Is new always better? | OLD vs NEW Driver Comparison

For many of us, upgrading your clubs to the latest version is a no brainer. After all, if you like the old one, surely the new one will work even better for you? To answer this question and more Simon compares his current driver with it’s latest equivalent. The results might not be what you expect …

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so today’s a new versus old comparison so this is my driver that I I changed last year um tailor made M4 used it really well for well some would say not but used it what I thought was pretty well for seven years or so and then switched ahead and now whilst I’m not in the QI 10 uh qi1 is the current version of this club head so excuse the lead tape that’s just getting them to weigh exactly the same for the test so what is the difference is new better how much better how is it different we’ll find out and give you all of the answers shortly so going to start up inting my trusty old M4 this is a head that’s say used for a number of years design-wise fairly weight forward so it’s quite a low spin head as you can see potentially just from that scoop that that back Edge going up that’s one for aerodynamics but it sets the center Mass higher and further forward so gets it a lower launch lower launching head certainly also meant that wants to sit on the back and tends to sit open something that I liked but not a lot of players did um but generally a little bit of a lower flatter stronger performance off this head but being seven or eight years old now in principle we should see a bit of a drop off in offs sender performance versus qi1 so I’m going to get you know four or five hits with this we’ll do the same with the qi1 and then get that comparison so right what what is the uplift forance after seven or eight years it’s like putting on a comfy PA shoes seeing this head behind the ball again that’s a relief I used it so long for it to go all over the shot would have been a bit embarrassing okay yeah so it’s what was quite notable this head is how flat the flight was so really about this head is very good for bringing flight and spin down which you for me uh was always important always important for my performance it’s a bit of a better hit not good on the club face but a better strike just do the one more on this okay yeah that one a bit of a flat bullet so this this is where this head was really good at knocking that flight down that’s a bit of a yeah low Stinger right let’s switch heads so switching into qi1 there’s a a much lighter section in the middle here so there’s a lot more weight at the back compared to the M4 um so it’s say lead tape is there just to get the head weights exactly the same and swing weights exactly the same so um it’s going to perform in swing for me as similarly as possible they’re trying to minimize variables um but in principle we should see a little bit more launch um but should see a little bit better Performance Off Center as well so right yeah so definitely seats better you know with this you can put it down it stays there with the M4 that rounded back it wants to sit open the whole time so much much easier to set up behind the ball okay slight better hit yeah so you can see with the M4 how it sat open was fade bars this one’s really wanted to go left so i’ I can hit against the M4 head much more and not worry about it going left that’s something that has always been my Miss and that’s why I like that head quite so much okay I’ll just do the one more with this so like we’ve done in previous videos we’re going to look at the the data comparisons between those two setups and see where the gains and the losses are so you know on the screen here we got the the last batch of shots with the qi1 versus the M4 so little more Club speed again a few more shots so I’m not going to put any any um you know same shaft same balance not going to put anything on that um what we can see and this is quite interesting is actually the smash is a little bit higher with the old head so what we know is that you know the middle of the face has being limited for yeah since 2003 so TW over 20 years now so if your strike points consistent then you may not see that much of a gain um where there is does tend to be great greater performances off center so that’s something to really be conscious of is it’s something that we’re seeing time and time and time again if the setup you have is good so you’d hope that my original setup having been fitted and built by us here um would work well it’s actually very hard to beat ball speed out of it unless your strike pattern has fallen off so you know for solid hits and centered strikes don’t expect to see big uplifts in Bull speed and and I say performance but bull speed performance um because they maxed out on bll speed 20 OD years ago out in the middle but you know what this also shows is head style and I’m going to go over the rest of the data now to just to back up this stuff up because whilst there have been technological gains through going you thinner face to make it you know spread weight you know lighter here more weight at the back more stability off center um you what what actually has to be the case is it has to be the right head for you so going over this data here we can see as predicted the M4 is launching a little bit lower you know degree lower in base launch that’s something we knew this head was great for that’s why I played it in the past but also again reason I’ve played this head in the past is its low spin so again 2,160 revs on spin 2,500 out of the qi1 but tellingly here that’s if that’s a word um 295 revs as a tolerance on spin with the M4 and 586 with this now for me a a weight at the back of the head does create flares in spin so that’s something that you know I know for my own game um I suffer if I put too much weight at the back because if I get a little a little heel side a little low it actually pops the spin up so for me a a kind of a low forward weighted head actually helps to keep that spin down and keeps my flight in the better place so very very personal to me that but that’s why we’re seeing some of this uh increase in data um but you know and as a result because it’s got the spin a little bit higher and the launch a little bit higher whilst the carry is absolutely identical called to half a yard uh the M4 because it’s a lower spin runs out a little bit more so what hasn’t happened is just by going from a you know 7 eight year old model to a 2024 model I haven’t just automatically picked up distance so why is that angle attack is you very very similar a little bit more upward with the M4 probably because of the lower launch I’ve reacted to that to try to get it Airborne a bit more um and you know swing line as I described hitting it turned the qi1 over a little bit more as well so some of that is the fade bias of the M4 head but outside of that you know what’s happening and why are we seeing this data so um the M4 was a head star that really suited my action so I think the lesson here is that really suited my delivery and spin and launch profile the qi1 doesn’t as much now the ls would probably be better for me but this would be you the M3 was more the ls comparison which is why I haven’t pulled that head so what can we tell from this well just by going to the latest version of this head doesn’t necessarily create the best results technically they are they have advanced more they’re using higher grade materials they the technology within the face really quite impressive but for me that switch doesn’t translate into more distance exactly the same carry six seven yards less run out so yes absolutely the materials the technology the design that all the companies are putting in place is is moving product forwards and certainly off cender performance bll speed retention we’re seeing repeatedly better data um but you have to get the right head for it to have an impact the more they’re moving weight away from the face the lighter they’re making the the middle part of the heads that weight maneuverability the amount that it’s moving creates more variability in Flight depending on the player’s action so the takeaway from this is just updating the head doesn’t hit you further or better you know you might get away with a little bit more from a straightness point of view but actually you might hit it shorter so if I just switched Heads This would go less far than my M4 um because the head style doesn’t suit my delivery so the key thing is if you’re going to change get a fitting test them out make sure you’re getting the right product because they are they are expensive it costs a lot to change golf clubs now so make sure you get it right just an update doesn’t always pull through and give you more performance and more distance and ultimately with the driver more distance is what we’re all looking for but what I’m going to do now just to show where technology has improved is I’m going to hit one with my own gamer driver and show that comparison in Bull speed and data and say right having moved on from the M4 what does a properly fitted new product give me well hit one or two shots and get that data comparison just to tie up the video right so here’s my current gamer Titleist TSR 3 very very similar Sha but you marginal difference but I wanted to go a whole upgrade rather than just changing head so let’s see the comparison with this now compared to the old one so I’ll do one more just to get a an average okay so to round this one up as you can see from the sidebar here two hits so just on the two that have been filmed there nothing edited at all um and what we can see here Club speed is the same as the qi1 so we’ve kept that a little bit more B Club speed here but ball speed has gone up now neither one of those was definitely not a perfect strike hence the spin being a little bit down but we do have more ball speed we do have a better launch to spin profile we do have longer carry and we do have longer total so the key thing here is if you want to go new get it fitted don’t just don’t just switch over to the new model just because that’s what you’ve used in the past make sure you get it right and there are your GES [Music]