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Testing Drivers - What Do You Look For?

SuperStroke
I look for the driver that gives me the "happies." That's the best way I can describe it. I'll take a driver that's 5-10 yards shorter than a different driver if that one is just fun to hit. A fun to hit driver translates to confidence on the tee box for me.
 
I'm definitely guilty of concentrating too much on distances alone. Once I remember that's only one piece of the puzzle I start to look for the forgiveness on mishits. I need to know how bad I'll be punished. Checking spin numbers and ball speed get thrown in but i can't say i focus too much on them. Next would be subjective stuff like sound, look and feel.
 
I'd have to say forgiveness then carry. Give me a big sweetspot and we're good to go.
 
I am a look feel/sound person. I want to see ball flight on good and bad swings. I like to see the numbers as a comparison between the different drivers to find the one that maximizes carry distance and reduces the dispersion. The driver has to perform for me.

An example I went to Nike demo day last week looking at either the speed or pro head and thinking the flex wasn't even in the equation. I hit the pro first and was getting good launch and spin numbers and carry distance and the dispersion was good enough that i could deal with mishit both in carry distance and how far off target it was, everything was around what i am seeing with my current driver give or take a few yards. Then hit the speed with the same shaft and the dispersion was no where near playable.

Then the rep had me hit the flex for giggle purposes with the same shaft. I hit it as good as the pro on good hits (SS slightly down, ball speed up, launch only slightly lower and spin around 300 less). The flex felt the best and performed well but when the ball was hit off center the penalty in distance loss was and decreased spin had me doubting that was a good choice. If i could hit it consistently good it would be one to consider but overall performance was the Pro.

After looks, sound/feel, distance compared to current driver then performance is how i look at drivers when testing.
 
When I'm testing drivers, I just look for something thats noticeably better than what I currently have.
 
I'm not big into numbers but rather looking at launch and then even more so looking at forgiveness.

Carry numbers are great but seeing a ball still go straight when hit way out on the toe means way more than numbers.
 
Distance both on and off center.
Launch angle.
Spin.
 
I pay a lot of attention to the numbers - carry distance, launch angle, backspin, and sidespin. The driver I pick (if I'm buying something) is the one that best balances all the numbers - hence I may not pick the longest driver OR the straightest driver, but the one that gives me some balance of the best of the two.

Numbers are king for me. Aesthetics and feel/sound are definitely important, but only after I find out what the best performing combos are. However, it seems like the one that feels and looks best is often actually the one I hit the best, or close to it. Performance feels good!
 
The biggest thing I look for is keeping the ball in play. I have had a number of drivers that were long, but somewhere 6 neighborhoods to the right of the fairway doesn't help me. After that I look to see how my distance is. If neither are better than what I have, then it isn't an upgrade.
 
1) Distance. Does the advertised technology actually work on increasing distance. Does it provide the ball spin and angle of attack to give me the best results to drive the ball far.

2) Forgiveness. How much distance will I lose if I hit it off-center. Will I need to go driver then 3W, or will I go driver and then irons. We all don't hit the sweet spot every time.

3) Feel. Numbers don't mean a thing if I can't get a good feel for the driver. If I can't be comfortable with a club, why should I use it?

4) Looks. Don't really care about this. I thought the BiO Cell was boring looking, it's my gamer. I think the G30 is ugly, but when I hit it in a demo bay, I got good distance and it felt pretty good.
 
I'd say now I'm looking for consistent distance which is a result of forgiveness. I don't care if I can bomb a drive 300 if the next one goes 220. I'd rather consistently have 250-260 than that. I don't know what numbers I should be chasing for a driver, so don't really look at those; I'll leave that to the fitter to tell me what's working and what isn't.
 
Distance retention on off center hits.
Accuracy on off center hits.
Does it sound like a hollow coke bottle? (looking at you, R1) AKA: Aesthetics
 
I like forgiveness. Distance gains are nice but I'll take more fairways hit over 10 more yards any day. And honestly, I do care about how the driver looks and sounds as well. The sound of a composite crown driver wins my heart almost every time...
 
Feel off the club face, and longer forgiveness on miss hits. Numbers with drivers (for me) seem to be close to the same, in most cases. BUT, if I have good feel and on miss hits, I can still have some good distance...that's a bonus and top of the list for me.
 
3 things for me. Ball Flight, Feel and Toe Foregivness since that is my main miss
 
I don't know if this counts as "feel", but for driver more than any other club, there will be some combinations where I just find the center of the face more often than others. From there, I'm probably looking at dispersion next. If I'm hitting it consistently, that means I'm finding fairways. Next, the difference between good and bad strikes. If a real bad swing gets me most of the way to a good swing, that's fantastic. I'm on a bit of a forgiveness kick as of late.
 
Distance and dispersion. The rest of the numbers help explain why I'm not getting those things, but I don't care about the particular combo. Can be high launch low spin, low launch high spin, big smash factor, little smash factor, whatever. If it can actually hit a fairway farther out than my current driver, I'm interested.
 
sposey013168 said:
3 things for me. Ball Flight, Feel and Toe Foregivness since that is my main miss
Click to expand...

This is interesting. Makes sense too. Fitting and testing to target miss that is common is something I think people overlook. Good looking out.
 
If it is an outdoor testing I look for ball flight and what feels the best. Sound is not a big factor for me.
 
In the order of qualities I look for. So for example, if the sound/feel of it doesn't suit me, I don't even get to the other criteria.

1) sound/feel. For some reason, these two seem to go hand in hand. Or maybe I attribute sound to the feel of the club.
2) carry distance
3) launch (usually closely related to carry distance anyways)
4) side spin

If it gets past those 4 items, its a good driver in my book.

~Rock
 
I like a certain look to my ball flight. Not a sound guy unless I don't like it. But sound doesn't drive me toward a club. Looks are key for me as well and feel. I need to feel a pop off the face.
 
I have the XR, why do I need to test drivers? I'm kidding, but having switched from a driver considered unforgiving (SLDR) to the XR, I think forgiveness across the face will play the biggest role for me in future testing. Especially heel misses, which are the more common miss for me. This includes the amount of gear effect. I was shocked at how much less spin was added to a heel mis-hit on the XR versus the SLDR. On the SLDR a heel strike guaranteed at least some cut, and most of those hits with the XR seem to go dead straight for me (and much longer).

I think in the future I will be more open to a wider range of shafts (weight, flex, etc.) as well.
 
1. Distance
2. Dispersion
3. Ball flight and height
4. Looks/Sound/Feel
5. Numbers; launch angle, spin, swing speed, ball speed
 
First I look for comfort, I want something that's easy to hit and makes me feel like I'm hitting the sweet spot all the time. That is followed very closely by carry distance since I'm not a long ball hitter I need whatever advantage I could give myself.
 
I look at spin numbers & carry distance; most on my not as great swings. The rest is feel related.
On my good swings & can get most any driver to work for me.
 
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