What is going on with drivers? Seriously.

[pandp]

Let me preface this by saying that I have only played golf about 3 times in the last 7 years. I joined the military when I was 23 and simply haven't had time. I am just now getting ready to start playing again, when the weather permits. I have purchased all new equipment, with the exception of a putter. I never thought I would be a fan of Nike clubs, but after hitting various Titleist and Mizuno blades, I found myself falling in love with the victory reds. I even ended up buying a Sasquatch-2 3 wood and the Sasquatch tour stand bag.

Drivers - whoa. Almost everything I hit looked like a friggin' clown shoe. Giant odd-shaped weirdness. The first time I looked down at one I thought I may have left the head cover on. In addition to the sheer size of these embarrassingly large clubs, I noticed the options that are now available. Draw, neutral, etc. Are you serious? How about this...if you want to hit a draw, learn HOW to hit a draw. I guess manufacturers are trying to make EVERYONE a decent golfer without having to groove a decent swing. It's pathetic I think. "Oh man, I love this driver! I have always sliced the ball, but now I hit it straight and 275 yards - even off the toe! I knew it was because something was wrong with the clubs and not due to my terrible swing!" In my opinion they were also lacking a rewarding feel. Kind of a dull thud on the sweet spot. And square? Don't get me started on those. I suppose when you are slowly introduced to bigger and bigger drivers you don't notice it as much. They have to do something to keep us buying clubs, so now that they have gone as big as they can possibly go, are they going to start playing with the shape? I'm waiting for the "revolutionary" stop sign-shaped driver. I'm thinking the next trend will be to start going back down in size (hopefully).

Yeah, I ended up going with a 909 D3.

/end rant

[RIduffer]

I'm waiting for the "revolutionary" stop sign-shaped driver.

Oh, that's pretty much been done.

[HoosierGolfer]

It is called progress. Technology has changed the golf clubs forever. My advice is to either embrace it or stay stuck in the past. I take it you are driving something on the road other than a Pinto or a Vega? Same thing applies to golf clubs. I'll take todays clubs over nineteen seventies clubs any day. JMO of course.

BTW; Great HC for only have played 3 times in seven years!

[MSDOGS1976]

It is called progress. Technology has changed the golf clubs forever. My advice is to either embrace it or stay stuck in the past. I take it you are driving something on the road other than a Pinto or a Vega? Same thing applies to golf clubs. I'll take todays clubs over nineteen seventies clubs any day. JMO of course.

I was thinking the same thing. ;)

[pandp]

It is called progress. Technology has changed the golf clubs forever. My advice is to either embrace it or stay stuck in the past. I take it you are driving something on the road other than a Pinto or a Vega? Same thing applies to golf clubs. I'll take todays clubs over nineteen seventies clubs any day. JMO of course.

I'm not comparing today's technology to that of the 1970's. Of course there has been progress in technology since then, that is undeniable. But surely you don't think every year they come out with something new it's automatically better and considered "progress". And don't accuse me of being stuck in the past please. The last driver I owned was a TM R5, which i believe was 450cc, but for whatever reason it didn't seem ridiculously large like most of the drivers I hit recently. Whether it's the 10cc difference or the shape, they seem significantly larger and look particularly odd at address. It's an observation. Now, since I am stuck in the past and there has been SO much progress since I quit playing, does that mean I will be much more accurate and much longer with a new driver? If I hit a ball with my old R5 (a friend gave me that driver) 320 yards in the middle of the fairway, how do I improve on that? Maybe 323? 325? Even MORE in the center of the fairway? With all these revolutionary advancements in the last 5 years or so, why aren't pros averaging 400 yards? Because the majority of it is BS, that's why. They have to come up with something new to keep making money. If you don't realize that and believe every new club is better, you're naive. It seems people are more reliant on clubs improving their game than their swing itself.

As for the handicap comments, that is an estimate at this point as I have only played one round this year and shot a 76. I consistently shot even or slightly better when I quit playing, so I don't think that is a stretch. Want me to change that for you? I'll change it to a 20 if it will make you happy. I just REALLY want people to think i'm a decent player on an internet forum so i lied about my handicap...

[lcfd42]

They are actually going down in size now or at least making smaller clubhead offerings for tour players. I do hate the ones that sound like a ringing can when you hit a ball with them. I believe it is just a cycle and we will see smaller drivers in joe golfers bag again.
Irons have played the same trick too. They went from "cavity back" to "crater back" and are now beginning to go more normal. A lot of it is fad, and companies trying to keep something fresh to sell. Not that some of the technology may work, the companies keep pushing the boundaries of the equipment as long as it sells.

[Neil]

I had a similar experience to the OP in that I didn't play much between 1999 and 2006. In '99 I was using a Great Big Bertha driver which was massive when I bought it, however tiny by comparison to the clubs of today.

New club technology has radically changed the ability of the average golfer to hit 'long drives'. Even though we don't all hit the 300 yard drives we pretend to, 230-250 is now relatively commonplace.

I'm hugely in favour of the new technology - I believe it makes the game more enjoyable for the average player. The only sad thing is the loss of many of the classic old courses from the professional rotation along with the insensitive lengthening of many courses to keep them current. Over Christmas I had a look at the work being done on the 17th at St Andrews to build a new tee. I agree the new tee will return danger, challenge and excitement to the hole but it also radically changes what has been unchanged for a century and there is definetly something sad about that.

[Big_M]

...there has been SO much progress since I quit playing, does that mean I will be much more accurate and much longer with a new driver? If I hit a ball with my old R5 (a friend gave me that driver) 320 yards in the middle of the fairway, how do I improve on that? Maybe 323? 325? Even MORE in the center of the fairway? With all these revolutionary advancements in the last 5 years or so, why aren't pros averaging 400 yards?

thing is... these drivers aren't meant to help people who ALREADY ARE CONSISTENT... they are for people who ARE NOT AS CONSISTENT. The large square heads and max MOI drivers are meant to reduce the effects of off-center hits... most pros usually find the center of the clubface, most better players do as well... but a 20 handicap benefits imensely from these giant drivers.

They are starting to make a little of both from each company now... the tour models not being quite as huge (long, etc.). It is true, for a while it seemed everyone wanted the largest, oddest looking thing possible, now they are starting to offer a little of each. My point is merely this, the super high MOI drivers DO help certain people, they DO have a place in golf. I personally hope companies continue to offer a VARIETY, and let people choose what works best for them.

[pandp]

thing is... these drivers aren't meant to help people who ALREADY ARE CONSISTENT... they are for people who ARE NOT AS CONSISTENT. The large square heads and max MOI drivers are meant to reduce the effects of off-center hits... most pros usually find the center of the clubface, most better players do as well... but a 20 handicap benefits imensely from these giant drivers.

You make a valid point and I agree that they probably do have a place in golf, but I think it encourages people to focus more on club technology rather than what they SHOULD focus on, and that is a sound consistent swing. The popularity of golf seems to have exploded recently and companies are trying to appeal to these people, almost like it is their primary concern. They're appealing to people that don't have/take the time to work on their swing. What can I say- I firmly believe you can go further in golf by working on your swing than you can by purchasing clubs that counterbalance your swing flaws.

[lcfd42]

We'll see how it goes. Just picked up one of those Giant "clown shoe" drivers and found me a set of classic players iorns. That should be an interesing combo of new and old technology. It's funny to look at those irons compared to my Ping irons. the same thing applies here as the club head of the irons are almost twice the sice of the old irons. I would like to weigh them to see how much more the pings weigh. As with the driver the increased size in club heads makes the sweet spot a lot bigger. Although, as pandp just stated, when does a player accept his/her shortcomings and work on their game to make it better rather than buy a new swinging shovel?

[sean_miller]

We'll see how it goes. Just picked up one of those Giant "clown shoe" drivers and found me a set of classic players iorns. That should be an interesing combo of new and old technology. It's funny to look at those irons compared to my Ping irons. the same thing applies here as the club head of the irons are almost twice the sice of the old irons. I would like to weigh them to see how much more the pings weigh. As with the driver the increased size in club heads makes the sweet spot a lot bigger. Although, as pandp just stated, when does a player accept his/her shortcomings and work on their game to make it better rather than buy a new swinging shovel?

Nobody says we have to buy this new stuff. Spend money on greens fees and lessons and leave the clown-shoe drivers (and supersized shovels) to the club hos (and the newbies). Nah, we can't actually do that can we?!?!

[Gordon McTavish]

thing is... these drivers aren't meant to help people who ALREADY ARE CONSISTENT... they are for people who ARE NOT AS CONSISTENT. The large square heads and max MOI drivers are meant to reduce the effects of off-center hits...

In my experience, I've found no benefit to over-sized drivers. Granted, I was never a good driver of the ball anyway... 1 out of 10 decent shots on average with a 12.5-degree Cobra Speed LD.

A big face might be a good idea, but it seems to be counter-balanced by excessively long shafts and insufficient weight to offer any control. I'm probably in the minority, but I find that modern drivers do more harm for my game than any other club in the bag.

[Lefty-Golfer]

In my experience, I've found no benefit to over-sized drivers. Granted, I was never a good driver of the ball anyway... 1 out of 10 decent shots on average with a 12.5-degree Cobra Speed LD.

LOL you are a funny guy. Let me guess todays greens that roll so smooth hurt your puttingg as welll right

[Gordon McTavish]

LOL you are a funny guy. Let me guess todays greens that roll so smooth hurt your puttingg as welll right

Well I've been known to have trouble reading straight lines occasionally. ;)

[Big_M]

You make a valid point and I agree that they probably do have a place in golf, but I think it encourages people to focus more on club technology rather than what they SHOULD focus on, and that is a sound consistent swing. The popularity of golf seems to have exploded recently and companies are trying to appeal to these people, almost like it is their primary concern. They're appealing to people that don't have/take the time to work on their swing. What can I say-

I completely agree with that. I also agree with the point you made about draw and fade biased clubs... people should fix their swings. I personally struggled like you after not having played a lot in 3-4 years, then going out to buy new equipment only to find drivers had gotten huge (this was 4-5 yrs ago). I actually mini-stepped up with a 360cc driver, then got a 460cc head a year later. Now I have the toaster (square driver) in my sig, and actually I hit it really well, and can work the ball pretty well with it. It has a smaller head than many of the drivers out there, which I liked. Not sure what I will end up with next... some drivers look good to me (FT-5, FT-9, Adams Speedline, Ping i-15, 909's) while others look terrible (Cleveland HiBore, Nike Sumo, Taylormade Burners)... it's just a preference thing. I just hope we are continued to be offered a variety. Also, with so many new drivers comming out these days you missed the best part... HUGE discounts on 1-2 yr old technology that is just as good.

[pingman]

I'm with the original poster! Everything is draw now!!!! I'm surprised the friggin wedges haven't come out in a draw shape! Yeah, I know my i15 is fade biased, but then again most, if not all tour clubs are. Fact of the matter is if i want to hit a draw, fade, or straight i can pull it off and knock it 317 easy. Yeah it needs to be more enjoyable for amateurs but it's gotten out of control because the amateurs will never get better with there swing. However this is a pointless argument, just a matter of speaking one's opinion...

[kpaulhus]

I completely agree with that. I also agree with the point you made about draw and fade biased clubs... people should fix their swings. I personally struggled like you after not having played a lot in 3-4 years, then going out to buy new equipment only to find drivers had gotten huge (this was 4-5 yrs ago). I actually mini-stepped up with a 360cc driver, then got a 460cc head a year later. Now I have the toaster (square driver) in my sig, and actually I hit it really well, and can work the ball pretty well with it. It has a smaller head than many of the drivers out there, which I liked. Not sure what I will end up with next... some drivers look good to me (FT-5, FT-9, Adams Speedline, Ping i-15, 909's) while others look terrible (Cleveland HiBore, Nike Sumo, Taylormade Burners)... it's just a preference thing. I just hope we are continued to be offered a variety. Also, with so many new drivers comming out these days you missed the best part...

I agree on that!I picked up my FT-5 for $95 brand new.

[DBeane]

I agree that the size of the drivers are a bit silly, however I'm sure they have proven that they are longer. You have to consider the marketing behind these things, its very similar to the highschool kid who wants to play a guitar and goes out and buys 3000 dollars worth of equipment and cant play a lick. I do think many beginners would (who are serious about improving) would do themselves well to atleast practice with a persimmon driver.

I played with an origional Callaway Great Big Bertha 7.5 for 15 years (I probably went through half a dozen shafts). I finally built myself a titleist 975J-VS, with a Graffalloy Pro Launch Red Stiff shaft, cut down to 44 inches. There is a little difference in length, however I mainly like the square set up position. I play with guys all the time that have the new equipment and there just isnt enough difference in length/workability/performance for me to put one of those goofy looking things in my bag. Over all I think the new balls and shafts have been the main contributor to all the new length.

-Beane