“MY STRIKES ARE TOO INCONSISTENT”
Nick would tend to stand up during his backswing. He would lose his angles and he’d get a flat shoulder plane at the top. This change in height meant he often hit the ground before the ball.
FAULT
Place a club across your shoulders and make a backswing, feeling that the grip end of the club reaches about belt high when it gets over the ball. This helps you turn while maintaining your spine angle.
DRILL
Nick’s shoulders are now on a steeper plane at the top and he is staying in his posture much better. He started with soft shots getting used to the movement, but he achieved more consistent contacts afterwards.
FIX
FITTER ANALYSIS
Nick had a 12° competitor driver that was set to draw, but Nick’s club path is very left, which is typical of golfers with a slice. This draw set-up was encouraging him to hit a lot of pulled shots. So we started off with similar settings on the Taylormade models, something draw-biased with equivalent loft, and as expected he was hitting straight pulls. So we moved away from a draw-biased driver into something more neutral where he could start the ball straighter.
We actually tested a shorter 3-wood shaft and all of a sudden we dramatically reduced his miss to the left, because he had more control. We went from a minus-ten-degree path to the left down to about six degrees, so all of a sudden he was starting it straighter with less curvature on the flight. We brought the loft down, too, which brought the spin down. All in all, I think it was a big improvement.
NICK’S FEEDBACK
This was my first ever golf club fitting, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect at my level. I was thinking it would be tinkering with something minor when it really was an operator issue. I was actually bowled over by how the patterns, even with my inconsistent swings and strikes, were discovered. Then to see such significant improvements by changing the spin rate and shaft genuinely blew me away.
Seeing how the ball was landing and rolling out was a big eye opener. It was also great starting to feel more confident about swinging with real power without necessarily worrying where the ball was going. Mark fits really good players all the time, but for him to make such a big difference to a high-handicapper like me, I can’t thank him enough for his efforts. The Taylormade M6 driver is definitely the best I’ve ever tried.
NICK’S FITTED DRIVER
Taylormade M6, 10.5° set to 11°, Project X Evnflow Max Carry 45, regular flex.