Welcome to the best golf instruction site on the web!

[Brian Manzella]

Why?

Superior Knowledge, not restrained by any allegiances.

Run by the Best Live lesson teacher on the planet.

No PC answers.

What does this mean to me?

Well if you need a question answered—any golf question—This is the place to ask.

For example:

"What is the best Driver on the Market?"

OK forum members, lets hear what you think, and then I'll weigh in.

 

[birdie_man]

Cool Brian.....keep doin what you're doin....it's you.....if ppl don't like it...P-O!

...

Only new one I've hit is the SQ Tour......pretty nice. Bugged me a bit at address tho.....looks like the face is set back a bit.....a touch of offset....hate that.....prolly could live with it if it performed best tho.

Carried it past my TM 360 Tour.

...

I wanna try a High-Bore....want something with low spin. Anyone tried er?

 

[Ryan Smither]

Titleist 905R...
but it's only a nose ahead of the Nike SQ...

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

Cleveland Hi-bore...hard to setup though to get launch conditions right. One the straightest ever.

Cleveland Comp...probably will go down as possibly best driver Cleveland ever made

FT3...has the best ball speeds on most monitors and was hard to fit right BUT they have the "opti fit" system now which seriously aids in this.

SQ...another easy driver to hit really straight.

Bout all i can think about...

My favorite though is the Cleveland Comp

 

[birdie_man]

Jim...

Got any exp. with newer Taylormade Tour drivers? like 580XD Tour to present.

These seem to get the most attention on BSG.....not sure if it's just cause TM is so "popular" tho or w/e....

Interested in that COMP too....looks mint....I really like the headshape......how's the launch? low spin? is there a COMP Tour?

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

Jim...

Got any exp. with newer Taylormade Tour drivers? like 580XD Tour to present.

These seem to get the most attention on BSG.....not sure if it's just cause TM is so "popular" tho or w/e....

Interested in that COMP too....looks mint....I really like the headshape......how's the launch? low spin? is there a COMP Tour?

Personally i've never liked Taylormade drivers because the shape just doesn't fit my eye. However the 580XD TP versions are really good and still quite popular. The R7 is one the best drivers ever designed, not so much because you can manipulate ball flight but how you can change the flex properties of the shaft through head weighting. That's the real advantage in my opinion.

The Comp is a high launch low/mid spin head. The problem is that if you don't have good clubface control it will spin out of control for you. If you hit it too low on the face it will spin out of control for you. However i have proved time and time again, even with a recent student, that the Comp is a great driver head and REALLY LONG if you can swing a driver well. I think people who hook the crap out of them are 1) flippers 2) swing too far to the right and those that over spin them are 1) wide open type slicers 2) no tilt through impact and deloft the crap out of it and hit it low on the face.

If i remember correctly, you're an angled hinger so if you demo a comp you are going to need a 8.5* and a pretty tip stiff shaft to keep the spin under control.

 

[Tom Bartlett]

New and improved

movin' on up!

 

[Jared Willerson]

The Ping G5 is great.....a little more forgiving than the G2 and has a hotter face. I would strongly recommend trying one out.

The Hi Bore created too much spin for me and the SQ felt pretty good, I just could not get over how it looked.

Jim, I agree about TM drivers, they don't fit my eye either, but people seem to have a lot of fun with them.

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

The Ping G5 is great.....a little more forgiving than the G2 and has a hotter face. I would strongly recommend trying one out.

The Hi Bore created too much spin for me and the SQ felt pretty good, I just could not get over how it looked.

Jim, I agree about TM drivers, they don't fit my eye either, but people seem to have a lot of fun with them.

If the Hi Bore spun too much for you, you either had too much loft or were hitting it too high on the face. The whole idea of the hi bore is to hit it dead center whereas the rest you have to hit "above" center.

We are all so used to hitting the ball high on the face and teeing it up so high, when something tells us to tee it low and hit it dead center we're like, what?

It just seems like you either get fit right or you don't. No real middle ground with the hi bore. The cleveland tech van is coming to my range soon and i plan to give them a shot at fitting me.

 

[vjcapron]

Snake Eyes 653T

I have been pounding my new snake eyes driver with my Graffaloy Pro-Launch shaft for the past 3 months. With the snake eyes driver, I know the specs of the club and I'm guaranteed a square face at address. The off the rack crap is all shut anywhere from 0.5 - 1.5 degrees.

Once you go custom, you'll never go back (to "off the rack").

 

[birdie_man]

Personally i've never liked Taylormade drivers because the shape just doesn't fit my eye. However the 580XD TP versions are really good and still quite popular. The R7 is one the best drivers ever designed, not so much because you can manipulate ball flight but how you can change the flex properties of the shaft through head weighting. That's the real advantage in my opinion.

The Comp is a high launch low/mid spin head. The problem is that if you don't have good clubface control it will spin out of control for you. If you hit it too low on the face it will spin out of control for you. However i have proved time and time again, even with a recent student, that the Comp is a great driver head and REALLY LONG if you can swing a driver well. I think people who hook the crap out of them are 1) flippers 2) swing too far to the right and those that over spin them are 1) wide open type slicers 2) no tilt through impact and deloft the crap out of it and hit it low on the face.

If i remember correctly, you're an angled hinger so if you demo a comp you are going to need a 8.5* and a pretty tip stiff shaft to keep the spin under control.

Thanks Jim.

You remembered right.....been workin on a Horizontal Hinge lately tho....

You pretty much nailed er tho.....8.5/9.5 head....low spin head......low spin shaft.

...

Really want to try a HiBore.....after seeing some of those numbers on BSG.....that one guy dropped his spin so much...

I agree too.....the new Taylor's look weird....r7s esp.....that headshape just is a little off.....bugs me too. Haven't seen the newish Tour edition heads tho (you have to order blindly off BSG/eBay more-or-less).

My dad's buddy has a r5- looks nicer to me.

 

[birdie_man]

BTW....hmmm ya never thought of that with the r7 really.....by adding/removing weight and tweaking how the shat flexes. Cool stuff.....I never really knew what to think about those screwes.

...

How much do they change trajectory and shape?

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

There really isn't enough weight to drastically alter shop shape, Tom Wishon proved that. But what it does is make the shaft react a different way which will effect the way the head moves accordingly.

Most Tour heads are nothing more than tweaked and "selective" retail heads, don't be fooled. Some aren't, but most are not that different.

 

[birdie_man]

Tweaked...in what ways?

I've heard everything from:

-better materials
-different head weights, face angles, etc.
-higher COG
-different internal weighting
-often foam-filled or w/e
-different feel

....mostly interested in the (supposed?) higher COG, lack of closed clubface angle....maybe feel.

....

I guess they are prolly adjusted somewhat from player to player? or no?

i.e. Vijay likes his like 6 degrees open or w/e (and that's ridiculous if it's 6 lol).

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

Tweaked...in what ways?

I've heard everything from:

-better materials
-different head weights, face angles, etc.
-higher COG
-different internal weighting
-often foam-filled or w/e
-different feel

....mostly interested in the (supposed?) higher COG, lack of closed clubface angle....maybe feel.

....

I guess they are prolly adjusted somewhat from player to player? or no?

i.e. Vijay likes his like 6 degrees open or w/e (and that's ridiculous if it's 6 lol).

better materials is probably not true, especially from a manufacturing sense.

different head weights and different face angles are just quality control, they pick the ones off the line that are easiest to make into what tour players want.

Higher COG is usually the result of tweaking the head after it has come off the line with some kind of rat glue

Most of the really open clubheads they make molds for them. They make them out of wood or plastic and that way they can bend the driver heads open/closed.

Also they can adjust lie angle as well with the drive by shaving the tip of the graphite shaft down and inserting the club into the head at a different angle and fill in the gap with clubmaking beads. Pretty neat stuff.

 

[Tom Bartlett]

Don't know about most club differences but, Mike Finney's assistant is 'in the know' as far as Taylor made goes and if you have a half an hour or so he can tell all the differences between the tour head and the 'off the rack' heads. Believe it or not different materials are used. As far as open or closed...tour heads manufactured open and custom bent for each player (of course). Weighting...tour heads have different weights. But for the real scoop get mike to get his assistant on here.

 

[deo]

Jim:
Has anyone tried the Nicklaus Airmax 440? Was driving with my Cobra 380 SS fairly straight until I purchased this Airmax and have been consistently slicing more often than not? The weight in the club head is extremely light. Other drivers have weighting positioned differently but am considering going to different driver or back to my Cobra 380 for improved accuracy? If I liked the Cobra are there other drivers with similar specs I should consider? I don't know if I should keep the Nicklaus but add lead to it from my club fitter or justr change clubs? Any thoughts are welcome.

 

[Brian Manzella]

Chris Wertz, who is a member of this site and is an AI, has a TaylorMade TP Tour head.

A++++


He can tell ya if it is worth the money.

Absolutely!

 

[pieman]

I've been hitting a bobby jones driver lately. Prob. the straightest I've hit. Have also hit the hi bore. hardly any difference in my opinion.

 

[birdie_man]

Thanks for the info. guys.

...

One more thing that's I was wonderin about....does everyone use plasma welding now? I assume they must.....seems much better, cleaner. Curious.