Tbonafide
New member
Any tips to avoid missing high on the face as MH mentioned? I think this is my issue With the GW, especially. Move the ball back in my stance, maybe?
Jumbo Max Grips Review Thread
Definitely this, and make a conscious effort to be balanced on your feet on a heel/toe basis (i.e. don't lean forward). I know I have this tendency with short clubs sometimes, and it will cause S-words, high face misses, and other horrors. Most of the time, telling myself to let the ball breath and backing off does the trick though.
Regarding the driver, I'm wondering if my particular driver (R11S) has any effect on this. Compared to other newer drivers I've swung (Cleveland Classic, Callaway XHot/RFX, etc), the R11S seems to have a little heavier swingweight, i.e. I feel the head more throughout the swing. I also played with the weights recently and put them into the draw biased setup, which actually made the club feel even a shade heavier than that. I'm wondering if my reduction in swingweight with the Jumbo is less than others' experience due to this, because while the driver is definitely lighter, I wouldn't say that I lose the clubhead at any point during the swing. Not sure if this is valid, but it just popped into my head - thoughts? And if this is true, it suggests that you fellas who are losing the clubhead during the swing may really see an improvement with some well placed lead tape.
Smallville
#ICanHitADraw
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When I borrowed my friend's driver with an oversized grip. I was 20 yards behind my driver at times, even when I hit it great.
Germerican
AngryYankee
Saturday needs to hurry up and come so I can field test these bad boys. Hearing a lot of great things from the irons/wedge and mixed reviews on the driver. I am hoping I have positive results with the driver. Every time I come home I see my three clubs waiting for me and I cry a bit inside knowing I can't do anything until the weekend.
Are you asking shaft weight? Or total club weight? I'd have to do some checking to answer the latter. For the former, 85g stiff shafted 7 iron and AW. Driver shaft is 61 gram stiff. Had the stock grips on the SpeedBlades (I'll look up their weight) and a Pure Wrap P2 on the driver prior (same thing--I'll look up the weight).
So I'm "feeling" more of the additional grip weight with the AW and 7 iron than with the driver.
golfinFF
Active member
Lots of great thoughts so far guys.
I'm really perplexed about the loss of distance with the drivers.
I'm really perplexed about the loss of distance with the drivers.
DevRickus
The Dirty Jerz
As am I, especially since their website says you should gain distance.
I'm not sure what exactly it is about me that caused me to, in contrast to just about all the other testers, not have this problem (at least, not yet). Maybe I will have a better handle on it once I play my first round with them on (Saturday).
That is kind of odd isn't it? I wouldn't have guessed that but I guess dropping the swingweight a few points can have any number of negative or positive effects.
Hopefully not. Loss of distance with the driver is no bueno.
golfinFF
Active member
I know one of you has multiple shafts for there driver. Is there away for you to get on a LM and see what the SS difference is?
For anyone else if you know what your SS was before is there away to get it now?
For anyone else if you know what your SS was before is there away to get it now?
Played another 18 holes today and saw more of the same.
With my driver I saw the same problems of not getting the face shut and ending up way right. Strengthening my grip resulted in pulls or less fades. Nothing I felt confident about as I did not know where my drives might be heading. I just don't see how having to manipulate your grip to make this work is a positive. I will move this to my hyron and see how it performs there.
I had several more chances today with my 7 iron including 2/4 par 3's. I hit them better than yesterday as I was reasonably on target. However today left me wondering where the improvement lies with this club as I hit my other mid irons just as well.
The wedges are where these grips continue to show a gain over standard grips. Everything from a full swing with my gap wedge to small chip and runs around the green felt great. I could definitely see these on all my wedges after I conclude testing on the other clubs. Once again I think it is an extension of the principles of the oversize putter grip. The large grip keeps your wrists from being to active which is the death blow to all wedge play. I might move the grip from my 50* to my 56* next week to try it in the sand and more lofted short shots.
If JumboMax is not successful in selling these grips for the entire set, they could change their strategy and market them as special wedge grips. Players will see an immediate benefit with them in their wedges.
With my driver I saw the same problems of not getting the face shut and ending up way right. Strengthening my grip resulted in pulls or less fades. Nothing I felt confident about as I did not know where my drives might be heading. I just don't see how having to manipulate your grip to make this work is a positive. I will move this to my hyron and see how it performs there.
I had several more chances today with my 7 iron including 2/4 par 3's. I hit them better than yesterday as I was reasonably on target. However today left me wondering where the improvement lies with this club as I hit my other mid irons just as well.
The wedges are where these grips continue to show a gain over standard grips. Everything from a full swing with my gap wedge to small chip and runs around the green felt great. I could definitely see these on all my wedges after I conclude testing on the other clubs. Once again I think it is an extension of the principles of the oversize putter grip. The large grip keeps your wrists from being to active which is the death blow to all wedge play. I might move the grip from my 50* to my 56* next week to try it in the sand and more lofted short shots.
If JumboMax is not successful in selling these grips for the entire set, they could change their strategy and market them as special wedge grips. Players will see an immediate benefit with them in their wedges.
Milehigh- What is your typical miss with your driver?
Couldn't agree more, particularly on the partial swings. Based on my one range/pitching green session with them, it just felt so solid, and almost like I couldn't miss. The contact and feel was outstanding.
jt2929
Equipment Junkie
Interesting thoughts so far guys. A little different results than what I expected, but maybe i'll give these a try on my wedges.
SharkHat
Aquatic Headwear Fanatic
Links to earlier reviews:
Initial Impressions and Installation
Getting to Know You
Range Session 10/23
I got a quick bucket in last night after work. I hit about ten balls with my normal clubs to establish a baseline for the day, and then worked the rest of the bucket entirely with the JumboMax clubs. The weather not the best for judging distance, with the temp at about 48 degrees and a few light sprinkles from time to time.
Pitching Wedge (This porridge is too hot)
Shots with my wedge were actually very good during this session. Trajectories were nice and high, and distance was pretty near where I would expect for the conditions. I was making good contact with the ball, and only had one ball that was offline to the right. The majority of my shots were actually tending towards a slight pull, sometimes even working a little further left. I still need to spend some time dialing in my grip position on this club, as I think weakening it slightly might bring me back to center.
Driver (This porridge is too cold)
My driver was working for me much better than during my first two sessions. I started out with a few misses high on the club face and one a little inside off the heel, but then settled in a little bit and started making better contact, just a little toward the toe. I was actually seeing some signs of backspin being present, which is a bit new to me. This resulted in some good shots that had a nice steady rise instead of my normal lazy arc or moon shot.
The ball was still fading just a little left to right, but it was the sort of fade that would put you on the right edge of the fairway instead of in the trees. The results here were very encouraging, and had I been on course I think I would have considered this a good day with the driver.
7 Iron (This porridge is JUST RIGHT)
I could have easily spent the entire session hitting just my 7 iron yesterday. I had five consecutive shots that ended up roughly 20 feet from each other. I was again seeing signs of a rising trajectory instead of sky high shots coming from flipping through impact.
Mishits
I had a few mishits with each of the clubs tested. There were some fat shots, one notably thin shot, and a few off the toe. I will say that there were fewer than I'm used to, and the results from some of them were different than I would usually expect.
Most notable here were the thinned shot and the toe misses. I'm used to these hurting my hands and wrists. None of these hurt. The thinned shot was with my 7 iron, and I could tell that I had thinned it from the sound, but the feeling that was transmitted through the grip was in no way harsh. It was very muted, and the shot ended up being a low screamer that stayed straight with probably a two-club distance loss.
The toe misses were the same way. I had enough feeling from the shot to tell what the miss was, but the sensation was muted and there was no violent twist on the club at all. The distance loss here was probably about a club, maybe a little more.
This may actually be pretty significant for me, as the harsh feeling that I'm used to from these types of misses has a tendency to have a very negative effect on my swing. I get gunshy and tense up through impact in anticipation of the shockwave. That didn't happen at all last night, and I had a pretty consistent session from start to finish.
Final thoughts
Right now my 7 iron is in the Goldilocks zone. My grip strength on this club appears to be just right at the moment. The JumboMax grips don't have alignment marks like many grips, but the JumboMax name is printed across the bottom the grip. I've been using the "o" in that logo as my point of center on all three clubs. In may next session, I think that I may spend time adjusting to different letters in the logo to find what works best with both my wedge and driver, and then color that letter in with a Sharpie so that I have a visual reminder of where to align.
Initial Impressions and Installation
Getting to Know You
Range Session 10/23
I got a quick bucket in last night after work. I hit about ten balls with my normal clubs to establish a baseline for the day, and then worked the rest of the bucket entirely with the JumboMax clubs. The weather not the best for judging distance, with the temp at about 48 degrees and a few light sprinkles from time to time.
Pitching Wedge (This porridge is too hot)
Shots with my wedge were actually very good during this session. Trajectories were nice and high, and distance was pretty near where I would expect for the conditions. I was making good contact with the ball, and only had one ball that was offline to the right. The majority of my shots were actually tending towards a slight pull, sometimes even working a little further left. I still need to spend some time dialing in my grip position on this club, as I think weakening it slightly might bring me back to center.
Driver (This porridge is too cold)
My driver was working for me much better than during my first two sessions. I started out with a few misses high on the club face and one a little inside off the heel, but then settled in a little bit and started making better contact, just a little toward the toe. I was actually seeing some signs of backspin being present, which is a bit new to me. This resulted in some good shots that had a nice steady rise instead of my normal lazy arc or moon shot.
The ball was still fading just a little left to right, but it was the sort of fade that would put you on the right edge of the fairway instead of in the trees. The results here were very encouraging, and had I been on course I think I would have considered this a good day with the driver.
7 Iron (This porridge is JUST RIGHT)
I could have easily spent the entire session hitting just my 7 iron yesterday. I had five consecutive shots that ended up roughly 20 feet from each other. I was again seeing signs of a rising trajectory instead of sky high shots coming from flipping through impact.
Mishits
I had a few mishits with each of the clubs tested. There were some fat shots, one notably thin shot, and a few off the toe. I will say that there were fewer than I'm used to, and the results from some of them were different than I would usually expect.
Most notable here were the thinned shot and the toe misses. I'm used to these hurting my hands and wrists. None of these hurt. The thinned shot was with my 7 iron, and I could tell that I had thinned it from the sound, but the feeling that was transmitted through the grip was in no way harsh. It was very muted, and the shot ended up being a low screamer that stayed straight with probably a two-club distance loss.
The toe misses were the same way. I had enough feeling from the shot to tell what the miss was, but the sensation was muted and there was no violent twist on the club at all. The distance loss here was probably about a club, maybe a little more.
This may actually be pretty significant for me, as the harsh feeling that I'm used to from these types of misses has a tendency to have a very negative effect on my swing. I get gunshy and tense up through impact in anticipation of the shockwave. That didn't happen at all last night, and I had a pretty consistent session from start to finish.
Final thoughts
Right now my 7 iron is in the Goldilocks zone. My grip strength on this club appears to be just right at the moment. The JumboMax grips don't have alignment marks like many grips, but the JumboMax name is printed across the bottom the grip. I've been using the "o" in that logo as my point of center on all three clubs. In may next session, I think that I may spend time adjusting to different letters in the logo to find what works best with both my wedge and driver, and then color that letter in with a Sharpie so that I have a visual reminder of where to align.
Nice one Shark. Good to see you're starting to get the driver locked down a bit.
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Nice update Shark.
I am still pondering on the night and day performance I had from my range session and round play earlier this week. I will be having another range session tomorrow followed up by 9 holes on Sunday. I plan on using my Swing Tip to gather information between my Callaway X Hot Driver with the JumboMax Grips installed vs my Callaway X Hot driver without the JumboMax Grips installed. Its going to be interesting to see what information the Swing Tip can provide that will allow me to draw any conclusions.
I am still pondering on the night and day performance I had from my range session and round play earlier this week. I will be having another range session tomorrow followed up by 9 holes on Sunday. I plan on using my Swing Tip to gather information between my Callaway X Hot Driver with the JumboMax Grips installed vs my Callaway X Hot driver without the JumboMax Grips installed. Its going to be interesting to see what information the Swing Tip can provide that will allow me to draw any conclusions.
Links to previous review thoughts:
Unboxing/installation
First range session
Just hit the range again with these guys, and for the large part I experienced more of the same - really solid 7 iron and GW ballstriking with outstanding (if slightly muted) feel. I will keep this fairly brief, since a lot of my thoughts are the same and y'all don't need to read the same thing twice, but I would like to highlight some different thoughts about the driver, and a few other things that stand out.
Driver
The driver did not go as smoothly as it did last time, but it still went well. I hit about 20 balls, and probably hit about 14 of them on the intended path. Similar thoughts to the past range sesh on these shots, but I also notice a really pleasing, climbing, piercing ball flight when I flush it with these grips, maybe a hair higher in flight that with the standard grip. On the other shots I made a conscious effort to really unload on the ball - I usually just take a nice smooth swing and be content with my distance. These grips seem to want to push the ball right when you really fire away - the ones I missed were all slices. Playable slices, but still slices. That being said, if I stick to my usual shorter backswing and really power through the ball, I get very nice distance and trajectory.
That's something that I've actually noticed with all the JumboMax'ed clubs - they respond much better when you put a smooth swing on the ball rather than trying to gas it. That tends to lead to pushes and slices, or worse (I won't say the word).
Wedges/Pitches
Another thing that stood out is just how outstanding these are on half swing wedges and closer. I knew they were good, but not this good. For comparison - I hit a lot of half swings with my new wedges (Callaway Forged), and hit on average about 5 fatties per 20 shots. I am still getting used to them for sure, but I believe the following comparison is apt - I hit not one pitch fat with the GW with the Jumbo. Not one. Every shot was flushed, or darn close. The bigger grip seems better on full swings as well with wedges - my results with the new wedges were inconsistent on full swings, while the GW was extremely consistent. It's results like this that make me really think about eventually regripping all of my wedges with these. I tend to get way too busy with my wrists with wedges, so I can understand how these would help on that front.
Unboxing/installation
First range session
Just hit the range again with these guys, and for the large part I experienced more of the same - really solid 7 iron and GW ballstriking with outstanding (if slightly muted) feel. I will keep this fairly brief, since a lot of my thoughts are the same and y'all don't need to read the same thing twice, but I would like to highlight some different thoughts about the driver, and a few other things that stand out.
Driver
The driver did not go as smoothly as it did last time, but it still went well. I hit about 20 balls, and probably hit about 14 of them on the intended path. Similar thoughts to the past range sesh on these shots, but I also notice a really pleasing, climbing, piercing ball flight when I flush it with these grips, maybe a hair higher in flight that with the standard grip. On the other shots I made a conscious effort to really unload on the ball - I usually just take a nice smooth swing and be content with my distance. These grips seem to want to push the ball right when you really fire away - the ones I missed were all slices. Playable slices, but still slices. That being said, if I stick to my usual shorter backswing and really power through the ball, I get very nice distance and trajectory.
That's something that I've actually noticed with all the JumboMax'ed clubs - they respond much better when you put a smooth swing on the ball rather than trying to gas it. That tends to lead to pushes and slices, or worse (I won't say the word).
Wedges/Pitches
Another thing that stood out is just how outstanding these are on half swing wedges and closer. I knew they were good, but not this good. For comparison - I hit a lot of half swings with my new wedges (Callaway Forged), and hit on average about 5 fatties per 20 shots. I am still getting used to them for sure, but I believe the following comparison is apt - I hit not one pitch fat with the GW with the Jumbo. Not one. Every shot was flushed, or darn close. The bigger grip seems better on full swings as well with wedges - my results with the new wedges were inconsistent on full swings, while the GW was extremely consistent. It's results like this that make me really think about eventually regripping all of my wedges with these. I tend to get way too busy with my wrists with wedges, so I can understand how these would help on that front.
Round 2 of testing with the Jumbo Max grips took place last night at my local range. For the record, I absolutely despise the driving range – I find it too easy to get into a groove (good or bad) with swing after swing and really prefer to provide feedback from actual course time when the real pressure is on, etc. Alas, the course feedback will have to wait until Sunday.
54* wedge: after a brief warm-up, I started with this again. Continued to see much of the same as my first range session with the full swings which consisted of consistently solid contact and very few misses. The reason that this impresses me is because I don’t typically take many full swings on course with the 54* at all because I often start seeing fats & thins. I truly believe that the grip is quieting my hands/wrists which in turn is one less thing for me to mess up.
After the range session I headed over to the short game area. I consider myself pretty good with the 54* wedge in hand as I miss a ton of greens and this is pretty much the only club I use around the green. I could really feel a difference here as I hit around 25-30 chips with extremely good results (bladed 1 chip that went about 12 feet past the hole). This is where the quieting of the hands & wrists really seemed to shine as I was making consistently crisp contact – I’m extremely excited to see what happens on Sunday.
7i: The SpeedBlades arrived on Wednesday and I put the Jumbo Max onto the 7i. For this session, I was alternating the 7i and 6i since they both had the speed slot and I wanted to do a direct comparison. Overall, I hit both clubs pretty well but I can say with certainty that I saw fewer mishits with the 7i. My first few swings with the 7i were missed high on the face but I think that was because I was really trying to drive down onto the ball. Once I started going back to the basics, I was hitting just towering 7 iron shots one after the other. I definitely saw a few more thinned shots with the 6i along with a bit more dispersion while the 7i was landing in a nice 5-8 yard circle around/past the 160 marker.
One of the items I wanted to touch on was the feeling of this grip in hand. I never complain about feeling that I am gripping a club too tight or that gripping a club is uncomfortable (and I still don’t feel that way), but with the Jumbo Max you realize what a really comfortable grip feels like. Unless you decide to grip it and rip it, the grip promotes a relaxed feeling that, for me, has me wanting to swing nice and smooth.
Driver: This is where I really struggled last time out seeing low thinned drives with some draw in them. Again, my thinking yesterday was back to my swing mechanic basics and just make solid contact. The first 5 or 6 swings/resulting shots were just ugly: I missed left, right, and even hit one straight. I was seriously lacking some consistency. I then went back to the 7i before coming back to the driver. When I came back, I started seeing some consistency with a high push fade. I remembered back to what the pamphlet said along with the other testers and strengthened my grip substantially and then began seeing the mid trajectory drives that I prefer. I’m thinking that I was just not getting my wrists rolled over in time and leaving the face open.
At this point with the driver if I had a tourney tomorrow, I would switch back to a standard grip as I don’t have the confidence. On the flip side, I could easily put these grips on at least the 6 iron - 58* wedge today without hesitation.
Working the ball: Just want to touch on this really quick regarding the 7i. Typically the only time I try to move a ball is to go around an object and I do this via my stance. What I saw yesterday with the 7i was exciting as just a minor tweak with the grip gave me a 5 yard fade or a 5 yard draw. I have never been one to work a ball into the green as I typically play a straight shot but the possibility is there.
Upcoming: Excited for my round Sunday where these 3 clubs will get quite the workout – nothing beats on course testing.
54* wedge: after a brief warm-up, I started with this again. Continued to see much of the same as my first range session with the full swings which consisted of consistently solid contact and very few misses. The reason that this impresses me is because I don’t typically take many full swings on course with the 54* at all because I often start seeing fats & thins. I truly believe that the grip is quieting my hands/wrists which in turn is one less thing for me to mess up.
After the range session I headed over to the short game area. I consider myself pretty good with the 54* wedge in hand as I miss a ton of greens and this is pretty much the only club I use around the green. I could really feel a difference here as I hit around 25-30 chips with extremely good results (bladed 1 chip that went about 12 feet past the hole). This is where the quieting of the hands & wrists really seemed to shine as I was making consistently crisp contact – I’m extremely excited to see what happens on Sunday.
7i: The SpeedBlades arrived on Wednesday and I put the Jumbo Max onto the 7i. For this session, I was alternating the 7i and 6i since they both had the speed slot and I wanted to do a direct comparison. Overall, I hit both clubs pretty well but I can say with certainty that I saw fewer mishits with the 7i. My first few swings with the 7i were missed high on the face but I think that was because I was really trying to drive down onto the ball. Once I started going back to the basics, I was hitting just towering 7 iron shots one after the other. I definitely saw a few more thinned shots with the 6i along with a bit more dispersion while the 7i was landing in a nice 5-8 yard circle around/past the 160 marker.
One of the items I wanted to touch on was the feeling of this grip in hand. I never complain about feeling that I am gripping a club too tight or that gripping a club is uncomfortable (and I still don’t feel that way), but with the Jumbo Max you realize what a really comfortable grip feels like. Unless you decide to grip it and rip it, the grip promotes a relaxed feeling that, for me, has me wanting to swing nice and smooth.
Driver: This is where I really struggled last time out seeing low thinned drives with some draw in them. Again, my thinking yesterday was back to my swing mechanic basics and just make solid contact. The first 5 or 6 swings/resulting shots were just ugly: I missed left, right, and even hit one straight. I was seriously lacking some consistency. I then went back to the 7i before coming back to the driver. When I came back, I started seeing some consistency with a high push fade. I remembered back to what the pamphlet said along with the other testers and strengthened my grip substantially and then began seeing the mid trajectory drives that I prefer. I’m thinking that I was just not getting my wrists rolled over in time and leaving the face open.
At this point with the driver if I had a tourney tomorrow, I would switch back to a standard grip as I don’t have the confidence. On the flip side, I could easily put these grips on at least the 6 iron - 58* wedge today without hesitation.
Working the ball: Just want to touch on this really quick regarding the 7i. Typically the only time I try to move a ball is to go around an object and I do this via my stance. What I saw yesterday with the 7i was exciting as just a minor tweak with the grip gave me a 5 yard fade or a 5 yard draw. I have never been one to work a ball into the green as I typically play a straight shot but the possibility is there.
Upcoming: Excited for my round Sunday where these 3 clubs will get quite the workout – nothing beats on course testing.
I'm really intriqued reading about the short iron/wedge successes. Good job, guys.
- Staff
- #199
Did you end up throwing it on the Black driver? I'd be curious, if you ever got a chance, to see what the swing-weight is now with that grip on it.
DevRickus
The Dirty Jerz
I still havent received the damn thing yet. Was supposed to be here monday..... Didnt want to wait any longer so I put it on the White Tie which is 50G.