The reason the neck looks weird is the lack of a ferrule, which was standard practice on Ping clubs until after Karsten Solheim died. As an engineer he prided his company's ability to insert the shaft dead center in the clubhead, and felt that other companies were less precise so they used the ferrule to hide an inconsistencies. He forbade anyone to add a ferrule to Ping club designs during his lifetime. After his death they were added to align Ping's looks with other club manufacturers. (This is a fun fact from doing a factory tour.)
If I recall correctly, this club does have a ferrule in the clubhead. They offered different ferrules to adjust the lie and loft. So when you get custom fit you'd get a specific ferrule for your lie/loft which became a permanent part of the club. It wasn't adjustable but it was probably the first customizable loft/lie club.
@@jimlaidley4826 Personally I would call what you are referring to as an adapter. A furrule is purely cosmetic. As it happens I hit a drive back in the day with the TISI and the head flew off. The bond between head and the adaptor gave way.
Have use a Henry Griffitts 1 wood, the ferrule was built into the head. head, massive speed through the ball, small sweet spot. goes well with the old Spalding tour edition blades, and the 8802.
You should also test the old ping with balls from that time so you can get a gauge of just how much distance has been gained through all technology available.
Yeah. How about testing the best driver that year with the best ball available and doing it for every year in between then and now? Then we'll see the total improvement over time.
Yeah I agree that would be a true comparison as the ball is maximising the old ping. I did get a fitting just the other week into a 430 LST from the TS2 which is 4 years old. I saw a 10 metre carry increase and a 27m total distance increase in the new driver from old. BUT, I would say that had way more to do with the shaft and head combo than the head itself.
@Pinicony That's another good point. It's also the quality of fitting that has improved. I'm talking about independent fitters, of course, that aren't trying to sell golf clubs.
The problem with testing old balls is that over time, they will evaporate away much of their elastic reflexivity. One would have to accurately recreate the old ball to have a proper test.
The idea of an experiment is to reduce the ount of variables. To give an accurate result. Using 2 different balls adds an additional variable into the mix meaning it would be an inconclusive test
Balata is golf for butter!!! Unfortunately you can hit one out of round after about 3 holes... ever have a tee shot that both drew and faded? It's out of round...
combination of a new driver and paying attention to Rick's lessons has taken my drive from going into the trees to going over the green. hit my first 300+ yard drive, this year.
Nice to see some more club reviews! Just something I think you should do moving forward is setting the green distance at something around the range you expect to hit the club. I think that gives better perspective in the moment and also provides excitement if the ball goes close to the hole :)
I actually still have a Ping TiSi (8.5º) in my second bag, but I rarely play a driver anyways since my home course is short and narrow. Mine was a charity-shop find many years ago, so I only paid $2. Edit to add: I just noticed yours is the TiSi Tec, which was a 2001 refresh of the original design. MSRP for those was $550 (street $450).
Rick, can you explain how you are hitting 10 degrees up on the driver? Launching a driver 17 degrees up in the air seems impossible with those settings. Almost seems like the Quad has been set up so that you can squeeze extra yards out, when you've experienced a drop in club head speed.
This video parallels my return to the game. I put the clubs down for 20 years, your swing videos helped me make it backI had a ‘99 cobra titanium face driver that was carrying 220 with crazy spin. Switched to a maverick sub zero two years ago, now am carrying 250 and feeling good. Back to a 12 and single handicap next year fingers crossed
That is a great story. I wish I could join you. George Forman took 20 years off, and still won the heavy-weight championship belt. 20 years is nothing in golf years, so I am sure you can hit that number again, or even better. 250 yards, straight, is a good number to work with. Cheerz!
This is the main reason why when it comes to driver shopping; I look for adjustability and forgiveness, with a side of dispersion. This is where technology matters. Within the last 10 years there isn’t much difference in relation of yardage improvement. Thanks for the video it only further confirms my ideas!
Hi Rick, great video - would love to see a 10 year comparison for the major driver brands. I've got a Callaway driver I bought in 2013, and I imagine a lot of golfers think about switching up around the 10 year mark. Keep up the great content!
Yeah I was thinking the same thing except 5 year intervals just to see what the graph is like. I wouldn't be surprised if the last 15 years there has been marginal improvements and the obsession with distance has hurt the development of more forgiving drivers
@@Stumbler69513 You can find all kinds of these tests on youtube. It's always the same results, over the past 20 years drivers have been for the most part completely capped in how far they're allowed to hit the ball. Tiny improvements on forgiveness and spin rates can lead to a handful of yards when not struck exactly out of the middle, but it's so small that no human can really notice the difference lol
The USGA COR limit came in 2005. A 2023 driver isn't going to go any farther than a 2013 driver on a clean strike. The main advances in recent models are in retaining ball speed on mishits.
Bought an Epic Flash in 2019. Did not get it fitted which was a mistake. Just purchased a Wilson Carbon driver after trying the Ping and other brands. This new driver Reduced my spin from over 3000 rpm to 1880 rpm which has improved distance 30 yards.and also reduced side spin. This driver is beyond excellent and a dream over the previous Taylor Made too. Don’t go by age go by the stats and performance not brand.
My 16 yr old son just took his B Day money last week, went to Dicks and picked himself up a G430 Max. He went with the PING Tour 2.0 Chrome, Stiff flex shaft and ABSOLUTELY loves it. I used to play about 15 years ago. Only played for 3-4 years. Started playing a few rounds with him this past July when he started. We went to the range the next day after he bought it. I only hit two balls with it and both drives were straight as an arrow. I was extremely impressed with how much easier this driver was to hit dead straight. He hasn’t moved the weight in the rear. Curious to see how it actually affects it. Rick is one of the main reasons that led me to advise him to choose the G 430. He also was able to hit the Stealth 2, Paradym and Aerojet just before purchasing the PING. The salesman at Dicks let him hit drivers for an hour so he could decide. He agreed that this was by far the most forgiving driver of the 4 he tested.
I have fond memories of the old Ping driver as it was the first name brand club I owned. I picked it up from the used bin at the local golf store in 2001. I had been playing about 6 years at that point and only played knock off clubs or budget brands. I was so proud to have a real brand name driver. I don't think I hit it any better but I felt more confident.
I paid 327 dollars for the Taylor, Burner Bubble??? It was gold with a metal shaft. It looked awesome in my bag, but my slice was so bad back then, that no club could fix that, I gave it to my father. He would never dream of spending that much money for 1 club. He used that driver for the rest of his playing days.
Just played with a senior pro this past Friday and he could hit his 25 yr old clubs just as good as I could hit the new t300s. His blades were so thin-omg. He was 9 inches taller than I so he swung about 15mph faster than me. It was loads of fun to play with him.
Interestingly I purchased a titanium driver from a remainder bin in Lidl 25 years ago for 10 pounds , I changed the shaft for a Graflex stiff and hit it over 300 yards in a competition
There was actually an article not long ago where they tested a 20 year old driver vs a driver from today with a machine/robot hitting the ball so the swing/launch/ball strike was perfect every time and the results showed minimal difference between the drivers. Clubs today are better because they have a larger sweet spot and better forgiveness on off center hits.
That difference is about what I would have expected. When I got back into golf in 2016 I changed my late 1990s Yonex driver for a Callaway and gained 15 yards with an average club speed, Rick swings faster so the difference should be a little bigger. Would be fun to put a big hitting tour pro through the same test - I want to see Rory test the Stealth 2 against a TM driver c. 1198
Over the years I've upgraded every club in my bag except the driver.I'm still using a Taylormade R7 which came out in 2005 I believe.I drive it pretty consistently so have always been reluctant to change and prefer the smaller head.Maybe I should upgrade to try and get the extra 20-25 yards off the tee-could come in handy especially for winter golf.
Funny - only 2 weeks ago I bought the same driver from my local golf sore for $37. It suits me far better than any modern driver so is staying in the bag! I have the R7 irons too - love 'em.
I worked at a golf store when the ping driver came out. It was $600 canadian dollars even back then. Would be interesting Rick to compare a ping g2 with the exact same loft and shaft to a new head. I think the numbers would be getting very close.
Hi Rick, I still play with my TaylorMade R510 TP with the original Fujikura Speeder 757 shaft, when I hit it in the center of the face it gives me wonderful sensations and compared to a new driver the difference in distance is minimal, but when I hit it on the heel or toe it makes me immediately understand 😅 and in these cases the distance compared to a new one is visible. Greetings from Italy.
I remember upgrading my old wooden Ping Eye2 drivers to one of these. They were £550 new as I recall but that came down to £500 as more stock became available and as there was no tea custom fitting then you could get them “mail order”. I vividly remember that crashing sound that it made and the looks that I got the first time that I took it to the range. Loved that club.
@@TheDAT9 Indeed they were but no much more so than the latest top spec drivers are today. Remember that titanium was very exotic and uncommon back then.
I haven't purchased a new driver since I got my Taylormade Ti Bubble 2 in the late 90s. It was good see your drive distance with the old PING was only a bit longer than mine is with my driver. This has made me think even more seriously about upgrading my clubs. Would be nice to see the same thing with irons, and talk about any changes over the years in loft for the same club (i.e. 1998 7-iron vs 2023 7-iron).
I still use a Taylormade R7 CGB from 2007. I’ve purchased newer model TM drivers since, but never saw the gains claimed…and struggled to have the consistency as with the older CGB. As for irons, the majority of gains are because lofts have been strengthened…a modern 9 iron is the same loft as an 8 iron from a decade ago, and that is throughout the entire set (most PW are mid 40’s in loft, whereas before they were almost standard 48’s) Probably 1% of gain is from iron technology, 9% shaft advancement, 90% just less lofts.
The comparison is not fair. You test the Ping T Isi with 10° which in fact is like a 11.5°, of course it will spin more. Also, the Ping T Isi is far from being forgiving, so, mishits will be punished with loss of distance. If you hit the Ping T Isi on the sweet spot it will go as far as any modern driver, if not longer! I still have this Ping T Isi in 8.5°, which is a true 10°. When I hit it on the screws it as long as my current driver, a Stealth 2+.
I still carry the old Taylor Made Tour 300, Calloway Hawkeye 3 wood... just replaced my old Ping I3 5 wood with Titleist TSR2/3 and Mizuno MP37 irons... Despite not having played much in 20 years I can still hit as far as someone with all the new stuff. I think the biggest improvement isn't with the head design, it's with the shafts. Kick points are much different today. I bought a set of the Titleist MB 320's with rifle 6.0 shafts (The same shafts I have in my Mizuno's, and Nike blades) and the old Royal Precision rifle 6.0 shafts were much stiffer. Love the channel, but I wish you'd do some segments on the 'harder to hit' clubs... like real blades...
I've just bought a set of T100 irons having come back to golf after only playing once every 4-5 years with a set of 1980s Ben Hogan blades. Can't wait to see how it affects my game. My 2008 Wilson Spine driver might be getting replaced too, having watched this video!
Until 2 years ago, I was using a Knight driver from 2001. It worked fine and the main difference was how far the ball flew before it took a sharp right into the woods.
I was hitting a 270/280 yard carry with my Titleist 983K in 2003. New drivers just like irons seem to be tailored to compensating for a bad swing and wants to move you along the purchase route as you progress where we used to buy clubs, practice, get better and not need to keep buying new. I still play my 983K, PT 15degree 3 wood and 690MB's that I bought new back then. just getting the blades refurbished and lofts restored and will be good for years to come.
I received my Tisi driver from the Ping rep for the club I was at when it was released back then. It was not the blue tec version you have (which I thought was the 2nd version), but the black Tisi head with the yellow logo on back. Spent a lot of time on the range with the rep, then using it on the course myself for many weeks as well. I crushed it. Solid club, except for one serious flaw. Almost all were blocks due to not being able to square the club face at impact. Maybe it was me. The rep liked the challenge and wanted to find out for sure. So, I end up down the way at Ping HQ with him. In a hitting bay capturing video not only for showing down the line, in order to confirm or rule out if I were simply making a repeated bad move or not, but also to see the air/smoke stream being fed in (rather advanced for the times). The result of the testing showed I was solid down the line, yet the face still stayed open. The reason being the shape of the head, specifically the toe, was causing enough actual drag during my swing to prevent the club from squaring at impact. Aftermarket shafts, like ones that are available today to reduce torque and handle a force working against the club like this, weren't readily available then. Even for a rep at Ping. So, I found another player at the club with a slower swing speed and initial pull from the top, and it fit him perfectly. All in all, Ping has always been a great product and company. That experience was pretty cool for me, too.
Played that old school Ping driver for years. Had the tour van model with a UST purple and yellow shaft. That hosel was used to change from flat to upright. Mine was set up to UD meaning upright draw. I believe I paid 500 for it back In 97. I still use the 3 wood from that model. My driver was a 7 degree with a black head.
One little note you were blurring out the TSI numbers meanwhile you could clearly seem on the tv behind you when you were holding up the drivers lol... Great content love the comparison!
Would be interested in seeing you compare the most popular irons ever in the history of golf in the Ping Eye 2 to a modern-day equivalent. Has advances in technology rendered the Ping Eye 2 obsolete, or, if you can compare equal loft and shaft would they perform on par with today's modern iron?
Love the idea. Would be a better comparison if you put the same shaft into both heads. I have a sneak suspicion the difference is because of the improvements in shafts, not heads.
I purchased the driver, 3 and 5 woods in 2002 for £1050. I felt that they were a great improvement on my old persimmon clubs. However, all 3 clubs failed in the same manner. The shaft separating at the hosel. Only one was repaired by Ping and failed again later. Ping wanted £70 each time the others failed (outside the years warrsnty). Their response has put me off Ping clubs.
I remember playing the Ping wood woods. Everybody loved them. The sound the feeling. And then the Big Bertha arrived. All members of our club team said they will never buy the Bertha because the sound and feeling was awful in comparison. 2 months later everybody had the Big Bertha because it went farther and was more forgiving.
I thought they were so big, that wind resistance would slow them down - Then I tried one. It was the first driver that actually did what it claimed to do. Everybody seemed to own one of them.
tbh for the price difference, the 20 yards less on the 1998 isn't bad. This tells me more how little difference clubs actually make. Im sure it only matters to professionals who need every extra yard.
I love these type of videos because I had that driver in high school. I remember the last one you did. I’d be interested to see how much of a difference there is between the driver you did like three or four years ago vs the one now.
I had both Ping ISI and Ping ISI Tec drivers. I remember they retailed for 300$ and 330$ Canadian dollars. I liked the ISI driver over the Tec one but both performed admirably. Great video. 🇨🇦👍
The biggest single step in performance in my playing lifetime was the introduction of titanium drivers. I can still remember testing the Callaway GBB at my local range just after it was launched. With my Taylor Made burner a good hit would see the ball just run into the back fence., which equated to a 250 yard drive on the course. With the GBB the ball was still rising as it cleared the fence.
I have a King Cobra TI driver, it's the size of a current 3 wood. I was amazed how well I hit it though. I was average of 280 with a nice draw and actually started playing it over my Cobra F6+. It really helped me hone my skills with the driver.
I am a huge fan of older clubs, I feel like current clubs are at a point where they can’t improve much more equipment wise. I feel like they peaked in 2016 as it was a great year for Drivers overall. I would say forgiveness has improved a lot over distance.
i remember when I first started playing about the turn of the century, and some teens brought their dad's Big Bertha to the range. the thing sounded like whacking a rock with an empty gas can (petrol tin) I also remember when it started being recommended serious golfers wear hearing protection because drivers had become so loud.
Hello Rick, I have watch many, many, many of your video's over the years as a matter of fact I even saw your first comparison video of this 1998 comparison when you did it with the G425 Max. even back then you only gained about 20 extra yard. I myself have two of these 1998 TSIT Drivers, one with the silver finish and one with a black finish. Same shaft in both. I currently have the G400 but the funny thing is.... I seem to hit both of my 1998 versions better than my G400?????? Love your videos keep up the good work. If you would like to make a real comparison..... I also have several dozen boxes of balata golf balls from that time period.
Great review as always Rick. I'd be interested to know how the old Timber woods would stack up in today's game. I can see there might be a drop-off in distance, but I'd assume the forgiveness on off-centre hits would be a considerable factor. Just goes to show how good the golfers were back in the day bombing wooden driver heads 300+ yards with zero tech or room for error..
Players weren’t bombing it 300+ yards with wooden drivers. Look up driver distances on tour back in the 80’s and it’ll blow you away. 1983, Bill Glasson lead the tour at 276. 1999, John Daly, first player on tour to average 300 yards in a year. 2022, the top 100 players were at 300+. People’s memories of how far Nicklaus and the lot hit the ball gets more distorted as time goes on.
That yardage difference is also due to the loft difference in my opinion… although adjusted the loft in the new driver, I still expected that the 9.6 deg. would produce a longer distance…. Thanks for the video… I still don’t hit my driver consistently. As I still have my Ping Rapture V2, I won’t buy a new one until I master the one in my bag. This test was very useful for me. Thanks again!
It doesn't have an adjustable hosel, but it was ahead of its time in that you had several hosel choices available. Also, Ping was using what they called "effective lofts" on the Tisi-tec drivers, i.e., the dynamic loft of the club was probably 2* or so weaker than the loft stamped on the sole of the club. It's probably closer to what a mini-driver is today. I have one that I use in just that way, and periodically take it out with my original Ping Eye (not Eye2) irons, 2i-sw, and O-Blade putter.
Be interested to see changes in the balls over 25 years. Like how much further does the ball go today versus 1998? You could do this either by hitting a modern driver with an older ball or older driver with a older ball then newer ball. Tough to do obviously because there aren’t a lot ‘98 balls around in good enough condition and might lose some properties due to again but still would be intriguing to see.
I still have the driver head and headcover for that same old ping driver. Got it from my father when he upgraded, when I first got into golf after high school. The only club I've ever broken, right off the tee box #1. I was so embarrassed 😂
Thanks for video. I get the general principle that there's less spin and more distance with the newer driver. For a true comparison, you need to have the same shaft in both clubs.
I had just started playing golf back in the late 90s. As I recall titanium drivers were not a lot cheaper back then, I paid the equivalent of around $400 for my first gen Callaway Hawkeye (I was totally in love with it, had beautiful looks, sound and feel back then) which I'm sure if adjusted for inflation would be much more today. Titanium heads were revolutionary technology and expensive but leaps ahead of steel so many golfers were willing to pay. Most touring pros switched to titanium drivers but Tiger Woods stuck with his steel Titliest and Davies Love with his persimmon driver. Fred Couples was also late to change but all soon did with Tiger being one of the last remaining holdouts if not the very last to change on tour.
I won this ping tec in a long drive competition. Proforce v2 x-flex back in the day. Love that driver. Pity I caved the face in and also the replacement. For me back when I was in my 20's went 320m+. Now nearing 50 I recently hit the g430 LST. It went straighter then my currently gamer. Rogue triple diamond. But it was 20-30m shorter. Only hitting it 260-280m nowadays. Even all them technology in new clubs won't help you beat father time.
Would love to see you test an old driver from the year after the MOI restrictions put in for August, 2005 (so 15-17 year old drivers). I think you may find that distance from 2006 onwards is much closer to steady with the benefit coming in forgiveness.
Exactly. I'd like to see a g2, g5 or even a g10 in the same loft and shaft compared to a new one. I think distance numbers would be maybe 5 to 10 yards if that. Also driver shafts have gotten longer so the variables need to be kept tighter when comparing. It was obvious the old ping in this video was the wrong shaft and loft for Rick. If he could of found an 8 degree head with a xstiff shaft this comparison would have been closer.
Hard to believe I used to smash my 10.5 degree burner (bubble shaft) 300 yards lol! I had a 230 yard hole in one with the 3 wood version into a massive headwind on a cold rainy day on the 12th at Lilleshall haha! I've still got the clubs in the bag now, but rarely play because of an old groin injury. I do want some better clubs though. I still have my Titleist 990 irons in the bag also :)) What would people recommend for good 2nd hand clubs that won't break the bank? Maybe 3-7 years old or something? TIA
I still rock my Big Bertha 3 wood. It picks the ball off the grass so well. Some of the older club designs, particularly fairway woods, get better flight profiles versus today's models which are geared for distance only. That's why you see so many pros going to a 7 wood.
Back in the day, I couldn't keep the driver in the fairway. I hit 3 wood off the tee. Fortunately, I hit a fairway wood a long way. The newer drivers are more forgiving. My mishits are not irretrievably lost, mostly. Rick talked about dispersion as distance. Dispersion side to side is the number that is important to me.
I used to literally play with my grandpas clubs. I used them for about 4 years before finally upgrading to a new set of irons and driver. And I can tell you for a fact there’s a major difference between clubs from at least the 80s to now. At least 20 yds extra with each iron and from 250 to 330 on the driver (though I did learn to swing harder) plus straighter shots
I play a G425 Max and it hits about 20 yards further than my T-Zoid from the 90’s. Love this type of video! Can we have some more like say Zing 2 irons v latest Ping offerings or indeed other brands comparing 90’s v today.
RickShielsPGAGolf Hi Rick, I enjoyed the video today. I was a minitour pro back back in 1998. I hated their Ping driver which you hit and I couldn't ever get it to perform well. I did however play two other drivers that were extremely popular on tour at that time - TaylorMade R7, R9 and the Orlimar Hip-Ti 430 cc 9.5 degree drivers. Both of these drivers were so popular that PGA and Senior PGA tour players were using them and putting different headcovers on them to disguise the fact that they were not playing the make of the companies they were signed with. I've been playing my Orlimar Hip-Ti 430 cc driver ever since 2000. I even went to Edwin Watts and compared it to the Callaway Epic drivers, just as you have done with Ping in this video. There was less than 5 yards difference between the two. Not enough difference to warrant spending $550 for a new driver. Might I suggest you do the same test with a TaylorMade Stealth and R7 and R9 driver. The longest driver I ever hit in my pro career was the TaylorMade R7. I just might have to find on again.
i hadn't played golf in about 10 years and got a new driver. brought my old ping one with me just in case. one just like the one in the video. hit the old one much better. haven't been back since but if i go i'm taking the old one with the yellow and purple shaft.
Parents bought a new home at the end of a driving range in 1972. Longest drivers couldn't clear a 20' fence. In early 80's they had to move the tee boxes back 10 yds and angle drivers to far corner to keep the house from being hit. 10 years later (1990s), they pulled tee boxes back another 15 yards. Then around 2000 they moved them back again another 10 yards and banned drivers. Helped a bit, but still not safe. A few years later my parents were forced to sue the course because the balls made it hazardous to walk in the back yard (numerous broken windows/dented cars/broken car windshields). They won a decent judgement and the course installed a 60' fence. That finally stopped most of the balls. Course was lucky because my father was a life-long golfer and was way more tolerant than most people (including my mother who was in tears more than once). He saved thousands of errant balls starting late 1990s. I'm sure he had more range balls stored in his garage than the driving range owned. A real-world lesson in how dramatically golf tech has changed the game (players sure don't seem to be any better). Parents sold the house soon after. Based on this test, I suspect current owners might be seeing balls again...probably in the front yard...
There is not much technology in a putter. As long as it is flat, and feels good, that is all you can hope for. It is the one club in your bag that never "needs" to be replaced, unless you break it!
This was super interesting. I’m glad I upgraded from my grandpas hand me down driver sooner rather than later, lol!When are we getting the 2023 Adams Idea iron review? I can’t wait! I loved your review of the putters!
Hey Rick, interesting concept testing drivers 25 years apart. Question. Wasn't the length of the 25 year old Ping much shorter than the current model? If I recall there may be a 2 to 3 inch advantage to the current which would result in more club head speed. Let us know.
I have a new TSR2 and still pull my 913D out of my bag as after 6 months with the TSR, I still am more comfortable with the 913 and hit more fairways with it.
One thing I’d like to see on this channel is guests coming on and going through their bags. As a golf nause I’m always interested in what people are playing and why.
Awesome video. I actually just played a round using my 2007 Nike Sasquatch and caught a good swing for about a 275yd drive. I imagine it carried about 250yds or so and bounced/rolled the remainder. I think those numbers are just fine as far as drivers go; moreso because they came from a 16-yr-old driver that sounds like an aluminum baseball bat off the tee.
I clicked on this so fast because I had that old Ping driver in my bag for a long time! It was a hand me down from my dad, and I used it so long I even repainted the head to fix it up a bit 😂 I remember the fun part of that driver was if you hit any rocks that happened to be underneath it, it would throw sparks!
imho, i think the bulk of the difference in distances between newer and older drivers is the fact that the shafts can be up to 1.75 inches longer. Most older drivers were 44-45 inches.... most newer drivers are stock at 45.75. Like for like, the uncomfortable truth is that driver head technology kinda plateaued since 2005 (think TM R5) and graphite shaft tech probably plateaued around 2012 (with exception of the 40g ultralights for us older folk!). My friend custom fitted a Ping 425 to 45 inches and I lent him my Taylor Made R5 (stock 45 inches) on the physical range and GCQ... the difference over a 10 shot average was minimal for carry (less than 5 yards in favour of 425) but slightly more noticable for total (just over 10 yards to the Ping). The GCQ figures also hinted this with the G425 having less average backspin off the face vs the R5, contributing to the longer roll out.
It would be interesting to see a comparison between the Taylormade R7 460 (afaik the first driver with movable weights in the 460cc head size) and the Stealth 2, to see how much adjustable drivers have come on
I was thinking the same. I just changed from an R15 to a Stealth 2 and am wondering how much of the improvement I see and feel is placebo in having something new and shiny.
@@danbrazieruk Confidence has value for sure, but as a musician, the audience, mostly, has no idea what guitar I am playing. New clubs can be scary, and while they can be great fun to mess with... If you were to play in a big, life or death match, tomorrow, would you trust a brand new, off the shelf, set of high end clubs, or would you use the clubs that you have now?
If you notice on the old Ping ISI driver, it has RSS printed on the hossel. I don't recall exactly what that meant but I think it indicates a pretty high offset of the club face. That could explain why you sprayed them a bit more with that one. It looked as if it was difficult to get a good square ball strike. Of course, there is no way to change that like there is with the new drivers.
Cool test for sure, but... Really wish he tested the Ping G2 or G5 drivers(both 460cc) against the G430, not the TiSi tec. Have been loving some of the unique camera angles Rick has at his H.I.T. studio, great stuff!!
I had one of those bad boys in high school! I thought it was great but ended up trading it for a 975D which I hit better. I found one in good shape recently at a 2nd hand sporting good store and snapped it up. It's an easy 20-30 yards shorter than my TSR3. Still fun to hit though!
I found similar in my golf social group, a chap spent a fortune on a brand new name brand driver but rarely made much more distance than my early 2000s driver.
I bought my current driver in 1988 when I was in High School and still love it. It's a Taylor Made Burner + which is dwarfed by the size of drivers today. I just recently saw a set in an antique store!!! But I hit it in the fairway still, about 230 yds. On short local courses, this plays just fine and I don't lose many balls. I would probably do much worse was that new driver.
10 degrees of loft was your issue. I have tried to dethrone my TiSi (which is 8.5 degrees) many times since 1998, but when you can go 300 plus consistently (to this day!) why switch!? Fun fact, it is actually the only club in my bag during that time I haven't "upgraded".
Tried the g430 max and just do not prefer it to the stealth. Numbers say it’s more forgiving but stealth just feels better so I keep it in the bag. Hoping we get something next year that’ll feel like the stealth but forgivenlike the ping
That old ping driver was the first driver that I thought genuinely made a huge difference. Just flew out of this world compared to everything else at the time. Wish I still had mine, was great to hit off the deck too.
