2 Driver Setup

[Valtiel]

On 3/5/2021 at 5:11 PM, joostin said:

I like the more aggressive 2 driver concept over traditional 3W if 3W doesn't come into play much.  44" 460cc head vs 43+" 180cc head... more forgiving, you get a little more out of it, yet it feels in control for a driver.  Seems the options are:

 

- Normal driver + shorter higher loft higher spinning safe driver

- Fade driver + draw driver (I'm experimenting to find a draw driver setup for this)

- Longer bomber driver + normal or safer driver

The second two options are something i'm tinkering with right now. I love the safety of my shorter driver (44.5") and how automatically anti-left it is with my weight setup, but that safety comes at the expense of any consistency in trying to turn it over. The sort of "chuckiness" necessary to turn the ball over with such an anti-left setup feels inconsistent, especially after making a grip improvement that has reduced my face rotation. So the 10.5 driver is shorter and cranked open, and the 9* driver is setup longer (45.5") and pretty square. Ideally this will allow me to turn over the ball without altering my swing as much and i'll just need to mess with weight placement to fine tune. 

[Dan Drake]

As I'm working through this experiment, I'm very intrigued to see how each of the adjustable components works towards me accomplishing the fit that I'm after.  For instance, my "fade/shorter" driver is looking pretty good and I have the loft up (makes sense), the face closed (sorta makes sense, depending on how you deliver the club/D plane), the COG sliding weight completely out towards the toe (makes total sense), and a shaft that I have always been able to hook (makes almost no sense whatsoever!).  And FWIW, a shot that STARTS left and cuts is the hardest shot in the game for me to hit, hence why I'm building this club as a "user friendly" setup instead of making it the longer/harder to hit driver.  

 

So, depending on how you swing the club, the 4 main adjustable elements of the club can all be utilized to come up with an implement that creates the shot shape you need to shoot the lowest score.  

[joostin]

7 hours ago, Dan Drake said:

As I'm working through this experiment, I'm very intrigued to see how each of the adjustable components works towards me accomplishing the fit that I'm after.  For instance, my "fade/shorter" driver is looking pretty good and I have the loft up (makes sense), the face closed (sorta makes sense, depending on how you deliver the club/D plane), the COG sliding weight completely out towards the toe (makes total sense), and a shaft that I have always been able to hook (makes almost no sense whatsoever!).  And FWIW, a shot that STARTS left and cuts is the hardest shot in the game for me to hit, hence why I'm building this club as a "user friendly" setup instead of making it the longer/harder to hit driver.  

 

So, depending on how you swing the club, the 4 main adjustable elements of the club can all be utilized to come up with an implement that creates the shot shape you need to shoot the lowest score.  

I'm opposite you and @Valtiel in that my shorter driver will be a draw driver.  My old Adams setup still hits fade bombs.  I was actually tempted to try a draw biased driver (Ping K15.. yeah I only do budget builds), but found I could draw my TS2 and am determined to work on a more reliable draw with it.  Still experimenting with settings and shafts, but for some reason I like the concept of kicking the 3 wood out for a 2nd driver even though the 3W already fills that long draw tee role. 

 

With 3W I think I can overswing sometimes because I want it to be a driver.  Some driver like bombs come out but not consistently as driver.  We'll see.  2nd driver may give more room for error over the 3W... and I like weird bag setups!

[mookio]

On 3/5/2021 at 8:11 PM, joostin said:

I like the more aggressive 2 driver concept over traditional 3W if 3W doesn't come into play much.  44" 460cc head vs 43+" 180cc head... more forgiving, you get a little more out of it, yet it feels in control for a driver.  Seems the options are:

 

- Normal driver + shorter higher loft higher spinning safe driver

- Fade driver + draw driver (I'm experimenting to find a draw driver setup for this)

- Longer bomber driver + normal or safer driver

 

Honestly, so true. 

[Dan Drake]

IIIITTTTSSSSSS ALLLIIIVVVEEEE!!!!!

 

Epic Max LS 9 degree w/green dot -2 adapter shafted with an Aldila 65x at 48” and a GP MCC ALIGN midsize.  Plays D8 with the sliding weight removed.  
 

I can’t wait to let this thing fly manana!

[plt]

1 hour ago, Dan Drake said:

IIIITTTTSSSSSS ALLLIIIVVVEEEE!!!!!

 

Epic Max LS 9 degree w/green dot -2 adapter shafted with an Aldila 65x at 48” and a GP MCC ALIGN midsize.  Plays D8 with the sliding weight removed.  
 

I can’t wait to let this thing fly manana!

POOOOWW! BOOOOM!

[uglande]

I have also toyed with this idea over the years but have never actually put it in play on the golf course (except when I briefly carried a TaylorMade mini-driver). But I am going to start with the setup in my signature below. 

 

Two drivers, but more oriented around left-bias and right-bias rather than bomber-thriver.  I find that I driver the ball better when I am trying to move the ball one direction or the other (helps me make a full finish), and it's nice to have only a one-way miss when on the tee. Also creates versatility depending on the configuration of each hole.

 

I have the clubs all set up, and I have experimented on the range. We'll see how it works out on the main stage.

[Dan Drake]

On 5/21/2021 at 9:32 PM, Dan Drake said:

IIIITTTTSSSSSS ALLLIIIVVVEEEE!!!!!

 

Epic Max LS 9 degree w/green dot -2 adapter shafted with an Aldila 65x at 48” and a GP MCC ALIGN midsize.  Plays D8 with the sliding weight removed.  
 

I can’t wait to let this thing fly manana!

So, um, round 1 with the new beast wasn’t quite what I had hoped.  I played a very narrow course, wasn’t quite used to the extra length, AND just hit it awful with everything all day anyway.  But, I did hit my 2nd driver very well the 3 times it came out of the bag, so all was not lost.  Learn a little every day.

 

And then there was round #2 back on the course I normally play.  And everything got much, much better.  D2, the fade driver, again did its job with 2 for 2 fairways hit, one a fade and one a push, but neither moving left, and both went somewhere in the 270 range.
 

But the STAR of the show was the Dragon (permanent nickname still TBD....)!!!  Here’s a quick recap of some of the greatest hits (see what I did there? 😉) and keep in mind that I’ve been laying this course, from this set of tees since 1994-ish (actually had abs you could see back then, lol).

 

Hole #1 - Shortest yardage in ever

Hole #2 - Tied for shortest yardage in ever

Hole #7 - 2nd shortest in ever

Hole #17 - 2nd shortest in ever

 

And #2 & #17 were into what breeze there was.  In my 2nd round ever with this monster in the bag, I was positive strokes gained off the tee for the ROUND for only the 2nd round in the last 5 years.  No way, no how is that a coincidence.  Plain & simple, with this club my good/best rounds will result in lower scores, no doubt about it.
 

I’m 💯 % sold on the 48” D, 99% sold on two drivers (and not 100% only because I’m a WRX’er and mini drivers are “cool!”), and I could also make a case on certain courses to drop the fade driver and add a 64 wedge, if I wanted to.  That won’t happen on the vast majority of the courses around where I live, but it’s an option and its there for scrambles as well!

 

P.S. Favorite drive of the day: a heely cut that spun to much and got 0000 roll, but due to the extra ball speed still went 285 and I could go at the green over a hazard with fairway wood.  Absolutely no chance with the shorter stick, thing woulda gone 265 at best and I’m laying up.  Chicks don’t dig layups.

[hagimihale]

I played all of 2020 with this setup - 2 drivers and no 3W  Got 50 rounds in by 12/31.

 

Basic concept was a low fading driver and a higher-lofted "2W" that I could turn over

 

The driver was initially a 9.5* TS4 with a HZRDUS Smoke Black 6S (6.0).  Eventually found a 10.5* TS3 with an OG 'ahina 6X  that performed better under pressure and gave me reliable cuts

 

The "2W" was a tour issue 12* 917D2 paired with an Aldila Tour Green 65 TS (tour stiff).   Mid-high draws all day with this.

 

It let me take advantage of doglegs in either direction, plus play into or with the wind.  

 

I didn't miss the 3W, I got to hit driver more often (always fun), had more wedges in my hands and my avg score dropped a few strokes.  Fun stuff...

 

[joostin]

1 hour ago, Dan Drake said:

But the STAR of the show was the Dragon (permanent nickname still TBD....)!!!  Here’s a quick recap

Johnny (Longball) sounds like a blast! 

[Dan Drake]

Round 3 with the 2 driver setup is in the books and the returns keep looking more and more like GME!  
 

While not quite as good as round 2’s 0.0 Strokes Gained this past 18 holes yielded a -0.54 SG off the tee, which is 1.5 SG better than my average over the past 4 years or so.  And to be 100% honest, with just one SLIGHTLY better bounce (from the fairway!) on the longest drive of the day, I would have been in the plus SG for the entire round. 
 

D2 once again delivered the goods, 2 for 2 fairways hit, even if one upshot into the wind a hair and the other was a tad, um, “slicey,” when the wind was into and off the left.  
 

The big dog also did its job, leaving some recovery shots after a few swings, to be sure, but also a ton of wedges left into greens out of both the rough and fairway. I’ve basically gotten this thing to where I hit it far enough that hitting it into the rough results in basically a 0 or thereabouts SG.  Essentially, I have to hit about 6 fairways to balance out the drives that result in recovery shots to make it all even out.  And that’s just about what I do.  
 

At this point there are only 3 reasons in the entire world why I would ever move away from this 2 driver bag setup:

1. Mini drivers are just plain cool, so eventually I might want to put one back in the bag.  That said, this is the least likely of these three to happen.
2. Somehow, regardless that all logic says otherwise, I’m able to hit the 48”D off the turf and produce a consistent left to right ball flight.  Even I’m not exactly sure how this is possible, ball striking is my #1 weakness by far. 
3. Because I’m a WRXer and we’re all just a bit off!  

Edited June 13, 2021 by Dan Drake

[ian-500]

I game a TM M5 9* lofted down to 7.5* with a Diamana R50x playing at 47 3/4" at D2 sw. Played a TM OO 13.5* in the past and tempted with the latest...........or a 13.5 3+ fairway. Decisions decisions.