What is your launch like? Really high, high, medium, low? Sorry if I missed that already. Are these the same flex too? I would probably start with the heavier, but if your launch is high I would start with the Hzrds and vice versa.
Where to being with my driver shaft adventure?
Just as an FYI. I played a standard length 45ish driver from the time I started in 2009 until last Spring when I played a 43.5" Hzrdus Black (the tip broke during a fitting so I was gifted the cut down shaft). I suddenly found myself with a longer swing, across the line, and a 2 way miss. After a year of coaching, we think I had a hard time adjusting to being closer to the ball and I was making a much longer up and around swing to compensate. I am waiting on a 45.5" shaft and hit it much straighter than the shorter one at fitting. I'm probably a weird anomaly but just an fyi.
Irons tend to slice less because the shaft is shorter and there is more loft.
There are guidelines but they don’t fit everyone. A longer shaft could get you a bit further away from the ball and flatten your swing plane leading to a more in to out swing. For better or worse everyone is different.
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- #30
I honestly don't know. I'm gonna let you determine that in November
. I would say it's mid?I'm gonna try this 42" 60g shaft and see what happens first...it didn't cost me a single scent cause Luchnia is awesome and let me borrow them. So we'll see what happens. I'll report back to ya guys.
It's like Manolo says..... "Don't choke the chicken!"
My biggest issue was I seem to get center contact nearly every time but my swing plane was off. You are probably correct in your assertion. Despite the center contact, my distance was down. 260 carry vs. 275ish with the longer driver.
TxAggie2018
Well-known member
I would guess that your wrists are curling when you apply more or less grip pressure... kind of in a torqueing motion. Your post above makes it sound like your swing path is pretty straight (the balls in all 3 scenarios start straight), but the club face angle is running the gamut.
Keep your lead-arm hand pointed at the same angle every time. Look at the V formed by your thumb and pointer finger... aim that V at the same spot on your body every time. Most coaches and golf help guides will say to aim it at your right shoulder, but for me, it works better to point it at my chin.
My miss is always a slice or a block right, but strengthening my grip and opening my lead foot to help turn my stiff hips through has helped a lot. With driver, I have gone from ~90% slices off the tee to 50% slices and 50% dead straight balls. It's not Tiger stuff, but I'll gladly take the improvement.
Anyway, if the ball is launching high and the swing is somewhat repeatable (the shaft's not just whipping and spraying balls everywhere), I don't think it's a shaft issue. Or at least it's not the first thing I'd check.
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Necroshine
Active member
These three points described me as well, just reverse it since I golf lefty. I also thought it was a shaft issue but it was just coming over the top and a bit too much torso twisting and not enough weight shifting forward.
How this was mitigated for me was to play my back foot behind the imaginary address line about 3-5 inches. This hinders torso movement a bit. Next, I started playing the ball in front of my lead foot. Say 2 inches. This forced me to transfer my weight forward into the ball. As a side effect, I am now hitting up on the ball much better and have seen a big distance increase as well.
I don't normally chime in on posts like this but this was just too uncanny a coincidence not too.
If you can get 260 carry consistently with the driver and keep it in play why wouldn't you. Real 260 yard carry is great distance. With that distance I would definitely trade accuracy for distance.
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- #36
Let me just say this thread has been great. I still think there is value in trying a shorter shaft, just to see if makes my current OTT swing more playable. I think it's going to be easier to shallow out that club and not chop down on it so much which is kind of what an OTT is, but we'll see. If I can lose fewer balls as a result that's a win, I understand it won't cure my OTT.
But I'm also going to try some of the things mentioned above. I like the idea of dropping my back foot, I never once considered that I have too much torso twisting. I always thought OTT was a result of not getting your hips cleared and not having enough torso twisting.
I don't think it's a grip issue. I just had lessons in the last two months where we worked a ton on adjust my grip to a more neutral grip, and overall I don't feel like I'm doing that awfully wrong, so I'm gonna try the back foot drop back, maybe I will try also moving the ball a bit more forward to create a reach as well.
But I'm also going to try some of the things mentioned above. I like the idea of dropping my back foot, I never once considered that I have too much torso twisting. I always thought OTT was a result of not getting your hips cleared and not having enough torso twisting.
I don't think it's a grip issue. I just had lessons in the last two months where we worked a ton on adjust my grip to a more neutral grip, and overall I don't feel like I'm doing that awfully wrong, so I'm gonna try the back foot drop back, maybe I will try also moving the ball a bit more forward to create a reach as well.
Try to find a pro to work with. Taking advice from us hacks might stumble on a solution but it would be luck.
Can't keep it in play easily at 260. Neutral setup of feet and shoulders I hit towering draws or the occasional hook. Setup open and I hit low cuts with the ball teed low and high slices with it teed higher. On the sim with a different shaft combo, I was much straighter.
You're on a fruitless journey to try and find a shaft that can fix all of that. It could smooth out some properties of your really bad shots but it sounds like you're generally not making great contact with the driver anyways. I'd work on getting consistent, more singular miss and then beginning this journey once it's improved.
Bucketsofjoy
Well-known member
Take some different shafts and some lead tape to the range and try stuff out.
I'd ask your instructor for help. You're already working with one.
I was going to say grip... tweak it just a tiny it... lead shoulder in a touch... just a tiny bit... right eye behind the ball. That's what I did but the opposite since I'm a lefty.:confused2::confused2:
Talk to your instructor.
I was going to say grip... tweak it just a tiny it... lead shoulder in a touch... just a tiny bit... right eye behind the ball. That's what I did but the opposite since I'm a lefty.:confused2::confused2:
Talk to your instructor.
squats
Active member
I'm struggling with this exact same issue. I should've done some more searching but what got me thinking about all of this is the Taylormade Mini Driver. I was tempted to purchase but then decided to just go the route of putting a 3wood shaft into my Driver. I upped the weight of the head by 8grams and have found some consistency with my one range session. I need way more practice to figure out if this change is actually doing anything for me, but ball flight was higher & straighter. I wasn't necessarily focusing on distance as that's next on the list and getting actual data besides what my eyes are telling me.
My overall issue was that I felt my hands were always leading with the driver shaft (stock Cobra F9 HZRDS Smoke Yellow) and therefore I was pushing or OTT outside-in. With the 3wood shaft I feel that I have better control of the head and that I'm finding alignment through my swing path where my hands are in the correct position relative to the impact. My main concern now is if it effects distance with the driver. If I'm now hitting the same distance as my current 3wood gamer than this is a fruitless experiment. Only the data will show and I need to go get on a shot monitor to figure that all out (impact path, launch angle, spin, etc...) This is at least a cheaper experiment than if I were to go and buy a club, which is how I'm selling it to myself.
My overall issue was that I felt my hands were always leading with the driver shaft (stock Cobra F9 HZRDS Smoke Yellow) and therefore I was pushing or OTT outside-in. With the 3wood shaft I feel that I have better control of the head and that I'm finding alignment through my swing path where my hands are in the correct position relative to the impact. My main concern now is if it effects distance with the driver. If I'm now hitting the same distance as my current 3wood gamer than this is a fruitless experiment. Only the data will show and I need to go get on a shot monitor to figure that all out (impact path, launch angle, spin, etc...) This is at least a cheaper experiment than if I were to go and buy a club, which is how I'm selling it to myself.
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- #43
I tested everything and I didn’t find shortening the shaft to offer much better misses and I was shorter by about 20 yards. However, I did find swapping the 6g weight in my head with my current shaft to a 16g weight helped quite a bit. Not sure if it’s allowing me just a bit more time to close the face or what but so far in my range testing and a full 18 it seems to have helped a bit with no real loss of yardage. So for now I’m gonna stick with the 16g weight.
Luchnia
You will never conquer golf.
Was the 6g weight front or back? From what I remember the heavier weight at the back should increase spin slightly which can give a tad more apex/height. If the heavier weight is in the front I think it was less spin. Hope I remembered that correctly.
Nick20UK
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Increasing the weights will make the swing weight heavier. Which is the equivalent of increasing the shaft length or the weight of the shaft. 10g is roughly equivalent to around 0.75" longer shaft from what I read online. It could be that you'd be better with a 45" slightly heavier (or stiffer) shaft.
But then again, the shorter shaft will give you better and more consistent strike control on the face which will help with your misses, and the increased weight will increase the swing weight. Have you tried a shorter shaft with added weight as well?
If you want to go down the rabbit hole of data and fitting info, then this post on DIY driver changes from length to swing weights (from GolfWRX forum, sorry) is an interesting read.
forums.golfwrx.com
But then again, the shorter shaft will give you better and more consistent strike control on the face which will help with your misses, and the increased weight will increase the swing weight. Have you tried a shorter shaft with added weight as well?
If you want to go down the rabbit hole of data and fitting info, then this post on DIY driver changes from length to swing weights (from GolfWRX forum, sorry) is an interesting read.
DIY Driver tune up / DIY fitting
DIY Driver tune up Ive seen the same questions over and over, and many of the readers dont have access to club fitters or work shops who can assist, so they are left to them self. Many is asking for help to cut down a driver, and what happens if...and so on, but before you do anything at all to c...
forums.golfwrx.com
i would think that an ott move would be exacerbated by a shorter shaft. a longer shaft should pretty much always result in a flatter plane.