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Cleveland Classic Driver - THP Preview Thread

SuperStroke
chestnutcheese said:
OK! So psyched! Just got off the phone with Dennis from Blind9. The CC 290 (stock shaft for now) is on its way to Charm City! I'll post a full review ASAP.
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Me too! I just ordered through Dennis as well. Like I posted in another thread, I highly recommend to everyone on here to place their next order through blind9golf--they are awesome to deal with.

Arkie_3_fan said:
You aren't alone. I never had the chance to hit the G20 outdoors or even on a monitor, but hitting in a bay at Edwin Watts, I found myself struggling to make solid contact with the G20, and didn't like the feel of it the few times I did make good contact. On the other hand, I pretty much hit the CC well from the first ball.
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It was love from first hit for me as well. I just hit the CC better than anything else I've tried. The G20 is obviously a good club, but it didn't work for me.
 
Jeff Spicoli said:
It was love from first hit for me as well. I just hit the CC better than anything else I've tried. The G20 is obviously a good club, but it didn't work for me.
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The thing is, I've been playing a G10 for several years now, and was biased a bit towards Ping when I started searching for a new driver. The CC was good enough to win me over though. Now I just need to get my swing tweaked a bit and maybe my game will come on around.
 
I got to test my classic today and i am no sold yet. It feels great to hit, but i am not seeing the same distance as my r11s i am 10-15 yards shorter with the classic and accuracy is about the same. I will play about with both, but its looking like i wlil be sticking with my r1s
 
Arkie_3_fan said:
The thing is, I've been playing a G10 for several years now, and was biased a bit towards Ping when I started searching for a new driver. The CC was good enough to win me over though. Now I just need to get my swing tweaked a bit and maybe my game will come on around.
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The G10 is a really good driver. My Dad still uses his and I don't think he'll be replacing it anytime soon. It came down to the CC and i20 driver for me--I hit both well and felt confident with both, but I think the looks and feel of the CC put it over the top.
 
Question about the 310 Tour version, sorry if this has been mentioned in the thread I haven't read through.

Is the only difference in this version the shaft and weight? Or is the head open to some degree? Will be hitting this and the 290 sooner or later and am just trying to figure out the background. I think I will like the 310 the best based on the weight, but won't know until I swing them both.
 
Cole said:
Question about the 310 Tour version, sorry if this has been mentioned in the thread I haven't read through.

Is the only difference in this version the shaft and weight? Or is the head open to some degree? Will be hitting this and the 290 sooner or later and am just trying to figure out the background. I think I will like the 310 the best based on the weight, but won't know until I swing them both.
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Head is (I believe) slightly open and the clubface is slightly smaller. Also comes with the Kusala Black shaft stock, rather than the C Kua in the 290.
 
Jersey Nate said:
Head is (I believe) slightly open and the clubface is slightly smaller. Also comes with the Kusala Black shaft stock, rather than the C Kua in the 290.
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correct. 1* open at address and 440cc head, instead of 460cc
 
Someone just beat me to it.

(The 310 is 1* open, slightly heavier, and is 440cc vs 460cc.)
 
Thanks guys. Gonna have to give both the 290 and 310 a swing.
 
Jersey Nate said:
Head is (I believe) slightly open and the clubface is slightly smaller. Also comes with the Kusala Black shaft stock, rather than the C Kua in the 290.
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I don't think the black is stock but its the Kusala that is stock. I've only seen them in stores with with the blue in them. Makes me think you can get either the black or blue.
 
I had a very up and down day with this driver. It was the first round that I've played in 2 weeks and I haven't had a lot of practice recently as I've been working more on my shorter clubs, but that's still not an excuse for the amount of fairways that I missed today. I was missing most of my fairways to the left, which is the miss that I really don't like, but it was more a pull than a hook, so I've got to get that sorted out.

The good part of the day is that on the drives I hit really well, the ball was crushed. In particular, I had one par 5 where it's always dicey on whether I can carry a trap on the left side of the fairway....if I do carry that trap, I can get home easily in 2. I did have a nice helping wind, but I hit the ball straight at the bunker and thought it was in it....nope, it carried the bunker easily and ended up 30 yards past the bunker. On another par 5, I was able to hit a drive of about 270 yards that was a little uphill as well, and it allowed me to hit that green in 2 to get an easy birdie.

I think that the lighter weight on this driver is something that I'm still adjusting to. The lighter weight does allow me to get some really good distance, probably due to an extra couple of mph on my swing speed. However, the lighter weight doesn't always match up well with my quicker transition, so I have to be aware of that. I'm sure that I'll have a good amount of time to get things squared away. I know that I can have really good days with this driver, like on the first day of the Outing, so I just need to get back to that swing!
 
I initially went the 310 route because I loved the look of the head and didn't like the closed look of all the 290s. Bought an 8.5 and couldn't make it work - long but difficult to turn over. Swapped it for a 9.5 and hit that better but still wasn't happy with the control and consistency and the difficulty in hitting a draw "on demand" (I am a +1 who hits a fade as my stock tee shot). After reading all the reviews for the 290, I went to my "local" GS where I have a good friend who is the manager and went through their stock of 290's one by one until I could find a head that sat square to open at address. The only one they had was a 10.5 that looks about 1/2 degree open and so that is what I took to the hitting bay to test against the 310 on a launch monitor that has recently been calibrated and tested. I was blown away by the results......

Results proved to be really interesting............

My 310 with 9.5* Stock Kusala Black stiff - SS 102 mph, Ball speed 146 mph, Launch 11.5*, Spin 1900 rpm, Carry 254y, Total 280. Mostly left to right with the odd horrible block right when trying to hit a draw.

Demo 290 with 10.5* (slightly closed to square) stock 49s c.Kua - 102 mph, 148 mph, 12.8*, 2400 rpm, 256y, 276y. Pretty straight, but with a slight draw on demand and no blocks.

Hand selected 10.5* (slightly open at address) stock 49s c.Kua - 102mph, 149 mph, 11.9*, 2100 rpm, 262y, 288y. Pretty straight, but with a slight draw on demand and no blocks.

Easy decision for me, so my hand picked 290 is in the bag! The combination of the 10.5 with the slighty open head probably makes it play like a 10* head. Much easier to control than the 310, more consistent and longer. The only real down side, is that it probably isn't quite as pretty a head to look at, at address. That being said the more I look at it, the more I get used to it. Very much like looking at the TM Superdeep - it just takes a while to get used to seeing so much face!!!!
 
andrevdp said:
Demo 290 with 10.5* (slightly closed to square) stock 49s c.Kua - 102 mph, 148 mph, 12.8*, 2400 rpm, 256y, 276y. Pretty straight, but with a slight draw on demand and no blocks.

Hand selected 10.5* (slightly open at address) stock 49s c.Kua - 102mph, 149 mph, 11.9*, 2100 rpm, 262y, 288y. Pretty straight, but with a slight draw on demand and no blocks.
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Please explain how there is any difference between the demo club and the hand picked club. Both were 290s, and you say one was square to closed while the other was slightly open. As far as I know, this is not an adjustable driver. How are you finding different face alignments?
 
As I said in my post, I went through every 290 they had in stock to find one that was a little open. All the manufacturers have around a 1 degree tolerance with respect to the castings, so it is not unusual to find heads that range from 1* closed to 1* open if they are stated to be square as a stock face angle. It is a time consuming process that most stores don't appreciate (means taking the shrink wrap off every head, etc, etc.) I am lucky in that I am a good enough client that my friend who is the manager at a local retailer doesn' mind.

The same tolerances hold true for loft angles in drivers. That is why when you demo a club and find one you hit really well and you walk back to the rack and take a nice shiny new shrink-wrapped head to buy and take home, you sometimes notice fairly significant performance differences between the one you demo'ed and the one you take home. I believe that if you are going to put a few hundred bucks down on the latest driver, make certain you hit it on the launch monitor before you walk out the store, to make certain that what you are taking home actually works for you.

A
 
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When I was at golf galaxy yesterday we did this exact same thing. Three drivers all the same loft, flex, and model. Each one looked different from the other. One looked more open, one closed more and one looked like it had less loft. We were talking about this very thing of finding one that fits what you're looking for.
 
andrevdp said:
As I said in my post, I went through every 290 they had in stock to find one that was a little open. All the manufacturers have around a 1 degree tolerance with respect to the castings, so it is not unusual to find heads that range from 1* closed to 1* open if they are stated to be square as a stock face angle. It is a time consuming process that most stores don't appreciate (means taking the shrink wrap off every head, etc, etc.) I am lucky in that I am a good enough client that my friend who is the manager at a local retailer doesn' mind.

The same tolerances hold true for loft angles in drivers. That is why when you demo a club and find one you hit really well and you walk back to the rack and take a nice shiny new shrink-wrapped head to buy and take home, you sometimes notice fairly significant performance differences between the one you demo'ed and the one you take home. I believe that if you are going to put a few hundred bucks down on the latest driver, make certain you hit it on the launch monitor before you walk out the store, to make certain that what you are taking home actually works for you.

A
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Excellent advice when you're buying off the rack.
 
welp, Thanks to h0ss i got my classic today and immediately went to play 18. overall i hit 13/14. distance was similar but a bit shorter than normal because since i'm just getting used to it i'm not really getting on it too much just yet. all i have to say is wow. this club is unreal. i'm in love with the sound it makes, certainly different than the RBZ i just sold. I'm a believer so far...

scramble tomorrow and i'm the long hitter in our group, i'll report back since tomorrow i'll have an entire day of bombing it as far as i can lol... driver love? classic love.
 
gioguy21 said:
welp, Thanks to h0ss i got my classic today and immediately went to play 18. overall i hit 13/14. distance was similar but a bit shorter than normal because since i'm just getting used to it i'm not really getting on it too much just yet. all i have to say is wow. this club is unreal. i'm in love with the sound it makes, certainly different than the RBZ i just sold. I'm a believer so far...

scramble tomorrow and i'm the long hitter in our group, i'll report back since tomorrow i'll have an entire day of bombing it as far as i can lol... driver love? classic love.
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Doesn't get much better than that.
 
Got out to the range with the Classic today. My main goal was to get back to the ball flight that I was seeing on the launch monitor and get back on the center of the face. Mission mostly accomplished. The range I went to had some of the most worn down rocks I've seen in a while, so there was a number of knuckle balls. Distance was still a little off, but I felt much better walking off than I did when I walked up. Didn't think that the club being just a tiny bit shorter would make that much of a difference. I realized I was also choking up just a bit. Once I fixed that, I was on center much more consistently. Still messing with tee height a bit as this is by far the tallest faced driver I've ever hit. I remember someone saying to tee it up with half the ball above the crown. That seemed to work pretty good. I'm seeing a nice penetrating flight with just a touch of draw on well struck shots. More to follow when I get it back out on the course this weekend.
 
gioguy21 said:
welp, Thanks to h0ss i got my classic today and immediately went to play 18. overall i hit 13/14. distance was similar but a bit shorter than normal because since i'm just getting used to it i'm not really getting on it too much just yet. all i have to say is wow. this club is unreal. i'm in love with the sound it makes, certainly different than the RBZ i just sold. I'm a believer so far...

scramble tomorrow and i'm the long hitter in our group, i'll report back since tomorrow i'll have an entire day of bombing it as far as i can lol... driver love? classic love.
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Awesome. Looking forward to reading how you hit and how it compares to the RBZ. Good luck tomorrow, dude!
 
gioguy21 said:
welp, Thanks to h0ss i got my classic today and immediately went to play 18. overall i hit 13/14. distance was similar but a bit shorter than normal because since i'm just getting used to it i'm not really getting on it too much just yet. all i have to say is wow. this club is unreal. i'm in love with the sound it makes, certainly different than the RBZ i just sold. I'm a believer so far...

scramble tomorrow and i'm the long hitter in our group, i'll report back since tomorrow i'll have an entire day of bombing it as far as i can lol... driver love? classic love.
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Good luck out there, Gio. 13/14 is great! I'm curious how the ball flight compares to that 9° RBZ you were playing.
 
I ordered my replacement Classic today. I just want to thank TJ and Mike Swanson of NW Players Academy. I ordered the driver through them the first time and they were incredible to work with and they were awesome this time too. Anyone who is up in the PNW I would totally recommend giving Mike a call if you wanted to get fit for your clubs. This guy really knows his stuff!!!
 
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