With my endless passion and sickness of trying to obtain the perfect driver, chance fell in my lap (with the help of Paypal, of course) to nab one of the new Callaway FT Tour driver heads. It had a chanced to replace my beloved FT-9 Tour 8.5*, which was beyond all my expectations and was easily in the driver slot of my golf bag.
Well, until the FT Tour saddled up.
Here’s some background on me, my game, my likes, and my dislikes.
I’m a Callaway fan. I just am. In my eyes, I think they’ve made a great driver ever since I bought the original Warbird back in the day. Callaway just flat out makes great woods, and I’ll defend them on it. Sure, some are square, lack hosels and don’t have Taylormade written on them, but that’s still no reason to hate. Callaway just flat out delivers solid tee clubs.
I’ve bagged just about everything in the Fusion line up at one time or another. Several FT-3’s in several configurations have graced, been praised by the author, and replaced by the next Fusion offering. My hands still remember the feel of all sorts of FT-5 Tour, FT-i Tour and FT-9 combinations before I finally settled on the longest, most forgiving offering yet for my swing – the FT-9 Tour 8.5* mated to a Matrix Ozik F6M2. I was finally hitting it past my playing partners, where I have no business doing so.
So, it was obvious that I would try something to try and unseat what just plain works, right?
Enter curtain left: the FT Tour 9.5*
So, what’s new with the FT Tour? Isn’t this thing just a small FT-9 Tour or a ripened up FT-3? Not a chance. The FT Tour is designed to deliver a flatter, boring trajectory with a centre of gravity change. And boy, does it deliver. My FT-9 was an 8.5* (measured at 9.3 in actuality) and I hit that thing like it was a 10.5*. It delivers high, low spin bombs that just get out there in a hurry. For most mere mortals who grace geographic destinations where wind is an afterthought, this might be a winner. But living in the flat prairies, you want low and long, to keep it out of the wind. This, in its essence, was the reasoning behind the FT Tour trial in the first place.
The Tour delivers a much flatter but longer launch, with that same low spin combination which my swing flat out loves. It’s easily 15 yards longer than the FT-9 (having hit both on the same course, with the same shaft, in similar conditions – each testing period was less than 3 days apart and similar wind conditions and direction). Balls fly off the face with a more muted and solid sound than any Callaway before it – much to the chagrin of those that have berated the Fusion series for sounding “hollow” in the past. This could be the ultimate driver to date from Callaway.
Now is where the eye rolling starts and I start to hear "great, another driver that's 15 yards longer". Well, the numbers might be able to be skewed and "everyone hits it 300 on the internet", but I was hitting approaches from places on the course I could only dream of being. And that is more evidence than I need to know that this thing is killer long.
The head sits at 440cc’s, but looks even smaller than that against the FT-9 footprint, with less of a “squashed” look that so many of today’s drivers seem to incorporate. It just instills confidence at address that the better player looks for. I believe this stems from drivers of yesteryear, before the 460cc rage became the norm. If you ever bagged a Hawkeye VFT or a Launcher of 400cc’s or less, you’d love this thing. It's bigger by volume, but not a lot by footprint.
Some measurements on some comparison clubs for reference:
Club – face height; Crown (front to back); face length (heel to toe)
FT-9 Tour – 2.25”; 4.75”; 4.0”
FT Tour – 2.25”; 3&7/8th”; 3.75”
FT-3 – 2.0”; 3.75”; 3.25”
As you can see from the above, the FT Tour is still considerably larger than the FT-3, but is significantly smaller than its related cousin, the FT-9 Tour.
The face is a true 1.5* open, which is also beloved by the better player for the most part. It mentally eliminates the left side of the fairway using the ‘golf store waggle test’. You immediately think you could pound this thing. And you can.
The aesthetics are pretty subdued, the only real flash being the new hosel that had been lacking in almost every Callaway offering to date (save the FT5-TH, and a few others). The webbing weight on the back of the crown gets somewhat lost in the simple colour scheme and lack of hype and insane graphics that so many drivers on the market suffer from. You have to hand it to Callaway on this one, it's a great looking stick. They’ve really soiled the sheets on colours and graphics over the years. This is an extreme exception to that rule, it’s a beautiful driver.
The face of the driver is also subdued; with the traditional “X” of late Callaway drivers and a few subtle score lines for alignment. (And a lack of an alignment mark on the crown, in my opinion, is a thing of beauty.) Balls react well when hit anywhere on the face. You’d really have to swing poorly to hit this with a decrease in performance. The FT-9 reacts entirely differently, with toe hits resulting in monster hooks while the FT Tour lessens that hooking ability. You can fade or draw this head almost at will. It will hit a banana slice – if that’s your thing – but I try to not keep that shot in my repertoire. I wouldn’t say that it’s more forgiving than the FT-9, just longer on missed swings.
Having lucked out and built this driver the same day that Callaway had their demo program set up at the course, I had a chance to swing this against the “stock” offerings of the FT Tour shafts. The Voodoo feels very soft in this head, and I didn’t like it at all. I also had a chance to swing it in the Matrix XCON 6, which was also a great combo. But head to head against the Matrix F6M2, there’s no comparison – this club is built for my swing. I think mated with a Diamana Whiteboard, this could be an everyman's driver.
I have wanted one of these heads since the FT-9 Tour Authentic heads popped up late last year. The idea of a compact, solid sounding and incredible ball speed producing head from Callaway made me salivate immediately. And I wasn’t disappointed.
I’ve included a few quick and dirty pictures for comparison and will take some better outdoor ones after the rain passes. The FT-9 has a steel shaft in it only for pics. If anyone has any questions, fire away.
R35
Well, until the FT Tour saddled up.
Here’s some background on me, my game, my likes, and my dislikes.
I’m a Callaway fan. I just am. In my eyes, I think they’ve made a great driver ever since I bought the original Warbird back in the day. Callaway just flat out makes great woods, and I’ll defend them on it. Sure, some are square, lack hosels and don’t have Taylormade written on them, but that’s still no reason to hate. Callaway just flat out delivers solid tee clubs.
I’ve bagged just about everything in the Fusion line up at one time or another. Several FT-3’s in several configurations have graced, been praised by the author, and replaced by the next Fusion offering. My hands still remember the feel of all sorts of FT-5 Tour, FT-i Tour and FT-9 combinations before I finally settled on the longest, most forgiving offering yet for my swing – the FT-9 Tour 8.5* mated to a Matrix Ozik F6M2. I was finally hitting it past my playing partners, where I have no business doing so.
So, it was obvious that I would try something to try and unseat what just plain works, right?
Enter curtain left: the FT Tour 9.5*
So, what’s new with the FT Tour? Isn’t this thing just a small FT-9 Tour or a ripened up FT-3? Not a chance. The FT Tour is designed to deliver a flatter, boring trajectory with a centre of gravity change. And boy, does it deliver. My FT-9 was an 8.5* (measured at 9.3 in actuality) and I hit that thing like it was a 10.5*. It delivers high, low spin bombs that just get out there in a hurry. For most mere mortals who grace geographic destinations where wind is an afterthought, this might be a winner. But living in the flat prairies, you want low and long, to keep it out of the wind. This, in its essence, was the reasoning behind the FT Tour trial in the first place.
The Tour delivers a much flatter but longer launch, with that same low spin combination which my swing flat out loves. It’s easily 15 yards longer than the FT-9 (having hit both on the same course, with the same shaft, in similar conditions – each testing period was less than 3 days apart and similar wind conditions and direction). Balls fly off the face with a more muted and solid sound than any Callaway before it – much to the chagrin of those that have berated the Fusion series for sounding “hollow” in the past. This could be the ultimate driver to date from Callaway.
Now is where the eye rolling starts and I start to hear "great, another driver that's 15 yards longer". Well, the numbers might be able to be skewed and "everyone hits it 300 on the internet", but I was hitting approaches from places on the course I could only dream of being. And that is more evidence than I need to know that this thing is killer long.
The head sits at 440cc’s, but looks even smaller than that against the FT-9 footprint, with less of a “squashed” look that so many of today’s drivers seem to incorporate. It just instills confidence at address that the better player looks for. I believe this stems from drivers of yesteryear, before the 460cc rage became the norm. If you ever bagged a Hawkeye VFT or a Launcher of 400cc’s or less, you’d love this thing. It's bigger by volume, but not a lot by footprint.
Some measurements on some comparison clubs for reference:
Club – face height; Crown (front to back); face length (heel to toe)
FT-9 Tour – 2.25”; 4.75”; 4.0”
FT Tour – 2.25”; 3&7/8th”; 3.75”
FT-3 – 2.0”; 3.75”; 3.25”
As you can see from the above, the FT Tour is still considerably larger than the FT-3, but is significantly smaller than its related cousin, the FT-9 Tour.
The face is a true 1.5* open, which is also beloved by the better player for the most part. It mentally eliminates the left side of the fairway using the ‘golf store waggle test’. You immediately think you could pound this thing. And you can.
The aesthetics are pretty subdued, the only real flash being the new hosel that had been lacking in almost every Callaway offering to date (save the FT5-TH, and a few others). The webbing weight on the back of the crown gets somewhat lost in the simple colour scheme and lack of hype and insane graphics that so many drivers on the market suffer from. You have to hand it to Callaway on this one, it's a great looking stick. They’ve really soiled the sheets on colours and graphics over the years. This is an extreme exception to that rule, it’s a beautiful driver.
The face of the driver is also subdued; with the traditional “X” of late Callaway drivers and a few subtle score lines for alignment. (And a lack of an alignment mark on the crown, in my opinion, is a thing of beauty.) Balls react well when hit anywhere on the face. You’d really have to swing poorly to hit this with a decrease in performance. The FT-9 reacts entirely differently, with toe hits resulting in monster hooks while the FT Tour lessens that hooking ability. You can fade or draw this head almost at will. It will hit a banana slice – if that’s your thing – but I try to not keep that shot in my repertoire. I wouldn’t say that it’s more forgiving than the FT-9, just longer on missed swings.
Having lucked out and built this driver the same day that Callaway had their demo program set up at the course, I had a chance to swing this against the “stock” offerings of the FT Tour shafts. The Voodoo feels very soft in this head, and I didn’t like it at all. I also had a chance to swing it in the Matrix XCON 6, which was also a great combo. But head to head against the Matrix F6M2, there’s no comparison – this club is built for my swing. I think mated with a Diamana Whiteboard, this could be an everyman's driver.
I have wanted one of these heads since the FT-9 Tour Authentic heads popped up late last year. The idea of a compact, solid sounding and incredible ball speed producing head from Callaway made me salivate immediately. And I wasn’t disappointed.
I’ve included a few quick and dirty pictures for comparison and will take some better outdoor ones after the rain passes. The FT-9 has a steel shaft in it only for pics. If anyone has any questions, fire away.
R35