12 degree Drivers

kid2

kid2

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Morning all....
I had a but of an interesting evening at the range last night...
I've documented it well on here that the driver is the one club I have a marmite relationship with.....

Last night I had my 910 set to Q&A... That's 1.5° huger loft than its 9.5 setting....
Like usual I tended to carry a good ball about 220 yards and loosing them left and right at times.... My swing is more of an in to in path so IM prone to pull hooks as well as pushes if I'm not careful with face angle...

So as my range is a Ping stockist I spotted that Andrew had an old 12° ping K15 sitting behind the counter.... Regular shaft... I took it out and alternated shots between this and my own and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't hit it to the right... I was either hitting it straight or with a slight draw... A bad one,was a hook....,

Im seriously thinking of getting one and also a 3 wood... Carry was about the same as the 910 but the ball flight was way higher.... The confidence I would get standing on a tee knowing I wasn't going to loose my woods to the right would be massive......

I guess what im asking is.....
if I could get this club would a 10.5 be better or stick with a 12 and a lower launching shaft maybe.....
I have a high swing speed and wonder was it the fact that the 12 degree regular shaft and weight positioned in they heel of the head is what was giving me the results that I crave..... The only downside I could see to this was the wild hook im guessing by my path and the softer shaft.....
 
There are two different issues here, loft and shape bias.

The 910 is slightly open in its default setting, and will tend to play a straight to fading ball with a neutral swing. The K15 is a draw biased club designed for inveterate slicers and will tend to draw or hook the ball with a neutral swing.

The K15 is also designed to get the ball up in the air, and the 12 degree loft is probably a considerable underestimate of the effective loft. Ping drivers tend to be a degree or two more lofted than marked to start, and the weighting will add additional loft. The 910 tends to play closer to the marked loft and have a lower launch.

I don't see the K15 as a club for a young strong single figure player, especially one who is fast improving.
 
recently changed from 9deg ping to 10.5deg 913d2 cranked up to 12 deg. has taken the far right hand side of the course out of play for me and increased carry from 220 to 245 in calm conditions. used to slice the crap out of the ping often aiming waay left of the fairway to try and find target. i didn't believe a club could change my driving game so dramatically, but i guess i'm quite an unusual case with my -9deg attack angle with driver...
 
I have a K15 in 10.5° with tour regular (firm-ish) shaft. It is very straight but I produce lots of backspin and launch it very high.

I also have a 9.5° G25 (set to 10°) with the stiff shaft (which I understand to be almost identical to the G20's tour regular which is in my K15). I'm not as straight with this club but I hit a fairly consistent fade. However, due to vastly reduced backspin and improved launch it does go further.

As I slowly improve my technique I think the G25 is a better long term prospect. However, during a particularly bleak period late last year, the K15 was a lifesaver in terms of getting me off the tee.
 
220 Carry is not 'high swing speed' distance!

That's what would be expected from a well set up 95 mph swing!

Something in you setup or swing is costing you considerable distance.
 
I used to have the K15 in 10.5' for all of last year, regular shaft. It's a bomber for sure and launches high so 12' seems a bit too much for a player of your caliber? The reg flex shaft was also very 'airy fairy' if you know what I mean.
 
I have a swing speed of c. 95mph with the driver and use a high launch RBZ 2 (courtesy of TM and GM). Sometimes I swing a bit faster and can get the ball out to 270 yards ish (with a flushed drive and a good swing which is rare) but my normal decent shot distance including roll is in the 230 - 240 range, my average? Well, that's much lower, but who wants to remember the bad ones?!

Is swing speed necessarily relevant to loft though? I would say the general rule of more loft for lower swing speeds is all well and good if everybody hits the ball at the same angle of attack, however, that's a ridiculous assumption in reality. I would say this is exactly where custom fitting comes into play, particularly for the better golfer who has a more consistent swing. It's essential to find the right loft for your swing, which factors in angle of attack, spin, swing speed, launch angle, etc etc.

In my opinion it's pretty much impossible for anyone to say what combination of shaft and loft is ideal for you without, as a minimum, seeing your swing. That said, confidence is also a massive part of the game, so if you stand on the tee feeling confident with a K15 then I'd say it's far more likely to have a positive outcome than a slightly nervous swing of the 910, regardless of what is optimum for you statistically.

I had a 910 D2 prior to my TM/GM fitting which had a low launching shaft. I like that I have two drivers that are very different, I've been working hard on my swing and I'm now launching my RBZ very high, perhaps too high, so I might see how I get on with the 910 at the range. It's nice to have options; the RBZ inspires confidence, the 910 is a lovely looking club but slightly harder to launch (for me anyway) but I really love playing with it.

If it were me, I'd go somewhere that stocks a few different brands of driver and have a go with a few. There are a lot of drivers in between a Titleist 910 and a Ping K15, and more than anything else, beyond suggesting something that would lead to an infraction, I can't think of many more fun ways to spend a Saturday morning!
 
Kid.

Don't forget the 1st Law of Possible Purchases!

They perform great until you pay for them!

There's an analogy to Women/Wives there too!:whistle:

And another feature is that, even if you are trying not to, you swing easier with the new one that with the current. There's an associated analogy to that too!:whistle:
 
Canary_Yellow said:
Is swing speed necessarily relevant to loft though?
Click to expand...

No, it's not. :)

A number of people in this thread have spoken about the OP being a youthful, strong player, yet he carries the ball only 220 yards. Whilst a 220yd carry would be pretty much fully optimised for a c.90mph swing speed, clearly there is something significantly lacking if the OP has a c.105mph swing speed.

I thought a little context would assist the advice.
 
Foxholer said:
220 Carry is not 'high swing speed' distance!

That's what would be expected from a well set up 95 mph swing!

Something in you setup or swing is costing you considerable distance.
Click to expand...







Have I missed something here.... Range balls as well as 4 temperatures and a slight breeze and from what I could make out the balls were dropping at roughly 220 yards is a problem with my swing....

I think you need to read my post again pal... I don't think I mentioned I had a perfect swing... I also mention I struggle with a driver..... I know my swing speed and its been averaging roughly 106 mph by the Pro I saw..... Now you give me 220 carry in those conditions with range balls and I'll add another 30 yards to that carry in the summer time....
 
kid2 said:
Have I missed something here.... Range balls as well as 4 temperatures and a slight breeze and from what I could make out the balls were dropping at roughly 220 yards is a problem with my swing....

I think you need to read my post again pal... I don't think I mentioned I had a perfect swing... I also mention I struggle with a driver..... I know my swing speed and its been averaging roughly 106 mph by the Pro I saw..... Now you give me 220 carry in those conditions with range balls and I'll add another 30 yards to that carry in the summer time....
Click to expand...

Yep. Didn't factor in 'Range Balls'. Apologies.
 
kid2 said:
Have I missed something here.... Range balls as well as 4 temperatures and a slight breeze and from what I could make out the balls were dropping at roughly 220 yards is a problem with my swing....

I think you need to read my post again pal... I don't think I mentioned I had a perfect swing... I also mention I struggle with a driver..... I know my swing speed and its been averaging roughly 106 mph by the Pro I saw..... Now you give me 220 carry in those conditions with range balls and I'll add another 30 yards to that carry in the summer time....
Click to expand...


To be fair to Foxholer you only mentioned you were up the range.
You never mentioned what balls you were using,you could easily have been using your own balls.
You also never mentioned temperature or a breeze.

So on reading your op I also presumed you were hitting it 220
and I too didn't think it was far for a high swing speed.
Maybe in future try not to leave out some important information.:)
 
kid2 said:
Morning all....
I had a but of an interesting evening at the range last night...
I've documented it well on here that the driver is the one club I have a marmite relationship with.....

Last night I had my 910 set to Q&A... That's 1.5° huger loft than its 9.5 setting....
Like usual I tended to carry a good ball about 220 yards and loosing them left and right at times.... My swing is more of an in to in path so IM prone to pull hooks as well as pushes if I'm not careful with face angle...

So as my range is a Ping stockist I spotted that Andrew had an old 12° ping K15 sitting behind the counter.... Regular shaft... I took it out and alternated shots between this and my own and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't hit it to the right... I was either hitting it straight or with a slight draw... A bad one,was a hook....,

Im seriously thinking of getting one and also a 3 wood... Carry was about the same as the 910 but the ball flight was way higher.... The confidence I would get standing on a tee knowing I wasn't going to loose my woods to the right would be massive......

I guess what im asking is.....
if I could get this club would a 10.5 be better or stick with a 12 and a lower launching shaft maybe.....
I have a high swing speed and wonder was it the fact that the 12 degree regular shaft and weight positioned in they heel of the head is what was giving me the results that I crave..... The only downside I could see to this was the wild hook im guessing by my path and the softer shaft.....
Click to expand...

Only one real way to find out, get the versions your split between and spend some time on a launch monitor and look at the 'numbers'. Particularly Launch angle, Spin rate, Peak height and Dispersion and your swings AoA, last of all carry.

Undoubtedly the 12 degs will give you a higher spin rate and launch angle, it's whether the spin rate will be too high and overly adversely affect the trajectory and peak height therefore carry.

To be sure, only way is a launch monitor and hitting enough shots with each to get a proper average, not just your best shot with each version of the driver.
 
kid2 said:
Have I missed something here.... Range balls as well as 4 temperatures and a slight breeze and from what I could make out the balls were dropping at roughly 220 yards is a problem with my swing....

I think you need to read my post again pal... I don't think I mentioned I had a perfect swing... I also mention I struggle with a driver..... I know my swing speed and its been averaging roughly 106 mph by the Pro I saw..... Now you give me 220 carry in those conditions with range balls and I'll add another 30 yards to that carry in the summer time....
Click to expand...

Is that a real 220 or a range adjusted 220; a number of ranges shift the markers to represent what the distance with normal balls would be.
 
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