What’s the Best Driver Ever Made?

[BackandThru22]

My taylormade burner is unbelievable. Bought it when I was a sophomore in high school, maybe freshman, played 3 years of high school golf with it and a decade of a golf after till now.  I just recently changed the grip for only the second time.  Used to play one on there that looked like a dog chewed it up.  For as long as I can remember that driver has been unbelievably good.  I still hit it 300+ Regularly and I recently changed to a new m5 for a stint and came back to my original burner.  I hit it so consistently good still.  I’m saying best driver of all time.  Also making the case for an old trusty club.  I feel like golf clubs may turn into vintage guitars where there is an era where they get it right and then everything else is just trying to convince you it’s better.  Not saying it’s past or even present, only considering it may start with my Burner.  Think your driver is better?

[colin007]

I completely disagree on vintage guitars. Newer guitars are made with tighter tolerances and can be set up to play so much easier than vintage stuff, and with today's amp modeling and fx processing technology it can be made to sound like anything to want.

With your driver, you prolly hit it in the center of the face. With perfect contact you're not gonna see a huge difference between drivers anymore, it's more about how you get fit for it and how it looks and feels to you.

Personally, having seen the sweet spot of my driver as often as seeing Scandinavian twins in my bed, I need all the help I can get.

[DrvFrShow]

  On 3/31/2020 at 10:45 PM, colin007 said:

I completely disagree on vintage guitars. Newer guitars are made with tighter tolerances and can be set up to play so much easier than vintage stuff, and with today's amp modeling and fx processing technology it can be made to sound like anything to want.

With your driver, you prolly hit it in the center of the face. With perfect contact you're not gonna see a huge difference between drivers anymore, it's more about how you get fit for it and how it looks and feels to you.

Personally, having seen the sweet spot of my driver as often as seeing Scandinavian twins in my bed, I need all the help I can get.

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I'm sorry @colin007 . Amp modeling may work okay in the studio, but it still doesn't beat the sound of a tube amp because tone electrons flow better in a vacuum than they do in a crystalline lattice. It's a proven fact. 

[BackandThru22]

  On 3/31/2020 at 10:45 PM, colin007 said:

I completely disagree on vintage guitars. Newer guitars are made with tighter tolerances and can be set up to play so much easier than vintage stuff, and with today's amp modeling and fx processing technology it can be made to sound like anything to want.

With your driver, you prolly hit it in the center of the face. With perfect contact you're not gonna see a huge difference between drivers anymore, it's more about how you get fit for it and how it looks and feels to you.

Personally, having seen the sweet spot of my driver as often as seeing Scandinavian twins in my bed, I need all the help I can get.

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Sorry but can’t let the vintage guitars things pass.  You would get slapped in the face for saying such things in any circle I’ve ever seen.  The 59 Stratocaster and old les Paul’s are some of the closest things to holy grails we have on this planet which is why original ones go for well over $10,000.  As far as FX modeling, that stuff is for bedroom use and it’s allowing people to get crazy good simulated tones similar to playing tiger woods pga Tour.  Feeling the air from a cranked tube amp is part of what allows for the electric guitar to be played the way it was intended.  Similar to how golf clubs are getting where it’s almost too easy and too forgiving so people don’t bond as much with the spirit of the thing which is for both guitar playing and golfing that it’s extremely difficult because it’s not supposed to be that easy to achieve tuning fork, tenderloin pureness.

  On 3/31/2020 at 10:51 PM, DrvFrShow said:

I'm sorry @colin007 . Amp modeling may work okay in the studio, but it still doesn't beat the sound of a tube amp because tone electrons flow better in a vacuum than they do in a crystalline lattice. It's a proven fact. 

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You can graduate to a kemper or something similar, but it’s just wrong to not learn how to respect the purity of a 65 blackface or a 59 les Paul.  respect history bro

[saevel25]

Best driver ever made... Which ever is the most forgiving and longest driver to date. Driver tech has improved year by year. So, the best driver ever is something out right now or this past year.

I do not buy the guitar to driver analogy.

[Vinsk]

Are you guys kidding?! Of course it’s:

THE HAMMER!!!! POW!!!

[BackandThru22]

  On 4/1/2020 at 12:10 AM, saevel25 said:

Best driver ever made... Which ever is the most forgiving and longest driver to date. Driver tech has improved year by year. So, the best driver ever is something out right now or this past year.

I do not buy the guitar to driver analogy.

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Just trying to make a point that the newest thing out isn’t necessarily the best.  Potentially there is more to geometric symmetry and weighted technology to a good golf club.  Certainly, if you’re still playing the same driver 15 years later, countless rounds later, out of choice, something to be said to that.  Maybe I’d be playing a callaway epic flash 15 years later if I bought one now, maybe it would run its course.  I don’t know.

[snapfade]

A 65 Mosrite and Marshall tube head and cabinet is always a nice choice.

[Piz]

If there was a best driver ever made...everybody would have one by now.  I'm still using a 2006 Cleveland Hi-bore.  Most people think it looks weird.  I do not.

BTW....Tone electrons?  If I rub my bass down with liquid smoke will it sound more bluesy?

[Bonvivant]

  On 4/1/2020 at 12:17 AM, BackandThru22 said:

Just trying to make a point that the newest thing out isn’t necessarily the best.  Potentially there is more to geometric symmetry and weighted technology to a good golf club.  Certainly, if you’re still playing the same driver 15 years later, countless rounds later, out of choice, something to be said to that.  Maybe I’d be playing a callaway epic flash 15 years later if I bought one now, maybe it would run its course.  I don’t know.

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I disagree with this statement. The newest thing out is almost certainly the best. It may not be the best off the shelf for you, but you also don't have countless years playing with it. If you could somehow have had that M5 on the shelf at the same time you bought your burner, and you tried both without having a feel for either to start, you would almost certainly pick the M5.

I will give an example from my own golf. I grew up hitting blade irons from the 60s. When it came time for me to get new irons (getting back into the game last year) I looked at different stuff, messed around with friends clubs and the leftover CBs that were laying around in my basement. I decided that I could not play with any of these other clubs, and that the best "fit" for me was to keep a thin top-line, minimal offset, a fairly sharp leading edge, and a narrow sole. That is why I have the clubs in my description, even though I'm playing in the high teens or low 20s for cap. It isn't that the blades are better clubs, or even better for me, it is that I can't seem to hit anything CB or mid/oversized. It's like I need the tiny head with sharp edges to make me concentrate or something. It's just an odd mental block.

If you stripped the Nikes away from me and I went and got fitting, I don't even know what would happen. I wouldn't be surprised if the fitter told me to pick a new hobby after he/she had me try every GI/SGI iron out there. Or I might find that the necessity of my current clubs isn't warranted and I could get used to something else with proper time and practice.

Just because you are used to something and like it doesn't make it "the best", or even good for that matter. I love my old 1960s blades and still play some rounds with them and still score somewhat similarly to my "modern" bag, but I wouldn't make the statement that they are good at all. Hell, the swing weight on them barely fits on the chart.

Edit*

Welcome to TST!

Edited April 1, 2020 by Bonvivant

[bwdial]

Looking at the number of guys who get paid a lot of money who are putting the new TaylorMade SIM in the bag, I'm going to say it must be pretty good.

[BackandThru22]

  On 4/1/2020 at 2:25 AM, bwdial said:

Looking at the number of guys who get paid a lot of money who are putting the new TaylorMade SIM in the bag, I'm going to say it must be pretty good.

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No doubt.  

[bwdial]

  On 4/1/2020 at 12:16 AM, Vinsk said:

Are you guys kidding?! Of course it’s:

THE HAMMER!!!! POW!!!

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[DrvFrShow]

  On 4/1/2020 at 1:30 AM, Piz said:

If there was a best driver ever made...everybody would have one by now.  I'm still using a 2006 Cleveland Hi-bore.  Most people think it looks weird.  I do not.

BTW....Tone electrons?  If I rub my bass down with liquid smoke will it sound more bluesy?

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Drivers: the best one I've hit was a Callaway Razr Fit. When you hit it in the sweet spot it was a bomb ball. And it was difficult to slice with it. 

Now tone electrons. It's absolutely true. It's all explained here by the genius himself. If your name wasn't David Lindley, Jackson Browne, Larry Carlton, Bonnie Raitt, Graham nash, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Steve Lukather, Robben Ford, Randy California, Rick Vito, Dean Parks, Eric Johnson, one of the Beach Boys, Jay Graydon, or Ry Cooder, you were out of luck.

 

[snapfade]

Jim Clark

 

[snapfade]

  On 4/1/2020 at 2:25 AM, bwdial said:

Looking at the number of guys who get paid a lot of money who are putting the new TaylorMade SIM in the bag, I'm going to say it must be pretty good.

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Drivers used by top 10 golfers in strokes gained off the tee

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It all starts with the tee shot. Modern professional golfers...

 

[boogielicious]

  On 3/31/2020 at 10:51 PM, DrvFrShow said:

I'm sorry @colin007 . Amp modeling may work okay in the studio, but it still doesn't beat the sound of a tube amp because tone electrons flow better in a vacuum than they do in a crystalline lattice. It's a proven fact. 

Expand  

While I agree that tube amps sounds better, having built several, none of that above is how amps work. Electrons are not flowing in a vacuum in a tube. It is still a wire circuit that is insulated in a vacuum for heat transfer purposes. I could spend hours discussing this topic, but we must keep on topic here.

I agree with @Vinsk, The HAMMER! POW!

[trombettista_vecchio]

The best drives that I ever hit were with wooden drivers because when steel and then titanium arrived, I was already getting older.

I can't imagine how it would even be possible to identify the best driver of all time, but approached as a fun subject, I imagine we'd see a nice variety of choices.  

I hit some transcontinental bombs with a MacGregor 945 Eye O Matic as a teenager.  

I'd like to try a TaylorMade Original One 13.5, but that's hard to do while sequestered at home during a pandemic.

I'd also like to try a Louisville hickory set, driver to putter, just as a bucket list thing, although it would be every bit as expensive as any other brand new set from a major clubmaker.

 

As for tube amps, I love the look of a McIntosh MC275 in a high fi set, but on a bandstand, I saw something interesting this summer.

We were watching one of our favorite horn bands at an outdoor concert this summer, but as much as I love those horns, it was with the electric instruments that I noticed something.  The digital piano, the clonewheel digital organ, the upright bass, and the guitar (switching between a Benedetto jazz archtop and a Tele) were all playing through identical, ultra clean Roland keyboard amps, nary a vacuum tube in sight, and they sounded awesome.

Edited April 1, 2020 by trombettista_vecchio