Cleveland CG Black Driver Forum Testing Review Thread

[War Eagle]

Another report from The Wanderer. 7 holes played, called on account of rain. Even par, 6 FIR. Bet all three in his group by 12, 6 and 4.
This driver is trending his game in the right direction. Definetly a game changer for my dad. Thanks to all the testers, Cleveland and THP. Without this thread and this driver he may not be as excited about his game!

That's awesome to here Freddie! Glad the Black is doing good things for his game!

 

[bahester]

Another report from The Wanderer. 7 holes played, called on account of rain. Even par, 6 FIR. Bet all three in his group by 12, 6 and 4.
This driver is trending his game in the right direction. Definetly a game changer for my dad. Thanks to all the testers, Cleveland and THP. Without this thread and this driver he may not be as excited about his game!

That's pretty sweet Freddie.

 

[c0ncept]

Another report from The Wanderer. 7 holes played, called on account of rain. Even par, 6 FIR. Bet all three in his group by 12, 6 and 4.
This driver is trending his game in the right direction. Definetly a game changer for my dad. Thanks to all the testers, Cleveland and THP. Without this thread and this driver he may not be as excited about his game!

Exactly what it has been for me too Tad! Glad he is liking it and glad I could help be a part of the testing.

 

[d_in_la]

Had an epic 9 holes today, write up coming later! So happy to be healthy again (even if my back is only 85%).

 

[Alpobass]

Hello.

My driver speed is about 99 miles/hour. In case of Cleveland Black, should i go for regular of stiff shaft? -Ok, i understand i should test but it is impossible for me now.

Thanks.

 

[JB]

Hello.

My driver speed is about 99 miles/hour. In case of Cleveland Black, should i go for regular of stiff shaft? -Ok, i understand i should test but it is impossible for me now.

Thanks.

Right on the border in this case depending on other aspects of the swing, but I would say stiff.

 

[DawgDaddy]

Hello.

My driver speed is about 99 miles/hour. In case of Cleveland Black, should i go for regular of stiff shaft? -Ok, i understand i should test but it is impossible for me now.

Thanks.

My SS is 92-95 and when I tried them out I decided to buy the stiff, I too believe you would also need the stiff flex.

 

[Chunkylover77]

Hello.

My driver speed is about 99 miles/hour. In case of Cleveland Black, should i go for regular of stiff shaft? -Ok, i understand i should test but it is impossible for me now.

Thanks.

I wouldn't even hesitate to put you in the stiff. Not even close IMO

 

[SW]

Hello.

My driver speed is about 99 miles/hour. In case of Cleveland Black, should i go for regular of stiff shaft? -Ok, i understand i should test but it is impossible for me now.

Thanks.

I would say stiff just off the cuff. However depending on your circumstances a different loft might suit you better.

--
tapatalk

 

[Alpobass]

Thanks for everybody, I will think about it....

What do you think about that I tend to launch ball quite high with my Taylor Made R9 10.5 regular driver. Should i go 10.5 or 9.0 with GC Black?

 

[EJ333]

Although I do not own a Black driver yet, I understand that it launches even higher due to the softer flex profile of the Miyazaki shaft. Therefore, I would say you would probably be happier with the 9* loft.

 

[EJ333]

Just to clarify, I went from a R9 SuperTri 11.5* to a Ping K15 10.5*with the same exact shaft reinstalled,the C Kua 39 in A flex (senior), and I am happy with the lower flight. I had purchased the Miyazaki separately awhile back. Please note that the International Flex code is the same as the CG Black Driver's REGULAR flex. Therefore, it seems that you are best off with the Stiff, especially if you want to keep your flight down.

 

[Tadashi70]

Thanks for everybody, I will think about it....

What do you think about that I tend to launch ball quite high with my Taylor Made R9 10.5 regular driver. Should i go 10.5 or 9.0 with GC Black?

I have the R9 and have tested it against the 10.5 black. I hit my R9 on the high side, I hit the Black mid to high with the same swing. You will be safe if you go with a 10.5 R.

 

[Chunkylover77]

Thanks for everybody, I will think about it....

What do you think about that I tend to launch ball quite high with my Taylor Made R9 10.5 regular driver. Should i go 10.5 or 9.0 with GC Black?

9.0 with stiff shaft would be my recommendation. That being said I do tend to hit a pretty high ball and the 10.5 has not been all that much higher and it is certainly not ballooning on me

 

[Chunkylover77]

So I went to the range on a wet Saturday. The results were pretty average as to what I’ve seen thus far with the Black. So instead of telling you what happened on the range, I figured I will give you a little state of the driver so far.

When I first got this driver I was coming from the Titleist 910 D2. That was a nice consistent fairway finder for me. The distance was pretty good but the accuracy was great on that driver. Fast forward to today and my perception is that the Black is not as accurate as the Titleist. I feel like I’m not as in control with the Black and I don’t exactly know what is going to happen. Playing shots is just not comfortable yet for me. The reality is not as bad though. My FIR is at 58% which is pretty good. I also am not losing that many balls lately which tells me that my misses are not dead. That is a good thing as I can have a tendency to push the ball way right. I think I need to really try hard to erase my perception of what is going on and just concentrate on the facts.

Ball Flight has been a mixed bag thus far. The 910 had a very consistent draw pattern for me with a tight mid ball flight. The Black has been kind of all over the place. At first it was nothing but a fade. I stubbornly just swung away with this club trying to play different shots and all I got was a fade. It was when I concentrated on slowing down my tempo a bit that the different shots came back for me. In fact I can hit a consistent draw with the Black as long as I swing with a nice slow and smooth tempo. I feel this is because of the draw bias of the club. With the smooth tempo the shaft keeps up and the head takes over which produces a draw due to the weight placement in the head. Quicken the pace a little and this shaft will not keep up and that is when the fades/worse happen. My ball flight has been pretty consistent with the Black. It’s a nice high trajectory that has a longer carry than the 910 did. When it dries out here I will be able to report about how the ball does with roll out. Thus far due to the wet conditions I’m mainly getting carry and sit. When I quicken my swing I can get a bit of a balloon situation but that is pretty rare. I quite like the ball flight of this driver.

When you talk about the Black you need to talk about distance. That is the selling point IMO. This driver was created for people who have lost a little on their swing speed. The lighter shaft and lighter overall weighting should increase your swing speed thus resulting in longer distance. The design of the head which Cleveland calls the Speed Crown design cuts down the drag of the head also which will help increase your swing speed. So far I think that I have seen that but it has not been all good. I feel like the shaft is not quite firm enough for me. With my normal tempo I get erratic results in terms of accuracy and more specifically losing the ball right which will kill overall distance. Slow the tempo a bit and the shaft keeps up and the ball really explodes off the face of this driver. Tempo is key. Keep it under control and your distance will improve. I’m seeing a nice increase of 10 yards if I’m being conservative. It will be interesting to hit this driver when it is drier out so I can see total distance instead of just carry distance. My bet would be that I will see more like a 10-20 yard increase which will creep into game changing status.

Contact was at the beginning pretty poor. It was very inconsistent which is not normal for me with a driver. Usually I can pick up a new driver and just swing away and get pretty good results in terms of contact on the face. This driver was all over the place. I was getting heel shots, toe shots, high on the face shots. I fiddled around with setup quite a bit and feel like I’ve finally got it down. At first I teed the ball up thinking that the carry distance would be better if I made contact on the upswing. This just resulted in hitting the ball really high on the face. When that happens the ball goes very high and I lose distance. I adjusted the tee height back down to normal and my contact went back to more center. The length of the shaft has given me fits with regards to heel/toe contact. I started out with my normal distance away from the ball. I was getting a ton of heel shots with that due to the longer shaft. I adjusted my stance a little more away and this has improved my contact although I still find it too inconsistent for my taste. I don’t think I like the longer shaft. In theory the longer the shaft the more of an arc which will result in higher swing speed. For me though, it just has resulted in poor contact which will destroy distance. I’m now going to start choking up a little on the driver just to see how my contact gets from that change. I have a feeling this will fix my issues

The feel of this driver is amazing. I thought the 910 was a very nice solid feeling driver. The Black takes this to new levels. The feeling of hitting a good shot with this driver is the feeling of absolutely crushing a ball. I think it’s the sound that really creates this impression. It’s a deep sound which is the best way I can describe it. Off center shots are not as awesome but the results are still good. The sound tells you whether you have made good center contact on the Black. When you hear that sound you know the ball is flying well. It’s very addictive. I wish I had a better way of describing it but once you hit it you will know. Maybe closest to an old persimmon feel. Lots of drivers these days sound like a baseball bat instead of a golf club. The Black went old school and it is awesome.

That pretty much sums up my first state of the union. It’s been a little bumpy but I feel like it’s on the uptick. I’m getting more in control of my tempo and that is bringing good results with the Black. My next test will be choking up on the shaft to see if my contact improves. Once I can get the contact under control, I feel this driver will really take my game to a new level of scoring irons into greens instead of mid irons. That is game changing. We will see if that happens.

 

[Kmac]

Chunky that was a thorough update full of good info. I cant help but wonder if you would benefit tremendously from cutting down the shaft length a bit. A good bit actually. Since this is testing and testing is done with stock equipment its something Id do after its officially over but I think it would be beneficial.

 

[TwoSolitudes]

Really great report Chunky.

46" is just too long to keep up decent consistancy (at least for me). I am really curious to see if Cleveland rebalances the swing weight if you order it at -1. If they do I would be interested in trying it out. I will be curious to see how you make out while choking up.

 

[DawgDaddy]

Great state of the driver address there Cl, the poster formerly known as OEM Kevin may be on to something. Looking forward to your updates.

 

[#Cookie]

Another nice write up Chunky. Curious to see if those distance gains over the D2 disappear when choking down a bit or cutting down the shaft. Logically, I would think they would.

You think your SS/tempo is at the high end of what this driver/shaft combo will tolerate?

 

[Centre]

Nice writeup chunky! Sounds like this driver is starting to click for you.

 

[Chunkylover77]

Chunky that was a thorough update full of good info. I cant help but wonder if you would benefit tremendously from cutting down the shaft length a bit. A good bit actually. Since this is testing and testing is done with stock equipment its something Id do after its officially over but I think it would be beneficial.

KMac I will most likely be doing a bit of a switch with this driver after the official testing. Part of it will definitely be cutting the shaft down.

Another nice write up Chunky. Curious to see if those distance gains over the D2 disappear when choking down a bit or cutting down the shaft. Logically, I would think they would.

You think your SS/tempo is at the high end of what this driver/shaft combo will tolerate?

Cookie I do think I'm right at the edge of who this driver is designed for. Sometimes right on the edge and sometimes right over it

 

[c0ncept]

KMac I will most likely be doing a bit of a switch with this driver after the official testing. Part of it will definitely be cutting the shaft down.

Cookie I do think I'm right at the edge of who this driver is designed for. Sometimes right on the edge and sometimes right over it

I'd choke up before I cut anything. So far every time I hit a bad shot it has been because I was thinking about the club and worrying about something. Yesterday I had a terrible driving day that the scorecard didnt reflect but started off with a lot of super low burner slices that I couldn't figure out. I put headphones in and just stopped thinking and hit two great drives to finish the round.

 

[chewie69]

Test Date: 1/25/12
Testing Club: Cleveland Black Driver 10.5* with C Kua 39S shaft
My Prior Club: Taylormade Tour Burner 10.5*, stiff flex
Ball Used: Srixon Z-Star
Environment: Mostly Sunny, 65*, Right ankle in brace

Played 9 holes this afternoon. I hit 5/7 fairways. Lately it seems like I start out strong with my driver, and then for some reason I get a little loose by hole 6 or 8 and start getting the high fade. I will figure it out, just not really sure right now. Anyway, I had solid drives of 245, 225, 252, 230, 220, 220 uphill, and 225. Some of the holes were drying out a little after all the rain, and aothers were still a little soft. It was a decent round, just a little frustrating to start strong and then loose it a little off the tee.

 

[TC]

I actually got to see this driver in the flesh today. I met up with SW to play a round of golf and he had this club in his bag. Man, it is one good looking driver. I gave it a few waggles, it's awfully noodle-ish to me. The 4212 flex code is about the exact opposite of what I prefer though. He hits it really well when he doesn't get after it. The ball flight was a little lower than I would've imagined it to be as well.

 

[Kmac]

I actually got to see this driver in the flesh today. I met up with SW to play a round of golf and he had this club in his bag. Man, it is one good looking driver. I gave it a few waggles, it's awfully noodle-ish to me. The 4212 flex code is about the exact opposite of what I prefer though. He hits it really well when he doesn't get after it. The ball flight was a little lower than I would've imagined it to be as well.

Guess FLTC wont be bagging one of these for the MC huh??