Interesting Listen about Driver Face Flex

Typhoon · 2020-10-12T14:00:58+00:00

I thought this would be interesting for most of us on this forum. We’re older, slower swing speeds and seem to keep trying different drivers for more distan...

Typhoon

Par4QC

Do you still have the Ping G400 LST 8.5 degree head?

Par4QC

Typhoon The most hated head I ever bought?? No, I traded it in on the new EF head, when I got it.

DC300

Typhoon I would love to see equipment/rules to help the average guy enjoy golf more. I suck at the game, just hit it a long way, so I might benefit too lol. I think technology, especially for the senior crowd would be all the better, there’s no doubt, pride is what kills a lot of us in this game, I don’t care what a guy swinging at 90mph is getting out of his driver, if it’s a .95 COR, good for them! Id like to see more people enjoying the game, not struggling. I don’t know if the claims are true, but if they are, I hope they sell a shitload of them.

For me, I’d like to try Krank’s stuff, but the money vs gains just isn’t logically there.

scotts33

DC300 For me, I’d like to try Krank’s stuff, but the money vs gains just isn’t logically there.

Biggest issue is for the senior crowd not enough tee boxes to play your ave. driver distance are offered. At least the majority of the golf courses I see and play. Most seniors because of the way the tee boxes are set up are biting off more than they can chew IMO on average. Example if you are hitting it 190 - 200 ave. reasonably straight. You should be playing 2600 - 2700/9 and 5200 - 5400/18. Most seniors with that tee box distance I know play longer than that. Some of it because different tee boxes are not offered. Hence they are hitting fairway woods instead of a mid-iron on par 4's, etc. https://pdf.pgalinks.com/p-g-a/Tee_It_Forward_Guidelines.pdf

garyt1957

DC300 especially for the senior crowd would be all the better, there’s no doubt, pride is what kills a lot of us in this game,

The easiest most seniors and high handicappers could do is move up a set of tees or two. And it's free. But your right ,pride prevents it.

sdandrea1

scotts33

Yep. My Florida club woke up last year and created combo tees (red/white) to get us down into the 5400 yard arena. They moved us up on the longest par 4s, one of the par 3s and one par 5. Got the slope and rating redone as well.

fatshot

scotts33 I sat here nodding my head while reading your post!! I use a Garmin GPS instead of a
rangefinder, so that makes it easy for our group to "make our own teeing ground." When we come to a 370
yard par 4, but the Senior tees are 290, we find a flat, well-mown spot anywhere from 325-340 from the green
and tee it up from there! At my age and limited swing speed, I don't want to play driver/fairway wood par 4's all the time, but neither do I expect to play driver/half-wedge to a par 4 either.

garyt1957

scotts33 Biggest issue is for the senior crowd not enough tee boxes to play your ave. driver distance are offered. At least the majority of the golf courses I see and play. Most seniors because of the way the tee boxes are set up ar

Totally agree, at least around here. Many of the newer upscale courses have senior tees but the older courses (which are the ones that get the most senior play) don't. They're still old school Blue, white and red. Some have thrown a set of gold tees on the womens tees just a couple yards or so longer. Many times that can be about 4800 yards or so, so too short. I get there's an expense involved in building a new tee box, but most of the red tees are a total afterthought just a raised bump off to the side, couldn't be that expensive to do a set of gold tees.

Another thing some courses are doing is a mixed set of tees where you play some holes from the whites some from the reds or gold if they have them. That's a great idea, but again there's a cost to the course if you want to get them rated so they can be used for leagues. Don't know what that costs but it can't be that much.
I know of a couple courses that had 6 sets of blended tees even though they only had the typical blue, white and red. You could really fine tune the distance you want to play. That's the way to go.

bad9

Has anyone mentioned that Wishon promoted this back in his Golfsmith days. Didn't they actually produce and sell a driver head line with different COR's based on what your swing speed was.

DonM

bad9 Yes, GS had that.

Typhoon

fatshot I don't want to play driver/fairway wood par 4's all the time, but neither do I expect to play driver/half-wedge to a par 4 either.

Man, if there were a driver that gave people THAT kind of difference in yardage off the tee...😮

scotts33

So, my point is paying more for a driver that might give you 5 -10 yards more is throwing $$$ down the drain. Money not well spent. Have or get a driver that allows you reasonable distance accurate drives 75%+ and find courses that allow you to play the game at a more enjoyable golf experience. It's not the equipment which most seem to keep pushing that going to make a difference.

sdandrea1

scotts33 So, my point is paying more for a driver that might give you 5 -10 yards more is throwing $$$ down the drain.

We all KNOW that, but I'm pretty sure the Male chromosome comes stock with a desire to make most any object go as far as possible. The OEMs are counting on it. It takes real discipline to fight our nature and play smart golf, focusing on score.

DonM

sdandrea1 Right. I am willing to pay for 10+ yards.

scotts33

sdandrea1 It takes real discipline to fight our nature and play smart golf,

I guess I have discipline then. Plus I don't worry about score as I don't play in leagues or tournaments. It's me against the course. I count solid center impact for score.

Plus at 90 mph you are ONLY going to add 5 yards at MOST it's not worth the bother.

DC300

garyt1957

johnnydoom

I agree with both of you. For the guy that can’t get it to the right places on the course anymore, moving up is the right move, but it hurts inside. I get it. Having a club that lets you get it out there and still play from the tees that you want to, winning.

On the other side of it, distance is no problem for me, so the same issue comes up, my handicap ( if I kept one, would be in the 8-14 range dedication depending) suggests playing from the closest tees possible. It’s BORING AS SHIT to play from the whites at most courses. In the same fashion as Johnnydoom is saying here, it’s not fun to hit driver, wedge on a par 5. Ok, I lied, it is fun, but only when it’s a case of I killed the drive to the right spot and now I can cut a corner that I have no business trying to cut to put a wedge on the green. Risk V Reward keeps it interesting. It’s not fun to play from 450-485 on a straight par 5, I’m going to hit driver and a 7 iron at worst. So fast forward 30 years, I’m still not going to want to play the gold tees (God willing). If I can still knock it out there 240+, moving up isn’t going to make the game more fun.

I see both sides, yeah you can move up, but that’s not the right thing for everyone. I feel like there should be virtually zero restrictions for amateur golfers, You want 25 clubs? Go for it. You want a club with a COR of .92, go for it, a ball that flies farther, go ahead! Who cares.

You wish to establish a handicap/play on registered tournaments, follow the “pro” rules. Overall, I probably wouldn’t change much, maybe carry another club once in a while, but if I want to do that, I’m going to anyway. For average 25 handihacker, let them go with no premonition of having to follow a rule, keep the courses and manufactures open.

johnnydoom

It is mostly a matter of pride, but it also comes down to challenge as well. I'm a high handicapper, but can still get the ball out there 230 yards or so with the driver. I do not want to move up to tees where the par 4s are 250 - 320 yards long and the par 5s are 360 - 450 unless it was a course designed to be challenging at those yardages. I might shoot in the 70s for the first time in my life if I moved up, but I would miss out very much on the uncertainty that comes with needing to hit my longest shots off the tee. Or requiring a 4 or 5 iron or more to reach the green. If more face flex gave me the option to hang in there playing at low 6k distances rather than low 5k distances I would take it just to keep that uncertainty in the game where it means more to me to shoot an 85 that comes close to challenging my max capability than to shoot 78 and hitting 5 iron off the tee or all of my approach shots with < 8 iron.

I'm getting ready to go play a nine hole muny right now that has 4 pars 3s with the longest being 142 yards, 4 par 4s with the longest being 340 yards, and one par 5 of 430 yards (the par 5 has a 90 deg. dogleg around a tree lined pond that can't be reached with less than a 270 yard drive, so I'm still usually left with 7 - 9 iron 3rd shot anyway). I've shot +1 there once and +2 multiple times, but I won't use those as a barometer for my game. Still fun, and I suspect it won't be too many more years until it represents a higher challenge, but not what I want on a regular basis right now.

Par4QC

johnnydoom 230 yards or so with the driver.

On a 400 yd. Par 4, will you be on the green from 170 yds.? Or...
On a 350 yd. Par 4, will you be more likely to be on the green from 120 yds.?
Both of those shots will 'challenge your capability'.

If a PGA pro plays a 5500 yd course, will his capabilities be challenged?

garyt1957

johnnydoom It is mostly a matter of pride, but it also comes down to challenge as well. I'm a high handicapper, but can still get the ball out there 230 yards or so with the driver. I do not want to move up to tees where the par 4s are 250 - 320 yards long and the par 5s are 360 - 450 unless it was a course designed to be challenging at those yardages.

I agree most of those yardages are to short but even from the senior tees I see the occasional 390 yard par 4. I've never seen a par 5 under 400. 320 would be a minimum from a par 4, unless it's a risk reward type hole where it's only 300 or so from the blues.

johnnydoom

Par4QC Much more likely to be on a green from 130 than 170. But I want the opportunity to try from 170 (after the challenge of hitting a good drive) occasionally.

garyt1957

DC300 I see both sides, yeah you can move up, but that’s not the right thing for everyone. I feel like there should be virtually zero restrictions for amateur golfers, You want 25 clubs? Go for it. You want a club with a COR of .92, go for it, a ball that flies farther, go ahead! Who cares.

Why can't you do that now? Nobody's ever checked my bag on the first tee to see how many clubs I have or if they're conforming. And there's lots of hi cor heads out there. There'd be more, but is there a market for them? Maybe for a small company like Krank.

DC300

johnnydoom this, all the way. I like a challenge.

garyt1957

johnnydoom You certainly don't count as short at 230. Try hitting drives 180-200 and see how challenging a 230 yard second shot is. I hit it 230 and I can comfortably play a bit over 6000 or so. But I went through a crazy stretch where I was topping out at 190 and it wasn't fun.

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