Callaway FT Tour driver - Holy Cow!!

So I was showing my 10 year old daughter how to bid on eBay (smart, I know) and we found this Callaway FT Tour going for $9.99. I told her she could bid on it for me, but had to have a maximum amount we were willing to pay. We ended up getting it for $17. I had seen wrx'ers reviews on here about what a good driver it is, so I said why not. It came with a stock Aldila Voodoo stiff shaft in it. I admit that I have become a shaft snob over the past year, so my expectations were very low. Well I have been blown away by the performance of this club. Center strikes are outperforming my RFX, Adams LL, and Crazy drivers. My playing partners were shocked by how far I was hitting this club. One of the guys told me I should send the guy on eBay who sold it to me another $50. I typically hit a good drive around 275 yards, with the occasional 290 yard bomb. In one round, I was averaging about 285 yards. Had one 300 yard bomb. I went back out this morning to play another 9, just to make sure that it wasn't a one time thing, and it performed equally well. A couple of misses due to poor swings, but otherwise truly amazing performance. I am now considering buying another one of these just to have.

Well I've got 17 bucks to try this as well. My 3deep 2-wood is really as much club as I need especially being so young in the game but at that price, why not.

Always one of my personal favs, I'm telling you guys drivers are totally maxed out so older grail models like this will almost always shine when given some game time. Drivers like the FT, 910, i20 (insert yours) when paired with a good shaft will 100% compete with anything you can buy right now. It's fun to HO older models on the cheap, just picked up my winter gamer Ping i15/Axivcore red in mint condition for $65 bucks and I'm bombing it...BB

Never hit the FT tour, but have an old ft-3 tour and it is extremely long as well. Really low spin too, way lower than my current anser.

[quote name='Hester65' timestamp='1381704607' post='7996349']
Well I've got 17 bucks to try this as well. My 3deep 2-wood is really as much club as I need especially being so young in the game but at that price, why not.
[/quote]

Love the 3Deep, one of my favorite clubs. $17 was a steal,but you can get them for $35 or so. Well worth the try, as long as the shaft matches your swing.

[quote name='highflyer13' timestamp='1381706482' post='7996463']
Never hit the FT tour, but have an old ft-3 tour and it is extremely long as well. Really low spin too, way lower than my current anser.
[/quote]

Yes, this is a very low spin driver as well. Very penetrating flight.

[quote name='Big Ben' timestamp='1381706270' post='7996453']
Always one of my personal favs, I'm telling you guys drivers are totally maxed out so older grail models like this will almost always shine when given some game time. Drivers like the FT, 910, i20 (insert yours) when paired with a good shaft will 100% compete with anything you can buy right now. It's fun to HO older models, just picked up my winter gamer Ping i15/Axivcore red in mint condition for $65 bucks and I'm bombing it...BB
[/quote]

I have been having fun doing this. I picked up the FT Tour, Razr Hawk Tour, and FT-9 all for less than $200 in total. Love the Razr Hawk Tour, but I think the FT Tour is alittle longer. I haven't hit the FT-9 yet.

The FT tour is a great driver. It just set up terribly for me being open faced and i found a little fade biased. I did not hit it well as that is my miss.....but man it seemed to take off when struck well

[quote name='MtlJeff' timestamp='1381706925' post='7996485']
The FT tour is a great driver. It just set up terribly for me being open faced and i found a little fade biased. I did not hit it well as that is my miss.....but man it seemed to take off when struck well
[/quote]

I have the same issue. It has made me commit to my swing and make sure I don't quit on it. If I take to big a backswing and try and kill it, I will slice it to the next fairway.

One of the best drivers Callaway ever made. A retail version of Ft-9 TA. Too bad they went away from this and started painting everything orange, and robbed the grave for the Hogan "Apex."

Awesome driver if you can keep it one piece for a while. I never knew a club to be so crack/explosion prone.

[quote name='DickieThon' timestamp='1381707982' post='7996543']
Awesome driver if you can keep it one piece for a while. I never knew a club to be so crack/explosion prone.
[/quote]

I have heard that; saw many people swear by it, then report it breaking. I may have to buy 3 or 4 more of them (still less than the price of one new driver).

[quote name='Mob' timestamp='1381708127' post='7996557']
[quote name='DickieThon' timestamp='1381707982' post='7996543']
Awesome driver if you can keep it one piece for a while. I never knew a club to be so crack/explosion prone.
[/quote]

I have heard that; saw many people swear by it, then report it breaking. I may have to buy 3 or 4 more of them (still less than the price of one new driver).
[/quote]

I'm in that camp. Loved the FT Tour, but literally went through 6 heads in a season and bailed on it. Funny thing was Callaway kept sending Razr Hawk Tours as replacements and those blow up too. So now I've got a Razr Fit Xtreme I'm letting a friend use and an X Hot Pro sitting unused in my basement.

FT Tour was the longest driver I ever hit.
Cracked 2 of them.. Moved on

This was a huge issue with this head. I truly think that if it didn't have the cracked head issue this could have gone down as one of the best driver heads ever

[quote name='kjbowen' timestamp='1381708788' post='7996603']
FT Tour was the longest driver I ever hit.
Cracked 2 of them.. Moved on

This was a huge issue with this head. I truly think that if it didn't have the cracked head issue this could have gone down as one of the best driver heads ever
[/quote]

Ok, then maybe I will get on eBay and buy a few more if I can find them for less than $50 each.

[quote name='Mob' timestamp='1381709235' post='7996627']
[quote name='kjbowen' timestamp='1381708788' post='7996603']
FT Tour was the longest driver I ever hit.
Cracked 2 of them.. Moved on

This was a huge issue with this head. I truly think that if it didn't have the cracked head issue this could have gone down as one of the best driver heads ever
[/quote]

Ok, then maybe I will get on eBay and buy a few more if I can find them for less than $50 each.
[/quote]

I wouldn't do that. Those club'll be around on eBay a looooong time.

I mean I know it's not a lot of money but,,,,,, after the honeymoon's over and you move on you wouldn't want to have FOUR FT Tours in the garage, would you ? [size=4] [/size]


[size=4]And you guys that crack the heads - how hard do you swing ?[/size]

[size=4]I tried the club a few years ago. Definitely low launch and low spin,,,,,, which BTW, is exactly what I typically look for. I had trouble getting it airborne. Then again I only tried it the one session.[/size]

[quote name='gopherguts' timestamp='1381709985' post='7996687']
[quote name='Mob' timestamp='1381709235' post='7996627']
[quote name='kjbowen' timestamp='1381708788' post='7996603']
FT Tour was the longest driver I ever hit.
Cracked 2 of them.. Moved on

This was a huge issue with this head. I truly think that if it didn't have the cracked head issue this could have gone down as one of the best driver heads ever
[/quote]

Ok, then maybe I will get on eBay and buy a few more if I can find them for less than $50 each.
[/quote]

I wouldn't do that. Those club'll be around on eBay a looooong time.

I mean I know it's not a lot of money but,,,,,, after the honeymoon's over and you move on you wouldn't want to have FOUR FT Tours in the garage, would you ? [size=4] [/size]


[size=4]And you guys that crack the heads - how hard do you swing ?[/size]

[size=4]I tried the club a few years ago. Definitely low launch and low spin,,,,,, which BTW, is exactly what I typically look for. I had trouble getting it airborne. Then again I only tried it the one session.[/size]
[/quote]

My SS fluctuates between 111-115 mph
Not crazy but not slow.. I would say above average SS..
Good thing was callaway always sent me a new one but the waiting was alway a pain

I am currently hitting a Callaway Steelhead III driver reshafted with a 43" Graffaloy Epic. If anything my scores have gone down since ditching the G20 off the tee even though i'm giving up an easy 20 yards.

[quote name='bandrz' timestamp='1381712487' post='7996903']
I am currently hitting a Callaway Steelhead III driver reshafted with a 43" Graffaloy Epic. If anything my scores have gone down since ditching the G20 off the tee even though i'm giving up an easy 20 yards.
[/quote]

May one assume you GAINED in accuracy/dispersion ?

[quote name='MadGolfer76' timestamp='1381707518' post='7996521']
One of the best drivers Callaway ever made. A retail version of Ft-9 TA. Too bad they went away from this and started painting everything orange, and robbed the grave for the Hogan "Apex."
[/quote]

Up till FT optiforce didn't all of the fusion series have some orange? They've added some, but it's nothing like what TM was doing with the original burners way back when.

I bought a ft tour with a Aldila nv protopype 60 x from Ebay for 60 uk pounds in mint condition .Absolutely love it ,low spin bomber ,really hot off the face ,great in the wind and can shape it better than any other 350 pound drivers I have had or tried and tested .It will be something special to remove it from the bag.

I wish I still had mine. It was a terrific feeling driver but just had the wrong setup.

Best driver I've ever hit. Open face, great feel, low spin, more forgiving than it looks, and explosive ball speed. I always like to tinker, but tinkering with drivers now means buying another one of these with a different shaft.

[quote name='Slackattack' timestamp='1381783711' post='8000791']
Best driver I've ever hit. Open face, great feel, low spin, more forgiving than it looks, and explosive ball speed. I always like to tinker, but tinkering with drivers now means buying another one of these with a different shaft.
[/quote]

I am still in the honeymoon period but this head clearly matches my swing. The jury is still out on the shaft, but I am going to play a few more rounds with it, as it is.

There's no doubt it is very long and hits low spin bombs. My natural shape is a draw but, despite that, the problem I had with it was the open face. I would lose two or three drives a round way way right - and they were costing me too many shots. I always wished Callaway had made a version of the FT tour with a square face as an option.

I have just put a TM Superfast TP 1.0 in my bag, re-shafted with something that suits me. The head looks nothing like the FT tour but the results remind me of it, long penetrating drives which roll out. The Superfast TP also has an open face (I think) but I don't have the same issue of losing drives to the right with it for some reason.

I got a 9.5 with a Matrix Ozik XCon 6 stiff shaft. I've been fitted for this shaft in a driver in the past, but my swingspeed is faster than it used to be. Thought about getting one of these with the same shaft in x-stiff, but also wondering if another shaft would be better.

By the way, $17 is unbelievable. That's less than 1/2 the price of a dozen golf balls. That Voodoo shaft isn't bad, I've hit it before.

I had this driver a few years back paired with a Fubuki Alpha and absolutely LOVED it. That was until this happened:

[attachment=1912437:photo 1.JPG]

[attachment=1912439:photo 2.JPG]


I am not a crazy swinger (ss maxes out at 105) but was practicing on the range and the driver just started getting louder and louder. I was killing it so I naturally decided to ignore it. Finally this happened! If you're looking for a low spin head to mess around with, this is a good one. I can concur with what some previous posters said about it being very open and not for every swing type. I had to make sure I didn't quit on this one, the results could be disastrous.

Was that driver ever re-shafted ctgolf? These heads did not fare well with much heat, I would ALWAYS cut/step drill mine and showed a lot of patience when doing that. I would be wiling to bet a lot of the failures with these heads happened after re-shafting. I owned multiple FT and FT-9's and knock on wood never experienced a failure...BB

Yes it was reshafted, and although I did not do it myself, I'm assuming it was done with heat. Any specific reason that these heads don't stand up well to heat?

[quote name='Big Ben' timestamp='1381792396' post='8001481']
Was that driver ever re-shafted ctgolf? These heads did not fare well with much heat, I would ALWAYS cut/step drill mine and showed a lot of patience when doing that. I would be wiling to bet a lot of the failures with these heads happened after re-shafting. I owned multiple FT and FT-9's and knock on wood never experienced a failure...BB
[/quote]

This is helpful information; thanks. If I have to change the shaft, I will mention it to my Clubmaker. For now, the stock shaft is staying in place.