TaylorMade Tour Burner 2008 Men’s Driver

I’ve been somewhat dissatisfied lately with the driver that I’m playing. I hit it high, hard and straight, but the ball tends to hit the apex of its flight quickly, and then drop out of the sky. My playing partners always make comments like “I thought it was going to go a lot farther than that.” Not exactly what you want to hear.

So when TaylorMade held a demo day at a local pro shop over the weekend, I spent some time trying out the various drivers. Thinking that the issue was too much loft, I asked the rep for a 9.5 degree, stiff.

The R7 Quad he gave me drove the ball much lower, but still without much distance.

“It’s not high enough,” he said. When I told him that I thought I needed to keep it down for less carry and more roll, he shook his head.

“This is the midwest,” he said. “That might be true in Arizona, but here you need all the carry you can get.”

He watched me hit some more balls with different drivers. “Too much spin,” he concluded. Then he handed me a Tour Burner, 10.5 degrees, regular flex. “This will cut the spin,” he said.

I hit it, and immediately noticed a difference. With the Tour Burner, the ball still caught a lot of air, but it stayed up, and kept going. I hit ball after ball, watching them fly straight and far into the distance. He pointed out that even my mishits were pretty good.

It’s $399, though. And that, frankly, is more than this teacher can afford to spend on a golf club.

GigaGolf P2 Ti Driver

The P2 Titanium Driver is new for 2008 from GigaGolf. Coming in at the maximum 460cc limit set by the USGA, the P2 is designed to be both playable and forgiving. It’s also affordable—a nice option in the days of the $400 driver. You can get this titanum driver with the graphite shaft and grips of your choice for between $90 and $150 dollars. And with GigaGolf’s guarantee, there’s no risk to you.

Mizuno MP-600 Men’s Driver

The Mizuno M600 Driver offers a variation on the adjustable weight theme with a driver that has two weights on a sliding track—what Mizuno calls “Fast Track.” That, Mizuno says, allows players to more easily adjust the center of gravity and achieve ideal ball flight. The Fast Track system allows 15 different settings.

The 460cc club also has a CNC-milled, plasma-welded Cortech face insert designed to deliver the maximum USGA ball speed across the entire face of the club.

To be honest, I thought that the adjustable weight fad had passed, and had since moved on to the new adjustable shafts. 

Gigagolf Powermax GX Squared Draw Driver

GigaGolf’s second generation square driver has been designed with a high moment of inertia (resistance to twisting) for accuracy, and a cup face design for distance. The draw model features an internal weighting system that will promote a left to right ball flight.

And you can’t beat the price. This square technology titanium driver starts at just $99. Even better: These clubs come with a 30 day play guarantee.

Maxfli Crossbax Men’s Driver

I’m no longer sure where MaxFli fits into the grand scheme of things. Recently bought by Dick’s Sporting Goods from Taylormade, MaxFli now appears as thought it will be the house brand of Dick’s and Golf Galaxy—which is also owned by Dick’s. It also makes me wonder what’ll happen to Dick’s Walter Hagen house brand, and to the TaylorMade lines that were made exclusively for Dick’s Sporting Goods.

At any rate, the new MaxFli Crossbax Drivers have an interesting look. The pulled back crown and sole design is supposed to enhance moment of intertia (what else is new), and also move the center of gravity downward. All other things being equal, this’ll maximize launch angle while minimizing spin and shot deviation.

I’ts an interesting looking design.