C-taper or J40 CB Distance Issues?

[Rosco1216]

Hey guys,

 

Figured I'd see what kind of info/experience my fellow WRX'ers have had that may be able to help me out..let me give you the low down..

 

This spring I got a set of Bridgestone J40 CB's and pulled the 6.0's and put in a C-taper S+. Got the c-tapers at a good price from a friend and heard great things about them and wanted to keep my launch and spin down. This is my first time playing Bridgestone's and first time ever playing c-tapers.

 

Ever since putting these in play I have had occasional distance control problems..for example..

 

Yesterday I'm in the middle of the fairway, 130 lasered to the pin with the bushnell, 30ft + elevated green(bushnell does not have slope), into a slight breeze, temperatue is about 60 (I'm usually a smooth solid 130-140 with the PW) Hit a beautiful smooth PW, felt great and said "finally, best swing of the day". mid-high straight right at the pin. Get up to the green to find my ball is 37 yards past the pin. Thick wet rough and no hills or dry spots to kick off. So basically I hit a 170 PW uphill into the breeze on a cool day.

 

This shot still blows my mind and I start to thinking that ever since I've had this combo, there have been these random shots that have gone and awful amount far and out of nowhere. I have never had this type of thing happen before and I wanted to get everyone's input.

 

Has anyone else experienced anything like this from the J40's or c-tapers? My logical guess is going to be that the c-tapers is the "cause" for these, sometimes just so little spin it's like catching a flyer from the fairway

[Rosco1216]

anyone?

[MadGolfer76]

Possible responses:

1) You found the perfect combo, which you proceeded to hit poorly most of the day until that one shot that showed you what your optimum should look like.

2) Weren't you ripping about swing speed and smash factor in another thread, and back it up with this one? lol

3) Passive brag.

4) Good going, that is a big poke!

[chiguy]

+1 on the passive brag

[Rosco1216]

Thanks to Madgolfer for the sarcasm and having zero to contribute to a specific question..

I'm bragging about making a double bogey from the middle of the fairway and 130 yards..

[Sean25rp]

I have heard others using the c-tapers reporting big distance gains due to the low spin. They also said it was a bit of an issue as it made it difficult to know yardages with clubs which is obviously important with the irons. Did you hit them with 6.0's before pulling them?

[Par Fore]

I play the j40 CB's but with the PX shaft. I love them and have no problems like what you are describing

[Rosco1216]

[quote name='Sean25rp' timestamp='1350943683' post='5829631']
I have heard others using the c-tapers reporting big distance gains due to the low spin. They also said it was a bit of an issue as it made it difficult to know yardages with clubs which is obviously important with the irons. Did you hit them with 6.0's before pulling them?
[/quote]
I did play one round with them but I bought them knowing I was going to pull them. Very high and way to much spin with them. I previously played 6.5's and knew the 6.0s were not good for me. I have had to adjust my yardages a bit as the c tapers are a little longer. However I have these random shots that are like flyers but from the fairway and its difficult to play smooth knock down shots into the wind.

[Rosco1216]

[quote name='Par Fore' timestamp='1350944155' post='5829669']
I play the j40 CB's but with the PX shaft. I love them and have no problems like what you are describing
[/quote]

Could be the c-tapers and seemingly getting such low spin sometimes and getting the "flyer effect"

[ej002]

Yes, I have read about this fairway flyer also, that out of the blue you get a missle. You are not the only one, and I am not sure what to tell you about this, but you are not the first guy to say this.

[Empros]

[quote name='Rosco1216' timestamp='1350934690' post='5828829']
Yesterday I'm in the middle of the fairway, 130 lasered to the pin with the bushnell, 30ft + elevated green(bushnell does not have slope), into a slight breeze, temperatue is about 60 (I'm usually a smooth solid 130-140 with the PW) Hit a beautiful smooth PW, felt great and said "finally, best swing of the day". mid-high straight right at the pin. Get up to the green to find my ball is 37 yards past the pin.
[/quote]

I just don't believe for one second that you can hit a shot like that, think it will be around pin high and then find out it's so ridiculously long. It just doesn't work that way; just as when we all hit that weak shot where we know almost straight away that it won't get up, the same applies to going long. If anything, when I hit a shot that's even 5 yards past the pin, it feels mid air that it's going much longer and needs to get down. So yeah, I'm not buying it.

[Rosco1216]

[quote name='Empros' timestamp='1350945033' post='5829737']
[quote name='Rosco1216' timestamp='1350934690' post='5828829']
Yesterday I'm in the middle of the fairway, 130 lasered to the pin with the bushnell, 30ft + elevated green(bushnell does not have slope), into a slight breeze, temperatue is about 60 (I'm usually a smooth solid 130-140 with the PW) Hit a beautiful smooth PW, felt great and said "finally, best swing of the day". mid-high straight right at the pin. Get up to the green to find my ball is 37 yards past the pin.
[/quote]

I just don't believe for one second that you can hit a shot like that, think it will be around pin high and then find out it's so ridiculously long. It just doesn't work that way; just as when we all hit that weak shot where we know almost straight away that it won't get up, the same applies to going long. [b]If anything, when I hit a shot that's even 5 yards past the pin, it feels mid air that it's going much longer and needs to get down[/b]. So yeah, I'm not buying it.
[/quote]

Hmmm good for you. You're right man, I made it up. I'm asking a specific question, not asking what you're "buying" or not. Move along.

I didn't imply that I thought it was pin high, I said it was right at the pin. I hit it well and put a great swing on it, felt like it was the best swing I had all day. Everyone thought it was going to be good but could have been a little deep maybe on the back of the green. Couldn't see the green as it is elevated.

[Rosco1216]

[quote name='ej002' timestamp='1350944962' post='5829729']
Yes, I have read about this fairway flyer also, that out of the blue you get a missle. You are not the only one, and I am not sure what to tell you about this, but you are not the first guy to say this.
[/quote]

Yes this is what I'm talking about.

[Rosco1216]

Apparently I should have just said "anyone ever hit missle's out of nowhere"...

Tried to get as much description on this as I could to explain how freakishly odd it was to me and the guys I was playing with..

[pinhigh27]

While I know you've said that there weren't hills or anything how about a sprinkler head? A previous poster mentioned random "missiles" from other posters, I feel that magnitude is on the 5-10 yard scale, not 30-40. I'm not saying you made it up, however it seems very unlikely that you flew it almost 40 yards further than expected simply because of a shaft inconsistency. I'd guess that a sprinkler head or maybe you hit the top of the pin, or something like that is responsible for what happened.

[Empros]

[quote name='Rosco1216' timestamp='1350946981' post='5829875']I didn't imply that I thought it was pin high, I said it was right at the pin.
[/quote]

Where did it pitch? As you didn't see it land, due to elevation, surely (and most probably) it could have taken a strong kick from a slope or something? Unless it was something regular, I'd hardly be calling Columbo in for this...

[Rosco1216]

[quote name='Empros' timestamp='1350948052' post='5829949']
[quote name='Rosco1216' timestamp='1350946981' post='5829875']I didn't imply that I thought it was pin high, I said it was right at the pin.
[/quote]

Where did it pitch? As you didn't see it land, due to elevation, surely (and most probably) it could have taken a strong kick from a slope or something? Unless it was something regular, I'd hardly be calling Columbo in for this...
[/quote]

In the OP I said it was thick wet rough and no hills or dry spots..no mounds..nothing to imply a big kick forward. This isn't a one time occurence, these kind of shots have happened more than a handful of times.

[hoganfan924]

I put in C-taper S+ in my X-tours this year and have seen that occasional 20+ yard flyer on the range many times. Have only had a really bad one once on the course. On a teed up ball no less, with clean grooves. Flew an 8 iron about 185 when it's normally about a 163 club. On the range, it seems that the combination of dirty grooves and C-taper can produce the monster flyer. S+ is really too much for me and I'm going to change them out this winter for a softer shaft (not a C-taper). Maybe go with a nippon shaft to experiment before I commit to a full new set with them, as I really need some new irons. I've hit the Bridgestone J40 CB's twice and really liked them but they didn't seem particularly long compared to anything else and I didn't see any flyers with the PX flighted shaft in them.

By comparison, since I have a back-up set of X-tours with PX6.0 shafts that I used for the previous 5 years, a dirty groove flyer with those is about +10 yards, but with the C-taper I've found some that seem to be about +25 yards and I probably hit about 1000+ balls/week mid-season. Based on that, with the C-taper if the ball, grass or clubface are wet, perhaps it will give the same effect. I do allow for more of a flyer tendency when hitting from the rough than I did with the PX.

[Rosco1216]

[quote name='hoganfan924' timestamp='1350948826' post='5830007']
I put in C-taper S+ in my X-tours this year and have seen that occasional 20+ yard flyer on the range many times. Have only had a really bad one once on the course. On a teed up ball no less, with clean grooves. Flew an 8 iron about 185 when it's normally about a 163 club. On the range, it seems that the combination of dirty grooves and C-taper can produce the monster flyer. S+ is really too much for me and I'm going to change them out this winter for a softer shaft (not a C-taper). Maybe go with a nippon shaft to experiment before I commit to a full new set with them, as I really need some new irons. I've hit the Bridgestone J40 CB's twice and really liked them but they didn't seem particularly long compared to anything else and I didn't see any flyers with the PX flighted shaft in them.
[/quote]

Yeah I've had a few of them on the course I clean my grooves after everyshot and wiped them down before I hit so no water or dirt to get in there. I am thinking of re-shafting with PX 6.5 or 7.0 if I can find a pulled set. My previous clubs had 6.5's and I never had any of these types of shots with them. I do know when these had the 6.0's in them before I had them pulled that they felt much softer and much better sound, even on a well struck ball.

[hoganfan924]

Was the grass, and therefore ball, wet?

[Rosco1216]

No. In the shaded rough areas there was still a little moisture from the dew but the sun had dried out the fairways certainly by 10:30am.

[MadGolfer76]

[quote name='Rosco1216' timestamp='1350943004' post='5829583']
Thanks to Madgolfer for the sarcasm and having zero to contribute to a specific question..

I'm bragging about making a double bogey from the middle of the fairway and 130 yards..
[/quote]

Oh, come on Rosco. It was meant in good fun, buddy.

[hoganfan924]

Flyers from the fairway certainly aren't unheard of. I remember back around '08, Charley Hoffman hit a 9 iron from the fairway on #9 at the Buick Open from around 150 yards. The thing flew [b][i]over[/i][/b] the grandstands behind the green, estimated at around 190 yards. He just stood there with a very perplexed look on his face. lol

I think sometimes it's possible to hit the fairway flyer with clean everything when you hit it about 1/4" heavy - not heavy enough to slow the club down and reduce ball speed, but just enough to get a little grass between the clubface and ball. I've seen it happen to other tour pros as well.

[Rosco1216]

[quote name='MadGolfer76' timestamp='1351015211' post='5834205']
[quote name='Rosco1216' timestamp='1350943004' post='5829583']
Thanks to Madgolfer for the sarcasm and having zero to contribute to a specific question..

I'm bragging about making a double bogey from the middle of the fairway and 130 yards..
[/quote]

Oh, come on Rosco. It was meant in good fun, buddy.
[/quote]

Haha I know man, no worries. I was like Joe Pesci and needed a snickers...case of the Monday's!

[Rosco1216]

[quote name='hoganfan924' timestamp='1351016558' post='5834325']
Flyers from the fairway certainly aren't unheard of. I remember back around '08, Charley Hoffman hit a 9 iron from the fairway on #9 at the Buick Open from around 150 yards. The thing flew [b][i]over[/i][/b] the grandstands behind the green, estimated at around 190 yards. He just stood there with a very perplexed look on his face. lol

I think sometimes it's possible to hit the fairway flyer with clean everything when you hit it about 1/4" heavy - not heavy enough to slow the club down and reduce ball speed, but just enough to get a little grass between the clubface and ball. I've seen it happen to other tour pros as well.
[/quote]

I vaguely remember that shot actually. I have had a handful of these shots that have just left me perplexed. The more and more I think back on rounds and shots I've had..the more I realize the tendencies and circumstances. Probably 3 or 4 times a round when i'm into a breeze or between clubs I'll take the longer club and just choke down and swing smooth(as most will do) and I always find myself long, even by a full club or more it seems.

I'm a smooth tempo swinger and I know the c-taper are technically supposed to be for a quick tempo. The probability is that the dialing down of the shot takes so much spin off that it just sails much further than previous shafts have for me and I need to change my whole thought process and approach to these shots.

I am debating pulling them and going with a set of DG X200's..

[Big Dozer]

I have the same setup exactly and have experienced similar result a few times. Out of nowhere it's 25 yards long. It's happened maybe 5-6 times.

[jpalermo]

I have TP CB's with TT Tour Concepts, I have hit the flyer (perfect strike?) a few times, so I am not sure it has anything to do with the shaft/head combo. (read, INDIAN not ARROW)

[Rosco1216]

[quote name='jpalermo' timestamp='1351022181' post='5834877']
I have TP CB's with TT Tour Concepts, I have hit the flyer (perfect strike?) a few times, so I am not sure it has anything to do with the shaft/head combo. (read, INDIAN not ARROW)
[/quote]

A FEW times..yes..everyone has. Never had similar tendencies with other shafts in the past.

[mjwidell]

Have you checked the loft on your irons? I remember having a set of Srixons and commenting to my club builder that my yardages were all over the board with my clubs. He checked the lofts and some irons only had 2 degrees difference while others had 6 degrees difference! Definitely have them checked.

[m5power]

i was recently fitted at a Ping booth at a big box retailer. I was looking into the i20 irons and wanted to try all the different shaft setups. This was all done indoors with a monitor that seemed pretty reliable as I was getting my normal distance from my shots. After several different setups, I went w/ the ctapers in stiff. Right away i knew it wasn't the right setup for me b/c I am already a low ball hitter. I got my proper distance but the trajectory wasn't what i wanted to see.

But, I did hit several shots w/ it that were way longer than anything else i hit that day. This is all w/ the 7 iron and all my good shots were around 175 yards. Couple of the shots w/ the ctapers reached 190+. It wasn't so much that it was consistently longer than the rest but i got couple of random outlier flyers that seemed surprising. I would have gone w/ them if i were getting this added distance consistently but i wasn't. So yeah, not really the same, but interesting nonetheless.