Jump to content
TESTERS WANTED! ×

Titleist 915D2 - where is the sweet spot?


Recommended Posts

Hi all!

 

Im looking for your experiences with the 915D2 driver... my previous drivers have performed best (more distance/less spin) when the ball made contact just above the center of the face.

 

With the 915D2, Im finding that shots hit above center of the face lose distance and launch too high. I need to tee the ball pretty low and make sure I hit center of the face or even just below for the best performace.

 

Any of you other 915D2 owners experiencing the same? Is the sweet spot on this driver center face vs just above center like some other drivers out there?

 

Thanks!

What's in the Bag?

- PING G400 SFTec driver, Mitsubishi Chemical C6 Blue Stiff, @ 9*

- PING G series 3w, Alta CB Stiff shaft @ 16*

- PING G400 19* & 22* Hybrid, Alta CB Stiff

- PING i200 Irons, Modus 105 stiff, soft stepped, purple dot 5-AW

- PING Glide 56, 60 wedges, Modus 105 wedge shafts

- Ping Sigma 2 Kushin C @ 32.75 inches

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure exactly where it is on that driver, but KNOW from experience it is somewhere on the flat side of the driver. Hit it on the rounded side and very bad things happen. :blush:

:ping-small:G430LST 10.5° on     T P T    POWER 18 Hi Driver 

:ping-small:G430MAX 3w  on     T P T    POWER 18 Hi Fairway 

:ping-small:G425 3H on     T P T    POWER 18 Hi Hybrid 

:taylormade-small:P790 Black 4-A 
on :kbs: TGI 80S
 

:mizuno-small: ES21 54-8° & 58-12° on :kbs: Hi Rev

:L.A.B.:DF2.1 on :accra: White

:titelist-small: ProV1  

:918457628_PrecisionPro: Precision Pro  NX7 Pro

All Iron grips are BestGrips Micro-Perforated Mid

Driver, 3w, 3H are JumboMax JMX UltraLite XS 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The sweetspot in the centre of the club face is a good thing isn't it?

The point is, many drivers have curved faces which we call bulge and roll from crown to bottom and heel to  toe respectively. These are primarily used to create "gear effect" to some extent on the spin loft at impact and the spin dynamics of the golf ball, in order to optimise the launch characteristics of balls hit slightly off-centre. The optimal ball contact is still the centre of the face for most clubhead designs, but anomalies can be thrown up in some designs where the contact higher up the club face (say about 1/4" above centre) can have an effect on ball spin combined with CoR which gives increased spin loft and therefore sometimes it means more distance - nice if you need it, which most folks do (think "loft up" campaign) but not so great if it counteracts your optimal fitting parameters and throws a spanner in the works of your launch characteristics. This can be due to many factors (not least club head design) but is more likely as result of specific angle of attack in conjunction with actual dynamic loft on the specific area of the club face where impact is made - remember: the bulge of the club face combined with the true loft of club (not what is written on the club head) can dictate the launch characteristics. 

Off-centre hits are also a known anomaly with Trackman results and it can yield some implausible greater than 1.50 results - particularly from the toe and slightly above centre strikes.

The 915 design in itself is pretty forgiving and the ARC chamber on the sole takes away some of the flexing of the crown and makes the centre of the club face a much larger sweetspot as a result. This however means hits higher up the face will have less CoR due to the reduced crown flexing which helps to keep spin down as part of it's design. The low hits are given more ball speed with the help of the ARC chamber. The overall design is geared towards giving more consistency across a wider area of the face rather than utilising gear effect to correct misses which the ARC chamber wouldn't compensate for. 

So it seems your game may actually benefit from a little added spin which the 915 is trying it's best to reduce. Without knowing too much about your previous drivers, I'd suggest getting fitted properly for weight, length and loft to make sure you are making the most of the available tech in the 915 design. If you have a tendency to hit the ball above centre as you suggest, then careful tweaking may be necessary to find the centre more often - which is what it's all about at the end of the day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That is excellent information! I had been playing a Tour Edge Exotics E8, but the dispersion wasnt all that great for me and the sound was particularly annoying so I decided to splurge on a fitting at 2nd swing in Minneapolis.

 

The guy there was great, we tried several head shaft combos, and he put me into this D2 with a Rogue 60 stiff flex shaft. I had my E8 with me as well, and the D2 beat it by 10yrds carry and 13yds total distance... D2 spin was around 2400rpm and about a 14 degreee launch angle, very similar to the E8, just a little less spin (2400 vs the E8 26-2800) but much better ball speed and dispersion with the D2.

 

That E8 seemed to do way better when the ball struck just above the centerline.. so i teed up a little higher than I used to after reading many drivers now have their sweet spots a little higher on the face.

 

That same spot on the face seems to not be the best place on the D2, so I was curious as to if players simply need to adjust tee height a little to find the best place to make contact in the face, and that might actually be different for every driver..

 

And if course, try to find out where that spot on the face of the 915D2 lives, so I can adjust accordingly :)

What's in the Bag?

- PING G400 SFTec driver, Mitsubishi Chemical C6 Blue Stiff, @ 9*

- PING G series 3w, Alta CB Stiff shaft @ 16*

- PING G400 19* & 22* Hybrid, Alta CB Stiff

- PING i200 Irons, Modus 105 stiff, soft stepped, purple dot 5-AW

- PING Glide 56, 60 wedges, Modus 105 wedge shafts

- Ping Sigma 2 Kushin C @ 32.75 inches

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not every other club... the "screws" on my Exotics E8 were not on the center of the face. It was just above center about a quarter of an inch.

What's in the Bag?

- PING G400 SFTec driver, Mitsubishi Chemical C6 Blue Stiff, @ 9*

- PING G series 3w, Alta CB Stiff shaft @ 16*

- PING G400 19* & 22* Hybrid, Alta CB Stiff

- PING i200 Irons, Modus 105 stiff, soft stepped, purple dot 5-AW

- PING Glide 56, 60 wedges, Modus 105 wedge shafts

- Ping Sigma 2 Kushin C @ 32.75 inches

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The sweet spot for one might not be the sweet spot for another. It should be centered toe to heel but due to bulge and roll and the mechanics of the users swing it could be higher or lower on the face for that person. They generally COR test dead center of the face. But for some the roll of the face could mean shots struck slightly toward the crown gives them optimum performance while some may se better performance lower on the face. Mechanics/swing dynamics would determine that

In The Bag
Driver: TaylorMade M2 (2017) w/ Project X T1100 HZRDUS Handcrafted 65x 
Strong 3 wood: Taylormade M1 15* w/ ProjectX T1100 HZRDUS handcrafted 75x
3 Hybrid: Adams PRO 18* w/ KBS Tour Hybrid S flex tipped 1/2"
4 Hybrid: Adams PRO 20* (bent to 21*) w/ KBS Tour Hybrid S flex tipped 1/2"
4-AW: TaylorMade P770 w/ Dynamic Gold Tour Issue Black Onyx S400

SW: 56* Scratch Tour Dept(CC grooves) w/ Dynamic Gold Spinner
LW: 60* Scratch Tour Department (CC grooves) w/ Dynamic Gold Spinner
XW: 64* Cally XForged Vintage w/ DG X100 8 iron tiger stepped
Putter: Nike Method Prototype 006 at 34"

Have a ton of back-ups in all categories, but there are always 14 clubs in the bag that differ depending on the course and set-up. Bomb and gouge. Yes, I'm a club gigolo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Much better results today.. Teeing down a bit really seemed to help, although was very uncomfortable at first. Misses low on the face definately worked out better than above center... when set at b4 (12 degrees) the higher face misses seemed to balloon slightly, and lose a lot of distance so I dialed the loft down to c4 (11.25) and the flight was overall more penetraring even on the above center misses.

 

The combined lower loft and lower tee height got me back to the length Im used to seeing on course, as well as one of my longest drives I have ever had, so Im excited to see what I can get out of this 915 once the weather gets above 70 and things firm up..

 

Im not sure why the fitting put me at 12 degrees though, 11.25 certainly seems to be a much better fit.. Im guessing the launch monitor could be a little off or although the numbers looked better at 12 vs 11.25 loft, its still not as good as being able to see the actual ball flight outside. I suppose the trackman can get you 95% of the way there though and then might have to tweak just a bit more once you get outside and can really get a good look at things...

What's in the Bag?

- PING G400 SFTec driver, Mitsubishi Chemical C6 Blue Stiff, @ 9*

- PING G series 3w, Alta CB Stiff shaft @ 16*

- PING G400 19* & 22* Hybrid, Alta CB Stiff

- PING i200 Irons, Modus 105 stiff, soft stepped, purple dot 5-AW

- PING Glide 56, 60 wedges, Modus 105 wedge shafts

- Ping Sigma 2 Kushin C @ 32.75 inches

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...