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Anyone with experience to share about the Titleist 907 D2 and D1 drivers?

http://www.titleist.com/golfclubs/drivers/907D2.asp

This goes on a bit, but bear with me!

I have not replaced a club in my bag for approximately 16 years. I wasn't going to be hoodwinked by the manufacturers propaganda into parting with my hard earned cash with claims that technology advances in club design have made the game easier to play. How wrong I was!
It was through researching on the internet that I finally realised my original Big Bertha driver may be in need of replacement. I should add that I bought this club second hand back then! .



I was having the equivalent of the "yips" with my driver. I am a 16 handicap middle aged golfer with what I guess to be a slightly higher than average swing speed. I have only recently got back into the game of golf on a regular basis in the last three months. I went to my local American golf outlet and came away with an ex demo Nike sumo2, 10.5 degrees with the standard stiff flex diamana shaft. At first I loved this club and couldn't believe the increase in distance and accuracy I was now getting when compared to my aged original Big Bertha.

I have since found out that the Nike Sumo2 I have will be an illegal club by the end of the year. The good news is that Nike have agreed to replace it with a brand new conforming one, so I reckon I've got myself a rare lucky break: purchased a second hand club to have it replaced with a brand new one!

If you're still with me, I will explain why I now have a Titleist 907D2.

The Nike Sumo2 is without doubt a great club. It looks weird, it certainly sounds weird, but it launches the ball like an ICBM and straight as an arrow, so long as your swing plane is consistent or at least you swing within yourself. The trouble I found with the Sumo2 is that it encourages the weaker willed (such as myself) into over cooking the swing. When it 's a good swing plane it'll send the ball 300yds + but if you get a bit wild it will hook or slice the same as any other club. The trouble is a 300yd hook or slice may end up in the long rough or out of bounds! When the club head is on plane and square at impact, but off centre to the ball, this is where the advantage of a MOI rating of 5300 comes into play. The club will still keep the ball flight on target and just about as long.

So why change the club if the above is true of any other club? The answer for me is down to feel. If you hit a bad one, it's hard to know why because there is little feedback from the Nike club head.
I spoke to the pro at my own club and he was singing the praises of the Titleist 907 D1 and D2. Having already tried a high MOI rated club, I didn't feel the benefit of off center club head impact forgiveness was as great an asset as feel and workability. For that reason I discounted the triangular shaped D1 and tested the Titleist 907D2 and the Cleveland Hibore xl. Both were 9.5 and stiff shaft.

For me, there was no contest between the two. I played eighteen holes on my own using two balls (or more) off the tee, using both clubs. There was NO difference in length between the Cleveland and the Titleist, both were long at an average of 260 yds. However, the Titleist was far more forgiving and seemed as reliably straight as the Sumo2. The feel you get back from the D2 is incredible: you know exactly which part of the club head came into contact with the ball. I didn't get that feeling with the Cleveland. To prove this, I used the D2 on the driving range and cleaned the head after each strike. The impact of a slightly damp golf ball (they are cleaned in the dispensing machine) shows up exactly where the point of impact occurred. For every shot I made I could tell where the club had made contact with the ball, something I've never experienced with such consistency before. Also off centre shots seemed as forgiving as the Sumo2.
For the last hole I used three balls with all three drivers. The Cleveland wandered off into the rough, the Titleist went straight down the middle approx 270yds and the Nike did the same but went 300yds! However, I know both of the other clubs can go that distance too, and possibly further, but out of the three I would put my faith in the Titleist 907D2 as the most consistent and reliable.
This is just my opinion, your experience may be different. I highly recommend the 907D2.

Rick.

Just to add as an edit to my original posting.

1. The sweet spot, and this has to be millimetre perfect, is like nothing you will have ever felt before with the D2. When you experience it, the feeling isn't like a hot knife through butter, it's better than that. It's like the squishiness of a jel pack, or biting down on a very soft peice of rubber. You will know when it happens. Unfortunately it doesn't happen that often for me but it's orgasmic when it does!

That matches my experience. I have demoed a number of drivers on the range recently and the Titleist 907 D2 has been hands down the winner in both distance and accuracy.

I have a 905r which I much prefer to the D2 (and currently is cheaper as well) for all of the reasons that rbarry loves his...the D1 was a suprise as the design made straight and long verrrry easy, and I was able to work the ball both ways fairly easily...I reccomend the 905r and then the D1 as the D2 for me feels like a 905r with a little less control (and these are all apples to apples comparisons as all three clubs were shafted the same...V2 stiff 77gr...)...on a side note, I really liked the graphite design ys 6+ shaft and am going to change once I get around to it...