Demo Day!

Yesterday afternoon, I trekked on over to a demo day at my local muni with a focus on drivers, which happens to be the one unsettled spot in my bag at the moment.  Titleist, Ping, Tour Edge, and Nike were in attendance and I made the rounds determined to sample a full smorgasboard of the latest golf technology.

Titleist

Titleist 909D Comp Driver

At the end of the row was Titleist.  Being a mid handicapper, I have to admit that Titleist isn’t always on my radar.  They make it clear that they cater to “better players” and I’ve always thought that was elitist.  But, regardless of this perception, I tried to keep an open mind when the rep thrust their latest composite driver into my big paw.

The Titleist 909D Comp Driver is a 460cc head with a composite crown and titanium body and face.  It has a traditional pear shaped look at address with the typical Titleist square face and triangle/bar alignment aid.  I think Titleist got beat up pretty good for the 907 series so its nice to see them return to their roots with the 909 line.

The Comp is supposed to be their high Launch/low spin variant but I had a difficult time getting the optimal launch angle even with the 10.5 degree loft.  The Ozik X-Con shaft might have been too much for me, but I also thought the sound at impact was muted and the feel was really nothing special.  I decided to move down the line to Ping.

Ping

Ping Rapture V2 Driver

One of my best friends games the Ping Rapture V2 Driver.  He has been blowing it past me regularly since so I quickly paired myself up with Ping’s new flagship driver to see if it would have a similar effect on my game.

The Ping rep asked me about my current driver setup and then handed me the V2 with the stock Diamana Blue shaft.

Wow.  The ball exploded off the face and launched with a slight draw and a high penetrating trajectory.  The feel was like butter.  This is clearly not just a tweaked version of the first Rapture.  I hit a few more and then heard some commotion behind me.

Channeling my inner Zuback

A small crowd had gathered to witness  a local phenom game the Ping.  He looked like my typical nightmare.  18 years old with Poulter-like bleach blond shaggy hair, a Euro style sense, and an effortless and annoyingly flawless swing.  I watched as he aimed for the outer fence of the driving range and launched a towering 280 yard bomb over it.  My competitve juices started flowing.  Armed with a new weapon coupled with an ill advised dose of mid afternoon caffeine my bravado outraced my brain.  “I’ll show this kid”.  I teed up high and let it fly giving it everything I had.  The ball rocketed off the face and it looked good to start.  But instead of gaining altitude it reached its apex far too early like the golf gods themselves had swatted it from the sky to prove a point.  I watched with dismay as it impacted the lower half of the fence at the 250 yard mark.  OK, time to slink on over to the Tour Edge table.

To be continued…