Krank Golf Formula Fire LD Driver Head

[Jcvanslyke]

So please forgive me for poor writing on my first review, and if you have any questions by all means reach out to me.

Recently I have gotten into Amateur Long Drive and have picked up 2 Krank LD Driver Heads. In trying to do research on them I found very little to no reviews on them, especially for the newer Formula Fires. Plus there have been a lot of questions around them since Bryson started gaming it as well and now there is a lot of curiosity.

So I'll start at this at the beginning of my journey going from the website to purchasing, price, then the tech, my opinions on sound, feel and performance.

WEBSITE:

So when you head over to the https://krankgolf.com/ site you are immediately hit in the face with a bit picture of the master of smash himself, Bryson framed into an ocean of Black and Red. At first glance, its a lot to ingest, they load it in with all the information on the home page, but for the most part its easy to navigate. They have a decent Automated Driver fitting tool which can help, I'll discuss the tech later on what they build around further in the review.

Purchasing and Price.

Purchasing is actually really easy, so when you go to buy either the Formula Fire Pro or Formula Fire LD (only difference between those two are the lofts provided and the weights in the back.) Both the LD and the Pro are USGA conforming.

When buying you get the option of purchasing either a full driver with a few shaft options or just the head.

The cool thing about buying just the head, is if you have a shaft with the Callaway Opti-Fit adapter, these drivers will fit on them. The heads always come with a fantastic headcover, torque wrench and their own adapter. But It's nice to be able to fit the head on an existing shaft and adapter if you have one, however I do suggest getting theirs mounted ASAP. I'll explain why in the tech section.

• Formula Fire Pro:
  • Lofts:
    • 7.5*
    • 9.0*
    • 10.5*
  • Shaft Options: Ranging from X-Stiff to Senior
    • Fujikura Speeder X Light
    • Fujikura Speeder X
  • Costs:
    • Full Build: $549
    • Head Only: $429
• Formula Fire LD
  • Lofts:
    • 4.0*
    • 5.0*
    • 6.0* (Bryson's Head)
  • Shaft Options: Ranging from X-Stiff to 4X-Stiff
    • Fujikura Flywire 1X and 3X Stiff
    • Fujikura Groove 2X to 4X Stiff
  • Costs:
    • Full Build: $699
    • Heads Only: $429

So straight up, they're on par cost wise with some of the top brands. Luckily they always have a sale of some sort going on knocking down the price 150 to 200 dollars. If you're a Veteran, they give an awesome discount as well.

TECH!!!

We will start from top to bottom and I'll explain to the best of my abilities what they're talking about as I go.

• Adapter
  • As I stated above, this head is compatible with the Callaway Opti-fit Adapter for Drivers (Same thread pitch and screw size). However I also said it would be wise to use Krank's own adapter for the following reasons.
  • The Adapter has a 3rd setting which allows you to adjust the lie angle of the head. You have multiple loft settings and also the ability to set it to either Draw or Fade bias is very apparent when at address. (I personally removed my opti-fit adapter and now use a Krank Adapter on my Paradym gamer head. HOWEVER: I needed to swap out the screw because the Callaway Screw doesn't seat far enough in to lock the head down. You can buy the screw from Home Depot or Lowes. It takes an .8x14mm Socket Cap Head screw). It's been nice to adjust the lie of my driver with out messing around with the loft.
• Head Construction:
  • The Krank Heads are solid Titanium, much like the Titleist TS,TSI,TSR lines, there is no carbon. However by feel the Krank Head weighs less.
  • Their Driver fitter tool is based around your swing speed. Because they select the head based on the face thickness for an optimal trampoline effect for the ball. Unfortunately I do not have the tools to test that theory. However the logic goes as follows
    • The faster the swing, the thicker the face.
    • This thing is built to spec, they do not mass produce these heads, it took a month for my head to be built and shipped to me.
  • This thing has a very Deep face, giving you a lot of surface area to make contact with the ball.
  • The face is made from hardened Beta-Titanium (used in Dental Tools, Aerospace frames, and medical tools)
  • This has Stabilizers similar to those of the Ping Drivers

SOUND, FEEL, PERFORMANCE:

• Sound:
  • This Driver sounds incredible. Out of the center has a very powerful and satisfying smashing sound upon impact. In my opinion much better than the TSR, the SIM2, Or the Paradym. 
  • Off Center hits are a little more muted upon impact.
• Feel:
  • Head weight wise, this head is very light, for a solid titanium it makes the Stealth and Stealth 2 feel like sledgehammers.
  • Upon impact, it feels effortless to launch the ball, there is no vibration or jolting feeling when you hit the face. You swing and the club just moves through the ball like a hot knife through butter.
• Address:
  • So the color scheme is not the worst. Just black and red.
  • The Stabilizers are running to the back of head vs Ping who runs them along the crown.
  • The face kinda made me laugh, they put a torch/fire type symbol in the center, which actually isn't distracting at all because you can't see it at address.
  • The Adapter sleeve makes visible changes in how the head sits at the ground which is a nice change.
• Performance:
  • I need to caveat this section due to the way I play. I have been doing Amateur Long Drive for 2 years now, and my swing speed is higher than the average joe, and creating higher ball speeds. I like the spin rate to be at about 2300 RPMs, also the heads I have are cranked down to 3* on a 47.25"House of Forged Ninja LD 230 Tipped Shaft, My current Handicap is 8.
  • On the course I love hitting this thing, I was able to hit 330 to 340 yard Fairway finders, and when I really stomped on it on a long open par 5, it carried 350+ and into the rough and stopped at 363. ( numbers recorded through Arccos and the cart GPS, and then divided and got the average)
  • In the Simulator, I was swinging at 135mph to 138mph, Spin was sitting at 2250 to 2300, Bad shots spun like mad and got up to 2700. Smash factor stayed around 1.47 to 1.48 on dead center hits, off the toe and heel, it went to 1.34 to 1.44.
  • Ball Speeds in the Sim were sitting at 195mph to 207mph
  • I do feel like I need to reiterate that I have been doing speed training and practicing long drive hence the speeds.
  • This head is ridiculously stable. With Ping and TaylorMade coming out with the 10k MOI driver series, Krank needs to come into the conversation. I have hit this head out toe, heel, center, high and low, and the head does not twist at all. It's stupidly stable. It's very apparent on the slow motion camera at the Simulator.

CONCLUSION

All in all, this is an incredible driver and I feel like it is slightly over looked. I have loved competing with this head, and also gaming it every once in a while when I felt like going a little nuts with a 3 degree driver on a regular length shaft. It sounds amazing, performs amazing, and I do not regret purchasing these Krank Drivers at all and They can hold their own against any of the large OEMs. Their support is without a doubt the best there is. They will reach out and make sure you're satisfied, happy, if there are questions, they'll happily answer them in a very short manner. Give them a chance.

[Upnorth920]

Thanks for taking the time to write this review! Question for you: There is a Fire LD head for sale near me, cheap- since they're custom made, do you think it's worth trying one made for someone else before jumping into buying a new one at my own specs?

 

Thanks, again!

[Jcvanslyke]

@Upnorth920 it depends on the spec. I find that getting the face thickness and loft that matches your swing is worth it. They're always doing discounts on their website.

But, depending on how cheap it is, maybe you can give it a hit, and see how you like it. Luckily they come in a wide range of lofts. If you have questions regarding their products, you can reach out to them and ask as well. They're service is fantastic about responding and answering questions.

3 hours ago, Upnorth920 said:

Thanks for taking the time to write this review! Question for you: There is a Fire LD head for sale near me, cheap- since they're custom made, do you think it's worth trying one made for someone else before jumping into buying a new one at my own specs?

 

Thanks, again!

 

[Upnorth920]

Awesome, thanks for the input!