Golf Industry Online Equipment Reviews

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The Top Seven Drivers and balls go further...
Which goes the furthest of them all?

By: Dr. Barry Lotz

The names chosen by some of the lesser known manufacturers sound intimidating and hyped beyond belief, but, as they say, seeing is believing, and feeling is the naked truth. And so it is with the top 7 drivers both on the tours and selling in the stores. Similar claims and names abound regarding balls and their distances.

This is primarily a man's sport, and therefore ego rules. The driver is the ultimate symbol of that ego. Unless you are playing a par 3 or a topographically difficult hole, 90% of golfers feel the need to use their very expensive, very big driver. And they are always looking for the ball that offers the greatest distance. So a simple "consumer" test was devised with the drivers and balls chosen after random samplings of 30 retail stores across the US and South Africa.

Each "tester" was given 10 balls per driver from 5 different manufacturers – Titleist Tour Prestige, Maxfli Revolution, Precept Distance, Taylormade Inergel Distance and Kasco Rockets. All the balls were marked appropriately to identify each tester and each driver.

All drivers were with standard shafts as found in retail stores. The scratch golfers used "stiff" shafts and flexes while the other 2 groups used "regular" shafts and flexes. Lofts for the scratch golfers were 8.5 and for the 10 and 20 handicappers, 10 or 10.5.

There are a few caveats to consider:

1. This is not a scientific study as used by all the manufacturers.
2. The 200 plus variables generally used by different manufacturers are not considered or allowed for in this report.
3. The conclusions reached can be interpreted by any person or manufacturer to suit their own purposes.
4. Readers advised to make their own decisions via actual demo testing and professional fitting.
5. Only right-handed drivers were used.
6. All the drivers are expensive – in excess of $300.00.
7. No specifics or features are included herein.
8. Each group's tester's age was between 20 and 27 and 35 to 55 per category.
9. The results included a dispersion factor.
10. Ball flight patterns were not considered.

So, without further commercials and the millions invested in R&D by manufacturers, here is what we found using 6 golfers – 2 scratch, 2 10 handicappers and 2 20 handicappers in the US (San Diego) and the same parameters used for the South African testers in South Africa (Cape Town ). The fields used were flat and in excess of 500 yards at each location. Both sites are at sea level.

The Drivers: Titlelist 975D – MacHenry MetalsTour Pure - Ping ISI – Kasco VS Tour – Callaway Hawkeye – Adam's SC Series – Taylormade Fire Sole

The results were based on a vote of the testers, and an equal number voted for the two that tied for first place and the fifth places.

The Number One Driver: A tie between the MacHenry Tour Pure and the Ping ISI

The Number Three Driver: The Kasco VS Tour

The Number Four Driver: The Titleist 975D

The Number Five Driver: A tie between the Adams SC Series and the Callaway Hawkeye

The Number Six Driver: The Taylormade Firesole

There was however, one noteworthy conclusion reached by all 12 golfers – the Kasco Rocket ball was superlative both in feel and distance with every driver used. The general observation regarding the Kasco ball was that "it felt good as my driver made contact with it, and it really took off."

The Number One Ball: The Kasco Rockets by unanimous vote.

The Number Two Ball: The Precept Distance.

The Number Three Ball: A tie between the Titleist Tour Prestige and Maxfli Revolution

The Number Four Ball: The Taylormade Inergel Distance

Equipment technology is undoubtedly superior compared to yesteryear. Manufacturers spend millions to hype their products as "the best, the longest and easiest to hit". The bottom line is simply: investigate and find what works for you and take lessons regularly. As pointed out by James Achenbach of Golfweek in a recent March issue "Why is the Kasco Rockets the best ball most Americans may never see?