Driver replacement question

baumerj · December 28, 2020

I'm not one to replace my driver often as I'm currently gaming a Big Bertha 2014 edition. Has the technology changed so much in the last 6 years to make it worth the change? I'm a 12 and drive the ball ok. Most of my misses are pulls. Obviously, I'll do a live compare, but I just wanted to get some thoughts.

Thanks!

gripandrip · December 28, 2020

I'm like you and don't change a club too often, unless there is a reason. I played a Titleist 910 D2 for the longest time until I found a driver that made a significant change for me, and that was the original EPIC SZ. However, I have not yet found a driver since then that provided me enough benefit to make any more changes. (EPIC SZ - 2018? / (910D2 - 2010).

For me, the change was related to both a change in technology and a change in my swing and swing speed. I still really like the 910D2, but the EPIC was a 15-20 yard improvement for me, primarily do to better spin numbers.

Abh159 · December 28, 2020

23 minutes ago, baumerj said:

I'm not one to replace my driver often as I'm currently gaming a Big Bertha 2014 edition. Has the technology changed so much in the last 6 years to make it worth the change? I'm a 12 and drive the ball ok. Most of my misses are pulls. Obviously, I'll do a live compare, but I just wanted to get some thoughts.

Thanks!

I replaced my Titleist 905R earlier this year after about 12 years in my bag. I had sort of the same philosophy you seem to have. I was still hitting my old one well and I figured how much could technology really have changed.

I eventually caved and went and got fit for a new one just to see the difference. To my surprise I ended up gaining 25+ yards of distance and my misses went from approximately 40 yards offline to just over 10 yards offline. That was with the SIM which is what I ended up hitting the best.

Granted my driver was older than yours and I'm a better golfer (0 cap and by no means bragging just stating for reference), but you might be surprised as well with how much things change over a few years. If you have somewhere you can go use a launch monitor and hit a few of the new ones it's worth at least checking it out.

Benkross · December 29, 2020

You're getting to the limit that it could make a huge difference. If your wear spot is dime sized in the middle or just high toe, you may only get marginal gains, but if you're like me and the contact is silver dollar size, you'll see a huge difference. Your ballspeed will determine your optimal launch and spin and if you achieve that with the current gamer, then you may not need to change. However, most people will see massive improvements when they miss the sweet spot, which for me is quite frequently. I'm a 4 handicap but driving is my nemesis right now. Again, getting fit is huge bc of all the heavier heads need stiffer tips and potentially Counterbalancing to achieve the right swingweight and total weight. This is one of many amazing videos from TXG addressing exactly this question.

Edited December 29, 2020 by Benkross

cbjuhr · December 29, 2020

Your probably due an upgrade and will see a difference in performance. On center hits you may not gain much, but some of the newer heads will be more forgiving over larger percentages of the face.

As you mentioned you hit pulls as a miss just be careful with the newer lower spin heads (SIM, Mavrik SZ) as they could make this miss even worse. Just a thought as I dealt with a similar decision.