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My Journey with the Callaway XR16 5 Degree Driver

SuperStroke
J4U

J4U

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Albatross 2024 Club
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Apr 20, 2012
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Location
Parker, Colorado, United States
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5.4
Having the swing flaws that I do and a high ball flight, I've always searched for the club/shaft that would help in bringing it down. Improvement has been made with correcting this but it's not as much fun as trying the easy way out. I'm posting this to log my journey into the unknown and for others to follow along if they choose.

I acquired a new "putter" as Jman put it this week and was excited to see what arrived...
20170809_190831~2.jpg20170809_190836~2.jpg

Looking for one of these beauties has been a journey as I've never come close to winning any bids. Well...last Friday must have been a busy day for those also in the hunt. I put my usual limit in 10 minutes before the auction ended and never reached my max bid and got the notification that I won. Was really shocked and actually wondered what I had just done. It arrived this week and haven't had time to get to the range...but tonight was the night.

I've never really gotten along with higher lofts or higher launching shafts and spin has always been up there as well. The number I pull for a club is always a carry number throughout the bag and the driver is not different. All too often I'll come up to my approach and can usually find my landing point somewhere close to the ball. Having the ball be behind the landing point doesn't surprise me anymore, but I'm okay with it as I've allowed for it with the club choice.

To the range...
 
Okay...so I've already been to the range but didn't want the first post to be too long.

I was excited to put this baby on to the EvenFlow Black 6.5 and see what she could do. Surprisingly I didn't pull it first, but went through my bag as I normally do. Partly to warm up as I got the go ahead from the boss to hit the range after work. I finally came to the point where the driver was up...and I didn't even hit it then! Kept the Sub Zero 9* set at -1 draw connected and gave a few swings with it to get a base line for flight. I kinda knew what was coming but wasn't expecting what I saw.

I switched out the heads and grabbed a pic
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"Putter" is a good description looking down at these two beasts. I was kinda worried what would happen so eased into it.

After a few swings the thought that went through my head was "What the heck is wrong with this thing!". My flight was scary low for what I'm used too...don't get me wrong, I knew it was coming. What I saw surprised the crap out of me. Mid-flight (for me) to even LOW rockets that just took off like a banshee. Distance at this range is not a good judge especially at night and my lack of seeing clearly. There is a fence at the end and I just can't see what happens once it clears it.

THE SOUND:
A mix between a softball bat and a tin can...almost looked around to see if anybody thought it was as bad as I thought it was!

FLIGHT:
Just flat out wants to take off and not waste any time trying to gain altitude.

FEEL:
Can tell I'm hitting something with a loft that was reserved for a much slower swing speed and no take-away. Usually only pulled when upon the green. It seemed quite light at the end of the EvenFlow. Possibly due to being designed for a longer shaft? Yep...that's now a ponder.

FORGIVENESS:
Touchy word but I couldn't miss with this thing right...or left. The miss on this club is getting away from the center...I've never seen a knuckle ball come off my club!

Took a pic of the face after probably 20 swings...
20170811_192621.jpg
I was getting center mass most of the time but knew right away when I didn't. I was sending the tees a heck of a lot farther forward than I ever have and that was ticking me off...lol. I haven't been concerned about chasing tee's before...but this beast was also wanting to send them downrange. I need to now go get more tee's as I couldn't stop!

Get away from the center and this thing shows me it is LOOOOOW spin. As mentioned earlier, I've never seen a knuckle ball come off the tee. Hit this thing just off center and it will take a hilarious flight and just fall as if something hit it mid air. Having not seen this before I was a little ticked off...then I remembered what I was swinging and how others with low spin could feel I guess...frustrated. Kinda made me want more spin...lol.

While texting my adventure's with KC720, he gave me some thoughts...
 
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I took the 5g weight out of the back and put an 8g in it's place. Felt a little better but need some more tinker time as I also thought about putting the 12g in there. Was having so much fun with the 8...I let it ride.

Hot Melt...yep was one of the first things out of KC720's responses...and I agreed! He wasn't even there and knew what I was thinking...scary. Both of us thought it would for sure help with the sound and based off how much and where could aid in other areas that I see down the road.

Next change was to loft up...wth! First driver I've ever thought about lofting up! So I decided to take it off -1 D...yup was hitting a 4 effing degree driver...lol! The mind took over and thought this would be funny...launching sky high. Hello...idiot...you are taking it to 7*! What I saw was awesome! It soared higher and still took off like a ball on a mission...the smile that was on my face must have been huge. I also checked around to make sure I didn't yell anything and people looking at an old man like he was mad. Not sure if I will keep it there, but the flight felt closer to home. Not touching the SZ flight...but liked the added flight time.

Can't wait to get this beast to a course and see what happens. Roll the eff out is what I'm thinking and carry distance will be a learned experience with this low launcher. Was seeing a nice draw and nothing really changed as I stepped on the speed except it disappeared faster. It also fell out of the sky quicker when contact was not that good, but it was down range and towards my target. Towards the end of the session I was getting all happy gilmore and just not caring what happened...that wasn't good. The Epic SZ for sure gives me support when my happy feet and tempo goes crazy...this one...not so much.

Taking it to the course on Sunday and see what happens...TBC
 
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Awesome. I like the thoughts so far keep us posted as I've thought about getting getting one of these heads. I may have missed it but what did the auction end at?
 
Scrap Iron said:
Awesome. I like the thoughts so far keep us posted as I've thought about getting getting one of these heads. I may have missed it but what did the auction end at?
Click to expand...

You didn't miss it...haha. Have been looking for some time and stuck to my limit.
Spoiler
$205 to my door

They usually go for quite a bit more for the XR16 and I've seen the XR for lower...but not much. Like I said I didn't expect to win it for that.
 
J4U said:
You didn't miss it...haha. Have been looking for some time and stuck to my limit.
Spoiler
$205 to my door

They usually go for quite a bit more for the XR16 and I've seen the XR for lower...but not much. Like I said I didn't expect to win it for that.
Click to expand...

That's a good deal. Have you ever tried a LD head before?
 
Scrap Iron said:
That's a good deal. Have you ever tried a LD head before?
Click to expand...

It's how I got into playing "golf" instead of being called upon to shamble off the tee if you will. Went to a LD comp with a borrowed club and a guy there let me hit his LD set up...missed going to Florida for the finals by 4 yards haha. Never had a set of clubs before that and found THP when I was searching for my first set. Short answer...yes
 
That's freakin awesome. Hope this one works out for you.
 
Scrap Iron said:
That's freakin awesome. Hope this one works out for you.
Click to expand...

It will work out or I'll throw something of the bod out for sure. I'm too old to be doing those comps anymore. This is just for fun!.
 
5*? Really!

Glad you're having fun with it and even though it's a process, I can just imagine the fun you're having with it on the range. Looking forward to the results from Sunday's round.


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I'm going to follow along this thread religiously. Good luck dude! Been a fun follow so far!


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Dougie, you're an animal. I think I would like to swing a 4° driver just once. For the lulz …
 
Very cool Doug! I'll be following this for sure.
 
Fun thread! Have to think Callaway made the driver for a reason, so it's got to work for someone. Hoping it continues to mesh well with your game!
 
This is great. I'm following and good luck with your experience.
 
How is the distance? I thought the face on the LD clubs were thicker than the regular models and that would result in lost ball speed unless you had like 140+ clubhead speed. It'd be interesting to see LM data between the LD head and your SZ. See if there is any actual ball speed loss or not.

This is a cool experiment and I'm enjoying following along!
 
kevin81002 said:
How is the distance? I thought the face on the LD clubs were thicker than the regular models and that would result in lost ball speed unless you had like 140+ clubhead speed. It'd be interesting to see LM data between the LD head and your SZ. See if there is any actual ball speed loss or not.

This is a cool experiment and I'm enjoying following along!
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This will be a step in the process for sure!
 
Took this combo and played it through the entire round today. Was tempted to put the SZ back in rotation but held off. Was a little rough going as the sun wanted to stay down a little longer this morning. Hit a few balls at the range but hit everything like I hadn't played the game before. After about 20 balls...off to the course.

The sound is still very bad even when nothing is surrounding you in the wild. Very bad to me anyway.

There is little margin for error on the face but again...it's the spin that is affected most I'm thinking as the left and right were all playable. Could see how the ball reacted in flight between center and just off center contact.

The flight of this combo is sickening to me as I'm so used to towering shots that just hop and stop. This combo held true to what I was seeing on the range last night. Mid penetrating flight that just soars and doesn't ever seem to want to stop moving forward until it comes to rest. I can still get it up on the higher flight zone when I step off of it but for the most part it was just rockets today.

Seeing the ball moving forward at velocity as it is coming to earth is something new to me...and I kinda liked it. Watching it land and then keep on going after the hop was fun. I think I found some roll...haha.

Nothing earth shattering with distance even though poked several a ways out there. Left it with the 8g instead of the 5 and +2 D setting. Something is off and can't quite put a thought to it but think it can be tweaked. KC720 is taking it home with him and put some hot melt into the head and see what we need to do to match the head weight and swing weight of the SZ/EvenFlow combo.

Was overall impressed with the combo today and knowing there is more in there excites me. Had some rough shots with a lot of the clubs in my bag but this held it's own and helped keep me below 80 and card a 79 today. With 2 penalties that brought in doubles again...still managed to sneak in 3 birds, 7 pars, and 6 bogies.

The tips were pushed back to their limits today and some of the carries had me nervous. Didn't have an issue at all and reached some places today off the tee that I haven't reached when playing boxes further up. Saw some straight out missiles today! Still some work to be done to get this feeling comfortable in the swing but looks promising.

Will be a while before I can get it back out to the range or a round...TBC
 
J4U said:
Took this combo and played it through the entire round today. Was tempted to put the SZ back in rotation but held off. Was a little rough going as the sun wanted to stay down a little longer this morning. Hit a few balls at the range but hit everything like I hadn't played the game before. After about 20 balls...off to the course.

The sound is still very bad even when nothing is surrounding you in the wild. Very bad to me anyway.

There is little margin for error on the face but again...it's the spin that is affected most I'm thinking as the left and right were all playable. Could see how the ball reacted in flight between center and just off center contact.

The flight of this combo is sickening to me as I'm so used to towering shots that just hop and stop. This combo held true to what I was seeing on the range last night. Mid penetrating flight that just soars and doesn't ever seem to want to stop moving forward until it comes to rest. I can still get it up on the higher flight zone when I step off of it but for the most part it was just rockets today.

Seeing the ball moving forward at velocity as it is coming to earth is something new to me...and I kinda liked it. Watching it land and then keep on going after the hop was fun. I think I found some roll...haha.

Nothing earth shattering with distance even though poked several a ways out there. Left it with the 8g instead of the 5 and +2 D setting. Something is off and can't quite put a thought to it but think it can be tweaked. KC720 is taking it home with him and put some hot melt into the head and see what we need to do to match the head weight and swing weight of the SZ/EvenFlow combo.

Was overall impressed with the combo today and knowing there is more in there excites me. Had some rough shots with a lot of the clubs in my bag but this held it's own and helped keep me below 80 and card a 79 today. With 2 penalties that brought in doubles again...still managed to sneak in 3 birds, 7 pars, and 6 bogies.

The tips were pushed back to their limits today and some of the carries had me nervous. Didn't have an issue at all and reached some places today off the tee that I haven't reached when playing boxes further up. Saw some straight out missiles today! Still some work to be done to get this feeling comfortable in the swing but looks promising.

Will be a while before I can get it back out to the range or a round...TBC
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You definitely hit it deep today. I took one swing with it and was honestly quite surprised. I'd never thing to hit a 7° driver lol. Sound and feel is definitely off, a few grams of hot melt in strategic location would do it wonders
 
This is too cool. I completely whiffed on purchasing the one I found in the Superstore recently...same head. It was playing at 47" with a Diamana Whiteboard 70X and my lord the swing speed / ball speed / distance it showed on the Foresight monitor was ridiculous...I was hitting it better than my regular driver.
 
SouthernShred said:
This is too cool. I completely whiffed on purchasing the one I found in the Superstore recently...same head. It was playing at 47" with a Diamana Whiteboard 70X and my lord the swing speed / ball speed / distance it showed on the Foresight monitor was ridiculous...I was hitting it better than my regular driver.
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You wasted it!
 
Wow...a 5* driver?

What kind of swing speeds are you guys generating?
 
I'm curious what your launch angle is coming off of that. I was seeing 9-10ish with the longer shaft. I feel like an idiot now...it was only $130 in the used section. I thought the sound was off too.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you think after Kang performs his magic
 
This thread is fun! Now you have me thinking about a less lofted driver and a longer shaft...
 
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