I cannot tame my driver (TM Burner super fast 2.0)

[DanFST]

Hello all,

I'm having a few issues, and thought it be best to ask some help from people that are a lot more knowledgable than myself! I'm a high handicapper, but this winter my driving has been outstanding using a Nike 5900 SQ Sumo. Not so much in distance, but in hitting almost every fairway with a respectable amount of yardage. To celebrate I thought i'd treat myself to a new driver, and I came out with a Burner Superfast 2.0 10.5 degree, because it was nice and white, and the reviews seemed to be good.

However that's when it turned sour. My distance has improved when i hit the sweet spot, and it no longer makes a god awful racket when the ball is struck. However i've lost my consistency, and with it my confidence. I'm still hitting alot of fairways, but when previously the worst i'd get is a bit of fade to the right. With the Burner when it's going right, it goes right BIG!! I must have hit about 10000 range balls with this thing. And i still can't crack it. And now the flight of the ball and it's height's not right as i've been trying to change things.

So i think hey i'll just go back to my ancient Srixon W-302, 10.5 degree. (as I sold my Nike). Now when striking this club, i'm struggling to get used to it, and that if anything is worse than the burner. So i'm bottling it, and using my 910h hybrid on the tee!

I assume it's the silly length of the club and the super flexible shaft that are exaggerating my miss hits? Am i best to take a loss, seek the club and chalk this down to experience? To i'm not so hot on golf club knowledge, i just tend to keep practising till i'm happy with the results. Just this is really testing me. Apologies for the essay also.


PS: I'm only 5ft 8inches, the club comes up to my chest!

 

[virtuocity]

Whilst I have never been custom fitted for a club and don't know the benefits, I think it's obvious that it might be time for a shaft fitting.

Perhaps visit a local pro who can not only fit you, but give you a lesson at the same time?

 

[Alan P Mills]

Whilst I have never been custom fitted for a club and don't know the benefits, I think it's obvious that it might be time for a shaft fitting.

Perhaps visit a local pro who can not only fit you, but give you a lesson at the same time?

i agree with above post. Have a lesson , probably cheaper than 10000 range balls.

 

[StrangelyBrown]

I must have hit about 10000 range balls with this thing.

Insanity can be described as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

Go and see a pro, he'll be able to spot what's going on and give you a drill to sort it

 

[vkurup]

Question: What is your swing speed like? I suspect you might be using too little loft.

I used to have a 12 deg Yonex which I replaced with a 10.5 Burner (because as a man, I thought I would get more distance). It is a lovely club. Served me alright, but when I replaced it with my current Nike, the pro straight away moved the loft up to 11.5.

Other than that, shaft will make a difference - both length and flex.

Finally, it is all in the head. If you think you cant hit a club, you will never hit it (and vice versa)

 

[Dave B]

You have three options:

1: Get a lesson with a pro and see if it's something obvious, (lots of people use this driver without problems).

2: Cut the shaft down by an inch or so, this will cost you £3-4 for a new grip and I'd do this before changing the shaft. If it doesn't work, there are plenty of decent shafts on ebay for less than £30 delivered.

3: Sell it and cut your loses, however be warned you next driver may give the same issues


Personally I'd recommend option 1 as you'll lose money with options 2 and 3 but a lesson is generally money ell spent.

 

[guest100718]

Doesnt the superfast have a longer shaft than most drivers? That probably makes it a bit more unwieldy.

 

[Foxholer]

From memory, the white Burner Superfast was also very long - 46+ inches.

As such, and also the lowest lofted club, the Driver will show up any faults in you swing more than any other club! It's very possible that the shaft is too flexible for the speed you are swing also.

High handicap players tend to swing - particularly the Driver - much faster than is really needed/desirable. While every 1 mph of swing speed will get you 1.5 extra yards - if hit out of the middle - even being just a litle off centre is likely to lose you a lot more - 10-20 or more - which is why the drive for greater forgiveness. So much better to back off a bit (slow the swing to a blur) and 'hit it better, not harder'!

And that's even without considering the effect that swinging at full pelt from the start of the downswing has on the tendency to swing arms and body first, so over the top and inefficiently. Another 'better, not harder/faster' phrase!

Now, if only I could take my own advice!

 

[DAVEYBOY]

Yes this driver has a very long shaft and correct me if I'm wrong but didn't TM admit that they had made a mistake with the length and its renowned for being hard to control? I've hit it in the past and I liked it though.

 

[duncan mackie]

I assume it's the silly length of the club and the super flexible shaft that are exaggerating my miss hits? Am i best to take a loss, seek the club and chalk this down to experience?

I wouldn't - I would assume that you are creating miss-hits through changes you are making in order to gain some distance; these include getting a new club for the job. It's also very common for people to test their swings to destruction with long sessions at the range with long clubs....

As others have suggested, step one in such a situation is to create a solid benchmark - this can only be done through a teaching professional. It should only take a couple of sessions for you to understand what to spend the next 10000 balls working on, and whether equipment is an issue.

Fundamentally = 10.5 loft is fine on that model, and you can hit a few hundred gripping 2" down the shaft to emulate a shorter, and slightly stiffer, set up before you grab a hacksaw.

 

[Maninblack4612]

If you're going to select a driver by trial & error do it with used ones. Go to American Golf or somewhere similar, try a number of drivers with different lofts & shaft flexes. The head is not that important. Find the flex that gives you acceptable control, find the loft that gives you optimum launch then choose a driver of whatever make you fancy with these characteristics. I would still get it checked out on a launch monitor.

Research has shown that a long shaft, especially one not stiff enough, will give you more length on the rare occasions when you hit it out of the middle but on most occasions will be shorter than a well hit shot with a shorter shaft. Interestingly, the research I read said that dispersion was unaffected so this part is likely to be due to the long shaft playing too soft. The longer the shaft the softer it plays.

I arrived at my choice of shaft & loft after much trial & error but I did it with second hand clubs & didn't lose too much in the learning process. I've since been fitted on a launch monitor, which confirmed that I have the right gear for my pathetically slow swing.

 

[duncan mackie]

Yes this driver has a very long shaft and correct me if I'm wrong but didn't TM admit that they had made a mistake with the length and its renowned for being hard to control?

I think the issue, if it was one, was that TM reversed their previous model performances and confused people.The previous Burner's were the easy to hit model, with the R7 and Superquads being the performance machines - then with the Superfasts and R9 it reversed and the Superfasts were the performance model for those who could handle it, and the adjustable models, inc the R1, became the easy to hit models!
The length is a red herring; it was about 1/2" longer than the previous Burner and R9 but then the RBZ was back there, as later models and other manufacturers.
If I line up my Burner,Burner TP, Superfast, and Superfast 2.0TP there are small differences in length but nothing that slight grip adjustment (too taste ) doesn't negate in practice.
What makes the clubs play massively differently is the shafts, with weight having a bigger impact overall than simply R or S - tested blind you wouldn't think the clubs were from the same stable at all! I raise this not as a good v bad shaft issue; simply reflecting that a huge amount of confidence comes from liking the way the club feels when swung.

 

[Foxholer]

Duncan.

That's an impressive array of TM Drivers! I'd gone off them by then (pissed at their silly release policy), so not absolutely au fait with the individual models, but pretty sure that the TP was a different beast from the 'standard model' - The TP having a shaft an inch or so shorter than 'standard'!

 

[PhilTheFragger]

Surely the lesson to be learnt here is never buy a club without hitting it first, and realising that what works for some wont work for others, etc

10000 balls is a lot, surely the cash spent on the range would have more than covered a custom fit and subsequent purchase

 

[John]

As others have mentioned you'd probably really benefit from a fitting or at the very least trying out a load of different options to see what works.

I stumbled across the right shaft for me after buying my 3 wood which already had one in it. I bought the RBZ Stage 2 as an ex-demo but kept losing it out high and right. The 3 wood I bought had a ProLaunch Red in it and all I could do was hit that straight. Put the same shaft in the RBZ and now its long and straight with the worst being a slight fade.

Get yourself along for a fitting and find out what works best for you!:thup:

 

[Foxholer]

Surely the lesson to be learnt here is never buy a club without hitting it first, and realising that what works for some wont work for others, etc

Or at least recognising that there's a risk that it won't work for you.

 

[JCW]

Lesson and a fitting be best

 

[brendy]

Forget lessons purely for that driver, it is notoriously hard to hit consistently, part ex it against another driver would be my advice. I bought one coming from a G15 and the difference was night and day. Out of the screws the Burner SF 2.0 is longer, no doubt about it but anything out of the pin head sized sweet spot and it lost 30 yards to me. The R11 and R11S are much much more forgiving, so much so that they can be hit from the fairway if need be where the SF 2.0 was an impossibility for handicap golfers.

 

[mchacker]

Human error, love mine to the point that it's been difficult putting a game plan together where I don't use it on every par 4&5 as I see the shot with no fear.Although I do think if I had hit 10k balls the stock shaft would be knackered long before then

 

[DanFST]

Surely the lesson to be learnt here is never buy a club without hitting it first, and realising that what works for some wont work for others, etc

10000 balls is a lot, surely the cash spent on the range would have more than covered a custom fit and subsequent purchase

I think that is definitely what i've learned here, along with if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

I've never been analysed propely with any form of tracking. However my swing speed is relatively slow (For a 20 year old) I'm very conservative, and are just aiming for the fairway, rather than up the fairway. But that must be as much help as a chocolate kettle.

As regards to custom fitting and american golf. I'm a massive skeptic of custom fitting, but i will leave that for another day. I've never had such a problem with any club, and never swapped out anything as i'm too stubborn! How likely will American golf will be to let me loose with a few of their drivers? I wouldn't buy anything till mine had sold. I think i should be looking for something a bit more head heavy if that makes sense, and regular sized? Is that what you would suggest?