For the golfers out there

[everman]

I saw this linked on another forum (golfwrx.com) and thought it was interesting, about finding the "perfect" driver. As if such a thing could exist :Q Text
I'd like to get a custom fit driver some day, probably save money over time.

 

[Otaking]

Marked for later... too lazy to read it all now. :Q

 

[spidey07]

Or in other words any serious golfer would say...

"get a club fitted to your swing"

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Originally posted by: everman
I'd like to get a custom fit driver some day, probably save money over time.

If you're in the least bit serious about the game and would like to play better you should change "some day" to "as soon as possible".

The author of that article dropped the ball on a couple of issues.

1) Most players can not tell the difference between high end, high dollar "tour" shafts like the Diamana, Creation and Speeder and low dollar shafts like the SK Fiber Pure Energy (a GREAT shaft for the price)
2) Even if they could tell the difference most players would be better off with the cheaper shafts.
3) There is little correlation between price and quality/performance. Many inexpensive shafts are of higher quality than many high dollar shafts and can offer as much or even more performance for any given swing.
4) The "tour" shafts generally are good matches for better players for high swing speeds. They're often VERY BAD matches for average players and could hurt their game.
5) Prices of shafts and even heads are artificially manipulated. Some companies want to be perceived as higher end and just take a shaft that should be selling for $30 and mark it $300 instead. Since the average buyer is completely ignorant about what technology has gone into the shaft he'll assume the $300 model offers more performance, higher quality, better materials, etc. That is often NOT THE CASE.
6) When letting players test shafts you need to look at performance, but you also need to keep them totally in the dark about what they're hitting. Players will WANT to like expensive proline equipments more than run of the mill no-name gear. Let a player hit a $1000 Ozik and a $30 SK Fiber blind and he'll often prefer the SK Fiber. Tell them in advance that one is a $1000 shaft used on the PGA tour and the other is a user-friendly model that costs $30 and he'll always prefer the expensive one. The testing done in that article seemed to ignore that fact and the results were influenced because of it.

 

[dethman]

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt

Originally posted by: everman
I'd like to get a custom fit driver some day, probably save money over time.

5) Prices of shafts and even heads are artificially manipulated. Some companies want to be perceived as higher end and just take a shaft that should be selling for $30 and mark it $300 instead. Since the average buyer is completely ignorant about what technology has gone into the shaft he'll assume the $300 model offers more performance, higher quality, better materials, etc. That is often NOT THE CASE.

LIME GREEN ANYONE???

 

[everman]

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt

Originally posted by: everman
I'd like to get a custom fit driver some day, probably save money over time.

If you're in the least bit serious about the game and would like to play better you should change "some day" to "as soon as possible".

The author of that article dropped the ball on a couple of issues.

1) Most players can not tell the difference between high end, high dollar "tour" shafts like the Diamana, Creation and Speeder and low dollar shafts like the SK Fiber Pure Energy (a GREAT shaft for the price)
2) Even if they could tell the difference most players would be better off with the cheaper shafts.
3) There is little correlation between price and quality/performance. Many inexpensive shafts are of higher quality than many high dollar shafts and can offer as much or even more performance for any given swing.
4) The "tour" shafts generally are good matches for better players for high swing speeds. They're often VERY BAD matches for average players and could hurt their game.
5) Prices of shafts and even heads are artificially manipulated. Some companies want to be perceived as higher end and just take a shaft that should be selling for $30 and mark it $300 instead. Since the average buyer is completely ignorant about what technology has gone into the shaft he'll assume the $300 model offers more performance, higher quality, better materials, etc. That is often NOT THE CASE.
6) When letting players test shafts you need to look at performance, but you also need to keep them totally in the dark about what they're hitting. Players will WANT to like expensive proline equipments more than run of the mill no-name gear. Let a player hit a $1000 Ozik and a $30 SK Fiber blind and he'll often prefer the SK Fiber. Tell them in advance that one is a $1000 shaft used on the PGA tour and the other is a user-friendly model that costs $30 and he'll always prefer the expensive one. The testing done in that article seemed to ignore that fact and the results were influenced because of it.

I only started in February with lessons at school, learned a lot from a great prof and kept it up. I've been using a cheap knockoff driver since then. Yesterday I got a nice driver pretty cheap off ebay, Bridgestone J33 460. I figured it might be a good choice because it's very neutral, it isn't designed to fix flaws in the swing. I think in theory this should help me develop a better swing. Then get custom fitted once I'm very consistent. In theory....