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3 wood -> driver difference

Wi-Golfer

Golfer on hiatus.
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Noted. Several, but not all, of the clubs I'm referring to already have aftermarket (stiff) shafts. For example, the $40 TM R540 at Global Golf has a Grafalloy Blue, which from what I can tell, is a well-thought-of shaft.


I had the Grafalloy Blue in an R7 460 & I thought it was a horrible shaft for me. As I mentioned earlier the only 2 I have found which work in a driver for me are the Prolaunch red & the Adilia Proto "by you", both in a regular flex.

Worst so far has to be that V2, what a tree trunk it was.
 
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David Hillman

David Hillman

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Club experiment number one, purchased.

I picked up a Cobra 310 SS Tour from Global Golf... for $19.99. 7.5* with a stiff Accuflex Assassin II shaft. 7.5 is quite possibly too little loft, but hey, it's an experiment. The only problem is that if it doesn't work, I may have changed too many variables at once to learn anything.
 

mddubya

Hybrid convert
Nov 6, 2007
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Club experiment number one, purchased.

I picked up a Cobra 310 SS Tour from Global Golf... for $19.99. 7.5* with a stiff Accuflex Assassin II shaft. 7.5 is quite possibly too little loft, but hey, it's an experiment. The only problem is that if it doesn't work, I may have changed too many variables at once to learn anything.

For that price, you can pull the shaft and throw away the head if it's too low a loft for you.
 
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David Hillman

David Hillman

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For that price, you can pull the shaft and throw away the head if it's too low a loft for you.

Sssshhh, don't say that too loud, or someone from GG will hear you, and figure out that they're giving these older clubs away!

I played 18 yesterday, on a narrow heavily-treed 6700y track, and actually hit a few, a very few, good drives. I hit no really bad slices off the right, but I did hit a couple pull-slices when I tried to "aim" it too much. That said, the driver was the 2nd-best club in my bag, behind my wedge... and it was the worst round I've played in at least two years. I cut the heck out of my right thumb on some aluminum soffit Saturday, and had to wear a glove on the wrong hand to keep it from opening back up. I hope that was the problem, because I hit a log of genuinely awful shots. It was so bad that on 18, my drive hit a tree and fell just right of it. I had no swing, so I borrowed my left-handed father-in-law's "magic" rescue hybrid that he loves, and hit it about 160 down the fairway. It was the best shot I hit all day!
 
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David Hillman

David Hillman

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David Hillman

David Hillman

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I played 18 today with the new Cobra 310, and am at least as confused as ever.

On the good side, I hit a 350 yard drive. No really, I did. None of us saw how it got there, and I'm 99% sure it bounced down the cart path, but I had 130 in on a 486 yard par 5 ( 9i, 2 putt birdie ). What we couldn't figure is how it got back to the middle of the fairway from the cart path. The hole is flat and straight, with water left and a couple large trees on that side, too. I ripped the drive and just missed the trees, which blocked our view. When we got down there, my ball was there in the fairway, 20 yards right of the path. Filed under: better to be lucky than good.

Obviously, that was the cream of the crop, but I did hit 10 of 14 fairways. One of the misses was with a 1 iron, pulled left. In fact, I struggled with pulling all my irons, and missed many approaches left ( only 6 greens, half of which were par 3s ). This has been a pattern for awhile, when I concentrate on hitting the driver straight, I hit the smaller lighter clubs left. No other drive was within 90 yards of the big one, and some were pretty short. To my amazement, I hit the 7.5* Cobra almost as high as my 10.5* TM, and even popped one up about 175 yards. I can't figure that, at all. Also, I'm still hitting a fair number of pull slices that wind up in the fairway, but aren't long or pretty. Just before we started, a big thunderstorm plowed through, though, so the fairways were soaked, and nothing was rolling much. Some of those probably would've rolled off the fairway on a drier day.

Oh yeah, and I sliced the previously-reliable 3w repeatedly, today.

Basically, I have no idea what's going on ;)
 

DaGris

Bears fan in Georgia
Dec 8, 2007
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driver, about 240-250

3w, about 215-220 but I can hit it straight most of the time.
 

phatheadaf

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Jul 20, 2008
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have you tried...

the purchase of a heavier weighted shaft? I haven't read all the thread, but the first thing I thought of is that if you like your 3W and are that successful with it, you could likely be more successful with a heavier weighted R flex shaft. I would suggest the Pro Force. It's very weighty and plays stiffer than it's flex. probably weighted the same as your 2W. check the cost to keep the head of the R7 425 and swap the shaft... mayve 50- 100 bucks? I think you will like it. Try to demo a driver with the shaft see how it plays.

likely what could be causing the slice, is the weaker tip on the stock shaft. it's probabloy hanging the head back and open through impact because of the weaker tip.

If you try it out, let me know...

A.
 
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David Hillman

David Hillman

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the purchase of a heavier weighted shaft? I haven't read all the thread, but the first thing I thought of is that if you like your 3W and are that successful with it, you could likely be more successful with a heavier weighted R flex shaft. I would suggest the Pro Force. It's very weighty and plays stiffer than it's flex. probably weighted the same as your 2W. check the cost to keep the head of the R7 425 and swap the shaft... mayve 50- 100 bucks? I think you will like it. Try to demo a driver with the shaft see how it plays.

likely what could be causing the slice, is the weaker tip on the stock shaft. it's probabloy hanging the head back and open through impact because of the weaker tip.

If you try it out, let me know...

A.

I may be in the process of trying that, I'm not sure. The Wishon 919CCG I just picked up has a regular flex Grafalloy ProLite 3.5 in it. I don't know enough about shafts to know where that falls compared to the stock TM shaft ( which is allegedly "tip stiff" ). The cheap Cobra I just bought has a stiffer shaft, but I'm only about to play my second round with it on Saturday, so the jury remains out.

I checked prices, and it's a lot cheaper to buy (used) clubs than to have them re-shafted. You just have to look around to find what you want ( and if you're just experimenting, like I am, that's not hard, because I don't _know_ what I want, yet ).

Thanks.
 

Eracer

No more triple bogies!!
Oct 31, 2005
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I may be in the process of trying that, I'm not sure. The Wishon 919CCG I just picked up has a regular flex Grafalloy ProLite 3.5 in it. I don't know enough about shafts to know where that falls compared to the stock TM shaft ( which is allegedly "tip stiff" ).
The Prolite 3.5 is the lowest launching shaft ever made. It will turn that 11º head into an effective 8º at best. Good luck getting that thing airborne.

I could be wrong - the ProLaunch Red is a "low launch" shaft and I get pretty good height off it in my HiBore XL 10.5º head. Maybe the 919 will counteract the shaft.

All I know is I have a Prolite in a 3-wood, and I could hit an 8º driver with the OEM TM shaft on a higher launch angle.
 

King Par

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I'm the same way, kinda. I can usually hit my driver pretty good until I get lazy. I play it far ahead in my stance though and that seems to help out. My 3 wood I absolutely love. I was crushing it off the tee today. I was hitting nice draws with it, one started out on the right side of the green and drew all the way to the left fringe. I just have to get used to playing it and I'll be golden.

If I start to fade/slice my driver I'll strengthen the grip and move the right foot back a bit. That'll promote a draw.
 

niblick

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Jun 13, 2007
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Interesting thread. I played on Tuesday at Ancil Hoffman in Carmichael, and decided that I'd play conservative and not hit driver unless I felt like I had to. Ended up hitting driver three times and teeing off with 3 wood the rest of the time. I shot 87, which for me on a course with a 125 slope is really, really good. I made some nice putts and chipped pretty well, but found myself in pretty good shape off the tee more often than usual.

We played off the white tees - don't know if the strategy would pay off on a longer course.
 

SiberianDVM

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My 3rd string backup driver is a (nominal) 9.5° 983K (12° measured) with the ProLite 3.5 in R flex. When hit in the exact middle of the clubface, it produces perfect trajectory rockets. I love that combo of loft and that shaft.

Unfortunately, I sucumbed to the desire for a more forgiving clubface. My Cobra is much easier to hit straight.
 
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David Hillman

David Hillman

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The Prolite 3.5 is the lowest launching shaft ever made. It will turn that 11º head into an effective 8º at best. Good luck getting that thing airborne.

Really? That's great news. I almost didn't buy it because I was afraid I'd hit nothing but popups with it. See earlier in this thread where I hit my new 7.5* Cobra sky-high. The 11* Wishon CCG head is supposed to play like a 12*, according to what I read, which is way too high for me. A low-launching shaft is exactly what I'll need with it. I guess maybe I'll pull the shrink-wrap off it and play it this weekend after all. I was going to bag the Cobra once more, particularly since I'm going back to the links course and hoping to run the ball around like you are supposed to.

Thanks.
 

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