Help me decide a driver - Flynn vs. US Kids TS-3

So, my son's birthday is coming up and I'm thinking it would be a good time to upgrade his driver. He's currently using a US kids UL-48. I definitely feel he has outgrown this (not by height) and is leaving some yardage on the table by using this.

He's a little dude at around 48.5 inches tall and weighs about 50 lbs. It's been a while since he's been on a Trackman, but he's got to be 55+ MPH average swing speed.

I don't think he's ready for the OEM drivers yet and I still think he needs the loft of the junior clubs. I'm also not interested in cutting down shafts (yet) and even the jr. spec'd OEMs are way too long for him. That's why I've narrowed it down to these 2 "intermediate" drivers.

I'd love to hear any experiences and recommendations that you have for the Flynn and Tour series drivers.

Thanks in Advance.

I would go with the Flynn driver only because it has a better shaft option.

At the price point of the US Kids and Flynn I would go with the Cobra F9. Comes with a free shaft upgrade. You can get them for $199.99 right now. Can't beat that deal. The Flynn and US kids Tour series won't beat that driver.

https://www.cobragolf.com/king-f9-junior-driver?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsvzFhc2u6QIVArbICh13swSlEAAYASAAEgIMffD_BwE

Agree with HH on the F9 Junior driver and the free shaft upgrade.

Alternately, you can also find the prior Cobra F8 Junior driver (which is also a great driver for juniors) out there and also get the free shaft upgrade (as long as driver is brand new and never registered). Here is a brand new one for $169.99 https://www.golfdiscount.com/cobra-king-f8-junior-driver?hand=15138&ages=15416

Those Cobra's are pretty good deals. I will look into that, thank you, guys. I did take him out to play 9 today an he was driving the best he ever has with that US Kids DV2...

Get the Cobra Jr F8. It’s cheaper than F9 and SZ and lighter too. My kid got one last year at the exact same size as your kid right now. He was swinging his UL48 60mph, but dropped to 55mph with the Cobra (heavier). The driving distance will be at least the same or better though so don’t worry and just get it. The dispersion is gonna look a lot better too.

Do you know of any stores with the f8 still in stock?

You can find them on ebay for sure.

There's a junior F8 being sold in the classifieds here.https://forums.golfwrx.com/discussion/comment/19473114#Comment_19473114

While looking for some irons I found the best pricing for the F9 at Carl's Golfland. I'll have to see if the wife will issue the PO on that one.

You need to get yourself a Blanket PO for gear.

My son is 52.5"/67 lbs, tops out at 67 mph with his UL54 D2 driver. I had him swinging his sister's 41.25" F9 (10-12) two months ago, choked up about 3", and he was getting it around decent enough for me to order a 39.25" (8-9) for his birthday this week. I will say that he's just now showing signs of needing to upgrade, but could stay in it for a bit more if he had to. If his swing speed were slower, I wouldn't make the switch.

That said, the F9 has added some distance and much tighter dispersion to his sister's drives. She has it adjusted to 14* loft, tops out 70 mph.

We tested the UL54 D2, Prodi G, and F9 on Flighstscope and there was an incremental difference between the three when she hit them... and similarly when she played 9 with each of them. Admittedly, I didn't keep track of spin rate of each driver. I will say the roll-out from the F9 is a thing of beauty, though.

For the money, the UL54 D2 was a steal ($30 during a Christmas sale, TGW). At $120 used, the Prodi G was a quality driver--but not enough of an upgrade over the D2 for me to recommend the premium price. The best part about the Prodi G was it really launched the ball well.

The F9, for $200 with a free shaft upgrade down the road--I recommend it if you really feel your son (or daughter, for future readers) has outgrown the UL line of drivers. I was able to trade-in the Prodi G to Cobra via mail, and bring the price of the F9 down even more. Sure, I could have listed it on eBay or here and come out better, but sometimes easy wins the day.

If they are in the game long term, you will learn how to sneak golf purchases by your wife.

I'm usually pretty good at this stuff. I sneak bass guitar stuff in and out of the house all the time. However, the other day I made a drunken Ebay purchase for some Mack Daddy 4 wedges with Flynn shafts. Long box on the front step as we were driving back from one of the many "birthday parades" we've been frequenting and I was caught.

****Side note: these wedges are very nice, but too long and heavy. I'd love to get rid of these for a great deal. PM for details!***

All very good points, thanks for your insight. Is he ready for an F9? Probably not. That's why I was looking into my first two options in the subject, but everyone else brings up the point that price-wise it's not really worth that mediocre upgrade. I know that with the Cobra he'll be getting top quality and he won't grow out of it for years to come.

I had those wedges saved, was tempted for the low price. Maybe port them and keep them for your junior?

Understood. I was lucky to have my daughter's old UL 54 to bridge him from his UL 51 for a few months. I will say the difference in his drives from the 51 to the 54 was night and day, though.

I also wouldn’t worry too much about launch. 14 degrees from the Cobra is enough when paired with a soft shaft (Jr or ladies flex). My kid hits 1-2 degrees up but the ball launches close to 30 degrees.

All good insight here. I may bag the whole driver gift idea anyway. I really should get him a set of speed sticks or something and work on technique. Then see what happens in a couple of months and then maybe look at used clubs. Being a birthday present I wouldn't want to give him a scratched up second hand club. Not that that would be bad gift, but he's turning 9 and you know how kids are.

They are nice, but have to go. I'm willing to take a loss to make the wife happy...

Distance on good drives might not be that different, but the off center hits will be much better with the Cobras.

Add me to feeling that off-center hits with the Prodi G and F9 go farther than at least the UL drivers.

The Prodi G hybrid and fairway wood are as-advertised--really nice. My daughter hits that *22 FW better than she hits the Flynn Advantage 3W (*17), although the Flynn is a fine club. The hybrid is much better than her old UL (not especially forgiving) and Ping Pal hybrid (a little heavy, not forgiving).

Son turned 7 yesterday, gave him the F9 driver--he was grateful of course, but remarked it felt heavy.

We took it out to the range today and said the same thing, although he was hitting the ball OK.

I removed the 10g and 2g weight when we got home (forgot to bring the tool to the range), and he thought it made a big difference. We'll see at the range tomorrow before the event... bringing the UL54 just in case.

As an aside, I was pretty surprised how short the par fours were for the 6U division tomorrow. Coming off practicing for 1450 yd course with his sister, the 1123 yd course tomorrow really shortens things up. 170 yd par fours are now 120 and 115 par fours. 100 or 90 yd par threes are now 70 yards. Enjoy it while it lasts, right? :)

Leaving the weights off is almost a must for 6-7 year olds. I did that on the F8 and now on the SZ. I went as far as replacing the stainless steel weight screws to nylon ones just to save 2-3 more grams.

1100 yards was fun, my kid moved up to 1500 back in fall. Took a few tournaments for him to adjust, but he was able to shoot a couple 35’s by the end of the season.

I went ahead and took the weights out at your recommendation, and it worked out--thank you. Got a lighter shaft coming in the mail for it as well, which will save 6 more grams and shave off 2" of length.

What shaft did you end up going with?

Thinking about a F9 for my daughter but the 8-9 year old shaft is too long. She needs around a 36”. Is the F9 stock shaft pretty stiff and heavy?

The stock Junior F9 shaft will be ok at 36 inches. Other ladies flex shaft will work too.

Hey Deacs,

My kids are in two different shafts for their F9, but for two different reasons.

Son (53"/65 lbs) is in the stock 39.25" Cobra Jr shaft, minus the F9 head weights. It is too long for him, and he chokes up ~1". The setup is borderline too heavy for him, and still might switch him to a lighter shaft. The Bassara e42 Lite shaft I ordered him came cracked and unusable, or else he would be using it right now. His current setup offers him a little more distance and a lot tighter dispersion (huge sweet spot) over his old UL 54" driver. What I may end up doing it giving him the shaft his sister is using now when he grows a little more.

Daughter (55.5"/80 lbs) was swinging the stock 41.25" Cobra Jr shaft with her F9 until a dad of one of FL's top 9U girls suggested we try out the shaft his daughter was using--the Bassara e42 Lite. His daughter was launching some monster drives with it, and I took his experienced advice--ordered one a few days later, trimmed it to 40". Results have been somewhat mixed, but the end result has her driving the ball farther. The shaft (43g before cutting 5" off) seems to launch higher than the stock Cobra Jr shaft (49g), so I took her loft down from 14* back to stock 12.5*. It seems like she has sacrificed a some tightness in dispersion for that distance, although she has been going through some mechanical issues of late.

All in all, I would say the stock Cobra Jr shaft is OK for those with swing speeds up around 65-75 mph. I was able to hang onto my daughter's Cobra Jr. shaft, and maybe in 12-18 months she'll be back in it? It would be nice to be able to take advantage of Cobra's trade-up program and get that free shaft when the time comes for something stiffer, but if there's a better and somewhat affordable offer, I'm not locking her into that free upgrade either.

I'm not confident or experienced enough at all of this yet to say what shaft you should go with to pair with the F9, but it seems like there are quite a few who have swapped to a lighter shaft... and there are a few options out there, to be sure. The Bassara e42 Lite I found on eBay was a demo that cost me about $45 shipped, another $13 to get it cut down and fitted to an extra Cobra adapter I was lucky enough to have. There are some who have spent much more, and some who have spent much less.

Regarding the F9 head--it's worth every penny IMO, and my kids will have them for several years. I see they are going for $189 new from Carl's right now, and $199 from Cobra directly. We got lucky and caught a used one on super-sale from Global Golf, the other one we traded in a Prodi G driver to Cobra to ease the blow.

I will say, that if she needs a 36" shaft then maybe the UL 54" isn't a bad option until she grows a little more. My son really could still be in that driver and doing just fine. My daughter was ready to move out of the UL 54" that my son inherited because she was 55" at the time and swinging 65 mph+. Son got lucky and had a birthday a few months later, or else he would still be in the UL 54".