On my way home yesterday I stopped by Under Par Golf to set up an appointment with Todd to determine what driver I should buy for the upcoming golf season. As my daddy taught me, you can never have too many putters or drivers.

So this morning after walking the boys I spent about an hour with Todd. Last year I watched him help a friend of mine fit a set of irons. The process was interesting and so I thought that the next time I was in the need of a club I'd go through the fitting process myself. This is especially important given that the cost of one driver is now more than I paid for my first new, complete set.

The increase in cost is only partly due to inflation. The majority of the big boost in prices is due to the technology. Graphite shafts and titanium heads caused prices to increase about six or seven years ago. Since the first introduction of titanium there have been further innovations in milling processes, computer aided designs and improvements in shaft performance.

The shaft is the "engine" of the club. The energy generated to hit the ball far depends mostly on the performance of the shaft coupled with the timing of the swing. Most golfers do not appreciate this fact.

To start the process Todd and I spent about 15 minutes discussing what clubs I wanted to try. I did not have a preference other than finding the best possible club available. From that discussion Todd chose five different clubs. He varied the shaft flex and clubhead loft. He also had me hit my current driver, a Titleist 975 D with a 45 inch Proforce shaft and 9.5 degrees of loft.

Under Par is a small shop in Bountiful. They have a good selection and seem to specialize in having all the latest, hottest clubs available to demo. They also have a good simulator. After I hit a few shots and was warmed up we got started.

Todd had me hit four shots with each club. He measured my swing speed, the actual trajectory of the ball flight and the distance of each shot. The simulator indicates a distance after every hit. Todd also placed a piece of pressure tape on each driver face. This tape is white. At each swing a dark imprint is made at the point where the ball impacts the face. Todd recorded the information for each club as I hit them.

After I'd hit every club Todd and I spent the next 15 minutes talking about the experience and the results. I was amazed at what could be learned from the data. First, I hit my present club consistently, but high in the club face. The result was about 15 yards less in distance than the best results of the other clubs. I also tended to hit my driver out on the toe, another factor robbing me of distance.

Next, I've been wordering if my swing speed had decreased over the past few years. I was trying to determine if I still should be hitting a stiff (90 MPH +) shaft. I found out that my fastest swings were right at 100 MPH and the lowest speeds were at 91 MPH. I also took a few extra swings just to see what happened when I varied my effort.

That was a real eye opener. On some swings I really attempted to swing easy. The resulting swing speeds were in a range between 94 and 97 MPH. On a couple of swings I attempted to "swing out of my shoes" and that resulted in some of the slowest speeds, in the 91 - 93 MPH range.

A careful review of data compared to the impact tape revealed several things. I got the most distance (about 250 yards) when the swing speed was 94 or 95 MPH and the impact was right on the sweet spot.

Some distance was lost if the impact was low in the face. Some of the shortest drives came on the swings with the fastest speeds. My shortest drives were a result of 98 and 100 MPH swings that were hit high on the toe. So speed is not the whole story.

I was amazed at how inconsistent I swung some clubs and how consistently I swung others. Same person, different clubs. The Cleveland Launcher 400 has a big, deep face. I hit shots on the heel and toe, both high and low, but never on the sweet spot.

I hit two Taylormade 540 drivers. One had 9.5 degrees of loft and a stiff shaft. The other was 10.5 degrees of loft with a regular shaft. I was able to hit 7 of 8 shots dead center. The results were interesting. Every shot was greater than 230 yards and I recorded my second highest distance, 248 yards, with one of the hits.

I was also very consistent with the new Great Big Bertha II. The results were very similar to the best of the Taylormade 540s. The last club Todd had me hit was, at first, a mystery club. He was using it as a control. This was a club with a stiff shaft, 43 inches long with 11 degrees of loft.

My distances were shorter with this club and there was a wide dispersion on the face. Todd indicated that the shorter shaft should have given me more control. The data did not indicate that this was so. We were able to rule out going to a shorter, more lofted club.

Well, in the end the final decision had to come down to either the Taylormade 540 or the Callaway Great Big Bertha II. I did admit to Todd that I'd gone into the fitting with a bit of a bias toward the Taylormade. That bothered me. I asked Todd if he thought that I could have psyched myself out and skewed the results.

Todd laughed and said, "Of course. Choosing and hitting a club is very much psychological". And I'd add that of course, he's right. I've been playing golf long enough to know that emotion and psychology have a lot to do with the game.

Okay, I really like the way the Taylormade looks. And now I have proof that I hit it better than any other of the candidate clubs. I did have to choose between the 9.5 or 10.5 loft. The data showed that the higher the launch trajectory, the farther the hit. So I've chosen the 540 with a stiff shaft and 10.5 degrees of loft. All that remains is figuring out how to pay for it.

That's all for now.......
10:36:37 PM    comment []