R9 - Woes

[User 105]

About 4 months ago my heart won the battle with my head and I treated myself to a nice shiny R9, the original 420cc version.

For the first few weeks it was great but since then my game has just gone downhill. I've gone from a reasonably consistent driver of the ball to a completely inconsistent one.

I never know round to round how I'm going to drive now. Sometimes it's great all day, sometimes I just can't hit a fairway to save my life.

I've stuck with the R9 for 4 months now, practiced like mad with it. Had lessons with the pro etc, trying to get it to come good. On the range it's great, just when I get on course with it I just never know what is going to happen.

This then has a knock on effect to the rest of my game and my general confidence when playing. So my scoring has been slipping back and just causing more frustration.

So I've finally come to conclusion I'm just not good enough to use the R9 consistently so it needs to be sidelined for a while.

I traded my original burner in for the R9 so I'm thinking about getting a second hand one from golf-bidder or e-bay to put back in the bag for a while.

tbh, I'm gutted as when the R9 is on song it's just fantastic. It just doesn't happen often enough.

I'm going to keep hold of the R9 as I'll get fleeced if I trade it, and I hope at some point in the future I'll be able to go back to it. As I'm positive it's more me than the club.

Oh well

 

[Ethan]

What are you doing with it on the course - hooking, slicing, skying, topping - all of those, and what shaft and set up have you in it - open, closed, weights etc?

If you do decide to get rid, I would go back to the place you bought it, explain what happened and ask if they can do you a decent trade in for something else which they will help you select.

 

[User 105]

Mainly it's a high slice on the course.

I'm pretty sure I know the problem and I'm sure most of it's mental rather than swing related. I know when I'm not swinging confidently and committing to the shot I don't transfer my weight and get stuck on my back foot and get under and across the ball.

I think the trouble for me is the forgiveness of the club, great when it's working well, but when it's not it just exaggerates any problems.

On the range I'm more relaxed and swinging away fine. The trouble now is on the course knowing this can happen makes me tense up and thus causes it to happen

Hence I think I need to go back to a more forgiving club, like my previous burner, get some confidence back.

As I say I've stuck with it for 4 months, my pro says my swing, in general, is good. Good tempo, path, body rotation , weight transfer etc, but that's all on the range.

It has a reg shaft and I have it setup neutral with the weight neutral as well. I've tried setting the shaft for a draw but when I get stuck behind it and don't commit, I don't think any amount of 'adjusting' is going to stop the huge slice.

I need to get my driving confidence back, and it's just not happening with this club.

 

[stevek1969]

Had a coversation about this with my pro today when getting a lesson my shot with the irons is a slight pull the less loft on the club it then becomes a slice this is due to not rotating right through on the swing and getting a high finish (eg monty) because i've had the same problem with my r9 particularly if its windy ,so stick with it.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I really wanted to like the R9 when I tried it but I couldn't get it to perform as well as my R7 Limited irrespective of what weight and face set up I tried. I think its probably a lot to do with me thinking the set up will do the work and not swinging through properly but I have to say I wasn't overly fussed with the feel of the shaft. I only tried the regular but there was something missing through impact

 

[thecraw]

Had a coversation about this with my pro today when getting a lesson my shot with the irons is a slight pull the less loft on the club it then becomes a slice this is due to not rotating right through on the swing and getting a high finish (eg monty) because i've had the same problem with my r9 particularly if its windy ,so stick with it.

I hope you've not changed your mind??????

V2 4 U, repeat after me Steve; V2 4 U!

 

[RGDave]

V2 4 U, repeat after me Steve; V2 4 U!

V2 4 Me.

I know the V2 shafts I have are probably cheap "engineered for" lesser quality, but they are marvellous.

 

[stevek1969]

Dave its a Rapture v2 mate not a V2 shaft.

 

[Parmo]

The problem is you are using a 420cc driver which is aimed at low handicappers and you are 23 like myself. You should be looking at drivers which will help not hinder you in your "drive" to lower you hcp.

 

[Basher]

Amen to that Parmo.

I was told that indeed the club is aimed at lower handicap golfers by a sales guy in one of the golf supermarkets. To be fair, the guy ws honest.
He said they had sold a lot of these clubs to handicappers of all levels. He said most people bought them as they were "the club to have" regardless of his recommendations.

Let's be honest, what use is a driver with weight adjustment etc etc to a high handicapper who does not posess a consistant swing or shot direction. Much better off with a middle of the road driver suited to ones standard of play I think.

 

[Parmo]

Look on EBay and you will see all the hacker who have bought them trying to flog them with their Cobra S9-1 Pro's.

 

[viscount17]

Look on EBay and you will see all the hacker who have bought them trying to flog them with their Cobra S9-1 Pro's.

much of this is due to their marketing, not sure whether it was good or bad strategy though.

the S9-1 Pro looks serious, the other models in comparison look 'old' and boring (a bit like Bedford trucks - they all looked 1950's the day they were made).

as a result a lot of drivers were bought on 'style' before suitability by people who will now blame Cobra and look elsewhere.