Driver Advice

More specifically shaft advice. I foolishly bought into all the hype surrounding the R11 around 2 years ago when it had been on the market around a year and bought one with a standard stiff shaft. This driver will be going in the near future. I believed the adjust-ability could help cure my slice off the tee, but obviously its never that simple! A few years later I've developed an extremely high ball flight, which is affecting distance massively. I play a 10 yard fade on most drives, with the occasional slice but i'm slowly reigning in the bad shots. With no wind i generally carry the ball around 240/250 yards but i only get around 4/5 yards roll due to the height and spin i put on the ball.

My question is to what extent do shafts affect the ball flight? Would getting a shaft with a lower/higher kick point help me to control my ball flight and possibly get a bit more roll out? Would it be worth going for a stiffer shaft and working on more of a draw swing, to keep the ball lower? I've always played a fade and love the control it gives me with my irons but off the tee I'm often 30/40 yards short of where i feel i should be reaching with my Driver. For reference i hit my Pitch around the 140 mark, my 7 around 170 etc, these distances are with Wilson FG tour, so they aren't a forgiving distance iron. I had my swing speed measured at an average of 87 mph two years ago with a 6 iron but i'm sure this has increased as i hit the ball further now than i ever have previously.

Sorry for the long winded post but hopefully someone has the time to reply and can advise if getting a custom shaft with a measurable kick point is worth looking at in the near future? Obviously i'll have the club fitted when i purchase but i'm wondering if it's worth going to American Golf and choosing from the limited shafts they stock or if i should pay that little bit more and go to an independent pro shop that has more shafts on offer?

Thanks,

Andy

Firstly ill say it sounds like you have a consistent over the top swing and before anything I would get lessons to combat this. the fade/slice is caused by the open clubface and the high flight caused by the same thing. no matter how you adjust your club with an OTT swing, your never going to hit the ball flight you want because your approaching the ball from the wrong place. I was a prolific OTT swinger averaging about a 10yd fade/slice at 220-250 yds. since hitting from the inside I very regularly hit a draw, and average around the 270 (the confidence brought by the inside approach allows you to hit the ball harder) Firstly, id get this sorted. im guessing you hit your short irons straight and longer irons with a bit of a fade too?

About the shafts - im not a "shaftoid" but my experience is this. I was recently fitted for the titleiest 913d2, tried about 6 different shafts. the project x shaft I couldn't hit. it felt too stiff for me, I couldn't feel the head through the swing and the monitor showed it was my worst shaft. Eventually got the diammana stiff tip, felt right and got another 5-10 yds out of my ball. This fitting was with an OTT swing. Since hitting from the inside ive pushed my fitting best of 255carry to an easy 270 carry. I regularly hit 300yd drives in the right conditions but driving is the best part of my game.

Your 6 iron swing speed is a little irrelevant, driver swing speed would be better to know along with AOA and dynamic loft.

im not a fitter nor do I claim to be, but this much is true, with the swing you have a different shaft "may" improve distance 5-10yds tops! I don't think it will improve your accuracy. With an inside approach and a slightly closed face, AOA around +1 with a dynamic loft of around 10-13 degrees , and a swing path of inside 0.5 up, will improve accuracy by 10yds and improve distance 20+ yds.

One last thing, consider getting lessons before your fitting, I didn't and got fitted with an OTT swing which meant that the driver I got was right for that swing, but now my technique has improved, i find i can hit other drivers further. dynamic fitting vs static fitting.

sorry if i banged on but custom driver fitting was a new experience for me and one i thoroughly enjoyed with numbers that made sense. go to AG and try out a few drivers, be open minded and look at your numbers on the screen, approach the ball from the left or right? dynamic loft? AOA? swing speed. Don't feel obliged to buy there and then!!!! Hope this helps

I don't work for them and have only ever bought one club from them, but this page on their website seems quite useful at working out some of the things that may affect your particular shot when fitting a new club. Hope it helps.

http://www.americangolf.co.uk/personal-fitting/personal-fitting,en_GB,pg.html

Col

Thanks for the replies Guys. Alun, you've hit the nail on the head, i do have an OTT swing. I've got a lesson booked for Sunday with more to follow, so hopefully i can get the plane sorted and start coming from the inside. Really appreciate the time it took for you to write that reply! Definitely encouraged from what you've said. Will definitely try to have a run of lessons before purchasing another driver! I would love to be hitting 300 yard drives! Maybe one day!

Thanks,

Andy

lol no worries Andrew, it worth getting the lessons before buying, when you buy a new driver I think we all fall into the mistake of thinking your going to hit further/harder/straighter just because its new. for me its even more upsetting in those first 5 or 6 rounds adjusting and you find yourself tweaking your swing on the fly to find out what makes it easier to hit. its the classic "slow it down and youll hit it straighter", although tempo is critical, why on earth would you want to hit the ball softer? when it work it means the slower swing has less centrifugal force, meaning you go less over the top. so It works but doesn't fix it. smash the lessons in and when you turn up on the first tee with a new swing and driver, you can really impress smashing the ball down the middle rather than walking off the tee box saying "its a new driver im still adjusting"

Good luck buddy I think your gonna see your score drop in the next few months

Try as many drivers as you can and find four or five that you like.

Then find a place that has free custom fitting and book yourself a session.

Russ

I'm sorry Bradford but I completely disagree with you in that one. Andrews playing off 17, he will be more than adequately fitted in most large chains with launch monitors or simulators. If he were playing on the planet tour then some of your points may be true but in general your wrong. I know many players off + numbers that have been fitted in American golf or with our local area pro, is that luck? I don't think so. I appreciate club fitting is a fine skill and at certain levels it's essential to have the level of fitting you provide, but to most weekend hackers a large chain is more than sufficient, Out of curiosity, and I'm not being provocative, what sorts of things do you do in comparison to a large chain or fitting cart, because I really have no idea.