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Need help with a new shaft

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thepete

thepete

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In recent weeks I've started to drive the ball quite...short. We've played tight courses so it's been more about hitting the fairway than hitting it far. I hadn't really thought much about it until last week when I noticed how much distance I've lost. I spent some time with Flightscope today and got some ugly numbers.

I hit my driver about 245 carry and get about 5-10 in roll. Earlier in the year my numbers were more along the lines of 260-265 and 15-20 roll.

I was fit for the stock Blur 60 S shaft and it's been great up until now. I've got my R11 set to 9.5*, 1 deg* open and weight in the heel. Spin was sitting around 3000-3500 and angle of descent a disgusting 40-44. Launch is fairly ideal, around 11. Swingspeed avg 106-107 and smash factor 1.41 avg. I have the same swingspeed as early in the year but get nothing from it.

I tried my friend's RAZR Hawk Tour 9.5 with the Diamana D-Series 73 S and my angle of descent was a good 7 degrees lower on average and had a spin of around 2700. Am I right in thinking that the Blur has a mid/low kickpoint whilst the Diamana has a high one, which helps keep the spin down along with the angle of descent?
 
thepete said:
I was fit for the stock Blur 60 S shaft and it's been great up until now. I've got my R11 set to 9.5*, 1 deg* open and weight in the heel. Spin was sitting around 3000-3500 and angle of descent a disgusting 40-44. Launch is fairly ideal, around 11. Swingspeed avg 106-107 and smash factor 1.41 avg. I have the same swingspeed as early in the year but get nothing from it.

I tried my friend's RAZR Hawk Tour 9.5 with the Diamana D-Series 73 S and my angle of descent was a good 7 degrees lower on average and had a spin of around 2700. Am I right in thinking that the Blur has a mid/low kickpoint whilst the Diamana has a high one, which helps keep the spin down along with the angle of descent?
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Looking at the numbers that spin rate is quite high for your SS and certainly won't be helping the distance at all.

You are correct, the D series is a stiff tip, high kick point shaft. It's actually just another name for the Whiteboard which is a pretty different shaft from the Blur. The Blur is a mid/low kick at best and designed to help get the ball in the air.

Depends who you talk to about the spin rate and what you're trying to achieve (carry vs roll) but with a 151 ball speed give or take something in the 2800 range would help with the decent angle and add much more roll distance. LA of 11 is still on the low side though, if you could get that up to 12 with a 2800 range I bet all that distance would come back in a hurry. As to how to acheieve that, I would say your pro or a fitter would do a much better job then I. My inclination thought would be to look at something that lowers the spin while still helping the launch along the lines of a Xcon, Altus, DI, AXIV Green or Kiyoshi. There's a lot of variation in profiles between those though so you'd really have to be able to see the ball and get the numbers to sort it out.

Side question: Were you using a different ball during the fitting then you are now? I imagine not but it's amazing how a tiny ball model change can make a signifigant difference in the numbers.
 
Yes, there was a difference in the ball. However it doesn't really matter because I was crushing it early in the year (and had good numbers at the fitting) but now I have poor numbers and also hit it short. I hit mostly range balls today but I hit a few Pentas out there too and the numbers were the same. Only difference was that the Penta was longer and those are the numbers I wrote down.

I can launch the ball higher no problem, but the spin stays the same or gets even higher. I hit it shorter with a higher launch.
 
If changing the launch at will isn't the problem then something in the mid to low flight range with low spin is going to be a better fit. Ahina, Whiteboard, Kusala Black, TP6HD, Project X, Ozik HD would all be better. If you have an aggressive transition then throw the Devotion in as well.

Given your numbers with the D series/Whiteboard, I'd take a serious look at the Ahina which spins a little less then the D/Whiteboard but with better feel. Project X and then the Ozik HD would be the next two to kill spin. The TPHD takes the Ozik HD gets tightened up a touch and adds Zylon so it feels better while killing spin bit time.
 
Thanks for the tips, I'll look into them a bit more!
 
Did some testing and tweaking today (with my swing). Got my some really good numbers in all aspects except spin. According to Flightscope I could gain 35 frickin' yards in carry and 10-15 in roll with less spin. I need to lose about 700-1000rpm. My launch is consistent around 11-12, adjusted my setup and now average closer to 110 in SS (peaking at 116), 1.4+ in smash, attack angle around 30 etc etc. All healthy numbers except spin.

Played 18 afterwards and I'm basically hitting 280-300 yard drives that come to rest 1 yard behind the pitchmark.
 
Nunchuk? Kusala Black? Fubuki? The latter of the two decreased spin for me and our numbers are eerily similar.
 
TC said:
Nunchuk? Kusala Black? Fubuki? The latter of the two decreased spin for me and our numbers are eerily similar.
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I'll take anything over the Blur now. Might stick my buddy's FT Tour with the Blueboard in the bag for my next tournament. Yes, that desperate.
 
thepete said:
I'll take anything over the Blur now. Might stick my buddy's FT Tour with the Blueboard in the bag for my next tournament. Yes, that desperate.
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The FT Tour is bomber bro. Are you allowed to do that with your TM sponsorship? Surely they can get you a Fubuki or something.
 
TC said:
The FT Tour is bomber bro. Are you allowed to do that with your TM sponsorship? Surely they can get you a Fubuki or something.
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I've got my own FT Tour with an Aldila Voodoo. Will try it tomorrow in the monitor as well. TM probably won't like me putting a Callaway in the bag, but I don't have a contract with them on how many TM clubs I have to game. I doubt they can get a new shaft to me before the tournament this weekend. After that I have two tournaments back-to-back between Sept 5 and 15. I have a window of about a week and I'd rather game a pink Cobra driver from 1996 with 14 degs of loft, lady flex and 57 inch shaft if I hit it better than my R11 with the Blur.
 
thepete said:
I've got my own FT Tour with an Aldila Voodoo. Will try it tomorrow in the monitor as well. TM probably won't like me putting a Callaway in the bag, but I don't have a contract with them on how many TM clubs I have to game. I doubt they can get a new shaft to me before the tournament this weekend. After that I have two tournaments back-to-back between Sept 5 and 15. I have a window of about a week and I'd rather game a pink Cobra driver from 1996 with 14 degs of loft, lady flex and 57 inch shaft if I hit it better than my R11 with the Blur.
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hahahaha, it's that bad huh? Dude, I feel for you. Good luck finding something that works. I imagine the FT Tour does the trick. But can you adjust to the difference in sound at impact :p
 
TC said:
hahahaha, it's that bad huh? Dude, I feel for you. Good luck finding something that works. I imagine the FT Tour does the trick. But can you adjust to the difference in sound at impact :p
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You mean the sound of a black hole opening in the universe because you frickin' NUKED that drive? Yeah, I can adjust to that. Best. Sound. Ever.
 
thepete said:
You mean the sound of a black hole opening in the universe because you frickin' NUKED that drive? Yeah, I can adjust to that. Best. Sound. Ever.
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Already re-falling in love with it huh? Nice. Dude, good luck this weekend. From the sound of it, it's not your off the tee game that keeps you in contention anyway. Just need to find fairways bro.
 
TC said:
Already re-falling in love with it huh? Nice. Dude, good luck this weekend. From the sound of it, it's not your off the tee game that keeps you in contention anyway. Just need to find fairways bro.
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I'm not worried about my score, I can get it done with these wussy drives. I'm not really struggling with any aspect of my game at the moment and I've played well for the past 8-10 weeks. I averaged 88% in fairway hits in my last tournament...but I was probably hitting my drive 255 on avg. Good thing the course was short.
 
thepete said:
I'm not worried about my score, I can get it done with these wussy drives. I'm not really struggling with any aspect of my game at the moment and I've played well for the past 8-10 weeks. I averaged 88% in fairway hits in my last tournament...but I was probably hitting my drive 255 on avg. Good thing the course was short.
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No doubt buddy. I love that you seem to just have a complete golf game. My entire off season will be dedicated to hitting more fairways. I tend to play better when I do.
 
Can you get non retail stuff from TM as well Pete? Ask them for a DOT R11 head, that'll kick 200rpm off the bat. I still think you're going to need to get on a LM to pick but I'd be leaning towards the Ahina in X or Project X 6B7 or 7B3 depending on the weight you like (6B7 is 69 raw to the 76 raw of the 7B3).
 
Super Tuna said:
Can you get non retail stuff from TM as well Pete? Ask them for a DOT R11 head, that'll kick 200rpm off the bat. I still think you're going to need to get on a LM to pick but I'd be leaning towards the Ahina in X or Project X 6B7 or 7B3 depending on the weight you like (6B7 is 69 raw to the 76 raw of the 7B3).
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I probably could if I asked for it...really nicely. I really like the look of the Ahina, but in X?
 
thepete said:
I probably could if I asked for it...really nicely. I really like the look of the Ahina, but in X?
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That might be personal preference but Mitubishi says that anything above 106 SS should be looking at an untipped X. Given a shaft has to be tipped 0.5" to get the R11 tip on it, stiff might be a better way to go. My bad on that one, I was looking at their recommendation and forgot about the tipping requirements. Might be worth while to try it in X and S though. If the X still feels ok with the adapter on it, it would cut a bit more spin off as well vs the stiff. Numbers, numbers, numbers at this point once you get some time between events.
 
thepete said:
Yeah, my main concern was that my friend who's got the Whiteboard shaft tried both S and X when Callaway made his RAZR Hawk and he thought the X was too much. He averages 115 in SS and can easily push it to 120, so you get the picture.

Hmmmm: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TAYLORMAD...Products_US&hash=item415ca3864f#ht_2938wt_895
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Fair enough. The RH in X will play out different due to the bore through design vs the hosel but Stiff in a heavier weight is probably your best bet.

For what it's worth that guy is a great ebay seller. I've gotten 4 different shafts from him and they've all be brand new with very fast shipping.
 
Stiff in a heavier weight = the 83g shaft? Quite a step up from my Blur 60...Read up a bit on the Ahina - like a Whiteboard but better, basically. I'm definitely interested.
 
thepete said:
Stiff in a heavier weight = the 83g shaft? Quite a step up from my Blur 60...Read up a bit on the Ahina - like a Whiteboard but better, basically. I'm definitely interested.
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No, like 73 instead of 63. 83 I think would be pretty burly and *might* cause you to get quick in the transition to load it.

The extra 10g of the 73 might also be a bit better with keeping everything on plane. However as a pro and super low handicap that's probably not a huge concern of yours
 
Super Tuna said:
No, like 73 instead of 63. 83 I think would be pretty burly and *might* cause you to get quick in the transition to load it.

The extra 10g of the 73 might also be a bit better with keeping everything on plane. However as a pro and super low handicap that's probably not a huge concern of yours
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I pretty much have a one-plane swing but a heavier shaft would probably help me from cutting across. Probably explains why I felt like I could move a draw easier with the Whiteboard.

Thanks a ton for your help! Appreciate it beyond words!
 
Cheers mate. Let us know how you get on with the Callaway and/or Ahina or whatever else ends up working out for you.
 
I'm in luck - TM rep bringing all their demo shafts to our club on tuesday, so I can get properly fitted for a new one.
 
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