Big headed driver trouble

[sergizmo]

Anyone else have trouble with the bigger heads?

I have a lot of trouble with the new big-headed (350cc +) drivers. It seems the bigger the face, the more of it I use. I'm also never sure about the correct tee height with the bigger clubs. Also, I seem to have a tendency to leave the face of the bigger drivers open through impact, causing a push. It is so bad I can see that I've pushed the ball after just 15 yards, which is how far away the net is at the winter golf school. I don't have this problem with my 3 wood.

As a temporary measure I just picked up a Titleist 976R 9* R flex @ 44" to practise with over the winter. It swingweights out at D4.5 which I like. I was hitting it really well at the store. Just into a net, not a sim, but it felt well balanced and solid. Mabye the 90g Titleist select graphite shaft helps to smooth out my tempo due to the heavier weight?

Am I giving up a lot of distance by giving up my 400cc, .83 COR, carbon topped Wilson Staff Pd5 by going to a 250-260cc driver with less than .83 COR? I swing my driver at 85-90 as a reference.

Is this a mechanical/swing problem or more of a mental problem?

Thanks for the help.

[hacker17]

Sounds mental, you just need to have more confidence in the club.

[TReed]

Ya for me on drivers with 400cc+ I end up hitting iut off center more and cannot get the clubface even close to square at impact. I don't know but it could be a mental problem

[SCameron009]

It is normal for guys that are going from smaller heads to the 400-460cc heads to have trouble turning the head over. I know I did when I switched from the 983K to the Cleveland Comp, it took a few weeks to get adjusted to turning that much bigger head over through impact. In fact a little bit ago they had a small article about this in Golf Digest, they reccomended putting a few strips of lead tape on the heel to aid the toe through impact.

 

- Bryan

[KingOAces]

If the 976R works for you hit that instead. You don't really need a 400+ cc driver because you really don't get that much of a difference in distance (mabye 20-30 yrds more if that). A fix might be to get a deeper faced driver instead of an oversized (ie. Titleist 905S instead of 905T). Most of it's length is from the sole to the crown instead of face to back so it looks more like a smaller cc club, but you get the added distance and hotspot of a larger one. As for your push, it is all mental. Swinging a bigger club makes most people feel like they can't control the club head and they end up not turning their right forearm over their left at impact which promotes a slice. Try not to think of it as a bigger club and instead of looking at the club so much at address, look more along your target line. This should help a little.

 

KinG

[Gxgolfer]

I had the same trouble until I changed my grip. I made my grip stronger on the driver and then things started to fall into place.

[sergizmo]

Thanks for the tips guys. I'll try strengthening my grip and "working my way into it" by practicing more and more with the Wilson.

 

As a sidenote, I brought the 976R with me to the golf school and just sucked with it. It was a little better than the Wilson for me, but not by much. I think the Titleist "Select" shaft at 90g, mid/high kick and 2.8* torque is just too much for me, even in R flex. It figures, the club feels great in the store, and horrible elsewhere. At least it was only about $30. I also brought along an old Trimetal + 8* with EI-70 R that was really working well, except fot the low launch (ie straight and solid). The EI-70 is probably a much better match for my swing. Off to look for a 10-11* Trimetal + driver with the same shaft.