Driver smash factor has fallen off a cliff

[petep1980]

Hi all,

 

Due to some injuries my swing speed is down 5-10 mph on any given day.  Driver I am swinging around 95 mph, but the issue is my driver ball speed is around the same as 3W and 5W despite being a higher swing speed still.  I have a Cobra F9 tour length with Atmos Blue shaft.  Could I be down so much ball speed because I am not flexing the driver shaft?  I must still be getting flex in the fairway woods then.

 

I am just confused because losing swing speed it makes sense to lose ball speed, but I am down much more in driver than the other woods.  Irons I switched to regular shafts and those go as well as I want them to.

[Jpu24]

If you have a friend that absolutley just crushes the driver just them for tips. 

Edited June 22, 2022 by Jpu24

[JungleJimbo]

33 minutes ago, petep1980 said:

Hi all,

 

Due to some injuries my swing speed is down 5-10 mph on any given day.  Driver I am swinging around 95 mph, but the issue is my driver ball speed is around the same as 3W and 5W despite being a higher swing speed still.  I have a Cobra F9 tour length with Atmos Blue shaft.  Could I be down so much ball speed because I am not flexing the driver shaft?  I must still be getting flex in the fairway woods then.

 

I am just confused because losing swing speed it makes sense to lose ball speed, but I am down much more in driver than the other woods.  Irons I switched to regular shafts and those go as well as I want them to.

@petep1980 have you tried @Howard_Jones’s DIY Driver fitting?

 

whilst the likely root cause = swing related... I’ve found this DIY fitting guide a helpful way to improve my drives/ DIY fitting in a structured way (and squeeze every last ounce from my limited club head speed)

 

 

Edited June 22, 2022 by JungleJimbo

[Stuart_G]

 

 

 

 

12 hours ago, petep1980 said:

Could I be down so much ball speed because I am not flexing the driver shaft? 

 

No.  At least not directly.  Contrary to popular belief, the amount of flex or loading in the shaft does not add anything to the club head speed.

 

Now indirectly is a lot more complicated.   For some people the stiffness feel can effect the swing.   If the stiffness feel doesn't match the expectations of the player, then there is a wide range of possible side effects, including slower club head speed, accuracy, consistency, dispersion, shot shape control, etc....   

 

So how does the shaft feel to you, particularly relative to the fairway shafts?   Does it feel like you have to work harder to load it?   If so, that attempt to work harder or load it more than your post-injury normal swing could be hurting you and costing you club head speed.

 

It also could be an that after the injury you might want to consider a lighter shaft weight.

 

Or it very well could be the longer playing length that's causing the problem or even the swing weight that is no longer a good fit after the injury.   What happens to the club head speed when you choke up 1"?

 

Weight and length tend to have more of an effect on a higher percentage of players than stiffness but really not enough information to pin it down.   The only way to figure it out for sure is to try different things and see what happens.  Unfortunately there are no easy answers in situations like this.

 

12 hours ago, petep1980 said:

but I am down much more in driver than the other woods. 

 

Not really all that unusual.  The longer the playing length, the more sensitive some players can be problems with the fit of the club.  Or the more severe the consequences of a poor fit.

-

Edited June 22, 2022 by Stuart_G

[ShortGolfer]

You may just need more time to recover.  A longer shaft requires more eye to hand coordination and you may not have enough until you recover fully.

Trying harder may make things worse.  Reducing your accuracy and perhaps even lengthening your recovery time if you continually re-injure yourself.

I  wouldn't worry  about it unless I were fully recovered.  

[petep1980]

I won't recover without surgery, and I could be years away from that, so I'm stuck. 

 

The fairway shafts feel MUCH better to my swing. The driver doesn't feel loaded at all to me. 

 

I may get the lighter version of one of the fairway wood shafts for the driver. It's either a Tensei CK blue at 55 grams or a HZRDS red, but I think that's still 60 grams. 

[CROUSE99]

On 6/21/2022 at 7:47 PM, Jpu24 said:

If you have a friend that absolutley just crushes the driver just them for tips. 

And you edited this?