You say it was a Vector monitor, so you have to realize it only measures ball speed, and then guesses at your swing speed. Other than this one fault, it should be giving you good idea what you are getting with your driver. As for a year old driver, I think most any of them will be good. I like the Highbore XL a lot, Cobra LD might be my favorite at around $160.
What was your ball speed? Assuming your swing speed is 95, then you might do fine with an R flex. Your Nicklaus is R flex and you were getting 12 more yards, so that's worth noteing. Could be due to flex or the higher loft. I'd second the idea of going with an 11* driver. Ping G2 comes in 11.5* which would be a real good driver for you. I really like mine, also 11.5*.

Don - you are right - it was the ball it was looking at (I think I got to about 135 ball speed - but I was more interested in the back spin and the shaft speed.
Do like the cobra/Ping - so I might pop back and see if they will exchange the 2 I have and buy a new one
The problem with the R flex is that I dont seem to be that accurate.
thanks for the pointers - will get back to you sharpish with what I get

The lack of accuracy might be due to the fact that most all factory OEM shafts play softer than after market shafts. I too have a Nicklaus driver with an R flex shaft. Simple truth is that the factory Fujikura shaft in the Nicklaus driver is a piece of junk with a very high torque rating. After I installed a new lower torque shaft in it, my accuracy was much better. that could be a lot of the what you are getting with your R flex Nicklaus driver. Best thing to do it demo a few of each flex and find the right shaft and head combination for you. Then buy to one that works best for you, and don't worry too much what the flex is. Good luck with your next demo session.

And I will add that with the Niclaus/Fujikura shaft I had in my old driver, I had it tested and it wasn't STIFF (like labelled) it was BEYOND X-STIFF. So I had it reshafted to a ProForce UST 65 (this was a couple years ago) and I hit it much better...

Interesting Scott. The 3 shafts in my Nicklaus driver, 3 and 5 woods were all R flex and the felt on the soft side if anything. The high torque of 5.0 was what I couldn't work with.

After more than 6 weeks of bad weather or being out of town, I finally got out to the driving range yesterday. I took a bit of the rust off the old swing, but no real surprises. Still pulling the ball left more often than not. Tried a few things, but nothing is working very well. Will have to schedule a visit to the golf instructor and see what we can figure out on the video analiser. Going to call Golf Tec and see what we can set up. They have a 60 minute Swing Evaluation for $95 and you get a $50 gift certificate back, so it's really like getting the session for $45. Also have a 1-2-3 improvement package for $195 with the same $50 gilf certificate back. Get the 60 minute Evaluation, 2 additional lessons and 3 practice sessions. After hitting a big pull the past few times out, I'm leaning toward to $195 package so we can figure out the cause, and work on a fix that will last.

Warm day, so out to the range we went. Pity we had so much snow earlier in the week, it was way too soggy to play. Most of the courses were closed.
Hitting everything really solidly, except ironically, the wedges. I think it was because of hitting off the mat, since I was trying to move the ball back in my stance a bit to impart more spin and I just don't think that works well off the mat.
I took a couple of swings with hubby's new (used) Ping Rapture driver and hit it pretty well, but I'm still happy with my driver so no changes in the works.
Looking forward to some demo days to try the new toys.

Taking advantage of the "Spring forward" time change and my newborn baby sound asleep, I went to the range early morning on Sunday after a long break.

I forgot to take my new driver that Don had assembled. But it didn't matter, since I couldn't seem to hit anything decent. Felt like it was my first day hitting balls all over again. Spent 30 minutes trying to figure things out, and had to head back home when the crowd began to arrive.

Went out Sunday to practice before my round Monday morning. Found something in my setup and take away that helped. When I make one small change, my ball contact with my irons was much improved, and I starteing hitting the ball much more online with my target, which has been an issue lately. Been pulling the ball well left alot, and not sure why.

Went back out yesterday to hit Chiefs driver after I installed a new ProForce 76 gram V2 shaft. Tried the same setup change I worked on Sunday, and it's still helping. Then I made one more little change and it really started to work. Time and practice will tell, but it's starting to look like there's hope for this old body yet. Sunday I was hitting quite a few drives that went 280 yards carry, which is real good for me. Normally I get 250-260 carry when I'm hitting the ball well, so 280 was nice to see, or in my case nice to hear about from my playing partner.
As a side note, Chief's new driver felt very good with the new V2 shaft. I was swinging the driver around 108 to 112 yesterday, so my speed is coming back also. Amazing what a few little changes can do for the old swing.

Well after having several unsatifactory rounds I hit the range and putting green tonight. After hitting a few balls and fixing a simple stance issue, I was hitting the irons very solid again. Just widened my stance a bit and got my back a little straighter and the iron shots were back to what I usually hit. I hit 6 7I's right down the middle of the fairway. Then hit the putting green of a nearby course that has a reasonably speedy green and got some work in there and hit lots of quality putts. So at least now my confidence is back heading into this weekends tournament...

keep your fingers crossed!

Finally got out to the range yesteday. Hit 200 balls with a pitching wedge... flat chunked 4 shots, hit about 150 solid and 30 or so were really clean. 140 plus balls hit the green and 2 went in the hole. Set up exactly 120 yds. from the hole and was hitting the PW that distance on a consistant basis. Pressed a couple of shots, gained 10 yds., which was about right.

If I could just hit the driver more than 180 yds. down the fairway.

ONe practice range I use a lot has a green set out at 127 yards, and I hit my Gap wedge most of the time. It's about 15 feet below the tee area, so that helps with distance a bit. Can't really say if I've ever holed one of my shots, since I can't see the ball land that far away anymore. I can see the line okay, but don't really know exactly where the ball lands, other than if it's close distance wise. I hate not being able to see the ball land, but there's nothing that can be done to fix my eyesight I'm afaid.

You know, I noticed yesterday that Skycaddie has mapped my driving range, so now I can get accurate distances to all the targets on my range...that's really nice.

Good showing Bill.

Went to the range to test out my new clubs. (picked up a taylormade r5 dual - Draw driver and a set of Cobra FP irons.)

My irons were about 10yds further and straighter which I was happy with.

Then I brought out the driver. OMG this thing is amazing. Usually my drivers are a huge slice leaving me in the left woods.

I took my normal swing and ball went dead straight, Was still able to get it to fade when I wanted and draw when I wanted. I didnt want to stop hitting balls they were flying so beautiful. Most were going about ~260-280. It was like point and shoot.

I haven't hit a shot in the hole in years and yesterday 2 went in.

Bill, are those the 2009 Cobra FP's or a newer model? I *REALLY* liked the 2009 FP's when I hit them earlier this year. Started to buy a set.

Scott,
I think your question is directed toward 87vert. I gave the cobra irons away last year and bought a set of Titleist AP2 irons, which are great btw.

These are the older FP's, Got them from Golf Galaxy for 140.

Sorry for the confusion...as you can see from many of my posts, it's been a confusing week

Anyone ever use the Cobra SS Forged irons. I picked up a set with Rifle 6.0 Flighted shafts, and I kind of like them so far.

had a pretty good practice session today. Was hitting my short irons and wedges very well. Nailing the flag at 127 yards with a 50* Gap Wedge. Hit at least 20 balls inside 3 or 4 feet. Tommorow is going to be a practice day for the short game. Then Friday it's out to play 18 holes and see if the practice time pays off.

Don, question...and don't take this the wrong way. You've talked about how you're not playing as well on the course as you used to, and you mentioned a while back that you made a swing change a year or so ago that gave you more yardage with your irons. Could those two things be connected? Does that swing change maybe interject room for error in your swing? I don't know what the change was but I know you used to play very darn well so to hear you talk about some of your recent rounds it seems like this should be fixable. Do you think it's just lack of practice time or maybe some little swing thing you're doing?

Scott: the only thing I changed was to start my backswing with an early wrist cock, and this was what gives my an extra 15 yards with all my irons. But this was over 5 years ago, and my handicap was much lower. So NO that's not it. I THINK the main problem is due to lack of practice. I used to hit balls into my net in the back yard EVERY DAY, and I haven't used the net in about 2 years or more. I can only assume this is why my game is so much more inconsistant now. Between not practicing anywhere near as much as before, and playing about half as much, I'm pretty sure this is the cause of my rotten play the last 2 years. I could be wrong, but the lack of practice/playing would seem to go along with poor scores.

Well you're right there. So get back out to hitting in that net and at the range. I think some of us are coming out that way in the next month or two so get that game in shape.

Or possibly I was Don's good luck charm (I've seen him shoot par for 9 holes) and the only problem is that he hasn't been playing with me for awhile.

I'll letcha know after tomorrow.