Weekend Driver Sampling - Titleist 910, Srixon Z-Star, Wilson Staff DXI, Exotics XCG4

Over the weekend, I took the opportunity of some warmer weather to head over to the range for some driver testing. The VectorX launch monitor was set up and I had myself and 3 other golfers (handicaps ranged from 2-14) hit 4 drivers.

Wilson Staff DXI
Exotics XCG4
Titleist 910 D2
Srixon Z-Star

Each golfer warmed up with their current driver (ironically all used R9 or 909 of some sort). Each player had a "score sheet" of sorts and it was their job to rank the subjective parts (Looks, Feel, Sound) and the launch monitors job to measure the non-subjective parts (Distance & Accuracy). We went with 20 balls with each driver and kicked out the 2 best and 2 worst from each club. So the averages are based on 16 drives from each driver.

Subjective

Looks - Titleist, Exotics, Srixon, Wilson Staff
Each golfer out of the 4 chose the exact same order. Something we have not seen before, but something that was pretty cool in blind balloting.

Sound - Exotics, Wilson Staff, Titleist, Srixon
This one was a mish mash of ballots. Some liked one and some liked something else. None were listed as having a "bad" sound.

Feel - Wilson Staff, Srixon, Titleist, Exotics
Also very interesting, because normally sound and feel are exactly the same or close to it in our testing. This came up differently and was very similar for everybody that tested.

We first tested distance and accuracy with everything set to neutral on all the clubs (we measured only carry on distance)

Distance - Exotics, Srixon, Wilston Staff, Titleist
Not a ton separated the drivers but what we saw was enough to make people have preferences in one or the other.

Exotics - 261.7
Srixon - 260.1
Wilson Staff - 257.4
Titleist - 253.6

Accuracy - Srixon, Wilson Staff, Titleist, Exotics
This was relatively close in all of the drivers. Nothing strayed to bad and all worked quite well.

Next we allowed players to tinker with heads of the adjustable clubs (Srixon & Titleist) and we retested distance and accuracy.

Distance - Srixon, Exotics, Wilson Staff, Titleist
Surprisingly, the results were very similar. The Srixon gained a few yards and edged out the Exotics. Also surprisingly, the Titleist went down slightly once adjusted by each person. But for the most part, the distance stayed the same.

Srixon - 262.4
Exotics - 260.9
Wilson Staff - 255.3
Titleist - 252.8

Accuracy - Srixon, Wilson Staff, Titleist, Exotics
The accuracy stayed exactly the same after tinkering with setup and that was one that surprised us. This could be an indication of what THP has been saying for a while. What people think they need to adjust and fix compared to what they actually need to adjust and fix.

Overall Thoughts

Srixon - Universally liked. The adjustments being as easy as they are, are what people commented on the most. The shaft was absolutely loved by all 4 golfers.

Tour Edge Exotics XCG4 - Great distance and an awesome looking driver. Very traditional and most said it was a driver that they would have looked past had they not tried it here.

Titleist 910 D2 - Pretty much similar sentiment to what we are hearing from others. Love the looks and the technology. A true beast when struck on the sweetspot. While off center shots were not killers, they did lose more distance than the other 3.

Wilson Staff DXI - Not the longest, not the most accurate, but just a solid all around performer. Another one that would have been overlooked had it not been there.

All of these are very good drivers. For these four guys, some are better than others and it appears that when it came down to it, all the guys had similar thoughts. For this testing, multiple shafts were available in each driver so that for the most part, they were shaft fit for each golfer.

Oh man do I want to bag that Srixon driver! Interesting that the Wilson edged out everybody else out in the feel department. I am really surprised by the Exotics. I will need to hit one of these soon.

Z-Star is a beast eh. Very interesting

Good sampling JB. A little surprised at the 'poor' performance distance-wise of the Titleist because of the apparent need to strike it perfect every time to really utilize the new technological goodies

Hanks said:

Good sampling JB. A little surprised at the 'poor' performance distance-wise of the Titleist because of the apparent need to strike it perfect every time to really utilize the new technological goodies

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I dont think I would call any of these poor performers. Like I said, all of these are very good drivers. It just seemed as though these 4 golfers got more distance out of the Titleist. Im sure that others will find the Titleist as long. Set to neutral, I can tell you that I struggled with the setup of the Titleist. Once dialed in, it was just fine. However two things stuck out at me with this club.

1. When I struck it a little high on the face (something I do once a round), it went no where in comparison to the others.
2. The miss out on the toe hurt their distance numbers by a large margin. Im not talking about a big miss, but just missing the sweet spot lets say half an inch towards the toe took numbers down.

Hitting it on the screws, this thing is an absolute beast. Unfortunately I do not do that every time off the tee.

I love this feedback. Interested to try the Wilson Staff. I wonder what type of shaft options they have? I would not have even looked at the Exotics either. It seems as though my list of 1 driver to buy has really expanded into a lot of drivers to test.

maybe 'poor' was a poor choice of words on my part. I guess I was just surprised to see that Titleist was not liked as much as one would expect since it's a Titleist

JB said:

I dont think I would call any of these poor performers. Like I said, all of these are very good drivers. It just seemed as though these 4 golfers got more distance out of the Titleist. Im sure that others will find the Titleist as long. Set to neutral, I can tell you that I struggled with the setup of the Titleist. Once dialed in, it was just fine. However two things stuck out at me with this club.

1. When I struck it a little high on the face (something I do once a round), it went no where in comparison to the others.
2. The miss out on the toe hurt their distance numbers by a large margin. Im not talking about a big miss, but just missing the sweet spot lets say half an inch towards the toe took numbers down.

Hitting it on the screws, this thing is an absolute beast. Unfortunately I do not do that every time off the tee.

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Great information, JB. I would love to try all four of these out in May. Launch monitor testing is always a great read.

Hawk said:

Great information, JB. I would love to try all four of these out in May. Launch monitor testing is always a great read.

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Unless you are me.

Thanks JB, great write up, have you got your hands on the XCG4 FW's yet?

JNRadio said:

Thanks JB, great write up, have you got your hands on the XCG4 FW's yet?

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Not as of yet.

i enjoyed reading this and i love the gathering of data. nothing sells me more than hard core data.

question about the 910: were the testers noticing a lower ball flight compared to the others?

the success of the wilson doesn't surprise me at all. i said it last year with their Smooth driver, probably the easiest swinging, straightest driver i've ever hit, it was just too short for me, distance wise.

TC said:

i enjoyed reading this and i love the gathering of data. nothing sells me more than hard core data.

question about the 910: were the testers noticing a lower ball flight compared to the others?

the success of the wilson doesn't surprise me at all. i said it last year with their Smooth driver, probably the easiest swinging, straightest driver i've ever hit, it was just too short for me, distance wise.

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They noticed a lower ball flight right off the bat, but once tinkering set in, the Srixon was the same launch angle.

JB said:

They noticed a lower ball flight right off the bat, but once tinkering set in, the Srixon was the same launch angle.

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so they noticed the 910 launching lower and they liked that? what i meant was, did it launch too low for some of them? it did for me but i also didn't do any tinkering.

TC said:

so they noticed the 910 launching lower and they liked that? what i meant was, did it launch too low for some of them? it did for me but i also didn't do any tinkering.

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Right off the bat (no tinkering), it launched too low for 2 out of the 4 golfers. Changing the shafts out saw a marked improvement and the launch numbers came around.

What shafts were in each, stock?

Golfingbanker said:

What shafts were in each, stock?

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Started with stock, and then each person got to choose which shaft (out of company's offerings) best suited them.

JB said:

Started with stock, and then each person got to choose which shaft (out of company's offerings) best suited them.

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i'm assuming you just had the 3 diamana offerings and the RIP for the 910?

TC said:

i'm assuming you just had the 3 diamana offerings and the RIP for the 910?

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That is correct.

JB said:

That is correct.

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which one worked best for you?

Do you think a different shaft in the Wilson could have helped it's numbers or overall impression? From what I'm hearing the feel and forgiveness seems pretty high.

TC said:

which one worked best for you?

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Shaft in 910 or overall driver? I put up my thoughts on the shafts in the 910 thread. I struggle with getting the right launch numbers for me with this driver overall.

Yoccos1981 said:

Do you think a different shaft in the Wilson could have helped it's numbers or overall impression? From what I'm hearing the feel and forgiveness seems pretty high.

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We had a couple of choices, but yes to answer your question, this driver with a high performance shaft fit for someone would have done a little better. This then brings cost into the equation in comparison to the others out there.

I love the hardcore data, nothing else quite like having the numbers to back up your thoughts and testing. Thanks for getting this info out to us!!

Nice write-up, lots of great info. Out of curiosity, how many of those testers would consider a change?

Great point. Cost is definitely something I will be keeping in mind when I go looking for a driver. Some of the new releases seem to be really be putting killer shafts as stock offerings.

JB said:

We had a couple of choices, but yes to answer your question, this driver with a high performance shaft fit for someone would have done a little better. This then brings cost into the equation in comparison to the others out there.

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