In The Bag: Titleist TSi Drivers

PRODUCT REVIEWS and equipment news you can use

Throughout the spring and summer, our desire to maximize time on the golf course enjoying the game we love means that we often forego the practice we know we need to improve our game. Especially this year, when we all had more free time than we’ve had in most of our adult lives, those one or two-hour windows in which we might have gone to the driving range in the past turned into all-day windows when we could squeeze in a leisurely 18 at the local club, or even take a drive out to the peninsula or up to the mountains to play our favorite destination tracks.

In other words, we didn’t practice. And, let’s be honest, in the summer months, we rarely do.

That’s why we say that winter is when the best players really dial in their game. Nobody wants to mess with new equipment when skins are on the line — instead, the best players (Tour pros included) often get their new clubs in the last quarter of the year or early in the following year, so that they’re dialed in by the time the real money is on the line.

Trips to the range, too, or even just practicing at home in the backyard, can make a huge difference when the sun comes back in spring, and we’re (hopefully) all able to come together again and enjoy our favorite game.

Here’s a few of the new clubs we think are worth checking out this winter. Give them a try, and find what’s best for you — then practice, practice, practice, because 2021 is almost here ... and there’s nowhere to go but up.

TITLEIST TSi Drivers

PUETZ GOLF PRICE $549.99

You’ll be shocked — shocked! — to learn that Titleist’s new TSi2 and TSi3 drivers are faster Y and longer than anything the company has produced before. I mean, has a company ever come out and said, “Actually, these aren’t that great.” Of course not. But, when Jordan Spieth puts it in his bag just one week after testing it, we take notice. When Tommy Fleetwood — who, unlike Spieth, has no contractual obligations to Titleist — drops his TaylorMade SIM for the TSi3, though, then we really start to pay attention. The second generation of Titleist’s TS line has been streamlined aerodynamically to decrease drag up to 15 percent, resulting in an increase in clubhead speed. Titleist has also become the first manufacturer to switch from titanium to aerospace-grade ATI 425 in its face insert; both stronger and more elastic than titanium, it transfers more of that speed into energy, for long. booming drives. Both drivers punch in at 460cc, though the TSi2 has a slightly larger profile, with a deeper center of gravity that gives a little added forgiveness. The TSi3, meanwhile, is more traditionally pear-shaped, with an adjustable weight that allows golfers more control over their shot trajectories.

CALLAWAY Big Bertha B21 Drivers

PUETZ GOLF PRICE $499.99

he majority of amateur golfers hit a slice, or at least a fade, with their drivers, and thus there T are no shortage of new drivers each year that promise to help slicers keep their drives on the fairway. While most previous offerings, though, have focused simply on correcting for a slice — through heel weighting, upright lie angles, etc. — Callaway’s new Big Bertha B21 actually tries to prevent the conditions that cause a slice to occur in the first place. With the notion that “straighter drives are longer drives,” Callaway has focused fully on flight path in the B21, developing a first-ofits kind driver with a low-forward center of gravity that results in both a high trajectory and low spin. That trajectory will help golfers with steeper swing paths get the ball into the air, while the low spin will prevent balls struck with an open face, or an outside-in swing path, from hurtling wildly off into the wilderness. Jailbreak bars connect the crown to the sole for extra stability at impact, while allowing Callaway to thin the crown and redistribute that weight elsewhere for additional forgiveness benefits, while a redesigned Flash Face SS21 increases ball speeds on mis-hits.