Well said my friend…another reason I don’t buy a lot of Big Name clubs The shaft and grips and grip sizes are way more important My driver is a TaylorMade M4 and Callaway Diablo 3W Irons and wedges are Giga Golf and a Teardrop putter and play in the 70’s-80’s …not bad for 71 😉 $500 dollar drivers …yeah right 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Hoping you can have a seminar, swing sessions and discussions at some golf venue. Perhaps cover a 3 state area, or whatever. Just a hopeful thought. You and Marcus the best ever.
I'm using a Cobra S9-1M offset driver from 2009. A couple of times I tried replacing it but never enough wow factor to buy new one. What changed my game the most was when Cleveland brought out the CBX line of cavity back wedges and having a putter fitting which ended up customized the specs of my old Squareback 2 putter.
Nice work, Chad. I'm still playing my old Taylormade R11 10.5* driver. I'm 65, 5'6", 150 lbs. and a 7 hdcp. I play the white (men's) tees, not the up (senior) tees. Only average about 230. Would like to gain about 20 yards. Although I do plan to get fitted for a new driver sometime soon, I think my best avenue for more distance is to get in a little better shape, and do some speed training. Thoughts?
There are numerous examples of golfers doing speed training and getting results, so it can definitely work. The R11 is probably about 10 or so years old, so there may be some gains to be had, but ultimately, just getting with a good fitter and trying to see what can be done with some gear tweaks could help. It's really an individual thing. It's hard for me to say without all the data.
Great video Chad the reason drivers dont live up to expectations is cause the usga and r&a have set limitations on how much cor a driver can have ... its all about sales and profit
The only club I've ever been fitted for is my 2016 G400 Ping driver. I'm still hitting this well off the tee, I'm 63 with 2 lower back surgeries and 1 right arm full shoulder replacement averaging about 220 sometimes I can get it 235 or 240 but that's only once in awhile. My driver is my favorite club I'm more consistent with it than my irons🤔 have a day Chad
Great stuff Chad, I have a Nike Vapor that has a lot life left cuz I’ll only hit it 6-10 times at range, a bigger issue is it costs a lot of money to lengthen courses because of club technology, as green fees keep going up it’s hard to get better at any sport if you don’t play a lot
This is how I think the USGA failed at protecting the game as a GAME. The original Big Bertha driver, the one that started it all, was 190cc. The Great Big Bertha was 225cc. After that, off to the races. The USGA finally did something and limited driver heads to... ready for it? 460cc plus a 10cc "tolerance" I guess because the certifiers-of-equipment don't know how to measure any closer than that. A couple years ago they limited driver shaft length to 46". The bigger deal is the COR limit -- that's great. I personally think they should have put the kibosh on head volumes above (say) 225cc. There could be rules about iron construction and so-forth. When I was very young I fooled around with tennis. The rackets were wood. Little head, long handle. You could buy a used one for $5 and have a good time. You spent more on balls. But then steel rackets were introduced -- they could be strung much, much tighter. Even among the pros, the game changed immediately -- basically whoever served first won. The equipment had outpaced the athleticism. Today the rackets are carbon fiber, the strings kevlar, the heads are huge, the handles short, the price is $1,000, you have to be very, very quick to play at all, and Pickleball has taken over tennis courts even more than foot golf has invaded golf courses. Bowling and Baseball had a better idea. Bats are made of wood. They can't have cork in 'em. There's only one way to make a baseball. A diamond is a diamond is a diamond. The size of the outfield? Hmmm. Bowling balls are balls with holes in them. Lanes are this wide. Pins are made like so. The are games that can be played. For fun. It seems to me golf could solve the equipment problem by a combination of equipment rules and mowing golf courses differently -- a tournament has narrower fairways mowed half an inch longer than usual, rough fringes, positively gnarly roughs, and diabolical hole positions. Next week the fairways are wider and still long enough to keep the grass healthy, the fringes are just fringy enough to stop a ball rolling too far sideways, the roughs are not so rough they might as well be out of bounds, and the greens? Any stimp greater than four with emphasis on being smooth. You might make the fringe longer as the green gets faster. Ordinary people can play on that course with fresh grips on twenty year old clubs. If he gets to the point where three strokes in every round makes a big difference in his club or league standings (and he cares), maybe he should look at new(er) or at least different equipment. He's a scratch or better golfer by now. It seems to me the point of spectator sport is to 1) amaze and delight, and 2) present an aspirational image for the game as a pastime. Professional Sport is a contradiction in terms and ruins games. Its point is to sell you adequacy.
I'm not sure I can disagree with all of that, haha. You compared modern equipment to old, stated the key problem it created, and moved chronologically forward with evidence to support the argument. And it's an opinion, yes, but, it's also an opinion based on facts, and many people share that view, so it's legitimate. To figure out we got where we are, you could also start with the disease that drives it all. Golf is a game that is FAR more difficult to develop "pretty good" skill with for most people, in comparison to other sports in it's orbit. Throwing a Frisbee isn't that hard to develop decent skill at. In a few months, you can perform all kinds of throws with pretty decent accuracy. Bocce ball, Croquet, Badminton, Tennis, etc. Most people with decent coordination can develop relatively decent levels of skill in fairly short times. But golf? Haha, man it's confounding to the vast majority of the population. Maybe instruction is barking up the wrong tree. Maybe they overcomplicate it. I'd say that has to be at least partially responsible. But there are players who have dedicated YEARS to golf, with instruction, and still "suck" big time. So, if the skill is too hard or elusive to develop..... Let's make the clubs the equivalent of permanent training wheels. Boom. Engineers and rocket scientists make golf clubs now, haha. But still, most golfers "suck".
Right. According to USGA only ten percent of golfers improve with practice; they still suck even with [allegedly] better training wheels that make the game as a pastime worse. You know what would be fun? A golf league that worked like bomber class in stock car racing. If you think someone is winning because of his equipment, he's obliged to sell it to any challenger for $500. There were rules about that: basically he could keep his safety equipment and tires. But the engine, transmission and chassis better be worth less than $500. You could do the same thing: keep your bag and golf balls, but the clubs better be worth less than $500. Or $100. Whatever. I bet that'd be a hoot.
I bought a brand new Taylormade Sim 2 Max used it for 2 years and I was all over the place maybe 225-230 off the tee to a Teton Hybrid 12 degree driver and now I’m always in play barely ever lose a ball and I’m hitting between 245-265, so yeah, this $97 gimmick called club has changed my entire game over night
One of my friends buys a new driver every year. The new driver drives the ball longer each year. Inches longer, not yards! He's never driven a ball past 225 yards but he sure is precise! I drive it 80 yards past him on every drive but... the extra length isn't always an advantage if im 5* off line... i might be in trouble
You are just paying for new tech that may provide a better experience. The difference in phones are the chips to support the software, which would be the same for the shaft and head. So where a shaft may have been $500 several years ago is more available due to cost and better supporting users who by majority buy stock. I think there have been great ball improvements too that is really helping golfers. Especially with the recent Vice balls where they are not just longer but far more forgiving.
44.5" driver make me find the driver face. A worn driver face is hotter too. I bought a 2018 Callaway Fusion driver for £50 UK 44" 50 gram Stiff shaft. It still out drives my SIM2 at 275 yards average carry? I log every shot since 2021 on the "Golf pad" APP too.
I have never bought the hype or found it to be true, except in rare circumstances. I still have never hit a driver farther or better than my 43 in. maple laminate driver which I had in the 70s. I could swing that thing so well that when I was on, I could fly the ball 320 yds. with the most incredible piercing flight. When I was about a 3-4 handicap in my early 20s, my Dad's early generation Ping irons made me essentially a scratch or +1; I hit them so well when I borrowed them. I could not afford them though at the time. The same thing happened when the Big Bertha driver was all the rage. Playing with a friend, I borrowed his driver for most of a round and hit it 30 yds. farther, straighter, and with a better trajectory than I did with my clunky graphite-shafted stainless steel-headed driver which I already hit pretty well; again though beyond my budget at around $500 at the time. I've tried a lot of newer generation clubs since then and frankly, it's been a lot of same old, same old. I've always found that game improvement clubs only helped me if I could sense well what the head was doing during the swing. Otherwise, I might hit something much less GI much better. Interestingly, my friend and I both separately tried the TM R9 driver when it first came out and there was a lot of hype. When we talked about it, we both agreed that the club was awful for us and that we couldn't feel where the head was at all. I was a scratch and he was about a 9 with 190 mph ball speed at 45 years old (still the longest guy that I have ever played with). and neither of us could hit that thing worth a darn. Weird. As I've said before, I think that we have it backwards anyway. It would be better to learn to strike clunkier clubs (which takes a better swing) first and then the GI clubs could really make some pivotal difference. Speaking of that did you see Scotty Robertson's video where he was hitting all of the older clubs. Very impressive. Cheers.
I havent seen the video you mentioned, but then again, I haven't been paying too much attention lately. Just too busy. The old persimmons and maples are still fantastic clubs. And I totally agree about learning on older or tougher clubs.
Well you just hold the manufacturers feet to the fire by testing the new driver against your old one. If you see valley in the numbers then upgrade if not then keep your old one
If you were a pastor I would be shouting 'preach it'. I have a Sim 2 Max, IMHO the best driver ever made. Got it 3 years ago. In the fortunate position to have a friend who owns a golf shop and I have tried every driver and every shaft combo known to man and guess what? No noticeable difference! The only driver that does go 20 to 25 further is the Krank with the non conforming COR.
48 years golfing and so desperately trying to get to scratch. For 46 years I’ve bought the newest thing believing in the hype. It’s truly the Indian, not the arrow (Trevino) and I’ve fluctuated in the mid single range all those years; never better than a 4, no worse than an 8. If the ads were honest, my 265 carry would have been 350+ when I was 60. Now at 70, my five year old TSi3 only carries 230 with my Sunday best but if I were hitting my first driver, the MacGregor 945 persimmon, I’d be lucky to carry 190. Equipment has come a long way for sure but as you said it’s those rare innovations that move the needle. I was the kid on the block with the newest thing and for me it was the original Taylormade Pittsburgh Persimmon (late 80’s?) that brought me from double digits to an 8 handicap almost overnight. I said to my wife, the day I truly own my swing and get to scratch, I’ll likely die. I ain’t dying for a long long time. In spite of any equipment advances. It’s the hope and dream we buy. Fairways and Greens! PenguinGolf PS. I started with dad’s hand-me-down Hogan Apex Irons and MacGregor Tommy Armour 693 woods. Bought my first full set of Nicklaus Muirfields and 945 woods around ‘75 for $1000. Here’s some sage advice for you young golf fanatics out there. If I’d put that money into say Hathaway-Berkshire, it would likely be over $100,000,000 today.
Haha, sage indeed. Great comment here. Nobody wants to hear, and nobody wants to work on it because it's "boring", but putting and shots inside 100 yards is the key. But driver sure is fun.
Lowering your scores usually means much better "approach shots, wedge game and putting -- in that order. Driver is important, but look at the long drive guys and gals, their drives are astounding but the other parts of their game are not so good, so their scores are quite mediocre, especially when you thecompare it to their driver distance. Cheers.
I grew up playing real woods. Miss hits never had the effects you get with modern Drivers. Yes you could slice and hook but never did the ball fly off at crazy angles in the air, stall and drop out of the air or even fly as high. With a wooden Driver I always felt I was hitting a ball with a club. Modern Drivers are like a balloon on a plastic stick with no feed back. We have all been conned. I also remember the Bubble shaft - What was the point of that again ? If it really did something then why is it not still around ? Because it was just a gimmick.
There's truth in this comment. I've often described modern drivers 2 ways. It's like swing a balloon on a stick, or it's like swinging a cone of cotton candy you got at the fair. That's why I love the mini driver. Not too big, has some weight, always delivers.
As I understand it, the drivers are right at the boundaries of what is allowed, for quite some years. So they simply cannot make the clubs much better without them becoming illegal. So they must put a lot of marketing BS out there so people buy them... Edit: Should watch the video first, you are discussing it in depth 😬
I've had a ping G25 Driver 8 years a set of cleveland irons which cost 299 Quid for 10 years will never change them i will not change them anytime soon I'm now 66 years of age and very wise it comes with age . A fool and is money is soon parted.
I'm not 100 percent sure about this, but I was told by a club fitter that Ping really won't release a new club unless there's a real, tangible difference over the previous model.
Not sure that's an equal comparison to make. I don't wear a glove, so it's not a vital piece of gear. And as far as the ball goes, every golf ball is essentially the same, when compared to how diverse all of the different clubs are. A driver is nothing like a putter or wedge.
This is why all human reviews are useless. Only robot reviews are useful. And in the end, a gamer with 30 year old clubs can beat a noob with new clubs. Spend your money on greens fees and get more reps.
Summary: best “club review” video on YT. Play more. Take a lesson. Video your swing. Play what makes you confident. The space between your ears is more important than COR. If that’s a new $700 driver, so be it but you’ll be fine with a 4 yr old $100 driver.
Even better yet, your wedge that you use on almost every hole is even less, it’s all marketing. You also have to remember clubs are tested by robot with the longest stock shaft and perfect swing, no wind or variables, the pros aren’t even playing these longer shafts. ….it’s not the arrow it’s the Indian.
Tom Wishon thinks the absolute maximum driver length for pretty good (male) golfers is 44" and if you don't know better 12 or 13° loft, not nine. Tiger Woods used a 43-1/2" driver for the best golf he ever played saying he got better control, and you ain't a young Tiger Woods. I've had my 5H cut to iron length and swing weight matched to my (Toski Target ) irons. For control. I don't swing fast enough to use an actual 5i. If you want to shop the used market you can be your own fitter if you learn a little and remain humble. If I wanted new gear I'd find a local club maker; he can sell you used gear too and wants you to be happy with it.
![ปฏิเสธไม่ไหว (Crush on you) - LIPTA feat. No One Else [TEASER MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/VC689EgdSIw/mqdefault.jpg)
Well said my friend…another reason I don’t buy a lot of Big Name clubs
The shaft and grips and grip sizes are way more important
My driver is a TaylorMade M4 and Callaway Diablo 3W
Irons and wedges are Giga Golf and a Teardrop putter and play in the 70’s-80’s …not bad for 71 😉
$500 dollar drivers …yeah right 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Hell, the M4 driver is solid now, and will be for years to come. At least until they allow COR to go higher.
just like fishing gear, not meant to catch fish but the fishermen
Good point there.
Hoping you can have a seminar, swing sessions and discussions at some golf venue. Perhaps cover a 3 state area, or whatever. Just a hopeful thought. You and Marcus the best ever.
Haha, you never know.
I'm using a Cobra S9-1M offset driver from 2009. A couple of times I tried replacing it but never enough wow factor to buy new one. What changed my game the most was when Cleveland brought out the CBX line of cavity back wedges and having a putter fitting which ended up customized the specs of my old Squareback 2 putter.
The CBX.... I absolutely love mine. 54 and 60. They are weapons.
Nice work, Chad. I'm still playing my old Taylormade R11 10.5* driver. I'm 65, 5'6", 150 lbs. and a 7 hdcp. I play the white (men's) tees, not the up (senior) tees. Only average about 230. Would like to gain about 20 yards. Although I do plan to get fitted for a new driver sometime soon, I think my best avenue for more distance is to get in a little better shape, and do some speed training. Thoughts?
There are numerous examples of golfers doing speed training and getting results, so it can definitely work. The R11 is probably about 10 or so years old, so there may be some gains to be had, but ultimately, just getting with a good fitter and trying to see what can be done with some gear tweaks could help. It's really an individual thing. It's hard for me to say without all the data.
You're mostly right, but the Taylor Made Qi10 this year I think was one that did move the needle (especially in terms of dispersion).
Yeah, the QI10 is trained mostly on forgiveness.
Great video Chad the reason drivers dont live up to expectations is cause the usga and r&a have set limitations on how much cor a driver can have ... its all about sales and profit
The REAL golfing machine. The biz.
The only club I've ever been fitted for is my 2016 G400 Ping driver. I'm still hitting this well off the tee, I'm 63 with 2 lower back surgeries and 1 right arm full shoulder replacement averaging about 220 sometimes I can get it 235 or 240 but that's only once in awhile. My driver is my favorite club I'm more consistent with it than my irons🤔 have a day Chad
It's hard to look past a solid, consistent driver. It can really keep you out if trouble.
Great stuff Chad, I have a Nike Vapor that has a lot life left cuz I’ll only hit it 6-10 times at range, a bigger issue is it costs a lot of money to lengthen courses because of club technology, as green fees keep going up it’s hard to get better at any sport if you don’t play a lot
Yeah, unfortunately, lengthening courses goes along with courses closing.
This is how I think the USGA failed at protecting the game as a GAME. The original Big Bertha driver, the one that started it all, was 190cc. The Great Big Bertha was 225cc. After that, off to the races. The USGA finally did something and limited driver heads to... ready for it? 460cc plus a 10cc "tolerance" I guess because the certifiers-of-equipment don't know how to measure any closer than that. A couple years ago they limited driver shaft length to 46". The bigger deal is the COR limit -- that's great. I personally think they should have put the kibosh on head volumes above (say) 225cc. There could be rules about iron construction and so-forth.
When I was very young I fooled around with tennis. The rackets were wood. Little head, long handle. You could buy a used one for $5 and have a good time. You spent more on balls. But then steel rackets were introduced -- they could be strung much, much tighter. Even among the pros, the game changed immediately -- basically whoever served first won. The equipment had outpaced the athleticism. Today the rackets are carbon fiber, the strings kevlar, the heads are huge, the handles short, the price is $1,000, you have to be very, very quick to play at all, and Pickleball has taken over tennis courts even more than foot golf has invaded golf courses.
Bowling and Baseball had a better idea. Bats are made of wood. They can't have cork in 'em. There's only one way to make a baseball. A diamond is a diamond is a diamond. The size of the outfield? Hmmm. Bowling balls are balls with holes in them. Lanes are this wide. Pins are made like so. The are games that can be played. For fun.
It seems to me golf could solve the equipment problem by a combination of equipment rules and mowing golf courses differently -- a tournament has narrower fairways mowed half an inch longer than usual, rough fringes, positively gnarly roughs, and diabolical hole positions. Next week the fairways are wider and still long enough to keep the grass healthy, the fringes are just fringy enough to stop a ball rolling too far sideways, the roughs are not so rough they might as well be out of bounds, and the greens? Any stimp greater than four with emphasis on being smooth. You might make the fringe longer as the green gets faster. Ordinary people can play on that course with fresh grips on twenty year old clubs. If he gets to the point where three strokes in every round makes a big difference in his club or league standings (and he cares), maybe he should look at new(er) or at least different equipment. He's a scratch or better golfer by now.
It seems to me the point of spectator sport is to 1) amaze and delight, and 2) present an aspirational image for the game as a pastime. Professional Sport is a contradiction in terms and ruins games. Its point is to sell you adequacy.
I'm not sure I can disagree with all of that, haha. You compared modern equipment to old, stated the key problem it created, and moved chronologically forward with evidence to support the argument. And it's an opinion, yes, but, it's also an opinion based on facts, and many people share that view, so it's legitimate.
To figure out we got where we are, you could also start with the disease that drives it all. Golf is a game that is FAR more difficult to develop "pretty good" skill with for most people, in comparison to other sports in it's orbit.
Throwing a Frisbee isn't that hard to develop decent skill at. In a few months, you can perform all kinds of throws with pretty decent accuracy. Bocce ball, Croquet, Badminton, Tennis, etc. Most people with decent coordination can develop relatively decent levels of skill in fairly short times. But golf? Haha, man it's confounding to the vast majority of the population.
Maybe instruction is barking up the wrong tree. Maybe they overcomplicate it. I'd say that has to be at least partially responsible. But there are players who have dedicated YEARS to golf, with instruction, and still "suck" big time. So, if the skill is too hard or elusive to develop.....
Let's make the clubs the equivalent of permanent training wheels. Boom. Engineers and rocket scientists make golf clubs now, haha.
But still, most golfers "suck".
Right. According to USGA only ten percent of golfers improve with practice; they still suck even with [allegedly] better training wheels that make the game as a pastime worse.
You know what would be fun? A golf league that worked like bomber class in stock car racing. If you think someone is winning because of his equipment, he's obliged to sell it to any challenger for $500. There were rules about that: basically he could keep his safety equipment and tires. But the engine, transmission and chassis better be worth less than $500. You could do the same thing: keep your bag and golf balls, but the clubs better be worth less than $500. Or $100. Whatever. I bet that'd be a hoot.
Once again….well said, sir!
Keep it up Bub.
Always do my best. Many thanks.
I bought a brand new Taylormade Sim 2 Max used it for 2 years and I was all over the place maybe 225-230 off the tee to a Teton Hybrid 12 degree driver and now I’m always in play barely ever lose a ball and I’m hitting between 245-265, so yeah, this $97 gimmick called club has changed my entire game over night
Glad to hear from somebody that's tried it, because I've seen it all over in ads. That's awesome.
Great video. The skill of the golfer will always be the most important part of the result. 🤔
From the King of Sweden himself. 💪
A king with very old drivers. 😊
Can’t wait to get the new Titleist driver 😂 October can’t come soon enough.
One of my friends buys a new driver every year. The new driver drives the ball longer each year. Inches longer, not yards! He's never driven a ball past 225 yards but he sure is precise! I drive it 80 yards past him on every drive but... the extra length isn't always an advantage if im 5* off line... i might be in trouble
That's true. The further th ball goes, the wider the cone of misses gets.
You are just paying for new tech that may provide a better experience. The difference in phones are the chips to support the software, which would be the same for the shaft and head.
So where a shaft may have been $500 several years ago is more available due to cost and better supporting users who by majority buy stock.
I think there have been great ball improvements too that is really helping golfers. Especially with the recent Vice balls where they are not just longer but far more forgiving.
Yep. It's hard to say what yesterday's drivers would really do, unless you use the same ball as today in a robot test.
44.5" driver make me find the driver face. A worn driver face is hotter too.
I bought a 2018 Callaway Fusion driver for £50 UK 44" 50 gram Stiff shaft. It still out drives my SIM2 at 275 yards average carry? I log every shot since 2021 on the "Golf pad" APP too.
Golfpad is like a good friend that won't lie to you, and always gives you the straight facts. Crucial to improving to have true, real data.
So true Chad, but it's the latest ,greatest com on man 😂😂😂
Profits to make, mouths to feed. Haha.
I have never bought the hype or found it to be true, except in rare circumstances. I still have never hit a driver farther or better than my 43 in. maple laminate driver which I had in the 70s. I could swing that thing so well that when I was on, I could fly the ball 320 yds. with the most incredible piercing flight. When I was about a 3-4 handicap in my early 20s, my Dad's early generation Ping irons made me essentially a scratch or +1; I hit them so well when I borrowed them. I could not afford them though at the time. The same thing happened when the Big Bertha driver was all the rage. Playing with a friend, I borrowed his driver for most of a round and hit it 30 yds. farther, straighter, and with a better trajectory than I did with my clunky graphite-shafted stainless steel-headed driver which I already hit pretty well; again though beyond my budget at around $500 at the time.
I've tried a lot of newer generation clubs since then and frankly, it's been a lot of same old, same old. I've always found that game improvement clubs only helped me if I could sense well what the head was doing during the swing. Otherwise, I might hit something much less GI much better. Interestingly, my friend and I both separately tried the TM R9 driver when it first came out and there was a lot of hype. When we talked about it, we both agreed that the club was awful for us and that we couldn't feel where the head was at all. I was a scratch and he was about a 9 with 190 mph ball speed at 45 years old (still the longest guy that I have ever played with). and neither of us could hit that thing worth a darn. Weird.
As I've said before, I think that we have it backwards anyway. It would be better to learn to strike clunkier clubs (which takes a better swing) first and then the GI clubs could really make some pivotal difference. Speaking of that did you see Scotty Robertson's video where he was hitting all of the older clubs. Very impressive. Cheers.
I havent seen the video you mentioned, but then again, I haven't been paying too much attention lately. Just too busy. The old persimmons and maples are still fantastic clubs. And I totally agree about learning on older or tougher clubs.
Well you just hold the manufacturers feet to the fire by testing the new driver against your old one. If you see valley in the numbers then upgrade if not then keep your old one
Yep. It's nice to have new bag candy, but unless it's gonna make a big difference, it's probably not worth it.
Thanks Chad🏌️👍
You got it!
If you were a pastor I would be shouting 'preach it'. I have a Sim 2 Max, IMHO the best driver ever made. Got it 3 years ago. In the fortunate position to have a friend who owns a golf shop and I have tried every driver and every shaft combo known to man and guess what? No noticeable difference! The only driver that does go 20 to 25 further is the Krank with the non conforming COR.
Krank is definitely pushing the envelope with conforming and non conforming drivers. They definitely know about COR, haha.
48 years golfing and so desperately trying to get to scratch.
For 46 years I’ve bought the newest thing believing in the hype. It’s truly the Indian, not the arrow (Trevino) and I’ve fluctuated in the mid single range all those years; never better than a 4, no worse than an 8.
If the ads were honest, my 265 carry would have been 350+ when I was 60. Now at 70, my five year old TSi3 only carries 230 with my Sunday best but if I were hitting my first driver, the MacGregor 945 persimmon, I’d be lucky to carry 190.
Equipment has come a long way for sure but as you said it’s those rare innovations that move the needle.
I was the kid on the block with the newest thing and for me it was the original Taylormade Pittsburgh Persimmon (late 80’s?) that brought me from double digits to an 8 handicap almost overnight.
I said to my wife, the day I truly own my swing and get to scratch, I’ll likely die.
I ain’t dying for a long long time.
In spite of any equipment advances.
It’s the hope and dream we buy.
Fairways and Greens!
PenguinGolf
PS.
I started with dad’s hand-me-down Hogan Apex Irons and MacGregor Tommy Armour 693 woods.
Bought my first full set of Nicklaus Muirfields and 945 woods around ‘75 for $1000.
Here’s some sage advice for you young golf fanatics out there.
If I’d put that money into say Hathaway-Berkshire, it would likely be over $100,000,000 today.
Haha, sage indeed. Great comment here. Nobody wants to hear, and nobody wants to work on it because it's "boring", but putting and shots inside 100 yards is the key. But driver sure is fun.
Lowering your scores usually means much better "approach shots, wedge game and putting -- in that order. Driver is important, but look at the long drive guys and gals, their drives are astounding but the other parts of their game are not so good, so their scores are quite mediocre, especially when you thecompare it to their driver distance. Cheers.
Golfers don't wanna hear it and won't work on it, but inside of 150 yards is the way to lower scores.
I grew up playing real woods. Miss hits never had the effects you get with modern Drivers. Yes you could slice and hook but never did the ball fly off at crazy angles in the air, stall and drop out of the air or even fly as high. With a wooden Driver I always felt I was hitting a ball with a club. Modern Drivers are like a balloon on a plastic stick with no feed back. We have all been conned. I also remember the Bubble shaft - What was the point of that again ? If it really did something then why is it not still around ? Because it was just a gimmick.
There's truth in this comment. I've often described modern drivers 2 ways. It's like swing a balloon on a stick, or it's like swinging a cone of cotton candy you got at the fair. That's why I love the mini driver. Not too big, has some weight, always delivers.
As long as people think they can buy a game…they’ll try. Hit the range & practice green and watch the hdcp go down.😂
💯 percent
As I understand it, the drivers are right at the boundaries of what is allowed, for quite some years. So they simply cannot make the clubs much better without them becoming illegal. So they must put a lot of marketing BS out there so people buy them...
Edit: Should watch the video first, you are discussing it in depth 😬
Haha, spot on, and the fact that you had the same conclusion prior to watching, proves I'm not the only one that sees it.
I've had a ping G25 Driver 8 years a set of cleveland irons which cost 299 Quid for 10 years will never change them i will not change them anytime soon I'm now 66 years of age and very wise it comes with age . A fool and is money is soon parted.
I'm not 100 percent sure about this, but I was told by a club fitter that Ping really won't release a new club unless there's a real, tangible difference over the previous model.
Read Tom Wishon's books.
I definitely know of Tom Wishon, and I've delved in a bit, but I've never read any of his books. Do they back me up or make me sound like an idiot?
@@GolfTestDummy They back you up, fifteen, twenty years ago.
In a couple of years, we will b lucky 2 hit the damned ball 250 yards?
It's anybody guess.
This is a ridiculous argument. Does this mean your ball or your glove are pound for pound 100x more valuable?
Not sure that's an equal comparison to make. I don't wear a glove, so it's not a vital piece of gear. And as far as the ball goes, every golf ball is essentially the same, when compared to how diverse all of the different clubs are. A driver is nothing like a putter or wedge.
This is why all human reviews are useless. Only robot reviews are useful. And in the end, a gamer with 30 year old clubs can beat a noob with new clubs. Spend your money on greens fees and get more reps.
Summary: best “club review” video on YT. Play more. Take a lesson. Video your swing. Play what makes you confident. The space between your ears is more important than COR. If that’s a new $700 driver, so be it but you’ll be fine with a 4 yr old $100 driver.
Yep, it's like cliff notes, lol.
Even better yet, your wedge that you use on almost every hole is even less, it’s all marketing. You also have to remember clubs are tested by robot with the longest stock shaft and perfect swing, no wind or variables, the pros aren’t even playing these longer shafts. ….it’s not the arrow it’s the Indian.
Great point. I hear several pros talk about having a driver that's under 45".
Tom Wishon thinks the absolute maximum driver length for pretty good (male) golfers is 44" and if you don't know better 12 or 13° loft, not nine. Tiger Woods used a 43-1/2" driver for the best golf he ever played saying he got better control, and you ain't a young Tiger Woods. I've had my 5H cut to iron length and swing weight matched to my (Toski Target ) irons. For control. I don't swing fast enough to use an actual 5i.
If you want to shop the used market you can be your own fitter if you learn a little and remain humble. If I wanted new gear I'd find a local club maker; he can sell you used gear too and wants you to be happy with it.
My mini driver is 44 inches, 11.5 degrees, and you can't pry it out of my hands. Thinking about being buried with it.