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My 2014 Driver Shootout

SuperStroke
Jrodgers0622

Jrodgers0622

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Well I ventured over to the PGA Superstore in Duluth, GA Friday to compare all the new driver options for 2014 against my current R1 with Speeder Tour Spec. I started out by comparing all the major brands offerings such as Taylormade, Callaway, Wilson, Ping, and Cobra. After a solid hour of hitting ball after ball with all the major OEM drivers there was no one club that provided any substantial performance advantage to warrant a purchase. Then I asked the gentleman that was helping me what he thought was the best performing driver in the store. He looked at me and said "you probably won't buy it, but I will grab it for you if you would like", I told him I was willing to play anything if it gave me an advantage. He returned with a Tour Edge XCG7 Beta with a 7m3 black tie in stiff flex. At first I was a little apprehensive but after the first strike I was pleasantly surprised. The XCG7 Beta provided a good ball flight, a solid feel, good numbers, and good looks. Overall distance was only 6 yards on average longer than my R1 but provided a better sound at impact that correlated to better feel. Now I'm trying to convince myself that 6 extra yards and better feel warrants a $350 purchase. Wife says "no" but we all know that really means "if you buy me something nice then you can purchase your driver", LOL.

My Specs:

SS: 103 avg.
Shot: Straight or Baby Fade
Attack: Moderate

Driver Numbers:

R1: Motore Speeder 6.2 TS Stiff

Carry: 245 avg.
Total: 265 avg.
Spin: 2456 avg.

XCG7 Beta: Matrix 7m3 Stiff

Carry: 247 avg.
Total: 271 avg.
Spin: 2287 avg.

X2 Hot Pro: Aldila Tour Green X-stiff

Carry: 244 avg.
Total: 261 avg.
Spin: 3173 avg.

Wilson M3: Aldila NL Stiff

Carry: 243 avg.
Total: 261 avg.
Spin: 2868 avg.

BB Alpha: Fubuki ZT Stiff

Carry: 240 avg.
Total: 257 avg.
Spin: 3348 avg.

I25: Ping Stiff Shaft

Carry: 239 avg.
Total: 255 avg.
Spin: 3532 avg.

Bio Cell: PXV Stiff

Carry: 237 avg.
Total: 251 avg.
Spin: 3752 avg.

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Thanks for sharing. Based upon those numbers the XCG7 provided you the lowest spin. How were your shots accuracy wise?
 
Did you get to try different shafts with the other drivers?
 
Also, did you play with any of the club adjustments? Loft, gravity core?
 
Nice consistent numbers, but $350 for 6 yards would be tuff to swallow. We're they all set to the same loft? How was the dispersion between the two?
 
Unfortunately I was unable to test different shafts in the call away products as pga superstore has not received the new fitting shafts with the new tips. I did test the 50 gram rip phenom in the Wilson M3 but it was significantly higher spinning than the rip NL.



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Thanks for sharing. It's fun seeing how someone hits a bunch of different drivers.

Did is you make any adjustments to the drivers during your session, or was everything set with the stock settings?
 
I had high hopes for the Wilson M3 as it looked quite nice with the matte gray finish and a deep face but it makes a horrible racket at impact. The X2 Hot Pro took the feel and sound category by a mile. When struck out of the center it feels as if you are hitting a marshmallow, muted sound and soft feel, absolutely loved it. Once the PGA superstore receives their shafts for their fitting cart I will return and see if I can get the X2 hot pro to perform a little better. If I can't then I will have to decide if the beta is worth dropping $350.

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mmaynard11 said:
Thanks for sharing. Based upon those numbers the XCG7 provided you the lowest spin. How were your shots accuracy wise?
Click to expand...

All shots were within a 20 yard circle. I'm not a long hitter but I generally put the ball where I want it. Only driver that was inaccurate for me was the sldr. I did not include my numbers for the sldr because it was so erratic that I new immediately that it was not a viable option for me.

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I've been reading good things about the Beta! I tried last year's models, stock shafts only, and the feel and sound were awesome! I just never got any distance... Good luck with the search! Curious, though, how many yards ARE worth $350?
 
I had similar results as your test, but I went with the Wilson. I had to change the weight in the club to the 7 gram one, and my spin numbers came down. The driver was loud, but at least people will know I'm coming. :act-up:
 
jlukes said:
Also, did you play with any of the club adjustments? Loft, gravity core?
Click to expand...

I did try multiple lofts in all the drivers and moved the gravity core in the BB alpha up and down. I did see a decrease in spin of about 300 rpm when I moved the gravity core down. The numbers posted for the BB alpha are with the gravity core down. The fubuki shaft that comes stock was not a good fit for me, it felt quite soft to flex in my opinion. The aldila tour green stiff flex in the X2 Hot Pro felt soft as well. That's why I used an X flex in the X2 but unfortunately they did not have an X in the alpha to test.

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JPR1959 said:
I had similar results as your test, but I went with the Wilson. I had to change the weight in the club to the 7 gram one, and my spin numbers came down. The driver was loud, but at least people will know I'm coming. :act-up:
Click to expand...

lol, that they will sir. I really loved the looks of the Wilson but when I hit that first shot and heard that sound all I could think was "what the #$%# was that". It reminded me of the original R11's loud noise.

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Thank you so much for sharing the numbers, I love seeing them for comparisons!
 
Jrodgers0622 said:
I did try multiple lofts in all the drivers and moved the gravity core in the BB alpha up and down. I did see a decrease in spin of about 300 rpm when I moved the gravity core down. The numbers posted for the BB alpha are with the gravity core down. The fubuki shaft that comes stock was not a good fit for me, it felt quite soft to flex in my opinion. The aldila tour green stiff flex in the X2 Hot Pro felt soft as well. That's why I used an X flex in the X2 but unfortunately they did not have an X in the alpha to test.

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Click to expand...

When you go back try and hit the Alpha with the x flex fubuki. I just tried it in stiff and thought it felt soft and switched to the x flex and picked up 19 yards of carry with it. I was blown away that something so simple could make such a huge difference.

I like what I'm hearing about the Beta. It's not an easy club to find but I really want to give it a rip.
 
Scrap Iron said:
When you go back try and hit the Alpha with the x flex fubuki. I just tried it in stiff and thought it felt soft and switched to the x flex and picked up 19 yards of carry with it. I was blown away that something so simple could make such a huge difference.

I like what I'm hearing about the Beta. It's not an easy club to find but I really want to give it a rip.
Click to expand...

I seem to be having better results with X flex lately as well. I don't know if I've changed my swing or release (don't think so) or if stock stiffs are being issued a little softer than before.
Regardless, it seems to me that the easiest way to drop backspin numbers in meaningful way is to flex up.
 
ArmyGolf said:
I seem to be having better results with X flex lately as well. I don't know if I've changed my swing or release (don't think so) or if stock stiffs are being issued a little softer than before.
Regardless, it seems to me that the easiest way to drop backspin numbers in meaningful way is to flex up.
Click to expand...

Honestly i believe the manufacturers are putting softer shafts in all their clubs so individuals that tend to have ego complexes can say they are playing stiff or x-stiff. Callaway is notorious for putting soft shafts in all their clubs. I had one of the guys in the club repair center at pga superstore put a stiff flex X2 hot pro on a frequency machine and it registered just a little over regular flex. Last year i personally checked all the frequencies on the pxv shafts in my pro driver, fairway, and hybrids that i ordered from Callaway and all were slightly over reg flex.

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Jrodgers0622 said:
Honestly i believe the manufacturers are putting softer shafts in all their clubs so individuals that tend to have ego complexes can say they are playing stiff or x-stiff. Callaway is notorious for putting soft shafts in all their clubs. I had one of the guys in the club repair center at pga superstore put a stiff flex X2 hot pro on a frequency machine and it registered just a little over regular flex. Last year i personally checked all the frequencies on the pxv shafts in my pro driver, fairway, and hybrids that i ordered from Callaway and all were slightly over reg flex.

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Click to expand...

As long as 'Regular', 'Stiff', and 'X-Stiff' are unregulated words golfers like to bandy about I don't think we can blame OEMs for using shafts that they're testing shows will work best for most golfers.
My Diamana S+ X flex is softer than my Black Tie S flex. It just shows that 'Stiff' is really just a word.
 
This is true. I wish all the shaft manufacturers would develop a universal flex system, kinda like the myazaki flex code.

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Thanks for sharing Jrodgers. I am looking to upgrade my R11S and today was my first day of giving some of the new drivers some swings. Hit the BB, X2Hot, SLDR and Jetspeed and came away very unimpressed by all 4. I didn't have my R11S with me to compare numbers so I can't say for sure, but none stood out to me. I also haven't swung a driver since September so I will give the drivers another chance but I may be saving myself some money on a driver this year.
 
Thanks for sharing the results!! That is awesome they let you do that test at their store
 
If you think the same about the sound and feel of the R1 that I do it's absolutely worth the cash to get on the TEE XCG7.
 
it seems that the best numbers came from the beta, but how much of that is due to the shaft? the 7m3 is supposed to be a low-spinning shaft and the low spin seems to be the biggest difference - I wonder how that head would perform with a different shaft.

Good info, thanks for posting it!
 
baldguy said:
it seems that the best numbers came from the beta, but how much of that is due to the shaft? the 7m3 is supposed to be a low-spinning shaft and the low spin seems to be the biggest difference - I wonder how that head would perform with a different shaft.

Good info, thanks for posting it!
Click to expand...

Once there are more shafts available to test with all the heads I will return to do comparisons again.

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If you get to go back and try the Alpha, they definitely have a x-stiff there. I was hitting it on Sunday.


War Eagle from my iPad
 
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