The Quest for a New Driver

Posted by doug

April 17, 2010

So I have been on a quest a for a new golf driver for about a month now. Finding the right driver can be both maddening and fun at the same time but I’ve made my choice.

I kept hemming and hawing about it because I did not play as much as anticipated in the last few years but I have re-dedicated myself to playing substantially more in 2010.

I have had the same Cobra driver now for 3+ years and it was just time to upgrade. It was a 360cc head and I felt like it was just losing it’s pop. Maybe that was psychological, not sure, but anyway, it was time.

Now, just to let you know, I did a lot of things right and a number of things wrong (in my opinion) in making my final selection.

Being a golf blog writer for a number of years I know there is a process you should go through which I did not. That is really to go get tested at some sort of golf facility, like SwingLabs or GolfTec and get your swing speed, launch angle and all of that tested so you have a solid baseline of what you’re looking for.

I even put up an article/video not long ago by Tom Wishon called Tom Wishon and the Truth about Golf Equipment, where he emphatically discusses the last “remarkable technology” which is really custom fitting. Check it out – it’s well worth listening too.

But for a lot of reasons (they’re all excuses – so it doesn’t really matter) I did not do this. I ordered directly from a catalog.

The other biggie is I have never hit the club – one of the “grand poobahs” of no no’s when purchasing a new club. But I have have been reading Reworkby the founders of 37 Signals (one of the smallest but most successful software companies operating today) who produce business software solutions like Highrise, Basecamp, Campfire, Backpack, etc – you may have heard of them.

They have contrary views to almost every working methodology out there today. But at the same time they sell millions of dollars of software every year. Highly recommend it. So I was feeling extremely contrarian and at the same time – inspired to just “follow my gut”

But I did do a fair amount of research. From reviewing newer to older golf magazine reviews and quite a bit of online golf driver reviews (Rankmark, etc.) – again looking at reviews, specs, pictures, options and more.

I also have the somewhat unique challenge of being left-handed so the options are not really limited, per say, you just have to do do a bit more hunting. Plus lefty’s get a bit hosed at the golf shows and range days where they always have like 3 lefty drivers.

Long story short, I finally paired it down to 2 choices. The TaylorMade R9 460 and the Ping G15. A number of my friends play not necessarily the R9 but other TaylorMade drivers and absolutely love them. But I heard so many good things as well about the Ping G15.

Finally I just had to make a decision cause bottom line is I want to play so I pulled the trigger and bought the Ping G15 from TGW. The specs are 9 degree loft, regular shaft. Cost was $299. Could not find any coupons or discounts.

Another reason I went with The Golfers Warehouse is that they have the “30 Day Playability Product” guarantee where you can return the club within 30 days if it is not to your liking. You can only get credit (no cash) but that was a nice incentive in case it does have to go back. As of this writing the club has not yet been delivered.

Next up I will be discussing my 1st experiences with the G15 and how it is actually performing on the range and more importantly on the course. Stay tuned!