Senior Driver; Less Than 240 Yards

[erock9174]

While not a senior yet (43 yrs old) I have tried just about every driver out there in the past 10 years.

What I find is that most end up producing about the same yardage for me (I track via Game Golf).

I swing around 90 mph on avg (high 80’s when cold – maybe a tick over 90 on a hot day and warmed up). So my yardage is usually in that 195-210 carry range and up to 220-240 with roll depending on the conditions. I played Friday on a firm hot day and had 11 drives between 234 and 269 but that is the anomaly.

 

Anyhow finding a driver that looks good to the eye at address and mitigates the miss I find is key.

For me my issue was finding a driver that reduced the big sweeping hook or worse yet the low snap hook (my bad miss). I like a driver to sit upright but I do not like the face to look closed. Also I need launch as my grip is overly strong and I hood the face down at impact reducing effective loft.

 

I tried them all this year, F9, M1-M6, Flash, Wilson, Srixon, Mizzy, Tour Edge EXS, G410, you name it I hit it. I even went for PXG fitting and spent $700+ on Gen2 XF 14* with Tensei Orange Pro Stiff shaft. That ended up being a bust.

The Flash 12* with Px Even Flow Green 55g 5.5 flex ended up beating them all.

I can put the setting at +1 to help launch the ball, set it to D to raise the lie angle and put the weight to full fade to help with my hook miss.

So far it checks all the boxes and I am hitting it very well. After 12 rds, Game Golf shows a 227 yd avg, 236 Typical drive, and 62% FIR.

 

Other drivers that worked pretty well for me too:

M3 12* with HZRDUS T800 5.5 – 220 Avg; 236 Typical; 66% FIR

Epic 13.5* with HZRDUS T800 5.5 – 219 Avg; 235 Typical; 59% FIR

Great Big Bertha 13.5 *‘15/16 – 224 Avg; 223 Typical; 58% FIR

 

 

[cmoineo]

(sorry for my english)

First you have to consider that the engine is the shaft not the head. Graphite shaft more than 4 years for someone playing normally often is "dead" (in fact something like 50% of its "juice" is gone). Your Fusion is certainly more than 4 years old, so any new shaft would give back some tonic to your impact.

For the loft it's directly linked with the shaft too. If tip of shaft is medium or firm, 12° head will certainly gives better trajectory. If tip is soft, perhaps 10.5° head will be better.

You really have to see a fitter, launch monitor will give the datas (swing speed, ball speed, launch angle, peak height...) to choose the right SHAFT with the right head.

[LONGBALL777]

I'm also playing the Fusion, and it is perfect for me. I am playing the 10.5 *, however, and getting plenty of height, so you might want to try that. I am playing the Recoil staff in stiff flex, but I have thought about switching to a lighter flex. They are cheap enough on Cally Preowned to experiment.

 

[LONGBALL777]

I'm also playing the Fusion, and it is perfect for me. I am playing the 10.5 *, however, and getting plenty of height, so you might want to try that. I am playing the Recoil staff in stiff flex, but I have thought about switching to a lighter flex. They are cheap enough on Cally Preowned to experiment.

 

[southplains]

I suggest searching Ebay for a Hogan Edge GCD 9 degree with Apex Graphite "high modulus carbon fiber" shaft. I'm getting phenomenol results with it at the age of 70 - even off the fairway. I still prefer persimmon, though.

[titleless_30]

As a clubfitter, HL3 is the best bang for your buck AND it performs. If money isn't an issue XXIO all the way.

[jeffrey r]

Not a senior, but not a WRX monster hitter. OP, like you, I play a BB Fusion driver. I've tried to stray many times, but always seem to end up back with the BB Fusion. It simply gives me the best chance to hit the fairway. I have a virtual fitting cart at my house with all of the Callaway driver shafts I have acquired over the years, so I've put the BB Fusion through the ringer.

 

As a generally stiff shaft sort of guy, I was really doing mostly stiff shafts in the BB Fusion. My miss is/was a fade or block. I finally said wtf, and started trying out some lighter regular flex shafts to turn the ball over better. I found a good fit with the Aldila Quaranta 50g regular. As always, 44.5" with the 12g weight. Hitting my drives very nicely now.

 

I gave the G400 SFT, and G400 Max drivers a run, but again, with stiff shafts. The G400 Max was better out of those two, but still not as consistent as the BB Fusion. Other than that, I've hit many of the recent TM, Cobra and Mizuno drivers, without finding better success than the BB Fusion. I think you might end up disappointed if you put a lot of effort into replacing the BB Fusion. It really is that good IMHO. 13.5* BB Epic works for me as well, and can be dialed in nicely, but is not quite as forgiving as the BB Fusion. I'd like to give the 12* Epic Flash a hit at some point. Good luck.

[erock9174]

> @cmoineo said:

> (sorry for my english)

> First you have to consider that the engine is the shaft not the head. Graphite shaft more than 4 years for someone playing normally often is "dead" (in fact something like 50% of its "juice" is gone). Your Fusion is certainly more than 4 years old, so any new shaft would give back some tonic to your impact.

> For the loft it's directly linked with the shaft too. If tip of shaft is medium or firm, 12° head will certainly gives better trajectory. If tip is soft, perhaps 10.5° head will be better.

> You really have to see a fitter, launch monitor will give the datas (swing speed, ball speed, launch angle, peak height...) to choose the right SHAFT with the right head.

 

The Great Big Bertha Fusion came out in Sept 2016. So if my math is correct it just had a 3 yr birthday.

[platgof]

It has a Recoil 440 F2 shaft in it. I really like the shaft, best shaft ever in a driver for me.I went ahead and ordered a 10.5 Max with a 40G Senior Distanza shaft in it. Just too much love for this driver. It wasn't cheap as these are very hard to find, even on Ebay. I checked the specs like side spin, length, and accuracy, and all parameters were met with this. I did play around with the F8 weights and went with 17 grams in the draw position, and 7 in the rear. Try it tomorrow and see what happens.

[platgof]

Dang Jeffrey, I hope your wrong, but the Fusion just will not leave the bag. I am hoping to gain something with the G Max, hope!

[bulls9999]

One of the things that I've done with my driver, is stuck with Callaway since they've had a number of driver iterations using the same Optifit2 adapter, and I've accumulated a number of shafts (Project X Velocity in Stiff, Reg, and Senior flex), Speeder 565 Reg, and now most recently, the Epic Flash with Tensei shaft/65-Reg flex (ooh, I like this one). The thing the Stiff/Reg/Senior PxV shafts did for me was show me that although I had liked the Stiff version....it kept me straight and controllable, but when I tried the Reg flex, I gained about 10 yards and then did a 'oh what the heck' tried the Senior version and gained another 10 yards....so once you see that, it's hard to go back (even though the dispersion was greater which each successive drop in flex). Now, I got a new/updated driver/shaft combo (Epic Flash/Tensai) and that is every bit as good as anything I got, and long. Still, with all that, only hitting it about 250 at best. But at 65, I'm routinely at places on the fairway I wasn't even at when I was 50. I'm going to have to try to increase swing speed, that's the only thing that will help.

[erock9174]

> @cmoineo said:

> (sorry for my english)

> First you have to consider that the engine is the shaft not the head. Graphite shaft more than 4 years for someone playing normally often is "dead" (in fact something like 50% of its "juice" is gone). Your Fusion is certainly more than 4 years old, so any new shaft would give back some tonic to your impact.

> For the loft it's directly linked with the shaft too. If tip of shaft is medium or firm, 12° head will certainly gives better trajectory. If tip is soft, perhaps 10.5° head will be better.

> You really have to see a fitter, launch monitor will give the datas (swing speed, ball speed, launch angle, peak height...) to choose the right SHAFT with the right head.

 

The Great Big Bertha Fusion came out in Sept 2016. So if my math is correct it just had a 3 yr birthday. > @bulls9999 said:

> One of the things that I've done with my driver, is stuck with Callaway since they've had a number of driver iterations using the same Optifit2 adapter, and I've accumulated a number of shafts (Project X Velocity in Stiff, Reg, and Senior flex), Speeder 565 Reg, and now most recently, the Epic Flash with Tensei shaft/65-Reg flex (ooh, I like this one). The thing the Stiff/Reg/Senior PxV shafts did for I'm going to have to try to increase swing speed, that's the only thing that will help.

 

Try Superspeed Golf to increase swing speed.

[jeffrey r]

> @platgof said:

> Dang Jeffrey, I hope your wrong, but the Fusion just will not leave the bag. I am hoping to gain something with the G Max, hope!

 

All good. The G400 Max is an awesome driver. There was a time I thought it would be my game-changing driver, but I was just never able to really get it dialed in with the right shaft. Tried a bunch. I have little doubt that with a proper fitting sparing no time or expense to find the right shaft, the G400 Max could easily be in my bag. I just haven’t had the time or resources to do such a fitting.

 

Anyway, give it a go, and let us know how it goes. But don’t get rid of that BB Fusion...!

 

[golfbuddy]

Thought I knew what driver combo was best for me until I got fitted at Club Champion. My old driver was a TM Jetspeed HL (13*) which I used with a regular shaft. My ss is 84 and my average drive was 210. Ball flight was a little high with little roll out. I was fitted for a Callaway flash sub zero in 9* and a Fujikura Vista Pro 55 shaft in stiff flex. Wow, what a surprise to me! Went from a 46.5" to 45.5" shaft also. Less spin with the new combo with more roll out. Average drive is 15+ yards longer and straighter which is huge for me. My advice is not to guess - get fitted! Find a fitter that is not locked into one brand.

[slolane]

> @platgof said:

> It has a Recoil 440 F2 shaft in it. I really like the shaft, best shaft ever in a driver for me.I went ahead and ordered a 10.5 Max with a 40G Senior Distanza shaft in it. Just too much love for this driver. It wasn't cheap as these are very hard to find, even on Ebay. I checked the specs like side spin, length, and accuracy, and all parameters were met with this. I did play around with the F8 weights and went with 17 grams in the draw position, and 7 in the rear. Try it tomorrow and see what happens.

 

I have the 400 max with the Distanza senior shaft and I love it. I am hitting it so long and straight its almost cheating!!

[97speedster]

I'm 52 and tried them all except the Cobra and compared them all to my TaylorMade RBZ Tour 10.5 and none of them come close to kicking this out of the bag. You can find one for less than $100 and it gave me ideal spin and launch at 13* and 2200 rpm launch.

[Ace_twice_over]

**Another vote for the G400 ...Ive been a Callaway guy since the Epic release and moved from that to the Rogue though June of this year until I noticed just as many around me on the course hitting Pings. Callaway Preowned had a used G400 so I grabbed it in what could have been an expensive experiment but turned out to be my new gamer. Its just a straight shooter and much more forgiving with as much or more distance. **

[Ace_twice_over]

 

 

Im surprised they put you in a stiff flex with sub 90 SS...Goes against everything they say about shaft flex vs SS

[ChaosTheory]

> @Ace_twice_over said:

>

>

> Im surprised they put you in a stiff flex with sub 90 SS...Goes against everything they say about shaft flex vs SS

 

If a person's tempo is fast and transition is hard, a stiffer shaft is often appropriate.

[ChipNRun]

A fitter should be your first stop. My pro checked me out last month, and found I got more distance by playing my driver at 11.5* rather than stock 10.5*.

 

If you had trouble with the F8, it could have been a problem of getting "squared up" at impact. One contributing factor could have been the Cobra's rather robust shafts. I noticed that the Cobra long clubs have stock shafts slightly heavier than those of other OEMs. For example, my FlyZ hybrids have a heavier senior flex shaft; other shafts I play are all R-flex.

 

A good fitter can help you find the best {head + shaft} combo for driver. Don't forget to explore the variety in shafts. For example, the Callaway Rogue driver offers six stock shaft variants:

* Aldila Quarante 40 and Aldila Synergy 50 and 60.

* PX EvenFlow 65

* PX HZRDUS Yellow 65 and 75

 

Let us know how things work out!

[myspinonit]

> @Snowman9000 said:

> > @Ace_twice_over said:

> >

> >

> > Im surprised they put you in a stiff flex with sub 90 SS...Goes against everything they say about shaft flex vs SS

>

> If a person's tempo is fast and transition is hard, a stiffer shaft is often appropriate.

 

Ace, not trying to pile on to a new member, but please read or reread my post 21 above. What Snowman says, that's been me, at least for driver. Playing a firm reg now at nearly age 69, just ~ 80mph, fit by Ping, (it was a was a toss-up, mostly feel preference between Tour Reg and the Kuro Kage Reg) . That fitting was exactly two years ago, but I'm hitting drives as well or better-accuracy and length- than I did then so I consider it's still a good fit. Was fit into stiff in 2014 by Ping also when I probably was a touch faster, but not much.

[GSDriver]

Get fit and/or move up a tee box

[Frisco Kid]

> @cmoineo said:

> (sorry for my english)

> First you have to consider that the engine is the shaft not the head. Graphite shaft more than 4 years for someone playing normally often is "dead" (in fact something like 50% of its "juice" is gone). Your Fusion is certainly more than 4 years old, so any new shaft would give back some tonic to your impact.

> For the loft it's directly linked with the shaft too. If tip of shaft is medium or firm, 12° head will certainly gives better trajectory. If tip is soft, perhaps 10.5° head will be better.

> You really have to see a fitter, launch monitor will give the datas (swing speed, ball speed, launch angle, peak height...) to choose the right SHAFT with the right head.

 

First off, your English is very good! Secondly, I wondered if your statement that graphite shafts lose their potency after a few years was accurate. The prevailing thought from industry experts is, as long as the shaft hasn’t cracked or been structurally compromised, it should perform with no issues. Graphite has no “fatigue factor”...here’s an interview with David Schnider (COO of Fujikura at that time):

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/golfweek.com/2013/02/04/shaft-month-q-fujikuras-david-schnider/amp/

[platgof]

I put the 17 gram weight in the draw position on the F8 and the 7 gram in the rear. First hole I sliced the ... out of it. Then after that I hit every fairway with bullets, go figure. The last hole I knocked it hard, one of my best drives on that hole, very surprised. I ended up with a very decent score(43,) so pretty decent after all. Once I got used to the weights it was money. The only thing that stopped me from scoring better, I could not get the tee low enough, as the ground is a brick here in Tennessee. The Max comes in tomorrow, but with the hot weather I don't know when I will be able to hit it.

[MocGolfer]

I am a short hitting senior...been through a bunch of drivers...hitting for the last couple years now a Wilson Triton...you should be able to find one cheap somewhere....get the most loft in a senior shaft..set it up for a draw.

[golfbuddy]

> @Snowman9000 said:

> > @Ace_twice_over said:

> >

> >

> > Im surprised they put you in a stiff flex with sub 90 SS...Goes against everything they say about shaft flex vs SS

>

> If a person's tempo is fast and transition is hard, a stiffer shaft is often appropriate.

 

Yes, I was surprised too. My tempo is slow and smooth too. Go figure. Everything went against what I thought I knew, or thought I knew, about club fitting. At first I tried to swing a little faster because it was a stiff shaft or so I thought. Once I put my regular swing on it is when it started working for me. Cannot say enough about going on Trackman and working with a knowledgeable fitter. In the long run it saves me time and money as before, I tried different head/shaft combinations that worked for other swings.

[Bill Guy]

While head design is important the shaft is even more important and the driving force or engine of the club. There is no standard for regular or stiff across manufacturers. What one manufacturer considers regular another will call stiff... it's all about marketing. Spin is also the friend of slower swing speeds as we get older. It is a question of finding the right combination that works for you and the best way is to find a good fitter interested in finding what works best for your swing.

I am interested in any experience senior golfers with <90 swing speed have with counterbalance shafts

[platgof]

Got the Max in today and cut it to 45", then put a new grip on, something tackier. I really don't know when I will get a chance to hit it, maybe sat. I am still shocked the F8 came around with the weights, really! I just wasn't expecting that.

[duffer18]

> @Soccerrick10 said:

> After a year of struggling with the G400, I switched to TaylorMade M6. It is the best driver I’ve had. I never cared for any of them before. But, it is longer and straighter on good hits while being more forgiving on my missed hits. Typically my misses are toe and or low on the face. This one helps Me the best.

>

> Last week I went with my 88 year old father-in-law. You should have seen his smiles when he hit it too.

 

I'm 67, have gone very happily to an M6 Draw. Has very effectively countered my slice. I don't kill the ball, usually out there 220 and when the gods of golf are kind, I'll reach 240. If you can't hit it long, you damn well better hit it straight, which is what I now can do.

[Fio]

Ping 400 Max. Bought one day before 5 round trip on links type courses. 70 drives , 7missed fairways. Permanently in the bag. When I am too old to play I will have it bronzed and hang it on the wall.