driver dicussion

[rs4duke]

Ok guys alittle debate here. My co-worker and I were just talking about drivers and he said why pay 300-400 dollars on a driver when you can get a ram driver for 30 bucks. He uses a ram driver and can hit it just as far as everyone with namebrand high dollar drivers. What is ya'll take on this and explain why you think this. I'm going to go up to golf galaxy sometime this week and but this to the test.

[muskegman]

Perhaps he has better than average tempo and a great swing which allows him to keep up with his partners. I don't think his playing partners are a good test by the way. He needs to see what kind of improvement he sees when he hits a stick that fits him like a glove. I think he'd be shocked how much better he'd be with a good head/shaft combination... his distance and accuracy would likely improve drastically.

What he needs to do is demo a few drivers (Titleist, TaylorMade, Ping, etc...) with lofts and shafts that fit his swing and see if he doesn't bomb it 20-30 yards further. Playing partners are a poor gauge for his potential.

Having said that, some people are happy to settle for less than their potential.

[rs4duke]

ok now this is just a debate, im all for the namebrand stuff, but what if he were to put a shaft that fits him on the ram head? what makes the namebrand and offbrand stuff so different?

[muskegman]

The name brand folks have money to toss at R&D; and can put higher quality materials into their heads and shafts so that they may play better off the rack. I believe that a company like Ping, TaylorMade, Titleist, and others is going make a clubhead that is of a higher quality than a WalMart special. The technology and tolerances of a Titleist or TaylorMade is going to be way higher than a cheaper club which will translate into more forgiveness, distance, and overall playability.

I've not seen a head to head test of say a Titleist 905T 10.5° and a Ram 10.5° and therefore can't really say what the differences would be. I know that tests between club heads of the high profile companies produce quite different results so I'm sure that you'd see some significant differences between Ram and name brands. Without having first hand data I can't really say, but I do know that the principle "you get what you pay for" applies in golf as it does in most things.

You've asked a valid question and I can't really answer it with data. Your buddy would benefit from getting fitted to the right shaft regardless of the head he puts it in. He'd have to hit them head to head on a launch monitor to really know the difference.

[iacas]

There's no data to answer with except to repeat what Jeff said: the commonly accepted knowledge that the larger companies spend more, user better quality materials, and do things like work with shaft companies to produce a good or great shaft custom-fit for the driver head it'll go into.

A RAM driver is fine for some, especially those that don't play much or don't score very well. But as you do either (play more or score better), you'll notice the differences between the big-name brands and some of the off brands.

Some people say they never do, and are happy to pay 30% the cost. If so, more power to you. A big part of any golfer's results is the golfer itself. I'd just rather have that other small portion not be hurting my results.

[rs4duke]

These are very good responses that I will be relaying to my co-worker. I'm like all of you and agree that bigger companies do more to improve there equipment. I use taylormade and have to say that there is a difference between using taylormade equipment and pinemeadow equipment. I have a set of pinemeadows clones and my taylormade set is so much better. My co-worker just doesn't understand why i would spend 350 dollars on a r7 425.

[golfchief]

Let him use your clubs during a round and get the feel of a big name club. Most cheaper clubs only look like the more expensive ones, the main difference is inside the head. match a v8 auto with a 4cyl and who do you think will win?

[ezmoney5150]

The fact of the matter here is consistency. If you put a good head/shaft combo together you will have less twisting when the clubface hits the ball. Ball flight dispersion is more extreme with a head that's not balanced right, smaller sweet spot and a whippy shaft tip. Golf is a game of misses. The less extreme the miss the lower you score.