How To - Chosing the right driver

Here is the first in the how to series for juniors. This series will include how to chose different clubs in your bag, as well as eventually how to hit different shots etc. I thought this series would be great to liven up the forum a bit and give advice on commonly asked questions. Any feed back would be great.

I have been reading around the forum and have seen many debates over what driver should i get and what loft should i get and oh the launch monitor said this or that etc. The following is based on my experience both in the golf technology business (i.e. shafts, heads, etc.) as well as actual practical playing experience.

The rage these days is to go to an indoor place such as Edwin Watts or your local shop or whatever the case may be and to get fitted on a launch monitor. This is a great proposition for the avg. golfer who doesnt have access to tour vans or the ability to fly out to a company's facility and go hit on their range (such as pings range which actually has sensors in the ground itself). The technology has finally been brough out to the masses and its great that ppl are capitalizing on it and going to get fit. I have always been a big proponent of custom fit equipment and making sure your clubs fit you and not just buying some off the rack driver in a random flex etc. However, through experimentation and dealing with these launch monitors i have found that ppl should not be so quick to trust the reccomendations made by ppl who fit them on indoor launch monitors or even outdoor ones to some extent.

First of all, I find that many of the ppl that do these fittings arent 100% on their stuff and dont know all the available options for shafts or heads etc. However even assuming these ppl do know all of that I still find problems with this type of fitting especially indoors. I know its nice to hear the numbers and have some psycological reassurance; however, here is my qualm: Upon seeing that the Ping demo van was going to be in town at a local Edwin Watts I wanted to stop by and say hi to the long time rep who has been a family friends for 7 or so yrs. While there i was curious to talk to his fellow fitters and get fit for a driver on one of these indoor launch monitors. Well bc of my angle of attack on a driver...very steep i produce a very high ball flight but not nearly as much spin as most ppl do on the ball. Bc of this on an indoor launch monitor one would assume that i wouldnt necessarily hit it high however i hit it tremendously high. Well my spin is about 300-350 rpms lower than is reccomended for someone with my swingspeed (about 120). my launch angle is relatively good though. Bc we were inside they were trying to figure out how to bring my ball spin up while maintaining launch angle. Well to make a long story short this indoor fitting contradicted every outdoor fitting Ive ever had bc they werent able to see that bc of my angle of attack spin wasnt the only thing that got the ball airborn for me. Even outdoors unless your being fit by the best they react to what they see on their computer screen and dont know what to do when something is as seemingly paradoxical as my high straight to maybe baby fade ball flight is with as little spin as i put on a driver and how i can play such a short driver and produce as much flex in the shaft as i do etc. So you have to be careful that these people arent just reacting to the by the book analysis which unfortunately is all you can get indoors bc you cant see ball path etc. So that is my problem with these launch monitors unless being fitted by the very best (i.e. the guys in pings or any other OEM's tour Dept).

Another thing to consider is your game. I dont just mean your handicap either bc that doesnt reflect necessarily the certain aspect of your game we are talking about. For example when considering a driver consider the steepness of your swing ball spin etc. Consider the shot pattern you tend to hit and the desired shot pattern and consider your bad shots as well. As much as we may not like em they do happen. if you have a larger shot dispersion and a hard time getting the ball to stay straight rather than fade dont buy a bore through driver with the same flex you would in a non bore or same torque bc its going to play differently. That is definately stuff that needs to be taken into consideration but as well consider the OEM your going with.

Talk to ppl about the drivers and always have each driver measured b4 you try it so you know what your actually trying. Though a bad example bc my driver is pre production proto it says its an 8* on the bottom when in fact it is a 9.8*. So be careful what your trying so as not to try an "8*" and go buy another driver thinking its the same when the first one speced out like mine way higher than listed and the one you buy is actually a 7.7* or something. Another thing is talk to the ppl that play it or that know bout the club about the dynamic loft or what it will actually play like bc of the design of the head etc. I know talking to Ping the actual loft and what itd play to bc of weighting etc was way off for me. You always want to know what your getting into as I say.

Consider your course conditions- you may play a course that tends to be very dry so the fly high and drop and stop ball flight may cost you 10 yds over a driver that seemingly would be detrimental bc you wont fly it quite as far but bc you play in arid conditions your ball rolls more than most. If you play in wet conditions dont go try a driver that in dry conditions runs 35 yds. and doesnt have a high ball flight bc once you get out onto your usual conditions youll lose all that roll. Consider your shot shape as said b4. Especially for ppl who dont hit their desired shot shape try to find a driver that produces not just the desired shot bc some better pros hit a fade but find the shot shape that is most repeatable and most accurate for you. Whether this means lead tape on the toe or heal or a closed or open driver etc. figure that out consider this aspect.

Consider your shafts etc. I know for me control wasnt always my strong suit so one day it hit me to get my drivers all ordered at 43.75" rather than std. length. Yes i lost yds, however i went from hitting 50% fairways to pretty much hitting it where i looked. Consider control not just distance when deciding what driver you want to go wtih as well as head look at shaft length, torque flex point etc. Consider your shot dispersion if you hit it all over id say go with a club thats longer toe to heel rather than deep face bc itll provide you with more hitting surface to miss it on and still get it going in the right direction. As well look at what the club will do. As i stated in another thread a bore through driver will cause a higher effective kick point and lower effective torque. While for a good player this will drop the ball flight and give more workability and control if you tend to miss it a lot this will be detrimental.

Consider the technology in these new drivers- dont fall for the old this goes longer bc we say so. Many of these companies test their clubs at 120mph swing speeds which will produce a much diff effect than a 90 mph ss. Consider the driver whether its designed for lower or higher spin rate as this will effect which loft and shaft you may want in the driver bc of the amt of spin produced changing ball flights.

Consider your desires- if you are borderline on a shaft flex say btwn r and s or s and x consider if you hit it relatively straight and control it well and you want distance or if you hit it really long but want to keep it in the short stuff more. If you want more distance bc you have no control issues go to the weaker side on flex but if you feel you need that extra bit of control and distance isnt really the biggest factor then go to the stiffer.

And finally as stupid as this sounds to end it with TEE HEIGHT!!! I see so many avg. weekend ams playing these new technology drivers with short or even long tees that arent necessarily high enough out of the ground. Some ppl say have the equator of the ball at the top of the club head some say slightly more. I say determine it based on your swing. If you swing up maybe tee it a little lower you swing more around yourself and shallower tee it up a little more. Dont go on some generalization see what works and consider your swing when deciding how high to tee it but Id say you need to tee it very high with these new large drivers. I know personally i swing up but i like the really high penetrating ball flight bc i can fly it over trees and cut corners and get it to land softer when i need to and not roll etc so i play it higher than a person with my swing plane might maybe 3/4 of the ball above topline instead of half of it.

So go out there and try the drivers and see what feels right, tee it high, make sure to not just go by the book on launch monitors and take into account swing plane etc, dont make an indoor fitting the be all and end all of driver decision and best of all ask ppl in the know about the clubs. Good luck with the upcoming season after you guys up north can get back out and start playing again. Keep this stuff in mind and youll do alright and youll enjoy longer, straigher, better drives.

P.S. sorry for the long post just trying to help

Thanks,

Adam

Thanks for the post Adam. There is a lot of great info there. I like the sound of the new "how to" series. I'm sure it will be a great success.

Thats for the great post Adam , I learned a lot !

learned alot, great great info

thx for the info adam

all the sweet things i hear about you i would love to see pictures of your swing deff. you driver 340 every time is beast

Gotta figure out how to reconvert my swing file format, I'm a computer nerd but I can only do as much as these cheap hosting sites will allow me. Its a dvd file so I'm working on a conversion.

Swingspeed mesaured on the vector two days ago at 123ish avg. Ballspeed has gotten crazy solid as I've worked on making sure the energy transfers efficiently. LOL Time for a new driver. LOL, sad part is I'm dead serious, I am going back to a 370cc head for workability with a bimatrix.

all the sweet things i hear about you i would love to see pictures of your swing deff. you driver 340 every time is beast

All I can say is that Adam's swing is straight up lush, I've seen some videos of it.

thanks for the great info, this how-to has helped me more than ever, thanks. :)

this is a good guide, i used it to decide the driver i want to buy. THANK U ADAM!

No problem, glad I could be of help. Good luck with the new driver, may it be long and straight.

hows the 907D1 treating you?

It's on order, haven't received it yet. Not sure exactly when it'll get here as titleist sometimes gets a little retarded with shipping college orders, mostly bc they want to make their profit b4 they ship to us at such a cheap price.

thanks for the info, i just bought a new driver and my choice agreed with most things said here, thanks a lot, adam!

No problem, glad my long rant can be of help to people.

Good luck and enjoy the new driver.

Thanks for the help.

Thanks a lot for the help man! pretty new to the site and its good to have info like that at my disposal! just ordered a d1 myself. dont know why i just prefer it to the d2!

Thanks so much for this, it took a while for me to respond but I put most of this advice into use when i ordered my D2. This is a great thread and thanks again!

[quote name='Cameron Circle T' post='134601' date='Mar 3 2006, 12:58 AM']Here is the first in the how to series for juniors. This series will include how to chose different clubs in your bag, as well as eventually how to hit different shots etc. I thought this series would be great to liven up the forum a bit and give advice on commonly asked questions. Any feed back would be great.

I have been reading around the forum and have seen many debates over what driver should i get and what loft should i get and oh the launch monitor said this or that etc. The following is based on my experience both in the golf technology business (i.e. shafts, heads, etc.) as well as actual practical playing experience.

The rage these days is to go to an indoor place such as Edwin Watts or your local shop or whatever the case may be and to get fitted on a launch monitor. This is a great proposition for the avg. golfer who doesnt have access to tour vans or the ability to fly out to a company's facility and go hit on their range (such as pings range which actually has sensors in the ground itself). The technology has finally been brough out to the masses and its great that ppl are capitalizing on it and going to get fit. I have always been a big proponent of custom fit equipment and making sure your clubs fit you and not just buying some off the rack driver in a random flex etc. However, through experimentation and dealing with these launch monitors i have found that ppl should not be so quick to trust the reccomendations made by ppl who fit them on indoor launch monitors or even outdoor ones to some extent.

First of all, I find that many of the ppl that do these fittings arent 100% on their stuff and dont know all the available options for shafts or heads etc. However even assuming these ppl do know all of that I still find problems with this type of fitting especially indoors. I know its nice to hear the numbers and have some psycological reassurance; however, here is my qualm: Upon seeing that the Ping demo van was going to be in town at a local Edwin Watts I wanted to stop by and say hi to the long time rep who has been a family friends for 7 or so yrs. While there i was curious to talk to his fellow fitters and get fit for a driver on one of these indoor launch monitors. Well bc of my angle of attack on a driver...very steep i produce a very high ball flight but not nearly as much spin as most ppl do on the ball. Bc of this on an indoor launch monitor one would assume that i wouldnt necessarily hit it high however i hit it tremendously high. Well my spin is about 300-350 rpms lower than is reccomended for someone with my swingspeed (about 120). my launch angle is relatively good though. Bc we were inside they were trying to figure out how to bring my ball spin up while maintaining launch angle. Well to make a long story short this indoor fitting contradicted every outdoor fitting Ive ever had bc they werent able to see that bc of my angle of attack spin wasnt the only thing that got the ball airborn for me. Even outdoors unless your being fit by the best they react to what they see on their computer screen and dont know what to do when something is as seemingly paradoxical as my high straight to maybe baby fade ball flight is with as little spin as i put on a driver and how i can play such a short driver and produce as much flex in the shaft as i do etc. So you have to be careful that these people arent just reacting to the by the book analysis which unfortunately is all you can get indoors bc you cant see ball path etc. So that is my problem with these launch monitors unless being fitted by the very best (i.e. the guys in pings or any other OEM's tour Dept).

Another thing to consider is your game. I dont just mean your handicap either bc that doesnt reflect necessarily the certain aspect of your game we are talking about. For example when considering a driver consider the steepness of your swing ball spin etc. Consider the shot pattern you tend to hit and the desired shot pattern and consider your bad shots as well. As much as we may not like em they do happen. if you have a larger shot dispersion and a hard time getting the ball to stay straight rather than fade dont buy a bore through driver with the same flex you would in a non bore or same torque bc its going to play differently. That is definately stuff that needs to be taken into consideration but as well consider the OEM your going with.

Talk to ppl about the drivers and always have each driver measured b4 you try it so you know what your actually trying. Though a bad example bc my driver is pre production proto it says its an 8* on the bottom when in fact it is a 9.8*. So be careful what your trying so as not to try an "8*" and go buy another driver thinking its the same when the first one speced out like mine way higher than listed and the one you buy is actually a 7.7* or something. Another thing is talk to the ppl that play it or that know bout the club about the dynamic loft or what it will actually play like bc of the design of the head etc. I know talking to Ping the actual loft and what itd play to bc of weighting etc was way off for me. You always want to know what your getting into as I say.

[b]Consider your course conditions[/b]- you may play a course that tends to be very dry so the fly high and drop and stop ball flight may cost you 10 yds over a driver that seemingly would be detrimental bc you wont fly it quite as far but bc you play in arid conditions your ball rolls more than most. If you play in wet conditions dont go try a driver that in dry conditions runs 35 yds. and doesnt have a high ball flight bc once you get out onto your usual conditions youll lose all that roll. Consider your shot shape as said b4. Especially for ppl who dont hit their desired shot shape try to find a driver that produces not just the desired shot bc some better pros hit a fade but find the shot shape that is most repeatable and most accurate for you. Whether this means lead tape on the toe or heal or a closed or open driver etc. figure that out consider this aspect.

[b]Consider your shafts[/b] etc. I know for me control wasnt always my strong suit so one day it hit me to get my drivers all ordered at 43.75" rather than std. length. Yes i lost yds, however i went from hitting 50% fairways to pretty much hitting it where i looked. Consider control not just distance when deciding what driver you want to go wtih as well as head look at shaft length, torque flex point etc. Consider your shot dispersion if you hit it all over id say go with a club thats longer toe to heel rather than deep face bc itll provide you with more hitting surface to miss it on and still get it going in the right direction. As well look at what the club will do. As i stated in another thread a bore through driver will cause a higher effective kick point and lower effective torque. While for a good player this will drop the ball flight and give more workability and control if you tend to miss it a lot this will be detrimental.

[b]Consider the technology in these new drivers[/b]- dont fall for the old this goes longer bc we say so. Many of these companies test their clubs at 120mph swing speeds which will produce a much diff effect than a 90 mph ss. Consider the driver whether its designed for lower or higher spin rate as this will effect which loft and shaft you may want in the driver bc of the amt of spin produced changing ball flights.

[b]Consider your desires[/b]- if you are borderline on a shaft flex say btwn r and s or s and x consider if you hit it relatively straight and control it well and you want distance or if you hit it really long but want to keep it in the short stuff more. If you want more distance bc you have no control issues go to the weaker side on flex but if you feel you need that extra bit of control and distance isnt really the biggest factor then go to the stiffer.

And finally as stupid as this sounds to end it with TEE HEIGHT!!! I see so many avg. weekend ams playing these new technology drivers with short or even long tees that arent necessarily high enough out of the ground. Some ppl say have the equator of the ball at the top of the club head some say slightly more. I say determine it based on your swing. If you swing up maybe tee it a little lower you swing more around yourself and shallower tee it up a little more. Dont go on some generalization see what works and consider your swing when deciding how high to tee it but Id say you need to tee it very high with these new large drivers. I know personally i swing up but i like the really high penetrating ball flight bc i can fly it over trees and cut corners and get it to land softer when i need to and not roll etc so i play it higher than a person with my swing plane might maybe 3/4 of the ball above topline instead of half of it.


So go out there and try the drivers and see what feels right, tee it high, make sure to not just go by the book on launch monitors and take into account swing plane etc, dont make an indoor fitting the be all and end all of driver decision and best of all ask ppl in the know about the clubs. Good luck with the upcoming season after you guys up north can get back out and start playing again. Keep this stuff in mind and youll do alright and youll enjoy longer, straigher, better drives.

P.S. sorry for the long post just trying to help

Thanks,

Adam[/quote]

Wow, that was a long post!

How to choose a driver for juniors? Is this your first time here or what?

EVERYONE is hitting ball over 300 yards!!!

I'd hate to believe they weren't optimized to the max. already.

LOL, def. not my first time - heh I went inactive for almost a year and am at 1300 posts.

BTW, that was very informative and well written post.

You definitely have a talent for the for golf literature.

I especially like the point you address when it comes to drivers being tested @ 120mph clubhead speeds. I think there is an extension of this mentality when people go to get fitted. It seems to me that the golden rule believed is a 12* launch angle with a spin rate of 2600rpm's. That's good for a tour pro, but is not going to help Joe who has 130mph ballspeeds.

A side note, I have hit outdoors with Trackman tracing my data and wish everyone had this opportunity. Getting to hit at a state of the art facility like Ping would be mind boggleing

One of the most missed things in driver selection for juniors is flex - kids swing hard and harder, especially the less skilled golfers who are athletes in other sports. I have replaced a number of r flex shafts with x flex in kids who couldn't break 100, but have driver ss >>110. Made a huge diff, but took convinicing to have their parents understand why their kid needs a "tour flex" when they are far from a decent player.

wow that's a lot of good info

thanks

Glad this is still helpful to people.

Who is considered a junior golfer?

Delete