Is the BUDGET Vice Driver Really A Callaway & TaylorMade KILLER!?

The BRUTAL Truth About FITTED Driver Prices – TaylorMade vs VICE! Vice VGD01+ (£379) vs TaylorMade Qi35 LS (£529) – The Brutal Truth About Expensive Golf Clubs & Fittings
Welcome to the channel — today we’ve got a real-look comparison between two premium drivers:
Vice Golf VGD01+ (fitted) at £379
TaylorMade Qi35 LS (fitted) at £529
What you’ll get in the video:
• On-launch monitor data: ball speed, spin, launch, carry & roll.
• How each driver responds to a proper fitting (shaft, loft, lie, weight adjustments).
• Real-world performance: fairways hit, shot shape, forgiveness on mishits.
• Cost breakdown: what you’re really paying for with each driver and the fitting process.
• The big question: Is the £150 price premium worth it? Or are we paying for brand & marketing more than performance?
Key Observations:
The VGD01+ from Vice offers huge value: it comes with low-spin, adjustable loft/lie, premium materials and direct-to-consumer pricing.
vicegolf.co.uk
+1
The Qi35 LS from TaylorMade delivers top-tier materials, ultra-low spin and adjustability (TAS weights, etc.).
taylormadegolf.co.uk
+2
Golf News
+2
The catch? The Qi35 LS is far less forgiving and demands a precise swing & fitting to extract its benefits.
Golfmagic
+1
The difference in price is substantial. But how that translates into real on-course gains for many golfers is much more modest.
What you’ll learn:
How much fitting really matters – selecting the correct shaft, loft/lie, head setting matters far more than simply buying “the best” driver off the shelf.
When premium pricing makes sense (for low-handicappers, high swing speeds, those who can consistently hit the sweet-spot) — and when it doesn’t.
Why “good enough” equipment + a great fitting can beat a lesser fitting of a flagship club.
The hidden costs: the fitting session, optimizing shaft/loft/lie, multiple visits, even choosing the right ball.
My advice on how to approach driver upgrades: evaluate your swing-speed, ball-flight needs, what you can realistically gain, and don’t fall for “buy the most expensive because it’s the best” unless you’re in that small segment.

Getting fitted for your driver could be a gamecher in terms of hitting more fairways and of course hitting the golf ball further. Today I have two fitted drivers that cost very different amounts. In one corner we have one of the best drivers of 2025. Of course the tailor made Qi35 LS driver. This would set you back circa £529. But I also went and got fitted for the brand new Vice VGD01 Plus driver. This is around £379, around 150 quid worth of difference here. How much difference does that mean out here in the golf course and of course when it comes to numbers. So you can see both these drivers are very very similar specs. They’re both 10 1/2°ree. Both of them do have carbon elements as well. Now, the Qi35 has a full carbon solar 3-way adjustable weighting system, and you can see that through slot speed pocket on the bottom. Also has a lovely Infinity Carbon crown, which I think looks really nice. I do think that looks nicer in black, though, when you do see the My Tailor Made Qi35 drivers. The Vice Driver has, I think, the best looking crown I’ve ever seen. It’s got that lovely kind of carbon weave on top there. It’s a multiaterial design. It doesn’t have a carbon sole, but it does have that kind of rear weight in there just to shove CG back a little bit. Now, this is the plus version, so it is the lower spin version, even though it doesn’t have kind of visible front weights. We do have adjustable sleeves on both these clubs as well. So, Bobby, which one should we go with first? Vice. Vice. Now, guys, get in the comments because these videos are more about you than they are about me, and I love to hear your opinions and what you think’s going to happen. How much difference will there be both where we don’t have the launch monitor but also when we do start to see different kind of numbers and spin rates and ball speeds? Will there be a huge difference? Should you maybe Sorry, I’ve put the head covers right where you want to stand, haven’t I? Should you be spending upwards of 500, 600 on a driver or should you just be looking at something like this? I really enjoyed the fitting experience with both of these brands as well. So, um, we’ve got someone right in our way, Bob. And a towy hook and he’s gone, isn’t he? We’ll give him some time. We’ll give him some time. Two hours later. Right. Both these shafts are 65 g. The vice one is an Aldilla Vice Golf Whiz. So they sort out the guys at Aldilla to help them with shaft. It looks so good down at the ball. How does it perform? Wow, that felt really, really good. And what Oh, it’s just kick left though. It might have just come back into fairway. It took an awful It has come back into fairway. I love that hasn’t launched too high at 10 and a half degrees. Visually, that looks like it’s spinning around 2,000. We will come to numbers, so stay tuned. It was a touch healy, like just there. A little bit low heel, so it might have robbed us of a tiny bit of ball speed, but I don’t think it’s done too bad at all. Now, we all know the Tailormaid’s going to be one of the best performing drivers of the year. That’s why I’m comparing it to this Vice driver. of course fitted in my specs which means to be honest very similar specs. That’s one of the things I was impressed with both fittings just how similar they really were. Can we hit a similar shot with the Tailor Made? Very nice. Again, carbon copy ball flightwise. It started a little bit more central and that one’s just peeling off to the right just a little bit. Let’s get down there. Let’s see what the differences are on this par five and see if you could save yourself a ton of money or if you really should be spending on the latest and greatest of 2025. So in round one we have the tailor made that’s just missed the fairway. The vice has just hit the fairway over on the left hand side alto together with that vicious kick and the tailormaid’s gone maybe a yard a couple of yards further. Bobby, which one would you give in round one here? Would you go fairway or would you go just Mr. Fairway but a yard longer? It’s a tie. A tie. Right. Bobby says we’re going to go a tie for round one. So, let’s find. In fact, we’re going to go to the hardest hole on this golf course. Really put these drivers through the paces and really see where we should be spending our money. They’re two great T-shotss down the par five, though, aren’t they? I’m taking those all day. Right. If this T-shot was a person, I’d smack it in the face. I’ve never hit anybody in the face in my life. I’m not that kind of person, but I just really, really don’t like it. We’re going to go tailor-made Qi35 first this time. Um, and I’m going to just try and hit some I guarantee we probably won’t hit this fairway. So, there’s that. I’m just going to try and hit as hard as I can. These are the low spin models. Both these clubs do have standard versions. So, the Qi35, this is the LS. We do have the core head. I think the core head is the lovely middle ground actually with this driver. I may or may not have like gone, can we fit into this one? Because that’s the kind of person I am. We may or may not have done the same with the vice. Who knows? The vice standard head is really nice. It’s a lot cheaper. That’s like two300 pound. So, you are paying more for the low spin model of the vice. Right. Come on. Left shoulder up, stern and back, club path shallow, and just send it. Oh, I think that’s so good. It’s just out to the right. Now, what I really like about that is that’s the that’s the ball fly that’s really powerful and penetrating. It wasn’t like a weakly cuty one. It was like a proper just a little bit to the right. So, I don’t particularly mind that as a shot. And it’s done really well for distance. So, it’s not in danger, which is good. You’re thinking the Ralph Wigan meme there, aren’t you? I’m in danger. Trying at a similar shot. Left shoulder up, stern and back. That’s better, isn’t it? That’s the draw that we want. And that’s again, it’s missed a fairway, but that wasn’t why we came to this hole. Let’s go and see which one’s got further up there. Let’s see which one’s more in play. And Bobby, you’re not allowed to sit on the fence on this one. We’re going to have to pick a winner. Okay. There seems to be a um a consistency pattern here. And I know there’s a word for that. I just can’t think of it. A theme. That’s it, Bob. Uh just to the left again with the vice, just to the right again with the tailor made. So I do think that might be something which if you do struggle with one side of the golf course, that might be something to think think about. I’m going to give this one the tailor made just on the basis that it launch better. Like you look at the two ball flights. This was a little bit low and dippy. The tailor made very similar swing just held on to the face a little bit longer to keep it open. So we know one nil to the tailor made here. But to be honest again, if you look at the price difference, we’re doing pretty well, aren’t we? It could just be down to the shaft as well. Obviously, they are very similar stiffness in shaft. They are very similar weight or exactly the same weight in shaft. Could just be down to that kind of torsional stiffness as well. So, let’s find another T-shot. We’ll try and bomb these as hard as we can. And before that, no, after that, we’re going to talk some numbers because it could get very interesting. Okay, out of the frying pan and into the fire. It doesn’t get any easier with this 16th T-shot. Can the Vice Golf VGD01 Plus claw it back? We’ll go with the vice first off this time and we’ll see if we can set one out there. You would rather be slightly left and slightly right here. So maybe that is a little bit of a kind of benefit for that. But to be honest, we’re just going to try and hit as close to the middle of the fairway as we can with both of these clubs. How good does that look, by the way? And the plus has got like more of a ridge as well, you know, rather than it being like like if you look at both the crowns, it’s two very different ways, isn’t it, of doing carbon, like two very different head shapes. I think it’s nice to have the low swing model still a bit elongated, but again, that’s where with the Qi35, that core model is still fantastic because you still have the movable weight technology. You can just move it front and back instead of the kind of three-way that you do have on there. So really like I think I’m just saying the Qi35 core model’s a fantastic driver aren’t I? But right come on James remember how far Marco hit this. That’s really good. That is really good. That’s ever so slightly towy but it’s come off like an absolute cannon that’s bounding down the left side of the fairway again. And one of the funny things is whenever I test DTC drivers, be it a Kirkland, be it a Tacoma, be it a Vice, if you do get them ever so slightly towy, I feel like that’s the kind of sweet spot. And I’m sure the guys at Vice will totally disagree with that and want me to hit it there. But for me personally, I find it just finds that lovely spin window and that lovely flight window that I would want it to. Now, before we talk numbers, let’s finish off this onc course segment. Cuz numbers, you’re not really thinking too much about where you’re aiming or anything like that. You’re just hitting it as hard as you can, aren’t you? Whereas here, I’ve got a ball in play. It’s almost like a match play situation. I’ve got a ball in play. I need to hit a good one. So, without any further ado, let’s see what we can find. Oh, no. And you see that’s the difference because that it’s to it’s the first bad drive we’ve hit in this whole scenario but was a similar high toe strike and it’s just geared closed a bit and it’s just gone in that left hand rough. We can see the winner from here can’t we? That’s one a piece which means it goes to the numbers. Do your magic Bob. Oh, how good’s that? By the way, opening shot with device. So, I wanted to test the numbers out on the golf course just to see if I could actually hit nice long drives using the Golf Son Wave Launch Monitor and aiming at a fairway. You can see I hit a couple left, hit a couple right, but actually when testing them, we got some really good numbers with I’m going to say both of these drivers. I think we have to think about the price bracket and the technology that goes into these drivers. And to be honest, the Tailor- made Qi35, it keeps proving me wrong time after time after time. I didn’t really get on with it at the start of the year, but I hit some of the longest drives I’ve hit all year in this test, carrying well over 280 yards with the Tailor-Made Qi35 LS. Now, the Vice Driver actually carried pretty well. We got a couple over 270 yards up to the 280 yards. The spin rates were that little bit higher than with the Tailor- made Qi35 LS. But realistically, when it comes to it, guys, get in the comments below, which driver could you see yourself buying in 2025 when it comes to the price?