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.
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