Dynacraft Avatar Driver and Fairway Wood Review

Avatar Evoluton Driver

Avatar Evolution Three Wood

Grade: A
Teacher’s Comments: Great Bang for the Buck

You get a lot of bang for the buck from the Avatar Evolution Driver and Three Wood. Coming in at a third of the price of big name clubs, they nonetheless offer quality design, construction and materials. They both performed quite well during several rounds of testing

The Avatar Evolution driver has perhaps the largest base I’ve seen. The designers at Hireko say that based on the footprint alone, the club normally would come in at 512cc, but the design keeps it at the 460cc limit. That shape, along with redistributing weight from the crown, is supposed to generate an impressive amount of forgiveness. The body is 100% titanium.

In practice, the driver works well. I hit it as far as most, with good ball flight. My notes from the fall say I was getting more roll but less carry with a slighly lower ball flight than my Nike driver. That was good news for me. I like a lower ball flight. I also liked the “feel” of the club. I was told that it’s loud, but being deaf, I have no idea if that’s true or not.

My primary criticism of the club is not so much a pan as a matter of taste. I don’t think that the silvery white color is going to be for everyone. I personally prefer a darker color: makes the club seem more substantial.

The three wood incorporates the same design philosophy as the driver. It’s got a wide sole and a super thin crown that lets Hireko move the weight down and back. I like its relatively shallow face. As I’ve noted elsewhere in the blog, my preference is for shallow faced, wide bottomed fairway clubs. With taller faces, I lack the confidence that the hot spot will hit the equator of the ball. The clubhead is 431 stainless steel.

In terms of performance, the Avatar fairway performed well. I noted that I swept it easily off the fairway and put myself in good position to score with short irons on the par 5s. (That’s the sad state of my distance game: a good drive, a mighty wack with a three wood, and I’m still a short iron away from the green. No reaching the green in two for me.)

However, as with the driver, my main concern is the color. Some will like it; others, not so much. Purely a matter of taste.

Here’s the bottom line: I think these are great clubs for the money. The driver will set you back a hundred dollars; the wood, just fifty in the basic configurations. For a little more, you also can customize the clubs with a variety of shafts, grips, length and even ferrule colors.