YALESVILLE, CT --- A small golf company in Connecticut has combined in one driver the improved accuracy of a square-head design, the hitting power of a coating derived from one used on shells to pierce armor, and the faster speed of a specially weighted shaft. A group of golfers using thirteen of the best drivers in golf couldn’t beat it on distance or accuracy.
As a company spokesman put it, “It’s a perfect storm of design, hardness and speed. It’s the most powerful driving system in golf.”
The club’s most visible feature is its 460 cc square head. It looks like it will tear a golf ball apart, but its real purpose is to increase accuracy, and it does. The new club hit 27% closer on average to the centerline when sixteen golfers tested it against their own drivers. The club takes this new accuracy and adds more distance with a coating that is 70% harder than titanium, and a graphite shaft that is tip-weighted to increase club head speed. As a group, the sixteen golfers hit 5% farther with it than they did with their own drivers. The high handicappers hit even farther.
I asked the spokesman why the square-head shape is more accurate. “It helps keep the club square to the ball at impact,” he said, “because it is less likely to rotate than the traditional oval shape. Technically speaking, a square head has a higher moment of inertia; and the higher the moment of inertia the more likely a club head will square off at impact and deliver a straight shot. This is why our club hit drives 27% closer to the center line than the golfers’ own drivers, some of which were the most expensive in golf. Accuracy wins in competitive golf. That’s why pros are going for the new design, and why a major company wants $500.00 for its new square-head driver. “But that major company doesn’t have the armor-coated face and