Who's hitting it farther with Technology?
I don't think there's much dispute that the tour pros are hitting the ball farther these days, a lot farther. Tons of guys now regularly hit it over 300 yards. I just read the other day in Frank Hannigan's column that there has been an average increase in their driving averages of 27 yards over the last decade. General consensus has 15 yards of that due to the club and 15 due to the ball. And now we're finally getting some discussion on what might be done about it. But my issue here is with the rest of us.
Most pundits agree that the average golfer has not gained any distance. Yet, we have access to the same clubs and balls. Maybe we don't have the clubs fine tuned like the pros, but we can still get the same club heads providing the famous trampoline effect. Is it really true we don't hit it further today than we did 10 years ago?
When I first tried the Pro Vs, I did my own little test. I played by myself on a nice summer evening. I played a couple of Stratas and a couple of Pro Vs. I could swear I was about 10 yards longer on the drive with the Pro V, but I admit the test wasn't scientific.
I just bought myself a slightly used Nike 460. I haven't taken it on the course yet, as we still have snow on the ground, so I don't have any experiencial data to report. I'm thinking of taking it to a really good local clubmaker and trying the swing launch monitor thing. This involves about $4,000 in equipment and with it they can tell you everything about your club and ball at impact. How fast, how high, launch angle, how much spin and who knows what else. Then the clubfitter selects just the right shaft, with all the right characteristics to maximize your distance and control. The evaluation costs about $50 and then there's the cost to revamp the club. The shaft alone could cost more than $100 bucks. Don't know if I want to spend that kind of money, but maybe I'll do it in the name of science. If I do, I'll be sure to write about the experience here.
What I want to know is what is the experience of the rest of you. Are the 'experts' right that we amateurs aren't gaining any distance. Or could there be another explanation. Maybe we are gaining, but nobody tracks it so no one knows. Or maybe you have to be at a certain handicap level to take advantage of the technology. I'd sure like to know. I think I'd be most releaved to find out we aren't gaining anything. Then I could stop lusting after new clubs, believing that they are the answer to what ails my game. And think of the money I could save!
4 comments:
Many of the big golf retailers have launch monitors. You can go there and hit all you want. I have a Taylormade R540XD with a regular flex shaft. Most people I play with say I need a stiff flex shaft.
One day I went into the local Golf Galaxy and brought in my driver. My plan was to take a few swings with my club and note the stats. Then I would hit one of their 540XDs with a stiff shaft and compare the numbers.
Sadly they did not have a 540XD I could hit so my experiment was bust. I did hit a few other drivers with stiff shafts and got close to the same results as the shots with my driver.
I'll be interested in your findings should you choose to invest in a club fitting/reshafting.
-Greg
My local driving range has a monitor set up at one of the tees that measures your spin, approx air distance and roll distance, swing speed, etc. I found out a lot about my swing from that. Anyway, it's good to know that there might be some truth to the better balls theory, because I use cheap balls now, and I'm not hitting nearly as far (I know most of it is because of my new swing, but still).
I just put a new 400cc head on my old shaft. I replaced an old Mizuno T-Zoid.(you can read all about it on my blog http://mydailyslice.blogspot.com/)
I'm hitting it EASILY 20-30 yards further. Best investment I ever made.
JFB
I think you probably have to reach a certain handicap level for certain technological advances to help. I really don't think a 36 handicapper would shoot any better with an old Top Flite 2000 than with a ProV1. Same with clubs. I HAVE noticed a big distance increase in my game over the last few years. Biggest jump was from a stock big bertha (the original) to a Ping Tisi Tec. 983k adds another 10, G2 adds another...
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