Driver Length

[Wakey93]

I'm 16 years old and my height is 5' 8" playing off a handicap off 2. I hit my driver in the region off 280 to 295. I am playing with a Cobra s9-1 pro s with a stiff Matrix Ozik shaft. I am just wondering on what the disadvantages and advantages would be to getting it cut down an inch. Would I improve accuracy but would I lose distance

[A-Train]

i think that you would loose some, but if ur cranking it out at almost 300 then i would give up 10 yards at the most to get 10% more accurate at that length. at ur age ur not going to play in many tournaments with 480 yd par 4's. if you were only hitting it 210 then i wouldn't. but how often are you hitting fairways? if your up in the 70's in % then i think you could probably keep your length now. plus, the season is coming up, and who wants to get used to a pretty much new club at this point.

[pinhigh27]

I'm 16 5' 9" play my driver at 45 inches and average it about 270-280.
If you cut it down you might gain some accuracy, it depends on how your striking it now. If your hitting it fine, why switch, don't want to mess with a good thing.

[Wakey93]

I'm hitting about 65% of fairways but very rarely find the middle of the club which causes me to have the most inconsistent ball flight i have ever seen. It can fade and draw but never more than 5 yards. The main problem with me not finding the middle means that it normally goes really low. I hit it a longish way to say I dont hit the middle of the club very often.

[eyeguy]

Before you hack a few inches off your driver, you should look at this article..... [url="http://thehackersparadise.com/home/?p=3692"]http://thehackersparadise.com/home/?p=3692[/url]

5 yard fade or draw is pretty accurate, IMHO. Sounds more like you need some swing thoughts or techniques to help get more consistency in getting the ball a little higher in the air.

[pinhigh27]

[quote name='eyeguy' date='23 February 2010 - 07:37 AM' timestamp='1266928677' post='2271195']
Before you hack a few inches off your driver, you should look at this article..... [url="http://thehackersparadise.com/home/?p=3692"]http://thehackerspar...om/home/?p=3692[/url]

5 yard fade or draw is pretty accurate, IMHO. Sounds more like you need some swing thoughts or techniques to help get more consistency in getting the ball a little higher in the air.
[/quote]

Makes sense to me. I really don't understand the whole shorter=more accurate anymore. I mean it's still pretty much the same swing, except you'd be a little steeper most likely with the shorter driver, so you might spin it more, so less curve but you would def. lose distance.

[mt15]

Am I the only one who thinks a 5'8" kid is hitting it 280-295...? Must have some wicked club head speed or something...I think I'm gonna call bs on that one.

[eyeguy]

[quote name='mt15' date='23 February 2010 - 04:09 PM' timestamp='1266962940' post='2272385']
Am I the only one who thinks a 5'8" kid is hitting it 280-295...? Must have some wicked club head speed or something...I think I'm gonna call bs on that one.
[/quote]

Somebody's height has nothing to do with how far they can hit it. It's all technique, supple spines, fast hands, and optimized drivers.

Tad Fujikawa is 5'1" and his average on the PGA tour was 298.3 yards.

[mkotthoff]

[quote name='eyeguy' date='23 February 2010 - 05:56 PM' timestamp='1266969393' post='2272597']
[quote name='mt15' date='23 February 2010 - 04:09 PM' timestamp='1266962940' post='2272385']
Am I the only one who thinks a 5'8" kid is hitting it 280-295...? Must have some wicked club head speed or something...I think I'm gonna call bs on that one.
[/quote]

Somebody's height has nothing to do with how far they can hit it. It's all technique, supple spines, fast hands, and optimized drivers.

Tad Fujikawa is 5'1" and his average on the PGA tour was 298.3 yards.
[/quote]


Hate to say it mt15, but he's got you on that one. It is highly unlikely though, but I've played with those sorta guys in some tourneys (sucks when the smallest kid in the group is always hitting last). Anyway, if you're hitting the ball that far with 65% accuracy and you're only a two handicap, there have to be other facets of your game that you should be worried about, IMO. But then again I've never played with you so I wouldn't know.

[pinhigh27]

[quote name='mt15' date='23 February 2010 - 05:09 PM' timestamp='1266962940' post='2272385']
Am I the only one who thinks a 5'8" kid is hitting it 280-295...? Must have some wicked club head speed or something...I think I'm gonna call bs on that one.
[/quote]

Depends on your conditions. There are people that could probably hit their 5 woods or hybrids that far if they played in Colorado. However, 295 at sea level would be pretty darn far. I'm at like 1300 feet of elevation roughly, 5'9" and I usually average 270-280, and I still have plenty of SS to gain, along with flexibility and strength for a more stable base. And also, if you fit someone with a normal 100 mph SS and got them into a fitted LD set up and they hit it well, they could probably hit it that far too.

[Wakey93]

[quote name='mkotthoff' date='23 February 2010 - 10:52 PM' timestamp='1266983571' post='2273260']
[quote name='eyeguy' date='23 February 2010 - 05:56 PM' timestamp='1266969393' post='2272597']
[quote name='mt15' date='23 February 2010 - 04:09 PM' timestamp='1266962940' post='2272385']
Am I the only one who thinks a 5'8" kid is hitting it 280-295...? Must have some wicked club head speed or something...I think I'm gonna call bs on that one.
[/quote]

Somebody's height has nothing to do with how far they can hit it. It's all technique, supple spines, fast hands, and optimized drivers.

Tad Fujikawa is 5'1" and his average on the PGA tour was 298.3 yards.
[/quote]


Hate to say it mt15, but he's got you on that one. It is highly unlikely though, but I've played with those sorta guys in some tourneys (sucks when the smallest kid in the group is always hitting last). Anyway, if you're hitting the ball that far with 65% accuracy and you're only a two handicap, there have to be other facets of your game that you should be worried about, IMO. But then again I've never played with you so I wouldn't know.
[/quote]

I have the worst short game ever i have no finesse im all about power but i think hte short game is summit i will be looking at this coming year

[mt15]

I would worry more on the short game than 295 drives IMO, i would think that you have a lot of wedges into greens and if you do, thats how you play good.

[mkotthoff]

Yeah, I completely agree. I hit the ball a little shorter than you, on average 285 (considering where St. Louis is, that's not bad), but my Achilles' Heel is my iron game, I usually on a good day only hit 13 greens, while I hit 70% of the fairways. That's what's keeping me from being a +1 or +2 (I'm a 1.9 as of now). But I guess we all have something to work on...

[bj3113]

Tadd's 298 yard average drive stat is a little deceiving in that it only averaged 4 drives. Plus the PGA tour fairways are very firm with a lot of roll out. Also, I think the main thing to look at on driver distance is how far you carry the ball. TO the OP, if you are hitting the ball 290 but extremely low then that means you are getting a lot of roll and not much carry. It doesn't take that great of a swing speed to hit it close to 300 if you are getting 50+ yards of roll because of a crazy low trajectory.

[pinhigh27]

[quote name='bj3113' date='24 February 2010 - 07:43 PM' timestamp='1267058612' post='2275171']
Tadd's 298 yard average drive stat is a little deceiving in that it only averaged 4 drives. Plus the PGA tour fairways are very firm with a lot of roll out. Also, I think the main thing to look at on driver distance is how far you carry the ball. TO the OP, if you are hitting the ball 290 but extremely low then that means you are getting a lot of roll and not much carry. It doesn't take that great of a swing speed to hit it close to 300 if you are getting 50+ yards of roll because of a crazy low trajectory.
[/quote]



?You don't get roll just because you hit it low. Sure that helps, but having high ball speed and low spin contributes much more. The guys on the pga tour hit it sky high and they sometimes get 50 yards of roll.

[golf001]

I'm 17 5'9. I carry the ball 260-265 and basically have no roll but am very accurate. But I'm top 75 in the country in junior rankings.
But the vast majority of players I play with average above 285 yards, not necessarily straight though. When I go out west though, I usually gain 15-20 yards from weather and conditions changing.

[mattypivs]

You have to have some serious club head speed to average 280 -295 when you dont hit the center of the face often. If you miss hit it most of the time how far is the drive actually going?

Speaking of your distance tho, I would cut the driver down an inch. It is way more important to control the ball and find the fairway then to hit it really far.