Long Term Driver View: Set & Forget or Tinker to Adjust?

tpluff

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Hey THP. Got this idea in my head while reading a few things last week and was curious what others would think once I was finally able to put it into words. This all stems from me analyzing the results of fittings and comparisons to gamers that are tested the same day. I had the thought that yeah, it's great that on this day you gained 15 yards versus your current gamer! Who wouldn't turn that down? However, I'm often curious what were the results of the fitting to get into your current gamer? Was your gamer better or even worse than today showed when originally fit? Did you adjust your current gamer on that day to see if you could get any better numbers like you did the new driver?

Basically, it comes to this: If you game a driver for an extended period of time (definition may differ for each person), do you make any adjustments to your driver to keep it at optimal performance or do you set & forget and/or move onto something new and shiny when the luster is gone?

Lots of incoherent rambling there, but it's the best I could do. Thoughts?
 
All I want from a driver is consistent accuracy with adequate distance. Lots of drivers work fine for me.
I think players trying to maxmize distance and, or, target a particular trajectory, shot shape etc... end up tinkering a lot with different heads, shafts, settings etc....
But for scoring, I think, all one needs is a driver with which they consistently hit fairways,so it does not seem worth it to me to spend much time focused on driver specifications.
 
I get fit and I usually stick with it.

If i have a prolonged stretch with no performance then I tinker with the settings/shaft etc.

Usually when testing and or getting a driver in the beginning i tinker and find the right setting for me on a LM then confirm performance on course

So i guess it’s a mix of both but when something just works i stick with it

For example my Ping G400 SFT i’ve set and forget when the swing is on or even somewhat okay it’s fantastic in terms of dispersion and accuracy for me with a driver

My F8 i’ve generally left it at 14* or 13.5D depending on what I’ve seen with the swing but those are the only tweaks
 
I’m generally a set it and forget it kinda guy. When I want a performance change I’ll get new hardware.
 
i have done 4 driver fittings. i don't game anything remotely similar to the recommendations from any of those fittings. the short answers to the question, "well, why not?" is that my swing has changed a lot, and the most recent fitting had me stay with a driver that i could never get consistent or confident in.

assuming that i would get fit into something that continued to work, i can't imagine why i would tinker with it.
 
Things change for sure depending on the day - swing, weather, muscle soreness... so I can see the logic behind constantly tinkering. That said, I’ve never been fit for clubs so maybe I’m nowhere near a good match for my game.
I compare it to selecting a fairway wood or driving iron depending on the course you’re playing that day. If it ‘ain’t broke...
 
I tinker. My swing changes over time, heck it can even change over a few weeks, so I will adjust if I don't think I am getting the ball flight/performance I want. I made a few tweaks to my custom fit F8 from Shaft Up and it absolutely helped. Have no doubt I will tweak it again down the line too.
 
I don't think my answer will help since I haven't been formally fit for a driver, but will give it anyways - I try and game the same driver head for at least a full season, but will make adjustments along the way. Last year it was one shaft change and a couple of times toyed with the loft. Don't think that's a lot. This year with the Rogue I lofted down after a recommendation on a Trackman session and just now added a little bit of weight. So I'm not a heavy tinkerer but do play around with settings a couple of times a year.

That said, if I were fit and felt very comfortable with the results I'd be more reticent to change the settings.

And I change every year or two because golf equipment is fun. I have gained distance with both my prior drivers though.
 
Generally set and forget. Although I do sometimes set loft down a notch in the summer when the fairways are baked and the ball rolls like it's in a parking lot.
 
Once I have it optimized for me I just stick with it. Bad swings are a product of me, not the club settings.
 
I usually set and forget. My swing is not the greatest but thankfully my recovery and short game are very good. My driver swing can be on for months and then all of a sudden, boom, it goes away and I try and search for it. I've been down the road thinking it's always the arrow, then someone told me it might be the Indian instead. I'm thinking that someone is right on!! No amount of adjustment is going to fix a bad swing/set-up/alignment. It's always a battle for me because I get too comfortable.
 
I set and forget. If my swing changes and I start getting different results I start working on my swing to try and get it back to the starting point. I'm not sure why I don't take advantage of the adjustments though.
 
I swapped shafts on my Epic driver about 6 months ago, have not touched anything on the club since.
 
Set it and leave the damn thing alone. Equipment changes are where competent golf does to die for higher handicap players. I basically lost this year from messing with equipment.

Dave
 
I tinker from time to time when the driver goes south but always end up back on the standard neutral setting.
 
Whatever I get fit at I just leave it. I'm not a good enough judge to know what I need to change to make those changes.
 
I've learned over time that a driver has to look a certain way for me to have success with it. Adjusting the adapter portion of the head is a one time thing for me.

Moving weights on the bottom? I'll tinker away for sure.
 
I tinker, but not very often. My usual “trigger” for tinkering is getting a certain pattern in my ball flight, like a high fade or a ball that just spins and balloons. If I get that I adjust and most of the time it helps a lot.
 
I have had my driver for a couple of years now and at the fitting the driver was set to the configuration that gave me the best results

However, I have had lessons and made changes to my swing over that time, so in conjunction with my coach those settings have subsequently changed - the loft has been reduced and the sliding weight has been moved

I don't tinker with anything outside of my lessons as I don't see the point when I am getting the best out of it
 
I have a setting with one of my drivers that is a can’t miss. When I put a good to great swing on it, I get maximum performance. I do how ever have a couple other settings that I can use if my swing is a bit off and just need to know I’ll be in play. The problem with this, is that I usually see the wonkiness when I’m on the course I can’t adjust. If only I saw it during warm ups I’d be ok.

In general though, once I find a setting, I just let it be. If I’m in love with the driver I’ll make sure I have a couple shafts in hand so I can trade out from time to time.
 
I was watching a video of a guy who wanted to see if replacing the stock shaft on his Titleist driver with a $379 shaft would make his driver out-perform the same driver using the stock shaft. When his test results came back, the results showed that the $379 shaft gave him an extra 3 or 4 yards more than his stock shaft at best. That's quite an expensive 3 or 4 yards IMHO.
 
Set loft low as possible and check a couple positions on the face and then it's usually set. Once in the bag changes are rare.
 
Weirdly while I think Drover is one of the clubs people change the most, it’s the most “set of and forget it” in the bag for me.

Once I find something that works I stick with it because the downside of a driver not performing is much greater than the rest of the clubs in the bag.
 
I’ve goofed around with the Triton more than any club I’ve owned. I’m not even sure I’ve noticed substantial change good or bad with changing out the sole plates. One plays tee shots in a high pitched tone. The other higher. But the ball goes far for me.
 
I tweak all the darn time to my detriment.
 
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