I'm presently playing with an SMT Deep Bore, but since my surgery I'm having a hard time generating the club head speed to get the 10 degrees up in the air. I was wondering if anyone has experience or comments about the Alpha which I can get in a 12 degree loft...also...I'm left handed. Thanks

There are a few reviews on the alpha drivers on this site you might want to read. As for the 12* loft, I would have to recommend you try one for yourself. I built a Snake Eyes 600TC 12* driver and I gained 25 yards off the tee. If you are not getting the ball in the air enough, this should help you to solve that problem. Golfsmith sells a few left hand drivers that are available in either 11.5 or 12 degrees, even up to 15 degrees. If there is a Golfsmith store near you, you should demo as many drivers as you can and see if one of them works for you. All of Golfsmith's driver heads are of good quality, so you can't go wrong if you find one you like. Do you know what your swing speed is after surgery?

Doc,
I have tried out Alpha driver heads. I did so when I was getting fitted for a new driver shaft. The nice thing about them is that their stated loft is very accurate, unlike many OEM's. They must be made pretty damn well too. I just read in Golf Digest that their professional long drivers team has not cracked a single head. That's pretty impressive considering the club head speed they generate! I tried both the 830 2 and the Version 2 heads, both were really good. I think I prefered the 830 2 model. It was 460 cc's (I like the big drivers) but both had very solid feeling off the face. More of a "thwack" sound than many drivers out there. Make sure to get one built with the shaft you want and you should have a very good quality (and high performing) driver. It was recommended to me that I go with a 10* loft, my swing speed is around 115 MPH just for reference. SMT are supposed to be really good also, too bad it isn't working for you anymore!

Hi Mr. Divots; I noticed that you stated that your swing speed is 115. Would you mind telling me what your carry distance is for your driver? What about carry distance with your irons? From your other posts, I know that you have a pretty good game, and I know that what you tell me will be the truth, not some 350 yard garbage some people will claim to be hitting the ball. I'm sure you carry the ball with your driver farther than I do, and I'm curious about your iron distances compared to your driver distance. My swing speed with a driver is about 107, and my carry distance is not what it should be. I carry my irons fine, but not the woods, which is what I am working on now. Irons carry distance is, 120 yards,GW: 135 yards,PW: 150 yards, 9 iron: 165 yards, 8 iron: 178 yards, 7 iron: 190 yards, 6 iron. The problem is with the driver, if I get over 225 yards it's one of the better ones. With my swing speed, I should be over 250-260 yards, but I'm not. Which is why I'm working on my woods at this time. Needless to say, long par 4's are not my idea of fun. An extra 25-30 yards off the tee would mean two club lengths closer. Never did complain about hitting a 7 iron instead of a 5 iron. Thanks in advance for your time. Type at you later, Don.

Don,
Looks like our iron distances are pretty similar.
My typical driver carry is about 270 to 280. The longest I've ever hit wind assisted was about 345. I am being conservative in my estimate, but driver has been my most inconsistent club as well. I ususally get one or two drives a round that are around 300 anyway. Hoping 1.5" shorter shaft will make that more consistent!
Irons: SW-115,GW-130,PW-140,9-150,8-160,7-170,6-180,5-190,4-200,3-210,Rescue19*-225,3W-245 off the deck, 265 t'd up. I just began carrying a 60* wedge at times, haven't used for too many full shots yet. More for flops and looking to use from sand as well.
When I got my swing measured, my clubfitter said I made really clean contact with the ball. Some of my swings were in the low 120's with a ball speed of up to low 160's. He said that was just good energy transfer that accounted for that.
I find it interesting that you can hit your irons so hard but not the driver. I guess it's the tell-all club for us mortals. Have you tried choking down on your driver yet? I know I must sound like a broken record, but the shorter drivers are a lot easier. If you find a 3 wood easier to handle, then I would definitely recommend it. You have the luxury of being able to build it yourself too. Some day I hope to learn to build clubs. I was looking at the Accuflex Icon Heavy shaft. Over 90 grams for a wood shaft would make it easy to make a shorter driver. The NV's also come in a 95 model too (you said you like your NV.) A heavier shaft might be a good move for you as well. It really helps to "feel" where the club is in the swing. A really light shaft brings up the swing speed a little, but I tended to lose track especially in my backswing of where the club was.
I guess a steel shaft in your Airmax like you were talking about might be an inexpensive way to test the shorter shaft theory like you had mentioned.

Oh Don,
When I was having driver trouble, my pro had me work with a PW a lot doing half swings. He wanted me to feel the weight transfer in my feet. It also helped to slow down my hips so they wouldn't spin open too fast. He didn't have me swing the driver until I was hitting my half wedges solidly with a good weight transfer. I could really feel the transfer with the driver after that! Sounds like you must be transfering just fine with the irons. Maybe your weight isn't shifting and you're getting stuck on your back foot. When was your last lesson?

Had a lesson last week and worked on transfering my weight and swinging through the ball. Instructor also had me allow my wrists to bend more at the top of my swing. I just looked in my catalog and the NV comes in 55,65,75, and 85 grams. One shaft I have been thinking of is the Harrison SL50, 53 grams and 2.6 torque. Golfsmith has them on sale now so I ordered a few to try. Has a mid bend point so I think it might work well with a 10.5 degree driver. It's lighter than what's in the driver now, but 45 grams is what the Shaftlab tester recommended, so it might be worth a try. I can always add some weight to the head and get the swing weight up higher. Thanks for your carry distances. I which my woods went that far. I remember seeing that the pros on tour have a ball speed of right at 1.5 times their swing speed. That would make your 115 swing speed give you a ball speed of 172.5 MPH. If you get a chance you might want to try a few different balls and see if you can max out your ball speed a little. Not that you need the extra distance, but what the heck. Next time you go you might want to take some of your own golf balls to test. I would think that if you were useing balls from the store, some of them might be worn out by now and costing you some ball speed. Be worth testing it. When I make a practice swing with a short iron, I can start my downswing with a shift of my hips to the left and transfer my weight correctly. But when I hit a ball, I have little or no idea how I start the downswing. I mentioned that fact to my instructor and he just looked at me funny. What I am doing now is trying to make the same swing every time, be it a practice swing or hitting the ball. When I make a practice swing, I can finish with the shaft against the back of my head, just like the pros. Add a ball to the equation, and I have a hard time making a long follow through. I know that I'm not alone in this area, but it still makes me want to break something. Strange how a practice swing can be fine and then place a ball in the way and it all goes to hell. It's all mental and that's what makes me so mad at myself. Todays practice session at the range got postponed until tomorrow, so I will have to try choking down an inch then. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again for you distances, they are about what I expected for the irons, a little longer on the woods then I would have guessed. You're about the same on average as Padraig Harrington, and his irons are 2 degrees stronger than normal. Can't complain about that. Type at you later, Don

Don,
Have you considered getting a second opinion on your wood shafts? It just doesn't seem feasible to me that a 107 mph swing speed would warrant a senior flex shaft in 45 grams. If you are using steel in your irons, I'm thinking the weight of those shafts is much heavier than 45 grams. From the way you say you hit your irons, it doesn't sound like it's too much weight to swing effectively for you, if anything it may be beneficial. Plus, maybe you were just not swinging well the day you did the shaft lab deal. I got measured when I had just fired off my best rounds of the season in succession, so that I knew I was swinging well and hopefully the results would be more accurate.
I checked the Aldila web site, they make up to a 103 gram shaft (105 model)in the NV, just so you know.
I guess I would tend to view shaft weight like a bowling ball. If it is too light, the ball will just bounce off the pins, and accuracy could suffer. Too heavy, and your speed will be down and accuracy will suffer also. Maybe you are just overloading your driver shaft and it can't deliver the energy to the ball? I dunno. There must be a clubfitter in CO you could see.

Jesus Don! I just went to the Professional Clubmaker's Society Website. Tom Wishon is in CO! He is one of the foremost experts in all of club fitting and building! Always quoted in Golf Digest and other mags. Here's the link:
http://www.proclubmakers.org/locator.php
You have the holy grail of clubfitting right in your backyard!! I told my clubfitter that I had read an article on shafts by Wishon, and he just smiled and said I was taking the advice of one of the best in the business. He said they know one another. Tom Cook Sr. is who fitted me.
I would see him or talk to him at least if at all possible!

I didn't think A flex was right either, and that's why I called Grafalloy to talk to someone. The guy said R-flex might be better, but it really depends on how you load the shaft, not how fast you swing it. Golfers like Els, can use a softer flex than someone like Tiger. Els has a nice smooth swing, and he loads the shaft without the harsh transision. Tiger looks like he's trying to kill the poor ball. At least that's the story I got from Grafalloy, they are the ones that do the Shaftlab system. The system doesn't even measure the club head speed, only the way you load the shaft. We are having the Golf Expo here in town in three weeks, and I can get a free swing testing on the Shaftlab then. It cost $45.00 when I had it done three months ago, which I think is a lot, since it takes less than ten minutes to do. If I had them build me a new driver or set of irons, they might have waved the charge, but since I build my own clubs, they didn't. When I was tested, the guy that ran the test, said he hits the ball around 290-300 yards and the Shaftlab came up the A-flex for him also. My Golfsmith catalog only lists up to 85 gram shafts in the NV line. I guess they don't carry all the one available, not too surprising. The Tri-gold shafts I have in my LX2 irons weight from 117 to 131 grams. One of the nice things about the Tri-Gold shafts is that the 3 iron shaft weighs 117, and the wedge shaft weighs 131 grams. Just the opposite of what you would get in a standard set of shafts. The bend point varies also, from high in the short irons to lower in the 3 iron. I really like my irons, and it's a shame TT stopped making the shafts. I still have an old persimmon driver with a steel shaft. I might try it this weekend and see how it works out. You might be right in stating that a heavier shaft might be better, don't know. And I'll try to stay out of the "ask the pro" section if you insist. But I reserve the right to speak up if one of the "pros" give any more bad answers as they have in the past. And that's not just my opinion, but that of a PGA professional that I have talked to about some of the answers that have been posted on this site. So, unless I see a bad answer in that section, I'll keep out of there. I forgot to thank you for the idea of hitting half wedge shots to instill the feeling of weight transfer to the left. That was a great tip from your instructor and I will try to remember to use it each time I go to the range.

I kind of had a feeling about the shaft lab experience you had, and the guy that said he hits 280-300 and was recommended an A flex, I think, backs that up. Is Wishon close to where you live. He or his shop would probably be an awesome resource. My clubfitter measured my tempo, contact effectiveness, swing speed, launch angle, contact angles, etc, etc. He used three different launch monitors to get his readings. The clubfitters don't look to correct your swing, just see how the equipment you are using is working for you. He saw that I have a smooth transition also, and suggested the right flex (frequency calculated no less) and torque specs based on my swing. I think some of the Shaftlab or retail launch monitor experiences are better than nothing, but are too generalized. As far as Golfsmith, I understand you can special order pretty much anything you want from them, you just have to ask. Not sure about the price, however...
The funny thing is, now that I have been professionally fit, I feel like I have about the best setup I can have. I'm not searching for the "perfect" club anymore. Its good for the pocketbook, but hard to accept that I don't NEED any new equipment!!

I just checked the web and Tom Wishon is in Durango, Colorado, on the other side of the state. It's about a 7-8 hour drive in good weather, never know for sure this time of year with snow in the mountains possible at any time just about.

Don,
I can tell you are a "tinkerer." I get the feeling you like to build clubs as much as hit them. I am probably barking up the wrong tree telling you to see a professional clubmaker. If you found the perfect setup, you would lose your hobby. Am I right?
I hear doctors aren't supposed to operate on themselves either...
Did you play today? How did you fare? It's snowing 6-9" today in ye good ol northland.

Forget the SMT and Alpha unless you want to join their long drive teams.

The most forgiving and longest LEFT hand driver right now is the LEFT HAND Power Play Select 5000, 10 degrees (with a Grafalloy Pro Launch 55 (55 grams) regular flex shaft. (for roughly $120). It has the tallest face on the planet (approximately 2 1/2 inches). HIT THE BALL ABOUT 1/2 INCH FROM THE TOP AND WATCH AND LISTEN TO IT ROCKET. It is USGA non-conforming, but definitely the most fun driver on planet earth.

The Left handed SMT and Alpha drivers do not even compare in terms of distance, sound or foregiveness.

For instance, the SMT Deep Bore is quite difficult to hit consistently and has a hollow impact sound. Its a very expensive candy apple driver.

Don't get hung up on BRAND names because their purpose is to squeeze $$$$ from you.

Check out the best LEFT hand selection of golf clubs, drivers, irons, hybrids, putters, wedges at www.moonshotgolf.com

They select the best of the most current technology. Moon Shot Golf even sells the BRAND NEW Mitsubishi Rayon shaft used by Vijay Singh (at $300 per shaft - ridiculously expensive).

Some people just don't seem to care about costs.

Incidentally, Moon Shot Golf seems to be the lowest price on the internet at all levels. If you check out their internet comments, they are excellent. 100% approval rate on EBAY.

Why would you pay $199 for an Alpha head, unless you are a head case or work for Alpha.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ScratchGolfDoc:
[qb]I'm presently playing with an SMT Deep Bore, but since my surgery I'm having a hard time generating the club head speed to get the 10 degrees up in the air. I was wondering if anyone has experience or comments about the Alpha which I can get in a 12 degree loft...also...I'm left handed. Thanks[/qb][/QUOTE]

Not true at all. While I enjoy building clubs, if I ever find a driver that I can hit 275 yards down the middle of the fairway all the time, I will be happy to never build another driver for myself again. Played a course for the first time yesterday and shot a 90. Made a few good shots, but couldn't sink a putt to save my life. Had 6 long putts rim out on me, and 1 chip hit the flag and stay out. Not a good round, but the weather was nice and the company was enjoyable, so it was better than being at work. I plan to find a place to have my swing checked on a launch monitor and get fit. The way I'm swing the driver right now, it might be better to wait awhile. Need to fine a launch monitor that really works. The last time I hit my 8.5* driver on a monitor, it said my launch angle was 23 degrees. My nine iron results were 26 degrees. Not even close to the real world, so I walked out of there with no usefull information to go on. So I still need to fine a good club fitter and a launch monitor that gives accurate results.

Don you lucky dog. I just got done clearing 7" of snow off my driveway. I think that would be a good idea to try another launch session. I know Wishon is across the state from you, but you might want to check the Professional Clubmaker's Society website for one closer to you. I get the feeling when I go to a retail store that often the sales people don't know how to use their launch monitor correctly. Yeah, don't go unless your swing is feeling good. I just read an article that said a good time to get a video lesson is when you feel you're swinging well. That way they can tape it and you can see what you look like when it feels good. Later!

Hey Jimbogolf, nice infomercial!!
"But wait, there's more... if you call in the next five minutes, you'll also receive the Miracle Wedge, a $99 value, absolutely free!

Thank you all, I've been away for a while with doctor visits and my office. SMT is coming out with a highter loft in their 455 DEEP Bore. Until then I'll open the face up a bit more. I was wondering how old and tall you guys are to get a swing speed that high. I went to the local Golf Galaxy and could barely get to 90 on their simulation?

Well, I'm 29 until May, then I'm 29 again! I'm 6'2". I can get my swing speed in the high 120's if I try, but results definitely aren't guaranteed at that point! Plus I need more advil afterwards as I get nearer to the big 3-0!!

Mr Divots is just a young pup, I'll be 58 in April and I'm 5'11" and 25 pounds overweight. I guess that makes me old, fat, out of shape, and lucky to still be alive. Makes me wish I started this game when I was young and in a lot better shape.

That figures...I'm 5'5" and 180. Vertically challenged and left handed. I guess if we ever meet I'll just have to hit better second shots coming into the green. Oh, by the way, I'll be 47 this year, but inherited my father's family arthritic genes...hence my surgeries. Somebody should start a new topic...playing with injuries...lol.