Good info. The more I play and see what others struggle with the more I think the average joe doesn't necessarily need a driver in their bag. I've played with so many people who have issues with their drivers for multiple reasons
1) Club is off the rack and too long at 45" - 46" and they can't make consistent center of the face contact.
2) The driver is lofted too low for them as so many people believe a 10.5* or higher loft will balloon and they'll loose distance.
3) The misses as a result of 1 and/or 2 end up really messing with the golfer's psyche when they tee up with the driver in hand. I'm always hearing them mutter about "hopefully I don't slice this one".

I thought the Thriver was a good compromise to get the Driver out of the golfers hands that are seeing more harm than good from it.

    I've used nice variety of high loft drivers the last couple of years -- Powerbilt Air Force One N7 14, Alpha RX High Launch, SMT AF460 12, along with assorted minis like the SLDR 14, Acer XV Mini, PowerPlay Brassie, an old TM 320ti, and lower lofted 3 woods: Tour Edge XCG-5 11.5, Callaway 3 Deep, Ping Rapture -- gee maybe my wife is right and I have too much golf stuff. And I often carry at least two of these choices in the bag -- a higher loft driver plus a mini or 3W. My regular course only has six holes where extra yardage off the tee beyond 220-230 really helps me, so I use a hybrid on three shorter par 4s, and 3W or 4W on four other holes. But I'm finally allowing myself to bring driver down under 45" and it's working better. Now I'm on the lookout for a heavier head I can try at about 44". Gotta keep dreamin'

    ptjn1201, what do you think of the TM 320ti? Still a club worth gaming? I have an old one sitting around at my house but I haven't hit it in years.

      I don't think it's quite as long or forgiving as newer, larger heads, but not by much -- maybe 5-10 yards. I was surprised that I liked the stock R-80 shaft that was in mine -- felt good to me. And if I grip down on it an inch or so, I can manage to hit it off the mats at the driving range or from a good lie. It's a good winter driver -- you never know what height tees you'll find at the driving range this time of year. My brother-in-law was using a 360ti most of the year, and he has a lot of newer stuff. My feeling is that it's a bit larger than the mini drivers and just as forgiving. Give the old stick a try -- if it doesn't measure up, banish it back to garage!

        golfer_LD
        I have always played with a driver....the 460cc, since they came out with them. Now that I'm getting older (71), and losing swing speed, height and, as a result, distance, this year I decided to go with a "thriver-like" head, a Wishon 919 driver, but with 13* if loft. I built it to regular driver length though. It's performed well for me all season, but
        I like hitting the driver with the ball teed fairly high. If I liked hitting fairway woods off the tee (I don't....don't
        have much luck with them!), then I guess I'd consider the mini driver with a shorter shaft. I feel it's up to
        each golfer to decide for himself what suits his game best in a case like this.

          rsvman The 320 hit on the screws is every bit as long as anything, missed at all and it is far more punishing that today's equipment. On a good day, I'd game it.

            rsvman

            When they first came out, I gamed one and loved it. Let me know when you are looking to dump it, doc. 😊

              I went out today for 9 holes and played my Taylormade SLDR 14* Mini Driver. I hit every fairway and my drives were about 10-15 yards shorter than my regular 460cc driver but that's OK on my home course. I'm in the fairway and plenty long to have a 100 to 130 yard second shot on par 4's. On longer courses it might be a problem, but it's really nice to not worry about spraying a drive way right or a big hook way left. I can control the Mini Driver and will gladly sacrifice 10-15 yards for more accuracy.

              All of this thriver talk has me thinking about a steel shafted one a had a while back. I have to see what I ever did with the parts for that thing.

              ptjn1201
              Just picked one up to experiment. I used to use a Titleist 975D pretty effectively, so if this is more forgiving it will be fun. Thanks for the heads up.

                16 days later

                golfer_LD

                215g and 12 degree loft makes sense. You can build it to 4 wood length. I tried one of the original Acer thrivers. It was a beautiful dark copper color but all I hit were balloon balls. I gave better results with draw biased drivers anyway.

                    sdandrea1

                    I'm pretty sure I'm the one that bought that Acer Thriver head from you haha. I put in a pretty low launching shaft and if I don't watch my tee height I can balloon them as well but I am pretty good at finding the fairway with it which should be the main goal of a tee club.

                      Gee, 215g sounds great. I have an Alpha V5 LX I have weighted up to 212g and it feels good -- it's just not as forgiving as I need some days.

                      I thought that originally Thrivers were meant to have a driver sized heads with 3 wood loft and 3 wood length shaft. I built one using one of the older model Hireko Thriver heads (think it was 16, but might have been 13) , shafted with a Pure Energy shaft. Since I'm pretty accurate , but short, with a driver, usually 11/14, the Thriver did not give me any advantage. It was shorter, with the same accuracy as my driver and quite high in flight which cancelled my ball run-out, it didn't bring anything to the table. Sticking with my Cally GBB 12.5* Kuro Rgae.

                        Bigborgel I think a better idea would be to have a smaller head size with a 3-wood loft and a 3-wood length shaft, but that's just me.

                            Thanks, Dc, but the larger head gives you more confidence, and a better chance of making center contact.

                            DC300 lol. I meant with a larger head than a 3-wood, but not 460.

                                I used a Wishon driver that 13.5* with a smaller head than 460. Shafted it at 43" it was a fairway finder. I could also, at that time, hit it off the deck if I played a small fade to help get it up in the air.