A New Driver - Callaway FT-i

February 26th, 2007 by mulligan

I’ve been scoping out the new “technology” that has recently been unveiled and heralded as the next great advantage to the common golfer. Surprisingly, no, it isn’t the replacement of real leather for a synthetic (as attempted by the NBA) in an attempt to produce an “all weather” glove. No, it isn’t the dimple-less golf ball either. Although I did read a review about that from the recent Golf Expo held in Orlando. Yeah, it flubbed miserably as one might expect. But I should get back to the topic at hand, my quest for a new driver.

Now I know there are plenty of factors involved with being able to consistently hit the driver a long way. One of those that I feel is often overlooked is the person holding the club. Now in this case, it’s ME who’s looking for a new driver so all of what you’re about to read really does only reflect what I personally want to gain from the purchase. Mostly I want something that I feel comfortable with in my hand. Now what I mean by “comfortable” is this:

1. I want to feel comfortable with the club in my hand.
2. I want the club to be neutral in setup (more on that later).
3. I don’t plan on breaking the bank (I’m not a pro and don’t get paid to play this game).
4. Being able to consistently hit a yardage with the club.

So today I finally set off to see firsthand a few of the new clubs that are out. Now keep in mind that this portion of the review process is going to be very short. Why? Well, because these clubs are all at or over $400 in price. $400 is right at the limit of what I’d like to spend, so in order to not opt for an older model these clubs are going to have to really impress me.

The first club that I really wanted to try was the Callaway FT-i. This is the club that Phil Mickelson is currently touting as the reason he is so confide

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nt off the tee. This club is fitted with Fujikura Speeder 586 or 686 shafts. It’s interesting to me because I have the Fujikura Speeder shaft in my current driver (Titleist 983e). It’s also one of the new “square” club head. The FT-i comes in three “Optifit” flavors, draw, neutral, and fade. Hypothetically this means that if you tend to slice your driver, you should probably get the “draw” model to counteract this tendency. If you want my honest opinion on this type of technology, I’d have to say that it works…. to an extent. If you can’t hit the driver, don’t expect a miracle just because you buy a draw type driver. No driver/club in the world can fix someone who can’t swing the club consistently. This is a sad sad lesson I’ve taught myself over time

Now Callaway begs the question - “Worlds Straightest Driver?” in their ad campaign. I have no idea if this is true as I’ve only hit the club about 30 times all indoors, and at a mesh target about 20 yards in front of me. What I can say is this: It felt dead off the club face in terms of feel. I’m accustomed to my Callaway X-16 irons, which when hit properly give wonderful feedback. Every shot I hit with this club felt the same. Now that might actually be a good thing, but I still think there is something to be said about hitting the sweet spot and knowing it at impact. Not only that, but the club didn’t sound quite the way I’d like it to. This is probably something I could get used to, but it’s just something I noticed right away. I didn’t care

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for the square look either. Perhaps I’m a bit old fashioned, but it felt a bit out of place to me. Like something down there just isn’t quite right. The club is sized at 460cc and is made of a titanium composite material. I gather titanium on the face, composite on portions of the body. Right handed lofts include 9°, 10°, 11°, and 13HT. Left handed lofts are 10° and 11° in only a draw or neutral Optifit option is available. The FT-i currently retails at $499 - but I’ve seen the tour version listed at $999.

Of course the most interesting aspect to these new clubs for me, is what is called the Moment of Inertia… or “MOI”. This is what all amateur and professional golfers really should be considering when purchasing a new driver. Of course the opposite could be said as well. Probably the most important factor is actually ball speed being in proportion to your club head speed. However, the higher the MOI the farther the ball is going to travel.

Higher MOI and less twisting of the club head at impact results in straighter, longer tee shots. If you are looking for a driver that is promising distance, use a launch monitor that measures both club head speed and ball speed. Unfortunately the machine wasn’t working where I hit these first few shots, so I can’t really tell you what my measurements were. However, it wouldn’t really matter, since they would be MY measurements Yours could be completely different. In theory though, if the club offers more stability through off center contact, you should technically be able to get more forgiveness out of your misses. Sounds good on paper, but I’d like to see it in practice.

After all was said and done, this club just doesn’t feel right to me. 2 of my 3 bullets are already blown, and while #4 is very important and probably carries more weight, I’ll have to hit this club at the range to truly find out what the club offers me in that department. Stay tuned for the next two driver reviews coming soon!

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