chatting and he was seeing my kid nose dive balls about 220 with 1500 spin at 100 CHS.
Somehow (him putting his thumbs under suspenders) he brought up his CHS (which I’d seen him send high 4K spinners that carried 255 and went 265 total. He’s watching my kid and only really watching the CHS and said something like, “Junior will be great once he swings like a man, haha”.
Haha. Excuse me. He’s hitting lowish spin balls to test them and still getting more than 265 total out of all of them. So we made a bet. Two swings each (I also noticed his contact was all over the place), the highest total distance on 1 of those two swings, wins. Bet? $100.
He hits his first, 255 carry, 265 total.
I told Junior to break out his TourB XS’s, haha.
He swings once and despite the grunts and groans of big ol boy, he didn’t even come close to beating this. He was maxed out at 265 due to playing a wildly inappropriate shaft for his swing.
Here’s the one shot walk off winning shot (at 101CHS).
So that tale is fun but there is a lesson there. CHS means nothing without maximizing it. The guy that owns the Trackman place ran the “optimizer” on him and it came back 10 yards shy of what he’d hit. A touch more carry and less roll. I’d take a 250 carry at 101 CHS. Yeesh.
The correct ball for him is the spiniest ball on the market. @rehbirdie what would that be? Lol. It’s either the TourB X or the TourB XS. Both performed great for him. As his CHS increases he likes the XS best, but could swap in the X with no issues.
His school gives him free ProV1’s. He throws them in his shag bag as he only plays Bridgestone when playing competitively.
Going to move the remainder of my thoughts into my night time thread, lol. (Don’t worry I’ll forget it in a couple days). I’ve stared wandering and my thread is more the place for that.
The Rogue Silver TX (120? 125?) MSI that was standard in the Wilson Triton line. They’re tough to locate. Not the Triton head that will explode your eardrum at your swing speed indoors, you can find those anywhere. You might contact @badolds on that one. He had one at one point and if he’s currently in possession and not using it I bet he’d be willing to part with it to another THp’er. I can’t speak for another man, but I’d be willing to place 50/50 on that, if in possession.
@Smiter I used that Rogue Silver 125 MSI shaft in a Srixon Z-785 then had good success with it in a Tour edge EXS and finally tried it in a couple different Mavrik drivers. I have settled on heavier stiff flex shafts instead of X flex. It ended up in a Mavrik Max head in the hands of another THP'r
@Smiter I used that Rogue Silver 125 MSI shaft in a Srixon Z-785 then had good success with it in a Tour edge EXS and finally tried it in a couple different Mavrik drivers. I have settled on heavier stiff flex shafts instead of X flex. It ended up in a Mavrik Max head in the hands of another THP'r
Salute!
Keep those good ones within THP! Last I knew you still had it and weren’t playing it so figured it worth a chance.
I have the epoxy drying and will get some simulator numbers tomorrow with a 47.5” driver. I hit some balls last week before the adapter twisted and I definitely picked up distance and was able to hit the fairway.
It will be interesting to see the difference between tour length and regular length. I’m going to hit the regular length in the Radspeed.
I’ve started my own experiment in this arena. I won a LIN-Q Purple on IG. Put an Old GBB Epic SZ 9° head on at 47”. Turned down 1° and lightened it up with 6 & 2 gram weights.
No launch monitor just 3 rounds in 30° weather here in these parts but results have proved interesting. It is very accurate. Also hitting it as long or maybe a tad longer than I would in the summer. Ground is not frozen actually quite soft as we have had some rain recently. I have been quite surprised by the results so far. Can’t wait to get an Epic Max LS on it. Will need to either remove the slider weight or find a lighter one to keep the swingweight Manageable. Also looking for an adapter with -2 setting from Golfworks.
No launch monitor just 3 rounds in 30° weather here in these parts but results have proved interesting. It is very accurate. Also hitting it as long or maybe a tad longer than I would in the summer. Ground is not frozen actually quite soft as we have had some rain recently. I have been quite surprised by the results so far. Can’t wait to get an Epic Max LS on it. Will need to either remove the slider weight or find a lighter one to keep the swingweight Manageable. Also looking for an adapter with -2 setting from Golfworks.
I’ve been thinking the same thing esp. after hearing the DNevs testing his group just did.
This should be interesting...especially if tracking dispersion variances between length.
Down and dirty tip, with Callaway just buy a LH adapter. It’ll drop 2* and leave the face as open as you can get it.
Beats left side and an aftermarket adapter price that is probably just a LH adapter anyways. Just remember it’s doing opposite of what you want. 2*+ means 2* open and 2* less loft.
A lot to unpack here so I'll tell you what I have done since I am just getting into the real grassroots competitions so I am not expecting WLD now, if ever. I will say the upper 120s was fully primed and I don't think I can just repeat that any day at the current moment. I've been playing consistently for under a year so this is all experimental for me and is just becoming my outlet after my lifting injuries.
I am 27. I haven't implemented any overspeed besides swinging really hard with no ball and then hitting one as part of some range sessions. I have been trying to find some sort of regimen to follow so I've just been going to the range 3x/week (1st day hitting a small amount of balls as hard as I can each shot, 2nd day with irons really exaggerating some of the swing changes I need to implement, 3rd day hitting a bit more balls than day 1 with a gamer swing to work on greasing the groove a bit). I currently weight train 3-4x/week and used to powerlift so I have a solid base to work with (I wasn't a machine so my numbers were not the best for 220 lbs at the time; squat: 501 lbs, bench: 325.1 lbs, deadlift: 606.2 lbs). I do a modified weight training program without aggravating injuries I have accumulated.
I'm assuming a lot of my speed came from just watching Larry Cheung videos on how to gain power in my swing and having mass on a 6'2" frame just made it happen, couldn't really say besides that since I do not know, lol. I'll try to get a recent video of my swing since I have nothing right now that is indicative of how things are looking at the moment.
Interesting. I’ve found that those that squat the most generally have the most CHS. 500# is no small feat at your height. I did 600+ but I was built like you at 5’11”. Your bench is higher than I ever got (315) and we didn’t really do dead lifts, but I’m thinking that yours is up there. Our alternate lift was the C&J. I don’t recall what I put up on that but we had an 800 and 1k club. I only had to hit 85 pounds or something stupid low on that lift to make 1k. I’m pretty sure I still hold my schools record for squat total and (for sure) squat to weight ratio.
I hit 660# at my best at 170#. I was a squat machine. Two back surgeries later and I think I lost that one, but I’d be shocked if anyone has lifted more than that total regardless of weight and I’d be equally surprised if a coach would even let them try. That’s just dumb even with a rack to catch.
Always have had super strong legs. It took some grunting but I leg pressed 850# on a 60*agle lift. I could have gone higher but that’s all the weight it would take.
Thanks dad for making me climb ladders with a bundle of shingles on each shoulder from the time I was 12 on.
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My guess is longer means more variance. It should be harder to square the face. Possibly more difficult than "It's only 2 inches" would incline one to believe.
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I am interested in all of this, but my last 2 drivers have played at 44.5" and I have never driven the ball better in my life. But then I could certainly use some more clubhead speed. Golf is so hard LOL!
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It will definitely be fun to see how the results turn out.
That's very impressive, my legs are too long, a full powerlifting regulation squat feels like I have to descend a mile, lol. The squatting mechanic in a long drive swing came to me naturally though so it wasn't hard to just try and get more out of it.
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Started looking for a new shaft as my old one has been repurposed back when I started THP. Still have the original head that was attached. Missed the final competition by 7yds to go to Florida many moons ago.
Will probably get a callaway adapter as I still have the LD head they made at 5°. Will be a while before that happens. Looking forward to reading about all the adventures!
Will probably get a callaway adapter as I still have the LD head they made at 5°. Will be a while before that happens. Looking forward to reading about all the adventures!
Well the epoxy held well so I got some swings in with my new long shaft in my standard head. For set up I have a Mavrik 10.5* head the stock shaft is the Rogue White in stiff at standard Callaway length which I believe is 45". The long shaft is an Xcaliber Superlight 55 in stiff flex. I just prepped it and put the adapter on it. The shaft is 46" raw and the playing length is 47.5".
I have a bunch of numbers today from some ball testing and then just some swings with the long shaft. The driver was set up to totally neutral. Below are the results:
I didn't get the dispersion data but they were very similar and they all would have been between the trees and I would estimate 10% would have been in the fairway. There were 10 swings with the LD and 12 with the standard.
The early info is certainly compelling enough that I would like to see what the results on the golf course would be. The LD swings were all at the end of almost 2 hours on the sim so I was a bit tired. Frankly I would like to see how a Mavrik subzero would behave. I will also play with setting my Mav to -1 but the launch angle seems to be in the window. It is kind of interesting that while the launch angle isn't much different I got 13 more feet of height.
I am sure the swingweight is heavy with the extra length. It isn't a perfect experiment but it was the best I could think of on a low budget.
I have a bunch of numbers today from some ball testing and then just some swings with the long shaft. The driver was set up to totally neutral. Below are the results:
| Club | Carry | Spin | Height | Launch | B Speed | C Speed |
| LD Avg | 234.0 | 2724.4 | 79.8 | 11.7 | 145.0 | 98.9 |
| Std Avg | 222.3 | 2432.5 | 66.1 | 11.4 | 141.2 | 95.6 |
I didn't get the dispersion data but they were very similar and they all would have been between the trees and I would estimate 10% would have been in the fairway. There were 10 swings with the LD and 12 with the standard.
The early info is certainly compelling enough that I would like to see what the results on the golf course would be. The LD swings were all at the end of almost 2 hours on the sim so I was a bit tired. Frankly I would like to see how a Mavrik subzero would behave. I will also play with setting my Mav to -1 but the launch angle seems to be in the window. It is kind of interesting that while the launch angle isn't much different I got 13 more feet of height.
I am sure the swingweight is heavy with the extra length. It isn't a perfect experiment but it was the best I could think of on a low budget.