Cleveland Hi Bore XL…
There are guys on my course who sell used clubs on the course…usually have a selection of about 6-10 random clubs that they lean against a bench or a wall near the tunnel that connects parts of the course…usually I’m not interested, but today there was a Cleveland hi bore xl with a v2 75gr stiff shaft, so I thought I’d give it a whirl…after hitting my tee shot on the par 4 dogleg that measured 240 to the far side of the dogleg, I took the Cleveland all the way back to the championship tees that never get used, to the back edge nearly to the wall that surrounds the tee box…lasered it off to be 272 to the far edge, and another 3 yds to the OB wall…I hit four balls…hooked the first and made an adjustment, then hit 3 identical bombs that bounced just short of the wall and ricocheted back into the fairway…Wow…the V2 and 10.5 loft gave me a higher launch angle, and I’d say by just looking and comparing to the last time that I was on a driving range launch monitor, the angle was ideal…and the ball just carried and carried and carried...I didn’t like the closed face, even after the adjustment I drew the ball 10 yards…but then again, I drew it 10 yards every time and the last three balls were all within 10 yds of each other…the balls went so high and far that I couldn’t even see the ball flight on the first two…part of that had to do with when I looked to where I expected the ball to be, it must have been higher …the last one I did see and it was just pretty…I think that the club is ugly, the shaft felt soft, hate the flashy graphics on the sole and the shaft, impact didn’t have the solid feel of Titleist and Mizuno woods and I didn’t swing as well as I did later on in the round…and I still hit the ball pretty stinkin’ well…closed face or not, a 10 yd draw that I could count on I could learn to live with…next time out if he still has it I’m trying it again, and if it is as good the second time as the first, I’m going to have an issue on my hands…I have to look up if the xls has a more neutral face angle…I love my driver that I have now, and really liked the 907D2…this club felt awkward, I didn’t like the sound or feel at impact and hit like a dream…what to do!?!?!?
Am I going to have to get another driver?