Overlength drivers becoming a thing

DonM

Here is a Callaway video. Fitter guys etc discussing their testing of 47" drivers.
In the past I would have kind of laughed this off because I never had success with even 45". Now I'm loving my almost 46" TM D4 and have been for a year. My hits are in a good zone on the face, and it swings itself. The shaft is the key for me. So, I'm very interested in trying 47", with an even lighter shaft. Another few yards would always help. Really eyeing the XXIO Primes being blown out on eBay. 🙂

It sounds like Callaway is certainly going to offer something in the overlength category. So is it the next phony big thing, or will it work for enough people to make it legit?

Here's the video.

garyt1957

DonM Really eyeing the XXIO Primes being blown out on eBay. 🙂

Blown out? The cheapest I see are $349 and some are $500!!! Blown out is $12 shipped

mulegolf

DonM Really eyeing the XXIO Primes being blown out on eBay.

If you're not a high speed swinger and have a smooth tempo swing, you'll love XXIO Prime. If you already hit your drives
250 or more or have a quick tempo and/or your swing isn't smooth, you'll probably not like XXIO Prime drivers.

Spuzz

What's old is new again.

Rickochet

Spuzz What's old is new again.

Here we go again. I played a 47" driver most all of last summer. BUT, it has a 40g Sr. flex shaft and a 175g head. Too bad the old FGI threads aren't available for long and light drivers. It was a fad on the forum for a season or two about 5 years ago but most didn't care for them. I seem to be one of the few it worked for. A 47" driver for the average bear with a 200g head will get very heavy quickly. The light weight head is key and you have to use a shaft light weight that is one or two flexes softer than the one you use in a shorter driver.

meagain

Maybe the square and triangle heads are coming back too?

LBlack14

meagain Maybe the square and triangle heads are coming back too?

If that's the case, I'm glad I kept one of my Quadratics.👍
Lawd knows, I just want to fit in.😉

ode

Marketing/distance sells.

Typhoon

Like Rickochet mentioned... and is very important... you have to go with softer flex shafts because of the lightweight head or it will be too stiff.

I took the 46” Paderson shaft and put it in full length into my Ping head (which is not lightweight). It plays to 47.5 and I bomb it straighter than a 44”. It plays softer for me at that length which is great!

Shafts are so much more stable now, that’s why Callaway is finding this.

My gamer shafts are 2 HOF shafts at 46”. No issues at all. I’ve just put a small extension in the Paderson pull I picked up that I’d like to be a gamer as well. My plan is 46.5”.

DonM

Typhoon
Yeah something has changed, it has to be the shafts. I could never handle a 46" driver in the past.
Maybe my driver swing has improved, though.

sdandrea1

garyt1957 Blown out is $12 shipped

Word.

DonM

garyt1957
Those were $849 new. So it's all relative. 🙂
I hit one at demo day and it was something, until I started swinging harder. Now I am smoother so it just might work.

garyt1957

DonM $849? Yikes!

ode

Maybe they'll go 160g head at 48" LL/noodle flex.

ptjn1201

I never got much out of the 175g heads -- I had a couple of the DTG ones and they were average. Even with softer shafts, I couldn't feel the head. I do much better with heads in the 195-200g range at 47.5", but even though I'm a little smoother than I used to be, I still have a little "hit" in the swing.

Par4QC

I think the new Cobra RAD driver comes at 46", one version.
I've been playing my F9 at 46 3/4" all summer and have never hit center face, total in my life, as much as with this club in 1 season. And all hits were well under 300, if you can believe that! 😆

sdandrea1

There's some magic in the XXIO designs. The Prime shaft is a 36g noodle and the grip is counter-weighted. I have no idea what the head weighs, but if you time it just right, the ball goes far. I always have trouble with them in my demos after about 6 holes......can't seem to dial my swing back to the ultra light weight.

ode

sdandrea1 you must be in their target market😆

Par4QC

http://clubmaker-online.com/senior.ld.html

fatshot

I followed Bernie Baymiller's advice in building a long driver several years ago. I think I started at 47.5 inches (of course, I'm 6'6" tall, so that probably helped me adjust to it some). I could hit some real bombs with that driver, but I could miss my share as well.....my miss was high and right, more of a push than a slice. At the end of that first season I shortened it 1/2 inch when I regripped it. Every season after that when I would regrip, I would shorten it 1/4 to 1/2 inch. When I finally got to 46 inches, that seemed to be the right combination of shaft length and control for me. That was before lighter heads though. Maybe next year's experiment should be a 174 gram head on a longer, lighter shaft.....

mulegolf

mulegolf
I got my XXIO Prime 9 last year around this time of the year (maybe January but can't remember for sure). They've gone up in price a bit. If memory serves me correctly, I think I paid $268 or $269 for mine. When it arrived, I was pleasantly surprised that it was in great shape. I would have rated it a 9 or 9.5 out of 10. It was shipped to me from Japan. I was just looking on the internet last evening and can't find a decent 3 wood for that price (or even a 5 wood). I ended up ordering a High Heat 5 wood for $120. I have one of their 3 woods and I've come to like that but it's loft is more in line with a 5 wood so I thought that ordering a 5 wood may play more like a 7 wood. I'm hoping so.