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, the elephant in the
00:42room, you might have noticed, it's square. Now, that might put a few people off. I actually quite
00:47like the visual. I like the straight lines. They do a lot for me in terms of alignment,
00:50and 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 of a
01:26sudden you put a foot back and you've got more weight and stability back, you're going to be more
01:30stable and more difficult to push over. So that's the principle behind the FTI. I'm going to head to
01:34the 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 feels a lot
03:26more sophisticated than its older counterpart, but it'll be interesting to see how the performance goes.
03:30So probably at this point, it's a good time to pop up some data on the screen and have a little chat
03:36about what we saw when testing the two. So as you'll probably see here, FDI had a significant
03:41amount more spin, which is probably to do with the MOI, the increased MOI on the club head weight back,
03:47increasing that spin, increasing the stability and reducing curvature, which also alludes to why
03:52it's probably a little bit tighter in dispersion. As you can see from the paradigm, ball speed up,
03:57spin down. So I was getting a lot more carry distance and total distance out of it. But yeah,
04:02some interesting numbers to compare there. Let's see how it goes on the course. Okay,
04:06so I'm going to start with the FTI, and then the 10th hole is a little dog leg right,
04:09longish par four. 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.
04:26Now 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,
05:14this is extra stiff as opposed to the stiff in the FTI, and we're very similar in loft,
05:18this is nine and that's 9.5, but worth noting those differences. So let's see how it goes.
05:30A 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.
05:44Okay, that's pretty comparable line-wise to the ones I hit with FTI. Again,
05:54just down the left half of the fairway there, certainly lowering spin. It was a bit more
05:59of a penetrating ball flight. Let's try the last one.
06:04Similar to the first one there, a little bit of an overfade, started straight, just going to the
06:16right edge of the fairway, so it'll be interesting to see where those are distance-wise. Okay, so we've
06:20come down the hole to actually see where those shots have ended up now, and I've already taken
06:24a look at the data, and there were some interesting points. Probably most notably, we had ball speed,
06:29spin, and carry distance, and I'll get onto that in just a moment, but firstly, if you can see here,
06:34I've got quite a nice, tight grouping with the FTI. I've got two on the bank, and one just probably
06:38five or six yards further right up the fairway. A really nice, tight grouping, but what I did notice
06:43is with the additional spin that the FTI was creating, curvature was minimal, so that's great
06:48if you are trying to hit a straight shot. I was setting up for a cut here, so if you are thinking of
06:53going to a higher MOI driver or a square driver like FTI, you might want to start sort of reconsidering
06:58some start lines and where to set the ball out, because they started great exactly where I was
07:03aiming, but didn't deviate as much as I would hope. When you go over to the Paradigm, moving up the hole
07:08here, I've got two in the fairway over there on the far corner, so they actually cut with the shape of
07:12the hole like I wanted to. It had a little bit less backspin, which helps you facilitate a little bit
07:17more curvature. It stops, it sort of allows the spin axis to be altered more than when you've got a lot of
07:22spin with FTI, that spin axis is more difficult to manipulate and more difficult to shape the ball,
07:28so that's worth thinking about. I've got a further Paradigm that's just a bit over that hill,
07:32so there's more ball speed on Paradigm. We're talking up to, like I said, five miles an hour
07:37with some of the shots, which has translated to about a 10-yard difference in overall distance,
07:42so something 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 and you're
08:01on a budget, we've got a real fairway finding machine here. Loads of spin, loads of MOI and plenty
08:06of safety to keep it in play, so in that sense, it really does stack up against its modern-day
08:10counterpart. For £63.99, it's a real bargain in the right circumstances, so check out the description
08:17below. Go and have a look at Golf Clubs for Cash, some other best pre-loved equipment, and that's it from me,
08:22from the Oxfisher Golf Club. See you next time.
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