Callaway FT Optiforce Driver Review - Forum Testing

[Canadan]

OK, so my golftec now has one bay with the Foresight launch monitor setup, including a nice big flatscreen to see the results. Very cool!

After my lesson today, I snuck an Optiforce driver from the Golfsmith demo rack. Overall, pretty impressed with the performance of this driver. I was able to generate some good ball speed, and misses right and left of center were really not that penalizing based on the results I saw. It looks like an old school (well 5 years old) driver looking down at it, and the sound is pretty decent. It feels pretty light in hand and felt good swinging. I will say that my first few swings with the crummy practice balls in the bay generated a crapload of spin, over 5000 rpms. I grabbed a Hex chrome + out of my bag and that brought the spin down quite a bit, but as you'll see in the attached pic, its still too high.

The launch numbers are quite low despite the spin. I'll blame that on trying to swing hard enough to knock the cover off the ball. Some impressive ball speed, carry distance and total distance despite an average launch around 9 degrees. I will say the tee was quite low and I didn't want to sky one either. I think I could easily get launch into the 11 to 12 range where I like it with a slight tee adjustment and maybe dropping my right shoulder a bit. This was the 10.5 degree with the PXv 6.0 shaft in it.

I imagine with a high launch, low spin shaft I could really enjoy playing this driver.

Man, a launch angle of under 7* with a drop of over 40 is just crazy to my brain. Either way, you were POUNDING that thing!

 

[ArmyGolf]

Those are some monster numbers! I can only imagine what a fitting would do to your overall yardage...geez!

 

[golf4life]

Man, a launch angle of under 7* with a drop of over 40 is just crazy to my brain. Either way, you were POUNDING that thing!

Yeah, I'm guessing the high spin has something to do with that. I can't imagine what your swing would do to this driver.

Those are some monster numbers! I can only imagine what a fitting would do to your overall yardage...geez!

Yeah, could be pretty sweet. I really need a low spinning shaft, but without sacrificing launch. Perhaps a Kusala White in this head could work out well... hmmm...

 

[Canadan]

Yeah, I'm guessing the high spin has something to do with that. I can't imagine what your swing would do to this driver.

haha man, I hit it HIGH in Illinois with the stock S in it, but with Chad's 440 with the ahina 70x in it, the numbers had to have been close to excellent. Just flat out bombing the ball.

 

[golf4life]

haha man, I hit it HIGH in Illinois with the stock S in it, but with Chad's 440 with the ahina 70x in it, the numbers had to have been close to excellent. Just flat out bombing the ball.

Yeah. That would be a bomber for you for sure. And unlike me, you don't need the extra 20 ccs of forgiveness.

 

[Canadan]

Yeah. That would be a bomber for you for sure. And unlike me, you don't need the extra 20 ccs of forgiveness.

You never know man, it could be awesome!!!

What do you think is the perfect shaft for you in the 460? White tie? Kusala? What's your flavour?

 

[golf4life]

You never know man, it could be awesome!!!

What do you think is the perfect shaft for you in the 460? White tie? Kusala? What's your flavour?

Good question. Never have hit the white tie. Kusala white a definite possibility. Maybe the AD-DI 6? I think that's the high launcher.

 

[Canadan]

Good question. Never have hit the white tie. Kusala white a definite possibility. Maybe the AD-DI 6? I think that's the high launcher.

Tiger shaft? Yeah, I've heard that gets up there. I bet a white tie would be a BEAST!

 

[Kobey]

I took the Optiforce out for the second time today. On the range, I found out the draw setting works very well. In fact, my normal fade or slice became a big draw, something I've never hit with any other driver. Snap hooks on occasion yes, but never a draw. It was actually too much of a draw, so I put it back to neutral. That brought back a straighter flight, but now my miss if I tried to swing too hard was a draw. I could live with that, though. I'll take a draw over a slice any day. After an entire bucket of balls, I hadn't had one fade or slice, something that's unheard of with me.

I also raised the loft to the maximum of 12.5. It definitely gave me a higher ball flight and on well-struck hits my carry was past the 200 yard marker. If I was playing harder fairways with a lot of roll, I'd probably lose total distance with the loft set that high, but it's perfect for the courses I normally play.

Forgiveness was also exceptional. Of course I lost some distance with mishits, but they stayed straight and were still very playable. After a bucket of balls and 36 holes today, I can't remember a single shot that really made me work to make up the lost distance.

I'd only planned on playing 18 today, but at the end of my first round I was hitting the Optiforce so well that I was brimming with confidence and had to have more. So I went to the course I normally play to see if eliminating my slice would have any effect on my score there. It was unbelievable. I played 18 holes and stayed out of trouble with the driver for the entire round. Not one penalty. I wasn't hitting every fairway, but my misses were in the first cut.

I don't know what happened, but I believe the way I was hitting the Optiforce had an effect on my mental game. I not only beat my personal best of 92, but crushed it. I ended up shooting a 41 on each nine, for an 82.

 

[Buckjob]

didn't hit them today but i really got a closer look at both the 460 and the 440 as much as i like the looks of the 440 better i think the 460 is more the head shape i'm looking for i want to hit them head to head and against my x hot. i still think i'd love to bag this driver.

 

[Wake]

I took the Optiforce out for the second time today. On the range, I found out the draw setting works very well. In fact, my normal fade or slice became a big draw, something I've never hit with any other driver. Snap hooks on occasion yes, but never a draw. It was actually too much of a draw, so I put it back to neutral. That brought back a straighter flight, but now my miss if I tried to swing too hard was a draw. I could live with that, though. I'll take a draw over a slice any day. After an entire bucket of balls, I hadn't had one fade or slice, something that's unheard of with me.

I also raised the loft to the maximum of 12.5. It definitely gave me a higher ball flight and on well-struck hits my carry was past the 200 yard marker. If I was playing harder fairways with a lot of roll, I'd probably lose total distance with the loft set that high, but it's perfect for the courses I normally play.

Forgiveness was also exceptional. Of course I lost some distance with mishits, but they stayed straight and were still very playable. After a bucket of balls and 36 holes today, I can't remember a single shot that really made me work to make up the lost distance.

I'd only planned on playing 18 today, but at the end of my first round I was hitting the Optiforce so well that I was brimming with confidence and had to have more. So I went to the course I normally play to see if eliminating my slice would have any effect on my score there. It was unbelievable. I played 18 holes and stayed out of trouble with the driver for the entire round. Not one penalty. I wasn't hitting every fairway, but my misses were in the first cut.

I don't know what happened, but I believe the way I was hitting the Optiforce had an effect on my mental game. I not only beat my personal best of 92, but crushed it. I ended up shooting a 41 on each nine, for an 82.

Wow, dropping 10 drokes off your PB is ridiculous, good work. Were you still hitting the occaisional draw on the course? What do you think was causing the draw, which you said you never hit, to carry over to the neutral setting?

 

[Tadashi70]

Well my Optiforce should be in my hands early next week and I play at the Callaway Testing. Hopefully the Oban will be in play as well.

Kobey that is sick and congrats. That's the thing about getting one part of your game in place, everything else falls in place. Keep it up!

 

[suhymee]

Forgiveness is a term that is tossed around a good bit, and I believe everyone has their own definition for it. With that said; What kind of forgiveness are you looking for? Limit a slice or hook off the tee? Missing high/low or laterally across the face? Distance loss on mishits?

Thanks WE. I was thinking on the forgiveness on toe and heel mishits.

Is there any possibility of easily shaping the ball around trees and hazards by fade and draw hits?

 

[manlai]

Firstly, thank you for the kind feedback on Part 1 of my Optiforce experience. Anything that I did well in that write-up is 100% influenced and inspired by the expertly written reviews all over THP. I apologize for the time between posts as I've been undergoing a major swing change. The setup, takeaway, and backswing are starting to set into muscle memory, but I only recently learned the downswing and it is very different from what I used to do. Needless to say, an incomplete swing change (even with several improved parts) still means I struggle. Hopefully, after a few thousand more reps on my assigned drills, it'll get better. I went to the range a couple of times this week and gave the Optiforce a shakedown. Without further ado, here's part 2: early range sessions.

Table of Contents

Part 1: Preface and Initial Impressions http://www.thehackersparadise.com/f...orum-Testing&p=2395648&viewfull=1#post2395648
Part 2: Range Sessions http://www.thehackersparadise.com/f...orum-Testing&p=2411524&viewfull=1#post2411524
Part 3: First Rounds http://www.thehackersparadise.com/f...orum-Testing&p=2419748&viewfull=1#post2419748
Part 4: More on Course Impressions http://www.thehackersparadise.com/f...orum-Testing&p=2437869&viewfull=1#post2437869
Part 4.5: Some Quick Comments on Ball flight, Trajectory, and Impact http://www.thehackersparadise.com/f...orum-Testing&p=2452716&viewfull=1#post2452716
Part 5: SLDR vs. Optiforce on the Launch Monitor, Plus Some On Course Notes http://www.thehackersparadise.com/f...orum-Testing&p=2463769&viewfull=1#post2463769
Part 6: Finale (Not Really, But Some Unifying Thoughts and Overall Review) http://www.thehackersparadise.com/f...orum-Testing&p=2474043&viewfull=1#post2474043


Miscellaneous Info

I received the Optiforce 460 with the Mitsubishi Diamana like other testers. My flex is a regular. I will at some point soon try to get some time with the Project X shaft since it is another stock offering and may be of interest to people who are not looking to pay an upcharge. The driver plays at 46 inches, but I gripped down to my normal 45. I did hit about 20 balls at full length but it was just too erratic to be helpful. I justify this change for several reasons. It is a well discussed issue that shafts have gotten unnecessarily long just so that companies can claim longer distances. If they keep putting longer shafts on drivers, am I going to keep playing these longer lengths? I'm not going to get useful data on distance gains if I'm simply hitting the ball with a longer shaft. Equal shaft length would be a more apples to apples comparison. I wouldn't be fit for full stock length anyway (I wonder who would?). Also, who plays at 46 anyway? Insane people, that's who

Grip

I was pleasantly surprised that the Optiforce comes with a Golf Pride New Decade Multicompound grip (NDMC). It is a pricey premium grip that just about everyone uses. In fact, this included NDMC is even better than the broadly available regular ones. The rubber bottom has a nice tackiness to it. Most importantly, in my opinion, the simple small Callaway logo on the grip gives any user almost the entire length of the grip without feeling any texture inconsistencies. Unlike the standard GP branded ones, where the long logo almost immediately gets in the way if you choke up, move your grip over to work the ball, or doing so to open/close the face. I know it's a personal gripe since it is probably the single most used grip in the world so I'm one of the few who's annoyed by them. In sum:



Credit to War Eagle because I hacked up his photo

Sound

I've seen every tester mention the sound and a few people have asked, so I thought video time (click on images to view)! Please forgive the ugly swings. Just for reference, here's what my RBZ sounds like:


And here's the Optiforce:

It's a bit of a deeper "thwack." A nice pleasant sound, nothing flashy. The video pretty much says it all.

Weight, Swing Weight, Aerodynamics, and What it Did to My Swing

There were some questions and comments on this so here are my thoughts. Firstly, I play a fairly light driver setup as is. My gamer shaft is maybe 3 grams heavier than the Diamana and the RBZ head is a lighter head in TaylorMade's offerings. Stock, the RBZ is just under 300 grams. With my shaft it weighs in at just under 310. The Optiforce is listed at 291 grams for the 460 version. I'm guessing that is with the Project X shaft so with the Diamana we're looking at the neighborhood of 310. Given those stats, I didn't suffer through much adjustment due to overall weight.

In Part 1 I commented on the fact that the Optiforce head's weighting, which makes the swing weight feel as light as it does (D0 in the forum testing clubs). The swing weight did require some getting used to. My gamer swings at D2 and it was a very noticeable difference. I constantly work on my tempo (if my office door is closed, what else would I be doing?) and it took me a number of practice swings and a few balls to get myself right. Another issue that the swing weight brings up is losing the club on the backswing. As expected, it did require some work to avoid trying to "feel" for the head during the swing. It is just something I had to get used to. I work a lot on not relying on shaft load as a trigger because my backswing is always much too long by the time I feel my club. The improved aerodynamics also adds a little adjustment time. Because of the claims, I really wanted to get after it. I felt like a roller coaster slowly winding my way to the top, waiting for those last few ticks to let it fly. When getting after it, the Optiforce brought plenty of speed. I didn't feel the need to "find the club head" after some time and work in order to generate that speed. I'm hoping I can add some numbers to this sometime soon.

On a related note, I want to echo some of the other testers in saying that even though the overall weight, swing weight, and aerodynamics are all light and build for speed, it is not a whippy or noodle-y club. If I'm not losing my marbles on a swing, the club was consistent in performance.

Adjustments and Results

In Part 1 I mentioned how the cogs on the shaft tip worked and demonstrated how adjustments were made so I won't retread the same ground here. You can find that post linked at the top. A quick note before continuing - I made a point to unscrew the head and adjust the tip settings as many times as possible during every session to stress test it to an extent. I must've done it a dozen times each session. I saw the same results each time: the head came off and went back on very easily, the screw and threads looked and operated as good as new, the cogs always stuck together after removing the head, a tap on the ground with the butt end of the grip got them unstuck and ready to turn.

At address the club looks simple. Much like the sound of it, the Optiforce doesn't gather attention and eyeballs from all over the range. It is a simple gloss black with an alignment arrow. I have certainly gotten used to a white driver over the last few years but the black wasn't too jarring. Whether by design or perception, the Optiforce head does seem like a more compact head than other 460cc. Overall, I didn't have any adjustment issues from the aesthetics.

Moving on to the effects of adjustments, I started with the settings at -1* loft and neutral (my gamer settings). If you noticed the ball flight in my brief Optiforce sound video, that was one of the -1* shots. I was hitting my usual cut but the flight was lower than my RBZ set at the same settings. There was less carry but a little more roll. Overall, distance was clearly, although not horribly, shorter than my gamer. All of my shots at the same settings looked just like that. It really made me think that there's a good reason the stock settings are the way they are. Before I messed with the loft, I gave the Draw setting a try. In Part 1 you can see how the face angle changes between the neutral and draw settings. After I set it to Draw, I had a bit of difficulty deciding how I want to address it. I started with addressing the ball with the face closed and the results were a few snap hooks and shanks. I then went to my usual draw move of pointing the face at my intended target and adjust my stance and ball position and the draws started coming. I still struggled with it enough that I decided the closed face wasn't for me. I much say I prefer adjustable weights to manipulating face angles.

I later moved on to try the other lofts. At the standard 10.5*, I was seeing an improved ball flight - much more similar to what I'm used to. I was still getting my usual cut just with a higher flight. I was also seeing a noticeable-enough difference in the side spin. My ball with the Optiforce started less left and came less right on the way to similar landing spots, leading to slightly better distance. I moved on to +1* and +2* lofts. My cut flight didn't change but the height did. I was seeing slightly higher flights but nothing dramatic. I tend to hit a lower ball anyway so I don't think it would've been dramatic unless I sky a few (which I may or may not have done in the process of this review). The carry distance between 10.5 and 11.5 were not so different that I would definitively give the edge to one over the other. The Optiforce head is a lower spin head, so it is possible that I might get a little more carry out of it even at 11.5. The 12.5 was definitely higher and shorter. I'm definitely not at the Ronco "set it and forget it" stage yet.

I didn't want to comment too much on rollout because it's not reliable on those turf targets. I'll have some thoughts on that when I move the review to the course.

Forgiveness

Given my incomplete swing change, I certainly tested the forgiveness of the Optiforce. I missed a little off center both on the heel and toe sides and the ball still mostly stayed on course. The club also handled some high off the face hits very well. I found quite a few misses in that manner so I will have to continue to evaluate my tee height and a few lingering issues on the downswing. I would say the distance loss is not particularly punishing (while certainly noticeable). As for misses due to hook/slice swings, I've been known to hit some foul balls time and again but none of the Optiforce misses were wild by that degree. The sidespin was very manageable on all but the worst (or most embarrassing) of mishits. In fact, I can't say enough about that sidespin forgiveness. I've made some compromises dealing with the occasional wildness for the sake of some distance. My gamer driver definitely has wild tendencies but it is so hot I have to keep hitting it. With some more testing, and perhaps a new shaft, I might be staring at a cake and eat it too situation.

Coming Up

Lot of golf over the next 7-10 days so stay tuned. Thanks for reading.

 

[War Eagle]

Kobey and Manlai with some great updates. Well done guys.

Manlai- What length do you typically play on your driver? Do you think the longer Optiforce helped a bit with clubhead speed than what you typically see?

 

[Kobey]

Wow, dropping 10 drokes off your PB is ridiculous, good work. Were you still hitting the occaisional draw on the course? What do you think was causing the draw, which you said you never hit, to carry over to the neutral setting?

I'm not 100% sure on that yet, but on the neutral setting it appeared to happen only when I tried to swing faster. With the draw setting, it was almost every time no matter how hard I swung. My previous drivers were regular flex and I'm on the edge between regular and stiff, so it might have been the change to a stiffer shaft that eliminated my slice and changed my miss to a draw.

Thanks WE. I was thinking on the forgiveness on toe and heel mishits.

Is there any possibility of easily shaping the ball around trees and hazards by fade and draw hits?

On toe and heel hits, my shots were staying on center. The only thing I lost was some distance, but it didn't seem to be as much as with my previous drivers, especially the R11S. If I have a mishit and it still goes over 150 yards and stays in the fairway, I'm happy. Those are easy to recover from.

Am I crazy or has anyone else noticed a different sound on mishits? If I hit in the center of the face, it is more of a "thwack" sound, but on mishits it adds a "tink" to it. I'll have to pay more attention next time to find out if I'm just hearing things.

 

[tequila4kapp]

Re the draw question, I think I saw on the Cally website that the Optiforce has a draw bias. Draw bias plus draw setting could explain Kobey's experience.

 

[manlai]

Kobey and Manlai with some great updates. Well done guys.

Manlai- What length do you typically play on your driver? Do you think the longer Optiforce helped a bit with clubhead speed than what you typically see?

I game a 45 inch. I did address your question a bit and my conclusion was that it really didn't in real life terms. When I swung at full 46 length it was all over the place. I'm a short guy (5'5) and full length made the ball look really far away. I was hitting a little behind it or thinning it regularly. It was really an issue just trying to square it up as I never got 2 hits on the sweet spot in a row. If anything, I might have slowed down just a touch just trying to hit the ball. If I were to take a sample of only my best full length Optiforce hits vs my gamer best hits, then yes, I got a little more club speed. More importantly though, I felt I was still achieving slightly better club speed gripping down to 45.

Re the draw question, I think I saw on the Cally website that the Optiforce has a draw bias. Draw bias plus draw setting could explain Kobey's experience.

I posted this picture before, but I believe it's relevant to the question.


Considering how it sits on the ground without a shaft, it appears to me that the weighting is very neutral. The Draw setting manipulates the face angle and Kobey was playing it at neutral. I would hazard a guess that the draws could be due to a slight increase in club head speed which made the head release a little more? Also, it could very well be that the Diamana is a little bit of a softer flex (even at the same "regular" label) than his other driver experiences.

 

[tequila4kapp]

Thanks for the info/response, manlai.

I went and looked it up again because I wasn't sure I was remembering it correctly. Per Callaway's site the 10.5/460cc driver's weight configuration is draw biased and the 9.5/440cc is weight configured neutral.

 

[Tadashi70]

Correct me if im wrong but doesn't the Optiforce have a flat sole and that's why it's sits flat

 

[Kobey]

Considering how it sits on the ground without a shaft, it appears to me that the weighting is very neutral. The Draw setting manipulates the face angle and Kobey was playing it at neutral. I would hazard a guess that the draws could be due to a slight increase in club head speed which made the head release a little more? Also, it could very well be that the Diamana is a little bit of a softer flex (even at the same "regular" label) than his other driver experiences.

Actually, I'm playing the Optiforce with a stiff shaft. It doesn't feel too stiff, so it could be that the Diamana in stiff is a little more flexible than other stiff shafts. Maybe with my old regular shafts I had too much flex and the head wasn't getting back square, causing my fades and slices. All I know is that this setup is just about perfect in feel and performance for me. I'd recommend anyone who has trouble with slicing, is playing a regular shaft and is in the lower 90's range for swing speed to give this setup a try. So far it's been a game changer for me.

 

[War Eagle]

Soooo many thoughts in my head on this driver after my round today.

I will have a full post up this evening, but wanted to hit some quick points;

1. Long. I had some bombs with this on the course, and interesting enough, it was all carry as the course was so wet that there was no roll, as most of the time the ball was in its mark or within a foot.

2. 3rd hole, Par 5; I hit a heck of a tee shot. And it was a beautiful slight draw.

3. The length is causing some fits at times. I have to consciously make an effort to stand further away and swing my swing. Standing too close brings in my miss right. When I set up properly, it's just about as straight as I can hit a ball.

4. Audible feedback is impressive. By sound alone, I know when it is hit on the screws and when it was a slight miss. I like having that kind of feedback.

I will have a ton more thoughts to put in here this evening. But, 3rd round in the books with it, and I am really finding my groove with it.

 

[Jman]

Very nice Beags. The more I hear you talk about this one the more I want to hit it, truly. Its an intriguing one for me, that's for sure.

(Beags Draw! YUSSSS!)

 

[Kobey]

Audible feedback is impressive. By sound alone, I know when it is hit on the screws and when it was a slight miss. I like having that kind of feedback.

So I guess that means I wasn't imagining it.

 

[GregDan]

I love hearing that everyone is starting to find some success with this. I was really impressed with the 440 head in IL and it might just be good enough to knock the Xtreme out of the bag. Keep up the great reviews!

And Beags with a draw on the course?!? What is the world coming to?