DRIVERMANIA
The long awaited and highly anticipated Driver test results are out! It was yet another amazing experience. Really, how many people ever get a chance to hit so many Drivers with so many options in their life! In addition to almost every prerelease edition driver from every major manufacturer, there were also dozens of “big sticks” that many had yet to hear of, or see in advertisements.We had some less than perfect weather, it was overcast, but considering the rest of the country was under snow and enduring ice storms and soaking wet fairways, we really can’t complain.
With so many shaft options including Women’s Lite, A flex, Seniors, Regular, Stiff and even X Stiff, Rankmarkers had a number of options. Even within those choices, there were over a dozen different shaft companies!
Most of the lofts were between 9 and 12 degrees and only a couple had longer than standard shafts lengths.
So with ten testing stations and an average of 3 to 4 manufacturers in each bag, our testers were faced with over 100 choices! At least no one can say we didn’t provide a true test of what is available on the market right now.
See the complete list by clicking here.
The testing was once again held at the beautiful Costa Mesa Golf & Country Club (ably assisted by Mr. Brad Booth, P.G.A., Head Professional and their Director of Instruction, Mr. John Ortega, P.G.A.) The testers that descended on the test site were well taken care of. Brad and John really share our vision. They want to make the experience a great and memorable one for all participants.
One aspect of the clubs that we did not ask the testers to rate, yet they discussed at great length was sound. We heard so many different types of audible variances that were both pleasing and rather disturbing to some. I remember when graphite face inserts first came out, I don’t remember the year, but I do remember the “thud” when I hit it and thought to my self “that is really weird.” I player rather successfully with one for many years though...
Perhaps in future tests, like feel, we could add how a club sounds to the testers to give you a better representation of the equipment, click here to comment.
So with all these options, you can imagine how tired the Rankmarkers were after going through the stations one by one. It did take longer than some of the other tests, partly because of how important this choice is to most golfers. Testers took their time and many clubs were struck over ten times (just to make sure). All in all, testers were amazed at the choices available for them to try. As I alluded to in my article about why the USGA limits the size of the head (click here for the article), the size and shape of the clubs varies significantly.
Surprisingly, the Driver that rated Number One Overall has a very traditional look to it. The same manufacturer that produced the traditional look that won, also rated Third Place Overall with a newer looking, more progressive looking club. This is exciting for us, because in Rankmark’s ten year history, a Driver manufacturer has not placed twice in the overall category. Congratulations to Ping! According to our testers, they really do make good Drivers.
We were very pleased to offer equipment specifically designed for women. We appreciate the support from manufacturers who make clubs for women and (even those who just offer women’s shafts in men’s clubs) and submit them to be tested.
We still find that some female Rankmarkers choose to hit men’s clubs though. Manufacturers need to be aware that some women golfers refuse to hit clubs designed for women.
We are also happy to be adding some links from the seniors golfing community to our website. This is such an important and growing part of the golfing world, we are proud to support this area of the game.
Distance and Accuracy are very important for most golfers, so these categories promise to be very popular. Remember that there are almost 20 categories to review, so check them all out and let us know what works best for you. We love hearing from you and your comments both via email and on the discussion board.
We recently added some new advertisers to the site. We are very pleased to welcome Fujikura to Rankmark! Please click on their ads to find out more about them and use them when you can. Since we don’t charge club manufacturers to test, we depend on your support of our advertisers. We are grateful for our advertisers who allow Rankmark to report our test results to you at no cost.
Look for some really cool contests, prizes and giveaways coming soon. Especially from our new friends at Heritage Cross, a wonderful apparel company with great pricing for “Friends of Rankmark” for personal and tournament use. Heritage Cross is the official clothing sponsor of Rankmark.
As always, we welcome (and thoroughly enjoy) your feedback, the good and the not so good.
Thanks for visiting and keep coming back,
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