- 17 minutes ago
Thinking of buying a new driver next year? Well make sure you watch this video first where Joel Tadman asks 5 questions you need to answer honestly before parting with your hard-earned cash!
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00:00Are you thinking of buying a new driver? Well, I'm not surprised. There's a whole host of new
00:04drivers about to be launched, and for many golfers, the temptation will be too hard to resist. But
00:09before you part with your hard-earned cash, make sure you ask yourself the five questions I'm going
00:13to ask in this video filmed at the incredible Elsa course at Trump Turnberry. Number three is
00:19probably the most important, but all five will have a bearing on your decision. So be honest
00:24with yourself, and only then will you know if a new driver has the potential to solve all your
00:29problems.
00:41Question one, is driving actually the worst part of your game? There's a lot of us probably
00:46think that driving is the worst part of a game, but how do you actually compare to other golfers
00:51of your handicap ability and maybe the handicap bracket down if that's something that you're
00:54aspiring to? Because you might think that driving is the worst part of the game, but actually
00:58the money that you've allocated to spend on a new driver could possibly be better spent
01:03in another part of the bag, maybe a set of irons or a set of wedges to improve the worst
01:08part of your game.
01:09Access to data is critical here.
01:11I'm an Arcos user, so I've got access to a host of different stats and information about
01:16how I drive the golf ball. If you want to get your hands on the Arcos smart sensors that give
01:20you access to that data, I've put some links in the description below where you can get
01:24your hands on those for the best price in your area. It gives you a whole wealth of information,
01:29whether it's distance versus accuracy, your common miss, left or right. I think the most important
01:34one is strokes gained. You can see how you compare with other golfers of a similar ability. Actually,
01:40you can see from my stats that driving is probably the worst part of my game and potentially a
01:44candidate for a new driver. That information should help you understand your tendency with
01:49a driver and maybe there's other ways you could go about fixing your faults with a driver that don't
01:54involve having to spend 600 pounds or dollars on a new driver. For example, if you look at your stats,
01:59or maybe even if you just play a few rounds and make some notes after you finish, maybe,
02:04for example, if you're missing fairways to the left, it could be that you could just make some
02:08adjustments to your current driver. Assuming it's not that old, you should have some adjustability
02:13on here that allows you to maybe tweak the face angle slightly. Maybe you can open the face angle,
02:17that'll give you more of a right bias to your shots. Maybe a little bit of loft might give you
02:22a
02:22little bit more carry distance. Maybe you could change the internal weighting of your driver to give you
02:26a slightly different shot shape. There's a few things that you should think about with your
02:30current driver. Maybe if your swing has changed a little bit or your tendency under pressure has
02:34changed a little bit, you should be able to adjust your current driver to maybe influence or improve
02:39some of the stats that you've got at the moment. If there's a lot of red flags throughout your data,
02:44if you're missing more fairways than you're hitting, if you're always being outdriven by your friends and
02:49your playing partners, that could therefore make a case for investing in a new driver that's well custom-fitted and
02:55could address some of the shortfalls in your data and turn it around in your favor.
03:01Okay, the next question is, what is your budget? Let's say you've weighed up the pros and cons
03:06and you've decided, yep, you want to buy a new driver. When you go and buy one, you might be
03:11surprised to learn that the price of modern-day premium drivers is pretty expensive, around about
03:15the 600 pounds, $650 mark, which for the sake of being a few extra yards down the fairway is a
03:22relatively difficult investment to justify. Don't get it wrong, these premium drivers,
03:26the drivers played by the world's best players, are expensive for a reason. They give you that
03:31total performance that's going to give you distance and accuracy, especially when custom-fitted.
03:37Obviously, that's going to give you a lot more enjoyment of the game. It's important to recognize
03:41that if you are in the market for a new driver, there are some more affordable alternatives out there,
03:46whether it's a brand-new driver from a more affordable brand. We're seeing a larger number
03:52of brands offering some really impressive drivers at a slightly lower price point. Check out the
03:56buying guides on the Golf Monthly website because there's a lot of information there about some more
04:00affordable drivers. Another option to go down is that second-hand route. From our testing this year,
04:06there's definitely some absolute crackers in the second-hand market that will still do a decent job in
04:11terms of performance that come in at a much lower price. It's important to recognize there are
04:16alternatives out there. If you're looking to buy a new driver, you don't have to go all out and spend
04:19top dollar on the most expensive drivers to get some decent performance, especially if your driver
04:25is quite a few years old and wasn't custom-fitted. Question three, and arguably the most important is,
04:31are you planning a technique change? Ideally, your driver would be custom-fitted to suit your swing
04:38rather than you adapting your swing to suit your driver. At this time of the year, the off-season,
04:44a lot of golfers are going through a series of lessons to try and improve their swing. As a result,
04:49that will change the performance characteristics of your club. It will likely change the way you're
04:53delivering the club into the ball, whether it's your attack angles changing, your path changing,
04:58and that will have an impact on the spin rates, the dispersion, the ball flight, and the amount of
05:03distance that you can generate. It's important that your driver is always fully optimized to your swing.
05:08Therefore, if you are changing your swing, you might need to think about when you buy a new
05:14driver or have the potential to adjust your current driver. Let's face it, if your driver is relatively
05:19new, it should have some adjustable features that can accommodate a technique change to a degree.
05:25The effect is relatively limited. If you're making really big wholesale changes to your swing,
05:30having a big differential in your path or your attack angle, perhaps your new driver won't be able to
05:35be optimized for your new swing. It's important you do things in the right order. If you are
05:40planning a technique change, but you're also thinking about buying a new driver,
05:45my advice to you would be implement the new swing changes first and then invest in the new driver
05:51that accommodates your new swing. That's going to make sure that your driver is then fully optimized
05:56for your new and hopefully improved technique. The added benefit of that is the fact that you'll be
06:01more encouraged or inclined to stick with those changes that you're making in conjunction with
06:06your PGA Pro. If you're working on the right things, you know your driver is then optimized for
06:11your new swing, you're less likely to go into your old habits and revert back to your old swing,
06:16which you know was holding you back. The added benefit of doing it in that order,
06:20make those technique changes first and then consider buying a new driver.
06:25We'll take a break from the video to remind you, if you're enjoying what you're watching,
06:29please do click the like button, it really helps us out. If you haven't already,
06:32do subscribe to the Golf Monday YouTube channel.
06:41The next question is, was your driver custom fitted for you? It's a simple yes or no question. If the
06:48answer is no, the chances are you've been missing out on performance by having a driver that's not been
06:53fully optimized for your game. The custom fitting process is something that happens where the driver
06:58gets really fine-tuned to your very specific and unique demands. Every golfer swings and delivers
07:04the club in a very specific way. A custom fitting is the only way that you're going to really dial
07:10in
07:10those key parameters of things like launch, spin, spin access, which affects the way the ball curves
07:16through the air and the height and things like that. If you haven't been custom fitted for your driver,
07:21the chances are those key parameters haven't been optimized and you're going to be missing out
07:25on performance. Don't get me wrong, a driver off the shelf could work relatively well,
07:30but the only way you're going to know for sure that your driver is completely maxed out to its
07:35potential is to go through that custom fitting process. It's going to give you that extra confidence
07:40that you need that you're standing over the ball and you know that the driver you've got on your hands
07:43is fully maxed out in terms of matching up to your swing and going to give you the best combination
07:49of distance and accuracy that's hopefully going to improve your driving.
07:54The last question is, why do you want to buy a new driver? This ties into our deeper motivation
07:59behind wanting a new driver. Are you fed up of being out driven by your mates? Well,
08:04maybe some speed training would help. Are you sick of constantly missing fairways? Well,
08:09maybe a series of lessons would be a more cost effective way of straightening out your drives.
08:13Do you simply just want the latest and greatest driver that all the best players in the world are using?
08:18If that's you, it sounds like you've already made your mind up, but just because a new driver works
08:23in the hands of Rory McIlroy every year doesn't necessarily mean it's going to work for you in
08:27the same way. Also, when you buy a new driver, don't expect to be another 10, 15 yards further down
08:33the fairway, especially if your driver is relatively new and well custom fitted. The chances are the gains
08:39that you experience are going to be pretty minor. It's important to manage your expectations in terms of
08:44what a new driver can give you. Yes, it's a lovely thing to have and the chances are you will
08:49be a
08:50little bit longer and a little bit straighter or maybe a little bit of both, but I don't think
08:54it's going to completely necessarily revolutionize your game, but there's no question the feeling of
08:59buying and hitting a new driver is unmatched. I know it's going to be hard to resist, but just answer
09:05these five questions in your mind before you make that purchase and then you'll be confident it's
09:11the right decision for you.
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