I really apprecaited this review. Many of us who love the game and love equipment but maintain a budget enjoy knowing that guys who can really play the game find brands like Hogan more than suitable. As always, great writing makes for great reading.
Ben Hogan GS53 Driver and Fairway Woods
- Staff
- #504
JB;n8880337 said:
This one is haunting me a bit.
I keep looking at the numbers and thinking, what if I fit a shaft to it that fits me? What would the 9.0 produce spin wise paired with a mid/high combo?
The numbers really are good. Hmm.
Jman;n8889261 said:
Demo program! $20 and you can test the 9.0* with a HZRDUS Smoke for 2 weeks!
J.B. Cobb III;n8889277 said:
Dude, I’ve been trying to do that for over a month. Ben Hogan is surely missing out on sales due to the unavailability of certain shaft options in the demo program. I had the exact same problem with the Fort Worth Blacks last year.
It's is a flawed system due to the limited quantity available, but in Ben Hogan Golf 's defense, they loose money on every demo purchase! I wish they could do something to help get fitted for the equipment. Make "fitting heads" with the universal connectors so that their products could be used on fitting carts already available.MrMom;n8889287 said:
J.B. Cobb III;n8889297 said:
Yeah I demoed the head with the helium before being fit by Danny at ShaftUp and it was not a good fit for me so I wasn’t that excited when we were going to be fit for drivers. The correct shaft in the makes a huge difference and fit properly this is a weapon. I would have never fit myself into the V2 Black 7f5 but man paired with this head quite the combo!
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Driver was great again both yesterday and today. I smashed more than a few that were miles ahead of my playing partners. After a few that were deep, one of the guys asked what I was playing and he was pretty taken aback when he saw it was a Hogan. He took a few swings later on and hit some good ones as well. I think if people give this club a try they will walk away pretty shocked at what it’s capable of.
J.B. Cobb III;n8889297 said:
Agreed. I really want to give this club a go but I can’t pull the trigger on a driver I’ve never hit, and demoing a club that isn’t close to my specs is a waste for both myself and the company.
The past 3 rounds I have played , the GS53 Driver has just performed! I am very happy that I put the Tensei Blue in it to replace the Helium. That and the swing adjustment I made a little while ago have produced very good results. One interesting thing I noticed was the results on the toe shots. Originally, when I started testing this club, if I hit it on the toe I would lose the ball severely right. The last 3 rounds it stays on line and actually produced a slight draw. Distance was not as long as a center face strike, but it wasn't too bad either. Is it a result of the shaft change, swing change, both ??? Who knows, but in the end it doesn't really matter. I have total confidence in this club now and can't wait to get it back out.
Nerdy_81;n8889311 said:
My feelings exactly with this Hogan head. I was skeptical at first but man the sound and distance I'm getting its hard to deny. The huge flies to right are slowly dissipating and I am moving them from right to left. I'm finding this driver to workable either way although I favor a fade. I'm scared to let anyone hit my beautiful Hogan don't want a skymark!
Had another decent round with the Hogan last week. Really enjoying this driver head! It is anchored in the bag and building confidence each round. Lost two to the right and that's me not the club but at Shaftup I was fighting my swing badly and this is slowly going away and producing more distance and most important for me accuracy. I played one of the most demanding driving courses I have played in recent memory and that includes Olympia Fields. The only problem I'm having is indecision to trust that I can hit this into tighter windows than any other driver I've played. I would pull my mini driver and I hit the Hogan better than it.... I lost two to the right but threading some needles hitting several drives over 300yds and leaving short wedges into greens for easy pars. The Cobra F9 is gone and looking forward to sharing more about this club!
In my last few rounds this driver keeps on performing at a high level. Paired with the hzrdus smoke shaft this thing has been the best club in my bag for a while now. I'm not a crazy long hitter but I'm getting more distance out of the GS53 than I have out of any other driver I've hit, and it's almost dead straight most of the round.
Saturday will be a big test for the Hogan and my ability to keep the ball in play. I'm playing a fairly tight course with danger if you're out of the fairway. Looking forward to updating the Hogan equipment threads!
OhioGolfer;n8894244 said:
Yeah straight and long paired with the V2 Black this thing is crazy straight which is nice to see. Got a round today will report back.
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Just wrapped up an outing where I played with former pro Stephen Gangluff. I struggled a bit off the tee but did manage to catch a few towards the start of our round and after getting one past him (barely) he asked to see the driver. To say he was shocked to see it was a Hogan is an understatement. He said the same thing as almost everyone else has about how well it sounds. I didn’t hit another good drive from that point on, but It was really neat to see his reaction. When the proper swing is made this thing is a real rocket.
Had to change plans a bit with a scramble blocking us from playing the course we wanted to. We moved to a different links style course. Anyways, had another okay day with the GS53. I managed to keep the same ball in play on 1-13, so the results weren't terrible. It's a really good sounding driver, with solid results on square face dead-center impacts. J.B. Cobb III asked if I thought mid-high handicappers would struggle with it as lower handicap golfers seem to do really with it. I think this definitely possible with its forgiveness issues. Honestly, before the Hogan event when I heard the Hogan brand, I equated it to older, better golfers. The guys you run into on Sunday who hit it 220 down the middle every drive, and sink every putt for par or better. Hogan clearly has a broader market than that group. That being said, I personally think this is a driver that lends itself to that group really well. I think that players who struggle to repeat their swing, or have wild swings(myself included) will hit great shots, they are also going to be punished on bad swings.
Qwkz51;n8896017 said:
Agree with this completely. My last 2 rounds my driver swing has been off and I’ve lived in the right side trees. It’s been 3 bad drives in a row, then that one that goes 300+ down the middle and I love it all over again.
i still find it odd that with my toe side miss this thing never draws! Just starts right and slices more right
there definitely are much better forgiving options out there, but man when your swing is on and centered contact, there is nothing better
- Staff
- #521
I think, and I sort of got into it a little in my homepage article, that on the button its as good as anything out there.
Miss to the extremes though, and you will see the difference as compared to a Flash, F9, etc.
But, for the price, I think thats a willing sacrifice.
Miss to the extremes though, and you will see the difference as compared to a Flash, F9, etc.
But, for the price, I think thats a willing sacrifice.
Jman;n8896348 said:
I think this driver is an enigma...price point is great, sound is superb, performance is equal to/better than top OEMs, premium stock shaft selections. Forgiveness is not at the same performance level as Top OEMs. So, who is the market for this product. Me, as a Hogan mark, yes! Me, as a golfer on a budget, yes! The average golfer...doubtful. Low handicappers/good strikers that would really appreciate and benefit from this driver...my guess is almost none. Anyone that is in that last group probably plays regularly, practices, probably has a budget for golf or just excepts the cost associated with playing regularly and will look only at Top OEM equipment. Then, the average golfer on a budget, will look at last years models or lower price offerings (D7/EXS/Launcher) before this driver because price and forgiveness probably trumps performance. I think Ben Hogan Golf made a great driver to get into the woods market. Always an iron company, there weren't any previous models or technology to improve upon. So, this is the ground floor offering. I am hopeful with the positives that this driver offers, they can make it even better in upcoming models!
- Staff
- #525
J.B. Cobb III;n8896388 said:
Eh, I do believe that a driver like the EXS offers more of a complete package where speed/launch AND forgiveness goes, in fact I think its the best deal out there for a new driver. That said, this one is among the lowest spinning I've worked with for a hot minute, and I think that in and of itself makes it very likeable for a segment of golfers.