- Mar 9, 2005
- 1,473
- 23
I recently have had a chance to give the Renegade a trial run. I took it on a trip with me to Texas over the past week. Sadly I was not able to run it up against my TEE or my Wishon as my golf travel bag barely fits 14 clubs. This will be my last trip with this smallish travel bag.
Moving along.
Playing in south Texas is not ideal for guaging distances etc. Especially when it was windy. It was ALWAYS windy to the tune of 35-40mph constant, not gusting. I played 6.5 rounds with it over 5 days.
Because of this, and not having my other drivers along to compare/contrast, I will only be able to go over my likes/dislikes.
From the moment I saw Rory post the concept pictures of this driver, I knew I wanted to try it out. It just fits my eye. Square as can be. Setting up and taking your line with this driver is unbelievably easy in my opinion. I absolutely loved it.
This combination still launches the ball plenty high for me despite the claimed lower spin. I could actually use an 8* I am sure.
The lower spin was ABSOLUTELY noticable in regards to sidespin. (... there is no such thing as sidespin, obviously, just backspin on a tilted axis, but I digress) Draws drew less, and fades faded less. Honestly in all the drives I hit on my trip, I hit one duck-hook all week. One. And it was a terrible swing and had nothing to do with the driver at all.
Due to the ball coming off much straighter (due to less sidespin as above), I found I could take much more aggressive lines than I am used to. Moreover, I was actually hitting a fade at will with it. I haven't been able to hit anything moving left to right with any driver for many, many years. I will be quite interested to see if this is still the case without a 30+ mph wind moving the ball all over.
The Renegade has a very pleasant sound. Normal for a metal-headed driver. It also feels quite solid when the ball is struck.
My friend who took the trip with me tried it out for a few swings at a DR before one of our rounds. After a couple of "getting loose" swings (it was 7:30AM) he hit some quality shots with it. It was quite noticable to him that it just stayed straighter than he was used to. Less sidespin.
Hard Texas ground with unbelievable constant wind on courses that you play once a year with a 3 month lay-off swing just isn't a good proving ground for a club. I look forward to taking it up against my other drivers on my home course once April rolls around. Especially if I can fade it at will as I was doing in Texas.
In conclusion, the jury is still out as to whether this is the greatest driver ever or not I guess. I hit plenty of 350+ yard bombs, but then again, I hit plenty of 205 yard bombs also. With as much wind, and the hard ground conditions, these are conditions I will most likely not play in again for the rest of the year. It just doesn't get like that in Minnesota.
It was quite noticable though that there was a lot less sidespin than what I was expecting. Even in those windy conditions I was able to take more aggessive lines off the tee because the ball just wasn't going to move that much in the air unless the wind was directly across one way or another.
Overall, I loved it and am eager to give it a run against my other, proven, drivers once the season finally arrives.
Moving along.
Playing in south Texas is not ideal for guaging distances etc. Especially when it was windy. It was ALWAYS windy to the tune of 35-40mph constant, not gusting. I played 6.5 rounds with it over 5 days.
Because of this, and not having my other drivers along to compare/contrast, I will only be able to go over my likes/dislikes.
From the moment I saw Rory post the concept pictures of this driver, I knew I wanted to try it out. It just fits my eye. Square as can be. Setting up and taking your line with this driver is unbelievably easy in my opinion. I absolutely loved it.
This combination still launches the ball plenty high for me despite the claimed lower spin. I could actually use an 8* I am sure.
The lower spin was ABSOLUTELY noticable in regards to sidespin. (... there is no such thing as sidespin, obviously, just backspin on a tilted axis, but I digress) Draws drew less, and fades faded less. Honestly in all the drives I hit on my trip, I hit one duck-hook all week. One. And it was a terrible swing and had nothing to do with the driver at all.
Due to the ball coming off much straighter (due to less sidespin as above), I found I could take much more aggressive lines than I am used to. Moreover, I was actually hitting a fade at will with it. I haven't been able to hit anything moving left to right with any driver for many, many years. I will be quite interested to see if this is still the case without a 30+ mph wind moving the ball all over.
The Renegade has a very pleasant sound. Normal for a metal-headed driver. It also feels quite solid when the ball is struck.
My friend who took the trip with me tried it out for a few swings at a DR before one of our rounds. After a couple of "getting loose" swings (it was 7:30AM) he hit some quality shots with it. It was quite noticable to him that it just stayed straighter than he was used to. Less sidespin.
Hard Texas ground with unbelievable constant wind on courses that you play once a year with a 3 month lay-off swing just isn't a good proving ground for a club. I look forward to taking it up against my other drivers on my home course once April rolls around. Especially if I can fade it at will as I was doing in Texas.
In conclusion, the jury is still out as to whether this is the greatest driver ever or not I guess. I hit plenty of 350+ yard bombs, but then again, I hit plenty of 205 yard bombs also. With as much wind, and the hard ground conditions, these are conditions I will most likely not play in again for the rest of the year. It just doesn't get like that in Minnesota.
It was quite noticable though that there was a lot less sidespin than what I was expecting. Even in those windy conditions I was able to take more aggessive lines off the tee because the ball just wasn't going to move that much in the air unless the wind was directly across one way or another.
Overall, I loved it and am eager to give it a run against my other, proven, drivers once the season finally arrives.
