The monetary cost of extra yards...

[Crow]

At my club the shortest par 4 is 400yds. That's just out of my reach in 2 so I play an awful lot of short chip shots for my 3rd shot. Another 20yds off the tee would make a very real and genuine difference to me.

That's ridiculous!
But I guess it's the modern equipment that we have to thank for it.

 

[pool888]

You also have to account the lifetime cost of the club, it's not all lost money your 917 would of had a RRP of over £400 when launched and will still have a reasonable value today. Have a look for a M6, going by reviews it will likely give similar gains and you should be able to get a new one around half the price of the SIM although maybe not custom fit so you would need an idea what shaft suited you. Or try a Ping they always hold their value very well, a G410 will likely be worth a fair bit more in the future than a Taylor Made. Everyone has their limit on what they think a new driver is worth spending on, for me probably £250 which is usually the price of the previous model once the replacement is launched.

 

[jim8flog]

The cost of new drivers has gone way outside of my pockets so I make do with the last model which is normally reduced to about half the original price.

My last change was from R9 to M4 probably gained me about 15 yards but the club only cost me about £180 less the £60 I got for the R9.

 

[duncan mackie]

Duncan ,did you ever get round to trying it with a senior shaft ?

No.
Use either a shortened stiff (heavy really rather than board stiff) or the standard regular.

 

[duncan mackie]

But also ask yourself, will being 25 yards further up the fairway take away some of the variety of your round?

Will you be hitting lots of wedge shots for your seconds on par fours?
How often will you be able to hit a long iron into a green?

I moved the other way and chose to play woods that lost me 30 odd yards but I enjoy my golf more due to the greater variety of shots I now play and the different challenge.
We're all handicap golfers and, unless you enter scratch competitions, I can't see the point of buying a few extra yards that "might" get your handicap down a shot or two but won't actually improve you as a golfer, in fact in my warped world it will make you worse.

Then again we don't all hit driver all the time with, or without, the extra 20 yds(I hit 2 drivers at Tandridge - if there wasn't value in hitting one I don't)

 

[Parsaregood]

Personally if I could pick up another 20 yards that easily id say take my money. However I'd caution you if you hit this on a launch monitor with a sales rep changing the coloured trackers for each driver, they can change the settings on the monitor very discreetly ? get a demo on course

 

[howbow88]

Some interesting responses!

I was fitted for my driver and liked it so much because it went straight, and felt like I was in control of it. The guy who fitted it suggested another shaft, but also said if I felt more confident with my favoured shaft, I should go for that one.

As time has gone on, I guess I have got a bit greedy and wondered if I could feasibly get some more yards out of my drives. I think Taylormade have probably shown that I can. For £400+ though... I'm not sure on that!

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

Four hundred pounds is about the weight that I felt I was after holiday indulgences.
I can't even type the symbol £ without going to character map. I assume that you folks don't have to do that.
Do you have $ on character map?

 

[Deleted member 23344]

Four hundred pounds is about the weight that I felt I was after holiday indulgences.
I can't even type the symbol £ without going to character map. I assume that you folks don't have to do that.
Do you have $ on character map?

We have $ on our standard keyboard! Don’t need charmap for that.

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

We have $ on our standard keyboard! Don’t need charmap for that.

That's great... and the pounds sterling symbol as well? (I didn't feel like going back to character map!)
Handsome coat of arms, btw.

 

[Deleted member 23344]

Of course, the £ sign!

The badge is that of Norwich City F.C., the football club that I support (soccer to you erstwhile colonials). Around the time of the club’s founding in 1902, the city of Norwich was the centre for the import of canaries from Europe and so the club gained the nickname of The Canaries. As a result, they chose to play yellow shirts (not the other way round as most people in England seem to think). It also explains my profile name on here. Not golf related, I admit.

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

I would also call it "football" when speaking to anyone but a fellow American.
I have no idea where soccer came from, especially as the ball is kicked far more often in your game than ours.

Our football is more similar to fifteens and thirteens rugby, except that the players are allowed to launch off their feet to make tackles and thus require protective equipment.
It's fun to watch once you get the idea of it, but sadly, it's also brain and spinal cord injuries waiting to happen.
My team has been on a twenty-year run of great play, even winning a game (match?) or two in London, but that's about to come crashing down. Might be a good time to find something else to watch.

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

Of course, the £ sign!

The badge is that of Norwich City F.C., the football club that I support (soccer to you erstwhile colonials). Around the time of the club’s founding in 1902, the city of Norwich was the centre for the import of canaries from Europe and so the club gained the nickname of The Canaries. As a result, they chose to play yellow shirts (not the other way round as most people in England seem to think). It also explains my profile name on here. Not golf related, I admit.

I would also call it "football" when speaking to anyone but a fellow American.
I have no idea where soccer came from, especially as the ball is kicked far more often in your game than ours.

Our football is more similar to fifteens and thirteens rugby, except that the players are allowed to launch off their feet to make tackles and thus require protective equipment.
It's fun to watch once you get the idea of it, but sadly, it's also brain and spinal cord injuries waiting to happen.
My team has been on a twenty-year run of great play, even winning a game (match?) or two in London, but that's about to come crashing down. Might be a good time to find something else to watch.

By the way, our method of kicking for points started to change in the sixties. The kickers used to approach the ball straight on and kick it with the toe. Then somebody discovered that one of your "round ball" kickers could kick an American football, smaller than a rugby ball, much longer with the instep. After a short time, people who never played association football learned to kick that way as well and "straight-on" kickers no longer exist.

 

[chrisd]

Not golf related, I admit.

Nor football related this season......... sorry, couldn't resist ?

 

[Deleted member 23344]

Nor football related this season......... sorry, couldn't resist ?

Harsh, but true ?

 

[Deleted member 23344]

I would also call it "football" when speaking to anyone but a fellow American.
I have no idea where soccer came from, especially as the ball is kicked far more often in your game than ours.

Our football is more similar to fifteens and thirteens rugby, except that the players are allowed to launch off their feet to make tackles and thus require protective equipment.
It's fun to watch once you get the idea of it, but sadly, it's also brain and spinal cord injuries waiting to happen.
My team has been on a twenty-year run of great play, even winning a game (match?) or two in London, but that's about to come crashing down. Might be a good time to find something else to watch.

By the way, our method of kicking for points started to change in the sixties. The kickers used to approach the ball straight on and kick it with the toe. Then somebody discovered that one of your "round ball" kickers could kick an American football, smaller than a rugby ball, much longer with the instep. After a short time, people who never played association football learned to kick that way as well and "straight-on" kickers no longer exist.

Yes, I have been following the NFL since a trip to New York in 1983 ... it has been on TV here every week since the 1980s. For my sins, I follow the Jets ... what a mistake. But not as big a mistake as following the Orioles in the MLB following the same trip. Boy, can I pick them! I get to the States a fair bit; a brother in Dallas (although we tend to meet up in other US cities) and a cousin in Phoenix.

 

[HarrogateHacker]

I currently have Titleist 917 D2 driver and 3W, which I both hit ok. Both are fairly straight, but low and don't go quite as far as I would like... The shafts are probably a teeny bit too strong for me.

I tried out the new Taylormade SIM Max driver yesterday with the stiff shaft, and it was around 20 yards further in total distance, and about 25 yards further in carry distance. Quite impressive and it felt nice to hit. It didn't seem to be as straight as my current driver though.

I cannot justify the price of over £400, so I'll probably stick with what I have. I'm intrigued as to what other golfers would so here though - Is the extra 20 yards, worth £400+ to you?

Ive seen the M6 on sale for 260ish, which will probably give you most of the gains of the sim. I recently got a new driver, I think fitting is key (I’m a recent convert having always bought 2nd hand drivers before)

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

£400 to gain 20yds? I can gain that by misreading my laser gizmo. But seriously - £400 for 20yds? Just hit it a bit lower and get that 20yds through more run ?

Not for me - £400 is a stupid amount of money for what would be for be a pretty marginal gain towards improving my scoring - but each to his own.

 

[jim8flog]

.
I can't even type the symbol £ without going to character map. I assume that you folks don't have to do that.
Do you have $ on character map?

That reminds me of buying my first IBM PC style computer (late 80s) I phoned up the company to complain that the keyboard was giving me the wrong characters as I typed ( I used to be a reasonable but slow touch touch typist). Following the conversation with them made me realise that I had been using American layout keyboards for previous decade.

 

[jim8flog]

That's great... and the pounds sterling symbol as well? (I didn't feel like going back to character map!)
Handsome coat of arms, btw.

Modern Keyboards here also have the € symbol