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

[DavidFehertysBike]

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

co-sign. That is really a great stick.

buts it costs like $600

[Island Par]

mizuno MX 560 or the MX 700

[Mark_D]

I've just bought a new driver having tested all the latest offerings from Taylormade, Titleist, Callaway, Cleveland, Wilson, Ping and Nike on the range.

The winner... Ping Rapture v2. I have ordered one with 9 degree loft and Diamana Blue stiff shaft.

I was expecting to really struggle to differentiate between the top ones, but FOR ME, the Ping was some distance ahead in both distance and forgiveness. The carry was immense, even on off centre hits. I suffer from hitting the ball too high, but could control the flight well with this.

Can't wait for it to arrive... hope it lives up to the range on the course.

[JReece]

Ping G-10.

[Shorty]

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

That is not necessarily an upgrade.

[KingCobra]

cobra speed pro d

[~Troy]

Take a look at the King Cobra S9-1 Pro S driver.

Camillo Villegas uses that same driver on tour, Geoff Ogilvy uses the Pro D version of the club.

[SALUKI LEFTY]

I can comment on drivers I have recently owned / still own.

G10, Rapture V2, and Callaway FT-9 iMix.

My favorite is the Rapture V2, it's the longest driver I have hit and is accurate too. The G10 is comparable in distance, but doesn't feel as good as the V2.

The Callaway FT9, which I still own with a few Mitsubishi shafts is a nice stick, but for some reason, I hit it 20-30 yrds shorter than the Ping when both are well struck. Ping mishits also go farther.

My advice, test as many as you can and go from there. Good luck.

[Acropo]

Take a look at the King Cobra S9-1 Pro S driver.

I tend to agree with that, after I tested some at a recent demo day (and before you ask - I also tested Titleist, Callaway and Mizuno recently, too!).

lovely flight, great control, doesn't look like a wok on the end of a stick. Felt very comfortable indeed. (The new Cobra irons felt great, too - much better than the previous range. I'm tempted, I really am!)

[LBlack14]

The COBRA I'm playing has an open face and is as forgiving as anything on the market.

[tradewind_golfer]

How about the Tour Edge Exotics XLD? (The first one).

Someone gave me a 12* senior shaft and I tried it out for fun. Amazingly easy to hit, straight, long enough and very forgiving. The specs say it's a square face--very rare for such a high loft.

You can get them for around $150 brand new (rockbottom?) AND you get a free XLD fairway wood too.

[wrx_junki]

Adams Speedline, they are coming out with the new models so you may be interested in those. I've raised my fairway percentages quite considerably lately with this driver. I can now step up to the first tee box confidently with the driver instead of a 3-wood or hybrid. Also, the Adams 9015D is very long and straight.

[MikeLowry5]

Adams Speedline, they are coming out with the new models so you may be interested in those. I've raised my fairway percentages quite considerably lately with this driver. I can now step up to the first tee box confidently with the driver instead of a 3-wood or hybrid. Also, the Adams 9015D is very long and straight.

I recently purchased the Speedline (Draw model) as well and have hit the ball straighter. I got the 10.5 regular.

The club has an extremely high launch, so high that it will stick a ball in the fairway on a soft course! Even on a day when the course is like concrete I get NO roll on the ball. A few days ago I hit the ball as hard and solid as I possibly ever have and went 284yds (according to GPS) whereas my old Dunlop Loco 10 degree could roll them up to the 295/300 marks on a hard surface. Have you had the same problem the higher launch/ball spin leading to no roll after landing? I did not get swing tested before buying the club as the Golf Discount I went do said they could not set me up on the machine because I was left handed! I really wish I tried out the R9 before going with this to see what it was like. Still not out of the question as I could always sell the Adams on Ebay.

[RiversIS]

mizuno MX 560 or the MX 700

I had pretty good results with MX 560 as well. For the prices it goes for these days, it might be a cheap driver to try, that may give you the results you are looking for.

[Mizzy57]

I went thru the same thing you are. I had a Cleveland XLS 10.5 draw stiff that when hit normally would produce a beautiful long draw. But with current swing tweaks, my coach said the Draw needed to go as my misses were becoming 30-50yd hooks, tho distance was still tremendous. I read on the XLS review that others have had the same problems with the Draw model.

Went to go get fitted and had $500 bucks to burn. After it was all said and done, best fit for me wasn't a new $500 driver after all. Good folks that did the fitting (105, 3200, 14*) set me up with a Ping G10 9* with the stock Proforce V2 HL stiff.

Although I'm still getting used to the G10, my misses now only happen when I'm either handsy or late. Good drives are piercing and it's alot easier to play a fade when needed. I also got the G10 fairway but i'm missing right with that, just a timing issue.

Point being, get fitted. And the best driver for you isn't necessarily the best (most expensive) driver.

Miss the XLS sound tho =(

Good luck.


P.s. For those that have had driver changes after using one for a few years, how long/bad was your adaptation? I've only played a 2 rounds so far this week with the G10 and even tho my good hits are great and my misses minamal, I still have that wary feeling when I tee up. Different driver, shaft, grip, weight, feel, etc.

[hamletsdead]

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.

Callaway FT-iq Tour 9.5 is 0.5 open. The Tour Edge XCG and XCGX drivers are square.

I have all three of them and hit all of them with a slight fade (which is what I hit everything with), with the exception of the line drive over 3rd base that randomly occurs when I'm not paying attention to what I'm doing or trying to kill it. They're all long clubs -- I'm not a really long hitter, but I'm out there 240-250 pretty regularly with them in the fairway, and 265-270 on a good strike.

[PhiDeltBeers]

That is not necessarily an upgrade.

Is there really any sense in upgrading from a G5? I actually have a G5 and was wondering if something might be even better that would justify spending the money? Any thoughts?

[WUTiger]

Look for drivers which have a Tour marketing pitch. These normally have a square face, or 1º open.

As for longer drives, check on your launch angle. For driver, around 11º is considered optimum.

Flex and kickpoint of shaft influence launch angle. The stiffer the shaft flex, the lower (and less far) the ball flies. The kickpoint is where the shaft bends. A low kickpoint will produce a higher flight (flips ball up), and a high kickpoint will produce a lower "more boring ball flight," as they say in the ads.

I went from a high kick shaft in my old driver to midkick in my Callaway Hyper-X Tour with 10.5º head (shafted with Fujikura Fit-On E-360, R flex). This helped bring my launch angle down from 18º to about 12º.

I'm trying different tee heights right now to fine tune some more.