Titleist may not come out with a new driver as
often
as some of the other manufacturers, but when
they
do release a new series of clubs they do it
right. We're talking about major engineering and
performance enhancements -- many of them
undetectable but some (like the new Active
Recoil
Channel) right there in front of you. Titleist’s
latest
series of drivers,
fairways, and hybrids is the 915 series.
If you’re playing a Titleist driver now,
you’re likely using one of the last two
releases, the 910 or 913. Both of these driver
models came in two models, the D2 and D3.
They
also featured the Sure-Fit hosel adaptor, which
was
called a “Tour van in a hosel” when it
first came out. A distinguishing feature of this
system is the ability it gives the player or club
fitter
to tune loft independent of lie.
The naming and hosel standards described
above hold true with the 915 series. The 915 D2
is a
460 cc head with a lower center-of-gravity and
the
most forgiveness. The 915 D3 is slightly
smaller at
440 cc and its setup will promote lower spin for
most
players. (In my case I averaged around 2500rpm
with the D2 and 2000 with the D3.) The
adjustable
weights from previous models can’t be used,
but that’s a fairly minor detail. If
you’re like most players you won’t
need to worry about putting your old shaft into
the
new head, but it’s nice to know that you can
if you wish.
Here we’ll review some of the major
enhancements and try to help you decide if
it’s time to invest in a 915 of your own. The
overall theme (and tagline of the 915) is
“Distance Without Compromise.”
Sounds pretty good, right?
If you’ve ever been fit for a driver you
know that club head speed is just one piece of
the
equation when trying to dial in your best driver.
The
others include efficiency (smash factor, or the
ratio
of your ball speed to your club head speed),
spin,
and launch angle. If you work hard to maximize
these conditions on your best hits, you might
sacrifice in other areas. For example what
happens
when you don’t catch the ball on the perfect
part of the face that provided you with the
perfect
numbers in the fitting session?
Titleist solves this problem in a number of
technical ways. Some of them you see, and
some
are beneath the surface. Let’s take a look at
some of the “tech stuff” that makes
915 tick.
ACTIVE RECOIL
CHANNEL
A new feature for Titleist, the Active Recoil
Channel, (a notch in the bottom of the club
behind
the face) is also the most physically
distinguishing
design element between the 915 and the older
models. The “ARC” allows the face to
recoil evenly from the crown and sole, instead of
recoiling more towards the crown with previous
models, which delivers more spin.
Active Recoil Channel provides the 915
drivers
with the ability to deliver lower spin and more
speed across a wider portion of the face. Yes,
your
off center hits should go straighter and farther.
LOW AND DEEP CENTER OF
GRAVITY
(CG) – HIGH MOMENT OF INTERTIA (MOI)
This conversation can get technical pretty
quickly, so allow me to summarize and provide
a
video from Titleist (below) that explains the
concept
in detail. The 915 series drivers have reduced
thickness up front, and that helps with
forgiveness,
without sacrificing distance. Indeed "Distance
without Sacrifice" is the theme of the entire
915 family of drivers, fairways, and hybrids.
LAUNCH MONITOR
TESTING
I started with the 915 D2, and got a nice
sample
of shots with very "playable" numbers.
Some people might be seeking out spin rates
under
2000 rpm, but I'm not one of them. So the
numbers
below work very well for me, at least on the
computer monitor:
After feeling pretty good about getting an
average carry of 262 yards, and total distance of
285, I moved over to the D3. Of note is that the
clubs I used have different shafts, so it's unfair
to
say it's the head alone that's responsible for the
changes, but pretty clearly the spin numbers are
reflective of the D3's different CG and smaller
size.
So how does it function out on the course?
On my first test round with the 915 (the D2
model) I was really pleased with the feel and
distance, even when I hit it off center. I noticed
this
on shots low on the clubface and off the heel
more
than anything – my slight toe shots with most
drivers tend to be low-spin draws and carry and
run
farther then my direct center hits. But I'm used
to
losing a lot on shots low on the clubface and off
the
heel and was really pleased with the 915's ability
to
keep these shots in the same range as the best
ones.
As for fairways hit, 915 is one of the most
accurate
drivers I've tried.
So there's definitely something to the
"Distance without Compromise" theme
I mentioned earlier.
To learn more about 915 drivers, visit the Titleist
website.