Golf Digest DRIVER No.1 Shootout 2007

[gocchin]

Okay, I've been wanting to post one of Golf Digest Japan's tests here for some time but you see, they are always 20+ pages each shootout, and scanning 20+ pages and then trying to translate them all is... not easy. But this morning I decided to give it a go and scanned the whole article. If feedback from you guys is positive on this kind of post I can scan more regularly as there is TONS of amazing stuff in Japanese magazines.

Golf Digest Japan holds it's D-1 (Driver No.1) tournament twice a year, once in the spring and once close to the end of the season to try and reflect the different releases from manufacturers. This fall they had 64 models enter and altered their testing methods a bit by including low handicap regular Joes like you and I in the early rounds (not that I am low handicap cause I'm not... but I am a regular joe).

I will briefly and I mean briefly explain each page and how the test works as it goes along. If you have questions please ask as I have not translated everything here as I hope in some cases the scans are self explanatory.

The article starts by explaining some of the changes in driver technology and the differences between so called pro model drivers and amateur drivers. Pro Model being those made for low handicap golfers and amateur models for everyone else. Athlete spec of pro model targets those handicaps 10 and lower and those with higher swing speeds 46m/s (103mph) and up. Drivers like the X-Drive are created for these kinds of players to get best results. Meanwhile the amateur around 40m/s (90mph) and 18 handicap or higher has a driver like the XXIO 460 with a shallower face and deeper CG made for them. That also leaves players in between, the mid-handicapper and medium speed swinger who has drivers like the Srixon WR and X-Drive GR to meet their needs.

There are always Tour influences in the world of golf so Golf Digest dropped by a JPGA and JLPGA tournament to see which brands of drivers were in play among the top 100 men and ladies.

Men:

22 Taylormade

19 Bridgestone

12 Srixon

47 All other brands

Ladies:

22 Taylormade

15 Bridgestone

12 Mizuno

51 All other brands

Model wise, the men's field saw the Burner followed by the X-Drive and Srixon's ZR-700 in third.

On the ladies side, it was the R7 XR, ViQ and then Mizuno MP series of drivers.

They continue to talk about some of the tour drivers and their differences... as well as a few other drivrs on tour....

After that, Golf Digest surveyed the retail market and off the shelf drivers that regular people like you and I can buy. The compiled data showing the top 10 selling retail drivers over the past 9 months:

1. Yamaha Inpres X 460D

2. Taylormade Burner

3. Callaway Hyper ERC

4. MacTec NV-NX

5. XXIO 460

6. PRGR T3 502 Silver

7. Nike Sumo

8. Tourstage ViQ MX

9. Nike Sumo2

10. Tourstage X-Drive GR

They spoke to three shop owners from big retail stores to find out what their personal recommnedations were, to get an idea of what sales people push on consumers.

S-san's favs were:

Burner

FT-5

Sumo

T-san's favs were:

ZR-700

Inpres X 460D

MP Craft 460

M-san's favs were:

X-Drive GR

Burner

Inpres X 460D

Now on to the test! The first round of 64 involved low handicap golfers, chosen by Golf Digest because of their good and consistent driver striking abilites (many of these guys are regular equipment testers). Testers ranged from scratch golfers to a 9 handicapper.

Sixteen golfers were chosen and each one would test 4 assigned drivers with similar lofts and flexes that matched their swing. The same drivers you can buy off the shelf at any golf store in Japan. No upgrade shafts were used, just stock shafts.

Each tester would hit 10 balls with each driver. The best three shots with each driver was then averaged for the final yardage. The tester would put pairs of drivers head to head then the best two would square off. Only one driver of the four would progress to the next round.

Golf digest knew it was difficult to test 64 drivers with all different technologies, lofts, and flexes so they randomly drew which four drivers would be in each group. Fair or not, it's like the world cup of soccer, you could get stuck in a pretty tough group and not make it out.

The first 7 group matches saw no surprises as the big names moved ahead including the 2006 winner Yonex Nano V.

Rounds 10 to 16 had some tough battles like group 10 which had the popular JPX E500 pitted against the long HiBore XL and Yamaha 425V. Group 16 saw a battle of US brands with the standard Burner prevailing.

The round of 16 would see the driver testing fall into the hands of the professionals. One men's pro, one man scratch golfer and one lady pro with various swing speeds would test each and every driver. The site of the testing was Tome Country Club.

The first tester was Yokota Pro who has taken part in the D-1 shootout 5 years straight and has a 112mph swing.

The second tester was Ono a scratch golfer who has a swing speed of 96mph

The third tester was JLPGA Tourstage staffer Kaneko Pro who has a swing speed of 89mph

All testing was done with Tourstage X-01G4 Balls and distance verified with a Nikon Laser 500. The round of 16 took place on a flat and straight 10th hole.

An closer look at the Final 16 drivers and sine if their key specs and stats including CG positioning height and depth.

A clean slate was drawn and the drivers were again randomly matched up in 8 different head to head challenges that would see the 16 go down to 8 drivers.

All three pros would again take 10 shots with each driver, averaging their best 3, then combining their results for that particular driver for a final distance score. Interestingly match 6 had the two super length shafts drawn against each other. Both the Fourteen JC707 and Yamaha Inpres DST feature 46.5" long shafts.

A closer look at the final 8. The pros give us a closer look at some of the stand out features of the best 8 drivers remaining.

The final 8 were moved over to the 3rd hole for testing. Featuring an 10y elevated tee and bunkers on both sides at the 240y mark.

Now down to the final 4 drivers.

Taylormade Burner

Fourteen JC707

Tourstage X-Drive GR

Yamaha Inpres X 425V

You can see from the break downs below of each testers drivers one by one with the best three circled then averaged. Tests were done on the 9th hole which features a gradual downward slope from the tee. You can see the offical Nikon guy holding up the white board for the laser rangefinder.

So the final two drivers left are the Yamaha and the Fourteen driver. On the same 9th hole for testing.

Yokota goes first and through the fist 6 drives for each driver it seems the Yamaha is ahead but Yokota cranks out 357y driver on his last shot with the JC707 to edge out the Inpres X average wise!!

Ono is second and his last two drives with the Inpres X 425v put it on top of the JC707.

Finally ladies pro, 24 year old Kaneko hits both drivers and takes the first two shots with the 425v over 260y. She's unable to break 260 with the JC707 so the 425v takes the lead for Kaneko pro.

And the final results are...

By 2.2 yards average, the Yamaha Inpres X 425v wins the 2007 D-1 Grand Prix with a final average of 289.9y over the Fourteen JC707 at 287.7y.

Best drivers for each tester were as follows with their average with that driver. This gives us a good idea what drivers excel for their swing speeds:

Yokota 112mph

1. Burner TP 302.7y

2. HiBore XL Tour 301.7y

3. MP Craft 460 300.0y

Ono 96mph

1. X-Drive GR 243.0y

2. Inpres X 460DST 241.0y

3. JC707 235.7y

Kaneko 89mph

1. JC707 243.0y

2. Inpres X 425v 240.3y

3. Tour Links D430 237y

So there you have it! Now that was a lot of work! (^_^)

[leepark]

Incredible job, T. I think your job was tougher than those involved in the testing.

[dkats]

Wow! Great read. Thanks for all your hard work!!

[Droopy]

Great work gocchin!

[unclekent]

Gocchin,

That was a fantastic post,

Thanks for the hard work involved!

Kent

[TBone]

WOW!!!!

Thanks alot G.....I'll need to read through this a few times to fully understand.

[dknack]

Good find and great job on the report! Too bad Epon wasn't included. I would like to see how it stacks up to the competition. It would be nice if U.S. Golf Digest wrote articles like this instead of anti-slicing tips and how to break 100.

[gocchin]

Good find and great job on the report! Too bad Epon wasn't included. I would like to see how it stacks up to the competition. It would be nice if U.S. Golf Digest wrote articles like this instead of anti-slicing tips and how to break 100.

This is only a small sample of what Golf Digest Japan does... and they are not the only ones... Golf Gear is even more technical... so much that I have trouble reading the Japanese... Waggle, Choice, Alba, Classic... there are so many top notch golf mags in Japan...

oh and they do give tips on anti slicing too (^_^)

[aproposfornothing]

Thanks for the information. WOW!

[gocchin]

Any questions just ask but I think the scans are pretty straight forward! (^_^)

[Bat]

This is without a doubt, the most entertaining "Driver Shootout" ever! Glad to see that my new X-Drive GR made it to the final four. Too bad it had to square off against the winner in the semi-final though. lol Great job Gocchin. Thanks for the article.

Btw, is that "8615 gcm" stat on the Burner TP it's horizontal (heel-toe) MOI? That's insanely high!

Bat

[gocchin]

This is without a doubt, the most entertaining "Driver Shootout" ever! Glad to see that my new X-Drive GR made it to the final four. Too bad it had to square off against the winner in the semi-final though. lol Great job Gocchin. Thanks for the article.

Btw, is that "8615 gcm" stat on the Burner TP it's horizontal (heel-toe) MOI? That's insanely high!

Bat

Hi Bat,

Actually the heel to toe MOI was measured at 5134gcm2, the 8615 reading is a measurement they do from the neck then all the way around the crown. This number impacts the stability of a shot, especially for high trajectory. As you see from the specs this number is high for most of the high MOI drivers that boast stable and long trajectory.

[BELA]

FANTASTIC JOB GOCCHIN!

THANKS FOR THE INFO

[ClubHoUno]

Thanks Gocchin - great reading

[Breal]

Great job, good work, thanks.

[buzzsaw]

Gocchin,

Great post, I appreciate the effort..thanks a lot!

[Duffer19]

Hi T:

Does it mean that you would be getting the JC707 since it is the winner of the 40ms? My JC606 with the Machline 5350 proto R might be perfect for you.

Good Job.

[gocchin]

Hi T:

Does it mean that you would be getting the JC707 since it is the winner of the 40ms? My JC606 with the Machline 5350 proto R might be perfect for you.

Good Job.

I've been considering the JC707 but the 46.5 inch shaft is what is giving the distance in my opinion... the 40m/s swing speed result is a good sign but I doubt at that length I could consistently hit the ball well like Kaneko pro.

Plus I am testing two other un-named drivers right now that are .... interesting...

[Blader-X]

Hey T,

Anything you do like this is always welcomed by me. I love seeing all these Japanese mags on golf gear and as you know my wife is from Japan as well but she's not too interested in the golf stuff and even less in trying to translate it for me. She attempts from time to time but she doesn't play golf so she really isn't sure what they're talking about anyway. So keep the translations coming as well as the pics and scans!!

[K2_2]

T,

Thank you for all of the time and effort, cheers! We've already discussed it in another thread, but the Yamaha's are all top notch.

One thing about the ERC Hyper, the stock shaft seems nice, quality wise, but from talking to people at two different shops, more amateurs of all swing types seem to do better with the 460 or 425 Yamaha head and the respective stock shaft combos vs the ERC Hyper. Yamaha did an excellent job specing a quality stock shaft that matches the target user.

[EPONfreak]

Now that's a post!

I echo the compliments of others to Gocchin regarding his excellent presentation and hard work.

Interesting though, that the higer swing speed tester (who has the same SS as me thus my interest) fared better with drivers other than the two finalists...... I suppose the over all difference between the top 8 or so is so minimal that feel, apprerance in addition to finding the best shaft match is the key

by the way is the Yamaha USGA conforming?

Edited October 28, 2007 by TMfreak

[K2_2]

Now that's a post!

I echo the compliments of others to Gocchin regarding his excellent presentation and hard work.

Interesting though, that the higer swing speed tester (who has the same SS as me thus my interest) fared better with drivers other than the two finalists...... I suppose the over all difference between the top 8 or so is so minimal that feel, apprerance in addition to finding the best shaft match is the key

TMfreak, I was just writing a recap of my fittings and clubs I settled on while I was in Japan, and you are spot on about getting the right shaft. Many of these clubs would/do work well with a shaft to suit, but the shafts in the more game improvement type models just don't suit people who generate more club head speed and height on their shots imho.

[gocchin]

One thing this article did not get into is the stock shafts of each driver, it would have been far too much to cover. That said, it's obvious today that shafts do make a big difference and they probably did as well in this shootout. The conforming Yamaha driver is shafted with a stock Yamaha DX-507D shaft which is known to be a very good stock shaft perhaps just a notch below big upgrade names (there was a Golf Gear test earlier this year that pit this shaft against Diamana, Graphite Design and Fujikura, I should find that).

The yardages were also about right for the testers' swing speeds and level of skill. Remember the guy in the middle with the 43 m/s speed is not a professional like Yokota and Kaneko the lady pro (who outhit the faster speed guy with a few of the drivers). Yokota was killing a few of them though on the last few tests!

[gocchin]

Hey T,

Anything you do like this is always welcomed by me. I love seeing all these Japanese mags on golf gear and as you know my wife is from Japan as well but she's not too interested in the golf stuff and even less in trying to translate it for me. She attempts from time to time but she doesn't play golf so she really isn't sure what they're talking about anyway. So keep the translations coming as well as the pics and scans!!

My wife plays golf but she still doesn't understand half the "golf talk" in the Japanese magazines. I usually do get her help for difficult kanji, the rest I try and go at it myself which is why I can be wrong sometimes! (^_^)

[Duffer19]

We, in this forum. tend to dismiss stock shafts too quickly (ncluding yours truly) which is totally unnecessary. The stock shafts with the JDM premium brands are extremely good and the club is being designed as a total package. Many times we actually ruin the the feel of the club by replacing the stock shaft.