5 yards

[IrishGolfer]

You know like Eminem's 8 mile. Well I undertook an interesting experiement the other day. I was down at our practice fairway, only dude there, so had the whole place to myself.

At our place you hit and collect your own balls. I have pretty decent ones, ProVs, HX Tours all a bit played but in decent shape.

Well I dusted down my old 975J 9.5 degree with a Fuji Vista Pro 80 shaft. This club is at least 6 years old. And I took it head to head with my TEE.

So I hit 12 balls with each alternating 3 at a time. I marked them to distinguish them. So my rules for testing were taking the best 8 of each keeping them between the markets (giving me a 30 yard wide fairway).

The was a strong right to left breeze. And I was swing well and consistently.
The 975J hit it lower and had a lot more roll.

I was surprised with the results. The TEE was 5 yards (on average) further. There was less dispersion with the 975J. But my longest drive from the 24 was with the 975J by about 10 yards!!!!

So is 5 yards really worth it? I have no doubt the TEE has a much bigger sweet spot but at the end of the day I think it has a lot to do with confidence. Thoughts?

[FKA19]

probly a better suited shaft and launch angle with the titleist for your swing. also your longest drives will probly be longer with a smaller clubhead (more clubspeed) but average ones are proably quite a bit better because of the larger sweetspots. ill bet your shortest and longest drives were with the 975 right?

[Rockford35]

Is that the Comp NT 65? It's probably too light for you then.

The Vista Pro, being 80g, is heavier, so it puts the ball into the zone alot more consistently than the lighter 65g Comp. The comp is a great shaft, but at 65g, it might be a tad light for what you're trying to achieve.

I just added 10g to my driver shaft and couldn't be more happy with the results. My head is in the hitting zone more square and centered then ever before.

R35

[JEFF4i]

As stated, the club fitting to you could have a big impact.

I dug out my old Cobra driver(first one I ever had, it was steel and tiny head), man the r7 made it look itty bitty, and the r7 went much farther as well.

[ezra76]

Awesome, I love this stuff. I just took out the 975J 8.5 I have and measured it. 45.75 with a Prolite S. I'll have to give it another shot. I couldn't get it off the ground more than about 3 feet last time. Still went about 250, pure wormburners.

I'll bet it's the weight of the club as the other's said. Also I wonder how all this COR stuff works. If the 975 has a small "cone" in there for the sweet spot, would that make a pured shot go further than a much larger one in the TEE? Is the TEE essentially "forgiving" a pured shot?

[IrishGolfer]

Originally Posted by Rockford35

Is that the Comp NT 65? It's probably too light for you then.

I just added 10g to my driver shaft and couldn't be more happy with the results. My head is in the hitting zone more square and centered then ever before.

R35

Rock

Remind me how you did this? Was this lead tape under the grip? I don't want to alter something permanently. Happier to try some tape on the head (a la Vijay) or grip to see if I can detect any changes.

This is also playing on my mind. With the TEE the ball more frequently finds the heel of the clubface (easy to see on the TEE). The ball still goes thanks to a massive sweet spot, ball it's very frustrating nonetheless. Is this a result of the TEE being a lighter club? Would adding some weight help this issue?

Anyone?

[ezra76]

Keep me posted as to what works for you IG and I'll do the same. I have the exact same problem. Every large head driver with a light shaft I try is the same, striking inside of center. I now adress the ball off the toe but this ends up leading to more OTT shots in the long run. A heavier shaft helped a little, also some lead tape on the helped too. I'm going to try shortening the 85g shaft to 44" now and see what that does.

I've tested my 360XD 10.5 with lead tape on the head and saw an improvement, that's playing at 45.25" with a 60g shaft. My 200steel 9.5 is probably the most consistent. The head is smaller and heavier and playing at 44.75" with an 80G shaft.

[Rockford35]

Originally Posted by IrishGolfer

This is also playing on my mind. With the TEE the ball more frequently finds the heel of the clubface (easy to see on the TEE). The ball still goes thanks to a massive sweet spot, ball it's very frustrating nonetheless. Is this a result of the TEE being a lighter club? Would adding some weight help this issue?

Anyone?

IG,

I went with an altogether heavier shaft and it made all the difference. You can fool around with some lead tape to maybe up your swingweight. Try adding about 5g to the head and 5g just under the grip. That will increase your static weight by 10g total. Are you fighting a fade or a draw? That will help with the placement of the lead on the head.

If you're heeling it, you're too loose coming through. This is usually caused by not feeling the head on your downswing. Try the tape, it should help you collapse a bit more rather than reaching with the head.

Or, step back two inches....lol. JK.

R35