Additional Drive length from a new driver??

[Kidge004]

How far would you realistically expect from a new driver?
My current driver is a 10 year old Benross 10.5 R Shaft and i can achieve a carry of 222yards whereas i tried the new Cobra Bio Cell at AG and this gave me a carry of 233yards but with a 5 yards greater dispersion. Is it really worth the £199 price tag or should i have lessons to improve the length of my drives?

Any advice welcome?

 

[pokerjoke]

222 is a good hit.
Save your hard earned cash.
I never used a driver for 2 years,now its one of my best clubs I just learnt to hit a driver
better.

 

[duncan mackie]

it's entirely up to you - there's no right or wrong answer.

fwiw the Tour fitters have been quoted as saying that the pro's will bite their hands off for 1 extra yd...

personally I just want a driver that's as easy to hit and consistent as my 4h and with an easy 270 carry

 

[Smiffy]

My mate Ray Taylor has just bought a new Taylor Made SLDR driver. He is convinced it has put 20 yards on his drives. He used it for the first time at Gainsborough at the week-end and he was hitting some of the best drives I have seen him hit in a while.
Personally, I think it is down to confidence. Once he starts hitting a few lumpy ones, I reckon the pixie dust will have worn off.

 

[Kidge004]

I guess the question i should have asked was should i expect more than a 10 yard increase for the outlay of a new driver. My current Ben Ross is the most reliable club in my bag, rarely miss a fairway. The issue is have is it has a massive dent in the back or the club head? Guess i've learnt how to hit the club but cant be sure if thats losing me distance or not?

 

[Oddsocks]

For me your covered it I'm your last response " my Ben Ross is the most reliable club in my bag "

222 carry consistent is better than a wild 235

What I will question though is have you ride the bio cell with any upgrade shafts, my amp was great with the stocker, put a Motore in it and it's now a weapon with a lot tighter dispersion.

 

[Ethan]

I guess the question i should have asked was should i expect more than a 10 yard increase for the outlay of a new driver. My current Ben Ross is the most reliable club in my bag, rarely miss a fairway. The issue is have is it has a massive dent in the back or the club head? Guess i've learnt how to hit the club but cant be sure if thats losing me distance or not?

It depends how close to your optimal distance you are. If you gave 90ish driver speed then with a reasonable launch angle you are probably close to optimal. If you have 100mph swing speed then you may have another 20 or 30 yards to gain.

 

[Qwerty]

Only my opinion but I'd say forget length. Use whatever you like the look/feel of and most importantly whatever hits the fairways.
It doesn't matter if something's 10yards shorter. That 10 yards less will stop you going in the crap on plenty of occasions.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

Personally I'd say get the new, longer driver.

You're obviously a decent player so will normally be hitting ok drives. As such I'd say that 10 yards will be a big gain, mainly as it'll mean you are hitting 1 less club for your approach shots. As such it'll mean it's easier to get out of the semi-rough and/or you'll have more control for approach shots.

 

[mikepops]

I recently upgraded from a TM R7 to a SLDR. Going from a seven or eight year old model to the latest tech obviously meant I picked up some significant improvements, and I'd say I've gained around 10/15 yards on my good drives.

However, where the SLDR is really helping is on the bad ones - the off centre hits that still fly about as far as my old driver would have done out the middle.

My dispersion is about the same (and I'm not the straightest), but I put that down to the swing not the club.

Personally, I'm not sure about upgrading every couple of years, but I think a gap of more than 5 years makes it well worth the outlay for the new technology.

 

[Kidge004]

Personally I'd say get the new, longer driver.

You're obviously a decent player so will normally be hitting ok drives. As such I'd say that 10 yards will be a big gain, mainly as it'll mean you are hitting 1 less club for your approach shots. As such it'll mean it's easier to get out of the semi-rough and/or you'll have more control for approach shots.

That's exactly my thoughts, long irons are not the best part of my game and to be able to change a 160yard shot into a 150yard would be extremely beneficial. I just need to make sure i continue to hit the amount of fairways i do at the moment!

 

[RGDave]

whereas i tried the new Cobra Bio Cell at AG and this gave me a carry of 233yards but with a 5 yards greater dispersion.

In the real world, 10 yards is possibly worth having. For £199, no. Trusting a machine, not for me.

A carry of 230-ish has got to be 100mph or more. Be happy with more accuracy.

 

[upsidedown]

Gone from a TM R9 to the Titleist 913 and reckon on the good ones have gained 20 yards, certainly hitting more wedges and 9 irons as second shots compared to the 7 and 8's from before. Have twice driven a 306 yard hole I've not been close on before so go for it, boom it out there.
Oh and so much straighter and more forgiving .

 

[RGDave]

Gone from a TM R9 to the Titleist 913 and reckon on the good ones have gained 20 yards, certainly hitting more wedges and 9 irons as second shots compared to the 7 and 8's from before. Have twice driven a 306 yard hole I've not been close on before so go for it, boom it out there.
Oh and so much straighter and more forgiving .

Impressive! Works for you then.

Where's this 306 yarder? Will I know it.

I won't have driven it, that's for sure.

 

[upsidedown]

Impressive! Works for you then.

Where's this 306 yarder? Will I know it.

I won't have driven it, that's for sure.

The 11th, Shifnal , Shropshire :thup:

 

[the_coach]

A more modern driver will give you the most help with any off center strikes so you'd lose less distance on a regular basis, than missing center a ways with your current driver, not really about any real extra carry though you'll likely get a little with the more modern tech. Biggest way you can gain distance is making sure you're angle of attack is upwards some.

Given some of the reviews I've seen by folks testing drivers, if you going down the route of jumping in & buying a new one, would test the G30 before you buy the Bio Cell.

Lessons to improve the swing motion the most reliable ways to get a better strike.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

It depends. Shafts have moved on in 10 years and the heads are more forgiving. You could go down the C/F route and find the right shaft for your game but many off the shelf models will give you what you need. Try as many as you can and if they really are better than what you have, there's a decision to be made

 

[RGDave]

The 11th, Shifnal , Shropshire :thup:

That is a SHOT! Well done. I've played that hole many times - it's kind of next to/across the 8th, isn't it?

Nice.

Got to be happy with that. Mostly, I hit a 5 wood and my mates bosh it (driver) and end up in the pond. Parred it last time, as I remember it.

 

[RGDave]

Lessons to improve the swing motion the most reliable ways to get a better strike.

Hell yeh! I've not hit a driver in 2 months. My 5 wood is going almost as far as my driver, and I'm scared to take it out on the course.

I've done this because finally, after 10 years, I've actually found a coach who was able to explain why a) I hit the ball so short and b) how to change my swing to get "average" distance for my build and flexibility.

 

[Siren]

I can honestly say I have gained a significant yardage with my current driver (when I hit it correctly)

Going for a fitting was the best thing I have ever done.