The New 2016 VG3 Driver – I first hit this club back several months ago at the Tokyo Golf Show only issue was it was inside a swing cage and I wasn’t really in review mode, well a couple of weeks ago I was able to take it out for a round at TPC San Antonio which is a lovely track I’m familiar with and got to give her a good run.
It’s a Japan Only Premium offering from Titleist that caters to a wide range of player from the smoother swinging low handicap to even the high handicap golfer. So what makes it premium? It’s the 811 Ti body and the SP700 Forged Cup Face these are top grade materials often only used in the very best JDM drivers. It’s a High MOI driver with an elongated shape and what Titleist calls a center axis cg location, It’s got the active recoil channel and sure fit adapter as well. On to my thoughts after the Jump…
It’s face is one of the things I like most, it’s a good mix of deep & shallow which is like the VG3 fairway and utility woods they have a very distinct face shape that gives the player extra real estate to miss both high, low, heel and toe on the face.
Compared to the standard Titleist offerings the face is noticeably softer and you get the sense the ball is coming off the face a lot hotter, as expected due to the SP700. This driver has a higher launch angle especially in it’s standard shaft but the ball flies very straight with a stable trajectory, hard hitters above 100mph will want to upgrade the shaft, slow swingers should do just fine with the stock shaft.
After giving it a good go I do think this is Titleist’s longest, most forgiving and best feeling driver in the entire line up.
Ok so for spin, I’m a high ball hitter who requires a driver that kills spin so this driver isn’t my cup of tea. Along with the standard 50 SR flex shaft ( I should have tried the 60 Stiff ) I did get to install the Fujikura 569 Evolution II stiff flex which really transformed this club by lowering the trajectory, tightening the dispersion and reducing the spin. I highly suggest the EVO II for the type of player who swings 95’ish and wants a forgiving driver.
As you can see the shape from above is a bit rounded too rounded for my eye, if you can get over this your in good shape it just seems a bit large and I’m sure because the head was flattened out a bit to design the face have such a large impact zone.
We are all different so take my grades below with a grain of salt.
Distance – B+
Forgiveness – B+
Feel – B+
Looks – C
Sound – B
Active recoil channel above
Interesting new sight aid on the crown
Standard VG50 Shaft
Comments 1