Recommend my 2024 driver

[provx]

I dont follow the equipment scene much anymore, and i dont play more than 10 times a year. That being said i still carry a scratch handicap, and when i do play its typically matches that i try not to let my home club down in.

 

swingspeed 115 give or take, driver is the worst part of my game, and my miss is a vicious toe hook.

 

current driver is a ping g400 max with a tensei orange TX flex.

 

basically i would like to know what driver shaft combo is considered best at managing toe strikes, as even when im playing well i lean toward hitting off the toe.

 

g400 max has been ok at best for me, i still struggle with toe hooks on this head.

 

thanks in advance

[Joesti]

The driver for me has been all over the place as well. I have had 4 or 5 drivers in the last year trying to figure it out. I suffer from the same miss as you. My ss is 108-110. Ive been fit into low launch low spin heads in the 8-9 degree area multiple times and every on of them when its good it a slight draw and a bomb. When its bad its really bad, usually left 50 yards with like 1000 spin and falling out of the sky. I went to golf galaxy the other day and was hitting used drivers just seeing if I could figure something out. The one that I was hitting by far the best was a callaway triple diamond with a hzrdus smoke black 70g stiff shaft. Here is the kicker... It was a 10.5 degree head turned up to an 11.5 degree head. I think the added loft really helps that toe ball left hook go away. Fitters always tried to put me into a low loft x stiff set up because of ss and my attack angle is like 4-6 up. Turns out I actually needed more loft.

[Tree Levino]

If you tend to hit it off the toe I think Taylormade generally performs best. Also I hate you for playing that well without playing. I have to hit balls every day haha. 

[phizzy30]

AI Smoke MAX or TD are the best for this year's offerings managing the toe miss which is mine as well IMO.  Other OEM offerings would dip significantly in spin while the AI Smoke MAX/TD wouldn't drop nearly as much and the ball would actually stay in the air turning that vicious hook into a much more manageable hard draw.  Next best were the Qi10 core and MAX models for the toe miss.     

[Ben B]

6 hours ago, Joesti said:

The driver for me has been all over the place as well. I have had 4 or 5 drivers in the last year trying to figure it out. I suffer from the same miss as you. My ss is 108-110. Ive been fit into low launch low spin heads in the 8-9 degree area multiple times and every on of them when its good it a slight draw and a bomb. When its bad its really bad, usually left 50 yards with like 1000 spin and falling out of the sky. I went to golf galaxy the other day and was hitting used drivers just seeing if I could figure something out. The one that I was hitting by far the best was a callaway triple diamond with a hzrdus smoke black 70g stiff shaft. Here is the kicker... It was a 10.5 degree head turned up to an 11.5 degree head. I think the added loft really helps that toe ball left hook go away. Fitters always tried to put me into a low loft x stiff set up because of ss and my attack angle is like 4-6 up. Turns out I actually needed more loft.

This is typically the answer. More loft.

 

There is no driver head out there that will drastically reduce the hard toe hook. Loft will certainly help though. The more loft you add the less the spin axis is affected. Think of it this way, as you move from driver to 4 iron to 8 iron to wedge the less you draw or fade the ball. 

 

If you hit the ball more often than not off of the toe, I'd look at lie angle (making it flatter), length of shaft and/or distance your standing away from the ball and clubhead path. A lot of times the toe hook is a result of a clubhead that's coming a little too much from the inside which causes your to early extend to create enough space to get the clubhead to the ball. The result is a toe strike with an in to out path...thus the toe hook. 

 

You may be a good candidate for a mini driver though. Shorter shaft and dded loft will aid in more consistent ball striking and your misses will be far less. And you won't loose that much distance either. 

Edited April 22, 2024 by Ben B

[Rob_shields]

I'm a little slower speed SS108-112 and also favor the toe as a wonderful place to hit the ball. I've been using the ping G430 Max 10k and don't recall any unplayable toe strikes as of yet and it just wants to go straight. 

 

I would recommended that club to everyone unless you are a high spin player.

 

2nd option would be the G430 LST 

[provx]

3 hours ago, Ben B said:

This is typically the answer. More loft.

 

There is no driver head out there that will drastically reduce the hard toe hook. Loft will certainly help though. The more loft you add the less the spin axis is affected. Think of it this way, as you move from driver to 4 iron to 8 iron to wedge the less you draw or fade the ball. 

 

If you hit the ball more often than not off of the toe, I'd look at lie angle (making it flatter), length of shaft and/or distance your standing away from the ball and clubhead path. A lot of times the toe hook is a result of a clubhead that's coming a little too much from the inside which causes your to early extend to create enough space to get the clubhead to the ball. The result is a toe strike with an in to out path...thus the toe hook. 

 

You may be a good candidate for a mini driver though. Shorter shaft and dded loft will aid in more consistent ball striking and your misses will be far less. And you won't loose that much distance either. 

This is all true, i have a fairly massive in to out path that probably isn’t realistically fixable after 30 years of golf, but you make good points here

[Ben B]

3 minutes ago, provx said:

This is all true, i have a fairly massive in to out path that probably isn’t realistically fixable after 30 years of golf, but you make good points here

Well, depending on how much time you have to practice I wouldn't say it's not fixable. However, taking the range to the course as the say is a bit difficult to do with only playing 10 rounds a year. This is why I say you may be a good candidate for a mini driver. You can get a 13.5* head, loft it down 1* which will open the clubface to help eliminate the left side. Play it at 43.75-44" and let her rip tater chip. I play a standard driver and mini (11.5 lofted up to 13.5 to be draw bias). I cruise around 107-108 with mini and it carries around 265+ so I am not loosing much when I hit it. But it is very controllable. 

[mantan]

No idea about being scratch, or 115 mph clubhead speed or TX shafts....

 

But I do no my experience with the Tensei Orange was that it was wilder than a preacher's daughter.  

[phizzy30]

1 hour ago, provx said:

This is all true, i have a fairly massive in to out path that probably isn’t realistically fixable after 30 years of golf, but you make good points here

It's fixable.  I used to be 5-8* in to out for a long time.  I had work hard on getting it more neutral by exaggerating the out to in motion for practice swings.  It took 1000's of reps and 6 months to start getting used to it.  A whole year until I got really comfortable with it.  I'm 2-3* in to out these days but can it can get up to 5* when my swing is really off. 

[TJ83]

I'm guilty of always changing out my driver every year or two. My ss is around 123 to 126 and I play a fade. 

I've tried the qi10ls, I thought it was great, fade bias for sure, sound and feel was nice, but the shape didn't suit my eye. Maybe the core model would be better. I'm currently using the darkspeed ls with a diamana wb 63tx and I love it. Very straight to slight fade, and it's pretty darn forgiving too. 

 

Maybe you should demo a tm qi10 ls 10.5  or cobra darkspeed ls 10.5 turned down a few clicks to open the face to help tame the overdraw. 

These 2 drivers have pretty different head shapes though when ay address. I prefer the Cobra.  

 

 

 

[TJ83]

18 hours ago, phizzy30 said:

It's fixable.  I used to be 5-8* in to out for a long time.  I had work hard on getting it more neutral by exaggerating the out to in motion for practice swings.  It took 1000's of reps and 6 months to start getting used to it.  A whole year until I got really comfortable with it.  I'm 2-3* in to out these days but can it can get up to 5* when my swing is really off. 

 

This has been my big issue but only with irons. Huge draws, pulls, and pull draws. Working on swinging out to in and my brain doesn't want to do it lol. I can do it on the range sometimes but it always creeps back on the course. I've only been at it for like 2 weeks so it's gonna take months probably to get comfortable. I keep tilting back on the downswing which is great for driver but terrible for irons 😅

[phizzy30]

31 minutes ago, TJ83 said:

 

This has been my big issue but only with irons. Huge draws, pulls, and pull draws. Working on swinging out to in and my brain doesn't want to do it lol. I can do it on the range sometimes but it always creeps back on the course. I've only been at it for like 2 weeks so it's gonna take months probably to get comfortable. I keep tilting back on the downswing which is great for driver but terrible for irons 😅

When you say tilting back, do you mean hanging back or hitting up on it? 

[TJ83]

28 minutes ago, phizzy30 said:

When you say tilting back, do you mean hanging back or hitting up on it? 

 

Hitting up, slightly. When I start getting the overdraws my divots get thin, video shows my hips shift forward and chest and head hang back causing me to stall out and flip a little through impact. Working on chest going forward and down, keeping my chest on top of my hips in downswing. 

[GDB67]

Ping 10k max and put your fav velocore shaft in. $1000 well spent. I would know. 
Hit em well ⛳️

[LBB]

I always go with brand new directly from Cobra prior year models where I can still select the shaft option.  Got the LTDx last year for $299, and the Aerojet is currently $299 brand new.

 

Hard to go wrong with prior year models from Cobra.  They are significantly cheaper than other major manufacturers.

[martymcfly]

I own a lot of this years models. To name them: darkspeed x and LS, Qi10 core and LS, ai smoke Max, g430 max 10k, black ops and black ops tour and still, nothing performes better for ME than the Tsr2. In other words, find a good fitter and get fit.

[phizzy30]

4 hours ago, GDB67 said:

Ping 10k max and put your fav velocore shaft in. $1000 well spent. I would know. 
Hit em well ⛳️

You spent a grand on that setup???  Yikes.......I hate seeing members here paying more than what they should have on equipment. 

Edited April 24, 2024 by phizzy30