Driver Shootout - Make the Bag!

[GolfSpy_APH]

All 3 drivers are in hand and now it is time to get into it and spend the next few months testing, playing and enjoying the process of what will end up making the bag for next season and what will end up on the Buy & Sell. 

Meet the competition

Titleist Tsi3 9* w/ Fubuki 60 xct Stiff 1/4" long weight set in the back neurtal position. Sleeve in .75* more loft and flat (B4 for a lefty).

PXG 0211 9* w/ Project X HZRDUS Smoke Blue RDX 6.0 60. Sleeve Neutral, loft standard (for the moment). 

Callaway Max LS 10.5* w/ Aldila Rogue Max 65 gram Stiff, Sleeve N/S weight slightly toe side. 

A little history for the clubs and some finer details. All the clubs are using mid size grips and were purchased either on amazing deals or second hand. The Callaway was a demo that was 40% off and was just too hard of a deal to pass up. It replaced the Mavrik SubZero that had replaced the Epic SubZero which cracked. The Mavrik has since been sold and although I loved the shape of the driver the forgiveness of the Epic was too hard to pass up plus the added adjustability was important for me. 

The Callaway Max LS has 3 or 4 rounds of play and has done well. It is a far improvement over the Mavrik and I have had one of my best rounds ytd with it at a difficult course. The biggest flaw I have seen is the short hits are quite short. 

The Titleist has 2 rounds of play and has been a great club so far. The sound/feel and flight is preferred and I would argue is equally if not more forgiving than the Callaway. In the 2 rounds it has performed really well and particularily on shorter hits has been 5-10% longer than the Callaway in those same situations or strikes. 

The PXG is untested, unhit and just arrived. 

My plan is to use Trackman, GC3 and or TopTracer to get my data. The first two will cost some money to use where TopTracer is free. I know it isn't as accurate, however it can allow me to get a sense of how it is performing. I do not know how much on course play these will get, maybe only a couple more rounds this season so a lot will depend on numbers. 

I want to have some fun with this so the Top Tracer 30 and Driving Challenge are going to be the main areas of focus and the scores that are achieved with them. 

As for initial thoughts and impressions on aesthetics, well I like them all truly. The shape of the Titleist is easily the best, however I do like the top looks of both the Callaway and PXG with not just being straight black. The additional adjustability of Callaway and Titleist is a big plus as I am a tinkerer and enjoy. 

Here are some other glamour shots. Don't forget to fill out the polls above and let me know what you think? The winner of the shootout at the end much like our Black Jacket Banner will get the MGS Headcover!

Titleist Tsi3

PXG 0211 

Callaway Epic Max LS

The Bag and Headcovers

 

[GolfSpy_BNG]

My votes are in. Should be a fun shootout. I don’t necessarily love the looks of the PXG headcover but that magnet in there is a cool feature so it got my vote. 

[GolfSpy_APH]

59 minutes ago, blackngold_blood said:

My votes are in. Should be a fun shootout. I don’t necessarily love the looks of the PXG headcover but that magnet in there is a cool feature so it got my vote. 

Magnet? Haven't found out noticed that yet. 

 

[GolfSpy_BOS]

My heart is pulling for the Epic Max LS, but my brain says the TSi3 is going in the bag. 
 

the TSi headcover takes the win, well… outside of the MGS cover that is!

[GolfSpy_BNG]

4 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Magnet? Haven't found out noticed that yet. 

 

It’s inside the headcover on the opposite side of the PXG logo. Allows you to hook it to your cart while you hit

[GolfSpy_APH]

First impressions of the PXG 0211

Solid driver. Looks great and without question has fantastic aesthetics for a driver. Sound is certainly louder and more along the lines of an aluminum bat vs the composite thud or muted sounds that we so often hear from drivers these days. 

Feel in terms of strike location was also really good. I certainly knew where I had made contact with each strike and there was also a noticeable audible difference too. 

So that is the good, next is the not so sure yet. 

Head to head numbers vs the others it is lacking a little in ball speed. It never was able to crack 156 mph where the Tsi normally lives in that range or higher. It took a few swings to get into, but flights were good enough I'll say. It is set to 9 and I had no issues getting the ball in the air. However without question off center strikes are penalized heavily. 

Overall good, not great. It will of course get more time to see where it stands and how it stacks up, however there is a clear leader in the clubhouse and one that will take some great performances to be knocked off. I will never say never though!

PXG made a good product here and one that will suit and work for many and doesn't give up that much in performance. It was fun to hit and looks appealing. My round today got cancelled where it was going to go into play and not sure if I will get out again this season so it may be range time only to decide if it makes the bag or even a backup bag. 

[Golfspy_TCB]

I have owned the PXG 0211, and still own the 0811x Proto.  Unfortunately I haven't (yet) owned the Cally Epic Max LS... But the TSi3 has been a winner for me all around since I added it to the bag last year.  Only to be replaced recently by the TSR3... So I have to give the nod to the TSi3 for all categories above.  But bottom line, I think you could game any one of those three and be in great shape off the tee.

[fozcycle]

Rooting for the PXG 0211, because that's my Driver.....

[Micah T]

The Tsi3 is just so clean: looks, sound, feel are all top notch. It didn’t win my driver derby, but it’s always a contender in any contest…

[ClarkWGriswoldIII]

I'm quite concerned that the heads seem to be on backwards.    

[GolfSpy_APH]

Enjoyed this video and felt like it is what I have been doing and going through over the last number of years. What one was your favorite of the bunch or did he leave any out that you would put in?

[Syks7]

I figure this is as good a place as any to drop and update on the 2021 0211 since I'm curious as to how you're getting along with it.  I'm loving it, my cousin is struggling with it (Hzrdus smoke black 7.0 for him Tensei Raw Blue 75 S for me).  

My early opinion after 5 rounds is that I have a keeper.  To me it's the most forgiving driver I've ever hit.  Something I was not aware that I desperately needed.  It's giving me a lot of confidence off the tee and no matter where I seem to hit on the face I seem to get a positive result that moves down the fairway to a reasonable if not amazing distance. Heel strikes turn into low fades, toe strikes seem to be straight pulls.  Neither of which goes way off line (not the case on my 2016 M2 where a toe hook was catastrophic and a heel strike went 190 yards).  Even the slice is not that bad when I deliver the face open.  When I hit it in the center which is surprisingly often it doesn't look or sound like much but then it just keeps going.  I've had a couple nearly 300 yard pokes in the last two rounds.  The head has a huge part of that but I think I nailed it with shaft selection.  The face is where I expect it to be at impact 90% of the time.  The worst that happens it when my tempo gets wonky and that's when those toe, heel, and open face strikes come into play.

My dispersion has really tightened up because of this.  Last round I hit 9/12 fairways (round cut short) and the one before that one 10/14.  The misses haven't been very far off and the most telling part is that I haven't hit a ball OB, into a hazard, or lost one yet off the tee (that isn't going to last but it's fun to say).  Time will tell, but the more I swing it the more I seem to be able to get out of it.  The only thing I'm not crazy about is the sound.

[GolfSpy_APH]

44 minutes ago, Syks7 said:

I figure this is as good a place as any to drop and update on the 2021 0211 since I'm curious as to how you're getting along with it.  I'm loving it, my cousin is struggling with it (Hzrdus smoke black 7.0 for him Tensei Raw Blue 75 S for me).  

My early opinion after 5 rounds is that I have a keeper.  To me it's the most forgiving driver I've ever hit.  Something I was not aware that I desperately needed.  It's giving me a lot of confidence off the tee and no matter where I seem to hit on the face I seem to get a positive result that moves down the fairway to a reasonable if not amazing distance. Heel strikes turn into low fades, toe strikes seem to be straight pulls.  Neither of which goes way off line (not the case on my 2016 M2 where a toe hook was catastrophic and a heel strike went 190 yards).  Even the slice is not that bad when I deliver the face open.  When I hit it in the center which is surprisingly often it doesn't look or sound like much but then it just keeps going.  I've had a couple nearly 300 yard pokes in the last two rounds.  The head has a huge part of that but I think I nailed it with shaft selection.  The face is where I expect it to be at impact 90% of the time.  The worst that happens it when my tempo gets wonky and that's when those toe, heel, and open face strikes come into play.

My dispersion has really tightened up because of this.  Last round I hit 9/12 fairways (round cut short) and the one before that one 10/14.  The misses haven't been very far off and the most telling part is that I haven't hit a ball OB, into a hazard, or lost one yet off the tee (that isn't going to last but it's fun to say).  Time will tell, but the more I swing it the more I seem to be able to get out of it.  The only thing I'm not crazy about is the sound.

I haven't been out since my initial hit with it so not much to report. Life has been busy and weather not cooperating so still tbd! Glad to hear you are getting on well with yours. I think the biggest thing for me will be the sound vs the Tsi. The tsi sounds so freaking good and the PXG is much louder. However in the end it is pure performance that truly matters. 

[Hobert]

I’ve never played a Titleist driver, but the shape of the head suits my eye much more than the PXG and a bit more than the Callaway (at least from photos). Looking forward to reading more…

[GolfSpy_APH]

10 minutes ago, Hobert said:

I’ve never played a Titleist driver, but the shape of the head suits my eye much more than the PXG and a bit more than the Callaway (at least from photos). Looking forward to reading more…

Titleist may have found the perfect sweet spot with the tsi3. I saw it compared to the Tsr3 and think I would lean towards the tsi3 or ts2. Sorry if I mentioned that earlier, but yeah it is a near perfect shape driver imo. 

[Golfspy_TCB]

12 minutes ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Titleist may have found the perfect sweet spot with the tsi3. I saw it compared to the Tsr3 and think I would lean towards the tsi3 or ts2. Sorry if I mentioned that earlier, but yeah it is a near perfect shape driver imo. 

Having swung the TSR3 for several weeks now (coming from the TSi3), It now feels like home... but I can't disagree with your comments about the TSi3 head... They really couldn't improve on that... anything else is just different... not better.  

[GolfSpy_APH]

Haven't been to the range since late November so not much an update here. Hoping that I can maybe play tomorrow or at least start getting back to some range sessions as well as take a lesson or two. 

However in a pretty easy take so far the Tsi3 is leading, however the shaft is still tbd. 

PXG 0211 is a close second with the Epic Max LS being about .5% behind it.