Each month, we tap experts from the equipment industry to answer your most commonly asked questions. In this installment, Brian Bazzell, senior director of product creation at TaylorMade Golf, addresses why it’s worth buying a new driver.
Q: I play a five-year-old driver, and I’m not sure why I should spend money on a new one. Aren’t the COR and ball-speed limits maxed out anyway? – K. Winks, via e-mail
The case for a new driver isn’t that much different than that for a new cell phone: If you’ve got one that’s four or five years old, then you’re failing to take full advantage of modern technology.
Players who are okay with outdated performance don’t need new clubs. If that’s you, fine, but you’ll always be lagging behind the players who do invest in new gear, which is vastly superior to older equipment.
Plus, there’s much more to driver design than just COR limit, not the least of which is the size of the effective hitting area in which you get maximum COR and ball speed.
In a new model, like our M3 or M4, you get significant advantages like much larger sweet zones, improved aerodynamics, greater forgiveness on low-heel and high-toe hits, and in the case of the M3, vastly improved custom-tuning options.
– Brian Bazzell, senior director of product creation, TaylorMade Golf
