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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Chesapeake, VA.

    Bought a new driver!

    Well, I decided it was time to update my driver, as well (bought new irons in November, as some of you will recall). (Extreme golf nerd stuff to follow; TLR will be provided at the bottom in case you aren't interested in fitting stuff.)

    I had time in the bay at Club Champion since i had purchased my irons there. The fitting was very unexpected, to say the least. Me, 65 years old, driver swingspeed high 80s to low 90s at best; expecting a mid-bend point R-flex and a high-launch head. Instead, they said what worked best for me was a low-spin head with an S-flex, tip stiff shaft. Of course they suggested the most expensive set-up imaginable: the Callaway AI Smoke triple diamond (low-spin head) on a Mitsubishi Tensei Orange 1K Pro shaft. The shaft alone was $440. Total, with discounts because I bought there before, was almost a thousand bucks.

    Naturally, I said thanks, but no thanks. I spent the next several weeks researching similar heads and similar shafts thqt would be a lot cheaper. I had kind of settled on a Cobra Aerojet LS on a Kai'li white shaft, but I wanted to try it out first, and compare the numbers to what I would get with the blue shaft and with the regular spin head.

    So I went to a local mom and pop golf shop that I really trust and started trying the drivers. They did confirm that I needed lower spin. However, they had a new guy there who works for Mizuno and he stepped in and had me try some Mizuno heads with different profiles and different shafts (but all shafts that were available from the factory).

    My usual and most frustrating miss with driver is the high, spinny, fading drive that goes nowhere. Eventually, I tried the Mizuno STx, which has just the tiniest blt of draw bias built in, but not like the other manufacturers 'draw' drivers. (There is even a PGA Tour Pro using this version.) What happened is that the right miss disappeared. Shots were mostly straight to slight draws.

    Long, long story short, I got the Mizuno STx on the Kai'li blue shaft. Launch and spin numbers, as well as distance numbers, were virtually the same as what I was getting with the $1000 driver out at Club Champion. Forgiveness was amazing, too; even fairly bad mis-hits were still finding the fairway. I tend to hit low on the driver face a lot, and the Mizuno gave me better outcomes with that miss than even the AI Smoke. Total was $403 including tax and an upgraded grip (i got $20 credit by turning in my old gamer, which tells you how old it really was).

    I cannot wait to get this thing out on the course. Will be trying it tomorrow and I am psyched! It has been way too long since I have had any confidence with driver off the tee or have really looked forward to hitting a drive. (My gamer was a 2007 TM Burner... a good driver for its time, but the technology is so much better now, and that shaft never really worked well for me.)

    TLR. I went through about a month-long process to get a new driver that I would enjoy and that would work for me. It started with a fitting for a thousand-dollar driver and ended with me getting the same or slightly better performance for well less than half the cost. I'm psyched/stoked/chuffed to get out there and play.

  2. #2
    I was hoping this was about a vehicle that you would hypermile with.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Greenville, SC
    I ways hoping it was about computer configuration.



    I miss the good old days.

  4. #4
    I was also hoping you were talking about your new daily driver.

    Well, since you’re not, my new daily driver is a CT5-V Blackwing. Love it!

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by camion View Post
    I ways hoping it was about computer configuration.

    I miss the good old days.
    Intel Arch and NVIDIA GeForce are bring it make.

    Good luck with the driver rsvman. How are the irons working out now that you’ve had extended time with them?

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Washington DC
    Congrats! Mizuno makes high quality stuff but goes under the radar because they don’t pay for tour sponsorships. Good luck with it!

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Chesapeake, VA.
    Quote Originally Posted by Kdogg View Post
    Intel Arch and NVIDIA GeForce are bring it make.

    Good luck with the driver rsvman. How are the irons working out now that you’ve had extended time with them?
    I've only played 27 holes, winter and work being what they are...


    But so far, so good. Thanks.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Chesapeake, VA.
    Quote Originally Posted by Jeffrey View Post
    I was also hoping you were talking about your new daily driver.

    Well, since you’re not, my new daily driver is a CT5-V Blackwing. Love it!
    I'd much rather have my new golf club than a nea car right now. But that's just me.

    Congrats on your new ride.

  9. #9
    Great story. Many similar stories on the fitting process, especially the boutique parts that cost $$$.

    I have the Kai'li blue shaft on my three wood. Love it as well, been thinking of getting one for my driver.

    Confidence is everything.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Chesapeake, VA.
    Quote Originally Posted by fidel View Post
    Great story. Many similar stories on the fitting process, especially the boutique parts that cost $$$.

    I have the Kai'li blue shaft on my three wood. Love it as well, been thinking of getting one for my driver.

    Confidence is everything.
    Amen.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    Congratulations. It's was interesting to hear how what you expected was different than what you were fitted for. I played the same driver for more than a decade (Ping G15 9* Stiff stock shaft). When the shaft broke I decided to get fit for a new driver. I hit a bunch of clubs and ended up being advised to buy a Ping G410plus 12* regular stock shaft. Driver has been my best club for a while. I hit the new one pretty well but since I have a high ball flight, that 12* wasn't really doing me any favors. Hit a friend's PXG and liked it so I bought a cheap one off ebay (0811xf 9* regular flex stock shaft). Jury is still out on that one. Hurt my back in presidents day and Saturday was the first time I'd played since and didn't have my normal swing, couldn't get off the tee but couldn't blame the driver. Playing again tomorrow so hopefully I can get a better read of the driver. If the PXG doesn't work out I'll go back to the Ping but I might watch ebay for a used Ping G410+ or G425 head in 9* Wish I had gone somewhere other than Golf Galaxy for that fitting but I felt like I had narrowed it down enough to where I just needed verification with numbers, etc.

    Hope your new driver works out great. My irons are Mizuno JPX Hot Metal and I like them a lot . I have not tried any of the Mizuno drivers yet. Sooner or later I should find someplace good locally and get a better fitting done (but, like you, I will not be buying a $1000 driver).

  12. #12
    Similar threads at the bottom...

    "Baby Driver - Review"
    https://forums.dukebasketballreport...-Driver-review

    LOL!

  13. #13
    Good luck. Excited to hear how it goes for you.

    I've considered buying a new driver for a while now (I use a TaylorMade JetSpeed TP). The problem is that when I am swinging well, I really hit that driver great. I have a swing speed around 100 -105 MPH. In the thin, New Mexico air, that generally means a lot of distance. My miss is a leaving the face open and pushing it right. When I square the face, I have a very straight ball flight. It's hard to justify paying all that money for a new driver when I hit this one well. I think my bad shots happen when there is user error. I don't think a new driver will fix that.

    I love my M2 3 wood. If I upgrade the Driver, I might see if I can find and M2 driver that a TaylorMade wholesaler has lying around since it is several years old by now.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Chesapeake, VA.
    Quote Originally Posted by nmduke2001 View Post
    Good luck. Excited to hear how it goes for you.

    I've considered buying a new driver for a while now (I use a TaylorMade JetSpeed TP). The problem is that when I am swinging well, I really hit that driver great. I have a swing speed around 100 -105 MPH. In the thin, New Mexico air, that generally means a lot of distance. My miss is a leaving the face open and pushing it right. When I square the face, I have a very straight ball flight. It's hard to justify paying all that money for a new driver when I hit this one well. I think my bad shots happen when there is user error. I don't think a new driver will fix that.

    I love my M2 3 wood. If I upgrade the Driver, I might see if I can find and M2 driver that a TaylorMade wholesaler has lying around since it is several years old by now.
    You would be surprised how much a driver fitting can fix your bad shots. For starters, if your miss is right, they make drivers now with the weight moved a bit toward the heel, which makes the club face naturally close a bit faster, which basically takes away that miss.

    Also, modern drivers have ridiculously high MOI, which means that the times you miss the sweetspot you still get pretty good ball speed. My 2007 TM probably had an MOI of maybe 3000-3500. The new driver is about 9000.

    It's actually pretty amazing. My misses are low on the face and the high spinny fade. The Mizuno takes care of both problems. There is an almost spring right behind the bottom of the clubface, and the mild draw bias takes away the big, weak fade.

    I played 9 this morning. Hit the best drive I've ever hit on 5, 6, 7, and 9. The drive at hole 7 was hit really low on the face and still ended up in the center of the fairway and pretty long. On 1 I hit a fade but it was right-center of the fairway. On 3 I pushed it but it went long. On 8 I practically missed the ball and it was still in the center of the fairway.

    Very impressed with its performance on the course. As good or better than it was on the Trackman.


    The difference between this driver and my 2007 TM is night and day. I feel so much better standing up over a tee shot! It just inspires confidence. I know it won't go off the planet to the right even if I don't put a good swing on it.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Undisclosed
    ^^ they’re gonna have to rsvman-proof the course at this rate.

    (Or maybe that only happens at our local course here)

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Washington DC
    Quote Originally Posted by rsvman View Post
    You would be surprised how much a driver fitting can fix your bad shots. For starters, if your miss is right, they make drivers now with the weight moved a bit toward the heel, which makes the club face naturally close a bit faster, which basically takes away that miss.

    Also, modern drivers have ridiculously high MOI, which means that the times you miss the sweetspot you still get pretty good ball speed. My 2007 TM probably had an MOI of maybe 3000-3500. The new driver is about 9000.

    It's actually pretty amazing. My misses are low on the face and the high spinny fade. The Mizuno takes care of both problems. There is an almost spring right behind the bottom of the clubface, and the mild draw bias takes away the big, weak fade.

    I played 9 this morning. Hit the best drive I've ever hit on 5, 6, 7, and 9. The drive at hole 7 was hit really low on the face and still ended up in the center of the fairway and pretty long. On 1 I hit a fade but it was right-center of the fairway. On 3 I pushed it but it went long. On 8 I practically missed the ball and it was still in the center of the fairway.

    Very impressed with its performance on the course. As good or better than it was on the Trackman.


    The difference between this driver and my 2007 TM is night and day. I feel so much better standing up over a tee shot! It just inspires confidence. I know it won't go off the planet to the right even if I don't put a good swing on it.
    Great to hear! This is what I would have expected. Driver tech has been maxed out for years for center face strikes, meaning a center strike on a well fit 2007 driver will not yield any difference in performance vs a center strike on a well fit 2024 driver. However manufacturers in recent years have made great gains in a) non center strikes, minimizing the drop in ball speed and keeping spin consistent, and b) increasing adjustability to allow for fine tuning of loft, lie, weight distribution, etc. so current drivers will be much more playable across a round of golf by minimizing the impact of slight-to-moderate miI'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.. As a result it can be tough going into a fitting when you flush it and don't see numbers better than the old driver; a good fitter will capture a sample of representative shots to show the difference in heel/toe misses yield an increasing overall average. I played a Ping i20 driver for like 7-8 years as nothing was ever better in a fitting, but when I went to a Titleist TSi3 3 years ago my overall driving got much better as the high spinning, short flying miss all but went away, despite my best drives not being much better.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Chesapeake, VA.
    Yep you nailed it. Not to mention with the high MOI, not only is more distance preserved with off-line shots, but the the dispersion is much tighter, too, because the face of the club doesn't twist anywhere near as much as the older drivers did.

    By the way, on this forum you have to type mis-hits if you want to avoid the wankerizer.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by rsvman View Post
    I know it won't go off the planet to the right even if I don't put a good swing on it.
    Famous Last Words.

    I play with a guy with a terrible swing and he is always slicing to the right. Great equipment, but he can't stop an outside-in swing path.
    Fahr zur Hölle, Carolina, fahr zur Hölle

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by rsvman View Post
    I'd much rather have my new golf club than a nea car right now. But that's just me.

    Congrats on your new ride.
    Thanks; it’s my all-time favorite that I’ve owned.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Jeffrey View Post
    Thanks; it’s my all-time favorite that I’ve owned.
    I'm partial to Jeeves and/or Mr Belvedere myself.

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