What have you done with your equipment to maximize driver distance?

[ephmen]

So, distance is clearly key to increasing strokes gained off the tee. 

I am working on fitness and speed training. Now thinking about equipment.

What have you done with your equipment to maximize your distance? Longer shaft? Lighter head?  Let's hear it....

[Radeon962]

1 hour ago, ephmen said:

So, distance is clearly key to increasing strokes gained off the tee. 

I am working on fitness and speed training. Now thinking about equipment.

What have you done with your equipment to maximize your distance? Longer shaft? Lighter head?  Let's hear it....

Changed to a Ventus VeloCore TR Blue 5s but playing at 44.5” rather than the previous Tensei AV Raw White 65 that was at 45.25”. 
 

More center contact with the shorter playing length means better smash factor and longer carry.  
 

TR Blue seems to respond well to an all out swing or a toned down fairway finding swing where the AV Raw White preferred an all out swing every time.

[iknowbagu]

I can honestly say I've never chased distance through equipment changes. Personally I believe that to be an exercise in futility. Find a driver that fits you and distance will come naturally. 

[Sean124]

I know we all love trying new equipment, and fitness is important, but the key to maximizing distance is making your swing more efficient. 

[GeauxGolfLSU]

I've gone with a driver that maximizes distance and direction on my mishits, and not solely distance on my centered hits. Finding the optimal launch and spin when you hit that high toe or low heel shot that keeps me in play with minimal loss of distance has been big for me. Sure, I may have 10 more yards in the tank on centered strikes if I used a different driver head, but at what cost? The low spin diver on the high toe strike?

 

Also, a shorter driver shaft (I'm playing 44.75") helps me find the center of the face more often.

[MelloYello]

Get on a Trackman!!!

 

Knowing precisely how you're delivering the club and what kind of launch conditions you're actually generating should be the #1 priority. 

 

The actual club you use isn't all that important. Aside from getting fit and playing something that I know I'm comfortable with I don't think it matters a ton. Find the right loft and find a shaft you like. That's all pretty easy.

 

Following up from my Trackman sessions however have led to a ton of positive results. I have worked a lot on the following which have made more difference than anything:

 

(1) Increasing my AoA to at least be a little up

(2) Center-face contact

(3) Straightening my drives

[vandyfan]

I wasn't chasing distance or speed but I switched to a lightweight, cheap senior flex shaft (Grafalloy ProLaunch Blue - 45g) from a Hzrdus smoke yellow stiff/6.0 (60g) and found it much easier to swing faster and launch the ball. This enabled me to turn down my loft from 10.5 to 9.5 and I put less weight in the back of my Cobra driver (went from a 12g weight in the back to a 6g weight). This likely won't work for everyone or may have just been lucky for me but I tried this on a whim based on the "otto-phlex" movement around copying the profile of an autoflex in a cheaper shaft. I honestly wasn't trying to swing harder with the senior shaft but it just felt EASY. Here is the before with the Hzrdus:

 

 

and then the after with my senior flex shaft (dispersion is surprisingly about the same with the senior flex being a little tighter), YMMV:

 

[cgasucks]

Since driver faces are at their COR limit for ages, I just focus on my mechanics to make more solid hits and strengthening my hands and wrists.

[ephmen]

10mph ball speed increase due to change in driver shaft and weight? Impressive.

[pingfool]

Started ‘22 with Ping Tour 65 stiff in G400LST

When i found out i was only 92-93mph during a True Spec fitting in the spring.

Did some work with SpeedStix and stretching while flattening my swing plane - and feel like Air Speeder 45 regular in G425LST is my best fit.

[scott406]

48 minutes ago, GeauxGolfLSU said:

Also, a shorter driver shaft (I'm playing 44.75") helps me find the center of the face more often.

^^^^

This

I am playing at 44.5"

I changed last summer and have found no loss of distance

Still hitting from the same areas I was before on my home course 

 

Hitting from the fairway more often too

 

 

[vandyfan]

16 minutes ago, ephmen said:

10mph ball speed increase due to change in driver shaft and weight? Impressive.

 

Here is the thing, I don't think any fitter in the world would have put me into a senior flex shaft. I never would have even had this put in my hands. And no, I don't think these results are "typical" but I would encourage most people (if they have the time and energy) to at least try a shaft that is several flexes softer at a golf galaxy or equivalent on trackman. You might hate it! But I started with a "helium" shaft that was the standard senior flex shaft offered by Cobra and the results were good enough for me to pursue. Here are 3 things I assumed going into it that I was wrong about:

 

1. I was going to spray it all over the place because the shaft was too "whippy" (dispersion was tighter as I mentioned earlier)

2. I was going to balloon the ball because the shaft was going to kick too much at impact (ball flight was relatively similar on center strikes and launch somehow came down)

3. I wouldn't be able to control or "feel" a shaft that was that light (this was somewhat true in the first 5 swings but once I got used to it I liked the lighter weight and feeling the shaft really kick into the ball felt powerful, like riding a wave or something)

 

I am not trying to evangelize here or pretend this has turned me into an elite driver. I drive the ball farther and better on average but I still will hit one or two 240 yd spinners every round and I still miss about 25% of my fairways. That said, the feel (for me) is much better which gives me more confidence and I have hit the longest drives of my life the past few months. Average driver distance (per GPS app) is up 19 yds since I made the switch. My ceiling is slightly higher but I really feel like it raised my floor. 

[Ri_Redneck]

I went longer and here's how it ended up.

 

Up until 2019, I always used SW to balance my drivers and 44.75" seemed to be my best length for consistency. They all SEEMED to be the same, but my ST190 outperformed all the others regularly. It just was so easy to swing fast! Total weight on all of them was fairly close 15-20g depending on actual component weight (all SW @ D6), so I was grasping at straws to figure this out. I decided to splurge and buy an MOI Auditor from Golfmechanix ($575 at the time) since I have always wanted to get one to see if matching made a difference. Well, it did! I checked the ST190 and then matched all my other drivers to it. Suddenly, they all swung identical. CG and MOI of the heads still cause slightly different results, but I could not tell which one I was swinging unless I looked.

 

Once I did this and then matched all of my iron sets, I started thinking about a long driver. I had tried a 48" driver several years ago, but couldn't get the feel right. With the MOI Auditor and all the CB shafts available, I thought maybe I could now. I choose the Cobra Speedzone cause it had the lightest headweight I could find when weights were removed. I paired it up with a HZRDUS Yellow 60 TX with no tip trim, cut it to 48" and installed my preferred grip. I put it on the auditor with the lightest weights I could find, but I couldn't get it down to the MOI I was looking for. I b u t t trimmed it back to 47.5" and got a good bit closer. Finally, I had to make a couple of custom plastic weights out of LDPE to get it right. I played it for about 6 months and hit some killer drives. Once the USGA and R&A decided that 46" was going to be the new max length for competition, I decided to bring it down to 46. I could now use standard weights in the head instead of the custom ones I had to use at the longer length. I also started hitting center a lot more often. So, if you want to gain some CHS, look into getting your driver MOI matched to suit your swing. You may be able to go longer instead of shorter!

 

BT

[pingfool]

4 hours ago, vandyfan said:

 

Here is the thing, I don't think any fitter in the world would have put me into a senior flex shaft. I never would have even had this put in my hands. And no, I don't think these results are "typical" but I would encourage most people (if they have the time and energy) to at least try a shaft that is several flexes softer at a golf galaxy or equivalent on trackman. You might hate it! But I started with a "helium" shaft that was the standard senior flex shaft offered by Cobra and the results were good enough for me to pursue. Here are 3 things I assumed going into it that I was wrong about:

 

1. I was going to spray it all over the place because the shaft was too "whippy" (dispersion was tighter as I mentioned earlier)

2. I was going to balloon the ball because the shaft was going to kick too much at impact (ball flight was relatively similar on center strikes and launch somehow came down)

3. I wouldn't be able to control or "feel" a shaft that was that light (this was somewhat true in the first 5 swings but once I got used to it I liked the lighter weight and feeling the shaft really kick into the ball felt powerful, like riding a wave or something)

 

I am not trying to evangelize here or pretend this has turned me into an elite driver. I drive the ball farther and better on average but I still will hit one or two 240 yd spinners every round and I still miss about 25% of my fairways. That said, the feel (for me) is much better which gives me more confidence and I have hit the longest drives of my life the past few months. Average driver distance (per GPS app) is up 19 yds since I made the switch. My ceiling is slightly higher but I really feel like it raised my floor. 

your explanations resonate with me while dropping only one flex & 20grams with softer tip @ 46” - i am catching 4-5 per round an additional 10yds. Usually when slowing temp and making both turns in sequence with correct weight shift. When I speed up its a playable snipe back around 240

Edited February 6, 2023 by pingfool

[Pepperturbo]

I played Titleist TS2 9.5 with ultra-light Fujikura Ventus Red 5 series, 59g stiff, mid-low bend since the shaft was introduced.  I hit plenty of long drives too, it took everything I had, only I felt like the shaft couldn't give anymore as I am finding more physical strength.

 

Recently, I bought TSR2 10' and Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 6 series, 68g stiff, mid-bend, cut to 44.75", and found some extra yards, while dispersion is staying the same as Red, zippo.  Last couple of rounds haven't missed a fairway and finding some new spots in fairways.

Edited February 6, 2023 by Pepperturbo

[VladDrag]

In general, and to no one in particular My focus would be to

 

 1.  find a way to find center more consistently, shorter driver, better shaft, hosel/weight setting etc. Just find a way to get center contact. Personally I shortened my driver to 45", and playing my driver a bit flat this season and so far I am finding the center a bit more. 

 

2. Know your launch conditions. Get on trackman and see your ball speed, launch angle, and spin. Are you too spinny/not spinny enough, do you launch high enough/too high etc. Ping has an ideal launch conditions chart you can reference. 

[2Down]

Been seeing a lot about the auto flex. The light weight and flex ideas influenced my shaft choice.  But instead of a loose shaft I added weight to the head till I liked how my shaft released. 
not a long guy by the standard here but still move it a bit 

[Roejye]

Equipment wise it was going with a driver that minimized my bad misses. I have a SIM MAX D and I paired it with a Diamana PD 50 reg flex shaft. My GPS app says I average 228 yards, an increase of 10 yards from my previous driver. I know it's probably more improved technique than equipment, but I just feel like I can hit a lot more good enough drives with it and I have a lot of confidence in it, which is huge.

[SEP1006]

For me:

 

AUTOFLEX !!!

[MattM97]

Uh getting fit I guess, like @cgasucks said drivers are at their limits and everything is good but finding what is good for you may be like a needle in a haystack kinda thing. 

 

Also fitness and a good swing go a long way, I'm currently working on getting slimmer, stronger and more mobile along with working on my swing could have me ball 300-310+ with ease. Mind you physically I'm larger and stronger than most golfers so I'm using my natural abilities to my advantage off the tee.