revrat
Active member
I recently bought myself a new driver and ordered online because I have this nasty habit of "knowing all I need to" about things I actually have no clue about. My new driver seemed ok initially, but I never really fell in love with the sound and feel, and it was a bit erratic in play, so I started to tinker....which led me to screw myself and my swing right into the ground. Frustrated and confused, and full of doubt, I decided on a whim to splurge on a real driver fitting and get myself set up with the right driver and shaft. I found a place somewhat close by that specializes in such things. I made an appointment, and walked into this magical place with hundreds of shafts and dozens of driver heads to try. There was also a guy to put these things together special for you. A golf gear match-maker, so to speak
The fitter had me hit some balls with my current evil driver, and I was shocked with what my monitor numbers were. My "low launch/low spin" driver and shaft combo was giving about 4k spin, and 140 feet of height. Only about 230 carry on a good hit, which was very infrequent. Average smash factor was about 1.37. Dispersion was awful, but I knew that already from several rounds of trying to figure that driver out. It was just poor all the way around.
I kind of had in mind that I wanted to try the Mizuno ST190, so that was the first head the guy brought out. He immediately put me onto a heavier shaft, and a shorter one at the same time after looking at my swing. I went through several shafts to include Ventus, whatever the new Diamana version is, Fuji Pro something, some flavor of Accra TZ, a HZRDUS Smoke Green, and a couple of others that I don't recall. The Hzrdus Smoke Green felt the best, cut my spin in half, got the height down below 100', and brought dispersion down to a place I've never experienced. Most decently struck shots were carrying 260ish, and rolling out to 280ish. I tried several other heads and shafts that never beat those two out. Titleist TS4 was close, but not quite there. I never would have thought to try a 70g shaft, especially one that beefy, or to play a shorter shaft. At 44" I lost a couple MPH of swing speed, which damaged my fragile ego a bit, but definitely was more stable and over probably 40 swings averaged a 1.47 smash, with a few a good bit higher, which repaired the damaged ego. The fitter told me that was as good as I was going to see, and I tried and tried and tried to out-think him, and find some more performance. He kept giving me new combinations to try, and after about a hundred balls, and two hours, I had to admit that he had wrung out all that a club could do in my hands.
That was one last swing for the road as my wallet was becoming significantly lighter...... A bit better than most, but not by a lot. Hopefully that maintains on the course when my shiny new friend arrives in a few days. I'm looking forward to playing more second shots from the short grass.
So the takeaway for me was......some things are better left to pros. I thought club fitting could be helpful, but was more geared toward players much better than I. Nope. That s**t is legit! I'll be back when it comes time for new irons for sure.
TL;DR......I bought a new driver. Get fit for your clubs. It's good. I'm giddy.
The fitter had me hit some balls with my current evil driver, and I was shocked with what my monitor numbers were. My "low launch/low spin" driver and shaft combo was giving about 4k spin, and 140 feet of height. Only about 230 carry on a good hit, which was very infrequent. Average smash factor was about 1.37. Dispersion was awful, but I knew that already from several rounds of trying to figure that driver out. It was just poor all the way around.
I kind of had in mind that I wanted to try the Mizuno ST190, so that was the first head the guy brought out. He immediately put me onto a heavier shaft, and a shorter one at the same time after looking at my swing. I went through several shafts to include Ventus, whatever the new Diamana version is, Fuji Pro something, some flavor of Accra TZ, a HZRDUS Smoke Green, and a couple of others that I don't recall. The Hzrdus Smoke Green felt the best, cut my spin in half, got the height down below 100', and brought dispersion down to a place I've never experienced. Most decently struck shots were carrying 260ish, and rolling out to 280ish. I tried several other heads and shafts that never beat those two out. Titleist TS4 was close, but not quite there. I never would have thought to try a 70g shaft, especially one that beefy, or to play a shorter shaft. At 44" I lost a couple MPH of swing speed, which damaged my fragile ego a bit, but definitely was more stable and over probably 40 swings averaged a 1.47 smash, with a few a good bit higher, which repaired the damaged ego. The fitter told me that was as good as I was going to see, and I tried and tried and tried to out-think him, and find some more performance. He kept giving me new combinations to try, and after about a hundred balls, and two hours, I had to admit that he had wrung out all that a club could do in my hands.
That was one last swing for the road as my wallet was becoming significantly lighter...... A bit better than most, but not by a lot. Hopefully that maintains on the course when my shiny new friend arrives in a few days. I'm looking forward to playing more second shots from the short grass.
So the takeaway for me was......some things are better left to pros. I thought club fitting could be helpful, but was more geared toward players much better than I. Nope. That s**t is legit! I'll be back when it comes time for new irons for sure.
TL;DR......I bought a new driver. Get fit for your clubs. It's good. I'm giddy.
