AMA Question of the week:

Every week I get hundreds of questions on equipment, and a good portion of the time, it’s based on fitting someone into the right set-up, via SM. That’s a tough task because a player can only get truly dialed with a professional fitter OR become a gear nerd like me and fit yourself…I would not suggest this, lol.

Although quite simple by appearance, this question is actually a launch point to a couple of things I have been thinking about and discovering on TOUR.

What type of player would benefit from MAX LS VS 💎💎💎LS?

They are both low spin and have the tungsten speed cartridge, A. I Tuned flash face and everything else that’s packed into these heaters.

So let’s break the profile of these heads down in simple terms to narrow it down.

MAX LS VS 💎💎💎LS

The first separator is shaping. At 460CC’s, the MAX LS has a larger thumbprint than 💎💎💎LS, and some players like that look. It looks larger back to front, toe to heel, and sits shallow, which inspires quite a bit of confidence for any player. On TOUR, how the driver sits will be the first box to check off.

For me, because the MAX LS sits longer heel to toe, it encourages the face to rotate less, which makes it tougher to turn over and encourages a right miss, but that’s just me. A longer head means a right miss, and a shorter head means I can turn it over. UNLESS the weighting does it for me, see below:)

At 450CC, the 💎💎💎LS has a deeper face, a more fade-biased CG, and encourages a more fade-shot shape. Its a few ticks less forgiving than MAX LS due simply to less overall size, but in all honesty, all of our heads are insanely forgiving with the new Tungsten Speed Cartridge. When I tested the 💎💎💎LS, I discovered three things 1) In the D setting, it’s pretty easy to turn over 2) Oddly enough, it launches higher 3) It maintains a wicked low spin profile on fades. More so than MAX LS, which kept the spin low on straight shots and draws but kicked up on the fades. We are talking 200-300RPMs, so it’s not drastic. I believe that’s simply due to the higher MOI.

I’d call both heads apples to apples from a spin profile out of the nuts. In my testing, I had no problem keeping both of these heads just north of 2000RPMs.

So How Do I Choose?

For starters TRY EM BOTH with a fitter and ask yourself these questions:

1. What head looks better to my eye?
2. Does it inspire confidence or do I feel like I need to manipulate it to square it up?
3. Do I favor forgiveness over shot-shaping?
4. What is my “stock” shot?
5. What miss am I trying to limit?
6. Do I want to draw it easily?
7. Do I want to fade it easily?
   

Somewhere in answering those questions, the right Rogue ST head will reveal itself.

Take me for example:

1. What head looks better to my eye? MAX LS
2. Does it inspire confidence or do I feel like I need to manipulate it to square it up? CONFIDENT
3. Do I favor forgiveness over shot-shaping? FORGIVENESS
4. What is my “stock” shot? DRAW
5. What miss am I trying to limit? BLOCK TO THE RIGHT
6. Do I want to draw it easily? YES
7. Do I want to fade it easily? NO

Thats how I landed on the MAX D:)

Happy Hunting.