Totally understood. My original thinking is I need to get rid of the massive hook that occasionally turns to a push when I tinker before getting fit. I was fit for irons, and my understanding is a well fit club will tighten dispersion and perhaps add some distance. I think I need to work on maintaining spine angle and not loosing posture, and perhaps get my swing more neutral and not in-to-out. After that, on to the fitting. Thanks for the feedback, all.
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It’s up to you, and it sound like you aren’t a year round golfer… so getting fit tomorrow isn’t a huge priority.
As a retired shaft nerd, I love the old matrix black tie, but they famously had some issues towards the end with consistency… depending on which shaft you got, that might not be a great shaft… I have a tour issue none that I love, though… just depends on the age and source!
My personal path was to try stuff on my own, but various shafts online and sell what I didn’t like and keep what I did… I may have $500 in shafts in my house… probably could have gotten fit! But I enjoyed the search and found doing my own research and trying things to be quite enjoyable.
Over that time, I have worked on my path and improved my swing… one of the things that got me to the range was trying new shafts!
The r15 is five years old… nothing wrong with looking at upgrades. You can get fit, for yourself or wait until you are swinging “better”… all three have positives and negatives… you are unlikely to buy a bad new clubhead, and shafts are easy to change.
One of the biggest factors in my swing is how much the shaft weighs… if I go below 70 grams, I’m in trouble. You might have a similar equipment issue that’s adding to your woes.
Get on a launch monitor with a ton of options and go have fun… if you see noticeable improvement with something and it feels better… consider getting fit.
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I’m jealous, I would love to try out a bunch of shafts like that at my own leisure. Part of the probelm with fitting will be exhaustion.
You mentioned something that’s a great point, the weight of the shaft. The one I’m gaming is the Matrix Speed RUL Z 60TX A-Type Tour X-Flex. It’s a 60g shaft I believe, and like you I prefer the feel of a heavier shaft, as it better replicates the feel of an iron. Perhaps by going to a heavier shaft I may be able to stop seeing my swing change so much.
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@Cowabunga - I found a driver fitting helped massively. Also the fitter gave me tips on my technique. I Hit 2 x 275yd drives on first round, 327yd on my second round with the new club. Love it and highly recommend fitting now. BTW I play off 19.5 and put off fitting for years believing I wasn’t good enough to be fitted.
I wrote about my fitting experience:
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A good fitter will recognize the fatigue and either have you come back or give you time to rest and recharge. My dad did a whole bag fitting with my guy at club champion and they split it up between three days at no additional charge.
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Just takes patience, a common driver head and eBay!
Ironically most of the money is tied up in two shafts I bought at the same time… the aldila silver that is in my current driver and a $150 aldila rip alpha prototype (I think) that I haven’t fully tested due to injury… i hit the 60 gram version of it and didn’t like it so I swapped it for a 70 gram… I’m looking forward to hitting it when in recovery… might end up in a three wood.
I would say you should first tackle your technique issues. Once you feel like you have a more “consistent” technique (where you aren’t altering grip style, etc.), then it would make sense to get fit.
Swing speed is important for shaft flex, but it’s more about the force you apply to the club. For example, Nick Price and Fred Couples both had very fast swings - but Price could never find a shaft that was stiff enough for him because he had such a short swing with lightning tempo. He applied a ton of force to the shaft. In contrast, Couples did not need such a stiff shaft because of his long swing and smoother tempo.
These are things a clubfitter would be able to sort out. A lot of times, people assume if you swing X MPH, you need X shaft. It’s not that simple.
Oh, and to throw another can of worms - there are no standards in the shaft industry. It’s literally the wild west. One company’s “stiff” might be another’s “regular.” Another reason it’s important to work with someone knowledgeable when you do get fit.
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Yea - I learned even the weights they put on shafts aren’t exact… I think project x 60 could be anywhere from 60-69 grams
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There are a lot of issues in the shaft industry (quality control being a big one)
Those pretty paint jobs you see might be hiding some poor manufacturing!
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Usually if it s a range they will just out a 7 or 6 on it! Not always, though… and as Jon says, that’s assuming it’s built correctly.
I used to know a ton more about shafts and it’s a fascinating industry. People will also recommend to keep whatever shaft you hit in a fitting, because the next shaft might be different!
I’ve also seen people say to try all the setting on your driver to rotate the shaft through and see if one position performs better than others.
It’s amazing to me, as much as we have advanced, how much we are still guessing.
I also think people vary a ton in how much different aspects of a shaft impact their performance. I’ll do better with a regular flex shaft in a higher weight than a extra stiff that weighs 50 grams. No idea why. I also can’t hit the popular counter balance hazardous shaft to save my life… 10, 15 50 reps… I can usually adjust to hit a club decently… can’t hit that one ever. It’s very odd.
I love building out drivers for myself and trying them… it’s a fun little side game for myself… I’m mostly done now as I love my current driver… but maybe next season if I tack on clubhead speed, I’ll start to tinker again!
I like your advice here, you hear so many people say get a fitting, get a fitting, get a fitting. It was nice to hear someone say do this first then get a fitting (sort of).
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That sounds like a great fitting!
Thanks - I can’t recommend enough getting fit when it’s time for getting a new club. I had a great experience with it this year.
All that said if you don’t have a consistent swing to get fit with, it’s a waste of time and a lot of money (if you buy a club).
I play off a 14 hcp and just went for a driver fitting. I noticed a huge difference in the Trackman bay. We’ll see how it translates on-course.
I am gaming a hand-me-down TaylorMade M1 with a 56g Stiff shaft and I’m playing Sub70 699 irons with a KBS Tour 120g shafts that I was fit into. First comment the fitter made was how I was playing relatively heavy shaft with my irons but a light driver shaft on a heavy (D6) driver head. He suspected the driver head/shaft combination was part of the reason I was struggling to consistently get the head around/closed. He ended up fitting put me into 74g stiff shaft with a SIM (D4) head and I immediately saw improvement.
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I’m in favor also of a good fitting, but…
As a cautionary tale from a high handicapper with a very inconsistent driver swing (in fact so bad I do not currently carry a driver on the course!) I’d also strongly suggest working on technique first.
The caveat is that if your current driver is so ill-fit for you that it, itself, is causing problems … but a good pro can help ascertain that.
Also keep in mind that most fitters are genuinely concerned about your improvement, but a few may be under pressure to sell you gear (and hopefully, too, a premium or “exotic” $$$ shaft).
Also be sure to warm up prior to going to the fitter’s, and then loosen up again when you get there and before they start measuring shots.
So… my last driver fitting resulted in me trying to play a shaft that I was not comfortable with - a HZRDUS Yellow 75g 5.5 flex. I normally play Regular (aka F3 aka approx 5.0) and my iron shafts are about 70 grams. The HZRDUS felt really “boardy” to me - even though its counterbalancing lightens the relative feel and the 5.5 flex wasn’t too stiff … I have a hybrid with a Project X 5.5 flex shaft in it that I really like - but out of all the shafts we’d tested this one yielded the best dispersion on the LM.
Which, perhaps ironically, is what I’d asked the fitter for - something to help control my dispersion so I had a better chance at controlling where the ball went…
Did you end up getting fit for a driver?
I’ll be gaming the one I won here but will probably play with different shaft options…
I think 2021 is going to have a ton of good options, and I’m really excited to demo some (I won’t buy one, as I’m cheap)…
I think titliest, cobra, srixon and ping will all be worth hitting next year… obviously Taylor made and callaway will take up most of the retail space… I think the mizuno options should also be interesting!
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Still loving the Mizuno ST200G I got fitted for in August. Was hitting it nice and straight today, albeit only about 200-230yds in the cold/wind.
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That’s a driver I keep an eye on through eBay… would love to pick one up with a shaft I like on the cheap… and I haven’t even hit the driver I won here yet!
Makes a great swoosh sound. Bit of a whistle, bit of a quack!
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I’m currently fixated on the new stuff… I likely won’t buy anything unless I demo something that blow my current driver out of the water.
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