The best way to set up a new driver?

[chrisd]

As I posted yesterday I was really happy to receive my Big Bertha Alpha driver curtesy of Callaway. I took it to the range and hit a fair few balls and started to tweek the various settings and ended up with a good flight with 8* of loft! slight draw setting and no lie angle change with the centre core in the low position. The range balls were 100% distance Srixons and flew well. I then went to the course and played and hit pretty well but was, understandably tired as the 9 holes went on. The real balls obviously were slighly different in reaction to the range balls.

The question is though, is there a certain method that I should look to find my own settings ie do draw bias first, then loft, then centre core to get a difinitive best set up as playing with each setting will alter flight etc independent of each other setting.

Cheers guys

 

[virtuocity]

The brilliant Indoor Golf Academy in Glasgow does a driver set-up for £25 using flightscope simulators, obviously with real-ball data.

Do you have a pro local to you with a good launch monitor who would do this for a similar price? Or, if you know what you're doing, a lot of pros will let you use a launch monitor for an hour quite cheaply, as long as they aren't interpreting data.

 

[chellie]

It all sounds very complicated Glad I don't have to do any of that when my new Callaway driver arrives.

 

[srixon 1]

Set it to neutral and take it out on the course for a few rounds. If you are happy then leave it, if not, take it to the range and fiddle about, but only make small changes each time.

 

[chrisd]

Set it to neutral and take it out on the course for a few rounds. If you are happy then leave it, if not, take it to the range and fiddle about, but only make small changes each time.

I pretty much did as you say at the range today and then played 18 holes. Until I tired on the back 9 the driver was well behaved and long long long - it may well stay in the bag for some time!

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

The brilliant Indoor Golf Academy in Glasgow does a driver set-up for £25 using flightscope simulators, obviously with real-ball data.

Do you have a pro local to you with a good launch monitor who would do this for a similar price? Or, if you know what you're doing, a lot of pros will let you use a launch monitor for an hour quite cheaply, as long as they aren't interpreting data.

Why go to all that trouble and expense? What is wrong with real balls on the course/practice ground and a bit of tweaking until you get the desired result?

 

[chrisd]

Why go to all that trouble and expense? What is wrong with real balls on the course/practice ground and a bit of tweaking until you get the desired result?

Hi Gordon

We've got no practice area capable of hitting a driver on. I tweaked it again at the range before playing 18 holes yesterday and my first drive soared miles down the fairway so I guessed it was about right. The only poor drives were as I got really tired, this was after playing Sunday, hitting loads at the range Tuesday and then playing and also recovering from a virus I'd had, so I wasn't expecting much. One of my playing partners was a younger 7 handicap guy who always would out drive me but not now, I either was past him or pretty equal.

The Alpha is an awesome bit of kit and I think that I'm almost there with its set up and the slight change that I need in my swing to get the best out of it.

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

Cheers Chris, glad you are getting there with it and enjoying your new toy

Don't quite see the point of splashing cash to set it up when a bit of trial and error will do the same thing for free.

 

[chrisd]

Cheers Chris, glad you are getting there with it and enjoying your new toy

Don't quite see the point of splashing cash to set it up when a bit of trial and error will do the same thing for free.

Thanks Gordon. My thinking was that a proper setup may just work better and, after all, the driver didn't cost anything. I just don't know many Trackmen pro's in my area and what they'd charge