We’re showing you why that 15-year-old driver is costing you yards off of the tee
You probably know a buddy who’s kept his old trusty driver in his bag for at least 10 years because ‘they just don’t make them like they used to’ or ‘when I hit it on the screws, it really flies.’ We’ve heard it all.
Well if your buddy is constantly battling distance issues and maybe struggles to find the middle of the fairway, we would recommend it’s time to say farewell to old trusty. Not saying that older drivers are bad by any means. These pieces of equipment were all at the height of technology back in the day but over time, they get worn, and along comes bigger and smarter equipment to take its place.
Why do new drivers go farther?
It does take some convincing to the die-hards who love their older driver but instead of rattling off the hundreds of reasons why new equipment is much more efficient for your golf game, I’ll let the numbers speak for themselves.
Over the past few years, one thing that everyone wants out of a driver is distance. And the thing golf club engineers turn to is moment of inertia (MOI). MOI can get a little hairy but for the sake of simplicity, think of MOI as how much forgiveness a driver has. So even on an off-center hit, a driver with a decent amount of MOI can help the ball stay straight and long.
What does this have to do with old vs new drivers? Older drivers have a limited amount of MOI and they’re not as forgiving as the drivers on the shelves of GOLFTEC Centers across the country. To prove that, Director of Teaching Quality, Brad Skupaka measured the MOI on an older driver and a new one to see the difference. Obviously, the newer driver is built with more MOI but how does that translate to when you take these clubs to the course? When Skupaka hit the older driver, he carried it 307 yards and was 31 yards offline. When he hit the newer club, he carried the ball 329 yards and was only 13 yards offline.
The proof is right there in the numbers. Old, ill-fit equipment can prevent anyone from gaining distance and accuracy off of the tee. So the next time you’re playing with your buddy with the antique driver in their bag, you’ll now know what suggestion needs to be made. And if this ‘buddy’ is you, we won’t tell anyone, just promise to start thinking about a custom club fitting soon
