Junior (7) Driver Fitting

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By Paul M

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  • 4 Replies
  1. Paul M

    Paul M
    Michigan

    Long post alert!

    I’m looking to see if any of you have had any experience with driver fittings for a junior-particularly a relatively young junior.

    My son has recently outgrown the basic US Kids Golf UL series clubs, and we upgraded to the Tour Series clubs. He has a very nice swing, but I started to notice his ball was ballooning a bit off of the tee, and he’s a bit behind the other kids in tournaments in distance.

    After a lesson, the coach pointed out that his spin rate on the TrackMan was significantly high (4000+), and that he thought he might need a more custom driver.

    So here’s my issue: despite getting over the fact that this driver is new and was expensive, I don’t really know where to start with custom kids clubs. Will club fitters have product on-hand for juniors- he’s left-handed which makes it even harder. Do I order a shaft based on his swing speed from Flynn Golf and purchase a head and hope for the best?

    Anybody have experience with this?

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  2. Ok, i had to laugh a little about concern of the spin rate for a 7yo, the fact is he actually needs higher than average spin in order for the ball to stay in the air long enough. When my kids were 8 they outgrew the us kids stuff, they were hitting drives around 130-150. I found a used Ladies driver and cut it down to match the length recommendations of the us kids based on their height. It worked great for him for 2 years, we are now cutting down a used senior flex driver for him now that he is 10. I figure by age 12/13 we can stop cutting the clubs down, and yes cutting tem down will lighten the swingweight but what i noticed was his solid contact hits with the us kids would be these hard low hooks and could see the flex of the shaft during his swing, the ladies was just stiff enough he got the ball in the air easily and straightened out the hook.
  3. Paul M

    Paul M
    Michigan

    I would never have given it a second-thought; I just assumed he couldn't hit the ball as far as the others off the tee. But the pro says the normalize function shows him losing upwards of 25 yards which, even if that number was high, still seems pretty significant. I'm not terribly concerned. It was just something he mentioned, and I was curious if anyone else had experienced anything similar.
  4. NoleInSC

    NoleInSC
    Columbia, SC

    For now, I would stick with the junior clubs until he is strong enough to use men's clubs. My two sons used a junior version of the Cobra F6 driver for the past two years. It was a great club for them to grow into as they continued playing and the best part was that there were two free shaft upgrades. So you could order a longer shaft as they got older and stronger.

    My oldest son will be 13 later this week and has grown about 4 inches in height in the past year. And he has gotten a lot stronger. So I asked one of the pros to fit him for one of the Titleist TS series drivers. And his best results were with a men's TS2 driver with a regular flex shaft of stock length. So, no more junior clubs for him! He was using a US Kids iron set but outgrew them and is now using my set of DCI762s. There will be an adjustment but he definitely has enough strength now to use them.

    Anyways, I guess what I am trying to say here is that there is no correct answer. I always believed that kids should use clubs where the shaft is the proper length for them and the heads are light enough for them to swing properly. All kids grow at different rates and at different times so go with the flow. But always, make sure they are enjoying the game, no matter what clubs they are using! Good luck.
  5. Dr. Kovatchian

    Dr. Kovatchian
    Carlsbad

    Going with Flynn is what we have done!
    I have my son's Driver, FW & Hybrid all in Flynn Shafts.
    Have them built a little longer that the USKG Specs for his height.
    I also keep a few old shafts around to do extensions that extend the life a bit when he grows.
    Also you can move driver shafts to FW and down to Hybrid as he grows.

    IS your son a lefty? DM me if you are looking for a Driver head.

    Goof Luck!

    Cheers,
    DR. K

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