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Has anyone tried the Cleveland Hibore Driver. Tested along with the Nike SQ and Tour Edge Exotica.Prefered the Cleveland. Any comments. Thanks

I picked one up (I am a sucker for new equipment), with the prolaunch blue shaft - only range tested thus far but I already feel more confident with the HiBore than the Ping G2 I've had todate. I do appear to be hitting the ball longer and achieving more consistency in terms of dispersion, overall. Surprisingly, I didn't get the sense that the Hibore was an overly unwieldy monster sized club (though it is big) - the shape of the head was actually confidence inspiring (for me) at address. The feel of the two clubs are also very different at impact, as well as the sound - not sure how to explain it but the Hibore seems to make more of a "craack" sound rather than the canny sound made by some drivers (again not sure if I am describing this accurately). From a purely cosmetic perspective, its not a pretty club - the finish on the head topside is rather dull (but I think this is effective in reducing glare) and austere. The shape is reminiscent of a big version of the Halo hybrids. Not fancy by any means - but it performs!

Anyhow, even after only a short while, I am comfortable enough with this club to have taken out the G2 from my bag. It is long and very foregiving.

I bought a HiBORE today. I traded in my Ping G2 for it. I went with a 10.5 loft. I had a 8.5 loft with the G2 and wanted to try more loft. I went with the Proforce shaft. I had choice of the same shaft as I had with my G2 (Grafalloy), the same shaft I had the season before with my 983K (Aldila Green NV), or the Proforce...easy choice...it's a new toy and I wanted something different, plus the Proforce looked the coolest hehe. The Proforce is a medium launch shaft which should work well with the HiBORE 10.5.

Let us know how you like it. I've been looking at the same setup with either the V2 or the Prolaunch.

Bill3508

Will do...I took the picture at the range. More pics are at my site. I hit a large bucket of nothing but drives with this club. My first shot was a miss-hit...first shot with the G2 last year was pure (not a good sign hehe).

Only time will tell if I do better or worse than with the G2. That is some stiff competition because the G2 is a great club and fun to hit. It was cold and I was hitting into a little wind, so I couldn't reach the fence on one bounce like I could with the G2 at the range...the way memory works is that I was probably doing so downwind when doing that, though hehe...we tend to forget that part. ;)

By the way, the 9.5 loft felt like my 8.5 G2 at address. Otherwise, I would have went with the 9.5 instead of the 10.5. The choices were 9.5, 10.5, and 11.5...so going middle-of-the-road should work out fine.

Well I couldn't resist. I picked up a 10.5 HIbore with the Grafalloy Prolaunch 65S today. Have to see how it does and may sneak out and play 9 in a little bit. My wifes going to kill me but oh well.

Bill3508

Okay, just got back from playing nine with the Hibore. Specs are 10.5 Graffaloy Prolaunch 65 stiff. First to the good. This is one straight stick. No matter what I did the ball flight never curved over 5 yards either way, even when I went after it and hit it outside in. It just doesn't move. Most of my shots were slight draws or fades no more than 5 yards in either direction. I guess this is due to the low spin of this driver.

The bad. I'm not sure I put enough spin on the ball to keep it in the air. I'm going to have to check it on the LM but it doesn't seem to stay in the air for a long time. I hit a couple drives longer than my normal on certain holes, but others were 10-15 yards short. I never had a drive balloon on me, and it really did not hit that high. Much lower than I thought it would. I normally hit it low with most drivers but I was thinking this club would get it up a bit. My flight was similar to my 905R 11.5 with the V2 75stiff, but the Titleist carry's further, although not as straight.

I'm wondering if I should have gotten an 11.5 degree. Also, another problem may be because this club is very long, 45.5". I tried teeing it low and high and they produced similar results, but it seemed I was hitting it a little lower on the face than center. Its really hard to tell as the face does not give indication of where its hit like most drivers do in leaving a slight ball pattern mark.

Anyway thats my quick review. I'm going to have to decide if I want to swap it or keep it.

Bill3508

I just played my first 9 with this driver. I really like it so far, but I'm not sure about the distance yet compared to my G2 that I traded in. The only fairway I missed today was because I hit the cart path across a bridge when I cleared a creek on a par 5...the ball bounced through the fairway and left me only 170 yards on the approach shot.

I've hit balls at the range a couple of times (small bucket today), but both times were against a little wind...can't wait to see if I can hit the fence on the first bounce under easier conditions. If I can hit this club as far as my G2 I will be very happy because this is a club that I can control better.

:)

You may have to change your sig .... especially since you traded in the G2...

I did get a free hat with the driver. What do you know....it has an ad for HiBORE...huh...go figure. I've got the hat, plug the club here and on my site, and I might as well change my signature. :)

What kind of ball flight did you have, and how did you tee the ball up? I agree the club is very controllable and I too only missed one fairway, just leaked right enough to be in the rough.

Bill3508

I usually play a draw. I hit a few draws today and a few pretty straight. At least a few were right on the line that I was shooting for. I teed it up half the time a little lower than I was with the G2, but when I had to get a lot of carry to clear a creek or whatever, I teed it up a little higher.

I will play Saturday at my home course and will have a better idea of how far I am hitting this driver compared to my G2. I'm already losing distance over a few years ago it seems, so losing distance just by changing drivers wouldn't be good...I don't think that will be an issue with the club, though.

Here are some of my stats this year since I bought the HiBORE.

Fairways 39/54 (72%)
Fairways Front Nine 21/34 (62%)
Fairways Back Nine 18/20 (90%)
Birdies 2 (3%)
Pars 35 (49%)
Bogeys 25 (35%)
Double Bogeys 7 (10%)
Triple Bogeys 3 (4%)
Par 3 Avg Score 3.78
Par 4 Avg Score 4.75
Par 5 Avg Score 5.28
Par 3 Green in Regulation 6/18 (33%)
Par 4 Green in Regulation 11/36 (31%)
Par 5 Green in Regulation 9/18 (50%)

Here are my stats this year before I had the HiBORE (Ping G2):

Fairways 70/111 (63%)
Fairways Front Nine 44/68 (65%)
Fairways Back Nine 26/43 (60%)
Birdies 12 (8%)
Pars 58 (40%)
Bogeys 50 (35%)
Double Bogeys 19 (13%)
Triple Bogeys 3 (2%)
Others 2 (1%)
Par 3 Avg Score 3.64
Par 4 Avg Score 4.78
Par 5 Avg Score 5.45
Par 3 Green in Regulation 9/33 (27%)
Par 4 Green in Regulation 33/80 (41%)
Par 5 Green in Regulation 15/31 (48%)

By the way...it's early in the season and I certainly hope to improve my iron play soon. ;)