chilly
New member
I started playing golf seriously April of this year, having played around 2 rounds per year prior to this. Basically, I grabbed a Callaway X460 9* off the used club rack so I had a decent driver this year, but never really had a swing that let me hit driver. Recently I've been working on my swing and have had some success, I now have enough consistency to be able to tell a difference in clubs, versus hitting bad shot after bad shot regardless of what driver I picked up.
Anyway, I went for a quick driver fitting from Golf Galaxy a few weeks ago. I had hit in their simulator, but this was my first time in the actual launch monitor. The results were AVE SS = 117.5mph, launch was 11* average, distance (with roll) = 276yds. I was surprised at the swing speed, and launch angle. I didn't think my SS was in that range, and on course I hit all clubs very high, including driver which doesn't jive with the launch figures. My goal has been to get driver trajectory down, it's not necessarily ballooning, but it definitely isn't a boring type ball flight.
I hit a few head/shaft combos, the best (in a small sample size) being an Xstiff Motore F1 (factory) in a R9 TP. Problem was the monitor still showed this as a 11* launch combo, still only 275yds. The Xstiff definitely brought my dispersion in (I play Stiff shafts), I averaged 8yds from centerline according to launch versus around 12-13yd dispersion with Stiffs (in general). My average spin with most shafts was around 3200, the Motore/R9 combo got me to 2800. The driver distance is a bit odd because I hit my 18.5* 5wd 250-255yds pretty consistently, 15.5* 3wd 260-265. These are UST V2 HL shafts that hit the ball high, which is fine because I hit them off the deck and like the trajectory to get the ball up and land softly.
Before the weather turned sour I visited a local driving range/golf shop to hit outdoors. I had my X460, a 9.5 '09 Tour Burner with stock Reax Stiff, and a Hibore XL with stock stiff red fujikura I just picked up for a good price. I was hitting the ball well but really didn't get along with the X460 for some reason, and never have. I hit the Burner long and with some consistency, but "bad" swings are very bad and the shaft feels quite whippy. I occasionally get a nice looking trajectory but this club hits the ball with too high a ball flight if I don't turn the club over for a Draw. The Hibore was very consistent and played a slight draw, misses were slight pushes but still in great shape. Problem is this combo always hits the ball very high as well, definitely feels as though I was losing distance. Tough to judge distance but I'd say carry was 260ish in 40* temps.
One of the owners at the range came out and let me hit a few demos. Hit a G15, i15, 909D2 and 909D3. Best combo was a D3 with UST V2 Stiff 76G, it got the ball a bit lower and was consistent (but not exactly the type trajectory I'm looking for). I did hit some Xstiff combos that still didn't bring ball flight down. I went back on Sunday to do some more analysis, hitting some balls with impact tape on the driver. I figured some of the issue may be missing the sweet spot, but I hit quite a few "perfectly" on the sweet spot that still seemed to hit the ball too high. I then tried moving the ball forward and back in my stance to see if it changed trajectory. To be honest, I had a very hard time hitting the ball well when I moved it back to the right, causing a slice. Forward in my stance didn't really change trajectory but caused more hooks.
So my questions are:
1) Should I "ignore" the launch angle data from the launch monitor, being that it said I was "low" but on course shows i hit everything high? Could ball extremely high ball flight be due to spin, although I was hitting some very low spin, low launch combos (909D3 with a Prolaunch Red, for instance). I also haven't tried an 8.5* driver because they're somewhat hard to find, and my understanding is lower loft is harder to hit straight?
2) Would a 75g Xstiff, or 85g Xstiff get ball flight down appreciably versus 65g?
3) Would something like an Adams 9015d head launch appreciably lower then a 909D3 or the i15?
4) Is there a swing "fault" that would cause me to hit the ball too high? I'm hitting a very slight push or draw most times and it's still going high, this is not a big slice that climbs. I tee the ball low already, equator of the ball is below the topline of the club.
Anyway, I went for a quick driver fitting from Golf Galaxy a few weeks ago. I had hit in their simulator, but this was my first time in the actual launch monitor. The results were AVE SS = 117.5mph, launch was 11* average, distance (with roll) = 276yds. I was surprised at the swing speed, and launch angle. I didn't think my SS was in that range, and on course I hit all clubs very high, including driver which doesn't jive with the launch figures. My goal has been to get driver trajectory down, it's not necessarily ballooning, but it definitely isn't a boring type ball flight.
I hit a few head/shaft combos, the best (in a small sample size) being an Xstiff Motore F1 (factory) in a R9 TP. Problem was the monitor still showed this as a 11* launch combo, still only 275yds. The Xstiff definitely brought my dispersion in (I play Stiff shafts), I averaged 8yds from centerline according to launch versus around 12-13yd dispersion with Stiffs (in general). My average spin with most shafts was around 3200, the Motore/R9 combo got me to 2800. The driver distance is a bit odd because I hit my 18.5* 5wd 250-255yds pretty consistently, 15.5* 3wd 260-265. These are UST V2 HL shafts that hit the ball high, which is fine because I hit them off the deck and like the trajectory to get the ball up and land softly.
Before the weather turned sour I visited a local driving range/golf shop to hit outdoors. I had my X460, a 9.5 '09 Tour Burner with stock Reax Stiff, and a Hibore XL with stock stiff red fujikura I just picked up for a good price. I was hitting the ball well but really didn't get along with the X460 for some reason, and never have. I hit the Burner long and with some consistency, but "bad" swings are very bad and the shaft feels quite whippy. I occasionally get a nice looking trajectory but this club hits the ball with too high a ball flight if I don't turn the club over for a Draw. The Hibore was very consistent and played a slight draw, misses were slight pushes but still in great shape. Problem is this combo always hits the ball very high as well, definitely feels as though I was losing distance. Tough to judge distance but I'd say carry was 260ish in 40* temps.
One of the owners at the range came out and let me hit a few demos. Hit a G15, i15, 909D2 and 909D3. Best combo was a D3 with UST V2 Stiff 76G, it got the ball a bit lower and was consistent (but not exactly the type trajectory I'm looking for). I did hit some Xstiff combos that still didn't bring ball flight down. I went back on Sunday to do some more analysis, hitting some balls with impact tape on the driver. I figured some of the issue may be missing the sweet spot, but I hit quite a few "perfectly" on the sweet spot that still seemed to hit the ball too high. I then tried moving the ball forward and back in my stance to see if it changed trajectory. To be honest, I had a very hard time hitting the ball well when I moved it back to the right, causing a slice. Forward in my stance didn't really change trajectory but caused more hooks.
So my questions are:
1) Should I "ignore" the launch angle data from the launch monitor, being that it said I was "low" but on course shows i hit everything high? Could ball extremely high ball flight be due to spin, although I was hitting some very low spin, low launch combos (909D3 with a Prolaunch Red, for instance). I also haven't tried an 8.5* driver because they're somewhat hard to find, and my understanding is lower loft is harder to hit straight?
2) Would a 75g Xstiff, or 85g Xstiff get ball flight down appreciably versus 65g?
3) Would something like an Adams 9015d head launch appreciably lower then a 909D3 or the i15?
4) Is there a swing "fault" that would cause me to hit the ball too high? I'm hitting a very slight push or draw most times and it's still going high, this is not a big slice that climbs. I tee the ball low already, equator of the ball is below the topline of the club.
