Harrison Shotmaker - THP Preview

I have the "D" in mine (Harrison Eclipse shaft). That's what the fitter recommended. I can definitely notice a difference in the number of fairways hit. A good day for me used to be 50%. Now a bad day is 75%.
 
I did some waggling to get a feel for the shaft and it feels a bit more stout to me with the Shotmaker in it. I don't know if that's good or bad, but I'll find out soon.
 
I did some waggling to get a feel for the shaft and it feels a bit more stout to me with the Shotmaker in it. I don't know if that's good or bad, but I'll find out soon.
I can't wait to hear what you think!
 
As many of you know I have been playing the Shotmaker in my driver for a couple of months now. And many of you know that I love this product. I have posted launch monitor data on a couple of occasions and on each of those occasions my data has shown a decrease in spin and an decrease in dispersion. I originally was using the E flex Shotmaker in my R11 because that was what was recommended to me by the rep at Harrison, but I could tell no discernible difference with that one. I called and spoke to another rep and he recommended trying the F flex, which is what I have been using for a couple of months. I have spoken on the fact that what I am seeing is a muting effect on the spin on my ball. I generally get slight fades and slight draws. There has been a lot of discussion about which Shotmaker is right for you and to be honest this is an area that Harrison needs to address because the information they have is not very clear. When speaking to two different reps, I was recommended two different products. The key factors in deciding which Shotmaker is right for you are SS and load. SS is an easy enough number to find, but what exactly is loading. That is the grey area in the process. According to their chart with my SS (103-106) I should be able able to play either the E, F or G depending on if my loading is low, medium or high. E was definitely not right for me and I have been a fan of the F, so I figured I will give the G flex a go and get some more hard data on the comparison between the two flexes vs no Shotmaker at all. That will be coming sometime in the next couple of weeks so stay tuned. As I said before, the launch monitor data I have obtained shows definite improvement with the Shotmaker in vs no Shotmaker, but I was wondering if that theoretical improvement has translated to actual improvement on the course. I went back an analyzed the data from my rounds pre-Shotmaker and post-Shotmaker and here is what I have found.

Mar-Jul 1st- PreShotmaker
46.2% FIR
17.8% Left
36.0% Right

Jul 8th- Present- Rounds played with the Shotmaker in my R11
55.3% FIR
24.7% Left
20.0% Right

Last 5 rounds with the Shotmaker
61.4% FIR
17.1% Left
21.4% R

I chose March as the cut off date for my Pre-Shotmaker rounds because that is when I got my R11. The data before I got the R11 is really bad :D I hope this is helpful, I would love to answer any questions that people have, just let me know.
 
I did some waggling to get a feel for the shaft and it feels a bit more stout to me with the Shotmaker in it. I don't know if that's good or bad, but I'll find out soon.

I think it should make for a better shot dispersion
 
Spent quite a bit of time with this on the LM last night. Obviously, that information will be saved for the review. I will say that it was pretty easy to install if you have the right tools.

I'll be testing it on the range and the course soon as well.
 
Spent quite a bit of time with this on the LM last night. Obviously, that information will be saved for the review. I will say that it was pretty easy to install if you have the right tools.

I'll be testing it on the range and the course soon as well.
Sweet. Keep us posted, I think a lot of people are very interested in this little dandy.
 
I have to say, with some of my tee game woes lately, that I'm contemplating this setup. Like many others, I'm not 100% sure which flex to go with. Its probably an F or G, but who knows for sure.

Dr. T and Sean, hard to argue with those improvements in FIR.
 
One thing that continues to cross my mind is - why not just get fit for a shaft that tightens your dispersion? Without getting too specific, I did see some improvements, but I also saw similar improvements with another head/shaft combo that seems to fit me a little better. Is it worth all of the money to buy a driver/shaft comb and then a shotmaker if you could just get similar results from just getting a better fitting driver in the first place?
 
One thing that continues to cross my mind is - why not just get fit for a shaft that tightens your dispersion? Without getting too specific, I did see some improvements, but I also saw similar improvements with another head/shaft combo that seems to fit me a little better. Is it worth all of the money to buy a driver/shaft comb and then a shotmaker if you could just get similar results from just getting a better fitting driver in the first place?

That is a great question. I was just about to ask this same thing. I feel like you could upgrade your shaft at the outset and make out cheaper than buying this thing, but could be wrong
 
One thing that continues to cross my mind is - why not just get fit for a shaft that tightens your dispersion? Without getting too specific, I did see some improvements, but I also saw similar improvements with another head/shaft combo that seems to fit me a little better. Is it worth all of the money to buy a driver/shaft comb and then a shotmaker if you could just get similar results from just getting a better fitting driver in the first place?

I would like to comment on this point Hawk. The driver I am playing was expertly fit for me by the amazing people at The Kingdom. We tried a dozen or so shafts before we found the one that I am currently playing, the Diamana ahina which is a super premium shaft. That being said I still suffer from the inconsistencies off the tee that most golfers experience. The Shotmaker has taken what was a great fitting shaft and converted it into an incredible shaft for my game, and it has done this by decreasing the side spin that I experience from a slightly less than perfectly struck shot. I do not believe that having a shaft that is fit for excludes you from receiving the benefits of the Shotmaker. Having a shaft that is fit for you and utilizing the proper Shotmaker is in my mind a great way to optimize the positive aspects of both technologies, while at the same time decreasing the negative effects of an imperfect swing.
 
Great post Dr, I'm ordering a E flex when I get off work
 
Great post Dr, I'm ordering a E flex when I get off work

I can't wait to hear your thoughts! BTW thanks for your input on the Ghost Spider, I decided to take the plung and have the CS version on order.
 
Awesome, glad I could help, can't wait to hear your thoughts on it. I'm excited to try this shotmaker
 
That makes sense, but I don't know that your situation is similar to the way most people get their drivers or their shotmakers. If you had purchased that set up off the shelf, you'd be looking at almost 650.00. It just seems like a very expensive way to possibly get a little better dispersion to me. That said, each of us can make that call for ourselves for sure. Fwiw, it did appear to increase the dispersion a bit for me with the SuperTri on the launch monitor.


I would like to comment on this point Hawk. The driver I am playing was expertly fit for me by the amazing people at The Kingdom. We tried a dozen or so shafts before we found the one that I am currently playing, the Diamana ahina which is a super premium shaft. That being said I still suffer from the inconsistencies off the tee that most golfers experience. The Shotmaker has taken what was a great fitting shaft and converted it into an incredible shaft for my game, and it has done this by decreasing the side spin that I experience from a slightly less than perfectly struck shot. I do not believe that having a shaft that is fit for excludes you from receiving the benefits of the Shotmaker. Having a shaft that is fit for you and utilizing the proper Shotmaker is in my mind a great way to optimize the positive aspects of both technologies, while at the same time decreasing the negative effects of an imperfect swing.
 
That makes sense, but I don't know that your situation is similar to the way most people get their drivers or their shotmakers. If you had purchased that set up off the shelf, you'd be looking at almost 650.00. It just seems like a very expensive way to possibly get a little better dispersion to me. That said, each of us can make that call for ourselves for sure. Fwiw, it did appear to increase the dispersion a bit for me with the SuperTri on the launch monitor.

You are totally right! With everything I have in my driver it would cost over $800. That is prohibitive to anyone! I am excited to see others trying this though, because I would love to see how this thing helps a stock shaft as compared to a premium shaft. My gut says that the stock shafts would see a greater percent improvement, but that doesn't sound like the case for you.
 
It's sort of the chicken vs the egg thing for me. If you have a set up that isn't great, this could be a way to bring it back for you. Or, you could just get a set up that works well for you in the first place. I don't want to condemn either approach for sure. If money weren't an issue, I think a combo of the two (like you have going) could be great for some people.
 
It's sort of the chicken vs the egg thing for me. If you have a set up that isn't great, this could be a way to bring it back for you. Or, you could just get a set up that works well for you in the first place. I don't want to condemn either approach for sure. If money weren't an issue, I think a combo of the two (like you have going) could be great for some people.

THAT is well put IMO. I know I for one just get more confidence in my setup having it in there, completely understand peoples points on the cost though, as a ho I just seem to buy before I think LOL.
 
It's sort of the chicken vs the egg thing for me. If you have a set up that isn't great, this could be a way to bring it back for you. Or, you could just get a set up that works well for you in the first place. I don't want to condemn either approach for sure. If money weren't an issue, I think a combo of the two (like you have going) could be great for some people.

Totally agree!
 
Still need a couple more rounds with this to get a good idea of my thoughts. I went to the range on Saturday and hit almost 100 balls with just drivers. I messed with weights, heads, etc. In the end, I'll say that the SuperTri/Shotmaker combo was easily the straightest. It was also the shortest, but that's my swing and spin from the ST head.

I went to the course on Sunday and just didn't see the same results. I actually hit quit a few good drives, but I was just missing the fairway more than I'd hoped. It wasn't a totally fair test as I was extremely tired and in pain.
 
Great info here Hawk and some very good thoughts as well. Sorry to hear your round went so poorly.
 
Great info here Hawk and some very good thoughts as well. Sorry to hear your round went so poorly.

I actually shot a decent score (91), but I was scrambling my butt off all day.
 
Played 18 on Sunday. Shot 86 and could've easily been 83 as couple of lipout putts, and blew one easy 4ft par putt turned bogey :angry:

Shotmaker (F flex) performed as advertised both in my PING K15 driver and K15 3W. By my count saved me on 4 holes where drives were not as good - I was struggling with push/fade on 3 holes on the front 9. On one hole I could swear I mishit(sliced) the ball so bad I figured it would be on the adjoining hole fairway. Turned out the ball was 15 yards right of my fairway, and a easy 114 yd shot to the pin. I calculated the SM probably saved me 5-7 strokes this weekend, and used combination of both Driver and 3W. I was getting much better dispersion with the 3W. I played the Driver with 4gram backweight to give bit added weight, whereas the 3W had the plastic cap.

Anyhow, so far pretty happy with the results with SM in my PING K15 woods.

Over next couple weeks I will test the SM in my new Adams 9064LS 9.5* Aldila RIP Gamma I picked up quite cheap. Will have it reshafted with Harrison SAGA 60S since not a fan of the Aldila RIP shaft, and stick a SM into it. Looking forward to hitting this ultimate low spin driver combo head+shaft+shotmaker
 
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