2007 Square Driver Vs 2023 Driver | Test And Review - video Dailymotion

Golf Monthly

Retro Review video series is where we’ll go back through time and look at some iconic pieces of equipment to see if they still stack up against their modern day equivalents.  First up is the Callaway Fusion FT-i driver, which caused quite a stir back in 2006 when it launched. When you take the headcover off, it soon becomes apparent why… It's square! We test it up against last year's Callaway Paradym driver to see how it compares and if there's still some merit to the concept today.

Transcript

00:00Okay, welcome back to Golf Monthly and a new series that we're doing called Retro Review,

00:04where we're going to be taking some game-changing equipment from its time, some iconic stuff,

00:08and comparing it to its modern counterparts. We've partnered up with Golf Club for Cash,

00:13one of the leading retailers of pre-loved equipment, and they've supplied us with some

00:17absolute gems to test. So if you want to check those guys out, look in the description below.

00:21Without further ado, let's get straight into it. Okay, so first up we've got an absolute classic,

00:26and it is the Callaway F-Fusion FTI driver. Now this was released in 2006 and at a retail price

00:34back then of £400. We've picked it up for the bargain price of £63.99. Now, first off,

00:42the elephant in the room, you might have noticed, it's square. Now that might put a few people off,

00:46I actually quite like the visual, I like the straight lines, they do a lot for me in terms of

00:49alignment, and I actually really enjoy that. Now this was in the bag of players like Phil Mickelson,

00:55Ernie Els at the time, so he was actually a really popular driver on tour. Now the tech story behind

01:00this is a super high MOI, so they put a lot of weight back to create a really stable driver on

01:06mishits, so really, really forgiving. But as a high-speed player, generally higher MOI drivers,

01:12I can spin a bit more, so I can get a little bit excessive spin, so it'll be interesting to see how

01:16that pans out in the testing. To explain the MOI a little bit, I always like the analogy, if I tried

01:21to push you over, and you were just stood like this, it's going to be fairly easy for me. If all

01:26of a sudden you put a foot back, and you've got more weight and stability back, you're going to be

01:30more stable and more difficult to push over. So that's the principle behind the FTI, I'm going to

01:34head to the range, get a few away, and get some initial impressions.

01:49Okay, so we've come down to the range now at the Oxfisher Golf Club, and it's probably a good time

01:53to introduce what we're kind of pairing the FTI to. So we've got the standard Callaway Paradigm.

01:58When you put them down beside one another, the contrast in looks is pretty stark. Obviously,

02:03the FTI is square, so there's a huge difference straightaway, but also the face is quite onset

02:08from the hosel. The hosel goes in quite a long way behind the face, which is quite an interesting look.

02:13So yeah, two very, very different looking drives. I'm going to hit a couple away now

02:16to start to get an idea of the feel and the sound from the FTI.

02:30So first of all, acoustically, pretty, pretty audible there. It's a very loud noise that comes

02:37off the face. I hope that was picked up on screen, because that is a very, very loud

02:41sound, and it did feel quite, almost like a hollow quality to it, quite, yeah, it's quite unique.

02:47So let's have another go.

02:53Yeah, I really hope you can pick that up on the audio, because it is pretty offensive. We've got

02:57a few people on the range here. I hope I'm not disturbing their practice with that noise. So

03:01yeah, let's compare and contrast the paradigm. So it should be a very different feel.

03:11So yeah, that's just a completely different gravy in terms of feel. Much more muted,

03:20a much deeper sensation off the face. It's really, really very different. So I think it

03:25feels a lot more sophisticated than its older counterpart, but be interesting to see how the

03:29performance goes. So probably at this point, it's a good time to pop up some data on the screen

03:35and have a little chat about what we saw when testing the two. So as you'll probably see here,

03:40FTI had a significant amount more spin, which is probably to do with the MOI, the increased MOI

03:46on the club head weight back, increasing that spin, increasing the stability and reducing curvature,

03:51which also alludes to why it's probably a little bit tighter in dispersion. As you can see from the

03:55paradigm, ball speed up, spin down. So I was getting a lot more carry distance and total distance out of

04:01it. But yeah, some interesting numbers to compare there. Let's see how it goes on the course.

04:05Okay, so I'm going to start with the FTI, and then the 10th hole is a little dogleg right,

04:09longish par 4. So I'm just going to hit a couple away, take some data and see where we are.

04:20Little fade, started left side, cutting back, just going to make the fairway, quite floaty.

04:28Now these balls are marked with an F, so I can check where they end up down the fairway,

04:32or hopefully the fairway.

04:42Very similar to the first one, could be on top of it in fact.

04:44Again, seeing a fair bit of spin. Let's go again.

05:01Just a touch further left than the other two, so we're going to stay in the left semi,

05:05but really similar flight window. Okay, so let's hit a couple away now with the paradigm and see

05:10how that compares. It's worth noting that there is a slightly stiffer shaft in this. This is extra

05:14stiff as opposed to the stiff in the FTI, and we're very similar in loft. This is 9 and that's 9.5,

05:19but worth noting those differences. So let's see how it goes.

05:22A little out the heel, just started straight, cutting onto the right edge of the fairway, that one.

05:35A little bit more fade than the FTI. Let's go again.

05:41Okay, that's pretty comparable line-wise to the ones I hit with FTI. Again, just down the left half

05:55of the fairway there. Certainly lowering spin, it was a bit more of a penetrating ball flight.

06:01All right, let's try the last one. And similar to the first one there, a little bit of an over fade,

06:14started straight, just going to the right edge of the fairway. So it'll be interesting to see

06:18where those are distance-wise. Okay, so we've come down the hole to actually see where those shots

06:22have ended up now, and I've already taken a look at the data, and there were some interesting points,

06:26probably most notably, we had ball speed, spin, and carry distance. And I'll get onto that in just a

06:32moment. But firstly, if you can see here, I've got quite a nice tight grouping with the FTI. I've got

06:36two on the bank and one just probably five or six yards further right up the fairway. A really nice

06:41tight grouping, but what I did notice is with the additional spin that the FTI was creating,

06:47curvature was minimal. So that's great if you are trying to hit a straight shot. I was setting up for a

06:50cut here. So if you are thinking of going to a higher MOI driver or a square driver like FTI,

06:56you might want to start reconsidering some start lines and where to set the ball out,

07:01because they started great exactly where I was aiming, but didn't deviate as much as I would

07:04hope. When you go over to the paradigm, moving up the hole here, I've got two in the fairway over

07:10there on the far corner. So they actually cut with the shape of the hole like I wanted to. It had a

07:14little bit less backspin, which helps you facilitate a little bit more curvature. It stops,

07:19it sort of allows the spin axis to be altered more. And when you've got a lot of spin with FTI,

07:23that spin axis is more difficult to manipulate and more difficult to shape the ball. So that's

07:28worth thinking about. I've got a further paradigm that's just a bit over that hill. So there was

07:32more ball speed on paradigm. We're talking up to, yeah, like I said, five miles an hour with some

07:37of the shots, which has translated to about a 10-yard difference in overall distance. So

07:42something worth noting there. But yeah, if you are looking for a straight hitting machine,

07:47FTI seems to be doing a really good job for me. Okay, so the Callaway Fusion FTI, what did we find?

07:52Well, if you're looking for distance, there is more available from a more modern equivalent in the

07:57paradigm that we tested, for example. But if you're playing a shorter, tighter golf course,

08:01and you're on a budget, we've got a real fairway finding machine here. Loads of spin,

08:05loads of MOI and plenty of safety to keep it in play. So in that sense, it really does stack up

08:10against its modern-day counterpart. For £63.99, it's a real bargain in the right circumstances. So

08:16check out the description below, go and have a look at Golf Clubs for Cash,

08:19for some other best pre-loved equipment. And that's it from me from the Oxfordshire Golf Club. See you next time.

2007 Square Driver Vs 2023 Driver | Test And Review

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