Longest and most forgiving driver that doesn't have a closed face

[Smilesy]

I'm thing of upgrading my current driver at the moment (TM R7 460) after yesterday demoing a 909 DComp around my local course and consistently ending up 20m further down the fairway (well sometimes the rough as well). I really didn't expect to get that much extra length out of a newer club, but i was very impressed with it.

I've never had a trouble slicing the ball, my bad drives are normally pull hooks
so I really don't like looking at a closed face as it really doesn't inspire me with any confidence. I really liked the way the 909 DComp sat at address, but before a get something new I want to try everything that might suit me. So what would people recommend I try in a drivers with a square to open face, and that just bombs it out there.

Cheers

[pshizz]

ping g10. Its a 460, and has a neutral face, its a pretty good driver. I would also reccomend the r9, its such a great stick, im getting one withing the next couple days!

[jackson]

Love this question. Lots of great drivers out there, what is your swing speed like?

[Smilesy]

I think its about 105, but i'm not 100% on that, i normally hit about 250-260m. I also generally get a pretty low launch with not that much spin on my drives.

[anthonykim3]

tour burner tp little biased but a great club with 0.5 degrees open face
callaway ft 9 tour nike dymo change shaft though it sucks

[WhiteSlice]

I would have to say either the Ping G10 or The TaylorMade R7 or R9. All very powerful drivers and for the most part very forgiving.

[max power]

Callaway Big Bertha Diablo (Neutral)

[flap]

FT-9 Tour nuetral best I've ever had.

[mikelaw]

Ping G5/G10

[jamo]

Basically you are asking everyone's favorite driver, but in the tour version. Get whatever you like the best, just get the "Tour" or "TP" version, or the driver designed for better players.

[sasquatcho69]

i have a 907 D2 which is a better players driver. It isn't the most forgiving driver but if you want to be able to work your driver its a good cheap club(got it for $120 used)

[laxbballgolf]

Any Titleist Driver, any "TP" Taylormade driver, any "neutral" Callaway driver, Ping G10 or Rapture, Cobra S9-1 "Pro" Series...just read and make sure the face angle is 0 or open.

There's really no such thing as a bad driver anymore. Titleist, Taylormade, Ping, and Cobra consistently get rave reviews from low handicaps, so maybe that tells us something.

If you are looking for a driver that will keep you spin rate up a little bit, the Tltleist D2, King Cobra S9-1 Pro S, and Ping G10 are specifically designed as "low to mid spin" rather than "low spin" like most drivers today.

Personally, I recently tried out the King Cobra S9-1 Pro S and loved it. The face on it is 1.5 degrees open, and I think it sets up very nicely. It was launching high for me and stayed in the air forever. Good luck.

[laxbballgolf]

One last note. You have probably heard this before, but the shaft is even more important than the driver head. Make sure to try out some different ones and go from there. You can get a much better shaft for not too much extra money, and it's definitely worth it.

[Crey23]

How do you test shafts???? I mean other than R S X but they tend to be the manufacturer's prefered brand if not thier own...how do you shop shafts?

[laxbballgolf]

It used to be kind of tough to test shafts but it is getting easier.

Some of the bigger and better golf shops have stations with interchangeable shafts, now. They let you test the same driver head with a bunch of different brands and flexes of shafts. I think Callaway and Ping have cool "cart station" type of things at bigger stores for exactly this purpose. One of the best options is if you happen to live near some sort of Titleist (or Callaway, Ping etc) headquarters or supercenter or something like that, I'm not really sure what they call them. Basically, your best bet is to do a little research to find the biggest and best store in your area.

As for ordering, through any of the major stores they will custom order a shaft for you if you ask them to. Also, you can customize online at TGW.com and other websites for either free or little change.

To get you started, I would try out the UST Proforce V2 shaft and some Aldila shafts. The V2 is your basic, high-quality shaft for good players and it is only about $75 or so. Personally, I have settled on the V2 as my shaft of choice so I don't know too much about other ones.

Grafalloy, Fujikara, and Mitsubishi are some other shaft brands. In my opinion, the super high end "exotic" shafts are not worth the price; you can get all the performance you'll likely want out of normal models from quality brands.

[RocketSauce]

FT-iQ Tour. DEFINITELY forgiving and longer than its predecessor, the FT-i

[bradabco]

I too play a g5 and love that club, although I am considering upgrading to the Callaway ft-9

[Smilesy]

Cheers for all the replies. We have a problem over here being a much small market, so we don't get nearly as much choice as you seem to over there. It is pretty hard to demo clubs outside, unless it is the single demo you get from the pro shop, and the is no chance to try it with another shaft, so really I'm most likely to be get the stock shaft in what ever club I get.