Rickie's "new" driver
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They showed stats that Rickie and Justin Thomas are pound for pound the longest out there. They both weigh ~ 150 pounds with Rickie 1 inch shorter than Thomas at 5'9".
He smoked his drive on 18. I think they said it went ~ 320-330. Wind is supposed to be up tomorrow, but Rickie says he likes playing in the wind. He's staying away from his tendency for a blowup hole here and there.
And it is a Cobra F7 with the heavy weight in the front position. I've got the F7 and play the heavier weight in the draw position. I measured one the other day (GPS) and it was 255. I'm playing mine with the stock Fuji Pro 60 in R flex at 45.25", loft set at 12*.
On a side note the Cobra F7 hybrids are the best I've played. Not sure if it's the rails or what, but for me they're long and straight.
Don't forget one reason why they were 43" back then was the head was very, very small compared to today's460CC heads. Small head and compact face would make it a lot harder to hit it consistently at 45/46" of today's drivers.
So is the consensus here to give this a try?
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The reason Butch Harmon and his son Claude recommended a shorter shaft for him was that he had such a long arm swing. They thought it would shorten his swing thus give him more accuracy. He just started using it on Wednesday. Could be a case of new club-i-tis sort of thing. We'll see. I think Jimmy Walker (another Harmon guy) is down to 42.5" and he hasn't seen the winners circle yet with the shorter shaft.
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Sneakylong Jimmy Walker's stats are not good either. 55% accuracy. Distance is fine @ 290.
A win will not make the case for a shorter driver. Never!!
As is always stated on the golf forums, FGI & GB, about TW, just look at this weakass field Rickie is in this week!! In horse racing terms, he's 'the class of the field', and would be bet down way under 1/1.
Tried it - works for me at 43.5" to 44". Much more accuracy and no distance loss for me. Center strikes on most swings.
45.50" driver is hit 10 more yards....further into the woods. 
Matched with the right shaft for a golfer, the distance between a 300 cc head at 43.5" and a 460 cc head at 45.5" is about 10-15 yards. Disbursement pattern will be purely up to the individual.
I was surprised at my modern day weapon was not a lot further than the persimmon driver from almost 4 decades ago. Yes it's about 10-12 yards longer but I thought it would be a lot more.
The major difference for me came from the fairway woods, the modern day 3 wood is much easier to hit off the turf and longer by at least 15 yards.
The length of the driver should be focused on the ability of the golfer to deliver the driver head to the golf ball.
Some will not find much more accuracy using a shorter driver than a longer one, some will find easier to find the sweet spot with the shorter stick. Some will find no major difference.
There is no one formula to every golfer. Some have the image of themselves not able to hit a driver with longer shaft, but they had never tried a longer shaft with the correct match.
I was cast in the mode of stiff flex everything, and 1/4" shorter length ( irons ) with 2 degree flat lie when I was younger. I did not have the opportunity to discover what really fits my game until I was over 45 years old that I could swing an X flex in driver and perhaps with the irons.
It was a joy to discover the upper limit of my game, came a bit too late but nice to know half the struggle I had had in the past with this game was equipment related.
Is Jimmy Walker still using the shorter shaft in his driver? It's hard to tell on the tv coverage this week.
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...and then, as Stenson does, just hit go to hitting a 300 yard 3 wood. Over the years the 3 wood shaft length has evolved to what the old standard driver shaft length was, with the head size of the old drivers.
Like my Jailbreak/zevo thread...it's just a rehashing of shit.
I was working the other nite and I know my old Ping I15 5 wood goes 220-230 on the course. I hit it on the launch monitor and got the same numbers. I wanted to compare it to the Callaway xr 4 wood I picked up the black Friday before last that I've never used.
The 4 wood carried 260-265 and ended up 270-280. I didn't even try the 3 wood yet.
When hosting a PGA Tour event, one of the key changes on a golf course is narrowing of fairways and increasing rough length.
They obviously over seeded the rough because Bermuda is dormant and brownish this time of year.
It's normally a tough course when there's wind. The wind is supposed to be up this afternoon. Maybe 25 mph gusts.
Might be in line for another driver after today is done.
lol
Looks like he's gone flakey again.
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Nice bogey from the pond! Keep yer head on, Ricky.
That driver of his didn't look overly impressive this afternoon, but his putter saved his bacon on several occasions.
Not the strongest field this tournament has ever hosted, but an incredibly difficult course that was made even more difficult because of the wind still validated his solid performance last week.
Good win for the young fella.