Question for golfers here.

[przero]

I'm gonna' wade in here. I've had this addiction(GOLF) more years than I can remember. Tried to take the cure in '93, but it didn't stick. I still see that 10 footer lippin' out on #10, but that's for another thread.

The most important thing about a club is confidence. Hit every demo you can. I've been auditioning irons for 3 mos. now. The thought that an OEM club is any more or less likely to be defective is humbug. You can get a great Integra head or a crappy one. Same goes with TaylorMade. I have a TM 200 Steel in my office right now with an EI-70 S-shaft that is just not right. Got a TM 360 Driver with a ProForce 65 S-shaft that is perfect. Hit'em all. try to go to a park or open area to demo the clubs. It's amazing how much you will learn about the difference when you have to pick up the foul balls. Don't be afraid to buy OEM or clubmaker. Don't let anyone con you.

Try to get the shaft to fit your swing, Most players now are concerned with launch angles. It seems that the higher you can hit the driver these days, the more distance you get. Take your time.

But here is my best tip: use the old clubs and get some lessons from a PGA professional.

Play Well!!

 

[OREOSpeedwagon]

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt

Originally posted by: OREOSpeedwagon
Instead of making it so complicated for the guy why not just give him a simple straightforward answer? I would highly recommend a Titleist 975J. I bought one a few weeks ago for $155 on eBay with a Graffalloy Stiff Flex shaft and I am VERY satisfied. Find a driver you hit well and search eBay for an identical or similar one and you'll get it for sometimes 50% less than what you'd pay at the pro shop.

Ummm, you think searching pro shops for a club that you hit well and then searching Ebay for the EXACT same club, then going through the bidding process hoping to get it for a fair price all the while risking it being a counterfeit, a bad condition or broken model, a wrong size, flex or lie angle or any of 100 other problems is less complicated than spending 30 minutes with a qualified clubfitter? Getting fit for a club is a simple process. A good clubfitter will have you in the right length, lie and shaft flex inside 5 minutes. After that it's just a matter of dialing it in to get it perfect by playing with heads with different COGs and shafts with different flex points. A good clubfitter can tell you whether you're better off in a 12* head with a low launch shaft, a 10.5* head matched to a low torque shaft or a 9* head with a faster tip shaft. That's something you can never find out hitting into nets in a pro shop. Getting fit by a professional is far less complicated that hitting every make and model and hoping you stumble across something suitable by trial and error.

Wow, I've got about 15-20 people that I golf with regularly, NONE of them have ever been to a clubfitter and I've never been to one either. Christ this guy appears to be fairly new to golf, don't make him feel like you have to do all this stuff to find a good club that you hit well. He didn't say he was looking for the PERFECT driver for him, he said he was looking for a good but inexpensive one.

 

[przero]

OREOSpeedwagon - You are so right, hence my last line:"But here is my best tip: use the old clubs and get some lessons from a PGA professional."

 

[xchangx]

Looks like from the concensus here that OEM shafts suck. I have a TM 360ti Driver with a S-90 shaft and I feel it bending when I hit. What shaft do you recommend. My swing speed is 91mph.

Chang

 

[przero]

With a swing speed of 91 mph with a driver, an S shaft is probably too stiff. What's your ball flight like? And what do you mean "feeling it bending when I hit"?

 

[xchangx]

When I swing I can feel it bend. I'm not too sure if that is what you're supposed feel, but everyone I've talked to said you're not supposed to.

Anyway, the 91mph is mind of modest, I was at a golf store and the guy there measured me hitting on a net. I normally do swing a little harder than that though. Probably around 95.

To answer your question, my balls tend to go really high. I've read that a stiffer shaft will correct that.

Thanks, I'm not to up on this subject, just did a little research a few days ago.

Chang

 

[przero]

What ball flight on a long iron? what shafts in your irons? Do you carry a fairway wood? What shaft/ ball flight?

 

[xchangx]

My long irons are not as high I can't say how high though. I have steel shafts on my irons, old TM midsize.

I have a taylor made firesole 5 wood that I don't use that much.

Chang

 

[przero]

Bubble shaft in the driver?

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Originally posted by: xchangx
Looks like from the concensus here that OEM shafts suck. I have a TM 360ti Driver with a S-90 shaft and I feel it bending when I hit. What shaft do you recommend. My swing speed is 91mph.

Chang

TaylorMade OEM shafts suck most of all. I couldn't even buy those things to use if I wanted to. They're so cheap you can only buy them in bulk, kinda like toothpicks. Remember, just because it's marked stiff doesn't make it stiff. It could just as easily be a ladies flex shaft that's mismarked. It happens a lot, but I'd be willing to bet it's just a bad shaft. Not all companies flex-mark shafts the same, what's one companies stiff would be labeled as XS by another company and as regular by a third. At 91 mph you're right on the cusp between a normal R and a normal S. Taylormade shafts are notoriously mushy, they're very soft in the tip and have a very low flex point. They play at least a full flex softer than marked (if marked correctly) and feel about 2 flexes softer. What's your clubhead loft and trajectory? If the shaft is really too soft in the tip your miss pattern would likely be very high, often just dead blocked out to the right. At 91 mph, you'd need to be playing a stiff from a company like Graphite Designs and Aldila as their shafts tend to play a bit softer than standard. With a more hardcore shaft like a Graphalloy or Apache you'd need to be in a regular as their shafts tend to play half a flex firmer. The TM 360 head is excellent, it's probably the best driver head they've ever produced, but you need to get a decent shaft in there, with the stock one it's like a Ferrari with a lawnmower engine.

Oops, just noticed you said you do hit the ball too high. So yep, I'm guessing it's just that the current shaft is too soft. You have two options to get a better feel and a lower ballflight. One is to use a stiffer shaft because if all else is equal stiffer will fly flatter than softer. The other is just to get a shaft with different flex characteristics. WHERE a shaft flexes is as important as how much. Stronger swingers usually can't control soft-tip shafts like the TM. They spray the ball and hit them too high. So a shaft with a stiff tip and a bendpoint more towards the hands will produce a much flatter trajectory. A couple of good shafts for a strongish swinger looking to lower ball flight would be the Graphalloy Blue, a Harmon Tour Designs FZ series (avoid the CB series, that's a higher flight shaft), Aldila One Low Launch, a GD YS7 or an SK Fiber Lite Revolution. Any of those shafts would likely run $40 plus installation. At your swing speed you'd need to be using a R flex in the Blue, HTD and Sk Fiber and an S in the GD and Aldila. Whatever shaft you choose you'd likely see a huge improvement. Even a cheaper $20 shaft like an SK Fiber Pure Energy or an Aldila Excelerator would be like night and day from the shaft you're currently hitting. You can get one of those installed with a new grip for around $50 and it'd be like swinging a whole new club.

 

[xchangx]

Thanks for the info!

I went ahead and got the Graphalloy Blue regular flex.

I hope it's what everyone says it's like!

chang

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Originally posted by: xchangx
Thanks for the info!

I went ahead and got the Graphalloy Blue regular flex.

I hope it's what everyone says it's like!

chang

Great choice. A super shaft to go with high launch heads like the TM 360. The low torque makes it a shaft you can really make agressive swings with while not worrying about spraying the ball. The harder you after a Blue the better it performs.

 

[PoonDaddy007]

I do agree with some things that GagHalfrunt is saying however, I would say that Jhill needs to hit some sticks on his own and decide from there.

In general, the shafts in the proline clubs are not as good as the AM shafts. Just like cars I guess in that some of the OEM parts are not as good as the AM parts availiable for it. However, the OEM parts as a whole may be good enough for what you need. My car is bone stock and it does everything I need it to do. The shafts in the Callaways and the TMs although are not the best may be good enough for Jhill.

Also, don't put too much emphasis on the stats of the PGA tour. The ability and swing speed of the tour pros is far above the average golfer and they will need specialized shafts to fit their swings. The TM R500 series is the #1 driver on the tour but I don't think any of those drivers are the stock shafts. But they are using the R500 head, which is a pretty damn good head. The pros are using them because they offer some sort of benefit be it distance or accuracy.

So I would say go to a pro shop, range, golfsmith and take a look at some clubs and see what works. I would not buy the TM R500 driver b/c I hate how far back it goes when you set up. Don't really like the huge looks nowadays. Golfsmith I know for sure has a pretty big used club section you could try out as well and see what is there. There are a lot of the callaway and TM heads with different shafts and grips for way cheaper than the 400 for newers ones.

Confidence in your clubs is huge part of the game and I think you need to go out and try to find one that when you set up makes you really wanna get at it. It could be the OEM as is, OEM with different shaft, or a component stick. But good luck in your search and let us know what you got.

And please ... it's spelled Grafalloy.