So as my irons have been pretty set for a while, I've been feverishly hunting for the top of the bag setup.
Driver:
I played most of the beginning of the year with a tsi3 9.0, set to a4, with a tour ad vr.
On paper it made the most sense.
On days when I played well, I hit some of the best drives I've hit in a long time with it.
Then I started to tinker with shafts.
Tour ad xc. Great feel, but too low with the 9 degree head.
At the a4 setting, which is technically 1.5 degrees of extra loft, I tried to emulate as much of a SIM type launch setup as I could. I'm a believer that while adapters can change loft conditions, a lower lofted head will always spin less than a higher lofted head.
On my best days, the combination was great.
With the XC and the TP, my apex outdoors was a little too low. Granted I love a flat ballflight because my home course is so windy, but I would get the odd ball where I would tee it down and hit it high on the face to fight the wind, but there wasn't enough spin on those drives to stay truly reap its benefit.
And then there is the directional miss. With a 9 degree head, what I noticed is that on the course, there would be times where I would try to get the ball in the air, and when my swing was off, the high right miss would creep back in.
On the range, the height of the 9 degree vr combo was great, but the balls at the range I goto fly higher than the prov1 I play on course.
I demoed a 10 degree head on a whim, put the TP in it, and saw a drastic difference in height. It's not as low spinning as my sim 10.5 head, but much easier to turn over. For distance, I would probably play a 9 degree TSi3 or a SIM, but the 10 degree head seems to be the "smarter" play.
I tried a DI, a Ventus blue, VR, XC, what did I end up with?
Fairway Wood:
Last year, my sim vr7 combo was the best 3 wood I hit in my life. I don't play a lot, but from the deck or off the tee I hit some of the purest shots I could've ever imagined.
Some body pains have forced me to change how I swing, and some adjustments in my setup have me now playing a stock draw instead of a fade.
For whatever reason, I can no longer hit a three wood to save my life. My last three rounds, every time I've tried to hit a safe 3 wood off a tee or go for a par 5, that swing has cost me a penalty stroke. Tops, high flare rights are the main culprits. I don't trust it anymore. Two years ago, three wood was my strongest asset, could hit it on command, now I'm really close to not even carrying one.
Because I've enjoyed so much success with the TSi3 line, I tried the fairway woods.
The TSi3 was terrible, but to be fair, so was my swing. I hit four balls with it, two were low tops, two were dead pushes. That's out.
The TSi2 on paper is what I'm supposed to play, easy to launch forgiving, MOI blablabalbalbala. I couldn't hit that to save my life either with the tensei white. I hate how it sets up at address though. Absolutely hate it.
My last ditch effort was a TSi2 15 with a hzrdus smoke shaft, the closest setup to the m6 hzrdus I played with great success until it caved.
It's not great, but my mishits stay in play. Painfully short, but stay in play.
Hybrid:
Along with the sim 3 wood, my pxg hybrid was my goto club. Could hit any shot I want with it. But I've lost confidence with this as well, maybe because I don't play a -3 out to in pull cut, the hybrid just wants to hang right for me outside.
It was a 20 degree hybrid, and what I was noticing on the course is that on shots where I would typically grab hybrid, my lack of confidence in it would have me trying to hit a 3/4 cut three wood (which was a shot I used to have but now can't hit to save my life), so I thought about trying to squeeze a little more yardage out of my hybrid to use for shots where I used to hit 3 wood.
Sim 2 rescue 17 degree. In a bit of desperation, even using the stock tensei blue shaft.
What I love about it is that it likes to turn over. It doesn't hook, but isn't super right biased with the stock shaft and set at a one click closed. This will be my club when driver is no good off the tee, and on par 5 second shots. The misses are a little skinnier, but stay close to my target line, which is more than I can ask for.
Every year, I debate whether to go for optimal distance in my driver and three wood, or for consistency.
I play maybe twice a month, with 2-3 range sessions a month, compared to a year and a half ago, where I would be at the range at least 4 times a week, and play twice a week at least.
So back then, it was easy to convince myself to go for max distance, because I had the reps to swing at full speed and muscle memory to hit the shots that I want.
The golf I've played this year has been a rude awakening that that is no longer the case.
So my top of bag setup this year is as "consistency" and less distance focused as my stomach will allow.
TSi3 10 degree with Tour AD TP6 shaft. I'm easily 10 yards shorter than the 9 degree VR combo, but I'm going to see this year if sacrificing a few yards for more fairways will truly benefit my score, especially since I don't play as much.
TSi2 15 degree with stock hzrdus rdx black. We'll see how long this lasts, my 3 wood confidence is still shot.
SIM2 Rescue 17 degree with stock tensei blue. This will be my goto club for a lot of shots, I may tinker with shafts later.
YUCK.
But If this setup can prevent the three blowup holes I average off the tee every round, I'll play plenty of respectable golf this year.
My iron ball striking is getting better as I adjust to a draw aim line instead of a pull fade.
And the spider X chalk has been absolutely lights out for me in terms of putting. After all the my spiders and tour experiments, an off the rack chalk has been the magic ticket. I've had a stability shaft sitting here to put in, but I can't touch the current setup because I've been so good with it. On my home greens, the number of mid range putts I hole has increased significantly.
The other spec change is adding a little length to the putter. I've always putted 34 but always felt a little hunched over. A brief experiment at 35" was bad, but now at 34 3/8, I grip a little further down the grip which was helped my face control a lot.
My bag is set for the year. HA. I'm going to try to stick to it though for real.
