swing speeds, distances and other ball(ock)s

[Driven2Distraction]

I was at the range last Thursday working to eliminate the horrensdous block that I'd developed with my driver - once I'd finished my drills and was happier with my swing I had about 30 balls left, so I thought I'd take a few swings with a couple of their demo drivers..... to get a like for like comparison with my own the two others that I ended up with were a G15 and R11, both with 60g stiff shafts - OMG, while I wasn't hitting it any further that my own the dispersion was better, and also they both just "felt" meatier.....

so - after the outstanding success of my iron fitting a few weeks ago, I took the decision to go back to SGGT and go through the same process for a driver - which threw up some interesting results

mainly - apparently I swing the club too fast, and hit the ball too hard for most readily available retail shafts which was news to me (I'm reasonably tall at 6'2" but built like the proverbial "line o' piss"!!!!! but too much flex around the tip was causing me to lose "control" of the clubhead and spray it about

so - tour quality 65A5 shaft (i didn't take note of the full details) comes out and......

Swingspeed 110mph
Ballspeed 158mph
however - this "only" generated a carry distance of 240 - 250yds (don't get me I am MORE than happy with this type of distance, especially as the dispersion was tighter than a scotsman's wallet!)

The interesting point for me was that I actually hitting down on the ball a little (-2 degree angle of attack) which was increasing the spin imparted to the ball and therefore "robbing" me of distance. Scott advised me to get "behind" the ball a bit more to try hit it on the "up" - which I duly tried.

One minor swing adjustment later & I managed to change the angle of attack to +0.5 degrees but as a consequence of "thinking" about a slightly different swing - ss reduced to 105 and ballspeed to 150 and spin was down 700rpm......
but, drumroll please............

carry distance UP to 279yds!!!!
now.... the likes of Bubba W have an angle of attack of +5.0 degrees, which is why he can hit it into next week with a 6 degree driver...

so - it's not all about swingspeed, like every shot it's all about the quality of the strike!

the shaft that I tried is going in someone elses driver this afternoon, but Scott has kindly offered to build me club to trial when I play on Sunday, watch this space!

now....... if only I could putt.............

 

[dean]

what driver was you using r11 or g15

 

[Driven2Distraction]

Actually - it was neither

It was a GF series head by KZG

 

[Ethan]

There was a story in a US golf magazine about this. Bubba has a very efficient swing for distance, he maxes it out, but others don't get the optimal flight. Charles Howell III should be about 15 yards behind Bubba based on swing speed, but he is 35 yards behind because he hits down with the driver. Great for irons, not so good with a driver. The guys who hit down also have a tendency to stuff it to the right.

279 is a very big (or possibly incredible) carry distance for 105mph, though. Are you sure that test wasn't done in American Golf??????

 

[Driven2Distraction]

279 is a very big (or possibly incredible) carry distance for 105mph, though. Are you sure that test wasn't done in American Golf??????

quite sure..... at SGGT
it is however in an indoor studio on trackman - so conditions are totally benign (although the yardages measured when I was fitted for my new irons have proved to be spot on, outdoors in real life)

it was also the MAX that I hit, (and is taken with a large pinch of salt), I caught it right on the screws and TBH it's probably a 1 in 100 shot for me - it wasn't with my natural swing as most of the others that I hit while trying "keep behind the ball a little" were mishit out of the toe & flew 220ish - I'm under no illusions as to my actual likely driving distance on the course

The interesting points for me were that
1) I had no idea that I hit "down" with my driver - irons I knew about but this was new for me
and
2) Seeing, in practice, what a difference "angle of attack" makes to distance rather than swingin' outta your shoes


if I can come away from this with a driver (and swing) capable of hitting the straight drives that I getting with "shaft no 3", at 240-250 carry (they were all in this range) consistently, i'll be MORE than happy

i'll get the data on Sun when I go back to pick up the driver, scan & upload for you all to laugh & point