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Best driver for low on face contact


barony19

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Hi,

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere, but I didn't find anything using search.

I'm a decent single handicap player with a pattern in how I hit driver. I consistently hit the ball low to center on the face. Never higher than center. AOA is neutral to positive. I think I just had such a fear of skying the driver as a kid, so I developed this pattern and find it very difficult to break. Low face contact is very comfortable for me and when I've tried to change it I lose all consistency.

So, the question is whether there is a driver out there (doesn't matter how old) that won't force me to change. Ideally one that combines forgiveness and great spin control on contact that's below the center of the face. I currently use Rogue SZ, just wondering if there might be better out there on this specific criteria.

Many thanks for your assistance.

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What you want is the best possible blend of low CG plus high MOI, with the preference leaning towards high MOI since CG location differences are fairly minor. I think this is a pretty good list in order of effectiveness:

1) Ping G400 MAX

2) Callaway Fusion

3) Titleist TS2

4) Ping G

5) Titleist TS3

6) Cobra LTD/LTD Pro

 

Lots of others drivers can work well too, you just want to stay away from anything in the lower MOI range.

 

Titleist TSi3 9* Tensei AV White 65TX 2.0 // Taylormade SIM 9* Ventus TR Blue 6TX
Taylormade Stealth+ 16.5* Ventus Black 8x // Taylormade SIM Ti V2 16.5* Ventus TR Blue 7X
Callaway Apex UW 19* Ventus Black 8x // Srixon ZX Utility MKII 18* Graphite Design AD-IZ 95X
Callaway X-Forged Single Diamond 22* Nippon GOST Hybrid Tour X 
Bridgestone 
J40 DPC 4i-7i 24*- 35* Brunswick Precision Rifle FCM 7.0
Bridgestone J40 CB 8i-PW 39*- 48* Brunswick Precision Rifle FCM 7.0

Taylormade Milled Grind Raw 54* Brunswick Precision Rifle FCM 7.0
Vokey SM6 58* Oil Can Low Bounce K-Grind Brunswick Precision Rifle FCM 7.0
Scotty Cameron Newport Tour Red Dot || Taylormade Spider X Navy Slant

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Mizuno ST190

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Callaway AI Smoke 10.5°(9.5°) - GD Tour AD IZ 5

Taylormade SIM2 TI 3W 15°(14°) - GD Tour AD DI 6 

Taylormade SIM2 TI 5W 19°(18°) - GD Tour AD UB 7

Mizuno Pro 245 HMP (4-pw) - DG120 S300

Vokey SM8 52°(50°) F Grind

Vokey SM8 56° M Grind

Vokey SM9 60° T Grind

Odyssey WH OG #7 Nano - Stroke Lab 3GEN Red

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I have a ping g410+ in the bag. It may be the anser your looking for.

not sure of your speed or shot shape but the ping hosel now allow you to drop the toe a few degrees. May be a better strike for you. For me it seems to help.

I suppose you’ve already tried teeing it a bit higher right? Sky king strikes I bet.

good luck.

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G430 MAX 10K 9° w/ventus velocore red 5s

G430 MAX threewood ping chrome tour2 65 S
Taylor Made SIM MAX2 5wood w/ventus velocore blue 7

Adams 23º 9031 proto w' diamana ahina 82
Eye2   3-SW

Oddessy Rossie nsl og slant neck.  

 

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I agree with you. NO club should force us to accommodate it's design principles. I am a low-mid single too and like the results I get from TS2 9.5 Only I don't have that same bias. But because I have my days where I use ALL the face, including low TS2 forgives me. Still, the best performance and distance is using the Center of the face or fractionally above. And all things equal, low on the face TS2 has better results than TS3.

Finding a driver with low-back and or COG in the center of the face is a big challenge with contemporary designs. Good luck.

  • TSR2 10° Ventus Velo TR Blue 58S
  • TSR2 15° Talamonti PD80R
  • T200 17' 2i Tensei AV Raw White Hybrid 95S
  • T100 3i & 4i MMT 85S
  • T100 5i to 9i MMT 105S
  • T100 PW, SM9 F52/12, M58/8, PX Wedge 120S
  • SC/CA Monterey
  • DASH -ProV1x
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cobra LTDs and F9s

Titleist TSR4 /Ozik F6M2/Ozik TP6HD/EVO III FUJI/fuji pro 2.0
Cobra Ltd 3 Kaili 80

Cobra Ltd 5 Kaili 80 (sub :Cobra F6 Baffler 18.5 Kaili 80)
Adams XTD TI  22 Hybrid
Honma 757B Blades 4-pw . s300 xp 
Nike Vapor Pro combo AW 50*,Ping 3.0 EYE 54, 58 

Bettinardi SS 2 silver

Nike B1-05 Origin (Rare)
Slazenger 508/Kirk Currie KC02B

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THIS !!!

Low on the face = high spin and low launch, exactly the opposite of what you should be looking for.

HIGH launch and LOW spin = best distance.

 

If your AoA is truly neutral or slightly up, tee it up 1/2 to a full inch higher and make the same swing. The slightly higher tee height is NOT going to make what used to be a low spinner down the middle into a push slice or a pull hook. It'll give the SAME shape ball with higher launch, lower spin and more distance.

Not sure there's ever been a driver made to get the best performance off a strike below the sweet spot (or with a SS that low on the face.

 

Good luck.

 

Callaway Epic Flash SZ 9.0 Ventus Blue 6S

Ping G425 14.5 Fairway Tour AD TP 6X

Ping G425 MAX 20.5 7 wood Diamana Blue 70 S

Titleist 716 AP-1  5-PW, DGS300

Ping Glide Forged, 48, DGS300

Taylormade MG3 52*, 56*, TW 60* DGS200

LAB Mezz Max 34*, RED, BGT Stability

Titleist Pro V1X

 

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^^ Anything with Jailbreak, the Cobra King LTD series and the Ping G410s all perform well on low strikes.

 

I compared the LTD Pro to all the newer Drivers of 2018 & 2019 on the MGS CG NA report and it still has one of, if not the best low CG to high MOI ratio.

Driver: Cobra LTD Pro 7.5o - Kuro Kage DC XT 70 TX - Tipped 1"

UDI: 2019 TaylorMade P790 2i

Irons: 3-PW: Srixon z745 with Modus 130x

Wedges: 52o/56o/60o - Cleveland RTX4s

Putter: Ping Kushin 4

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Epic, works well anywhere on the face. Maybe tee it lower if can't get impact point up where should be?

2021 Bag Update:

 

Epic Max LS - MMT 60S

Epic Flash 5 Wood

Epic 3/4 Hybrids

Apex '21 Irons 5-7  MMT95 TT

Apex Pro '21 Irons 8-A  MMT95 TT

PM Grind Slate Wedges 58/64

Odyssey Exo Mini 7s

B330 XS Yellow

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Wishon 919THI Has a GRT face which does not have the roll from top to bottom like most OEM drivers. A typical OEM driver will have the stated loft at the center, but can be as much as 2-4 degrees higher on the face and 2-4 degrees less at the bottom.

A ball struck above center on a 9* driver is actually being impacted at a point with 11-12* of loft.

The flat face provides a similar launch angle whether struck low or high on the face.

As a result of the flat face, the spin numbers won’t spike up and a strike higher on the face won’t have significantly increased loft resulting in a sky ball.

I am unaware of any other head manufacturer using this technology that Tom has incorporated in his driver heads for about a decade.

 

PXG  9* 0811 X  Hazardous Smoke Yellow 60g Stiff

Wishon 929HS 3W  Wishon Black 65g Stiff

Wishon 929HS 7W  Wishon Black 65g R 

PXG 0211 5i DG 105 Regular

Wishon 575MMC  5 - AW  Wishon Superlight Stiff

Ping Glide 3.0  54*  KBS 610 Stiff shaft

Ping Glide 3.0  60*  Z-115 Wedge shaft

PING Anser 3 Goose Neck Putter   

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Agree with Preppy. F9 is god awful low on the face. Cobras are notoriously bad down low.

Callaway Epic Max LS 9* Fujikura Ventus Blue VeloCore 6 X
TaylorMade SIM2 15* & 19* Fujikura Ventus Blue VeloCore 7 & 8 X

Srixon ZX7 4-AW Mitsubishi MMT 105 TX

Mizuno T20 Raw 57/11@56 & 61/07@60 Mitsubishi MMT Scoring Wedge 105 TX

Evnroll ER 2.2 MidBlade Mitsubishi MMT Putter Concept 135
Titleist Pro V1x #13

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I assumed the Ltd pro i was playing would be good with it, but in a driver evaluation on trackman I was surprised how high spin shot up with slightly below center strikes. Found out in general I get center face contact with 2-3 deg up aoa. Explained to the fitter that i was seeing big distance differences on shots that felt the same. What I found were that what I would call center contact but just barely above the center line gave me my “normal” distance, but spin would jump on shots just barely below the center line. I would call them both center without the center line showing on Trackman. And of course found out my bombs came when I hit it a little higher on the face and just towards the toe.

i know I expected it to handle the slightly low strikes better then it did bc of the cog. I don’t know the physics behind it and if my AOA maybe negates that on strikes just below the center line.

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I think this more supports the idea that MOI is the stronger influencer here. The Cobra LTD/LTD Pro is probably the lowest CG driver out there, but it certainly is not special when it comes to MOI, pretty middle of the pack. Lower MOI means more vertical gear effects when you miss the CG low/high. That explains why the bombs were bombs and why the slightly low strikes spun up as much. I'd love to see some testing around that to really see CG vs MOI and where the tipping points are, but it seems like MOI is the more important figure.

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Titleist TSi3 9* Tensei AV White 65TX 2.0 // Taylormade SIM 9* Ventus TR Blue 6TX
Taylormade Stealth+ 16.5* Ventus Black 8x // Taylormade SIM Ti V2 16.5* Ventus TR Blue 7X
Callaway Apex UW 19* Ventus Black 8x // Srixon ZX Utility MKII 18* Graphite Design AD-IZ 95X
Callaway X-Forged Single Diamond 22* Nippon GOST Hybrid Tour X 
Bridgestone 
J40 DPC 4i-7i 24*- 35* Brunswick Precision Rifle FCM 7.0
Bridgestone J40 CB 8i-PW 39*- 48* Brunswick Precision Rifle FCM 7.0

Taylormade Milled Grind Raw 54* Brunswick Precision Rifle FCM 7.0
Vokey SM6 58* Oil Can Low Bounce K-Grind Brunswick Precision Rifle FCM 7.0
Scotty Cameron Newport Tour Red Dot || Taylormade Spider X Navy Slant

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TS2

PING G430 LST 10.5° | DIAMANA GT 60X

COBRA DARKSPEED X 3HF 16.5° | HZRDUS BLACK 70X

PING G425 7W 20.5° | DIAMANA GT 70X

SRIXON ZX5 5-6 | MMT TAPER 105TX

SRIXON ZX7 7-PW | MMT TAPER 105TX

PING GLIDE 4.0 50°/54°/58° | MMT WEDGE 125TX

ODYSSEY TRI-HOT 5K SEVEN DB

SRIXON Z-STAR DIAMOND 

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Bulge & Roll... the lower portion of the club face is lower loft than you want. You either need a driver with no Roll or you need to fix your swing. Fixing your swing is less expensive and allows you to play any driver you like.

“I think getting advice from guys who are sitting at the computer in their underwear while taking a break from porn is a very solid way to choose clubs.” - bluedot
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