“I MISS FAIRWAYS TO THE RIGHT”
Jason’s a good player, but his clubface does tend to open excessively halfway back and towards the top of the backswing it was a little bit more open. This means he can struggle to square the face up at impact, leading to blocked drives.
FAULT
A good checkpoint for Jason was to make sure the toe was slightly in front of the heel as he looked at it halfway back; when the shaft was level with the ground. This more neutral clubface should help him square it up at impact. This is a great drill because he can use it out on the course in his pre-shot routine, like Justin Thomas does, to get his swing off to the best possible start.
DRILL
A more neutral clubface in the takeaway now translates into a better position at the top of the swing, where less compensations are needed on the way down to square up the clubface at impact.
FIX
FITTER ANALYSIS
Jason was using a Taylormade M1 driver and liked the way it performed, but for me it was spinning quite high. I felt, given the high clubhead speed he has, knocking some spin off would help get him more distance. Also, with the Speed Injected Twist Face on the M5, accuracy on mishits wouldn’t be affected as much.
The M1 shots he hit climbed a little bit through the air and often drifted to the right. With the M5 driver we increased the ball speed by 3mph and with the same launch and lower spin – the ball was carrying further and hitting the ground with more energy so it was running out further in total. We changed the shaft slightly – it was the same weight as his M1 but just a hair stiffer and it helped control the start line as well as add yards.
JASON’S FEEDBACK
I did have some expectations, although I was dubious about the new technology in the latest kit from Taylormade. I’ve got the Taylormade M1 in driver, 3-wood and 5-wood and all three of them were fitted for me. I think I was skeptical as to whether the new range of woods would be able to offer that much of a difference to warrant thinking about upgrading. But the results were very interesting and certainly food for thought.
I think the big takeaway for me was the reduction in the dispersion with my bad shots. It’s not necessarily the added distance (although there was a gain of maybe ten yards), it’s more about reducing the effect of the miss and making the bad shots better.
The fitting process is good, but for me the best thing it offers is the confidence you get from knowing what you have in your hand is right – that’s worth the money in itself.
JASON’S FITTED DRIVER
Taylormade M5, 9°, Mitsubishi Rayon Tensei CK Pro Orange shaft, stiff flex, split weights across the track.