Quick fitting quiz: does this driver fit?
 

This weekend I had the chance to stop by a demo day, I won't say who's gear it was, but these are the numbers I observed someone being 'fit' with: (averages)

9.5 deg stiff shaft
150 ball speed
103 club speed
2688 spin
7.5 deg launch angle

Now most folks would walk away and think that was the right fit for them, because hey, that is what the guy told me right? They had a monitor right?

So what's wrong with the above numbers? (no fair having Jeff or Ted jump in yet!)

I hope this guy was being fit to play in windy conditions. That launch angle is way low.

It was a windy day

That does say a bit about the impact hand location ;)

Everything good but the launch angle - Ideal would be 12-14 for max. distance.

Worm burner special.

Quick fitting quiz; does this driver fit
 

Sounds like the bend point in the stiff shaft is too high. Did the fitter supply any info pertaining to bend point.

Yep, so given that the driver loft is 9.5, with LA of 7.5, a driver loft increase is the place I would start.

11 degrees or even 11.5 is the next thing I would check, but as far as I know, most major brands don't have that kind of loft in a tour head (2 degrees open usually). No wonder people are told to hit 'up'!

Depending on the spin rate at that loft, perhaps some shaft adjustments (slightly heavier).

If I recall correctly, wasn't the standard with persimmon 12 degrees?

He could probably stand to move the ball a tad closer to low point as well.

Best response ever!
 

I was waiting to see who would be the first to go there. I would imagine he would need to get the ball much farther forward and get the shaft more vertical at impact.

Way to go Bam-Bam!

I have seen two very good players take the same club on Trackman and one creates 8 degrees of loft the other 14.
Ball position and axis tilt. Hit up versus down.

Persimmon standard was 11 degrees for most manufacturers. More important than the loft in my opinion would be the flex pattern of the shaft. My numbers are not dissimilar from those noted. I use a 9.5 degree loft, but my shaft is a Fubuki which I find to be tip soft. The combo was the best I found for distance and accuracy. Awful lot of testing and comparison must go on before you can find a driver anymore. Used to look at persimmon, if the grain looked good, you would stick a dynamic stiff shaft in and go play. Every now and then you found a head, because of the grain and weight, would hit it twenty yards past everything else, that was the keeper you slept with. Miss it, awful hard to get excited about a driver you will replace in six months when something new comes along.

Oh, Dodger.
I took my Wood Bros. persimmon driver to our high school team's practice Monday. As the seniors arrived (early release from school)they wondered what the heck I had. They had honestly never seen one before.
Two young men teachers that help with the girls' team arrived and drooled over it. They hadn't seen a persimmon head for 20 years.
I handed it to one of the seniors and he could not believe how little the head was. I teed the ball for him (he would have teed it way too high) and asked him to swing. He left it way right and could not believe how heavy it was. I suggested he move it slightly forward in his stance. Right on the sweetspot and he roped it about 15 ft. high with a slight draw. He couldn't wipe the smile off his face.
He spent Monday night calling his grandfather's friends looking for a persimmon driver.