We Tested The Last 3 Titleist Drivers On A Robot, Should You Upgrade? | Robo Report

Golf Digest equipment experts Jonathan Wall and Gene Parente dive into the mountain of data gathered by the Golf Laboratories swing robot to reveal how the newest Titeist GT drivers stack up against their older models. Should you upgrade?

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Hosts: Jonathan Wall and Gene Parente
Producer: Will Fullerton
Video Editor: Adam Baranowski
Executive Producer: Christian Iooss

slow spinny short on distance these are words that have been used to describe Tidal’s drivers before the arrival of TS it could be argued no manufacturer has chased distance harder than Titalist in the last 7 years and it’s paid off in a big way the emergence of its ATI 425 phase has made Titalist a major player in the driver category as it continues to chase more speed and longer drives of course speed is worthless if you can’t keep it on the map we want a driver that can do it all especially if you’re going to shell out $650 which is what the new GT goes for these days this is where it pays to have a swing robot that can cut through the noise and offer an unbiased take if GT is worth the upgrade over TSR or TSI [Music] the swing robot has been delivering insights for 35 years and is used by the USGA RNA and nearly every major manufacturer in the industry for club testing and it often discovers pretty unexpected results when it comes to comparing new models and older models we are going to bring you data and visuals that have previously only been accessible to the companies designing your equipment when we test clubs we run each 10 degree driver head at 95 mph which is right around the average swing speed for an amateur golfer this lets us gather a ton of useful data from spin rate and dispersion to ball speed and carry distance across nine different impact locations on the face we also use the same shaft to create a true applesto apples comparison we’re able to acquire meaningful data points for 90% of the face so practically every kind of miss is accounted for here’s what we found when we tested the last three versions of Titalist drivers on the robot i’ll be the first to admit I spent way too much time analyzing titleless spin chart in most cases you’re able to understand pretty quickly what’s going on but not with this one in some cases spins are going in different directions as opposed to all trending up or down together let’s start with the two model on the low end you can see spin dip below 2,000 RPMs from TSI to TSR while the high end of the spin range remained relatively steady at 3,300 as I’ve said before I am not a huge fan of going below 2,000 because spin rates become unmanageable and you bring in the potential for a round killing knuckle ball with GT we are now seeing low spins get back to 2200 to 2300 it almost feels like they noticed Spin was on the edge with TSR and simply moved the high low range up to make it more playable something else I noticed TSI 2 and GT2 look eerily similar from a spin perspective gt3 is doing the opposite of GT2 we’re going from a more of a midspin range with TSI to a slightly higher rate with TSR and then GT3 goes the complete opposite direction and becomes a low spin rocket ship a whopping 36 of the 54 shots recorded a spin rate between 1,800 and 2500 RPMs tsr2 and TSI 2 had 14 shots and up in the same spin range combined if you’re chasing distance through lower spin GT3 is where it’s at similar to TSI 2 and GT2 the TSR4 and GT4 have similar spin ranges they’re both relatively consistent especially when compared to TSI4 interestingly enough the GT3 has a lower spin concentration than GT4 ball speeds ticked up with GT3 and GT4 but from a pure speed perspective it’s difficult to overlook TSR2’s strong numbers it recorded more shots at 143 mph than any Titus driver we tested not only that it had 40 of the 54 shots recorded a ball speed from 138 to 143 it wasn’t faster than GT2 and TSI2 it was noticeably faster everyone wants to play the fastest driver in the marketplace but you’d be better off looking at a chart like this that’s logging shots from nine different spots on the face to determine where your good and bad shots could likely end up the four model shows ball speeds were noticeably less consistent from TSI4 to TSR4 but that’s since been shored up with GT4 we now have 39 shots at 136 to 143 mph versus just 14 for TSI and 13 for TSR4 in other words more consistent speed across the face all right so we already know TSR2 is a fast driver but the carry numbers reveal it’s also incredibly long just look at the data between 220 and 225 yards that 26 number is the number of shots recorded within that carry range now compare it to GT2 and TSI 2 which had a combined 19 shots in the same range the GT3 has a slight edge at the top end of the carry range but has some similarities to the TSI 3 the TSR3 on the other hand had a wider carry range than the other two what I think gives GT3 the edge over TSI3 is that it didn’t record a single carry below 210 where you see TSI3 start to creep into the 200s the overall range is exceptionally tight and it’s more of the same for GT4 as it breaks the 230 to 235 barrier for the first time it actually recorded more shots from 215 to 235 than TSR2 which is fascinating when you consider the GT2 is a 460cc head and the GT4 is 430 cc’s reducing the head size doesn’t impact forgiveness and distance in this case and now to the final piece of the performance puzzle dispersion what’s intriguing about this chart is the tight dispersion patterns for TSI this was the first year they introduced the ATI 425 base and already they had something cooking they are relatively close to center line and tighter than TSR graphics like these confirm TSI is still a very good driver from the newest crop the GT4’s dispersion was exceptional especially when it’s pitted against the TSR4 and it’s noticeably wider shot band i think it’s fair to say GT4 should be on the testing list for better players or those who don’t mind playing a slightly smaller profile the GT2 and GT3 have a slight left bias but it’s still close to the center line the tighter dispersions are no doubt an upgrade from TSR and moderately straighter than TSI in some instances all right who should upgrade i think the GT4 is a literal no-brainer you’d be crazy not to test it if you’re currently in the TSR4 or TSI4 just like we’ve seen from other low spin drivers in the marketplace the GT4 doesn’t sacrifice forgiveness for spin i think the driver has gotten better as the spin has decreased which is crazy to think about it was exceptionally straight and had plenty of juice in the tank and that is a killer combo if you’re playing TSI 2 I’d run not walk to your local golf store and pick up a TSR2 the combination of consistent speed and launch as well as spin stands out in a crowded driver pack and the left bias is ideal if you continually fight a slice and for those who currently have a TSR2 I’d hold on to it and enjoy the ride the GT3 also makes it incredibly easy to shed spin and chase distance if you’re content living in a spin range around 1,800 to 2500 RPMs if you felt the spin was too high with TSI3 and TSR3 this could be your answer who should not upgrade the most obvious is a golfer playing TSR2 hard as manufacturers try to make every model better than its predecessor it doesn’t always happen the robot confirmed TSR2 and GT2 are neck andneck and carry but the TSR2 gained a slight edge with more distance at the top end both are great drivers but I’m not sure the improvements are enough to warrant an immediate change more than any other brand that went through our robotic testing I think you could make a case that a model or two from each cycle is worth testing that might sound sacriiggious to say something other than the new stuff is the best but what I love the most about the robot’s insights is it ability to uncover hidden gems in the lineup like GT4’s incredible consistency or TSR2’s endless speed titleless recent driver lineups are loaded with stellar options and some of them you might be able to score from a used rack these are the insights golfers crave because they aren’t always apparent and that’s okay that’s why we have a swing robot to lead the way