00:00Retro review time.
00:01We've got an absolute belter for you today.
00:03In my eyes, this is the most iconic driver of all time.
00:07It is the Titleist 975D.
00:10Now, we've teamed up with Golf Clubs for Cash,
00:13one of the leading retailers of pre-loved equipment,
00:15and they've sent us some absolute gems like this to test.
00:19So if you're interested,
00:20check those guys out in the description below.
00:29Now, Titleist manufactured this driver
00:31between 1998 and 2001,
00:33and just about anyone who was anyone was using it.
00:36Davis Love III, Sergio Garcia,
00:38David Duval became world number one with it,
00:41and Tiger Woods even won the Tiger Slam with this driver.
00:44Now, I've picked it up for $38.99 from Golf Clubs for Cash,
00:47so I can't wait to see what it can do.
00:49Now, as always on Retro Review,
00:51we're gonna put it up against its modern-day equivalent,
00:53which is gonna be the Titleist GT3.
00:56This is fresh out.
00:57This has been received in rave reviews,
00:59so this is some pretty stiff competition.
01:02Right, so we're just gonna do this really organically today.
01:05I've come down to the driving range
01:06at the beautiful Frilford Heath Golf Club
01:08here in Oxfordshire.
01:09I've got my full swing kit launch monitor,
01:11and I've got a load of golf balls,
01:13and I'm just gonna hit a load with each,
01:15talk you through what I'm seeing,
01:17talk you through what I'm feeling,
01:18and then maybe we'll get the data together at the end,
01:20and we'll have a discussion about
01:21what the actual tangible differences
01:23between the drivers are.
01:25But from a non-measurable sort of point of view
01:27to start with,
01:28the first thing you notice is quite clearly the head size.
01:31We've got 260ccs in the 975D,
01:36which looks rather small next to this GT3 at 460ccs.
01:41It's not just heel-to-toe, front-to-back,
01:43it's everywhere.
01:44The overall dimensions, the face depth,
01:47there's just a lot more real estate to that GT3.
01:50In terms of specs, this one was custom-fitted for me recently
01:55at Woburn, at the Titleist Performance Institute.
01:57Graphite Design X-Flex shaft.
01:59It's measuring at eight degrees of loft.
02:02I've tuned it up just a little bit
02:03to match the 8.5 that's on the 975D.
02:06We've got the old EI70, a classic shaft here,
02:09but it's just in stiff flex,
02:10so it might be a little bit soft for me.
02:13And in terms of length,
02:14I know the GT3's at 45.5 inches.
02:17The 975D looks like it's a solid inch shorter than that.
02:21So there may be some swing speed differences
02:23just to put that out there to start with.
02:25But I'm going to start with the 975D,
02:27because I'm itching to see the performance on this
02:29after so long.
02:30Let's just hit some away and see where we get to.
02:34So yeah, like I said, straight away in behind the ball,
02:38it looks no bigger than my 3 would,
02:40which is certainly interesting.
02:45It's a great start from a feel point of view.
02:48That's exceptional.
02:49A lot softer than any of the drives
02:51I've been trying recently.
02:53From a data point of view, meh.
02:56I put 110 miles an hour speed into that.
03:00161 ball speed out of it,
03:01which gives me a relatively good efficiency.
03:041.47 or smash factor, you might know it.
03:06Spun up a lot, three and a half thousand revs there,
03:10and barely 240 yards of carry.
03:12So that's not great output, if I'm totally honest,
03:15from 110 miles an hour speed.
03:18We are hitting into quite a strong headwind here.
03:24It looks very similar.
03:25That's probably on top of the last ball.
03:29Slightly more efficient, 165 ball speed,
03:32which is pretty good.
03:33That's not bad at all from a driver that's,
03:36best part of 30 years old.
03:38The feel is just exceptional.
03:40It's just melting into the club base.
03:41There's no tinginess, there's no clanginess.
03:44It's a really, I don't hesitate to say soft,
03:47because you don't want a soft feeling driver,
03:49but it is.
03:54It's just leaking a touch to the right.
03:58Maybe seven or eight yards of fade on that one.
04:01Slightly less efficiency,
04:02but the ball speed's still pretty decent there.
04:04One best part of 163 miles an hour,
04:07that did get the spin down under 3,000.
04:09So we're pushing a 250 carry now into this decent headwind.
04:13So that's a really interesting start.
04:15It feels great.
04:16It looks gorgeous in behind the ball.
04:18I could really get used to that head size again.
04:21I would like to, I'm going to hit a lot more now,
04:23because I want to see what those heel and toe strikes do.
04:26I've struck all those pretty solidly,
04:27which I'm quite impressed with myself about.
04:29But once I can get a few more of these balls in,
04:31let's hit some heel and toe strikes,
04:33some high and low in the face,
04:35and I'll see how much that affects the ball speed
04:36and the performance numbers.
04:38I'll do that now, then we'll get onto the GT3,
04:40and we'll take it from there.
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04:55and you like seeing these iconic clubs,
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05:01Also, get in the comments down below
05:02and tell me what you'd like me to review next.
05:04Well, that was really interesting.
05:06I found a couple of things.
05:07When I hit a few more balls,
05:08I actually found a couple of things,
05:09which I'll talk about in the conclusion,
05:11which made it perform a little bit better for me.
05:13It was a lovely little trip down memory lane
05:15to a driver that I've used in the past,
05:18and I'm really interested to see,
05:20with these conditions that we're playing in today,
05:22what a modern-day GT3,
05:24that is less than two months old, really, can do.
05:27So let's get to it.
05:28Let's hit a few away and see what we've got.
05:31I mean, as I said before,
05:33the first thing that hits you
05:34is just the sheer volume of the head,
05:36and it just does inspire an awful lot more confidence
05:40behind the ball.
05:42So let's see if that translates into better results.
05:49There's a really nice strike out the gate.
05:53Nice and low, nice and powerful.
05:57Significantly, significantly different data there.
05:59That's really interesting.
06:00So off a touch more club head speed, admittedly,
06:03about two or three miles an hour more there,
06:05which would be factored in by the length,
06:08I would think, that's giving me that.
06:09I've generated 172 miles an hour ball speed nearly.
06:141.49 efficiency, a spin rate of basically bang on 2,000,
06:19which into this wind has given me a carry
06:22at nearly 270 off these range balls,
06:24which is pretty solid.
06:25So that's a significant difference
06:28straight out the gate there.
06:29Let's see if that sort of theme continues.
06:33The feel, I was expecting harsher actually,
06:36even though I've tested this driver a lot,
06:38I thought it was going to feel harsher,
06:39coming from that sort of buttery soft 975B.
06:43But it did feel great.
06:44I know Titleist have done an awful lot of work
06:46on the acoustics and feel of this new GT range.
06:48So that feels like it's coming to fruition there.
06:51Let's see what we get up next.
06:57It's a noticeably longer,
06:59sort of low and more penetrating ball flight.
07:03Popped up a little bit in spin there,
07:05so it's still under 3,000 just.
07:08More club head speed,
07:09118, 170 of ball speed,
07:11260 carry,
07:12which is decent output in these conditions.
07:16Yeah, we're noticing quite a bit
07:17of performance difference here.
07:23That'll be an interesting one.
07:24That was low and off the heel.
07:26It's got a little sort of fadey flight to it,
07:28so I expect the spin to kick up a lot there.
07:31It didn't massively.
07:32It's 2,600 revs.
07:34Carries dropped.
07:35That was less than 250,
07:36which off 118 miles per hour of club head speed,
07:40rather, isn't great.
07:41So the efficiency did drop a fair bit there to 1.43,
07:45which is actually not something I've seen
07:47with this driver much.
07:47In testing, those sort of low heel strikes
07:49have performed a little bit better.
07:50So I'm wondering if that's a ball issue,
07:52but interesting.
07:54Let's hit another one.
08:00Okay, squared it up a little bit,
08:02so it's gone a little bit left there on me.
08:04That'll take some spin down,
08:05so that's dropped under 2,000 revs of spin,
08:08which actually into this wind
08:09is actually really, really useful.
08:11It's given me 173 miles an hour of ball speed
08:14and a very efficient strike.
08:15Although, like I said,
08:16it has gone a little bit left.
08:18Interesting initial data there.
08:19Let's get through a few more shots,
08:20because like I said,
08:21I want to have a good pull to pick from
08:22and really get my ideas together,
08:24and then we'll talk a bit more
08:25about the data in the conclusion.
08:41Well, that was really, really enjoyable, that session.
08:44It was like a little walk down memory lane
08:45with a driver I've used before,
08:47and if anything, I feel a little bit sad.
08:49I wanted the 975D to do a little bit better
08:52on the launch monitor,
08:54but it's very difficult to hide from those numbers.
08:56So when I compare the overall carry distance
08:59with the GT3, for example,
09:01this gave me 250 yards into this wind,
09:03whereas the GT3 was pushing 270,
09:06so nearly 20 yards of difference there.
09:09159.7 miles an hour of ball speed with this,
09:13172.2 with the GT3.
09:15And the spin was the real killer,
09:17because we're hitting into quite a strong headwind here.
09:19This was spinning at nearly 3,200 revolutions per minute.
09:23The GT3, less than 2,500,
09:25so it was just penetrating through the wind a little bit more.
09:29And in terms of efficiency,
09:31the GT3 is going to be 1.47 smash factor,
09:33so the ball was coming quicker off the face,
09:36relative to my club head speed, certainly,
09:38than the 975D.
09:40So overall, the measurable stuff,
09:42you can't really argue with.
09:43The GT3 very much outperformed the 975D.
09:48And some of the intangible stuff, though,
09:50I still really like it.
09:51From a feel point of view,
09:53whilst Titleist has done a great job
09:54with the GT range as a whole,
09:56the sound, the feel,
09:58it's really become more palatable
10:01than some of their other ranges,
10:03I still think the 975D was better.
10:05It was softer, it was muted,
10:06it was a nice dull thud,
10:07and I really, really enjoyed it.
10:09And let's keep it in perspective.
10:11The model I was using there, the GT3,
10:13as a stock model,
10:14retails at the best part of 600 pounds.
10:16In the setup I've got it at,
10:18with that shaft that I was fitted for,
10:19it's north of 700 pounds.
10:21This is less than 40 pounds.
10:23Yes, you're not getting a product
10:24that performs as well,
10:26but if you're someone who needs
10:27a little bit more spin,
10:28and need a little bit more help
10:29to get the ball airborne,
10:30then perhaps, for less than 40 pounds,
10:32there's some value to be had here.
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