The quest for the longer drive

Finished work early and headed down to Golf House at Paragon on a Thurs night. As expected, found the place relatively empty and chatted with the sales guy on the topic of "which of the current stock drivers give the best distance in general"

Conversation led to a 2-hr experiment at the trackman * sorry for hogging *. Before I get to the results and aftermath, here are the "test subjects"

1. Titleist D2/D3. Stiff. 9.5 /10.5
2. Cobra S3 , Stiff 9.5 , SR 9.5
3. Cobra Long Tom
4. TM Superfast 2.0. Asian Spec (Fubuki 50). 9.5. Stiff. (would try regular but the stiff felt flexible enough)

*drum roll*

Procedure: 10 hits of the tee. No gloves. Work Shoes. Average distances recorded in Yards. Discarded any mis-hits. Finally to reconfirm, replayed another 10 each for the top 2 drivers.

Trackman stats: (Longest-Shortest)

1. TM Superfast 2.0, Asian Spec.
Result: Average carry 220-230 yards. Longest drive 255 yards (total). 4/10 hits past 240 (total). Off centre hit 210yards (1)

2. Long Tom
Result: Took 2-3 hits to get used to the long, long shaft. Discarded 1-2 bad shots. Average distance with right contact is 220-230 yards of carry. Good distance but not recommended.

3. Cobra S3
210-220 yards. Typical 45.25 inch shaft felt very controllable at setup. The SR flex gave me an average 10yards more of carry. Good distance consistency and low short dispersions.

4 Titleist
Result: 200-210 yards carry.

Also took a few swings with the RocketBallz and some other drivers.

Damage: $399.

Result: Alas after one night of passion Im selling my trusty old setup. Fitted by BFG. Got me down from 90s to 80s though *sniff sniff*

they have Trackman at Paragon? wah that's a step up.

Good thing your night of passion was in Orchard Road and not in Joo Chiat Road

Ppl all quest for long drive

Me... Is wishful thinking for long drive

Yeah man. They had built a room at the back (not obvious when you walk in)

I've always been itching to test some theories and also to compare across the current models. I was more of an equipment non-believer previously but clearly there are some models that give you 20-30 yards more average. I also noted that so called "New Models" are not necessarily better than the older models. The SF 1.0 (super cheap now) gives damn good distance as well.

No offence to Titleist Lovers: I always wanted to buy a D3 and was hunting for one but the D3 was just "okay" imo. I have to say that the Cobra is damn good. For a standard length shaft, it gives a great feeling of control and yet respectable distance. (I was starting with 210yards but moved it up to 220+ after gaining more confidence).

Some of the less popular models (e.g. Callaway) which are on offer are good value for money. Ignore the looks and hype and try it out. You might be pleasantly surprised.

The salesman was telling me some interesting stats (of the people who went through the shop). Longest hitter he saw was 290 yards (also using the Superfast but a 1.0 not 2.0). Noone had ever hit past 300yards on the trackman before.. other interesting stories.

My advice to everyone is that when you buy a new equipment, try it out first if possible. Don't always believe in reviews and success stories of others. See what works for you. Most shops have mat but no trackman. You hit off into the net and you think you are ripping it. Not necessarily true. For example, I thought the sound and impact felt the best off the Cobra. The SF didnt feel that far. But stats clearly show that the ball speed off the SF was much faster than the Cobra.

Comes down to personal preference in the end. Distance may not be your priority in selecting the driver. Brother bought Cobra cause he prefer the "feel of control". Cousin bought Titleist "loves the brand, matches his AP2". I bought the SF (cheap. Achieves my objective of driver. Max distance)

pushslice wrote:

they have Trackman at Paragon? wah that's a step up.

Good thing your night of passion was in Orchard Road and not in Joo Chiat Road

Buweeza, so what are you trying to sell here? selling ideas? This is supposed to be a marketplace leh ...

How to move topic to General

Sorry I noob.. I was surfing market place and click "post new topic" haha

What did you buy for $399? SF driver?

BTW, are you obliged to buy something when you use the trackman at GH?

Nice info and thanks for posting this

am glad and totally agree with you that TM version 1 SF Burner is a Real Long Hitting driver

Its so envious on my part to hear and know that you have Golf store that has launch monitor
where you can compare products

In USA, there is a golf store, warehouse style, where you can just picked any brand club and "test hit" them before buying

It is called Roger Dunn

Nope. But if you use it for 2 hours (like me) you'd feel quite bad.

I bought the SF Jap Spec which comes with the Fubuki shaft. They gave me a free 2.0 FW *Jap spec with Fubuki shaft also. I can pull out the shaft and or just sell the FW and at least take back 100. Not bad a deal IMO.

If you are wondering why I bought the Jap Spec instead of US Spec. I have the US Spec and I can tell you that the Fubuki is a much better shaft than the Matrix Ozik. Try it out...

bkll wrote:

What did you buy for $399? SF driver?

BTW, are you obliged to buy something when you use the trackman at GH?