Curls
Journeyman Pro
I've been putting this off all year, but having amassed enough to buy several drivers with some canny bets I finally bit the bullet and went to Direct Golf Lincoln for an upgrade. Following lessons over winter and an improved swing I've been hitting my driver well, a few blips, mostly ballooned shots that seem to just go up instead of out, hence the curiosity over what my new swing and 4 years of driver development could add.
The evening was perfect, slight breeze, warm, they don't have a monitor so I was just hitting balls onto a range (admittedly with Srixon range balls). Took my 12 degree regular G15, bought new at Gainsborough in 2011 where I was fit for it while I still hadn't attained a handicap (only started playing).
Tried the G30, 915, R15, Aeroburner, Cobra, Mizuno JPX, SLDR, Callaway XR.
I thought I might have needed to upgrade to a stiff shaft but quickly put my ego back in it's box when I found them all far too stiff.
The regular shafts worked better, now to loft settings. Tried everything from 9.5 to 11.5. And the winner was...
The G15 that I brought with me.
Nothing launched as well. The only longer driver was the 10.5 degree Reg R15 with the sliders set in the middle. Catching one out of the middle sent it about the same carry but with a lower flight and more run. Catch it anywhere else and it went nowhere compared with an off centre hit with the G15. I'm not good enough to catch it in the middle every time.
The guy fitting, Mark, was a top bloke who had great patience with me as he saw driver after driver consigned to the "no" pile. He said I hit the G15 really well and if there isn't any driver or setting he can improve that with, then that's that. The ballooning he said is probably more likely to be using a high spinning ball in the wind, and I don't know how I haven't copped this before but I will not be using the ProV1 in windy conditions in future. He suggested the Bridgestone E1 as a good alternative. Said that most of us normals aren't really working the compression of all 4 layers of a ProV and that if you like the feel around the green (which is why I use them) that's good but don't expect to get the best of it's outstanding performance like the pros do, and expect it to spin like crazy if you slice, hook or balloon one into the wind.
Went for a driver fitting, fit for a ball. Was happy to pay £350 for the one, will end up paying £20 for a dozen. Would things have gone differently with a monitor involved? Perhaps. Maybe the spin I was putting on those range balls would've looked different in numbers and I could have found a lower spinning driver, but my flight with the G15 looked exactly as it always does, so maybe not. Bottom line is I didn't hit anything I liked the feel of.
More than anything I now have peace of mind and renewed confidence my old girl. She wasn't so bad after all...
The end.
The evening was perfect, slight breeze, warm, they don't have a monitor so I was just hitting balls onto a range (admittedly with Srixon range balls). Took my 12 degree regular G15, bought new at Gainsborough in 2011 where I was fit for it while I still hadn't attained a handicap (only started playing).
Tried the G30, 915, R15, Aeroburner, Cobra, Mizuno JPX, SLDR, Callaway XR.
I thought I might have needed to upgrade to a stiff shaft but quickly put my ego back in it's box when I found them all far too stiff.
The regular shafts worked better, now to loft settings. Tried everything from 9.5 to 11.5. And the winner was...
The G15 that I brought with me.
Nothing launched as well. The only longer driver was the 10.5 degree Reg R15 with the sliders set in the middle. Catching one out of the middle sent it about the same carry but with a lower flight and more run. Catch it anywhere else and it went nowhere compared with an off centre hit with the G15. I'm not good enough to catch it in the middle every time.
The guy fitting, Mark, was a top bloke who had great patience with me as he saw driver after driver consigned to the "no" pile. He said I hit the G15 really well and if there isn't any driver or setting he can improve that with, then that's that. The ballooning he said is probably more likely to be using a high spinning ball in the wind, and I don't know how I haven't copped this before but I will not be using the ProV1 in windy conditions in future. He suggested the Bridgestone E1 as a good alternative. Said that most of us normals aren't really working the compression of all 4 layers of a ProV and that if you like the feel around the green (which is why I use them) that's good but don't expect to get the best of it's outstanding performance like the pros do, and expect it to spin like crazy if you slice, hook or balloon one into the wind.
Went for a driver fitting, fit for a ball. Was happy to pay £350 for the one, will end up paying £20 for a dozen. Would things have gone differently with a monitor involved? Perhaps. Maybe the spin I was putting on those range balls would've looked different in numbers and I could have found a lower spinning driver, but my flight with the G15 looked exactly as it always does, so maybe not. Bottom line is I didn't hit anything I liked the feel of.
More than anything I now have peace of mind and renewed confidence my old girl. She wasn't so bad after all...
The end.
