ShortButCrooked
New member
Hello fellow hackers,
I went to a demo day at our local course on Saturday. I’ve been struggling off the tee, so of course the problem has to be that I need a new driver!
A little bit about myself. I’m 5’10†and 155 pounds. I play to a 7.4 handicap and play 30-35 rounds per year. When I’m swinging well, I hit either a straight ball or a slight draw. My misses are usually right, but I sometimes overcompensate and can hit some duck hooks as well. My ball flight is relatively low and I have always used a 10.5* driver. My swing speed is 95-100mph, which makes me a ‘tweener’ between regular and stiff shafts; I usually go with stiff. All the drivers I tested on Sat were with stiff shafts in a 10.5* loft. Going into the test, the two drivers I wanted to try the most were the Nike and TM adjustable drivers. To me, this makes a lot of sense. I know I have gone through periods where my swing is off and I am losing balls right, and it would be great to be able to make a temporary adjustment to the driver.
The drivers I tried were:
Mizuno MX-700
Nike Dymo and Dymo2 Str8 Fit
Ping G10
TaylorMade Burner
TaylorMade R9
After getting my wife set up with a few demos, I started with Nike. I tried both the Dymo and Dymo2. The rep mentioned that the Dymo2 would be more stable on mis-hits (which I knew), but also that it would have less backspin (which I didn’t know). I hit them both pretty well. Ball flight was good, although I can’t say I noticed a difference in ball flight or spin rate between the two. Even though the heads seemed very large and cumbersome, I found they were easy to get around and I found I could hit draws at will even in the neutral setting. The sound at impact IS loud and I noticed it immediately. But you get used to it pretty fast.
Next up was the Ping G10. This club felt very comfortable because I currently use the Ping G2, a predecessor to the G10. In fact, the rep said the main difference was they moved the CG a bit lower and further back, but the feel would be very similar. And they were. I hit the G10 well also, but I probably would not spend the money to upgrade from the G2 to the G10. If you haven’t tried Ping drivers, you should.
Next was the TM Burner. I had a bit of difficulty controlling this bad boy. It took me a few swings to figure out that I have to control my swing. I hit some fades and hooks. But I did hit a few on the screws and the ball rockets off the club face. There was no doubt this was the longest driver I tried and not by an insignificant distance. But I’m not sure it’s the right one for me. I’m trying to figure out how to hit the ball straighter, not longer. I wanted to try the R9 at this point but the wait was too long.
Next up was the Mizuno. I probably would not have even considered it until I read glowing reviews on THP. So I decided to give it a go. I can’t remember too much about looks or feel. The one thing I do remember is how high the ball flight was. By far the highest, and the only one which for me was too high. It was also very straight. I probably should have gone back and tried the 9.5* but was running out of time.
At this point, my wife and I took a break for lunch.
Upon return, I went back to Nike to try their drivers again. This time, I had them adjust the Dymo2 between the neutral and fade settings. I’ll tell you what; it really works. First, the look at address was much more pleasing. And where I was hitting a draw in the neutral setting, the ball flight straightened out in the open/fade setting. I was impressed and at this point, was thinking this might be the club for me. I took a couple extra hard swings just to see how it would react, and it was favorable. The shaft holds up well to my jerky 105mph over-swing.
I finally decided to brave the wait for the TM R9, which was about 15 minutes. It’s clear this was the most popular driver out there. It was worth the wait. I love the looks of the driver. I also like the 45†shaft. The combination of the two made me very confident. I hit 8 or 9 balls, all in the neutral setting. All of them were pretty much right where I aimed, with a tight draw. I can’t even tell you how forgiving it is because I didn’t miss the sweet spot once. I think it’s because the shorter shaft is easier to control. But it does beg the question: with this being only 420cc’s, how forgiving will this club be when my swing is off (which invariably it will be at some point)? I didn’t have them adjust the club for different settings as I was trying to be considerate to those waiting for their turn to try the club.
So here were my findings. These were all good drivers. The TM Burner was the longest by far. If you have good control and are looking to add yards, this should be at the top of the list to try. Other than the Burner, I didn’t notice a huge difference in distance between the other clubs. I’m sure there were differences, but the distance markers and the layout of the range made it difficult to pinpoint slight differences. The Mizuno hit it the highest. The Ping is just a solid all around driver. The adjustments on the Nike Str8 Fits work. And I assume they work on the R9 as well.
My thinking that the adjustments offered by Nike and TM were something I wanted was reinforced. So even though all these drivers would work, it was between the Dymo and R9, and between these two, the R9 is the one I would choose. But yesterday, I found out that TM has introduced the R9 Max in Japan and will be releasing it in the US later this summer. It’s 460cc’s, doesn’t have the moveable weight technology, but does have the flight control technology. The shaft length is being increased from 45†to 45.5â€. I have yet to decide whether to get the R9 or wait for the R9 Max, but am leaning towards getting the R9 now.
Thanks for your patience if you have made it through this entire post. I’ll be happy to answer any questions you have.
SBC
I went to a demo day at our local course on Saturday. I’ve been struggling off the tee, so of course the problem has to be that I need a new driver!
A little bit about myself. I’m 5’10†and 155 pounds. I play to a 7.4 handicap and play 30-35 rounds per year. When I’m swinging well, I hit either a straight ball or a slight draw. My misses are usually right, but I sometimes overcompensate and can hit some duck hooks as well. My ball flight is relatively low and I have always used a 10.5* driver. My swing speed is 95-100mph, which makes me a ‘tweener’ between regular and stiff shafts; I usually go with stiff. All the drivers I tested on Sat were with stiff shafts in a 10.5* loft. Going into the test, the two drivers I wanted to try the most were the Nike and TM adjustable drivers. To me, this makes a lot of sense. I know I have gone through periods where my swing is off and I am losing balls right, and it would be great to be able to make a temporary adjustment to the driver.
The drivers I tried were:
Mizuno MX-700
Nike Dymo and Dymo2 Str8 Fit
Ping G10
TaylorMade Burner
TaylorMade R9
After getting my wife set up with a few demos, I started with Nike. I tried both the Dymo and Dymo2. The rep mentioned that the Dymo2 would be more stable on mis-hits (which I knew), but also that it would have less backspin (which I didn’t know). I hit them both pretty well. Ball flight was good, although I can’t say I noticed a difference in ball flight or spin rate between the two. Even though the heads seemed very large and cumbersome, I found they were easy to get around and I found I could hit draws at will even in the neutral setting. The sound at impact IS loud and I noticed it immediately. But you get used to it pretty fast.
Next up was the Ping G10. This club felt very comfortable because I currently use the Ping G2, a predecessor to the G10. In fact, the rep said the main difference was they moved the CG a bit lower and further back, but the feel would be very similar. And they were. I hit the G10 well also, but I probably would not spend the money to upgrade from the G2 to the G10. If you haven’t tried Ping drivers, you should.
Next was the TM Burner. I had a bit of difficulty controlling this bad boy. It took me a few swings to figure out that I have to control my swing. I hit some fades and hooks. But I did hit a few on the screws and the ball rockets off the club face. There was no doubt this was the longest driver I tried and not by an insignificant distance. But I’m not sure it’s the right one for me. I’m trying to figure out how to hit the ball straighter, not longer. I wanted to try the R9 at this point but the wait was too long.
Next up was the Mizuno. I probably would not have even considered it until I read glowing reviews on THP. So I decided to give it a go. I can’t remember too much about looks or feel. The one thing I do remember is how high the ball flight was. By far the highest, and the only one which for me was too high. It was also very straight. I probably should have gone back and tried the 9.5* but was running out of time.
At this point, my wife and I took a break for lunch.
Upon return, I went back to Nike to try their drivers again. This time, I had them adjust the Dymo2 between the neutral and fade settings. I’ll tell you what; it really works. First, the look at address was much more pleasing. And where I was hitting a draw in the neutral setting, the ball flight straightened out in the open/fade setting. I was impressed and at this point, was thinking this might be the club for me. I took a couple extra hard swings just to see how it would react, and it was favorable. The shaft holds up well to my jerky 105mph over-swing.
I finally decided to brave the wait for the TM R9, which was about 15 minutes. It’s clear this was the most popular driver out there. It was worth the wait. I love the looks of the driver. I also like the 45†shaft. The combination of the two made me very confident. I hit 8 or 9 balls, all in the neutral setting. All of them were pretty much right where I aimed, with a tight draw. I can’t even tell you how forgiving it is because I didn’t miss the sweet spot once. I think it’s because the shorter shaft is easier to control. But it does beg the question: with this being only 420cc’s, how forgiving will this club be when my swing is off (which invariably it will be at some point)? I didn’t have them adjust the club for different settings as I was trying to be considerate to those waiting for their turn to try the club.
So here were my findings. These were all good drivers. The TM Burner was the longest by far. If you have good control and are looking to add yards, this should be at the top of the list to try. Other than the Burner, I didn’t notice a huge difference in distance between the other clubs. I’m sure there were differences, but the distance markers and the layout of the range made it difficult to pinpoint slight differences. The Mizuno hit it the highest. The Ping is just a solid all around driver. The adjustments on the Nike Str8 Fits work. And I assume they work on the R9 as well.
My thinking that the adjustments offered by Nike and TM were something I wanted was reinforced. So even though all these drivers would work, it was between the Dymo and R9, and between these two, the R9 is the one I would choose. But yesterday, I found out that TM has introduced the R9 Max in Japan and will be releasing it in the US later this summer. It’s 460cc’s, doesn’t have the moveable weight technology, but does have the flight control technology. The shaft length is being increased from 45†to 45.5â€. I have yet to decide whether to get the R9 or wait for the R9 Max, but am leaning towards getting the R9 now.
Thanks for your patience if you have made it through this entire post. I’ll be happy to answer any questions you have.
SBC
