Recognizing that I had no natural ability for the game, and had to work hard for every stroke, I compromised and felt very comfortable with (persimmon) 2 woods for about 20 years - loved 'em, and still do. Funny thing is, you can't find "2" woods anymore, because people just won't buy them. However, manufacturers still make them - if you take the 12-13* loft, and call it a "strong 3", instead of a 2, people will buy them like hotcakes... perhaps it's because the word "strong" sounds manly to us??
Harold Still wrote:
John:
I agree with David! Put me down for a couple! I think the big advantage is being able to go to 43 0r 43.5 " shaft.
HStill
----- Original Message -----
From: David Rees
Sent: Tuesday, February 18, 2003 12:49 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: ShopTalk: 15 Deg Driver Interest
On Mon, Feb 17, 2003 at 10:39:57PM -0500, Dave Tutelman wrote:
>
> I don't think we're talking here about a club for you or for me.
But
> seniors, and especially senior women, just plain need more loft
off the
> tee. (Bernie has his solution. I'm prepared to believe it works
for the
> people he knows. Most of the seniors I know either will not
practice enough
> to master a long club, or never had and never will have the
clubhead speed
> with any length to get away with a 12* loft.)
>
> If you look at the curves in my Club Design Notes
> (http://www.clubmaker-online.com/physics3.html), you'll see
that, for lower
> clubhead speeds, you just plain NEED more loft. My wife, her
aunts, and any
> number of other senior women I know will get more distance from
EVEN MORE
> LOFT than 15*. I have a lot of success making them tee clubs of a
> big-headed 5-wood at 21*.
I would say that even for the average golfer (15+ handicap) a 3-wd
that's the size of a driver would significantly benefit their game.
I currently have 2 woods in my bag. 1 is a 12* Bang SF360 at 44"
on DGS
steel. I'm thinking of adding some lead tape and cutting off another
1/2" to get it down to 43.5". The other is a 18* Hireko XDS2+ 5wd at
42.25" or so on a TT Lite XL shaft.
On my good hits with no wind, I carry around 260 with the 12* SF360.
Normally carry around 240-250. With the 5wd, I carry around 230 on
solid shots. That's plenty long for the majority of courses. I only
find myself wanting a longer driver for the long (430yards+) par
4s, and
that's only because I'm not very accurate hitting anything longer
than a
7 iron.
My buddy who plays about the same as I do doesn't even use his driver
anymore, it gets him into too much trouble. He'll hit 3wd and usually
be within 10-15 yards of my ball, and a good amount of the time
even or
even ahead of my shots with driver.
I'd bet that with a 15* 210gm 350cc+ driver we'd be in the fairway
a lot
more often, hitting closer to the sweetspot and give up maybe 20yards
max on our best drives with the driver. On average we'd probably
be at
the same distance, but in the fairway a lot more often leading to less
scrambling.
Think of the club as an oversized 3 wood, not a driver. I think
it's a
great idea.
Golfworks just came out with a heavier driver (the Hero) but it's
still
at 10* loft. Too low for the average guy. A number of guys on
the GEA
have built up the 14* Bang Mellow Yellow on shorter shafts, but
have to
add lead tape to be able to use a shorter shaft that's easier to
control.
-Dave
