Is This for REAL?!

[Quinn07]

Has anyone actually tried one of the PowerBuilt Air Force One drivers? I am watching this infomercial (Damn the golfchannel!!) and it's filled with Nitrogen?! Fuzzy is endorsing it and I highly doubt he actually plays it. Another question I have is does it actually make that ridiculous "PING" sound when it's hit?

I am curious to see if anyone actually plays this thing.

[Quinn07]

Just realized that they are using Tina Miller (Big Break) at the driving range!!! Man these infomercial guys are tricky!!

[svchiefs19]

im not gunna lie, i thought the exact same thing when i saw that infomercial for the first time. theres no way that they can be legal. it almost seems like cheating playing with a nitrogen filled club, if in fact they actually do work...

[flopdarock]

if you smoke a drive... will it explode?

[Caddyshack]

if you smoke a drive... will it explode?

Nah Nitrogen is an inert gas, no chance of explosion. Fill it with Hydrogen now that could be fun!

[RocketSauce]

its all hype. i know someone who writes reviews for golf equipment and he has been trying to get them to send him one for review for months, but they keep giving him excuses as to why they cant seem to supply him with one (all the other major OEM's dont have a problem sending their new stuff to him). we think its because Powerbilt does NOT want this driver to be reviewed. its all hype and im sure they'll be showing up on ebay within a few months for next to nothing

im not gunna lie, i thought the exact same thing when i saw that infomercial for the first time. theres no way that they can be legal. it almost seems like cheating playing with a nitrogen filled club, if in fact they actually do work...

plain ol air is 80% nitrogen. so a driver filled with mostly air isnt going to do anything special. its just a marketing ploy

[wedge player]

its all hype. i know someone who writes reviews for golf equipment and he has been trying to get them to send him one for review for months, but they keep giving him excuses as to why they cant seem to supply him with one (all the other major OEM's dont have a problem sending their new stuff to him). we think its because Powerbilt does NOT want this driver to be reviewed. its all hype and im sure they'll be showing up on ebay within a few months for next to nothing

well it has a thinner face than some oems for supposable more trampoline effect.but then again that could be bad if you break the face

[Flatswinger]

I tried to find a photo of the crown of this driver & couldn’t find one, either on the PB site or any of the sellers'. An email to PB for the reason they only show the bottom or perhaps a top photo has elicited no response so far. They’re pitching this thing without anyone being able to tell what they’d be looking down at.

A “What’s in the Bag” check on Golf Channel’s site shows that Fuzzy plays a TaylorMade R540 XD 8.5° driver, but who knows how up-to-date that is.

You’d think we’d know about it by now if it were illegal. I watched the same infomercial you did & they guaranty it to be leak-proof for five years – meaning they think it’ll last longer than that.

Still, Power-Bilt’s playing the Air Force One awfully close to the vest for to be something we’d want to buy.

[Spackler-esque]

I was in the local golf shop the other day when the Powerbilt rep stopped by. The clubs he had were all last years models. They looked really nice except for the fact that they were all 1-2* closed. Didn't get to hit'm, just listen to the rep shoot the shit with some other club reps and the owner of the place about how he uses it and yadda yadda...

They are conforming. Fuzzy is on board with them and apparently does play the club in competition (sometimes?). That's all I can say with any hint of truth.

[Stacey_E]

I can understand the fascination. But I have to ask this question about the product, and IMHO this is true of ANY product with an infomercial.....

If it is such a great product, why do you need to buy up more air time than a regular commercial to sell it?

[Quinn07]

I can understand the fascination. But I have to ask this question about the product, and IMHO this is true of ANY product with an infomercial.....

Good point but with companies that feel their product is different from everyone elses and they want to show "new technology" they may feel that an infomercial is a good way to get that information out there. This may be more true with companies that aren't part of the BIG 3 (or 5 or 6).

Listening to PING noise it makes...it sounds like some flicking a wine glass...but I guess with all the different noises clubs make now, it's not that big of a deal.

[Quinn07]

I tried to find a photo of the crown of this driver & couldn’t find one, either on the PB site or any of the sellers'. An email to PB for the reason they only show the bottom or perhaps a top photo has elicited no response so far. They’re pitching this thing without anyone being able to tell what they’d be looking down at.

You can find a dissection of the driver in this months Golf Digest...not really the crown, but you can see the face thickness and such.

[Flatswinger]

OK, I did get a response from Stephanie Cardona at Power-Bilt, who apologized that the website wasn’t yet finished. She sent a .jpg with several views of the Air Force One.

Directly from the back – looking straight at the valve it looks a little like an alien – not an “Alien” golf club, an Alien. Or maybe an insect. All black with indentations on the sides like eye sockets & a “nose” & a “mouth” in the middle. Not ugly, per se, but definitely a little different.

I’m a newbie, & I get the sense that attachments aren’t cool, or I’d post the photos here.

[RocketSauce]

OK, I did get a response from Stephanie Cardona at Power-Bilt, who apologized that the website wasn’t yet finished. She sent a .jpg with several views of the Air Force One.

you can post em here. but dont get fooled by the hype. this is actually old technology. someone else did the exact same thing a few years ago and it didnt work either (cant remember who it was at the moment). just remember, plain old air is 80% nitrogen, so a driver filled with mostly air isnt going to do anything special, its just a marketing gimmick to trick the new golfers who want to buy a game. and like i mentioned before, Powerbilt is not sending these drivers out to be reviewed which tells me they are trying to hide something.

[M2daRizzle]

this isnt the first nitrogen filled driver powerbilt has produced. They had one in the mid-ninties and it didnt catch on then either. And also, the driver is still not on the conforming list for either the usga or the r&a; and until it does it wont be legal for competition.

[PiKapp23]

I thought this is interesting. It's from the Q&A; on FranklyGolf.com, the website for Frank Thomas, possibly the leading expert in golf equipment:


Frank,
What is going on here??? A nitrogen filled driver (150psi) matched with an ultrathin face whose sweet spot is as big as the face? Can this be true? Please give me your thoughts and advice on the benefits and drawbacks. Thanks Frank.
--Dave, WA.
Dave,
The USGA has made some silly and questionable equipment rules changes over the past several years but when it comes to measuring the performance of a driver with regard to the “Spring-Like Effect”, or in tech-speak Coefficient of Restitution (COR), it is very efficient and will not place on the conforming list of drivers a club which exceeds the limit. Almost all of today’s drivers are at or just below the limit.
The COR dictates the ball speed by measuring the efficiency of the impact between two colliding bodies, (in this case the driver and the ball). If this exceeds the limit at a specific head speed then the club is considered non-conforming and will be placed on the non-conforming list.
If the COR is at the limit, the club cannot generate more ball speed than other clubs at this limit for the head speeds used to test the club. If you want to know if this club conforms to the rules, rather than wade through the listings, call the manufacturer or better yet call the USGA at 201 234 2300 and ask for the Test Center.
Hope this helps.
Just remember, if you get one of these drivers, go to the gas station and check the pressure before each round :)
Frank

[Stacey_E]

this is actually old technology. someone else did the exact same thing a few years ago and it didnt work either (cant remember who it was at the moment).

I was thinking the same thing. I want to say Nickalaus golf, without googling first.

[madcityscott]

According to the Golf Digest article, "The pressure from the gas supports the thin face without mechanical bracing."