905 First Impressions

[iacas]

I've been hitting a 905S with a YS-6 shaft (my "current driver" is a 983K with a YS-6). My thoughts:

The club is longer on everything, but particularly on misses. You can miss it heel and toe and the ball still goes, as well as high or low - particularly low.

Speaking of low, with the deeper face, the driver likes the ball teed up a bit lower. The sweet spot seems to be dead center more so than before (on the 983K it's about 2/3 up the face). Very nice.

The top alignment mark is nice.

The new YS-6 and the aluminum sleeve raise the kick point and drive the ball on a lot more boring trajectory. No sky balls here, and plenty of run even into the wind. Very nice!

It does make a different sound. Lower pitched, but I kinda like it.

I think this may replace my 983K! Maybe on really hard (dry) courses I'll pull out the 983K when I don't need (want) 50+ yards of run.

[Putt4doh]

I have to admit, I was a bit thrown off by the sound at first. But I got used to it. I orginally tried hitting the 905T in the Aldila NV65 and I wasn't a big fan. I've always liked the 983e better than the K, but thats just personal preference. So I decided to take the 905S w/ a Speeder out for a session at the range. WOW what a difference. I completely agree with your review above. Better trajectory, more distance, and more forgiving.

Definitely another winner from Titleist.

[sevenfourate]

Interesting reviews guys,and interesting about the sweetspot Erik.I wholly agree about the "high" sweetspot on the 983K.Glad you both liked them..... are you going to make the jump and purchase one Putt4doh ?

I have trouble getting a high enough launch with a driver,and tried the 905T with the Aldila NV (no good) and YS6 (better),but finally managed to get Titleist to do a custom order with a Graphite Design Purple Ice the same as im currently using which has just about the lowest flex point of any graphite driver shaft currently available.

Obviously i havnt tried one in that spec yet so it will be interesting to see once it arrives.

[Putt4doh]

I'm definitely considering it. I have a pending warranty issue with a TM 510TP. Once I see what happens with that, I'll almost certainly get one.
Interesting about your launch conditions....have you ever hit balls on a launch monitor? If not, definitely do it. It'll really take the guessing out of all the options out there.

That being said, I have the opposite problem---I hit it real high and spin it alot. I do all I can to keep it down and spinning less. A driver shouldn't check up should it? : )

I'm not surprised about the NV, I think it's got a high/mid kick point and the (old) YS6 is about the same. I've tried them both and found that the NV 75X got me the best launch conditions. Well, except for the Fuji Speeder 757...but I coulnd't justify $200 difference in the shafts.

[sevenfourate]

Putt4doh - my 983k was purchased after having a session on a launch monitor at the PGA centre of excellence at The Belfry.Far as i know its the "best" in the UK at the moment.

I tended to deloft the club (driver) at impact and my shots looked good flight-wise but were loaded with spin.A really low kick-point shaft helps me to really hit up through the ball at impact getting better (higher) launch with less spin.Im currently carrying this driver a true 15 yards further than anything ive ever had AND even get some run as its not now carrying all the backspin it used to.I think i was achieving something like 9 -11 degrees launch angle and 3500rpm+ of spin pre-983K.After fitting with the 983k it came down to more like 13 degree launch angle and certainly less than 3000rpm of backspin.

Hopefully the same specs in a 905 will outperform the 983k.If it dont then ebay will loom large......

[Putt4doh]

Aren't launch monitor's the best?! People(Johnny Miller) want to blaim the ball for all the distance in golf today. I don't think there's any mystery about why the best players with the best equipment and the best technology (launch monitor) are hitting it a ton!

I'm waiting until I can get both the T and S on the monitor before I make an official decision. Although I like the S, who knows?--I may hit the T better.

I fight a ridiculously high spin rate (4000+RPM's). I've tried a bunch of different shafts...the Aldila and Speeder play best for me, but I'm thinking of trying a Fuji Vista Tour. I hope the stiff tip and high kick point will help. Unfortunately, Titleist doesn't stock the Vista Tour.

To this day, the driver I hit farthest was my 983e 8.5 w/NV 75x. That combo got my spin rate down to 'acceptable' but the launch angle on my misses was a little low 10-11 deg.

I'm hoping the new 905s can get my drives out there again...and if not there's always eBay!

[dipgolf]

The club is longer on everything, but particularly on misses. You can miss it heel and toe and the ball still goes, as well as high or low - particularly low.

Dang, so that means I will lose even more balls in the woods.

[djhgolf]

sevenfourate,

would like to ask your thoughts on the Graph design purple ice shafts you are running especally in the 983 combo. Im curently running a cleveland/accuflex driver and i need to bring down the spin. Would this sort of setup help??

Thanks for your time!

[iacas]

Dang, so that means I will lose even more balls in the woods.

Umm, no, that's not what I said.

[sevenfourate]

djhgolf - i did a "detailed" write-up on another thread about the Purple Ice a while ago - havnt got time to locate it right now though.If you search through my old posts you may find it though.

For ME its been an excellent shaft as i said.Got my spin rate down due to the lowest flex point of virtually any premium shaft ?..... and really being able to get good high launch (for me) with very little spin due to a better launch angle (higher) and being able to get the clubhead "releasing up" through impact...... Coupled with more loft its the best performing driver,and most confidence boosting driver ive had in 17 years of playing golf.

Not only are my launch conditions better but its a very,very stable and sweet feeling shaft too.

The "best" i personally have ever had ,and ive tried virtually every top-brand shaft out there - i gather they are not being made any more though.Titleist are trying to locate one for me for the new 905.I really hope they find one


The one shaft i would really like to try is the new Aldila NVS (Orange NV) which also has very low flex point i believe - opposite to the normal green NV).That potentially looks very good for what i need - and maybe you too...

[NiceShot]

I've got the NVS in a TM R7 TP , so far the jury is out. Originally I had a fujikura prototype shaft in XS but it was a little too heavy and the kick point was somewhere near the grip!

The NVS in stiff feels a little soft, however I do have 28g worth of weights in (SW D4.25) so I might take it down a bit, this should make it feel a bit firmer.

It's more 'ginger' than orange!

[sevenfourate]

Ginger shafts - Hmmmmmm,might have to pass on that then.lol


Keep me informed if you take some weight out,must be really loading that shaft up i would imagine.Is it really "soft" for a stiff or is just how it feels with a different flex point.Saying that it usually high flex points that can "feel" a bit more whippy.

A friend has an NVS in a G2 Ping,he raves about it.To be fair he is ripping it though.Still concerned about the ginger-effect though.........

[Guest]

I'm still too green at this game for such a sweet driver but I gotta tell you...I can't get enough of that commercial. The one with the procession of guys hitting from atop the head of the club? I love that drum track with the club impact mixed in... boom, boom, boom-boom, THWACK...boom, boom, boom-boom, THWACK. And those great swings...

My wife says it's porn for us golf nuts.

[muskegman]

Well, I'm very impressed with the 905T. It seems a very consistent club and this is coming from a guy who struggles off the tee. Granted I've been using a bargain set for about a year and the performance there was lacking but the 905 is plain awesome.

Impact sounds like two big pieces of metal smacking together... I like. It launches high but doesn't balloon, the ball just disappears in the distance unexpectedly. When the ball came off the face tonight, I expected it to drop short because it launched so high, but the darn thing just kept going and going. That is nice to watch. So hit again... and again...

The face might be too closed for you purists, but works fine for me. The club is very confidence inspiring. I would say that it is a very forgiving club as well. Titleist has come up with a winner here. They have produced "players clubs" for so long that this is a home run for me. I think I see improvement in my scoring future just because of a club change. I highly recommend this club.

[sevenfourate]

My custom order has been "held-up".

From what i know EVERY driver in the country (both S + T) has been recalled due to some heads not being glued on properly


QUOTE MUSKEGMAN: "The face might be too closed for you purists"

....i find this slightly worrying" ! Is it closed ????????????

[muskegman]

QUOTE MUSKEGMAN: "The face might be too closed for you purists"

To be honest, I picked that up from a review at golfreview.com and then more or less assumed it was closed. I apologize for not being fully informed before I engaged my yapper. It looked a bit closed to my eye but I'm a bit of an amateur frankly. Heh.

[iacas]

To be honest, I picked that up from a review at golfreview.com and then more or less assumed it was closed. I apologize for not being fully informed before I engaged my yapper. It looked a bit closed to my eye but I'm a bit of an amateur frankly. Heh.

They're not closed.

[muskegman]

I had the 905T out on the course finally and probably gained 30-50 yards on my old driver. No joke, but you'd have to see the cheapo I was using to believe it. There is a par-5 that starts out uphill. The hill ends about 180 yards away with some huge trees at the top close to the middle of the fairway. I hit it over the trees and was sitting and inch into the first cut past them. Wow. This driver hits it high.