virtuocity
Tour Winner
***Excuse the 'stock' images. Let me know if you want me to take any of my own***
Given that the man, Nicklaus is one of the world's most famous faders of the ball, it's a little odd to have found a driver in the depths of the American Golf bargain rack titled "Nicklaus AirDraw". Following a round with my one-game-a-year dad, I felt a bit for him trying to hit off huge winter mat tees with his tiny little driver. When he naughtily teed up at the side of the mat, he got his shot away well but lacked distance thanks to the 25 year old club he had in his hands.
I tried the AirDraw on the recommendation of American Golf staff last year when I was shopping for a driver. I was struggling with a slice at that time and it was the first club offered to me. I ended up with the R1 but something about the AirDraw had me coming back when it was time to buy the old-man a young-driver.
Looks:
Given that I have a white R1, Ping G15s and a Frankly Frog putter in the bag, maybe I'm not best placed to comment on this! It's matt black, but more plasticy than metal. I think it looks HUGE behind the ball with its big nose sticking out the back. I think it looks great. The orange headcover isn't very attractive though.
Performance
The club has a lot of offset, but not too off-putting at address. The shaft is naturally squidgy and spaghetti-like and clearly not for those with high swing speeds, but it really makes it difficult to slice. If you're slicing, try this. I really had to open the face of this club to get it moving right-to-left rather than straight-to-left. In doing so, given that I already had the 12 degree High Launch version in my mitts, distance was suffering a little. However, 190-200 yards with a cold range ball wasn't to be sniffed at. Let's face it- this club isn't designed to be driven 300 yards. It's a pure, slice-killing big dog.
The shaft
A piece of spaghetti but pretty in white. Lots of feedback but more suited to slower swingers (and I'm not what you'd call 'fast')
The sound
The noisiest driver ever made. In my opinion, of course. The noise is huge- probably by design to make the user think they've ripped their drive miles despite using a high-launching, draw-biased GI club. Bordering on the ridiculous, it makes a high-pitched KNOCK, rather than a 'boom' sound. Very weird, but I like it.
Value for Money
The first time I had this in my hands, this was a £110 club. I tested it on behalf of my old man when American Golf were trying to shift them at £40. I don't think the price reduction was due to Nicklaus Golf launching a V3 version either. £40 is more than worth the money for a funky-looking club designed to give yards and accuracy to slow-swinging slicers. Hardly a niche market- this client base is bigger than anyone knows given the amount of people trying to hit high draws with a X-Stiff Taylormade with a 75mph swing-speed.
Overall
If you had £40 to spend and were struggling off the tee, I'd tell you to save up £20 and find a second-hand Ping K15. Better build, better performance and will hold it's value better than the AirDraw. However, if you're looking for a little excitement on the first tee- go for the AirDraw.
I have written this review due to the lack of information online, so hopefully those using a search engine to research this product will stumble across this.
