Callaway Hyper X Tour

[CashelFM]

I have been looking at buying a new driver recently after my old one became illegal at the turn of the year. I had read some good reports about the new HyperX driver and over the past couple of weeks I have tried a few shaft and head combinations to see how I got on. After a fitting session the one best suited to me was the standard shaft with the club.

HyperX Tour 10.5 Fujikura Fit-On E-360 Stiff

First up I really like the way this club sits squarely behind the ball. I liked the weighting of the club and it felt quite substantial and not overly light or whippy. The dark colours are not offensive and there is nothing really to distract you. The tour version does not have the small callaway arrow head marking of the non-tour version. Either version suits my eye as I am not too fussy. I hit a few shots to warm up and the first thing I noticed was the sound was a lot firmer sounding than the FT5. You get a nice solid feel of the face and it almost felt like it pinged from the face. You will not win any prizes in the "big bang" competition when comparing to the likes of cobra but still sounded good enough to me.

I got a good penetrating flight from the ball and normally my ball pretty much stops where it lands but this looked like it would roll out a few yards at the end. I got a decent looking shot and it launched far higher than my old R540. Dispersion was pretty good and ball flight was fairly consistant. If you put a bad tired swing on the club then it will carve off wildly though :rolleyes: I also found it quite forgiving and looking at the impact tape I had a fairly tight strike area. I normally hit the ball pretty straight and my bad shot with a poor swing carves right. A lot of the shots tailed off at the end with a very slight draw though. A badly struck shot from the centre still resulted in decent distance although the launch was not great. Generally I was looking at the ball dropping around about the 250 mark. There was no real wind around and the temperature was pretty low. I should see some slight increase in the warmer weather with decent balls.

Summary

The decision was between this and the D2 and I decided on the HyperX and put my cash down today. A decision has to be made sometime and you cannot keep trying stuff as you will eventually scramble your head. Just waiting on it being built at the factory and shipped up. As a little bonus they are chucking in a dozen Tour iX golf balls.

Cheers

[sevenfourate]

Read some great reviews on the driver too.........

Lets us know after the "Honeymoon period" ! ;)

[PowerPenguin]

Nice review Cash. :smile: Did you go for the 'Tour' version or the normal one?

I'll be interested to see how these sell compared to the FT-5s, and how many make it into the bags of the touring pros.

Dave

[CashelFM]

Cheers Syer I will do.

Dave I got the tour one (the clue is in the title and write up) ;)

I tried the 9 degree non tour version and it launched the same as the 10.5 degree tour version. The 10 degree non tour version launched even higher. I found the non tour version less penetrating. The Callaway guys said that the non tour clubs have weaker lofts than specced as punters out there do not like to say they play a higher loft.

[sevenfourate]

The Callaway guys said that the non tour clubs have weaker lofts than specced as punters out there do not like to say they play a higher loft.


Interesting stuff,and something thats been going on with standard OEM stuff for quite a while.Its become common to label up shafts as stiffer than they actaully are too for the same reason im lead to believe..........

[CashelFM]

I had read it before Syer and I know why they do it but I do not really agree with it. Was kinda surprised the Callaway guy mentioned it though. My thoughts are that I will use what works for me. If it is 9 degrees or 10 degrees or whatever. Some people get too caught up in the bragging rights I guess.

[sevenfourate]

I had read it before Syer and I know why they do it but I do not really agree with it. Was kinda surprised the Callaway guy mentioned it though. My thoughts are that I will use what works for me. If it is 9 degrees or 10 degrees or whatever. Some people get too caught up in the bragging rights I guess.

DAMNED RIGHT !

If a broom-stick works.....BAG IT :D

And if you then proceed to knock it 20 yards past your partners and straight down the middle more often that not,who are they to argue ?

The threads on BSG crack me up where they say "Would you go for an all TM or an all Titleist bag this year"

Personally i'd go for a bag that works whatever make the components of comprised.Call me unique but thats just me :p

[Mac.]

Its not just drivers though is it, e.g 44 degree pitching wedges and stronger lofts in irons in general. No wonder most people are ditching 3 irons

"hey what did you just hit"
"a 9 iron"
"pfft i hit a PW"

[PowerPenguin]

Interesting stuff,and something thats been going on with standard OEM stuff for quite a while.Its become common to label up shafts as stiffer than they actaully are too for the same reason im lead to believe..........

The Nike shafts are typical of this, the 'stiff' is honestly as soft as a bit of cooked spaghetti, major flexage going on there.

Only a select few can spot this though, to all the other mugs (even some experienced) it's the same shaft Tiger uses. :rolleyesw:

Dave

[JDH]

I had a hit with the Hyper X today: 10 deg stiff (non-tour)

On the plus side: I liked the look at address (though it did strike me as v. similar to the BB460); good feel and sound when I middled it; and a nice mid-high trajectory, typically with a slight draw. Pretty long, though massively hard to be objective on a slightly foggy driving range with iffy range balls.

On the negative side: it definitely wasn't as forgiving as some (very notably the Cobra L4V I hit alongside it) and, as said above, the head did strike me as very much a rebadged BB460. I was also struck by how different it sounded on miss-hits.

I thought it was good, but nowt special (for me). Having said that, the bloke next to me asked for a whack and loved it.

[CashelFM]

Read some great reviews on the driver too.........

Lets us know after the "Honeymoon period" ! ;)

Just a little update on the Hyper X Tour after having it in the bag for just over a month (has the honeymoon ended yet?).

I have found that I am not really any further (fractionally longer if anything) off the tee than I was before but I am only getting pretty much what I hit as the ball has little or no roll on our sodden fairways just now (bummer as the ball is often pretty muddy). I expect to get more roll when the fairways harden up a bit and the air warms up a bit. The lack of roll is not worrying me too much as I am less likely to run into trouble which is a positive. The hang time of the ball in the air is pretty long and I definitely hit it on a far higher trajectory than my old 9.5 degree which seems to be the way forward these days. I have not noticed any reduction in distance against the wind compared to my old 9.5 degree driver considering the much higher trajectory I now get. I am far more consistent and very rarely send myself into too much trouble. All my shots are nice and straight and generally I am either on the fairway or just off the fairway in the semi. Put a bad swing on it and for sure it will send the ball careering off in a wild direction though. Forgiveness wise I am happy and I although the sound is different with a poor strike it is not something that I am unduly concerned about. Talking about which I find the sound from the face more than acceptable as I am not a huge fan of the hollow tin can sounding drivers. Feel-wise, the face feels good and solid through the shot and you can really feel the ball leave the clubface. In saying that though I found the feel from the D2's face better.

The biggest thing for me now is the confidence that this is the right club for me at this time and if I hit a bad shot then it goes down to a bad swing. I can step up to tricky driving holes and swing with a positive mindset that I am going to hit the fairway and generally do.

Best pressure shot so far was I played in a winter league comp and we were 1 down playing the winter 4th (a 285 yard par 4 hole) with the wind behind and I drove the green. My partner ended up getting his birdie and the other lads blew it so I never even needed my eagle putt!. Golf eh :rolleyes:

I would certainly recommend trying it if you are in the market for a new driver and although it will not suit everyone it just might be the right one for you. You can get some decent prices on them now as well.

All in all I am pleased with my decision and the honeymoon period looks like continuing for a wee while longer I am glad to say :smile:

[PowerPenguin]

Feel-wise, the face feels good and solid through the shot and you can really feel the ball leave the clubface. In saying that though I found the feel from the D2's face better.



Oh god, don't you start! :wink:

Nice review Cash. :yes: Now all you need is a Squareway to become a Cally staffer...

Dave