analyticandrew

Hey all loving the thread here. I picked up a “factory seconds” from them late last summer. Best decision I’ve ever made. I’m ~8 handicap. Other putter: 33.1 putts per round L.A.B. putter: 30.2 putts per round 1 putts per round other (with GIR): 0.6 1 putts per round L.A.B (with GIR): 1.9 3 putt % other putter: 3.1 3 putt % L.A.B putter: 1.7

Decided to take this a step further and do a full unofficial review. Hope you enjoy it!

Evening all! This is my first unofficial product review so I hope that you find it to be helpful! TL;DR: this thing mashes. Get yourself one. Thank me later (I accept tips) . Background on me: I am 42, I’m 6’5, lost 100 pounds in the last year (along with some muscle I’m sure) down to 232, have lower back stiffness that flares up every so often (thanks to playing high school and collegiate football), I sit at a desk for 8 hours a day, and I have played golf since I was 5 (didn’t take it serious in any way until I was 18). I was an assistant pro for a couple of years at my home course, had no handicap for about 5 years, and I took about 10 years off golf until about 5 years ago. My current handicap sits at ~8. Testing background: This was my first time hitting a ball since January. So needless to say my back was a little tight by the time I got to hitting driver (went through a fairly normal early season range session - only hit about 15 drives total). I have been going through a modified speedsticks training 3 days a week for the last month so I have been swinging, just not hitting balls. My 2020 equipment for comparison: Ping G410 LST KBS TD Category 3 Stiff shaft Midsize Tour Velvet Grip 9* dialed down to 7* A pretty consistent “good” drive for me last year would have been 265 maybe 275 total distance. Lacked consistency (distance and forgiveness) on off-center hits. Testing Equipment: Tour Edge C721 Driver HZRDUS Smoke Black 6.5 X-Stiff shaft Standard Lamkin Grip Tested stock 9.5* and also dialed down to 7.5* Looks: This club screams technology and also for me it also screams confidence. From the carbon on the crown, to the ridgeback (which is a fantastic alignment aide) technology and the fact that it sits square at address... it has a trifecta for anyone looking for more confidence off the tee. Tour Edge also ships with a sharp looking headcover (they’ve had great looking headccovers for years now), an adjustment tool, and a business card with the changes in the loft and lie if you adjust. *side note: Tour Edge seems to be one of the VERY few club manufacturers that will actually tell you the lie of their drivers. Most modern manufacturers will say “average lie angle” I suspect because they do NOT QC the lie angle coming off the manufacturing line. I find this to be extremely challenging as even a 1/2* change in lie angle can make a difference to many players and they’ll not even realize it. The sole of the club (of which I wouldn’t really care what it looked like) does have an adjustable rear weight. The stock weight is 10g but Tour Edge sells them in 5g, 15g, and 18g. The weight does not slide into any other positions. I personally love this as I think some drivers are TOO customizable and the golfer can have a horrible swing and “buy” themselves into a slightly better golf game. The face is the 2.0 version of Tour Edge’s Diamond Face technology, which is one of the hottest (if not the hottest) driver faces out there and the company also touts it’s forgiveness. From Tour Edge: What is it? Diamond Face 2.0 is made up of diamond shapes of variable face thickness behind the face. There are 43 total diamond shapes featured on Diamond Face 2.0, comprising seven different thicknesses in an interweaving pattern. This compares to the three different thicknesses used on the initial Diamond Face design. Face thickness of Diamond Face 2.0 at the extreme perimeters of the face is also reduced by 20%. What does it do? The mini trampolines that make-up Diamond Face 2.0 create faster ball speeds and an expanded sweet spot. The increase in Diamond Face 2.0 coverage to the extreme heel and toe and of the driver dramatically increases ball speed and forgiveness on off-center hits. My Take: Looks: 4.5/5 - I wish the glossy were a little less glossy - I’m nitpicking here. Sound: 5/5 - One of the best sounding drivers I’ve hit (maybe THE best sounding) in the last five years or so. Feel: 5/5 - Like a good spouse, you know exactly where you stand with this one. Miss it on the toe? You’ll know. The heel? You’ll know. SUPER feedback to the hands. Forgiveness: 4.5/5 - I have an X flex in this driver (the stock Smoke Black 60g) and I think it’s a little bit too stiff for me for right now. I’m not going to knock it too much and may adjust this when I get my KBS into it. I was missing to the right and high toe. My swing speed for driver is right around 105, ball speed around 157 on Trackman indoors. I’d love to get to a range where I could see these number with this club. That said, catch the sweet spot and this thing goes for ages. I got ahold of a few of them and my 10 year old was exclaiming loudly “wow that one went really far!” The off center strikes were much straighter than with the Ping. And they went further, no question. At least 10 yards. Maybe more. Distance: 5/5 - The balls I hit square were absolutely destroyed. I had my rangefinder with me, the end of the range has a small hill for the last 30 yards or so and I was flying them somewhere on top of the hill. I shot the distance to the face of the hill and it was 260. So I was flying the ball a minimum of 265 and more likely 270+. That carry distance is more than what I’d get last year including roll out of what was (at the time) the best driver I’d played as an adult (my old Great Big Bertha as a scratch 20 something assistant pro was THE BEST driver combo I’ve ever played.) TOTAL: 24/25 Some additional thoughts before I wrap up this novel: The first 7-8 balls I hit with the stock configuration. 9.5 degree, 59 degree lie angle. I also was not turning away as much as my back started to tighten up, so lots of arms. My miss is generally on the toe, and with the stiffer shaft, I ended up with some push fades. They were still bombs. Yes they might have ended up in the middle of the next fairway, but I was flying them at least 260. (Would have been major trouble in the wind) I also knew exactly where I missed them on the face. The last 7-8 swings I dialed it down to 7.5 degrees and 60 degree lie angle (note - this is one thing I very much appreciated about the Ping G410 - you can change the loft without changing the lie angle - no such luck here). I connected on five of them, heeled one trying to swing too hard and the other 2-3 were toe balls again. I am going to swap the adapter on my current KBS TD and pop it in here to see how it performs. That’ll take me a couple weeks as I need to get the adapter shipped. Final Thoughts: This driver is going to the course next weekend and I can report back more, but with as solidly as it performed on the range I don’t know that it will come out of the bag for a long while. Add in the fact that it has a lifetime warranty and is made in the USA and I don’t know how you could go wrong. Hope this has helped and happy to answer any and all questions you have! ALSO - if you ARE looking at this driver, I have a guy that got me mine for $325 total to my door direct from Tour Edge. I’d love to take care of him like he took care of me. (Not sure if that’s allowed here or not)

60g

Yes. The Category 3 is the stiff equivalent. You can scroll down and see the details here if you’d like to know more: https://kbsgolfshafts.com/shop/kbs-td-driver-wood-shaft/

I will let you know!! Heading to the range today!

Price drop then headed to eBay.

Sending DM.

Picked up this driver and it arrived today. Looking forward to taking it to the range this weekend and getting it dialed in. I got the stock smoke 6.5 as I have a KBS TD that I’ll put in it if need be. Quite excited to try this driver out as I got a great deal and also the reviews (while limited) are great. I also have had more than a few tour edge products and I’ve loved every one of them.

SOLD

You can lock this one up. I found a KILLER deal on the new Tour Exotics C721 and so I'm going with that.

Happy spring everyone!! Looking to buy one of the drivers mentioned above. With or without a shaft. (I already have a shaft, so no worries there unless you have a good deal on one) There are a lot of them on eBay and CPO as well, just seeing what my fellow spies might have. I also have a Ping G410 that I might be willing to trade + your cash. Thanks in advance!

Sending DM.

I’m late to this party but I rarely think about my feet and MAN I should be doing more of it. Not just the weight shifting (which I DO need) but also the heel to toe shifts. I might end up snagging a pair.

Guess more info would be very helpful. I hit the ball mostly straight, I used to be an assistant pro about 20 years ago and my swing is solid. Do I have a “miss” time and again? Yes. It’s mostly a double-cross to the left. Will I be getting lessons? No. I play to about a 5 handicap and play only once a week or so. Time with my family is precious so I don’t spend a lot of time away from them if I can help it. I used to hit 300+ every drive and a PW 155+. Now I’m in the 280 range and PW 145 or so. I have never been a great putter. Average 30+ putts a round. Been this way most of my life. Even when I was playing a lot, I would be fairways and greens and make one now and again.

Looking to better my game this "offseason" (I'll be playing all winter if weather allows) - Which do you think I should buy? And why?

I recently did a review. This might help: You know that feeling you get of the perfect putt? Where you line it up, place your ball, set up and give it a look, and you look down at your putter and then MISS THE PUTT BY A MILE? Yeah, that won’t happen with this putter. It is soft but not too soft. Perfectly weighted. Best alignment and sight lines I’ve ever used (and I’ve used about 35 different putters in the last 20 years). But don’t just take my word for it. I am a data guy by trade, so let this sink in: Pre-Seemore Average Putts Per Round 2020: 33 WITH my Seemore mTRI Putts Per Round: 29 Not only that, my strokes gained putting (from Arccos, which fits perfectly btw) in the last 8 rounds is +2.8. The proof is in the pudding. Thanks SeeMore for being such a great company and making such a great putter!

Preferably with slope. Preferably precision pro or Nikon but open to others. Not looking to break the bank.

Yeah, I was hoping to not spend that much $ for it if I could with the shipping and all.

Can I buy the white headcover from you? I have the mTRI and I don’t like the generic black headcover.

Have a Srixon ZF85 3+ Wood with a sweet Raijin dragon shaft by VA Composites. Shaft alone is ~$200 upgrade. I’m looking to trade this for an Exotics EXS 220 driver or three wood with a stiff shaft. If it has a KBS TD even better. I might be open to other trades, but really interested in this driver/wood.

I’m sorry you’re experiencing this. At this point, you might want to consider canceling the order. I don’t know the fine print of if you’d get a full refund or not. But this is more than excessive. They were talking about “it’s not our fault, it’s covid and demand is up and the OEMs don’t have clubs... but they’re the ONLY company I know of that is taking multiple months to get things together. If you want an alternative, I bought my irons directly built by Callaway from a rep I know for a STEAL of a price based off of the CC specs and they built and shipped them in 4 days.

Currently have this generic putter cover, and am looking for something cooler and preferably magnetic. This is my putter, so it needs to be able to fit:

Sorry, SOLD - lock it up!

HIGHLY recommend this. It can't HURT YOU. Unless you don't listen and are stubborn.