The Heavy Driver

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L

Lifter

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I wonder if this thing works. Gary Van Sickle seems to think so!

New Heavy Driver is worth the weight - The Shop Blog

"I was among a long line of startled golfers who tried out the driver on the range at Orange County National during PGA Demo Day and, after busting long straight drive after long straight drive, stood there with mouth agape and said, Holy cow. Or expletives in a similar vein."​
 
Richie3Jack

Richie3Jack

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I hit it at the Demo Day. I thought it was solid. Tough to tell without Trackman measuring. Oh, and a 40 mph wind in your face :)





3JACK
 
F

finncox

New
If anyone is interested in trying a "heavy" driver, there is no need to spend around $300 for a new club. There are aftermarket, do-it-yourself backweighting kits that will allow you to do the same thing for much less money.

All it involves is cutting a small hole in the top of the grip cap (with a tool that comes with the kits), and sliding a weight into the handle of the shaft, and maybe tightening a bolt. Would probably take about 2 mins. And, you can buy varying weights to see what works best for you.

What's more, you get to use your current "gamer" to try it out, and it's totally reversible this way.
 
S

softconsult

New
finncox, think you over simplify.

Note, this is just idle curiousity on my part. I took a quick peek at their website.
The head weighs 208 grams, so it's heavier than the normal 200 grams, or so.
So your first problem is to add 8 grams to the head of your driver. That's an ugly
amount of tape. Of course you could have some hot melt added to your favorite
club.

Now they say they put 50 grams of weight in the butt end. That's a whole lot of weight.
The club will be heavy, but the swing weight will be off the charts light. The backweighting
systems are not cheap, but you can do 50 grams.

Ping does this to a much smaller degree, with the G15 head at 205 grams, special counter balanced
shafts (no weights), and 45 3/4 length to end up at D0, if I recall correctly.
 
Richie3Jack

Richie3Jack

New
I was told that the Heavy Driver isn't backweighted. They have the weight balanced throughout the entire club.




3JACK
 
F

finncox

New
softconsult said:
finncox, think you over simplify.

Note, this is just idle curiousity on my part. I took a quick peek at their website.
The head weighs 208 grams, so it's heavier than the normal 200 grams, or so.
So your first problem is to add 8 grams to the head of your driver. That's an ugly
amount of tape. Of course you could have some hot melt added to your favorite
club.

Now they say they put 50 grams of weight in the butt end. That's a whole lot of weight.
The club will be heavy, but the swing weight will be off the charts light. The backweighting
systems are not cheap, but you can do 50 grams.

Ping does this to a much smaller degree, with the G15 head at 205 grams, special counter balanced
shafts (no weights), and 45 3/4 length to end up at D0, if I recall correctly.
Click to expand...

I guess I didn't pay as much attention to the extra headweight at first. I was under the impression that the main innovation of this driver was the backweighting, which would raise overall weight as well, thus making it heavier. At best, I guess it makes sense that the counterweighting kits would only be an approximation.
 
S

softconsult

New
3Jack, here it is verbatim from their website. "
The new Heavy Driver has weight distributed in strategic areas to maximize forgiveness and control. Increased head mass in conjunction with a 50 gram backweight under the grip creates the ideal driver for finding the fairway.
"
Sales guys say the damnest things!
 
L

Lifter

New
My understanding is that some tour players, including Nicklaus and Els, have been doing this weight in the handle thing for years. So I wonder, if this idea of weight in the handle really works, then why haven't the major manufacturers been doing it for years?
 
Jwat

Jwat

New
I wonder if added weight in the handle would help a golfer feel the sensation of gravity dropping their hands to initiate the down swing?
 
D

dbl

New
So if a golfer only has so much energy to move the club, in moving a heavier mass, wouldn't his clubhead speed be reduced? What's the physics?

I though Cochran and Stubbs looked at this idea some, and found this link with a bit of info:
How heavy are your clubs?
 
B

birly-shirly

New
Well, who am I to call cobblers on all this? But I just weighed the first steel shafted driver to fall out of the closet at 380g. The "heavy driver" is 375g apparently. How, oh how to choose between $400, or a trip to the bargain bin that will give you even extra heaviness? One for all those who would rather have a heavy driver than a heavy wallet, I suppose.

I'm looking forward to the first post from someone who thinks that the Heavy Driver might be better balanced than the clubs that kept the best players in the world in play for 40 years.
 
J

jpeck

New
These things seem to hit the market in cycles. Next week: Lightweight clubs to maximise your swing speed! Gain explosive distance off the tee! Hit the ball longer and straighter! Scientifically designed to reduce hooks and slices...
 
D

dbl

New
Well I tried a lightweight driver (or a least shaft - 47G, thin grip, etc.), and saw 5mph increase of clubhead speed on the launch monitor. So some of these ideas can work.
 
J

jpeck

New
Funny, I remember doing a marketing assignment in university - I had golf club brand. You might guess my clubs hit the ball longer and straighter too, AND they were scientifically designed etc. The most important thing was having a bunch of testimonials. Anyone who has done Psych 101 should know the power of testimonials, and every consumer (especially golfers) should make it their business to find out about all that.
 
J

jpeck

New
Sure dbl, if it works stick with it. But you can make just about anything work...for a while. On the range I can hit almost anything. Jack always said extremes never work for long, I reckon he was right about that.
 
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L

Lifter

New
Geez I don't like that saying by Nicklaus. What he's saying is valid for advanced players. But it could be mis-interpreted so easily. The key thing that most golfers need to do is to EXAGGERATE their fixes. Which is going to feel extreme! 90% of golfers don't exaggerate enough.
 
J

jpeck

New
Lifter said:
Geez I don't like that saying by Nicklaus. What he's saying is valid for advanced players. But it could be mis-interpreted so easily. The key thing that most golfers need to do is to EXAGGERATE their fixes. Which is going to feel extreme! 90% of golfers don't exaggerate enough.
Click to expand...

The quote by Jack concerns equipment. If I remember it correctly, he was referring to the period when he used a driver with much stiffer shaft than he usually used.

Exaggerated swings can be great - Lee Trevino, Jim Furyk, among others. It seems to me an exaggerated swing sets up natural limits to the swing shape and aids repeatability (flame me if I'm wrong).
 
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