Question from aspiring long driver

[Lefty13]

Hi,

I've picked up golf again in the past year and am as addicted as can be. My current driver is a cleveland launcher 400 9.5 /w stock stiff shaft. Having a baseball background and being a pretty good size I can hit it pretty well. At my local driving range I can often carry it 300 or so, it's really hard to tell since im just going off what I can see in the distance heh. Anyways my real question is when I use my driver it baloons tremendously, i've been thinking getting a lower degree driver like a Bang-o-matic, SMT DB455, or something of that nature and probably increasing the shaft to a X-stiff or XX-stiff.

I would imagine that getting a lower degree loft and stiffer flex shaft would help, but I have no means of getting a launch monitor or anything to give some real hard numbers to decide on what would be best, just my experience with my currrent driver. So hopefully I don't decide with too low a loft and shoot myself in the foot so to speak heh.

Anyways, any insights or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Lefty13

[Hawk]

Lefty,

Your best bet without a launch monitor to go to your local golf shop and have your swing speed measured.  This will give you an "idea" of what kind of flex of shaft you should be in.  Keep in mind that different companies may play stiffer or weaker then the flex stamped on the shaft.  ie. a Harrison X may feel like an Accuflex XX depending on the shaft and its properties.  Frequency of the shaft will give you more of an accurate "stiffness" of the shaft.  

There may be a lot of factors why you are ballooning the ball not just equipment.  Try to get in touch with some LD'ers in your area and see what they say.  There are a lot of companies that are sponsors of this site that can help you out with components so don't be afraid to contact them.  Most of all enjoy yourself and we'll see you out there.

Hawk