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Driver Shoot Out at the Range Today

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JB

JB

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Today at the range I was pleased to be joined by fellow member TinCup Tampa and his better half. As well as a pro at my club that I play at. We took five drivers to the test. Only four are in the photos.
Ping G10
Titleist 909 D2 Voodoo
Nickent 4DX Evolver Fuji Stiff
Taylor Made R7 TP
Dimension Z Widowmaker

P1000076.jpg


A little dirty but still great

P1000077.jpg


The R7 Was not in the photos because that came into play later on. My favorite was stuck between 2. I loved the Dimension Z and the Nickent Evolver.
Tin Cup was torn between the Nickent and the Titleist 909 but was leaning towards Nickent.
Andy the club pro was all over the place. He liked the hot face of the Ping, but got the best distance out of the TaylorMade. THe Nickent he liked but the shaft was not stiff enough for him. We had an extra shaft but I left the wrench at home.

All in all it was a good day. My Ping G10 is going to get shelved for a while it looks like.
We were also able to play all the Nickent Hybrids and Wedges. Both were great for me. Can't decide if I like the Hybrids more than mine already, but I did prefer the wedges to my Vokeys. Just more head control for me. Taking them to the course Monday for full demo.

We were also able to hit some balls with the Nike VR Split cavitys. It was unanimous the feelings on these. Everyone liked them and the pro Andy preferred them to his Titleist AP2's he just started playing with. At setup it look and feels like a blade. Great day and I was happy to have shared it with everyone.
 
Nice! MORE!
I love that name, Widowmaker!
 
I did like both the Nickent and the Titleist drivers. It surprised me that I liked the Titleist... I dont really buy into popularity of a club strictly as a result of marketing dollar. But, the 909 was a pretty solid club. If it had a different shaft in it (we were hitting it with a Voodoo shaft) I may have been able to work it a little better. I was able to hit a very controllable slight fade (intentionally or not) but wasnt able to draw it very well... I blame the shaft. I say this because with the Nickent (square face and no bias) I was able to hit a nice draw and probably get the most distance although the Titleist was close.

I was pretty excited to hit the Nickent wedges. I have been looking for a demo for a few months whether it be the Arc blades or the Arc wedges. If you prefer a heavier wedge with more feel... then you would be doing yourself a disservice by not giving them a try. I currently play Cleveland CG14's and they blow them out of the water in terms of actual feel on the shot. I do not carry a 60* wedge because I could never really hit it for any distance. I was able to hit the 60* around the same distance as my Cleveland 56*. I think this is probably due to more weight in the head of the wedge. The true test would be out of the sand... so I will wait on JB's 2 cents after Monday to see what he says about their performance. I would assume just from what I felt today they will more than likely be excellent. I also hit JB's Vokeys and liked the Arc wedges better. I would guess they are going to be replacing my 14's before next year but I still have a few on my list I want to try.

I hit the Nike's on a very limited basis so I cant give you an honest review of them... although I did take one swing of the Club Pro's AP2's and I would compare those to my 57's. I was really surprised because I really do not like the look of them. The look of the Nike's are pretty appealing with a slim top line but I think they may have blinded me a little.

All in all it was very fun to meet up with JB and take advantage of the benefits he has been able to bring to us through this forum. Compared to other forums I have been on... I think if you are looking for a true read and review when it comes to clubs and accessories you are in the right place.

Thanks JB

Edit: I also was able to hit the G10. I thought this driver had a good feel to it but, to me, it was lighter than the other 2 drivers... which I think is the problem that I currently have with mine. Decent club but mine is too similar to even give it any thought.
 
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TinCupTampa said:
I did like both the Nickent and the Titleist drivers. It surprised me that I liked the Titleist... I dont really buy into popularity of a club strictly as a result of marketing dollar. But, the 909 was a pretty solid club. If it had a different shaft in it (we were hitting it with a Voodoo shaft) I may have been able to work it a little better. I was able to hit a very controllable slight fade (intentionally or not) but wasnt able to draw it very well... I blame the shaft. I say this because with the Nickent (square face and no bias) I was able to hit a nice draw and probably get the most distance although the Titleist was close.

I was pretty excited to hit the Nickent wedges. I have been looking for a demo for a few months whether it be the Arc blades or the Arc wedges. If you prefer a heavier wedge with more feel... then you would be doing yourself a disservice by not giving them a try. I currently play Cleveland CG14's and they blow them out of the water in terms of actual feel on the shot. I do not carry a 60* wedge because I could never really hit it for any distance. I was able to hit the 60* around the same distance as my Cleveland 56*. I think this is probably due to more weight in the head of the wedge. The true test would be out of the sand... so I will wait on JB's 2 cents after Monday to see what he says about their performance. I would assume just from what I felt today they will more than likely be excellent. I also hit JB's Vokeys and liked the Arc wedges better. I would guess they are going to be replacing my 14's before next year but I still have a few on my list I want to try.

I hit the Nike's on a very limited basis so I cant give you an honest review of them... although I did take one swing of the Club Pro's AP2's and I would compare those to my 57's. I was really surprised because I really do not like the look of them. The look of the Nike's are pretty appealing with a slim top line but I think they may have blinded me a little.

All in all it was very fun to meet up with JB and take advantage of the benefits he has been able to bring to us through this forum. Compared to other forums I have been on... I think if you are looking for a true read and review when it comes to clubs and accessories you are in the right place.

Thanks JB

Edit: I also was able to hit the G10. I thought this driver had a good feel to it but, to me, it was lighter than the other 2 drivers... which I think is the problem that I currently have with mine. Decent club but mine is too similar to even give it any thought.
Click to expand...


IT was absolutely my pleasure. I hope that your girl friend likes the outfit Golfer Gal picked out for her. It was a treat that we have to do again soon. I loved getting instant feedback on all of the goodies we were able to try out from everyone and man oh man were you killing the Nickent Driver.
 
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We are going to be doing a roundup again in a few weeks. Here is the lineup so far.
1. Taylor Made R9
2. Callaway FT-IQ
3. Cobra L5V
4. Nickent 4DX Evolver
5. Titleist 909D2
 
JB I want to be there for this. I had a blast the last time we did this!!!!!
 
do you reckon you will get to try the nickent supermag at any point??
 
We will be reviewing that driver in the next month or so Paul.
 
JB said:
We will be reviewing that driver in the next month or so Paul.
Click to expand...

Awesome, i shall keep my eyes open for that one.
 
That seems like a really great time. The best thing in reviews are comparing drivers to other drivers. That's what i always like to look for.
 
JB said:
We are going to be doing a roundup again in a few weeks. Here is the lineup so far.
1. Taylor Made R9
2. Callaway FT-IQ
3. Cobra L5V
4. Nickent 4DX Evolver
5. Titleist 909D2
Click to expand...

ooh, id love to get in on the testing too if you have room for me! sounds like it would be fun :act-up:
 
RS,
There is always room.
 
It will probably be the week we return from the PGA show
 
It is a small show where sellers and some OEMs go. Not worth the hassle. The PGA show happens twice a year. One in Las Vegas and one in Orlando.
 
JB said:
We are going to be doing a roundup again in a few weeks. Here is the lineup so far.
1. Taylor Made R9
2. Callaway FT-IQ
3. Cobra L5V
4. Nickent 4DX Evolver
5. Titleist 909D2
Click to expand...

You have to add the Nike Dymo and the Powerbilt Air Force One driver to this lineup :)

Thanks,
p
 
Welcome PM,
We already reviewed the Dymo and that is on the main page of the site under equipment reviews. It was already sent back to Nike. The Air Force One will be here right after the show but will be profiled separately based on their request.
 
When is the Nike Str8 going to be released? I would be interested in the R9 & Str8 head to head.
 
The Str8 comes out in April I believe and we will be reviewing that in late Feb.
 
JB said:
Welcome PM,
We already reviewed the Dymo and that is on the main page of the site under equipment reviews. It was already sent back to Nike. The Air Force One will be here right after the show but will be profiled separately based on their request.
Click to expand...

Ok, I see how it works. I didn't know you had to return the Dymo so soon and I didn't know that Powerbilt requested no head to head comparisons.
Like a previous poster mentioned, I like head to head competitions/comparisons as well.

Thanks for replying! I really enjoy your site and thanks for the "welcome" :)
 
No problem PM. Powerbilt does not request no head to heads. They just did so with this driver because of who it is geared to. After we review it by itself, we can then put it head to head if we chose to go that route. We shall see. We are definitely looking forward to having some people test it out for us.

As for the Dymo. We had it for about 5 weeks. They needed it back. They donate them to the First Tee.

Glad you like the site.
 
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