Drivers - Much difference with brands

Whats your experience with different branding drivers?

Are the better known brands THAT much better than lesser brands?

and before you reply with "all depends on technique" etc etc, im asking for YOUR experience/opinion

will be interesting to see what people say

Alun, Ive had a lot of drivers, top brand , Middle brand and budget. Callaway, Ping, Cleveland, Dunlop. The best driver (TO ME ) is also the one with the highest loft 13.5 deg. In my opinion ( what you asked for ) alot of people would benifit from an increase of loft by 2 or 3 degrees. Honest. My current driver is Mcgregor M38 13.5 deg. Hits 240yds on a very good day. Dave CAC handed Geordie.

Well, obviously it does depend on your technique Alun. However, from my experience I would say that the brand of driver is fairly irrelevant, what really matters is the shaft that's in it. Match one to your swing and it all becomes a little bit easier. My driving was wayward to say the least and it really didn't matter what I hit, the outcome was always the same - a hard right slice. Then I got my old Ben Hogan fitted with an Aldilla DVS60R shaft and I now hit a lot of fairways (as long as I remember not to try and take the skin off the ball that is). The point is that manufacturers do not fit the best shafts to their kit - it may look the same but there is a huge difference (that even I can feel) between mine and the Aldilla DVS65R that is fitted as standard equipment.

Just saying.

I've got to agree with both Dave and Tim, the loft and shaft are the key things. The benefits of the 'launch' with the higher lofts are plain to see. Proper use of the shaft type is equally important (John Jacobs famously said distance = club head speed properly applied) I think the most people fall for the marketing. My driver cost �9.99 and I wouldn't swap it for anything.

I had a Benross VeloCT driver but it got snapped it was a great club. I have also owned a cheap Howson driver, which I regularly outdrive my playing partner with and his Callaway Diablo driver. It's just me but, even if I was playing off a handicap of +2 I could not justify paying up to �300 for a club. At the moment my driver is a older model TaylorMade R540 which suits me fine. I paid about �16.00 for it off Ebay.

That's an interesting answer mainly because I currently have a Ben Ross vx driver that I can't hit a wall with, I bought it for 30 quid brand new because my Nike sumo dymo2 driver snapped. With the Nike I could hit every fairway and although I know it's probably me I wondered if the product would affect this sort of thing. Some real interesting answers coming up. I'm heading to the pro shop tomorrow to see about a Taylor made super fast burner driver. 80 quid but I'm surprised no one has mentioned them yet as I hear they do some of the best in the business

Asking if they are that much better is almost impossible as it is entirely down to what suits you, My experience of it is as below:

I bought a new driver in 2010, but I went to the pro at the club I used to be a member at and tried every different driver they had in the shop, I knew i needed a stiff shaft and my swing dictated a lower loft. I could notice the difference between them, but sometimes the ones that felt nice weren't the ones producing the best result. The computer system they have showed all the fine details.

The Callaway, Nike and Taylormade Burner all felt terrible for me, but that doesn't mean they are bad clubs. I ended up coming close to getting a Cleveland "Launcher" at about �140, but ended up with The R9 supertri just pipping the G15. Was it because of the hype, no, it felt good and was consistent (backed up by the computer), and has been since apart from the beginning of the season when my swing wasn't quite there!

Definately go somewhere and try as many as possible. If you are new(ish) to the game then try different shafts and lofts of each make until you get what is best for you. I still think my original Burner Bubble from about 1998 (which i replaced in 2010) would out drive plenty of the people who have just gone in and bought the latest brand!

The thing is though Alun, I don't honestly feel that I can consistently hit a drive down the middle of the fairway every time. I can go 4 or 5 holes and hit a decent drive with distance and land it on the fairway in an area roughly where I was aiming to be. Then I might shank one or cut across the ball and slice it awfully, even though I feel my set up and swing have been exactly the same as my good drives. I just don't feel that I am at a good enough standard to replicate a good swing on every drive and it requires more practice. On a final point though, I still think the driver is the hardest club in the bag to use consistently.

I have tried a few drivers ranging from �9.99 specials from Sports Direct to my current Titliest 910D3 and I would say there is a difference between cheaper brands and more expensive "big name" brands, but not necessarily enough difference to warrant the costs. When I started playing again I bought a cheap set and could hit a good distance fairly consistently. I then bought a cheaper copy of the new style large head drivers which improved by distance and I could keep up with friends using proper kit (much to their annoyance!!). I went a bought a new driver after trying a few and listening to the advice of a guy at American Golf but when I went out on my first round I could not hit any drive properly. I ended up changing this driver for a new et of irons instead which helped me more. I then had a Taylor Made R7 which I loved but I had a bad slice and then I learned about swing speed etc and realised the stiff shaft was possibly a cause. Recently I went to a local Direct Golf store and tried 3 drivers (all around �240) on their system and found quite a difference between them in terms of distance and accuracy. The cheapest (Adams) was the best for me, slightly beating the Nike but much better than the Cobra. All had regular shafts but different brands etc and this shows that you need to see what works for you. My Titliest was bought off eBay and I love it....and it works very nicely. Should last a few years. My advice, as with many others, is try as many as you can to see what works for you. And spend as much as you can afford or less (but no more!). Don't be fooled by marketing, and if you get the right club it doesn't need to be adjustable.

Completely agree with you colin, i play regularly at me local course and its only a par 68 but i consitently hit in the 80s, low 80s usually, there are only 8 par 4's and i average 4 out of 8 fairways, on all 8 holes i take a driver. i feel like i do nothing different from one hole to the other but the results always differ. i disagree with it being the hardest club, i think the 3 wood is harder because at least with the driver you have a perfect lie every time and even a bad shot with the driver will go 180+ yards although it might be 50+ yds to the right :p with a 3 wood i think i get scared of a tough lie, with no 3 wood? defiantly the hardest I might be on my own here but, i get more confidence from standing on the tee with a nice big fat driver at the forefront of technology rather than my aforementioned ben ross driver, im just not sure why, it might be quite petty on my part, anyone else feel the same?

Good point John. Despite my cheap driver I always check how a club sits (before looking at the price) and only if sits to my liking I'll look further into it. Last thing you want to be doing is making adjustments for the club face before a shot.

Hi Alun, My experience was going from a 10.5 Dunlop regular steel shaft to a 9.5 stiff shaft Nike SQ Machspeed. Quite simply (whether it's me or the club I'm not too fussed) I now hit straighter, longer, and with more consistency. Although my club pro suggested that I should have got the Nike in 10.5. I got lucky I think that when I was looking for better clubs, the first one I picked up and swung with just felt right.

I find all dunlop equipment useless myself, i think its just cheaply made and not the best performer, not that im good enough to notice :p but i know some of the older players at my local love it, and it is a sponsor of lee westewood i believe (although im sure its got more to do with the cash than the equipment) i do really like the nike drivers though, theyre nice and light and i feel i get good results with them. ive read that nike golf equipment was originally considered a bit 'gimiky' as if they were just trying to cash in on another sports market. i think whilst realising this i might be a little 'brandist' lol

Westwood is sponsored for them for clothing only Alun, I don't believe he uses any of their equipment. The same goes for Darren Clarke, he got a massive bonus when he won the open a year ago off Mike Ashley the Spoerts Direct MD as he owns the brand. As for Nike equipment, I have a Nike Bag and also own a Nike Everclear E11 putter. I have never used a Nike Driver so can't comment on them playability wise. A fellow golfer had one on a round with me a couple of years ago big bright yellow thing, he could not hit it though.

A few people have mentioned quality of shaft and this was shown to me very clearly when I first started playing. I bought a cheap set of clubs from Costco in the states for about �120 quid by Prince. When I started getting lessons of the Pro he videoed me and showed me what was happening to the driver in slow motion. The shaft was so bendy the club head was almost 180 degrees from it's static position during the peak of my swing! No wonder I could barely hit the thing!

I got a fairly cheap set of Tour Edge which had ladies shafts fitted that has served me well for 2 years but I am now changing to the seniors/A flex shaft as apparently as your swing improves you can get more club head speed and if you are consistently at a certain level then the A Flex will work and give you more distance.

Hope I have got that right!

Alun, as an asidem I switched from Dunlop Irons to Nike Ignite, and putter to Nike Method. All fantastic clubs. I can really tell the difference.

Which goes prove my point. Switching from one brand to another does not mean that than one brand is better than the other, the chances are that the shafts are better in one than the other, or just more suited to your swing.

Just to illustrate my point I have 3 3 woods*, all of them are identical MD Superstrong regular flex of about the same vintage. One has a Graphalloy ProLaunch Blue, one has a UST Proforce 65 (both OEM versions) and my favourite has an Aldilla DVS 60. I use the last one simply because it feels the best and is the most consistent for my swing. For me this proves fairly conclusively that it's the shaft, not the make that make the difference.

*Don't ask why, they just seemed to have appeared...

Fully understand the point your making there Tim, but I think I was looking at it from more of a mental perspective, does one brand hive you more confidence, say I was to take you aldila shaft and put a Dunlop head on it, you would still be very confident on the tee box? And Chris, does the fact your new kit is Nike I've you confidence to play better or is it a standard performance jump that you notice

There is no doubt that there is a huge psychological aspect to the brand/marketing value of branded kit. After all, if Tiger uses Nike then it's has to be the best, no? And if you're using the best then that means that you will play you're best, surely. The only problem with this logic is that a) the chances of you being able to obtain the same kit as he uses is pretty remote, and b) if you could, 99% of us couldn't use it to it's full capacity. That's not to say it wouldn't improve your game, it's just that it would be a mental improvement rather than a physical one.

I'm guilty of the same thing in my own way I suppose. I'm notoriously tight fisted and cynical about marketing (as a lot of people on here will testify!) and the contents of my bag goes to prove it. Only two of my clubs are standard in any way but not for long. I've got a Ben Hogan driver head and MD 3 wood with Aldila shafts, MD hybrids, custom built irons and a highly modified Ram putter. They work for me but I've seen better players struggle to hit anything with them.

I will jump back in here with a bit of a tale. A few years ago when I first ever played golf, I had the fortune that a load of the guys at work were golfers. It was decided we would have a company open for a bit of a laugh. The players varied in skill from me and a few others who had only been to a driving range and maybe played 2 rounds on a course, to a couple of lads who were members and the best was a 4 handicapper. One fellow who had been a member of a club for 2 years went out a few weeks before this competition and re kitted himself with everything Callaway, and I mean everything. He spent in total over �1100 on equipment. He came last by a long way including a 12 on a par 3 and a couple of tens on a par 4. One of the lads as we left the course had asked if his new clubs were custom fitted and his reply was no. It was suggested he should remove the grips and saw 2 inches off each club. "would that improve my game then?" "No, but they will fit in the wheelie bin easier when you get home" That gave me a lesson early on in golf, and I stand by it now: You cannot buy a good round of golf, no matter how much you spend.

The best thing I ever did was have my R11 custom fit. The new shaft cost �140 so it made the club v expensive but I feel like I'm going to hit a good shot everytime I tee one up and if I don't I know it was a bad swing. If you can find a driver that you can hit well 70% of the time you're onto a winner. The shaft is the key though!

wow Rob i bet that club cost a bomb! Just to let everyone know i bought the g15 irons today and the golf pro has lent me the g15 and g20 to have a play with i hope hes gonna stick me on the computer to check the shaft afterwards, i hit about 10 balls earlier and had very differing results. i think im just a poor driver of the ball

Alun, I was a fool because I bought the R11 with the stock shaft. After playing with it and not knowing which way it was going, I decided to have it fit at a TM demo day. I had my AP2 irons custom fit at the Belfry and so I really should've known that it's the way to go but I'm stupid. ;-)

I buy a new driver every year as each year a new model comes out that is going make me hit it straighter and 10 yards further. I'm now hitting it 350 yards down the middle every time.

Ok, not really. But if you believe the hype then that's what should happen???

I did upgrade from a "sports direct special" to a second hand Talylor R580XD (I think) a good 5-6 years ago which was only ok - probably didn't suit me. Then about 2-3 years ago I got the (off the shelf) TM Superfast Burner which I am really pleased with.

My golf has improved somewhat now so next upgrade will be custom fitted I think. Probably not for a few years though.

How often do you change your driver?

Alun, I switched around 12 months ago after putting a few decent rounds together with the Dunlops. I feel more confident in that it's less likely to break! The reason I got all Nike stuff, was that I got a great deal from direct golf, seemed really good value for money at the time. Don't get me wrong, i did some research before buying to make sure they were decent clubs and had positive reviews. Naively the first time I swung them was after I had bought them, but thankfully, they just seem to fit perfectly. Getting back on track, with the Nikes (all true temper shafts for irons, UST Mamiya (is what's on the wood shafts?)) I do feel more confident standing over a ball than with the Dunlops. Hopefully my scores reflect this!

Totally agree with Dave Patrick + extra loft = extra distance. Had trackman session with a custom club maker and even in optimised mode reckoned that a custom built driver would only benefit me 10-15yds over my Macgregor NVG 13.5� which gets the ball in the air and equals almost any drive from most low handicappers.

Ric, Where did you have your trackman session done? As you are relatively close to me. Cost ? How long did it take? Was it worth it? Dave CAC handed Geordie.

Most higher handicappers I have seen hit down on the driver so loft is their friend. When you smash it on the up, loft is not as important.