9.5? 10.5? regular flex? stiff flex?

Hi all, would be very grateful if i could get some help from someone out there. I play off 12 and consider myself to be reasonably ok at the game. I strike the ball well with every club in the bag except for a Nike sasquatch driver 9.5 stiff flex. I bought the driver recently to gain those extra few yards off the tee. I had always used a 3 wood off the tee up to this. With the Nike Sasquatch i cannot elevate the ball more than 2-3 meters from the ground. Every shot i play with it results in alot of topspin and little or no height. I have highered the tee and even tried to adjust my swing (something i don't like doing because my regular swing with every other club catches the ball perfect) but to no avail. I'm thinking of changing the shaft to regular flex or even buying a 10.5 driver. What do you think? Has anyone out there got a similar problem? Thanks

Tough to say JP.

How's your carry and what's the loft on your 3 wood?

It sounds GENERALLY like you're playing the ball too far up in your stance if you're topping it. Have you tried moving it back in your stance? Changing shaft and loft isn't going to help what sounds like a swing issue!

In addition to a poor ball position topping the ball can also be caused by swaying, raising the arc of the swing, or lifting your head up. Or a combination of all four issues. You might try using an extra long tee since you say you hit the rest of your clubs well.
If you lift your head, your shoulders, arms, hands, and club usually follow, which raises the swing arc. Now sometime the shoulders raise up, with out any help from the head. This can be caused by tension, and/or being over anxious in the swing. Loss of your normal tempo/timing in your swing. Maybe you are in too much of hurry, looking for extra distance.
Swaying can also raise the arc of the swing. Say you are swaying backwards, but not swaying foreward back to your original position at address on the down swing. This moves the low point of the swing backwards, so that when the club head reaches the ball, it is already starting to rise into the ball, usually hitting the ball above it's mid point.
Another way to raise the swing arc is to dip the front knee, and shoulder during the back swing, which can be caused by too much weight being left on the front leg. When the front leg dips in the back swing, it will tend to straighten up during the forward swing, which raises the shoulders, which raises the swing arc. If this happens you are also looking at some what of a reverse pivot.
A new club is not going to help you, unless your driver is too short for you. Also from a an equipment stand point, Tom Wishon states that topping the ball can be partially caused by a club that has too low of a swing wieght, and/or MOI. I would not care to guess what he means by that declaration.
You most likely have a swing issue that is dedicated to just you, and your driver. Work on a consistant spine angle, and knee flex during your up and down swings. JMHO.......GJS

The loft of my 3 wood is 16 degrees and i can carry about 230-240 yards. Must my swing be adjusted when using the Sas Q driver? I just can't understand why i can hit every other club well using the same swing? Sorry! Its just frustrating.

OK, you've got plenty of swing speed to be using a 9.5

The next question typically can't be answered without video or a launch monitor session - but your Angle of Attack (AoA) is the next piece to the puzzle.

Assuming your ball position and swing mechanics are fine your AoA is far too steep. Personally I played a 13° driver with a -7° AoA with a 108MPH swing speed, and still launched the ball too low (often only getting 230-240 yards of carry). When I worked on it, I could get a -4° AoA, and played a 10° driver and started getting a more consistent carry around 240. I probably could have picked up a couple more yards at that point (as the 13 was launching too high and spinny and the 10 was a little low), but it wasn't worth the hit in the pocketbook.

Generally speaking, the driver swing IS a little different than an iron swing (or even a fairway wood swing).

However, here's a fantastic tip for hitting a ball that's teed up high - and you may want to try it out before changing your swing a ton.


The other part to this puzzle is a head design spec called roll. If you look at the face, it is not flat. It "sticks out" in the middle. This "sticking out" from the crown to the sole is called roll. What does this matter, you may ask? Well, let's say the bottom of the club has 10.5° loft stamped on it. You may be surprised to know that this loft value is only true in the peak of this "sticking out". Above it, towards the crown, your loft can get as high as 13° - conversely, lower on the face your loft can get as low as 8°. So, hitting the ball low on the face could turn your 10° driver into a long-drive special, but without the extra shaft or swing speed. So please take note of where on the face you're hitting it. FWIW, my solution to this problem is to actually tee the ball lower and to think about just grazing the grass, effectively taking the bottom of the face out of the equation.

__________________
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A new highlight: Golfing the home course on Christmas Day.

I say it too often: If it's golf club shaped, you can play with it.

A few setup thoughts that I have for the drive are:

1) play the ball off your left foot/heel
2) tee the ball so that when you address it you can see half of the ball above the top of the driver (use the moulded tees for this, much easier)
3) setup with 60-70% of your weight on your right foot, this should result in your left shoulder being higher than your right.

You want to be hitting the ball on the upswing with your driver, unlike your 3 wood.

btw I use a 9.5 stiff shafted king cobra 440sz

Thank you all for all your thoughts and opinions. It is greatly appreciated. Looks like i have a bit to do on the range. I'll let you know how i get on. ? Thanks again.

good luck bro

The shaft of your driver is too stiff if you have trouble getting it off the ground. Try a lighter and lower flex shaft. Loft doesnt really come into the launch angle that much, its always a good idea to go with more lof since that usually means less spin and more control but if you are happy with the control of your driver then 9.5 is just fine.

I play an 8.5 with an x flex blue because I have the opposite problem with the driver, I need to take some height off it and I have found that the very stiff shaft seems to do the trick.

Other things you can try include teeing the ball a little bit lower so you come into the ball a little steeper. Also look at your ball selection, lower spin balls tend to fly lower, not to plug any particular brand but Callaway HX tours fly quite high (so I dont use em!!) so you could try them as well.

Good luck,

D.

__________________
Longniddry Golf Club Champ 2005.

In the Taylor Made Bag:

Titleist 905T Graf Blue X

Taylor Made R7 TP 13* Graf Blue Tour X

Mizuno MP60 2I TTDG S300

Srixon TCI-201 3-PW Rifle 6.0

Cobra Phil Rodgers 53* and 59* Rusty

Odyssey DFX 2-Ball

Bridgestone B330

Really? Or did you mean to also say 'other than directly effecting launch angle on almost a 1:1 ratio'?

The 2 main contributors to Launch Angle are Angle of Attack and Loft. There's some dynamic tip bending which also plays a part, but is considered only an interesting spec for those that release mid-late or later.

I play a 13 degree driver, becuase my AoA is -4. My average LA is less than 10°. When I move to a 16° driver, my LA comes up around 3°, and spin goes through the roof.

Mizunoman, a lot of what you said makes sense. This week on the course i borrowed a Taylor made r7 REG flex 10.5 driver and i suddenly remembered the thrill of hitting a good drive. I carried about 245-255 yards and went around 7 over. Probably the best round i've ever had. I left a few shots out there aswell!! I am now looking to own one of these drivers and sell off the nike sas quatch 9.5 stiff flex. Seems my swing is just suited to a reg shaft 10.5 degree driver.
I should have also mentioned i use wilson fat shaft graphite irons which i think are suited to the slower swing type golfer.

As far as I have been informed by almost everyone I have ever spoken to in the industry (clubfitters, reps at golf shows and teaching pros) on the subject, Lowpost, clubface loft has very little direct influence on anything other than the spin imparted to the ball.

You can hit a 9.5 degree driver just as low as a 6 degree just as you can hit a 7 degree as high as an 11.5 degree. The shaft has more direct bearing on the height you hit the ball overall.

Not saying either of us is right or both of us are wrong, just putting what I know out there, bud.

Proof of the pudding is in the eating, experiment with lofts and shafts and see which truth is your truth.

D.

__________________
Longniddry Golf Club Champ 2005.

In the Taylor Made Bag:

Titleist 905T Graf Blue X

Taylor Made R7 TP 13* Graf Blue Tour X

Mizuno MP60 2I TTDG S300

Srixon TCI-201 3-PW Rifle 6.0

Cobra Phil Rodgers 53* and 59* Rusty

Odyssey DFX 2-Ball

Bridgestone B330

Good stuff, D - I bring it up because my education speaks differently - that not every golfer benefits from a shaft change, that loft effects both spin and LA; even the good folk at TrackMan agree with this. What they noted at TrackMan was that AoA doesn't effect spin - whether your AoA is -2 or +2, your spin rates don't change. Interesting, for sure.

Now, I've got a Nak HTEC kicking around here, and I've also got some Aggressive AG400's (lofts 9-13) Conexed up with some Aggressive Frenzy shafts (R,S,X, 50g to 80g)... it would be interesting to put them through their paces swapping shafts for heads then heads for shafts and looking at the data.

I would expect to find that Loft is a major effector of LA and spin, while dynamic shaft movement is a minor effector.

It sounds to me like you're discussing either changing your AoA, or the effects of roll and hitting the ball on different parts of the face. My argument comes from the place of 'all things being equal, if we change X, Y will happen'.

If you change your AoA, then your launch angle changes but spin doesn't if loft stays the same. If you change your loft but keep your AoA, then LA and spin will both move in the same direction. If you're playing a conventional head and hit higher or lower on the face, then you're effectively changing loft. What would be interesting to see is if you're also effectively changing spin as well? I'd assume yes.

I'm not saying that shafts are a part of the equation to be ignored, but rather that loft has a stronger impact.

I want to be careful that we don't start getting into a 'face angle versus swing path' debate...

__________________
PCS Class 'A' Clubfitter - www.pcsgep.com
True Length Technology Fitter - www.truelengthtechnology.com
It's live! - www.ShipShapeClubs.com

A new highlight: Golfing the home course on Christmas Day.

I say it too often: If it's golf club shaped, you can play with it.