Popular Post LeakyValve Posted May 2 Popular Post Share Posted May 2 (edited) Hey Spies. Another review from yours truly today. In an effort to get the ball rolling quicker with the review I'll be adding as I go to the review itself, sort of like an on going review/test. This will be an Unofficial Review of the @haywoodgolf Driver! And test against my current gamer, the Mizuno ST200! Quick blurb about myself. I'm Leaky (Mike) and I'm a 9 HDCP leftie from Canada. I'm currently in the midst of a swing adjustment. I have a block push, and a nasty hook that comes out. And with the big stick. It's about the same. When I do make good contact and have the face square I can hit rockets. But my misses get me into alot of trouble. I'm currently trying to use my lower body a bit more to complete some rotation and take some stress off my arms and hands to get the club delivered well. 1000036594.20240424_125515_1.mp4 Sorry it's so short. Need to lower quality a bit to make the videos less size. WHY THE HAYWOOD DRIVER?! I was fortunate enough to win the Haywood Driver in their Masters contest. Having to pick the green jacket winner and their score and tag a few friends. I've never been glued to a golfer as much as I was when Scottie made Birdie on 16 to get to -11. Praying for 2 easy pars down the stretch. After some investigating what my options were for shafts and such I decided to go a step stiffer in the flex department since my swing can get up to 120 mph + at times. I find that the ST can get that reverse flex in it. As for my grip I asked Haywood to send me their Midsize grip in the box uninstalled, since I will be putting on one of my Star Grips I was able to use from the Star Grips MGS review. Since I want to test these two drivers against eachother I want to make things a bit closer. Haywood was super easy to deal with. Though I wish they would have sent me a message when they were getting ready to ship as I had mentioned I would pay for express shipping to get it quicker. After a few weeks of waiting. It finally arrived. And boy is it pretty. First some tech from the Haywood site. The driver is simply named, "Driver." It is super minimal in its design. Features a carbon fibre crown that's surrounded by an 811 titanium body. A forged titanium face. Some internal channeling to help with acoustics and a 15 gram weight in the back to help with CG and MOI. The driver also came with a slick head cover. Adjustment tool and a bag of Haywood branded tees. The hozel is adjustable and can take the 9* head up or down 1.5* total. As well as more upright. I'll be setting both drivers at 10.5* going forward. Also offered from Haywood if you wanted to, there's a weight set you can buy for $15 that gives you a 5/10/20g weights. The driver itself would run you $400 CAD for just the head. And $475 for a complete driver. With a good selection of shafts to pick from for free and a few more for an upcharge. From the reviews I watched I never got the sense that this driver was trying to be "the next best thing". Testing done by Haywood has the driver performing similar to a Stealth (first gen). Which might be a step up from the ST200. Time will tell. FIRST IMPRESSIONS! The club came in a branded Haywood box. No damage on the box at all which was a good sign. The shaft was set in 2 pieces of foam as well. At first glance, down the shaft at address you're greeted with a familiar look to the Callaway Paradym and TM Stealth and Sim line, with the titanium wrapping up on to the crown. Where the top of the face ends, the matte finished body meets the carbon top. It's extremely minimal. So much to the point where there isn't even an alignment aid on the top of the club. Only the markings on the face to show the ball being in the centre of the face. Something I personally like in terms of looks. The head itself , to my eye, looks super square at address. And the head shape reminds me of the more "pear" shaped head that the Sim2 Max has. Having hit that driver as well I'm starting to have high hopes. Compare this to the more rounded profile of my ST200 For those who are interested here are the actual specs of the driver Loft - 9* (10.5 for testing) Lie - 56* Volume - 460cc Standard length - 45.25" Shaft - HZRDUS black gen4 x-stiff As for the Mizuno Loft - 9.5* (10.5 for testing) Lie - 56.5* Volume - 460cc Standard length - 45" Shaft - Mitsu Chem Diamana S60 Grips are the same. Star Grips Sidewinders in midsize. 2 wraps of tape on bottom hand and 1 full length. TESTING PROCESS! For testing, I of course want to get into a sim and get some raw numbers. Mostly looking at spin rate. Distance. And dispersion. However I'd like to pivot a bit more towards an "on course" test. Answering questions like "Do I have more confidence? Do I hit more fairways? Is it longer?". I know that I can hit things over 300 yds. But if there is a tighter dispersion and maybe a bit less distance that's a win in my book. When I play I'm going to try and be quick about taking both drivers to the tee. And hitting 2 shots. Alternating which driver goes first as to not get a bad swing out of the way before ripping one. As for a "review" I'm going to wait a bit to finalize everything. Get a few rounds in. Some sim data and put the club through the ringer. However. In terms of aesthetics and the unboxing process. I'm very impressed so far. I recently bought a matching set of head covers for my driver and hybrids and I don't think I'll be using the driver one for the Haywood. This head cover is too nice. Haywood themselves were great to chat with for getting everything dealt with in terms of the contest and getting my order in. And the driver is, well, the perfect amount of new style meets timeless look. The look at address really has me excited to get on the tee and stand behind the ball. I do have 2 points of concern in terms of " keeping it even" , one point being the difference in shaft flex. I currently play x-stiff shafts in my irons and I feel like they have made a difference. So I'm curious to see if I should have been in an X shaft for the driver a while ago. And second, the length difference. It's only .25 of an inch but we will see. Maybe added forgiveness from a stiff shaft plus added distance from a longer shaft can equal my best shots with the ST200. May 1, 2024. Fortunate to have a free evening to get into the sim and play a round at TPC Louisiana. Didn't go into the round with any expectations. Just wanted to hit both drivers and see if there was any difference. Safe to say I don't think the Mizuno will last very long in the bag. I don't even know where to start. I'll kick off by saying I really believe the shaft makes a difference. There were a few shots I caught off the toe and heel and the ball just went in that direction. Not alot of draw or fade in the ball just straight in the direction I hit it. This is a bit of a good sign for me as the misses I have right now are snap hooks and huge slices. I feel like with the stiff shaft those misses get amplified alot. The head on the Haywood is lovely behind the ball. But it's the impact that has me absolutely sold right now. The shots I hit off the heel and toe just went. Again. Might be down to the shaft. But still. Everything felt super solid. And the sound. Oh baby the sound. I'll try to post two videos here. Green grip is the Haywood. Grey is the Mizuno. The Haywood sounds so clean. Like a smack. No. More like a rocket. While the Mizuno sounds a bit tingy with a solid impact. I was hoping the Haywood would sound how it does and I'm really happy with it. I'm curious how the sound will change on the course with a bit more space around me instead of being inside a room. 20240501_203115.mp4 The Mizuno 20240501_203147_001.mp4 The Haywood All in all for a first outing I'm super impressed. I know I need to work on a few things in terms of swing and alignment but they will come in time. I need to work at lining the ball up a bit more towards the toe so at impact I make more solid contact when I reach a bit during my swing. I'm going to try and play 2 balls off the tee this Friday. And get some numbers with the Grint app and the shotscope. Really excited to play and keep going!! Edited May 2 by LeakyValve cksurfdude, CFreddie, Rob Person and 11 others 7 1 1 5 Quote "We're weekend golfers. Of course we just buy gear off the racks and wonder why it doesn't work" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GolfSpy_APH Posted May 2 Share Posted May 2 I love the look of the Haywood Driver and will one day get my hands on one. Thanks for sharing do far and I will be eagerly following along! bama no 1, TJ Hall, haywoodgolf and 6 others 8 1 Quote as of Nov 6, 2023 (Past WITB) Driver: Paradym TD w/ GD ADDI 6X Driver Shootout! Wood: F7 3 wood 14.5* w/ Motore F1 Shaft Irons: T Series - T200 5 Iron T150 6-9 Iron T100 PW/GW Wedge: Toura Golf - A Spec 53,37,61 degree Putter: Mezz Max! Balls: Vice Pro Plus Drip (Blue/Orange) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FallenSaber Posted May 2 Share Posted May 2 As far as aesthetics goes, I do like the look of the Haywood. Kind of reminds me of a PXG look or the Cobra Darkspeed. Nice work on the initial review and congratulations on winning the club! cksurfdude, CFreddie, bama no 1 and 5 others 7 1 Quote Driver: Epic Max LS 3 Wood: Gen 5 0311XF Hybrid: Gen 5 0311 XF 22 degree Irons: 2022 XCOR2 0211 5-GW Wedges: R Series 54° & 60° Putter: 2023 Test: Garmin Approach S70 47mm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Parker Posted May 2 Share Posted May 2 Great job so far and I'm looking forward to following along on this one. LeakyValve, TJ Hall, cksurfdude and 1 other 4 Quote Titleist GT3 11* Tensei 1k blue Titleist TSR2 4w 16* Titleist TSR2 5w 18.75* MKII ZX 5's (4-6) w/ KBS Tour V MKII ZX 7's (7-PW) w/ KBS Tour V Vokey SM9 Wedges 50* 54* 58* DF2.1 Putter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJ Hall Posted May 2 Share Posted May 2 Very nice write up…it is a clean looking driver. LeakyValve, cksurfdude, haywoodgolf and 1 other 3 1 Quote TaylorMade SIM 2 Max Driver TaylorMade Sim Ti 3 wood Titleist U505 Hybrid (3H) TaylorMade Tour Preferred CB Irons (4-PW) Vokey SM8 Wedges (52/56/60) Odyssey Ai-ONE 7S Putter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WisecrackWard Posted May 2 Share Posted May 2 In person it usually sounds way different, but you're right, the Haywood driver sound way better from those videos you posted. Crazy! LeakyValve, cksurfdude, haywoodgolf and 2 others 4 1 Quote Taylor Made M4 Ping i10s 10 handicap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Person Posted May 2 Share Posted May 2 Fantastic ongoing review! (Unofficially, of course. ) Can you adjust the loft and lie of the club or just the one asjustment? TJ Hall, LeakyValve and cksurfdude 3 Quote WITB- Driver -Titleist 910D, 3w- Titleist 910F, 5hy/7hy- Titleist 910H, 6-PW - Stix , 52⁰, 56⁰, 60⁰ - Stix , Putter- AI-ONE DB / Lombardi Tour 34 custom Just an old newbie golfer, trying to learn and improve 1 club at a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WisecrackWard Posted May 2 Share Posted May 2 2 hours ago, TJ Hall said: Very nice write up…it is a clean looking driver. Yeah it's super clean I thought too! Didn't expect much else from Takomo at this point though. TJ Hall, Rob Person and LeakyValve 3 Quote Taylor Made M4 Ping i10s 10 handicap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFreddie Posted May 2 Share Posted May 2 7 hours ago, FallenSaber said: As far as aesthetics goes, I do like the look of the Haywood. Kind of reminds me of a PXG look or the Cobra Darkspeed. Nice work on the initial review and congratulations on winning the club! Was just about to point out the same thing on the crown - looks just like a Darkspeed. Great review @LeakyValve!!! LeakyValve, FallenSaber, cksurfdude and 2 others 5 Quote Driver: Paradym with Ventus TR Blue 60 Stiff Fairways: Aerojet Max 3W & 7W with Hzrdus Smoke Blue RDX 70 Stiff Hybrid: King TEC 5H with KBS PGI 95 Stiff Irons: Forged TEC 5-PW with KBS Tour Lite Stiff Wedges: Haywood Signature Raw Wedges (50 / 54 / 58) Putter: L.A.B. DF3 (aka "Chewie") Ball: 2023 Maxfli Tour Reviews: L.A.B. DF3 Cobra 50th Anniversary Member Testing Callaway Paradym Titleist White Box Testing (2023) Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5.5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeakyValve Posted May 2 Author Share Posted May 2 (edited) Thank you all for the kind words. Getting real excited to hammer this thing. I hadn't even thought about the dark speed but looking at pictures it's real close Edited May 2 by LeakyValve TJ Hall, cksurfdude and Rob Person 3 Quote "We're weekend golfers. Of course we just buy gear off the racks and wonder why it doesn't work" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeakyValve Posted May 2 Author Share Posted May 2 (edited) @Rob Person the hozel will go up or down .75 and 1.5 degrees. And upright 4*. I'll have to do a bit more digging to see what else it can do ** I just checked on theit site. On the driver spec tab, the only things mentioned are the lofts going up or down and the lie going up 4* Edited May 2 by LeakyValve WisecrackWard, TJ Hall, Rob Person and 1 other 2 2 Quote "We're weekend golfers. Of course we just buy gear off the racks and wonder why it doesn't work" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randall Robbins Posted May 2 Share Posted May 2 Club looks good - only negative is that it and you are on the wrong side of the ball! Rob Person, LeakyValve, cksurfdude and 1 other 4 Quote Driver : Sub70 839D 3 wood Sub 70 pro Hybrid Sub 70 849 18* Hybrid Sub 70 839 21* Irons Sub 70 639 combo Wedges Sub 70 659 approach 50*, 286 full face groove 54* Putter FGP Ball Titleist AVX Grips: Best Grips std leather Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cksurfdude Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 9 hours ago, LeakyValve said: And upright 4*. 4 degrees lie angle adjustment?? That seems huge on a driver! But great start, really interesting read LeakyValve and Rob Person 2 Quote WITB of an "aspiring" play-ah ... Driver...Callaway Paradym AI Smoke Max (Grafalloy ProLaunch Blue 45/A) 3H...Cobra King Tec (MMT 70/R) 7W...Tour Edge Exotics EXS (Tensei CK Blue 50/R) 4H...Callaway Epic Super Hybrid (Recoil ZT9 F3) 5H...Callaway Big Bertha '19 (Recoil 460 ESX F3) 6i-GW...Sub 70 699 V2 (Recoil 660 F3) SW, LW...Mizuno ES21 54-08, 60-06 (KBS Hi Rev 2.0) Putter...MLA Tour XDream or EvnRoll ER5 ...all in a Bag Boy hybrid bag on an MGI Zip Navigator. ..ball often, not always, MaxFli Tour. Or "found" Pro V1. Forum Member tester for the Paradym X driver (2023) Forum Member tester for the ExPutt Putting Simulator (2020) Other tests: MLA putter; Cleveland Hi Bore driver; Ben Hogan hybrids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeakyValve Posted May 3 Author Share Posted May 3 (edited) @cksurfdude I think so too. To compare to the Mizuno sleeve. I think the Haywood would do something similar. Though they only post as it going 4 upright Edited May 3 by LeakyValve Rob Person 1 Quote "We're weekend golfers. Of course we just buy gear off the racks and wonder why it doesn't work" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haywoodgolf Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 (edited) 15 hours ago, cksurfdude said: 4 degrees lie angle adjustment?? That seems huge on a driver! But great start, really interesting read Happy to share additional details on this: Most OEM's have multiple settings, as the lofts change, so do the lie angles (usually 0.25/0.75º) As an example, if you look at the TM spec chart, their upright is also 4º and will show the lie angle changing at all various settings. Edited May 3 by haywoodgolf Rob Person, LeakyValve, WisecrackWard and 1 other 4 Quote Official account of Haywood Golf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeakyValve Posted May 4 Author Share Posted May 4 @haywoodgolf thanks for stepping in here!! Rob Person 1 Quote "We're weekend golfers. Of course we just buy gear off the racks and wonder why it doesn't work" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeakyValve Posted May 4 Author Share Posted May 4 Little cool this evening running around 10* C. Wind was pushing a bit to. Only played 9 and was only able to hit driver 3 times. I know, weird, but alot of the holes on the course I played are dog legs where I can comfortably play a long iron to inside 150 from the back tees. Played with a Bridgestone Tour X B or BX or whatever it is. First hole I hit driver, was hole 3. Long-ish par 4 that is wide open on the left side where it bends. You can be aggressive and rip away at the lone tree on the left side. A big shot left will have you digging in the fescue, especially when it grows in. And to the right it's the same on the hills. I was only nervous to hit the shot since I didn't want to go ob. Needless to say. I got all of it. Wind was pushing hard left to right and I hit it a bit low and in the heel. It was trying to fade but I believe the wind held it a bit. lv_0_20240503205925.mp4 My god. The sound. It's unreal Next chance to hit driver was a long par 5. Dog legs left then right. Usually I play the hole as long as I can straight to take my second shot from the rough. This usually leaves me a mid iron into this green. Keeping in mind I'm usually playing a tee box up. I got harassed when I played from the blues last time.... This hole I ended up hitting 2. One was my typical big ballooning slice. Which landed further left than on the picture but I think roughly the same distance. Amplified by the right to left wind and it was gonzo. But still super solid contact feeling. Sound was incredible. And I think without the wind it would have held a bit better. Second shot was a stock fade that comes out. Wind pushed it left more than a would have liked. Didn't fly as far but I'm not complaining. Last was a straight up par 4. Trouble left with big trees that are between OB and the fairway. Making a miss left double bad as it's tough to clear the suckers if you're there. I figured the ball would cut a bit since it was doing that for the other ones and played for it. The wind behind me didn't help my cause as it pushed it a bit more left than I would have liked. Had the tree not stopped it, the ball would have been gone forever. But also gone deeper than it shows. I cannot wait to get back to the course to play more. I'm excited to pull driver. Now I will admit. I fully believe that the shaft is making a bit of a difference in terms of misses. This proved true indoors especially with the lower heel and toe hits. It feels like the face still stayed square. However. The Haywood still is the point of contact. And even with the lower heel hits. The ball still rockets away. Compared to the Mizuno when I get that kind of contact it feels a bit flat. Or dull. Mute maybe? However you can think of it, it's not solid. So far the driver is holding its own against my wants from a big stick. Might have to stick it in the hands of a few friends to see if it's any better than their "Big 4" drivers. Shrek74, haywoodgolf, PrayingForPar and 4 others 7 Quote "We're weekend golfers. Of course we just buy gear off the racks and wonder why it doesn't work" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeakyValve Posted July 20 Author Share Posted July 20 Quick little update on the Driver. It's been performing really well. My swing hasn't helped my cause. But the positive here is that the ball kinda goes a mile. As much as it pains me to say I'm not the best to be using that old saying about just hitting as far as you can and chipping or pitching from the rough to get on in 2. Tracking my stats I play far better hitting fairways and greens in reg. But with some numbers like these I think maybe I can work on the short game. Currently a have a bit of a deep fade. Maybe a bit more of a push. I know this is a swing issue and I'm working it out. But the Driver just goes. Even on misses. It just goes. It's held up extremely well in terms of the face and sole as well. A quick scrub with a light brush and it looks good as new. Haven't had any sky balls so that's a positive too. Shrek74, KC Golf, Josh Parker and 1 other 4 Quote "We're weekend golfers. Of course we just buy gear off the racks and wonder why it doesn't work" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrayingForPar Posted July 29 Share Posted July 29 Too bad you can't swap shafts to see how much of a role the shaft is playing in the process. LeakyValve 1 Quote Cobra Aerojet MAX 9* Cobra Air X 3 Wood Cobra BioCell 7 Wood Sub 70 699 Pro 4-AW Cleveland CG 56* Odyssey White Hot Rossie Ball: Maxfli Tour X Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Parker Posted July 29 Share Posted July 29 Smoking those drives! KC Golf 1 Quote Titleist GT3 11* Tensei 1k blue Titleist TSR2 4w 16* Titleist TSR2 5w 18.75* MKII ZX 5's (4-6) w/ KBS Tour V MKII ZX 7's (7-PW) w/ KBS Tour V Vokey SM9 Wedges 50* 54* 58* DF2.1 Putter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeakyValve Posted July 29 Author Share Posted July 29 @WilliamYates I agree. I wish I could just go swap at the range and see. @Josh Parker Thanks!!!! Quote "We're weekend golfers. Of course we just buy gear off the racks and wonder why it doesn't work" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KC Golf Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 18 hours ago, LeakyValve said: @WilliamYates I agree. I wish I could just go swap at the range and see. @Josh Parker Thanks!!!! Driving a 347 par 4 is unreal. Haywood is knocking it out of the park! There is nothing leaking there! LeakyValve and PrayingForPar 1 1 Quote TSR 3 9.0 Autoflex 405x - Official Tester 2024 TSi 3 15.0 GD Tour AD - DI 6S Stiff Utility 2 Iron 18.0 - Nippon NS Pro 650GH Stiff / TS3 21 Hybrid Tensei AV Blue 65 HY Stiff 4 - 9 101T Irons - KBS Tour Lite Stiff - Official Tester 2023 Vokey SM9 46 F - 10 BV105 Stiff Vokey SM9 52 F - 12 Nippon NS Pro 950 Stiff Vokey Forged (Japan) 56 M - 10 DG S200 MG3 60 - 12 - Nippon NS Modus3 Tour 105 Stiff Champions Choice Newport 2+ Button Back - 35” / Pistolini Plus Z-Star Diamond Players 4 bag Official Tester - 2021 & Current Club Sensor User Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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