Tag: Titleist Drivers

Watch: Ludvig Aberg snaps his driver, ends up with eagle putt at Valero Texas Open en route to a 67

Ludvig Aberg has a silky smooth swing, but don’t be fooled, the Swedish star packs a healthy dose of power into every cut.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Ludvig Aberg has a silky smooth swing, but don’t be fooled, the Swedish star packs a healthy dose of power into every cut.

And that was never more evident than Saturday during the third round of the Valero Texas Open at TPC San Antonio.

The Texas Tech product was swinging away on the risk/reward No. 17 at the Greg Norman-designed Oaks Course, a par 4 that was playing just over 300 yards from the front tee. But when he made contact, his driver head snapped clean off. Did it mean disaster? Not for Aberg, who has been as steady as a rock this season, making the cut in all seven of his starts.

His drive bounced just to the right of the green and hopped to within 11 feet, giving him an eagle opportunity on a hole that could have been a mess. Although he missed the eagle putt, he tapped in for his third birdie in eight holes, getting to 4 under for the tournament.

“It was odd, it was bizarre,” Aberg said. “I’ve never experienced anything like that, not even in practice or anything, I’ve never seen it before, so I was just in shock. I’m glad the ball stayed in bounds because I really don’t know what could have happened. Somehow it made it all the way to the green, I don’t know how.”

Aberg, who already has a win under his belt at the PGA Tour’s 2023 RSM Classic, is a Titleist player who had been using the TSR2 (9 degrees) with a Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X shaft through the Players Championship.

More: Ludvig Aberg on his rapid rise, earliest Masters memory and being a rookie in the majors

A PGA Tour rules official was kind enough to run back to the locker room to grab Aberg’s backup driver, one that he’s played a few rounds with in the past. He bombed a drive on the 18th hole of the day, and even though he only managed par, he finished the day with a 67, and he sits firmly inside the top 10 at 6 under for the event.

Aberg wasn’t blaming the manufacturer or anyone else who was involved with the driver.

“I think there’s a screw that came off. It’s on me, I should have checked that a little bit better, but luckily we were able to get a new one on the next tee box,” he said. “I hit some good drives after that as well.”

Best golf drivers in 2024: New drivers from Callaway, Cobra, Ping and more

Check out Golfweek’s list of the best drivers available to purchase in 2024.

Everyone wants to hit the ball farther, so distance is always going to be important when it comes to new drivers, but if there is a buzzword or concept that is going to dominate the scene in 2024, it’s moment of inertia or MOI.

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In golf equipment – and specifically, drivers – the higher a club’s MOI, the more it will resist twisting on off-center hits, so shots hit toward the toe or the heel will fly straighter and farther.

The USGA and R&A cap the heel-to-toe MOI in drivers at 5,900 g/cm2, but several major golf equipment makers are offering their highest MOI drivers ever in 2024, including Ping and TaylorMade, which are both now featuring a driver than as a combined MOI (heel-to-toe plus sole-to-crown) over 10,000 g/cm2, which should make the Ping G430 Max 10K and the TaylorMade Qi10 Max the most stable and forgiving drivers those brands have ever made.

These gains in driver stability are now possible because more companies are using weight-saving materials like carbon fiber in drivers, which allows engineers to redistribute mass into performance-enhancing locations. Several driver makers are also offering multiple models in 2024, with each driver being ideally suited to golfers who are looking for different specific traits. For instance, Callaway is offering four different Paradym Ai Smoke drivers including the high-MOI Max, the low-spin LS, the Max D for slicers and the Max Fast for slower-swinging players. Ping offers four G430 drivers and Titleist has TSR drivers available too, while Cobra, Mizuno, Srixon and TaylorMade each have three different options.

The key to finding the driver that best suits your game and your budget is to work with a custom fitter and hit several different clubs using a launch monitor so you can accurately compare things like ball speed, spin rate, launch angle and carry distance. Good fitters can help you find the ideal shaft, tweak the lie angle and the loft of your driver and explain why one model might be a better option for you than another.

Pro tip: During a driver fitting, be sure to wear your golf shoes and test clubs using the golf ball that you use when you play so you can get information that will translate more accurately to the course.

Below are many of the most popular drivers that you are likely to see in pro shops and golf specialty stores this season, along with a brief description of each club and a link to Golfweek’s fuller review. Use this as a jumping-off point to educate yourself about the new drives for 2024 before you go for a fitting.

Most popular drivers in 2024:

Titleist TSR1 drivers, fairway woods, hybrids

Titleist made the TSR1 woods and hybrids lighter, more aerodynamic and more powerful to help moderate-swinging golfers gain distance.

Gear: Titleist TSR1 drivers, fairway woods, hybrids

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Who They’re For: Slower-swinging golfers who need more ball speed and height on shots to maximize distance.

The Skinny: Titleist made the TSR1 drivers, fairway woods and hybrids more aerodynamic and designed them as part of a lightweight package that can help players who have slower and moderate clubhead speed generate more distance.

The Deep Dive: As launch monitors became integral to custom fitting over the past few decades, fast-swinging golfers learned to maximize distance by combining a high launch angle with low spin. More and more pros learned to swing up into their tee shots to get the most out of their low-spin clubs and balls, but that combination does not work for everyone. According to the USGA and R&A’s Distance Insights reports, about 30 percent of golfers swing at a “moderate” speed around 75 to 90 mph, instead of 110 or more generated by most pros. These amateur golfers don’t generate enough speed to keep a low-spin shot in the air, so they can be robbed of distance.

Titleist engineers noted this and created the TSi1 drivers, fairway woods and hybrids for them two years ago. In 2023 those clubs are updated to help moderate-speed players swing faster, gain carry distance and achieve more overall distance. 

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Titleist TSR drivers

Titleist TSR drivers combine classic looks in the address position with fast ball speed and adjustable features.

Gear: Titleist TSR2, TSR3, TSR4 drivers
Price: $599 each with Project X HZRDUS Red CB, Project X HZRDUS Black 4G, Mitsubishi Tensei AV Blue or Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Black shaft and Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 grip.
Available: September 23

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Who it’s for: Golfers who want a classic-looking driver that has an aerodynamic shape and model options that include a point-and-shoot bomber, a club with draw and fade adjustability and a low-spin club for players looking for a more-piercing shot.

The Skinny: At address, the TSR drivers are classic Titleist, but each club is designed to meet the needs of different players while delivering more ball speed. The TSR2 maximizes forgiveness, the TSR3 has a moveable weight to encourage different ball flights and the TSR4 has two adjustable weights to increase or decrease the spin rate and launch angle. 

The Deep Dive: Six years ago Titleist went on a quest for speed. Best known as the maker of the Pro V1 and Pro V1x balls, Titleist had plenty of drivers in play on the PGA Tour and LPGA, and it sold a lot of clubs to recreational golfers too, but they did not have a reputation for producing the fastest ball speeds off the tee. Titleist tried to change that perception starting with the TS series and then the TSi family of drivers.

Then, a day after Matt Fitzpatrick used a Titleist TSi3 driver to win the 2022 U.S. Open, the company brought the TSR series to the PGA Tour for the first time at the Travelers Championship. 

TS has stood for “Titleist Speed,” and the added R in the new lineup stands for redefined. With the TSR2, TSR3 and TSR4, the company’s engineers have tried to make clubs that move faster through the air and that feature a larger sweetspot, so golfers can not only get better performance on center-struck shots but on mis-hits too. There are several similarities between the clubs, but they are each designed for different types of golfers.

From every angle: Titleist TSR drivers

Check out the new drivers from every angle.

The new Titleist TSR driver family is replacing the TSi family of drivers that was released in 2020. The clubs made their PGA Tour debut in late June at the Travelers Championship outside Hartford, Connecticut, and within weeks players like Justin Thomas, Will Zalatoris and Jordan Spieth had transitioned into one of them.

For all the technology details and explanations on how the clubs are different from their TSi counterparts, check out David Dusek’s in-depth article. If what you want to see are images of the clubs from all the key perspectives and angles, you have come to the right place. The gallery below features the TSR2, TSR3 and TSR4 drivers up close.

Titleist brings new TSR drivers and fairway woods to PGA Tour

Titleist brought the TSR driver and fairway woods to the PGA Tour for the first time on Monday. Take a close-up look

CROMWELL, Conn. – About 12 hours after Matthew Fitzpatrick used a Titleist TSi3 driver to win the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club outside Boston, Titleist introduced its new TSR line – the yet-to-be-released successors to the TSi driver and fairway wood families – to PGA Tour players.

There are three new Titleist drivers – the TSR2, TSR3 and TSR4 – at TPC River Highlands, the site of this week’s Travelers Championship. There also are three new fairway woods: the TSR2, TSR2+ and the TSR3.

While the company is mum on the details, I had a chance to examine them closely and collect the photos you can see below. The company has not revealed when the clubs might be made available at retail.

Titleist TSi1 woods, TSi4 drivers

Titleist’s TSi1 drivers, fairways and hybrids are designed for moderate-speed golfers, while the TSi4 is an ultra-low-spin driver.

Several Titleist staff players quickly changed into the company’s new TSi2 and TSi3 drivers when they became available last fall. Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Cameron Smith and J.T. Poston all switched because they liked the blend of distance and forgiveness the clubs delivered.

While Titleist believes custom fitters can help most golfers achieve their goals using those two clubs, there are outliers. Some are moderate-speed players who need a club designed to boost spin, carry distance and forgiveness. Others are hard-swinging golfers who need an ultra-low spinning driver to keep the ball from ballooning to maximize distance.

For those players, Titleist is offering the TSi1 woods and the TSi4 driver to complement the TSi2 and TSi3.

Titleist TSi2, TSi3 drivers on USGA Conforming Driver list

Titleist will begin to seed and fit PGA Tour pros into the new drivers a week before the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot. Here’s what we know.

After a driver is tested and prototyped, there is an important hurdle it must clear before it can be used in PGA Tour events or during any round played under the official Rules of Golf. It has to be evaluated for conformance by the U.S. Golf Association and the R&A in St. Andrews, Scotland, then added to the Conforming Driver Head list.

The list continuously is updated by the game’s governing bodies, and on Sunday two new Titleist driver heads were added to the list, the TSi2 and the TSi3.

Titleist has not released either club at retail and is not divulging any details about them, but the company stated that beginning this week at the Silverado Resort in Napa, California, and the Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course in Algarve, Portugal, it will begin the process of fitting staff players and other pros into the new drivers. Those venues are hosting the next PGA Tour and European Tour events.

Here’s what we can tell from the pictures, as well as Ian Poulter’s Instagram account (Poulter is a Titleist staff player):

Titleist TSi2 and TSi3 drivers
Titleist TSi2 and TSi3 drivers (Titleist)

TSi2

In Titleist’s current driver lineup, the 460-cubic centimeter TS2 driver is designed for golfers that want distance with high stability and maximum forgiveness.

In the photo on the USGA’s website, the TSi2 appears to be longer from front to back than the TSi3. It clearly has an adjustable hosel mechanism that appears to be either the same, or very similar, to the SureFit hosel system that Titleist has used for several seasons. There is a large weight in the back of the sole that likely pulls the center of gravity down and back. All of that matches closely with the TS2 driver.

TSi3

The current 460-cubic centimeter Titleist TS3 driver is designed to appeal to players who want more distance and the ability to fine-tune their ball flight. It has a moveable weight cartridge in the sole, which can help create a draw or a fade bias, that the TS2 lacks.

In the image of the TSi3, the club appears to be slightly shorter front to back than the TSi2, but if it has a taller face – they could have identical volumes.

Like the TSi2, the TSi3 has an adjustable hosel mechanism, but its back section is much more interesting.

There is a sliding mechanism in the back of the head with five settings for what appears to be a moveable weight. While it is difficult to see it clearly in the USGA’s photo, Ian Poulter showed it on social media.

The middle setting is labeled “N,” which most likely stands for neutral. To the toe side, there is a setting labeled “T1” and another labeled “T2.” If those settings shift more weight to the toe side, it would create a fade bias. However, with the moveable weight being farther back in the head than the weight in the TS3, the TSi3 might have a higher moment of inertia and more stability in the fade setting than the current TS3.

To the heel side of the “N,” but there is an “H1” and “H2” setting. Moving more weight to the heel would encourage a draw, and again, with the weight all the way back in the head, the draw setting in the TSi3 could be more stable than the draw setting in the TS3.

Poulter also showed off a Titleist TSi2 fairway wood in his Instagram Story. The club has a back weight, like the driver, and also features a slot in the sole with the letters “ARC” positioned directly behind the leading edge. In previously released Titleist woods, ARC stood for Active Recoil Channel, a technology designed to allow the face of the club to flex efficiently at impact, especially on shots hit low in the hitting area.

The fairway wood also has an adjustable hosel mechanism.

Don’t look for TSi hybrids to be coming soon with the drivers and fairway woods. Titleist releases new hybrids in conjunction with the release of irons. If history is a guide, we’re about a year away from new Titleist irons arriving on the PGA Tour or at retail.

As more details about the new Titleist TSi2 and TSi3 woods become available, Golfweek will bring them to you.