First time i have ever had my swing measured

[MadAdey]

this is the sort of advice I was hoping for Ethan. I knew I had a fast swing but did not realise just how fast.

You are normally quite well clued up on club fitting etc. If I am correct, normally a shaft that is too flexible will make you hit it left. The person I saw did change the weight to toe heavy and clicked the sole plate to open. So that will mean the face is going to be well open at impact. But did the fact that the shaft flex was too soft then make the club come back square? If the shaft was stiffer would I be able to have it set more neutral and would that then bring the loft down, as surely opening the face up on the settings will increase loft. So if the face was set more neutral bringing the loft back down then my backspin would reduce and my ball speed go up getting me closer to 1.5 smash factor.

That may sound like an old load of gobbledy gook but it makes sense in my head.:mmm:

 

[Ethan]

this is the sort of advice I was hoping for Ethan. I knew I had a fast swing but did not realise just how fast.

You are normally quite well clued up on club fitting etc. If I am correct, normally a shaft that is too flexible will make you hit it left. The person I saw did change the weight to toe heavy and clicked the sole plate to open. So that will mean the face is going to be well open at impact. But did the fact that the shaft flex was too soft then make the club come back square? If the shaft was stiffer would I be able to have it set more neutral and would that then bring the loft down, as surely opening the face up on the settings will increase loft. So if the face was set more neutral bringing the loft back down then my backspin would reduce and my ball speed go up getting me closer to 1.5 smash factor.

That may sound like an old load of gobbledy gook but it makes sense in my head.:mmm:

That sounds very possible. Fast swings are usually found in better players, and they are more likely to close the club during the impact part of the swing, and to attack the ball from the inside. If the shaft is too soft, the tendency will be for too much closing and a right to left shape to the shot. Of course, some players like to draw the ball, but most good players don't like a closed face, so some players, like Darren Clarke, for example, has an open face set up, but weights set to a draw setting. A stiffer shaft should reduce the hookiness as well, but might also lower the flight which is probably also needed. I would be wary about going for too low a loft of driver though.

If I was you, I would be looking for a pro who fits good players, and look for a diagnosis of my swing. The smash factor can be influenced by a lot of things, but you might find, for example, that a shorter driver gives you a much better hit, and maximises the contact you make. With 128mph speed, you have a lot of spare power to play with.

 

[MadAdey]

Your on the money there ethan. I do swing on the in to out, but nothinig too drastic. I do like to look down on a slightly open face address with the driver.
It is a case of finding someone who has this driver in the x-stiff though to give it a go and see if it makes any difference..

 

[Tommo21]

I decided to take trip and try out the RBZ and R11s. Very interesting trip, was not too keen on the RBZ so I had a smack with the R11s. Oh my god I have never been able to hit a driver as straight as when this got set up. Not too sure on distance as it was with range balls, but even for them it was going very long.

Chatted with the lad about it and he suggested I get booked in for a fitting on the launch monitor to get it set up correctly. He did let me hit a couple of shots to show me what it can do as I have never tried one before.

Well that was surprising when I saw the readout after hitting 3 balls. Clubhead 128 MPH, ball speed 168, RPM 3350, degree launch 15.5, carry 263, total distance 274. So I managed to get the smash factor of 1.3. He did say that my launch was too high and by taking that down he could reduce the RPM which would create a higher ball speed. He thinks with some minor adjustments on the head he will be able to increase the ball speed and get me around another 20 yards.

That was only hitting 3 balls to show what the machine can help me do if I get this driver set up using it. I really can't wait to go back and get it done.

Dont do a thing unless it's with quality balls.................all the above is out the window.

 

[wull]

this is the sort of advice I was hoping for Ethan. I knew I had a fast swing but did not realise just how fast.

You are normally quite well clued up on club fitting etc. If I am correct, normally a shaft that is too flexible will make you hit it left. The person I saw did change the weight to toe heavy and clicked the sole plate to open. So that will mean the face is going to be well open at impact. But did the fact that the shaft flex was too soft then make the club come back square? If the shaft was stiffer would I be able to have it set more neutral and would that then bring the loft down, as surely opening the face up on the settings will increase loft. So if the face was set more neutral bringing the loft back down then my backspin would reduce and my ball speed go up getting me closer to 1.5 smash factor.

That may sound like an old load of gobbledy gook but it makes sense in my head.:mmm:

a soft shaft will definately result in a missed shot left.the clubface at impact will be closed and thats even with a good swing.if you were blindfolded you would swear it was a perfect shot,but nope....it ends up left.

a stiffer shaft will help you greatly and give you better results.also if you were using range balls that will make a massive difference but usually the balls used on a fitting or trackman are good balls as the balls will perform badly.could explain the reduce ball speed and smash factor.

 

[MadAdey]

I am definitely thinking about going the line of trying it with a stiffer shaft. I was hitting it in a 9* so I could get it dropped another degree using the adjustments on it. But I am hoping that a stiffer shaft may be the answer to dropping that launch angle down and taking some spin off it. The balls that I was hitting were Srixon range balls, so not as bad as most range balls but still do not perform like a real ball.

 

[Foxholer]

a soft shaft will definately result in a missed shot left.the clubface at impact will be closed and thats even with a good swing.if you were blindfolded you would swear it was a perfect shot,but nope....it ends up left.

a stiffer shaft will help you greatly and give you better results.also if you were using range balls that will make a massive difference but usually the balls used on a fitting or trackman are good balls as the balls will perform badly.could explain the reduce ball speed and smash factor.

Not complete BS, but saying 'soft shaft always means left' is wrong all the same - better to say 'tends to' or similar. Agree softer shafts do tend to encourage a left miss but not always the case. I know a Pro with 115-ish SS who plays Regular shafts because Stiff shafts end up as hooks for him. Even 6* LD head open 3* with XX shaft at 48" (supposedly the ultimate anti-left club) resulted in hooks!

Anyway back on topic. There does seem to be something wrong with those figures - certainly Range balls will affect Smash Factor as that is what they are designed to go, but that SS does seem a bit high too.Great you've booked in for proper fitting. Agree launch around 14 and spin around 2600-2800 would be pretty good. And if Smash Factor is near to 1.5, then shaft is pretty much optimised too. Does seem that an X or heavy S (and shorter) is likely to be appropriate though. Oh, and take your current Driver along for comparison too!

Have Fun,

 

[wull]

Not complete BS, but saying 'soft shaft always means left' is wrong all the same - better to say 'tends to' or similar. Agree softer shafts do tend to encourage a left miss but not always the case. I know a Pro with 115-ish SS who plays Regular shafts because Stiff shafts end up as hooks for him. Even 6* LD head open 3* with XX shaft at 48" (supposedly the ultimate anti-left club) resulted in hooks!

Anyway back on topic. There does seem to be something wrong with those figures - certainly Range balls will affect Smash Factor as that is what they are designed to go, but that SS does seem a bit high too.Great you've booked in for proper fitting. Agree launch around 14 and spin around 2600-2800 would be pretty good. And if Smash Factor is near to 1.5, then shaft is pretty much optimised too. Does seem that an X or heavy S (and shorter) is likely to be appropriate though. Oh, and take your current Driver along for comparison too!

Have Fun,

and yours is only slightly BS!!!

 

[MadAdey]

Well the facts are when I hit a shaft that is to flexible I always hit it left so that is that cleared up. The swing speed is more or less accurate as I do have a high swing speed and this club is designed to increase swing speed by the aerodynamics of the head. I have read on an american site that this club can increase your natural swing speed by 10-15MPH just purely by the aerodynamics and the shaft that has been designed to be used with it. The correct launch angle for my swing speed is actually between 11.5 - 12.5 and yes the spin should be around 2600-2800. My point regarding the shaft is that I changed the head to one click open and had the weight in the toe to keep the face open at impact. But surely by doing this that will increase the loft on the club, which then increases the spin and launch angle.

Now the question I had is if I had a stiffer shaft then had the head setup in more of a neutral position could I lower the launch angle which would bring down the spin rate increasing ball speed and getting the smash factor closer to 1.5?????????????????

 

[JustOne]

Now the question I had is if I had a stiffer shaft then had the head setup in more of a neutral position could I lower the launch angle which would bring down the spin rate increasing ball speed and getting the smash factor closer to 1.5?????????????????

If you bring down your spin loft it could help your smash factor. However it could be down to off centered strikes or your angle of attack which is why you should get onto a proper trackman machine to get fitted for a club and shaft that suits your exact swing pattern... you need all the data ideally.


Here's a trackman newsletter concerning smash factor..... http://www.trackman.dk/download/newsletter/newsletter3.pdf

Hope that helps :thup:

 

[MadAdey]

If you bring down your spin loft it could help your smash factor. However it could be down to off centered strikes or your angle of attack which is why you should get onto a proper trackman machine to get fitted for a club and shaft that suits your exact swing pattern... you need all the data ideally.


Here's a trackman newsletter concerning smash factor..... http://www.trackman.dk/download/newsletter/newsletter3.pdf

Hope that helps :thup:

Cheers for that link makes very interesting reading. I started this thread as I wondered if anyone could give me some input as to what to do as like the title says this is the first time I have had my driver measured for speed. Be interesting to see what my angle of attack is. I know from that stupid tape that was on the club face that I was hitting it out of the middle, so not too worried about that.

The reason I am so obsessed by this is the fact that in over 20 years of playing golf I have never picked up a driver that I can swing with such ease and it just feels so good in my hands, unlike my R9 that has been flogged on fleebay. Everything feels good. I like the way it looks in my hands, I love the feel I am getting from it and most importantly I felt confident with it right from the first shot. Even though the range was packed and when people saw I had the R11s in my hands people stopped and started to look to see how it went. After a couple of practice swings I just let rip with it and it bounced past the 250 marker, never once crossed my mind how much of a tit I would look if I sliced one across the bays.......:fore:

So thanks to anyone who has posted some good advice on this thread, as usual Ethan and Justone know their stuff and Wull first time I have ever really read much from you but I appreciated your replies.

Oh well I will get booked in somewhere with all the right kit and see what happens. I will take a pic of the screen so you can see what the stats are, then maybe the ones who out there think that I am lying can see otherwise, or maybe like has been said the machine was not set up correctly....:mmm:

 

[kinhell]

I had my swing measured just out of interest and it was 105mph. I use a Ping g10 driver with a regular shaft and have a very wide dispersion. The pro said for me to try a stiff shafted driver and lent me a Titleist 910d2 with a
diamana kali 65g stiff shaft. When I eventually started hitting it out the middle the dispersion was very narrow and even what I would have normally called a hook or slice were just either side of centre of the fairway. For 10 years I have struggled off the tee to find that a stiff shafted driver would have sorted me years ago !! I'm determined to get myself a proper fitting for the first time when finances allow and get my handicap down from 25 to at least 15 as my short game is considered quite good.

 

[wull]

as justone says you want to be hitting your driver on the upswing so a + angle of attack.

what driver are you using?

 

[JustOne]

as justone says you want to be hitting your driver on the upswing so a + angle of attack.

Sorry Wull, did I say that??? I don't remember saying you had to hit it on the upswing.

Rory hits his at about +4 whilst Luke Donald is closer to -3

 

[MadAdey]

Cheers for the feedback and it is appretiated. But I do not need to change my swing, my angle of attack and hand position are fine. I did have a go with the new Cobra driver while I was at the range and the launch on that looked really good, but I preffered the R11s. I was using an R9 9.5 stiff before but that has been sold on Fleebay now so not going to be able to compare the 2 drivers. I have been told yesterday by my Physiotherapist that I should not be out hitting golf ballls until my shoulder has fully healed and that could be a couple of months away yet, so looks like I may have to wait. Or I could just ignore him and go and get fitted so I am ready for when my shoulder has healed, which is more likely to happen.....

 

[pbrown7582]

Sorry Wull, did I say that??? I don't remember saying you had to hit it on the upswing.

Rory hits his at about +4 whilst Luke Donald is closer to -3

Just been reading an article by Sean Foley and he advocates hitting down with your driver suggesting both hunter mahan and tiger do this currently.

 

[JustOne]

Just been reading an article by Sean Foley and he advocates hitting down with your driver suggesting both hunter mahan and tiger do this currently.

It's horses for courses which is why I'd never say that you should hit up on the ball. Down or level is in fact far more consistent and requires far less manipulation of swingpath and clubface than hitting up.

There's lots of players across the range from -4 to +7 and a lot depends on what shot shape they play, what loft is on their driver and of course their natural swing rythm.

Trackman has stated that optimum ballflight is a hit at +5° (iirc) but if doing so loses you accuracy or clubhead speed then it's better to put that stat to the back of your mind and just play YOUR shot.

Hitting up on the ball is practically a taboo subject (one of the golfing myths) that has ruined many a players game... it should be: You CAN but you don't have to.

 

[MadAdey]

I think you are spot on Justone. You may have gathered from other discussions regarding the correct way to swing the club that I really do not care as long as it goes where I want it to. Fortunately I do have quite a good swing and strike the ball really well, good job really cause my chipping is what you would expect from a high handicapper not a single figure one......By the way how you getting on now with the S&T. Still interested to see if you get on with it and if it has helped you improve.

 

[wull]

Sorry Wull, did I say that??? I don't remember saying you had to hit it on the upswing.

Rory hits his at about +4 whilst Luke Donald is closer to -3

not sure,maybe in my head you did.i personally feel its better if you do especially with the driver.it seems to give better results with lower spin and a lower trajectory.as you say rors does and most other good drivers do.the bad drivers of the ball tend to hit down on the ball and most people who are qualified to teach and fit clubs promote hitting up on the ball with the driver.