Titleist 975's....?

[fluffy265]

The old Titleist 975 driver's have been catching my attention lately. I'm entertaining the idea of picking one up. However where do I start? There seems to be a few different models that I've seen around 975 J, D, VS etc.

 

Can someone fill me in on what the different models were and what purpose they serve?

 

Cheers J

[Fellaheen51]

Here's a link that may prove beneficial to parse thru the models:

http://www.titleist.com/previous-models/drivers/default.aspx

I've had no in hand experience with Titleist drivers so can offer nothing on how they hit.

[birly-shirly]

I'd argue that the 975D is the ultimate modern classic. Outstanding tour pedigree. You get the majority of performance gains of much larger clubs, without the outlandish head size. It's a traditional looking, very solid feeling and sounding, very playable driver. Works well with a heavier steel shaft at 43" - 44" length. The only issue I have is that the bore through hosel makes reshafting, especially if you're trying to save an installed graphite shaft, a bit of a pain.

I haven't hit the J, or other intervening models, but the 983K was a great driver too with still quite a lot in common with the D. I suspect that Titleist was quite conservative with its development path in the meantime, so would have no qualms about picking one of those up. But the Ds are very easy to pick up cheaply. Unless you're a persimmon fundamentalist, I'd say everyone should have one.

[jonnygrouville]

The D is indeed the best of the bunch, a worthy modern classic. Great head shape and not the ballooning ball-flight of the bigger headed drivers. Also still have a J which was slightly larger, but needed to get the 7.5 degree one to keep the ball down near where the 8.5 D one went.

D would be great with steel, but the stock stiff shaft was also surprisingly good. In my subsequent years playing modern clubs, could not find anything since the J I could take off the rack and play.

Later models get bigger, lighter and more balloony, for me.

[oldschoolrocker]

The only modern driver I play is the 975d. Others have come and gone, but this one stays. 44 inch aftermarket shaft, with some lead on the head. I find it workable and good combination of length and accuracy off the tee. I also am not opposed to the 983 models.
Jonny, it is a wonderful head with the right steel shaft as well. A few years ago, not "donkey years" a young assistant pro my sons played with was taking his playing test and used a steel shafted 975d. My boys ask him why, he said he wasn't losing that much yardage, but was gaining accuracy. He passed his PT.
Hmmm, not too unlike our steel and persimmon rounds as opposed to a modern driver.

[scomac2002]

[quote name='Fellaheen51' timestamp='1438675056' post='12074516']
Here's a link that may prove beneficial to parse thru the models:

[url="http://www.titleist.com/previous-models/drivers/default.aspx"]http://www.titleist....rs/default.aspx[/url]

I've had no in hand experience with Titleist drivers so can offer nothing on how they hit.
[/quote]

Thanks for posting this link! Lots of great information about classic modern clubs in the Titleist line. I would expect that both the woods and irons are plentiful second hand.

[apprenti23]

I've had damn near every Titleist driver to release since the Howitzer in the 90's. Kept a bunch of them, along with some other "nostalgic" drivers. still have em in the garage. Never really started selling my old equipment until the 907 series came out. Had the 907, 909, and 913 series but have sold those. I'll have to go take a pic.

[tinman143]

I've got a stiff steel shafted 975D if you're interested in buying. PM me.

[jonnygrouville]

Ooooh! D driver and the thirteen degree one of these...

 

 

That is modern classic yummy. Set of squares toes... one iron down (no rescues!)...

 

 

...any bullseye and that is a post-persimmon modern bag worth carting around.

[TimV]

Ok, you guys got me interested. Been thinking about picking up a "more modern" driver and woods to play with my 86 Mizuno Cimmeron blades this winter as I don't want to listen to the "Snow Flakes" yap about my persimmons. I'm sure I can pick one up on the bay with a regular shaft cheaply enough.
Question: What fairways (3 and 5 woods) would you guys suggest pairing with this. I'm playing South Florida golf so need something I can get flying off tight lies.
Thanks

[oldschoolrocker]

904 or 980.

[apprenti23]

Really wish I wouldn't have sold any of them- would've been a cool collection

[Fellaheen51]

[quote name='birly-shirly' timestamp='1438688463' post='12074772']
I'd argue that the 975D is the ultimate modern classic.......It's a traditional looking, very solid feeling and sounding, very playable driver.......Unless you're a persimmon fundamentalist, I'd say everyone should have one.
[/quote]

I keep coming back to this thread, intrigued. Especially by B-S comments. Thru a fair mount of swing adjustments, finally have the modern metal D under control and hitting it reasonably well. But....the ball flight......balloonish. Just cannot do much about that even with the hosel adjusted to lowest setting (a gimmick to the average hack?). With this said, sure would like to replicate the ball flight that I achieve with a well struck persimmon. Low, boring, runs like crazy, perfect. Just not often enough. So, if I'm to read between the lines here, the 975 vintage D's can accomplish this, particularly shafted in steel?

They can be had fairly inexpensively off the big auction site and who knows what they can be had for with a little "scrounging". So with trepidation, I've added this to my watch list based on the positive comments ^. The only concern I have is that bore-thru hosel. Earlier on in my club building days, got bogged down in reshafting a Big Bertha for a friend. Royal PITA. Maybe my rudimentary skills have improved since then, but it still makes me nervous. Thinking lightweight steel shaft (Dynalight Gold R may be a good match) with a 975/983 9.5 head. Anyone know the bore size of these? Really do not want to deal with bore-thru and a shim.

Or maybe just tell me that I cannot replicate that percy ball flight and to just move along. Classic WRX.... a love/hate situation if I ever saw one. TIA.

[Nuggets]

Shaft it up with an S200 and you're away, I'd say if yo uwnat a bigger head but same results I used to use a D2 in 10.5 with an X100 and that would run for miles!

[scomac2002]

[quote name='Fellaheen51' timestamp='1438769972' post='12081710']
[quote name='birly-shirly' timestamp='1438688463' post='12074772']
I'd argue that the 975D is the ultimate modern classic.......It's a traditional looking, very solid feeling and sounding, very playable driver.......Unless you're a persimmon fundamentalist, I'd say everyone should have one.
[/quote]

I keep coming back to this thread, intrigued. Especially by B-S comments.
<snip>
</snip>
Classic WRX.... a love/hate situation if I ever saw one. TIA.
[/quote]

Isn't that the truth! This place can certainly tweak one's OCD tendencies...

Assuming you and I have similar swing attributes based on our parallel experiences I would be cautious about going too stiff in steel in a bore through head. I really don't get along all that well with my Memphis 10 shafted War Bird 4W as there seems to be a lack of kick versus my Spalding Executive 3W with a Jet Step Lite in med. It's really noticeable off the deck.

In comparing your modern Ping to a 975 I would also factor in that the Ping will have more effective loft than what the head is labelled as. A 10.5 may have as much as 12° of effective loft. I would be careful not to overdo it in dropping too much loft in conjunction with the shaft factors. Ideally, you might want to get a couple of different heads/shafts to play a bit of mix and match with. It would be a fun project though!

[Fellaheen51]

Good points buddy. Ping 10.5* (dialed to 10*) is where I'm at currently. Yeah, who knows what that translates to in reality. Perhaps need to perform some measuring to find out what loft that reference persimmon is at. Definitely not going the S route. To much shaft for me these days. Only mention the Dynalite because I have one around somewhere.

Will see what the future brings forth. Just never know what might show up when you least expect it.

[birly-shirly]

[quote name='Fellaheen51' timestamp='1438769972' post='12081710']
[quote name='birly-shirly' timestamp='1438688463' post='12074772']
I'd argue that the 975D is the ultimate modern classic.......It's a traditional looking, very solid feeling and sounding, very playable driver.......Unless you're a persimmon fundamentalist, I'd say everyone should have one.
[/quote]

I keep coming back to this thread, intrigued. Especially by B-S comments. Thru a fair mount of swing adjustments, finally have the modern metal D under control and hitting it reasonably well. But....the ball flight......balloonish. Just cannot do much about that even with the hosel adjusted to lowest setting (a gimmick to the average hack?). With this said, sure would like to replicate the ball flight that I achieve with a well struck persimmon. Low, boring, runs like crazy, perfect. Just not often enough. So, if I'm to read between the lines here, the 975 vintage D's can accomplish this, particularly shafted in steel?

They can be had fairly inexpensively off the big auction site and who knows what they can be had for with a little "scrounging". So with trepidation, I've added this to my watch list based on the positive comments ^. The only concern I have is that bore-thru hosel. Earlier on in my club building days, got bogged down in reshafting a Big Bertha for a friend. Royal PITA. Maybe my rudimentary skills have improved since then, but it still makes me nervous. Thinking lightweight steel shaft (Dynalight Gold R may be a good match) with a 975/983 9.5 head. Anyone know the bore size of these? Really do not want to deal with bore-thru and a shim.

Or maybe just tell me that I cannot replicate that percy ball flight and to just move along. Classic WRX.... a love/hate situation if I ever saw one. TIA.
[/quote]

Like for like in terms of loft, I wouldn't say the 975D is exactly persimmon-like in terms of ballflight. Lower lofts might be more so, but I have a 10.5 and it launches noticeably higher than my persimmon drivers. If you want a metal driver that launches more like persimmon, then I think you may need a club with a similar size head - say the Series 56 or Bore Through Hogans on the other thread running just now, or even one of the original Burners.

But a 975 can be set up with a steel shaft to play really well at a comparable length and swingweight to persimmon, which I think is great in terms of keeping your swing more consistent between woods and irons and can only help keep the ball in play. And, whisper it, the ballflight from the modestly oversized head IS flattering compared to wooden heads...

When driver heads first went supersize, I think a lot of people found that although the large heads were more forgiving of off-centre strikes, the larger heads were also more difficult to square. Lots of club golfers developed big high blocks, and even pros went towards hitting a stock cut. The 975D is weighted with a heel bias that somewhat counteracts this. Certainly I've found it an easy club to draw off the tee, which hasn't always been a strength of mine.

If you're reshafting, I'd be tempted to NOT attempt to save any installed graphite shaft for at least a couple of reasons. (A) there's a good chance, if your skills are no better than mine, that you'll fail. (B) you can partially drill out the old graphite shaft, but leave the last 1/2" or so of tip in place to convert the club to a blind bore, which saves you refinishing the sole and worrying about funky tip-trimming adjustments for the through-bore.

I removed the graphite shaft entirely, but wrecked it in the process. I don't always install replacement shafts right flush to the sole, and I've not had a head fly off yet.

[Kathy Marie]

It took some digging but our esteemed brother super20dan mentioned this driver in another thread & I *never* forgot what he said:

[url="http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/1084667-titleist-975d-and-a-theory-of-drivers/#entry10196697"]http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/1084667-titleist-975d-and-a-theory-of-drivers/#entry10196697[/url]

Wish they made these things in lofts that I could use, durnit. I've been practicing the driver a ton, and my sacrifical lamb is starting to delaminate on the sole...

Which actually bites, because that 50's era deep face Patty Berg was the best of the Sacrificial Lamb herd!!

[birly-shirly]

If you can hit a 1950s wooden headed driver, I'd reckon you can hit an appropriately shafted 12.5* 975D. If not, the 975F range of fairways are available in 13.5, 14.5 and 16.5. Smaller, shallower heads but otherwise similar design-wise - and by all accounts the non-bore through versions are the ones you want, so that's another headache avoided if you need a change of shaft!

[oldschoolrocker]

Have played the last two attempts at nine with the 975d, 10.5, regular flex graphite shaft. Can have a nice piercing ball flight if I keep it smooth and not try to hit up on it, otherwise balloon city. I usually play a 8.5 or 9 modern in stiff, due more to my launch angle and transition than swing speed. I think the 975d in the correct steel shaft would be a very good club off the tee.

[Fellaheen51]

Thx B-S for the informative post. Like your idea of converting thru-bore to blind bore. Makes reshafting a lot simpler. And OSR, a review by you from a couple of years ago. Appears as though you liked this driver then as well.

[url="http://www.golfreview.com/cat/drivers/titleist/975d/prd_60913_2948crx.aspx"]http://www.golfrevie...13_2948crx.aspx[/url]

Still haven't been able to find bore size info.

[birly-shirly]

Sorry Fella - missed that earlier. It's a 0.335 parallel bore.

[fluffy265]

Thanks for all the great info guy's, looks like I wasn't the only one interested in picking one up.

Cheers J

[oldschoolrocker]

[quote name='Fellaheen51' timestamp='1438807163' post='12084940']
Thx B-S for the informative post. Like your idea of converting thru-bore to blind bore. Makes reshafting a lot simpler. And OSR, a review by you from a couple of years ago. Appears as though you liked this driver then as well.

[url="http://www.golfreview.com/cat/drivers/titleist/975d/prd_60913_2948crx.aspx"]http://www.golfrevie...13_2948crx.aspx[/url]

Still haven't been able to find bore size info.
[/quote]

[oldschoolrocker]

Good detective work Spartan.
An update. I decided I wanted the same shaft in stiff after a few months of playing with it, so I took it in to have it changed out. They couldn't get the head off. Cut the ferrule off and heated it up until it started to discolor the clubhead, but couldn't break the bond. I am thinking this is why I am having some issues flair up with it now on the course. I have located another 975d in mint condition at PIA that I may pick up. My oldest has recently started using a 983 that has me intrigued as well.

[Fellaheen51]

In researching matters related to this topic, thinking that the 983 (350cc) may be a mid-point size compromise between a 460cc modern and the 975J (312cc). Small(er) without being to small sort of thing. A retro mini-driver for the percy crowd (that occasionally lapses to metals). Hey...wait a minute...aren't they talking about mini-drivers < ?

For experimental purposes, probably will just come down to whatever I stumble across first at a cheap price.

[Nuggets]

983K is 362cc I think not 350

[Fellaheen51]

According to the link referenced in post #2: 983K = 365cc, 983E = 350cc. Close enough (size-wise) for interchangeability of the two for an experiment.

[birly-shirly]

[quote name='oldschoolrocker' timestamp='1438854464' post='12088076']
Good detective work Spartan.
An update. I decided I wanted the same shaft in stiff after a few months of playing with it, so I took it in to have it changed out. They couldn't get the head off. Cut the ferrule off and heated it up until it started to discolor the clubhead, but couldn't break the bond. I am thinking this is why I am having some issues flair up with it now on the course. I have located another 975d in mint condition at PIA that I may pick up. My oldest has recently started using a 983 that has me intrigued as well.
[/quote]

Always good to hear that the pros run into the same problems that I did in my kitchen. My 975 sports what I believe to be the trendy look in putters - torched. I don't suppose the structure of the clubhead will be affected (there are later Titleist drivers that used aluminium sleeves which were I believe quite delicate) - but the paint certainly takes a beating.

It's one of the reasons I like the 975 with steel shafts. I'm beyond worrying about the cosmetics of my particular club, but if you're swapping shafts, I imagine you could get a steel shaft out using a heated rod and a bit of torque - neither of which tactics are available to you if you're trying to pull and save a graphite shaft.

[quote name='Fellaheen51' timestamp='1438858711' post='12088184']
In researching matters related to this topic, thinking that the 983 (350cc) may be a mid-point size compromise between a 460cc modern and the 975J (312cc). Small(er) without being to small sort of thing. A retro mini-driver for the percy crowd (that occasionally lapses to metals). Hey...wait a minute...aren't they talking about mini-drivers < ?

For experimental purposes, probably will just come down to whatever I stumble across first at a cheap price.
[/quote]

I like the 983K. In fact, I like it so much with the V2 shaft that's in it that I haven't been tempted to experiment with swapping shafts in it. I think the 983 series were maybe the last Titleist drivers to offer a stock steel shaft option. I'd like to try an E - but really the K is not too big and much easier to find in my experience. 905 is when, to my mind, Titleist drivers lost much of the 975 DNA and became less distinctive from other companies' offerings.

[VivaTerlingua]

B-S & OSR, I love my 983E. Was playing my 983K, then "upgraded" to 905S (which I liked), then 910D2 (can't get over the looks, I have a mental block on how ugly it is and can't hit it), then "upgraded" last year to a 983E. It's what I've been playing the last 2 years. Impossible not to hit it straight, great flight. I also dropped my 906F 3 and 5 woods for a 975 16.5* non bore-thru. It's automatic. In the words of Merle Travis - "So round, so firm, so fully packed"

If I keep "upgrading" I'll be toting Toney Penna's soon..........OK, yout got me, I'm looking

Can't recommend the E highly enough. This from an "old-school" guy moving towards "classic".

Oh - that goes for my clubs, too