Cleveland Classic Driver - THP Preview Thread

This thread has fallen way too far. I went to get fitted for a new driver and the pro working with me told me that due to my steep swing path and the fact that I hit down on the ball w/ the driver that no club will bring down my launch and spin.

So naturally I purchased a Classic 290 w/ Miyazaki Blue 72x today. I mean, what else did you expect? I wanted a new driver hahaha.

Congrats! I have a feeling that this thread will be getting updated more often sometime soon...
 
This thread has fallen way too far. I went to get fitted for a new driver and the pro working with me told me that due to my steep swing path and the fact that I hit down on the ball w/ the driver that no club will bring down my launch and spin.

So naturally I purchased a Classic 290 w/ Miyazaki Blue 72x today. I mean, what else did you expect? I wanted a new driver hahaha.
Congrats. You made a great choice with the classic.
 
This thread has fallen way too far. I went to get fitted for a new driver and the pro working with me told me that due to my steep swing path and the fact that I hit down on the ball w/ the driver that no club will bring down my launch and spin.

So naturally I purchased a Classic 290 w/ Miyazaki Blue 72x today. I mean, what else did you expect? I wanted a new driver hahaha.
Great choice, I hope it treats you well.
 
JB, just wondering why you chose to bag the Bridgestone J40 over the Cleveland Classic. I've narrowed my driver selection down to those two options and would appreciate your input given your positive reviews of both drivers. I've hit and been fitted for the Cleveland Classic 270 but have not been able to find a fitter that carries the J40 in my area. My only experience with the J40 was hitting one I found in a used club bin that was 9.5* with a Project X 6.5. I loved the look of the club and had decent results but the shaft was a lot stiffer than what I usually play so I couldn't really make a fair comparison between it and the Cleveland Classic.
 
Thanks guys, I am excited and looking forward to its arrival tomorrow.
 
I want to post some brief thoughts about my driver battle, and it's most likely nearing its end.

After hitting both the Classic and the Fit for over a month, I really think that the Classic is the better driver for me. When I slice the ball, I slice it with both drivers, including the Fit with the settings on Closed and the weights on draw. It goes just as far left as the Classic does.

Distance wise, the Classic and the Fit are equals for me, so that is a wash. There are two things that are putting the Classic on top right now over the Fit: Forgiveness and shaft feel. Shaft wise, I feel like I can make a more relaxed swing for the Classic to perform well and for it to give me some good distance. A more controlled swing generates less of a slice and more of a fade. While the Classic has a slightly higher ball flight due to the shaft, I just like the feel of the Miyazaki slightly better than the RIP'D NV. On to forgiveness: There is something to be said about the large face of the Classic - it really gives me more of a decent ball flight on hits both high, low, and towards the heel of the face. I found that on miss hits with the RAZR Fit, I was punished quite a bit more in terms of acceptable ball flight and distance than the Classic.

So there you have it, folks, the initial verdict is in for me. My next few rounds will be with the Classic.
 
Good info JN. Glad you found something that is working for you.

Tomorrow, the THP Tour Van is going to a course that is letting us get some raw feedback from some every day golfers on some drivers. This is one of the drivers that is going to be tested.
 
Good info JN. Glad you found something that is working for you.

Tomorrow, the THP Tour Van is going to a course that is letting us get some raw feedback from some every day golfers on some drivers. This is one of the drivers that is going to be tested.

Thanks, JB. The Tour Van Testing Project is a great idea, and I can't wait for the upcoming info!
 
I want to post some brief thoughts about my driver battle, and it's most likely nearing its end.

After hitting both the Classic and the Fit for over a month, I really think that the Classic is the better driver for me. When I slice the ball, I slice it with both drivers, including the Fit with the settings on Closed and the weights on draw. It goes just as far left as the Classic does.

Distance wise, the Classic and the Fit are equals for me, so that is a wash. There are two things that are putting the Classic on top right now over the Fit: Forgiveness and shaft feel. Shaft wise, I feel like I can make a more relaxed swing for the Classic to perform well and for it to give me some good distance. A more controlled swing generates less of a slice and more of a fade. While the Classic has a slightly higher ball flight due to the shaft, I just like the feel of the Miyazaki slightly better than the RIP'D NV. On to forgiveness: There is something to be said about the large face of the Classic - it really gives me more of a decent ball flight on hits both high, low, and towards the heel of the face. I found that on miss hits with the RAZR Fit, I was punished quite a bit more in terms of acceptable ball flight and distance than the Classic.

So there you have it, folks, the initial verdict is in for me. My next few rounds will be with the Classic.

This is some great info, thanks for sharing. I really want the Classic so bad I can taste it, but need to do the right thing with a full testing. I'm considering ordering a number of different drivers that are high on my list, testing them on the course and our clubs monitor and then selling the ones I don't pick through the club, or using as demo's to sell more to members. Seem's like a win win to me if I can find a good deal.
 
This is some great info, thanks for sharing. I really want the Classic so bad I can taste it, but need to do the right thing with a full testing. I'm considering ordering a number of different drivers that are high on my list, testing them on the course and our clubs monitor and then selling the ones I don't pick through the club, or using as demo's to sell more to members. Seem's like a win win to me if I can find a good deal.

By the time you do all that, the 2013 clubs will be coming out and you will have to start all over!
 
This is some great info, thanks for sharing. I really want the Classic so bad I can taste it, but need to do the right thing with a full testing. I'm considering ordering a number of different drivers that are high on my list, testing them on the course and our clubs monitor and then selling the ones I don't pick through the club, or using as demo's to sell more to members. Seem's like a win win to me if I can find a good deal.

That sounds like a great idea, Duey. I do really love this driver. All I have to do now is get a lesson or two to help me fix my swing plane inconsistencies and this thing will sing even more for me.
 
By the time you do all that, the 2013 clubs will be coming out and you will have to start all over!

Lol, or worst case my Williams would out drive all of them.
 
Nice little summary of your experience, JN. You don't even know how ready I am to get this driver in the bag.
 
Great summary JN. Nice that there seems to be a clear favourite for your swing, even though both are obviously very good drivers.

Looking forward to the real world tour van testing feedback too, I love THP testing like this.
 
Took my new Classic out for some range time last night, and although it wasn't love at first swing, I can say I definitely love the looks of the club. Here are my initial comparisons to my Srixon Z-Star:

Profile wise, the Classic has a deeper face (well documented), is shorter from front to back, and also shorter from heel to toe. It plays about an inch shorter than my Z-Star, which came stock at closer to 46". Strangely enough, I was actually hitting the sweet spot on the Z-Star more consistently last night. I know that has to do with me being more used to the club, but it was still baffling as I feel like the Classic should be easier to hit since it is shorter and also has a deeper face. The Classic has a noticeable difference in sound when caught on the heel compared to the center of the club face (I can't comment on the toe as my misses last night were all towards the heel). Swings that caught the middle of the club face resulted in a great penetrating ball flight that landed in areas that my Z-Star is usually not capable of reaching. It also has a great sound and feel at impact, but feel wise you can definitely tell when you pure it as opposed to when you miss.

I am going to take the Classic out this afternoon and work some more with it. I'll be honest and say the Z-Star is by far the most consistent driver I have ever hit and my accuracy/confidence with it is great, so it will take a lot for me to take it out of the bag.
 
Sounds like there is some potential there judging by the good shots. Hopefully a little adjustment will get you in the center of the face more often.

Did you see your launch go down or a difference in ball flight?
 
Sounds like there is some potential there judging by the good shots. Hopefully a little adjustment will get you in the center of the face more often.

Did you see your launch go down or a difference in ball flight?

Yeah I actually saw both of those. My initial ball flight wasn't that much lower, but once it hit the appex it kept going as opposed to kind of falling out of the air. The guy next to me at the range even commented on the difference in flight when I switched from driver to driver. The Z-Star sounded great at impact and looked good up until a point when it would just kind of die for lack of a better term. When I worked with the pro out of Memphis last Saturday, he told me that with my SS I should be carrying it between 270-280 with the proper numbers. I was only carrying it 240 with the Z-Star with spin in the upper 3000's and lower 4000's, but it was consistently in the fairway. I am hoping the Classic will fit me well enough that I will not be sacrificing any of that accuracy.

I am hoping to get on a monitor soon so that I can get hard #'s on the Classic.
 
Man, I hope you can get some numbers. It might take a little time to get used to it with a shorter shaft, but it sounds like that spin might be under control for you. A high launch isn't bad if your spin is low.

I had similar experiences with the SuperTri in that I hit it in the fairway pretty consistently, but the spin really hurt my carry. I could hit it clean and barely break 200 yards.
 
Man, I hope you can get some numbers. It might take a little time to get used to it with a shorter shaft, but it sounds like that spin might be under control for you. A high launch isn't bad if your spin is low.

I had similar experiences with the SuperTri in that I hit it in the fairway pretty consistently, but the spin really hurt my carry. I could hit it clean and barely break 200 yards.

I know where you are coming from. It's tough to proverbially turn your back on the driver that was as good to you as that Z-Star was to me, but I really am hoping that I can find a driver (hopefully the Classic) that offers me both distance and accuracy. I just moved to a town with an extremely nice country club and I think that they have a pretty good custom fitting center which I assume has some type of launch monitor. I talked with the pro and should be getting a chance to go there and tour sometime soon. I'll let you know as soon as I find out for sure.
 
Schweitzer, what are the specs of your Classic?
 
13 golfers got a chance to test this out against their current driver today. We had never met any of them and most were decent golfers. Handicaps ranged from 6-17 with most hovering right around 9-12. It was quite clear as we got the launch monitor set up and ready to go that all 13 golfers loved the looks of them, however ironically enough, only 2 had even heard of it before. It was the tale of swing speed data today.

11 of 13 golfers loved this driver. I mean truly loved it and were seeing a great ball flight and incredible distance. These golfers all had swing speeds over 95 mph. 2 golfers struggled to get enough carry and did not care for the driver and those swing speeds were both below 95 mph. Kind of a little bit of irony based on the Cleveland Black testing, but i guess it goes to show that a line is complete when there is something for everybody.

For me, I played 9 holes and hit all but 1 fairway.
 
Were they hitting the stock shaft in it, JB?
 
We're they hitting it with the stock shaft JB?
 
13 golfers got a chance to test this out against their current driver today. We had never met any of them and most were decent golfers. Handicaps ranged from 6-17 with most hovering right around 9-12. It was quite clear as we got the launch monitor set up and ready to go that all 13 golfers loved the looks of them, however ironically enough, only 2 had even heard of it before. It was the tale of swing speed data today.

11 of 13 golfers loved this driver. I mean truly loved it and were seeing a great ball flight and incredible distance. These golfers all had swing speeds over 95 mph. 2 golfers struggled to get enough carry and did not care for the driver and those swing speeds were both below 95 mph. Kind of a little bit of irony based on the Cleveland Black testing, but i guess it goes to show that a line is complete when there is something for everybody.

For me, I played 9 holes and hit all but 1 fairway.

Do you thnk the distance gains and everything else were enough for the golfers to make the swtich?
 
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