Are Titleist Drivers REALLY getting Better?

Rick takes a 20–year journey through Titleist drivers to find out if the tech has really moved on, or if we’re just buying new paint jobs. From early classics like the 905 to the latest models, he compares looks, feel, ball speed, forgiveness and forgiveness claims to see what’s actually changed, what’s stayed the same, and whether it’s worth upgrading your current Titleist gamer.

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Have tightless drivers got any better over the last 20 years? Well, in this video, we’re going to find out. We’ve collected drivers all the way back from 2006 to the latest and greatest. We’re going to test them all here on the Hit Channel and see exactly how much improvement has been made by the Titless drivers. First off, we’re going back to 2006. And this works because even the latest model is rolling into 2026 there get you 20 years. This is the 9005R. And what a driver this was. This was one of the first modern drivers that went kind of more of a max volume territory almost this oversized. Now it’s not as big as the 460 C you see in modern day drivers but this at the time was huge. What I love about this driver is how beautifully symmetrical it is. Like it’s somewhat simple. Um not much going no adjustable weights. You couldn’t adjust the neck sleeve. You couldn’t check you can’t change the shaft out of this driver. And by the way, this has got a classic graphite design blue uh shaft in this as well. It’s 9 1/2° of head. This honestly when growing up, this was like my dream driver. And in fact, I got this when I did a golf benge a few years ago. and I actually played it in the first ever YouTube golf day back in 2019. I loved it that much. Right, let’s get hitting this bad boy. Protitanium 905R. Looks so so so good. What I’m quite intrigued to know about is actually what carry distance I’m going to get out of all these drivers. Um, and how much is it going to improve? Because I’ve tested product now for 13 years and and driver technology definitely does improve, but at what rate? It’s less than you think, but it is a progression. So, let’s go. 905R. Um, I normally carry the ball about 280. I would be amazed, shocked, astonished if this gets those numbers, but it also, weirdly might just well do that. Oh, it brings back some nice memories. It was a little bit healy and not absolutely flushed, but it’s down the middle of the fairway. God, that felt nice. Simple times, eh? When drivers were drivers, I’m joking. It just really does take me down a lovely stroll down memory lane. What might be quite interesting with this, because it’s not 460 C head, wonder if I can swing it a bit faster than the others. That first one was 110, but I think it’s got the capability of being swung a little bit faster. Oh, that is absolutely incredible. That is incredible. God, that felt so good. That was perfect. It was literally perfect. Right, let’s hit a bunch more. I’m going to hit a bunch of this, then we’ll move on to the next driver. [Music] [Music] Next up, 2008 9009D. This is the D2 as well. I mean, first off, magnetic head cover. Look at that. To be honest, I didn’t actually I didn’t give this enough credit just a second ago. I did not give the 90R the love it deserve. That that’s what I want to see on head covers again. That missed that. Anyway, gone went from that few years later magnets. Pretty cool. Underneath it, we’ve got this 909 D2. This was an incredibly popular driver on tour. Outrageously popular. Let’s see how it does. Similar style in the sense that no adjustable weights, not adjustable on the neck, and it’s a bigger head size. We’re starting to get very close to, if not all, this I think this is 460cc. So, the size has got bigger, but there’s no adjustable weights, no adjustable neck sleeve. Let’s give it a rip. You know what I can appreciate with tight list? A lot of the drivers looking down look so similar over the years. They’ve slightly changed the color from kind of a lighter gray to a darker gray to now more of a black, but you you can just tell it’s a tightless driver. Like it’s got such a a classic shape behind the ball. So nice. Right, let’s give us a hit. This is a swanky shaft. And I’ll deal little pink number. Pretty good. [Music] [Music] [Music] Okay, interesting results. I’ll show you that in a little bit. Right, next driver. Okay, next up, 915D. Now, this really takes me back to when I first started making YouTube videos, the 913 drivers and 915. cuz I started YouTube about 2012. I feel like this is kind of when this was just a few years later, 2014. It’s interestingly the head cover is almost like the two previous drivers had a baby. It’s almost that top but with that tail. And boom, we got this. It’s a very long sock. Look at that. It’s halfway down the shaft. I do love that. I love a long sock down my shaft. Right, 915D3 9.5. No adjustable weights. Um, there is a weight port here in the back which I think you could maybe get custom fitted is now adjustable neck sleeve. So for one of the first drivers, you could start to adjust the neck sleeves. Distance without compromise was the big talking point. And it had this active recoil channel here to increase ball speed. Right, let’s give 915 D3 a hit here. Okay, again that classic head shape behind the ball, darker finish now in the 915. Uh almost a bit kind of shiny as well, glittery, but such similar head shapes. They’ve always had the same head shapes. I think that’s so inspired by their tour pros with tight list. Looks nice, right? Let’s give this a hit. [Music] A different noise than the first two drivers I’ve hit today. [Music] Yeah, pretty good hit. A little bit up the right, but nice strike. Oh yes. Oh yeah, you can feel the power. Very nice. Long and straight. [Music] [Music] [Music] Okay, so that is 2014. Let’s move on to 2020. 2020 Titless TSI. This is TSI 2. Again, quite similar look actually to the 909. Um, there is now, sorry, the 915 quite similar look to 915. Weight port in the back, which again fitting you could adjust that, but uh didn’t come with lots of other options. Adjustable shaft sleeve. This time there was a little bit more story about speed, club head speed. They were talking about the first driver made from ATI 425 aerospace titanium for speed and stability. really doesn’t I don’t think it looks quite as doesn’t look quite as good as the 915. More of a kind of a proper true black crown. From memory, I feel like the TSI ones really kind of didn’t didn’t do great. A bit of a lull this kind of release. I remember speaking to a few a few fitters and retailers and saying, “Yeah, they didn’t quite get as good a performance out of these drivers.” Let’s see what happens on this test today. Felt good. Little bit of a draw down that left hand side, but felt great. Yeah, it was long as well. [Music] Pretty good. [Music] [Applause] Okay, last driver in the test. The latest and greatest tiltless driver. There’ll be one TS normally bring out every two years, every even year in kind of September. So September 2026, you’ll probably see the latest Titless drivers, but this right now is the most current one. GT driver had incredible success. Lots of positive talk about it. This is the GT2. One thing I didn’t mention actually, the TSI head cover, as much as I love the boxing glove, the quality was pretty good. The GT head cover, again, it’s a boxing glove, the quality is out of this world. Like, it’s thick and it’s heavy. Anyway, um GT2, again, tires have stayed, certainly in one model, fairly neutral, like again, it’s just adjustable neck sleeve. Uh there is a weight port at the back which again you can switch weights in there but really if you’re just getting fitted I mean it’s a good looking head. I like this finish. It’s kind of darker finish. It’s a little bit more obvious it’s 460. It looks a little bit more kind of squashed in but a deeper face. I like it. Looks really good. Okay. Again very classic tightless look behind the ball but this time instead of the kind of triangular alignment they’ve got GT. kind of does weirdly look a little bit faster with that GT. Makes you think, right, I’m going to give this a give this a proper hit. Okay, last driver of the test of the 20 years. Then we can compare some numbers. [Music] A little bit of a pull, but it was a good hit. It’s a massive hit. Didn’t Wasn’t very straight. I can hit it better than that. [Music] That’s straighter. [Music] It’s a little bit right. That’s a pretty good drive. [Music] Oh, that’s a unreal drive to finish. That might be the best one. Yes, please. Okay, let’s have a look at some numbers. The simple answer to the question, have tless drivers got better in 20 years? Yes. The next part of that question is how by how many yards? Well, from the 9005R which was carrying two 278 yards on average to the GT2 which is carrying 288 yards, 10 yards of difference on carry. So half a yard each year, which is about what I’ve seen with every brand. Pretty much half a yard per year. What was interesting here, there was kind of a blip with the 909D. I really didn’t seem to get good performance out at all. Might have been something to do with the shaft, but that wasn’t working great for me. But as you can see each year, it just goes a little bit further. Uh or every few years a little bit further. What was interesting as much as the 905 actually got incredible distance. Again, 278 and one I hit one way into the 280s, the dispersion was definitely wider. Right to left wasn’t as good. The most accurate was actually the Titus TSI 2 that had the best dispersion. Really, really impressive. And then GT2, longest hitting. And to be honest, quite a big jump. Like from TSI2, which again, I don’t think it was the most popular driver in 2020. We’ve seen a sevenyard improvement. Like a leap, huge leap. So, is there a difference? Yes. Will you see version by version? No. But every kind of three versions, you’ll definitely see noticeable differences. Guys, thanks for watching. Stay tuned. Lots more to come to the Hit Channel. Be sure to subscribe and we’ll see you