After doing fittings and analyzing my swing speed, yada-yada-yada (lol), it was determined for my speed (mid 90s - sometimes low 100s) / abilities (22+ handicap) that a 9 degree lofted club head, stiff flex shaft in the mid 60 gram weight range + low launch/low spin was my ideal "combo". Will say I generally avg 220-240 yds here in Vancouver; in cooler conditions, maybe I only carry the ball like 210-220 with no roll.
But then last week while vacationing in Hawaii (Honolulu), was able to play a round and rent a TaylorMade Stealth set so was given a 10.5 loft Stealth driver head + stiff flex shaft from the Sim 2 line (Fujikura Ventus Blue 5S; mid-high launch/mid spin). At this point, I had no warmup (cuz we were running late)/ didn't hit any range balls / hadn't hit a golf ball in over a month and was on the first tee.
With no thoughts and just focusing on hitting it while trying not to kill it + keeping my eye on the ball (my usual swing thoughts), I hit a shot that went straight and fairly high but didn't balloon. Had no idea how far I was actually hitting my drives until after the round (looking at my Garmin Golf app). HOLY EFF, on the holes where I used driver, I was generally hitting 260s to high 270 yds (**First tee shot was actually 278 yds!!**). The app determined that despite hitting some drives that only went 180-210 yds (due to shots into excessive winds or bad shots where I got under the ball), I actually averaged 269 yds whereas my current/old drivers, I averaged about 221-244 yds (throughout the yr). And on one hole, I kid you not and maybe due to its layout, I hit the ball 307 yds! (it maybe carried 250-260, then rolled the rest of the way).
I initially thought maybe it was the conditions (ie. the weather/really firm fairways/occasionally hitting some drives behind the wind/etc.) but then recalled when I went to Hawaii (Maui) last Oct., I used a rental Callaway Mavrik driver/Regular flex and was only hitting about the same distance as my current driver (like 220-230 yds), more or less.
Not sure what to make of all this, but am now wondering - would I hit even further drives with a low lofted/heavier shaft (my usual set up) at this course with same conditions? Or did maybe having a lighter shaft (I think the Ventus Blue 5S is in the mid 50 gram range) combined with being stiff flex (to reduce spin/tighter dispersion?) result in these better than usual drives? Is this possibly the correct combo for my swing or just a random, one-off? Normally I wouldn't have had any thoughts about this but damn... this TaylorMade Stealth driver resulted in arguably my best drives in a round EVER and the strange thing is that I don't recall the TM Stealth being highly ranked among drivers for mid swing speed players.
As usual, any thoughts/feedback/input would be greatly appreciated. :-) And as a random caveat, despite the good drives (though I still did slice a few), I wasn't used to the rental wedges + putter so totally sucked with those clubs! lol. Occasional skulled pitches/chips + missed closed putts resulted in a round that was my usual mid 90s score but I think I coulda easily been in the high 80s if my short game didn't let me down. Oh well... That's why we golf I guess; haha.
But then last week while vacationing in Hawaii (Honolulu), was able to play a round and rent a TaylorMade Stealth set so was given a 10.5 loft Stealth driver head + stiff flex shaft from the Sim 2 line (Fujikura Ventus Blue 5S; mid-high launch/mid spin). At this point, I had no warmup (cuz we were running late)/ didn't hit any range balls / hadn't hit a golf ball in over a month and was on the first tee.
With no thoughts and just focusing on hitting it while trying not to kill it + keeping my eye on the ball (my usual swing thoughts), I hit a shot that went straight and fairly high but didn't balloon. Had no idea how far I was actually hitting my drives until after the round (looking at my Garmin Golf app). HOLY EFF, on the holes where I used driver, I was generally hitting 260s to high 270 yds (**First tee shot was actually 278 yds!!**). The app determined that despite hitting some drives that only went 180-210 yds (due to shots into excessive winds or bad shots where I got under the ball), I actually averaged 269 yds whereas my current/old drivers, I averaged about 221-244 yds (throughout the yr). And on one hole, I kid you not and maybe due to its layout, I hit the ball 307 yds! (it maybe carried 250-260, then rolled the rest of the way).
I initially thought maybe it was the conditions (ie. the weather/really firm fairways/occasionally hitting some drives behind the wind/etc.) but then recalled when I went to Hawaii (Maui) last Oct., I used a rental Callaway Mavrik driver/Regular flex and was only hitting about the same distance as my current driver (like 220-230 yds), more or less.
Not sure what to make of all this, but am now wondering - would I hit even further drives with a low lofted/heavier shaft (my usual set up) at this course with same conditions? Or did maybe having a lighter shaft (I think the Ventus Blue 5S is in the mid 50 gram range) combined with being stiff flex (to reduce spin/tighter dispersion?) result in these better than usual drives? Is this possibly the correct combo for my swing or just a random, one-off? Normally I wouldn't have had any thoughts about this but damn... this TaylorMade Stealth driver resulted in arguably my best drives in a round EVER and the strange thing is that I don't recall the TM Stealth being highly ranked among drivers for mid swing speed players.
As usual, any thoughts/feedback/input would be greatly appreciated. :-) And as a random caveat, despite the good drives (though I still did slice a few), I wasn't used to the rental wedges + putter so totally sucked with those clubs! lol. Occasional skulled pitches/chips + missed closed putts resulted in a round that was my usual mid 90s score but I think I coulda easily been in the high 80s if my short game didn't let me down. Oh well... That's why we golf I guess; haha.
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