Driver fitting approach

I'm thinking I should bring my current driver and warm up with it and also baseline what it is doing. Then, use the new driver candidates to see how they perform vs my current driver (Ping G15). My current driver is 9 degrees with an Aldila Serrano R flex shaft. When I hit it well, it goes but mishits lose significant distance. I'm thinking I may be better of starting with 10.5 degree loft on the new ones to see what the difference is. I'm 63 yrs old, play to a single digit handicap and have graphite shafts in my woods and 4i hybrid and steel shafts in my irons (R flex) except the wedges. Current thoughts are to try the Callaway Epic Flash, Taylormade M5/M6. Not sure how many others I can test in one session without getting fatigued.

Forget TM and go with Ping instead. This way you won't get tired?!

> @txgolfer45 said:

> I'm thinking I should bring my current driver and warm up with it and also baseline what it is doing. Then, use the new driver candidates to see how they perform vs my current driver (Ping G15). My current driver is 9 degrees with an Aldila Serrano R flex shaft. When I hit it well, it goes but mishits lose significant distance. I'm thinking I may be better of starting with 10.5 degree loft on the new ones to see what the difference is. I'm 63 yrs old, play to a single digit handicap and have graphite shafts in my woods and 4i hybrid and steel shafts in my irons (R flex) except the wedges. Current thoughts are to try the Callaway Epic Flash, Taylormade M5/M6. Not sure how many others I can test in one session without getting fatigued.

If you are concerned about mis-hits, playing length and shaft weight will play the biggest role managing those mis-hits. And most retail stores can't handle the level of fitting needed to address those very well.

I'd also look at the new Ping's - the G410 plus has the highest MOI's of all the new drivers out there so will be most forgiving on mishits.

Well, I hit the TM M6, Callaway Epic Flash and Ping G410 along side my current driver (Ping G15). The TM was longest of the three new ones. It also has a half inch longer shaft. The Ping G410 was the shortest with the Calloway Epic Flash being closer to the M6. But, the M6 was not longer than my Ping G15. The M6 and G15 had similar launch and spin rates. So, the G15 is staying in the bag. Will try the Titleist and Cobra drivers next time.

Not to be rude but this doesn't sound much like a fitting, more like a trial session. A fitting is where you have someone who knows what they are doing make recommendations for a new club based on your delivery dynamics. My entire set is fitted (except the hybrid) and it was an eye opening experience at how much more consistency I gained without having to make any compensations for my swing.

I have never made compensations in my swing due to equipment. That makes no sense at all. If a shaft was too stiff, it didn’t make it into the bag. If the ball flight wasn’t what I was looking for, I assessed whether it was my swing or equipment. You definitely were adding an unnecessary complexity into your game. Glad you finally figured it out.

> @phatchrisrules said:

> Not to be rude but this doesn't sound much like a fitting, more like a trial session. A fitting is where you have someone who knows what they are doing make recommendations for a new club based on your delivery dynamics. My entire set is fitted (except the hybrid) and it was an eye opening experience at how much more consistency I gained without having to make any compensations for my swing.

> @txgolfer45 said:

> I have never made compensations in my swing due to equipment. That makes no sense at all. If a shaft was too stiff, it didn’t make it into the bag. If the ball flight wasn’t what I was looking for, I assessed whether it was my swing or equipment. You definitely were adding an unnecessary complexity into your game. Glad you finally figured it out.

>

>

> > @phatchrisrules said:

> > Not to be rude but this doesn't sound much like a fitting, more like a trial session. A fitting is where you have someone who knows what they are doing make recommendations for a new club based on your delivery dynamics. My entire set is fitted (except the hybrid) and it was an eye opening experience at how much more consistency I gained without having to make any compensations for my swing.

>

>

You completely misread his post. He didn't say he or you ha to make swing adjustments to fit a club. It was the exact opposite.

And he was properly fit for the majority of his badges. Sounds like to me, you are hanging on to some antiquated thinking of hit enough clubs and maybe you'll Stumbke onto something.

Best advice is as he and many others say. Go to a professional fitter and let him do the work.

Good luck to you.

I understood his comment just fine. I went through a fitting for my irons 8 yrs ago. One of the driver and shaft combinations resulted in optimal launch and spin. My current driver had very similar results. Are there better alternatives out there? Maybe. Will likely do a more thorough fitting later to see if there is. But, for now, i know the launch angle and spin of my current driver is in the range of a good fit.

I have an appointment with Club Champion in Plano, TX set for Saturday morning. Looking forward to a more thorough driver selection process.

> @txgolfer45 said:

> I have never made compensations in my swing due to equipment. That makes no sense at all. If a shaft was too stiff, it didn’t make it into the bag. If the ball flight wasn’t what I was looking for, I assessed whether it was my swing or equipment. You definitely were adding an unnecessary complexity into your game. Glad you finally figured it out.

>

>

> > @phatchrisrules said:

> > Not to be rude but this doesn't sound much like a fitting, more like a trial session. A fitting is where you have someone who knows what they are doing make recommendations for a new club based on your delivery dynamics. My entire set is fitted (except the hybrid) and it was an eye opening experience at how much more consistency I gained without having to make any compensations for my swing.

>

>

You most certainly have along with everyone else. After the first swing or even on the first swing there are compensations taking place for weight, length ,look etc. The trick is getting something as close to natural as possible which it seems you are in the process of doing. Good luck on finding your club build sweet spot.

I went to Club Champion yesterday for a driver fitting. Tried a number of shafts using a Ping G410 head to see which shafts were getting optimal results. Then, used the shaft getting the best results with other heads to see if there was further improvement. The best combination wasa Callaway Epic Flash 10.5 with an Accra FX2.0 shaft (waiting to get the email with details). Of course, that combo with grip is somewhere around $900 from them. ? good thing is my current driver results were not far behind it. Maybe 10 yds less and a bit wider dispersion with similar clubhead speed, launch and spin. Not sure $300 for the best shaft is worth changing.

$900 for 10 extra yds and tighter dispersion does not seem worth it.

> @txgolfer45 said:

> $900 for 10 extra yds and tighter dispersion does not seem worth it

I gotta agree with Tx on this. Unless 900 doesn’t dent your budget have at it. I’m guessing with a little digging around and research you could get basically the same numbers for 500. There’s a bunch of shafts with similar profiles to that one...many of them $50 or less online.

My buddy just spent 1k on a M5 Tour. I got an M5 tour online for 420 new. I have a friend that is a tour player and he gave me a Smoke green. Tried it and it was ok but didn’t feel quite right. One of my favorite shafts ever is a Phenom NL, found one online for 45 new, and it feels fantastic in that head and I’m killing it now. We played the other day and he hit mine and liked it better than his setup and felt like he hit it further with mine. I’ve promised myself to not spend over 50 for a shaft again. There’s way too many slightly older shafts that are just as good for cheap.

Picked up the new driver and took it out on the couree after a brief warm up on the range. Went with the Callaway Epic Flash with a project x evenflow 55 R shaft. Eeveral significant differences from my old driver. Longer carry and overall distance, better ball flight and it goes straight or a slight draw taking any danger to the right out of play. Very happy with the results.