What Chuck Does

2007 Taylormade Burner. Incredible.

Off of the tee, I have a fade with a relatively slow club head speed (high 80’s low 90’s mph). That said, I can usually hit my driver about 220 yards. With my current driver (Maruman 380cc Exim Ts) however I hardly find the fairway. I’m so often to the right of the fairway off in the trees and the rough. I don’t have a lot of confidence in my drives because when my drives fade, they fade pretty damn hard. They have a lot of spin coming off of the club face. The Maruman driver is pretty unforgiving. I’ve never loved it like I’ve loved their woods.

Looking at the various new models of drivers I decided to drop by Golfsmith and their pros fit me for a club. After hammering probably 50 or so balls with various drivers, the pro suggested that I get the Taylormade Burner because I drove the farthest most consistently with that driver. While I was averaging about 230 yards, on my last good drive with the Burner, I hit 260+. The pro said that alone was enough to justify the club. The ball comes off of the face with very little spin and is thus extremely forgiving. This helps because balls coming off the heel or the toe of the club will still have decent distance and without the horrible spin that I’m used to. Furthermore the club is made with a slight draw bias to reduce the fade that most right handers have.

Of course, after making the purchase I was itching to hit the range. I’ve been away from golf for nearly a month because I was getting tendonitis in my right elbow from pulling the club upwards on the backswing. Anyway, I get to the range and after hitting with the short irons and woods, I pull out the Burner. 3 shots. dead straight all with good yardage.

Withe newfound confidence, I hit the course. First drive off the tee. Straight and long. Probably a good 30 yards longer than my average good drives. On subsequent holes, even drives that didn’t find the fairway carried great distance and with little spin. My bad drives usually come off the toe of the club face and go right. There was one drive off of the 6th tee that went so far I had trouble finding the ball. This is because I’m used to where my drives are supposed to be. Hitting the ball that far and straight was such a new sensation that I had trouble finding the ball. Due to the better drives, I was able to pull shorter clubs on the 2nd shot and get to the green easier.

While it’s bad for my tendonitis, it’s done wonders for my game. I’m definitely gonna go out again tomorrow…