Driver: Ball Speed or Distance?

Which would you choose in a Driver fitting:

Driver with higher ball speeds and potential (consistent miss) or the one you seem to be more efficient with (straighter) and longer though consistently slower on ball speed?

According to your query, ball speed is not indicative of distance since slower ball speed equates to straighter and longer...................One would think just the opposite distance wise

This is why I left my experiment with more questions than answered.

I was murdering the challenger and getting good ball speed numbers and even hitting high rolling draws, but in the end the numbers were basically the same as my gamer though is couldn’t muster the same ball speeds.

Are the launch and spin numbers noticeably different between the two?

No, everything else was similar depending on strike. For each, launch was varying between 12-14 and spin between 1800-2400.

Efficient one was straight with a slight block right miss.

Faster one was a push draw with an occasional small hook miss.

Dont you both want distance and accuracy with some forgiveness against the most common of your mis-hits?

A good club fitter is always the right to consult for that, but you can also start by getting the max out of the club you got, maybe there is more ball speed and distance in that club than you was aware of?https://forums.golfwrx.com/discussion/909991/diy-driver-tune-up-diy-fitting/p1

In today's golf tech...you don't have to choose. If you're not getting max distance with accuracy then you're not fit correctly.

I would choose the straighter of the two. I had a Callaway Mavrik that I hit really long but missed left quite a bit. I had a couple of friends that were shocked that I sold it but I just couldn't deal with the left miss. I picked up a Ping G410 LST and the left miss was completely gone. I gave up a few yards but I am much more consistent with it opposed to the Mavrik.

I guess "basically the same" is the crux of many people's decision to buy a new stick. You say you hit them similar accuracy wise too just one is a draw and one is a block. Personally I would go with the one that has more ball speed as that is nothing a little bit of lead tape can't fix to steady out a ball flight. But you have to be sure it is justified for you. What is basically the same? Are they carrying the same? That is the key. If one is carrying 10+ yards longer then that is the one I would get and figure out how to hit it straight with a shaft or head weight change.

For me “straighter and longer” beats the “ball speed” every time. Fairways hit positively impact scoring.

PLUS, it’s already longer.

Figures lie and liars figure, so the bottom line is, which are you putting in your bag for the final round of your club championship?

Sans one outlier on the high ball speed driver that went 288, they were basically the same. Flying 240-250 and rolling out to about 265-270.

Admittedly, I liked the draw shape because I feel like I could go harder and just focus on following through hard out to the right.

I was having a draw smother day with every club, so I know on most days it won’t have as much curve to the left.

Ideally long, straight, and forgiving but it's asking a lot. Even a perfect fit is only as perfect as you were swinging that day and not many people are good enough to swing their normal swing every time in a fitting. It's natural to chase numbers and adapt to the different clubs you are trying and before you know it the swing is significantly different than you would day to day on a golf course.

I think you should be looking for something with a one way miss in addition to optimal speed, launch, and spin numbers. Forget about total distance and focus on carry distance, maximum height, and which way it's curving.

I'd much rather play something that always moves right but gives up 5 yards over something that could potentially go farther with a 2 way miss.

If they are all flying roughly within 5 yards of each other, then stick with the straight one. As I said initially if I had one that was going significantly longer and the dispersion off -- but fixable -- I would have gone that route. If they are so close it makes almost no difference in distance, go with the straighter one.

Which two clubs was it down to?

My gamer G410+ (fitted) vs. SIM with the HZRDUS smoke green which was the second best shaft for me in my fitting. I was intrigued by the SIM because it felt great and gave me better overall feedback on my misses.