SIM driver guys - talk about it

[boggyman]

?‍♂️?‍♂️I got it now ???I looked on TM site but can’t find them. I do have my trusty m5 as a backup now. Might have to experiment. Are the SIM 10 grams like the m5, or do you know? I can’t find the weight of the stock in the SIM. Thanks!!

[getitdaily]

Front weight is 10g. Back weight is between 12 and 16g...cant remember the exact #.

M5 weights fit and you can get 3g, 4g, 5g, etc from various sites.

[stingerfade]

So if your miss is on the toe do you put the weight in the heel or behind where your miss is??

[boggyman]

Gotcha, thanks.

[getitdaily]

Depends. Are you hitting a draw or fade?

[stingerfade]

I just mean in general, I’ve read conflicting reports.l as in some people think putting the weight behind the miss helps to fix it while others think putting the weight opposite of the miss helps to straighten it out. Just wondering what people are doing. Ranges are closed here so I can’t just test it out. Thanks!

[Valtiel]

I don't think there are any knowledgeable/reliable fitters or techs that would recommend moving weight away from your miss to correct it as that is backwards and would make it worse. Moving weight moves the sweet spot of the club. It is a very small movement, but millimeters count when it comes to affecting ball flight. If your miss is in the toe then you will tend to suffer from hooks and/or knuckleballs on the bad shots and generally have more of a draw bias to your flight on average due to the horizontal gear effects imparted on a toe strike. Moving weight towards the toe (your average "fade" setting) shifts the CG in that direction, meaning that your toe strike is now slightly closer to the sweet spot and thus the gear effects are less pronounced. If you were to put the weight in the heel then the opposite would happen and your miss would be worse.

For the pros with extremely consistent contact patterns, these small adjustments help fine tune the small amounts they generally want to move the ball in either direction, but they also value a bit of protection from the miss. For us average Joes, it is more about that miss and what can be done to lessen the pain of it. Always always always move weight towards your miss.

[craz-e]

I can see why so many are saying this is a fade biased driver, it’s the first driver in a long while that I hit straight (everything else goes left!)

Absolutely love this driver/shaft combo !

[getitdaily]

I'll add just a bit to valtiel's response..he's right, there is a but tho...

If you do not consistently impact in the same general.spot then moving weight probably isn't for you. If you do then...

Moving weight can help reduce a miss and you can move weight away from your strike location IF doing so helps your miss. Always, always start with the weight neutral.

If your strike is toe side and you play a draw then moving weight away from strike location will make the draw worse. Remember it this way, with a neutral center of gravity (CoG or CG) toe strikes mean the strike alone will impart left sidespin, heel strikes will impart right sidespin. This is called gear effect. Moving the CoG toward the toe makes the center of the face impart right sidespin. Moving the CoG toward the heel means the center of the face will impart left sidespin.

So, moving the CoG heel or toe simply makes more of the face impart sidespin. Google driver gear effect and watch a few videos that explain this with pictures.

Gear effect changes very, very slightly when you introduce path and face to path changes. Out to in path and a face open to path will impart right sidespin, so you might not want weight toward your toe strike location because the right sidespin would be increased simply because that toe side strike with neutral CoG is helping to impart left sidespin while you path/face is imparting right sidespin...thus the "dialing in" of an adjustable weight driver. But to take most advantage of adjustable weight tech, you really have to have a good deal of consistency in path, face to path, and strike location. Otherwise you're really better off with a forgiving head.

[Bucketmouth]

Im going to ad my 2 cents. Im in Minnesota and I was finally able to get out and play this week. I have been chomping at the bit to hit my new 10.5 Sim waiting to take it out for the maiden voyage. Coming from a Titleist TS3, then a Ping G410 LST, I got rid of each while searching for the perfect club. I picked up a 10.5 Sim and couldnt have been more disappointed. The Titanium sound of Taylormades from years past is gone and now Im stuck listening to the sound of mud hitting the clubface. Along with this horrible sound which is similar to the Callaway drivers of today, the club is extremely difficult to work. I would have to think the club engineering has progressively gotten better through the years, but for myself, It just isnt there. I have always thought if a player is that far off of the sweet spot while hitting a driver, Weight changes are the least of your problems. I will try a couple more outings and make a few changes. If I cant get it working, Im going back to Ping. When will Taylormade allow a person to call in with their loft, lie and face squareness measurements? It would make life ssoooo much easier. Thanks for listening to my whining.

[boggyman]

After 1st round with mine I’m not impressed with my SIM for some reason. I did put a shorter shaft from my m5 in it. Possibly the weight difference?‍♂️I’ll add a second weight and see or I’m going back to my m5.

[Boydr12]

Are you sure you’re hitting the ball pure? The sound in mine is muted but explosive when hit well

[BogeyLJA]

One round after a Minnesota winter, clearly the clubs fault

[HaggisPXG]

Valtiel, thanks for this, I’m no technician, have no idea if this is correct but your explanation is so clear and makes a great deal of sense - I’m currently getting my clubs out from under the stairs (full lock down here in the UK) and will be adjusting the adjustments I have on my M5 fairway for when we re-open.

I shall then look to apply this to my SIM test when I get to try this.

Thanks again

Keep well all.

[Malc]

Haggis, i'm just a few miles up the road from you on the A69. Good to hear someone from the TOON on here.

From my old SLDR 430 days, weight was your friend. I had to load the toe side up with that thing to stop it going left. The same applies to any club. Mind you that was the only club i knew that could hit both a duck hook and a duck slice. Long bomber when middled though.

[HaggisPXG]

I know we’re off topic but that SLDR was a bomber when hit, the drop off however was something else!!

Back on topic, I reckon the SIM is definitely the best looking driver of 2020 and the shaft options are also pretty cool, kudos to TaylorMade for this.

[stingerfade]

i love the sound and feel. Hitting it further than m5 but also my swing is getting better

[Bucketmouth]

Its kid of funny that Im Striping my other driver. Next Its going to be my shaft is the wrong CPM. The reason I wouldnt play the Callaway before, was becuse of the horrible sound, now TM has the same thing going on. You can keep it, mine is going down the road. I will say that its longer than what Im currently playing, but the woods are full of long hitters. I have other ideas so we will see what is going to happen,. Dont shoot the messenger.

[driveandputtmachine]

You know I hated the sound of the M5 (never tried the 6) and hated the sound of the Epic and Rogue, but that's not what stopped me from playing them. I tried a fitting with all three and nothing seemed to work. I have a pretty decent idea of my swing and know where the ball should be going based on my swing, and when I looked up with those two I was quite often saying, "um, how did that happen?" The M5 was slower and worse than my G400 MAX. I played the G400 MAX since I tried it, it wasn't fitted but when I looked up the ball was almost always doing what I expected each crappy swing to have done to the ball. The last time I played a driver that did that was the R510TP. Was I giving up a pile of distance with the spinny drives coming off of the G400 MAX? Yep. Was I within the treeline way more often than not? Yep as well. The only thing the G400 MAX didn't help much with was the left to left miss toe strike. I like to play a fade, and every once in awhile I would aim left and hit a hook, no bueno.

Should I have bought the SIM I bought without being fitted? Hell no. Did I buy it anyway? Hell yes. I played my first round with the SIM and didn't adjust anything, didn't hit any balls, just went straight to the tee with it. I hit it 8 times, the group I play with on Fridays plays the white tees, so I don't have much choice. Well I hit three "perfect" drives out of 8. I hit two playable purposeful draws, one lucky and one pretty much topped drive. All in all considering looking down at the SIM made me think it was closed it did pretty well. Does it go farther than the G400 MAX? On average for me yes, the longest are still the same, as every once in awhile I would bomb the G400 with decent spin, plus we've had a bunch of rain so I am not getting much roll right now.

I went to the range and dropped the hosel all the way to lower and it is much more appealing now. However I wore a new pair of shoes walking on Friday and destroyed the heel of my right foot, so I didn't play on Sat or Sun, which considering I shot my best round since my wrist surgery 5 months ago, pretty much pissed me off.

 

[VNutz]

First round this weekend with my Sim 10.5, Hzrdus Smoke Black 70 6.0. Bought completely on a whim with the TM trade bonus after hitting it once. Had the M5 last year so I was familiar with the look and shape, I really liked the M5 as it was very forgiving, consistent and accurate, but I wasn't getting everything out of it. A fitting probably would have helped, but I got the Sim for an exchange of stuff I already had so I gave it a shot. One round in and I'm a fan, so far. I found it quite easy to hit straight, had I not known it wasn't my previous M5 I probably wouldn't have known better. Most drives flew pretty much dead straight, one bad fade due to operator error, and two draws which are my normal swing. If anything I blocked a few, which is not uncommon for me early in the season as one who plays a draw, the right side of the fairway or just off the fairway right was pretty common this day. But the flight was just about perfect, mid trajectory and got some roll out, which was not was I was expecting hearing so many say it's a lower launcher. I even thought I might want to dial it down a tad for a tad less spin. I did not find it fade biased either, pretty much the same as the M5 last year, but I'll know more later in the season if those blocks were early season swings or the club not turning over. Either way it worked for me. It could be just a fluke first round, and believe me I've had plenty of those in my years, but I'm quite optimistic about this one going forward.

[MileHighGuye]

Is the sim fade bias similar to sim max?

[calfan36]

Look at the new TXG video fitting Ian. This club just wants to go straight and performs unbelievable on mishits. There's definitely something special in it.

I wish he had hit the Mavrik/Mavrik SZ tho

[Z1ggy16]

Guys in the 110-115 range and hit up 2-4*, if you've hit SIM Max, what are your spin numbers like? I'm thinking about pulling the trigger once I can find a decent deal but I haven't played a non low spin head in a while.

[IL2AZ]

I have been experimenting with a SIM Max and it looks significantly more upright than my 2016 M2. Anyone else think it looks toe up in the standard setting? I also have found I need to tee it lower than normal as well. Not necessarily a bad thing, just different. Absolutely love the muted sound and feel of it.

[getitdaily]

I peak at 110 and I'm 2-4 up. In a 9.0 max head my spin numbers avgd about 24-2500. Not many over 2600 and not any under 2000. Reg SIM avgd about 2200 so I went that route. I'm also a big believer in adjustable weight tech.

[Z1ggy16]

How'd you feel about forgiveness? Did Max launch noticeably higher, too?

[getitdaily]

Max launched 1-2 degrees higher, consistently. It was definitely more forgiving. It was very accurate. Which says a lot, because regular SIM was as well.

SIM Max is very good. If, in the past, you have gotten along with more rearward CoG then SIM MAX is probably your driver. If a more forward CoG has been better for you then reg sim is probably it.

I found what has been stated by most reviewers...max launches just a bit higher and spins a bit higher. It will be a bit more accurate/forgiving. All depends on how you deliver the club.

[Z1ggy16]

Well when I got fit last, it was into a z785 driver or whatever the model was in 2018 from srixon. Not sure if that was low spin or not (from what I hear, it was not) but I didn't have too many issues with high spin either way. My issue becomes that generally I do better with lower spin heads from a total distance POV but my bad hits tend to be either a little low in the face, or a bit toe side... which on my current Sub Zero head is a disaster. I actually find the SZ head to be pretty forgiving as is, it's just that at 9* and being pretty low launch, my bad misses become really bad.

I've been getting coached by a really good coach now and he's added some speed to my swing such that I'm about as fast in my off season as I was in my peak form years ago. So if I start doing over speed training combined with his help, I could possibly be okay with "giving up yards" due to some higher spin if it means I'll be a lot more accurate. I do plan to get fit but I'm just not sure it will be this year and I did want to try and mess around with a new driver head this year. Going to keep the same shaft I was fit into and have been using for a while now.

[getitdaily]

You play a draw or fade? Do you have a consistent miss? If so, what is it?

[Tree Levino]

Watched the TXG vid. Quite interesting. I have VERY similar swing characteristics to Ian (though I'm about 4-5mph slower) so I enjoy watching his fittings. The one difference is that he tends to toe it where my miss it more heel side. The other thing is I will be more likely to leave the face open as I had a really bad run of snap hooks last year (as in couldn't even play until I fixed it). I now tend to block it if anything. I have a G410 LST to demo and I've found it is quicker than my TS3 by a little bit but also is a lot more forgiving. I'm interested in the Sim but I don't want to be stuck with something I struggle to square. Given the differences in our misses and the results of his fitting I tend to think the G410 LST might be the perfect driver for me though the TS3 performed well too. Can't wait to try Sim outside when I can.