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Nicklaus ML4 Driver - Forum Testing Review

SuperStroke
MattyKrack17 said:
I also find myself pulling my short irons out a lot more these days
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That's a great feeling. I'm starting to have to decide between a strong 9i or a light 8i. That's fun.
 
JB said:
Good update JMan.
Anymore updates testers?

I would love to hear more about launch, ballflight, distance, forgiveness, hole updates, round updates, etc...
This thread is all about testing and the more thoughts the better we all are. Thanks.
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Thanks JB, that means alot.

Played 9 today, only pulled the ML4 4 times but I found the short grass every time, including one off the toe so far that I felt the club twist in my hand...only went about 215 but it was fairway bound, CRAZY forgiveness IMO. Using a buddies rangefinder I went about 265, 260, 270, and the illustrious 215 LOL, all acceptable numbers to me and again, IN THE FAIRWAY!

I will say though the sticker on the sole still bugs me, but, I haven't pulled it off yet! hahahaha
 
Really interesting to read the findings of the testers on this thread. I wasn't blown away by this driver at the demo day. I'm wondering if being shafted properly played a role in that. Glad to hear it's working for some of you.

I'm sure I missed it, but is anyone hitting the OFFSET model? If so, could you direct me to their posts please.

What's been the consensus of no alignment on the crown, does that bother anyone?

Again, I apologize for skimming and missing if some of these things have been discussed.
 
Jman215 said:
Thanks JB, that means alot.

Played 9 today, only pulled the ML4 4 times but I found the short grass every time, including one off the toe so far that I felt the club twist in my hand...only went about 215 but it was fairway bound, CRAZY forgiveness IMO. Using a buddies rangefinder I went about 265, 260, 270, and the illustrious 215 LOL, all acceptable numbers to me and again, IN THE FAIRWAY!

I will say though the sticker on the sole still bugs me, but, I haven't pulled it off yet! hahahaha
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Good stuff jman. I found this to be pretty forgiving down at the outing. Just so you know the first thing I looked at when picking up this driver for the first time was that sticker.

just tap it in!
 
One more thing. Are there any recent pics of the drivers? I am just curious how it holds up to play, marks, scuffs, etc. I am fascinated by how clubs wear.
 
biggsy said:
Really interesting to read the findings of the testers on this thread. I wasn't blown away by this driver at the demo day. I'm wondering if being shafted properly played a role in that. Glad to hear it's working for some of you.

I'm sure I missed it, but is anyone hitting the OFFSET model? If so, could you direct me to their posts please.

What's been the consensus of no alignment on the crown, does that bother anyone?

Again, I apologize for skimming and missing if some of these things have been discussed.
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All three of us have the normal non-offset driver Biggsy.

I myself love no alignment aid as I said in my initial thoughts, but, I really think thats because I ground the club off the tee so all an alignment aid does is throw me off as if I were to align with that grounded, I'm going to destroy the heel and hosel of the driver lol. My other drivers have aids and I always just ignore or tap over them (electrical tape) so this is right up my alley personally.

ddec0418 said:
Good stuff jman. I found this to be pretty forgiving down at the outing. Just so you know the first thing I looked at when picking up this driver for the first time was that sticker.

just tap it in!
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Haha, see, I didn't want my nitpicking to do that! It just bugs me for some crazy reason, it makes no sense that it does, but it does, ya know?

I love the ML4 though, should be getting back out Friday so stay tuned!
 
biggsy said:
One more thing. Are there any recent pics of the drivers? I am just curious how it holds up to play, marks, scuffs, etc. I am fascinated by how clubs wear.
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I will hook you up tonight or tomorrow Biggsy, no problem man.
 
Jman215 said:
All three of us have the normal non-offset driver Biggsy.

I myself love no alignment aid as I said in my initial thoughts, but, I really think thats because I ground the club off the tee so all an alignment aid does is throw me off as if I were to align with that grounded, I'm going to destroy the heel and hosel of the driver lol. My other drivers have aids and I always just ignore or tap over them (electrical tape) so this is right up my alley personally.
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That's good to know, thanks for sharing that. That's very interesting. I ground my club too and I just know where to line it up based on the alignment aid. Never thought it would work the other way. Thanks for opening my eyes to that.
 
This is after 6-8 rounds

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I now tap while I talk
 
biggsy said:
Still looks great. Thanks for posting that Matty!
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No prob, that's what I'm here for as a tester

I now tap while I talk
 
Matty if you don't mind which courses are you playing?

and which tees
 
Rock manor, delcastle, town and country in jersey, white clay creek, paxon hollow, spring hollow , the non Delaware courses are from my league

I'm playing iniscrone tomorrow.

And from the whites/ middle
I now tap while I talk
 
okay cause earlier in the thread you talked about when you were hitting the driver and when you weren't and I was just curious as to which holes you were talking about. The face on it after that many rounds is fantastic. Holds up better against some of "the leading drivers" lol
 
Yeah white clay doesn't have many driver holes, and I was struggling with it, but my confidence is high and I'm sure is go driver on certain holes I didn't in the beginning

I now tap while I talk
 
Just back from 18, hit 9/10 fairwayz I pulled driver out. This course calls for a lot of layups. Longest drive was 277 , shortest was 231. The short drive was off the heel and high up, still found the fairway, if that's not forgiving I don't know what is.. still love the solid sound this driver makes when hit on the sweet spot, so pure. Still launching mid high, and it gets up fast and stays up.. didn't get much roll out today, but with as much carry as I'm getting, its ok.. I would like a little lower flight for the flat fairways, the ball flight for me is a slight fade . hat one bad slice into the woods but I tried to swing out of my shoes. With this driver a nice smooth swing works best for me.. I'm glad I'm testing this, because my driver stats are the best they ever been, have my league sat at a fairly open course, so ill be back with more updates

I now tap while I talk
 
That's a great round with the driver, Matty. Well done.
 
Thanks, pix are up in the course pic
Thread
I now tap while I talk
 
Those are some great numbers and I love it. This driver was a real pleasent surprise for me. Hope it treats you well in your league rounds as well!

MattyKrack17 said:
Just back from 18, hit 9/10 fairwayz I pulled driver out. This course calls for a lot of layups. Longest drive was 277 , shortest was 231. The short drive was off the heel and high up, still found the fairway, if that's not forgiving I don't know what is.. still love the solid sound this driver makes when hit on the sweet spot, so pure. Still launching mid high, and it gets up fast and stays up.. didn't get much roll out today, but with as much carry as I'm getting, its ok.. I would like a little lower flight for the flat fairways, the ball flight for me is a slight fade . hat one bad slice into the woods but I tried to swing out of my shoes. With this driver a nice smooth swing works best for me.. I'm glad I'm testing this, because my driver stats are the best they ever been, have my league sat at a fairly open course, so ill be back with more updates

I now tap while I talk
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ML4 Update

I played 18 today and used the ML4 six times. I hit the fairway five times. The sixth one was a bad swing. Again the ML4 performed very well. The five drives were straight and long. As a senior I don't get the distance that Matt and Jman do so don't think my distances would be your distances. I was averaging about 240 with hardly any roll, though one of the drives went 255.

I'm hitting the ball very high, which may be costing me distance. I'm getting a lot of carry, but hardly any roll. At the same time I don't feel like I'm ballooning the ball. I've noticed I carry the ball further than a lot of the people I play with, but some hit the ball further because of the roll they get. That said, I'm a high ball hitter with all my clubs, except the putter.

Hitting it high isn't necessarily a bad thing. For example,on the 10th hole trees hug the left side. My drive carried all the trees. A lower ball flight never would have made it. That was my longest drive.

That all said I've never hit the ball further or straighter. This is a very forgiving driver, however that doesn't mean it will make up for all one's swing faults because it won't. If you do hit one off the toe you will still get respectable distance and relatively straight ball flight. I haven't hit one off the heel yet.
 
Those are some good fairway #'s Sean and good distance. I would only think the high ballflight would be bad if spin was keeping it from going further. But spin can be a good thing. Seems though it's working extremely well for you! This is really looking like a top notch driver.
 
Yoccos1981 said:
Those are some good fairway #'s Sean and good distance. I would only think the high ballflight would be bad if spin was keeping it from going further. But spin can be a good thing. Seems though it's working extremely well for you! This is really looking like a top notch driver.
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Thanks Yoccos. I don't think spin is the problem because unlike driver's I've had in the past the ball has never bounces backwards on wet fairways, but always forwards, if that makes any sense. It really is a terrific driver.
 
Even better! I get weary of a high ballflight but usually I love the result of more carry.

Sean said:
Thanks Yoccos. I don't think spin is the problem because unlike driver's I've had in the past the ball has never bounces backwards on wet fairways, but always forwards, if that makes any sense. It really is a terrific driver.
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Nice reviews, gents!

Sean, great to hear the ML4 is still working for you. I've experienced the same on hits toward the toe, the ball still gets out there and the flight, as far as direction is concerned, is barely affected. I've faded a few, drew most. Contact a bit toward the toe is more common for me than catching it pure so the ML4's forgiveness in this area is WHOLLY appreciated.

As for heel hits, although I usually never hit it off the heel, as I've said in past posts, my swing with the woods has been off. So, I've actually had a couple of heeled drives. In my experience with the ML4, shots toward the heel lose slightly more distance than shots toward the toe. That said, the distance has still been impressive. In both instances, the ball still penetrated nicely with a soft fade. Both shots incidentally were near the middle of the fairway. Considering the type of swing I happened to put on the ball with these particular shots, I was extremely happy with both the distance and direction.

I can safely say that the ML4 is one of the most forgiving drivers I've ever hit. I'm anxiously awaiting my club's reshaft (Pershing-65 S-flex, built to 44.5"). Hopefully I can report on that next week.
 
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