Looking up upgrade almost 14 year-old son from his current Prodi G set

[ctbro1999]

Greetings all. My son, who is about to turn 14 and will be a freshman in HS this fall, may be at the limits of his current Prodi G club set and are looking to at least upgrade his driver. He's ~5'2" and entering puberty, and according to the Prodi G specs, his clubs are ideal for a 5'2" junior, so it seems it may be good to upgrade his clubs sometime in the near future. 

 

We're looking to upgrade his driver right now. His club speed with the Prodi G is in the 82-84 mph zone, with peak speeds closer to 87-88 (if he had to swing for his life, he could probably hit 90). He got fitted at a 2nd Swing recently and tested out a few pre-owned drivers (TM Sim Max, Stealth, Titleist TS1) but found that he seemed to hit the Sim Max the best (was fitted with a 50g senior flex shaft IIRC).

 

That being said, are there any other drivers that he should consider for his age/height? I see that brand new Sim2 Max's are not much more than the used Sim Max we were considering. I've also heard good things about the Ping G425 Max, though that is about $100 more than the Sim2 Max. I think we'll probably schedule another fitting to test out the Sim2/G425, but if anyone has any other suggestions, I'm all ears! Thanks! We'd like to keep our budget for a driver under $400 (under $300 would be even better). 

[MD_]

My son is 12, but also 5'2" with avg driver swing speed of 82 mph. Last fall I bought him the aerojet max junior from cobra with a stock 43" graphite shaft. They are one of the few club manufacturers that had a junior spec'd option with an adult oem head. It has worked very well for him. It also comes with 1 free shaft upgrade.

 

He was fit into TM irons/wedges over the winter, and we did look at drivers also, but didn't see much/any difference between his distance or dispersion when comparing it to the Qi10 or the Ai Smoke...

[ctbro1999]

1 hour ago, MD_ said:

My son is 12, but also 5'2" with avg driver swing speed of 82 mph. Last fall I bought him the aerojet max junior from cobra with a stock 43" graphite shaft. They are one of the few club manufacturers that had a junior spec'd option with an adult oem head. It has worked very well for him. It also comes with 1 free shaft upgrade.

 

He was fit into TM irons/wedges over the winter, and we did look at drivers also, but didn't see much/any difference between his distance or dispersion when comparing it to the Qi10 or the Ai Smoke...

 

My son is a lefty  and looks like they don't make the aerojet max junior for lefties. Doh! 

 

[MD_]

18 hours ago, ctbro1999 said:

 

My son is a lefty  and looks like they don't make the aerojet max junior for lefties. Doh! 

 

I think I've seen mention of that issue before, and you just have to email/call support. It's a regular adult head of which the Aerojet max does come in LH and other than that any shaft can be tipped for LH vs RH ... even if the adapter was for RH I believe it would just be opposite settings for +/- loft adjustments

[MB19]

On 4/24/2024 at 10:33 AM, ctbro1999 said:

Greetings all. My son, who is about to turn 14 and will be a freshman in HS this fall, may be at the limits of his current Prodi G club set and are looking to at least upgrade his driver. He's ~5'2" and entering puberty, and according to the Prodi G specs, his clubs are ideal for a 5'2" junior, so it seems it may be good to upgrade his clubs sometime in the near future. 

 

We're looking to upgrade his driver right now. His club speed with the Prodi G is in the 82-84 mph zone, with peak speeds closer to 87-88 (if he had to swing for his life, he could probably hit 90). He got fitted at a 2nd Swing recently and tested out a few pre-owned drivers (TM Sim Max, Stealth, Titleist TS1) but found that he seemed to hit the Sim Max the best (was fitted with a 50g senior flex shaft IIRC).

 

That being said, are there any other drivers that he should consider for his age/height? I see that brand new Sim2 Max's are not much more than the used Sim Max we were considering. I've also heard good things about the Ping G425 Max, though that is about $100 more than the Sim2 Max. I think we'll probably schedule another fitting to test out the Sim2/G425, but if anyone has any other suggestions, I'm all ears! Thanks! We'd like to keep our budget for a driver under $400 (under $300 would be even better). 

Your son's driver numbers and height are very similar to my son's, so I thought I would share a bit of what I've found over the past few years.  He maxes out at 88, sits 82-85.

 

--My son inherited my daughter's TSR1 head recently, and it has been a nice incremental upgrade over the TSi1 he used for about 18 months (also his sister's hand-me-down).  It launches high, has an extended sweet spot across the face and is a very light head (one of the lightest on the market, and much lighter than Sim Max/Stealth G425 Max.  He's using a fairly generic Club Champion-branded 45g Mitsubuishi shaft that is somewhere between a Ladies and Senior in characteristic.   Anything stiffer so far has been a bust for him.

 

--Regarding irons, he came from a mixed  TS-60 steel shaft irons.   His set was ideal for the yardages we played until we got to bigger tournaments with longer total yardage.  I'll always wonder if I should have moved him into the same Hot Metal/Hot Metal Pro combo set his sister went into (and will probably play for a few more months), but I found a used 6-G i500 set in September for just under $400 shipped from 2nd Swing.  I put his sister's old Ping ULT 230 shafts on them, and it has mostly worked for him.  Big gains in yardage due to better tech and enhanced lofts, better spin as well.  They definitely aren't as forgiving or as long as his sister's Hot Metals, though.

 

--Hybrids and FW have been tricky since leaving the Prodi g, for him.  He hit the Prodi g fw and hy very well, and he didn't take to his current TSi1 18* well when he first started using it.  He used the first gen GLE hybrid and fairway, as that was the closest thing I could find to the Prodi g profile, and it worked well until his ss jumped a few months back.  He still bags the hybrid in favor of the set 6i i500.  Finding a 22* hy he likes has been a challenge, and for how he's hitting a Stealth 2 with a stock senior shaft.  It's been hit and miss for him.  The TSi 18* with stock senior (Kuro Kage 55g I think) shaft is a great fit for him right now.

 

My daughter is about 3" taller than both of our sons, and is an eyelash from maxing out at 90 ss.  She sits 87-88. Her faster tempo, longer arms and overall length/strength have always had a better tolerance for more club weight than my son.  She is in a 10.5* (turned up to 12*) G425 Max, and it has been a remarkable improvement for her over the TSR1.  We have tried two shafts in the G425--the stock Alta Senior 55g shaft and a Veylix Alpine Ion 573 R (58g)--and both have given similar results.  The Alta gives more height, Veylix is slightly longer.  The TSR1 10*/stock R Speedmesh 40, Accra i52 senior and Veylix Alpine 573 SR were all decent shafts at given periods for her. She went through a lot of swing changes and increase in speed during this time.

 

The G425 head is absolutely fantastic, especially if you don't mind the sound.  If your son is OK with the weight of the Sim Max, consider the G425.  Long and very, very forgiving.  I had the benefit of being able to test my father's barely-used G425 12*/sr shaft before purchasing our own, but I was pretty shocked how well she hit it in spite of the added weight.  I subbed in a lighter weight to her's, and it has helped her dispersion a bit.