Vertical Groove Driver - Rick Shiels reviews

[hckymeyer]

I know a lot of us have been wondering about the Vertical Groove driver.  Rick Shiels just posted up his review on YouTube.  It's pretty fun to watch him destroy all of their marketing claims

 

[sweethebs]

Thanks for posting. Kudos to the company for its willingness to allow Rick to test it.

[Golfspy_CG2]

Always enjoy Rick's videos.   Not surprised by the results of this one not living up to the promise.  He didn't mention the price, but with the lack of adjustability, if it came in around that long ago forgotten range of $299, it could do ok. 

[BigtazzGolf]

Always enjoy Rick's videos. Not surprised by the results of this one not living up to the promise. He didn't mention the price, but with the lack of adjustability, if it came in around that long ago forgotten range of $299, it could do ok.

I got curious and added it the cart with upgraded shaft and I think it was 500 or 600 with free shipping lol

 

Tazz

[Orange Hog]

Glad Rick offered an honest review. Basically this is another company trying to sell a product through marketing hype instead of legit technology/innovation. More of the same that many golf consumers have come to expect these days.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Zeasy]

You mean John Daly lied when he said this was the best driver he ever hit?!?

[Liberty Ball Markers]

He has been known to drink a little...

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

[Mr_Theoo]

You mean John Daly lied when he said this was the best driver he ever hit?!?

I'm sure he thinks that

[Rtracymog]

Rick was getting some very low spin number with the driver though. It might not live up to claims, but it might still be okay. Rick actually could have used a 10.5 and gotten a little more distance.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

[JBones]

No way Daly said that....the Hippo was BEAST.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

[alfriday101]

The review proved very little. He showed that if you hit the driver with an open club face it will fade. No surprise there. He did not, however, compare the amount of fade at X degree open to a club face with tradition or no grooves.

 

Do the grooves work to lower "side spin", I don't know. Neither does anyone else who watched this review. Hopefully someone (like MGS) will do a real test for those who are interested.

[JudgeSmails]

I like Rick's reviews...think he's pretty unbiased....I'm sure VGG won't be super happy with this, but I give them Kudos for taking the chance.

[chershey]

I think what I took from the review more than anything, as already mentioned above, was how low this driver was spinning for him. It makes you wonder if it would be the answer for someone trying to find the ultimate low spin driver. When he hit the hook and the fade he was taking those swings to extremes. It didn't look like it had a lot of side spins on the other shots. The shots early on that went to the right, with an open face, didn't even have a lot of spin. They were more pushes to the right than anything. I think the goal is to cut down on side spin, not get rid of it entirely. All of this said, I don't understand how the grooves could do that. The best test will be when he compares this driver against another with similar face angles and strikes and sees how the side spin compares.

[StrokerAce]

thanks for posting.  he's a great reviewer.

 

I liked his comment about grooves not making much of a difference on a driver since the contact with the ball is so minimal.  

 

I wonder why there are grooves on any driver faces.  Anyone know?  Tradition?  Or are they there for a reason?

[03trdblack]

I feel like as a startup in the golf equipment world, if you name the entire company off of the one gimmick you have then you've already doomed yourself to failure.  You're called "Vertical Groove Golf" and make one club.  How do you expand on that, even if it was successful?  Even if those grooves did do anything on the driver, we all know they wouldn't work on any other club throughout the bag so you're stuck resting the entire company off of a single driver golf club.  We all know the margins aren't that great on drivers as is and with no way to expand your company into other products the sustainability is going to next to impossible.  

 

Not to mention this exact driver called the "B-Sting" was made back in 2006 by Golfsmith under the Killer Bee brand name.  Not to say it probably hasn't been improved on some but regardless it's the same club.

[Undershooter]

I thought it was a pretty fair review. He mentioned he thought it was a pretty good driver. And that he thought it was well made for such a small company. 
Obviously he didn't take tons of data and see exactly if it was straighter by X% but it definitely showed that the wasn't "40% straighter" as it was claimed.

 

With the super low spin numbers he was getting, lofting up to 10.5 may have really helped him snag some extra yards out of that thing. He was definitely below optimal launch and spin numbers with the 9.5*.

[torikhan]

Good stuff

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

[PlaidJacket]

Yeah.. I watched it last night too. I thought he was pretty fair in his testing and review. He didn't poo-poo the club like I was prepared to see him do. Honestly, he's probably not going to Destroy any club he tests or reviews. That probably wouldn't be good for his business. I think MGS also provides fair assessments in reviews but never destroys or trashes a product.

[chershey]

He posted on Facebook that a Vertical Groove vs EPIC SZ test will be uploaded tonight. That should be interesting.

[Ashton Plumley]

I would still love to hit this driver myself. I can agree with his stats but I feel like he still had nothing bad to say about the driver. My other question is, was he using a simulator? A simulator would not tell us exactly what the ball will do once it gets down the line. I would only argue his results if he used a simulator only and did not actually hit this outside. Side spin could be misinterpreted on a simulator based on that simulation being programmed based on current driver technology. I would like to see a review hitting outside.

 

sent using MyGolfSpy mobile app

[Undershooter]

I would still love to hit this driver myself. I can agree with his stats but I feel like he still had nothing bad to say about the driver. My other question is, was he using a simulator? A simulator would not tell us exactly what the ball will do once it gets down the line. I would only argue his results if he used a simulator only and did not actually hit this outside. Side spin could be misinterpreted on a simulator based on that simulation being programmed based on current driver technology. I would like to see a review hitting outside.

 

sent using MyGolfSpy mobile app

Someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure Rick hits balls out onto the range and was using his gamer throughout the test (prov1). He usually uses GC2 with HMT to make sure its pretty accurate as well. 

[PlaidJacket]

You're correct Under. I've watched quite a few of his vids. He's inside but hitting his shots out through the overhead door to a range of some type. He's showed this before. There are two clubs close by me that have a similar setup. Works great.

Plumley I don't think the results are effected by starting the shot indoors. I've tried this method more than once myself.