How far do you really hit it?

jimsartayava4 · May 31, 2018

37 years old - 6 foot 235lbs

Driver - 275 - 300
3 wood - 240-250
2 iron - 230-240
3 Hybrid - 220-230
4I - 200-210
5I - 185-195
6I - 175-185
7I - 165-175
8I - 150-160
9I - 140-150
PW - 130-140
AW - 120-130
54* - 110-120
58* - 0.1-110 - lol

lol

Stanks · May 31, 2018

How far do I hit it?

Between 2 inches and 330 yards.

Very subjective post with a lot of possible variables not accounted for.

In this day and age, we know a lot of people can kill the ball. But, if you can't handle the heat, why do you care? Go ahead and drive it 360 but, can you make that 20 yard uphill chip with almost no green to work with?

dpark · June 2, 2018

Was on a Trackman today for a Titleist ball fitting. Lost a just a little bit over the past 10 years. Forgot to take a picture of the screen with the driver numbers, but on the left side of the screen you can see on ball #9 a distance of 248.4. That was the carry with my Cobra ZL 10.5* driver (yes, I use an old driver). The total distance was 262.

Launch was in the 13* range, clubhead speed was 104, spin was 3300 (a little high), smash factor 1.48. The numbers you see on the screen for the 217 carry was with a hickory driver, not a mishit ;)

Compare that to 10 years ago with Ping Rapture 10.5* with Diamana BB shaft. Same clubhead speed 104, launch was a little higher at 14.5*, spin was lower at 2900, smash factor was still 1.48 and carry was 255.6.

So lost less than 10 yards in 10 years in carry, but still close to 250, 260 with roll. Overall, not too shabby for being in the senior citizen category.

jimsartayava4 · June 2, 2018

Dpark- if you could get the attack angle to the positive your spin ratewould drop and carry would increase

iteachgolf · June 2, 2018

Dpark- if you could get the attack angle to the positive your spin ratewould drop and carry would increase

More than likely it wouldn’t. He’d actually hit it even higher. He needs to lower the loft of the driver

dpark · June 3, 2018

I have tried changing my swing to a postive AoA and the results aren't pretty. Yes I launch the ball higher, less spin, and yes I could go to a lower lofted driver as a result, but the rest of my game goes to hell in a handbasket.

I've been playing since I was 10 years old and was taught to have the same descending swing on every shot: wedge, iron, woods. Whether that is correct modern dogma or not, I've played that way for 4 decades now and it provides me with a very consistent shot shape and contact, and as I found out, it is really hard to change and not mess up other parts of my game.

When I changed to a positive AoA for the driver, my dispersion went to hell, and so did my iron and wedge play (I started to thin shots at very inopportune times). I could not consistently maintain two types of swings. So I don't try to do it anymore.

Yes, I compensate for my negative AoA with a higher lofted driver, and yes I get more spin as a result, but I have a very controllable ball flight and hit a lot of fairways and am still plenty long enough to play from the tips if need be.

I actually bought a Cobra ZL driver with 9.5* of loft to put into play in the summer when there is more roll and I could give up a little carry to get more roll with a less steep angle of descent. However, for me, that 1* less loft translated into an increase in sidespin (iteach, I am sure you can see that I have an out-to-in path but an open face at impact) and had a bad tendency to turn my baby cut into a something more like a slice. So that experiment didn't go as well either.

I appreciate the advice, but believe me, I have gone down both rabbit holes (positive AoA and lower lofted driver) and when I looked at the stats after 20 rounds, my fairways hit suffered, my GIR suffered and my overall score suffered.

In another thread from last summer, I posted how I had a great teacher who built my swing over the course of almost a decade. This is what I ended up with and it works for me day in and day out. It isn't textbook, it isn't super pretty, but it gets the job done :)