Adams 9088 Ultra-Lite Draw, 9.5* Matrix4.1 Stiff Flex 46”. Been playing a 46” Driver for 20+years. I own several Adams Drivers including the LS9064 8.5* with a 46” Harrison SAGA 65g Stiff shaft. Used in long driver competitions back in the day. I’ve hit the newer stuff and I don’t see investing 500 samoleans to possibly gain 3-4 yards at my age. I’m basically out there distance wise with many golfers my age. My complaints are just personal. I picked up one new guy 43yo about 2 months ago into my group that just absolutely roasts his ball. He drove over the first green yesterday at 325yds, just smoked it over everything. I hit Driver wedge made par., he hit driver, LW, SWchip and 2putted. I made a oh well par missed a 16ft birdie putt. It’s just personal complaining. We picked up another new group member last week. Closer to my age he plays in the 90s but moves along. I 3 jacked a putt on our 14th hole, and he said point blank, I’ll trade you score cards right now! Bought my bitch back to planet earth. It’s all relative.
Done the same 20-30 years ago. Most of my drivers were 46" and a few at 47", customized XS 70 gram shafts. Got away from it since injury.
I know you are used to the 46" length, just try the shorter length and I can guarantee that you’ll be able to swing it faster. This is from someone who had been on that journey.
45" and 45 1/2" is my usual driver length now. Somedays, the 44 1/2" will play better.
See, this is another reason why I went to the Adams Speed Tech driver in the first place, the ease of changing the shaft, plus witnessing Bernhard Langer duel Freddie Couples with the new Adams driver.
Had bought many other drivers since with the hosel adaptor for the same reason of being able to change the shaft with ease. Seldom use the adjustment features.
And I know that you love the stiffer feel of X100, and yes it is slightly lighter than the S400 by the designation of 100 Vs. the 400 for weight sorting but it is still plenty hefty than other choices.
I went light weight in iron shafts not only for getting the distance back but mainly trying to prevent injury. Yes, I can still swing the set up I had many years ago but my body will not recover as fast as 30 years ago. It is not an ego thing, it is just me trying to prevent injury so I could enjoy this gem without too much aches and pain.
Adams 9088 is one of the classic drivers, however, maybe it’s time to look into something with adaptor. Generation of drivers after the 9088 could be had now for low price. Shop around and you’ll find some gem.
120g would seem like a really heavy shaft to me. Even coming from a 85g that is a 40% bump. How long did it take for you to adjust? Ball placement and wider stance seems to help me the most with balloning.
My iron shafts all weigh 130-134g. I guess they could feel heavy to someone, but feel quite normal to me. As long as I’m in the ballpark on distance. On a 400yd par 4, If I hit a Driver 240, that leaves me 160 center of the green…I can still get there with a 7 iron no problem. On the 210 yd par 3, I can hit a 7W on a perfect day and get there with ease, I can get there easily with my 18* hybrid. So distance wise I’m ok, I can play courses no problem in the 6400yd range, anything longer it’s a bit more of a challenge. If I find I start losing distance at a major clip; I’m 65 and you never know when that will happen, I will look at going to a lighter shaft in the irons that I can swing and keep the distances up. End of the day, the point for me is to walk and have fun and limit the self deprication after a 3 putt or a “chili chip”!
I’ve just upgraded my 15 year old Callway X20’s that i bought second hand off ebay for a set of PXG Gen5 Players irons and a 4 hybrid. Getting delivered later today and it literally is Xmas come early for me (i can live with the wife being pi$$ed at me for a few weeks)!
Hoping i can get out for at least 9 one day this week to give them a whirl and hoping that the fitting process i had pays dividends and that i hit them as well as i did on the simulator!