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.

Callaway Golf FT-i Drivers With I-MIX Technology

After TaylorMade pioneered the idea of changing the weighting of a golf clubs’ heads, it was only a matter of time before someone marketed clubs with interchangable shafts. Actually, though, it’s a tool that’s been available to clubmakers for years. Rather than have hundreds of club and shaft combinations pre-made for customers to try, clubmakers used threaded connectors that allowed them to quickly swap out pieces until the client found the desired mix.

Callaway’s entry into the interchangable shaft market is the I-MIX. With Callaway’s system, you can choose from 22 clubhead designs and 70 shafts for 1600 custom configurations. Wow.

It’s expensive, though. The head is $400, and the shafts run from $150 to $350 each. 

Caiman Titanium Driver – From Hireko Golf

The Caiman is another winner in the oddly shaped golf driver sweepstakes. As with every driver like this, the design is set to optimize weight placement. In this case, the designers used CAD to provide a lower center of gravity and high moment of intertia.

I like the shape of this one. Visit the site to see more views. Its neat.

ZR1 Driver

PineMeadow says that its ZR1 is designed to offer the same technology and performance as the Ping G10 at a fraction of the price. At 460cc, this titanium driver is at the maximum legal limit. The oversized head creates a massive sweet spot and incredible forgiveness on off-center shots. It’s availabel in 10 and 12 degree models, with a variety of shafts. You can get it for as little as $99.

I’ve bought several products from Pinemeadow over the years and found all of them to be well built and offering good, if not great performance. I especially like the hybrid I got last year. I especially like the company’s 30 day playability guarantee.

Adams Insight XTD A3 Men’s Driver

Adams gets into the square driver business with the Insight XTD. Like all these new unusually shaped drivers, the intent is to move the mass of the driver away from the face and into the corners. That will increase both the launch angle and the all-important moment-of-intertia.

Adams says that the design also produces an expanded impact zone, which is supposed to increase ball speed on off-center hits. Add all this to the Aldila DVS graphite shaft, and you have the makings of a hot driver.