Went to the Golf Dome today and discovered a problem

[golfer1]

Using my Cleveland Launcher 460Ti Driver (45"), almost 80% of my drives are not being hit on the sweet spot. The range balls at the golf dome leaves a good indication of where I'm hitting it. The vast majority are being hit on the inside of the face between the hosel and the actual sweet spot. The only thing I have done to this driver is put on a new Winn Grip.

If I choked up on it a bit it seemed to help, so maybe I need to have it shortned and inch?

I do know that this is costing some yardage off the tee.

[LyleG]

Hitting ball on the inside of the club is usually an indication of the swing weight being to light. I would guess that the WINN grip is a little heavier than the stock grip as WINN's are a fairly heavy grip. This most likely lowered the SW a couple of points. Try adding a 4 grams of lead tape to the head and see if this fixes the problem. I am guessing it will.

[JEFF4i]

Also, it could also be a swing flaw. Shortening your club will not fix the problem.

[ezra76]

Lyle's on spot. I did this last year and it made a difference. I have now gone up to the 75 gram shaft selections and no longer need the weight. This is a major reason I can't hit a lot of the new driver's well, I always get them inside of center. I had a fitting with an FT-3 and I had one ballmark on the face after a dozen balls, every one inside of center, reducing my ball speed/smash factor. I was getting 262yds. out of a 113mph. swing speed.

Use a sharpie. That's what I do on the range balls, they have the red line around them and I just color in a little area. I also use a red line on my balls on the course and this is one reason why. I was driving the ball sporadically the other day and sure enough I was inside and outside of center a lot. Sometimes if it's lined up square I can also see if the face was open or closed at impact, of course ballflight also dictates that.

[golfer1]

Thanks for the tip. I'm not sure if I was hitting it in the same place before the grip changeout, but this club has always felt too light. The stock shaft that it came with is a 55 gram. If the lead tape works out and I want to increase the swing weight a bit, how is this done? Or maybe going to a heaver shaft might be the key?

[golfer1]

I went to Ulltimate Golf today and got on their launch monitor and I'm hitting the majority of my shots off the inside with any club I tried. So I need to figure out why I am doing this and makes some changes.

Any suggestions?

[kwcsports]

It sounds too simple, but try standing a little further from the ball.

[LyleG]

When you set up to the ball line the middle of the driver up with the actual ball. If you are soleing (sp) the club centered with the ball you will hit the inside of the club when it is at tee'd ball height.

Have you ever noticed many pros line the driver up with the heel?

[golfer1]

Lyle:

I understand about not soleing the club, but I don't understand the statement about why the pros line up their driver with the heal of the club?

[LyleG]

Originally Posted by golfer1

Lyle:

I understand about not soleing the club, but I don't understand the statement about why the pros line up their driver with the heal of the club?

I am not sure why either, but many do.

[jho786]

If you take a look at Fred Couples you see that he has the ball positioned on the toe of the club. I used to have to do the same thing until I figured out what I was doing wrong. The first thing was that my elbows were tensing up (thus extending my arms). The second this was that my body and hands were too close to the ball. Try this drill. Set up to your ball and let your right hand fall off the club and drop down (left hand for leftys). If your hand falls BEHIND the grip, you are too far from the ball. If your hand falls in front, your are too close. The ideal distance is so that your hand will not move up or down but to the right without an elevation change and you can just movei t laterally and regrip

[JEFF4i]

Originally Posted by golfer1

I went to Ulltimate Golf today and got on their launch monitor and I'm hitting the majority of my shots off the inside with any club I tried. So I need to figure out why I am doing this and makes some changes.

Any suggestions?

Of course I was right, I'm Jeff, and Jeff is always right.

Hahaha, anyway. You might try ball position, as mentioned. One possible consequence could be that you are taking a club along a different path now, and the "apex" of your arc is further on.

[golfer1]

I now believe that I've resolved my problem by getting rid of the my old Cleveland Launcher 460ti 10.5º that came with the stock standard gray 55g Reg Flex shaft and replaced it with a Cleveland Launcher 460 ti 9.5º with a 65g Grafalloy Pro Launch Blue Reg Flex.

I haven't been able to actually try it out at an outdoor range but results at the golf dome on Saturday were very promising as I was hitting the majority of my shots on the sweet spot. Also, the ball flight was more direct and no ballooning.

Moral of the story: Don't buy it without hitting it a few times, preferebly at an open range or on the links. Hitting into a net at the store 15' away from you in the store doesn't count and I would be cautious of results at some of these simulators.

Actually when I read back a few months, others did say to to get rid of that crappy stock shaft, and they were right!