Am I missing out?

One Planer

One Planer

Global Moderator
Joined
Feb 11, 2011
Messages
13,430
Location
Modsville
Visit site
I currently have a Titleist 910D2.

I've had it in the bag since the start of 2012 (Feb) and admit to liking it a lot.

I've changed the shaft over about 8 months ago from the stock Kai'li shaft in regular to a Graphite Design Tour AD YSQ 65 in stiff and noticed a definite change for the better (Dispersion) in my driving.

Despite my obvious love for the club, I have a niggling feeling that I'm missing out.

How much has driver technology moved on in the last 5 years?

We've had Taylormades' SLDR, Ping's Turbulators and, no doubt countless other advancements in driver head technology.

We've also seen changes in shaft technology to go along with the 'advances' in head design. As an example shafts are getting lighter, some now below the 50g mark in some models.

Obviously, some of these advancements are pure marketing guff, some like the SLDR have made real benefit.

My question to you good people is this:

My 910D2 driver is from (circa) 2010. How big a leap in technology would it be to move from this to say Taylormade (R15), Callaway (BB V-Series), Mizuno (JPX850), Ping (G30) or even like for like with the Titleists (915 D2) latest offerings?

What would you expect to see different in a club from 2010 to the latest and greatest offerings from the OEM's?

Has driver tech' really moved on that much in 5 years?
 
Well i also had a 910 D2 and changed to a 913 D2 with the same shaft, I did notice a difference where I felt the 913 was more forgiving in off centre hits, dispersion and distance were similar.
 
I've got a Taylormade Burner Superfast, no idea what year it came out, 2009/10 maybe, anyway, the driver in my bag is a Titleist 913D2 and using range balls, I get them to fly around the same distance, if anything the TM is slightly longer, but I put that down to its shaft being a little longer than the Titleist.

That written, I went to watch Kraxx at a TM fitting for the new R15, which was up against his R1 and the R15 got him increased club head speed and as a result a few yards more in carry.

I suspect that if you do a like for like test, in that you compare your 910 against the new 915, you will see a difference, with the 915 coming out on top.

Going off at a slight tangent, I had the same thoughts about my fairway club, I was using a TM R11 3, but felt I was missing out on the latest technology, so changed it to a Callaway Big Bertha 3, and there was a good difference, with the Callaway coming out on top.
 
I see he biggest difference as the slot technology that they are pushing now even the Titleist 915 driver has it. This is supposed to make the club head more forgiving as it's able to flex and provide a bigger sweet spot. That's how I read it
 
The adjustability in the Mizuno 850 is night and day better than the 910. The loft changes and moving weights really work whereas in the 910 I struggled to see much difference from one setting to the extreme other.
 
Good thread Gareth - I have the same thoughts myself. All the new threads about R15 etc make me doubt the worth of my trusty old Mactec NVG2.

I am paying extra on a new membership now, so probably wont make a change this season. Happy with the performance of the clubs I have, its my swing that lets me down.
 
Gareth said:
Has driver tech' really moved on that much in 5 years?
Click to expand...

yes

does that mean I would gain an advantage by changing to any of today's models?

not necessarily

how can I benefit from the new clubs?

you can only benefit by getting a combination of club head, shaft and set up that is more suited to you personally than the one you currently use. The almost infinite combinations of loft (within club), launch trajectory and spin (from club heads), forgiveness (club head) combined with available shafts (tempo, feel, torque, weight.....) mean that you should be able to be set up with a club that does provide improvement of some kind.

start off with your current club on a trackman/whatever and it will quickly analyse what you are getting and why - opportunity will be obvious and solutions will exist..........or it will show that you are getting optimum launch, spin, smash and carry for your club head speed from your existing club :)
 
I will tell you what you want to hear. Yes you are missing out, go get 350 quid and buy a nice new shiny toy!

In reality, who knows. it sounds like you have your 910 pretty well optimized for you, could you gain a few yards and tighten dispersion a bit? Maybe (actually probably, but 350quids worth?), only way to find out is to go hit some balls!
 
Doh said:
I see he biggest difference as the slot technology that they are pushing now even the Titleist 915 driver has it. This is supposed to make the club head more forgiving as it's able to flex and provide a bigger sweet spot. That's how I read it
Click to expand...

Doh, when I got back into golf again three years ago, I was given some fake callaways off my brother and an "illegal" driver. Illegal in the sense that the head flexed back and caused a trampoline effect when the ball hit it. I was told I could not play in comps if it was in my bag. I got rid of it after six months. Any idea what the difference is between now and then.

strange thing is no one said anything about my fake callaways
 
Tashyboy said:
Doh, when I got back into golf again three years ago, I was given some fake callaways off my brother and an "illegal" driver. Illegal in the sense that the head flexed back and caused a trampoline effect when the ball hit it. I was told I could not play in comps if it was in my bag. I got rid of it after six months. Any idea what the difference is between now and then.

strange thing is no one said anything about my fake callaways
Click to expand...

There is a limit to the amount of trampoline effect (coefficient of restitution) that a driver can have. Non-conforming drivers are generally over this limit, or over the 460cc head size.

I think.
 
I'm currently using an R9 driver which is probably 5-7 years old and went to the range and tried a couple of new drivers against it. The feel and visual distance differences were huge (especially with the G30). The only way to know is to go and try clubs against it and see. But as they say, if it aint broke.....
 
Gareth said:
I currently have a Titleist 910D2.

I've had it in the bag since the start of 2012 (Feb) and admit to liking it a lot.

I've changed the shaft over about 8 months ago from the stock Kai'li shaft in regular to a Graphite Design Tour AD YSQ 65 in stiff and noticed a definite change for the better (Dispersion) in my driving.

Despite my obvious love for the club, I have a niggling feeling that I'm missing out.

How much has driver technology moved on in the last 5 years?

We've had Taylormades' SLDR, Ping's Turbulators and, no doubt countless other advancements in driver head technology.

We've also seen changes in shaft technology to go along with the 'advances' in head design. As an example shafts are getting lighter, some now below the 50g mark in some models.

Obviously, some of these advancements are pure marketing guff, some like the SLDR have made real benefit.

My question to you good people is this:

My 910D2 driver is from (circa) 2010. How big a leap in technology would it be to move from this to say Taylormade (R15), Callaway (BB V-Series), Mizuno (JPX850), Ping (G30) or even like for like with the Titleists (915 D2) latest offerings?

What would you expect to see different in a club from 2010 to the latest and greatest offerings from the OEM's?

Has driver tech' really moved on that much in 5 years?
Click to expand...

The companies marketing departments would like you to think you are. ;)

Duncan's reply was pretty much spot on in my opinion. But you also have to factor in the psychological side which may override the logical rational side of it. People like buying new things as it makes them feel better and potentially more confident. And a lot of golf is about confidence. So it may be the case that if you got a robot replicating your swing there would be very little difference between your current and any new one. But on the course you may well feel you have more confidence in the latest custom fitted driver, as you have been told it is fitted for your exact specifications. So chances are it will work better for you than an older one.
 
Last edited:
If your 910 is set up for you to get the best out of it and you are finding the button regularly - then the difference would be negligible.

If you stray away from the sweet spot then the 913 will help and the 915 is another jump in help again.

For a Titleist, I was amazed how well the ball still went on strikes that are really wide of the mark!
 
I thought this, I have an i20 driver which I hit reasonably well, like you I had that niggling thought so I decided I would get the vapor driver upon its release... Then began to wonder- can I justify spending £300 on a club... For that much money it needs to be consistently longer and tighten dispersion up. Which is a possibility with a fitting although may result in a shaft from the custom menu and with it an upcharge.
Ultimately I decided I couldn't justify it, instead I bought a second hand sldr off eBay for £140, my thought being if I don't get on with it it'll go straight back on eBay and maybe I'll lose £10-20 on it.

Hasn't answered your question, just my recent experience.
 
Yes and no.

The Ping fitters told me that driver distances have not changed much in ten years so no club will make you longer. However, they also said that it was a fact that the latest drivers are far easier to hit than 5-10 years ago so in that sense, you probably are missing out.

My experience that day reinforced their view. They gave me an i25 driver with the best shaft for me in it to try when I was being fitted and it was really nice. However, all bar one of the drives were shorter than the ones I hit as comparisons with my existing Ping Rapture driver.

Shame I have now bust this one!
 
[video=youtube;WoiR_tYB0tM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoiR_tYB0tM[/video]

You're probably not missing out on distance. You might be missing out on forgiveness, but I don't imagine there'd be a huge difference, the 910 is a pretty awesome driver. Only way to find out for sure is to go and hit some new technology and see how it performs!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
Driver - shaft or head more important?
Replies
7
Views
780
BubbaP
BubbaP
R
New Driver
2
Replies
25
Views
3K
Bratty
Bratty
sjw
Getting the itch for new clubs - what's the best approach?
2
Replies
38
Views
5K
Klimski
K
ThinBullet
Be careful when advertising golf gear online
Replies
9
Views
2K
IanM
IanM
N
Help me, i'm new and i have no idea what is happening
Replies
10
Views
2K
clubchamp98
clubchamp98
Top