New Titleist 917 driver: shot at the 2016 Quicken Loans National

[uramnich]

Any clue as to what the stock shaft offerings will be?

[BearQ]

Can someone explain how the weight bar will work. For example how would you set it up to be neutral, even weight on both sides?

 

I wish there was a better visual of the bar itself, I'm having a hard time imagining how it will be used exactly. I need one of those titleist explanation pages, I'm no genius lol

[KaiserG13]

Got this email from Titleist tonight about the 917:

 

"As you know we're off and running with our 917 Driver launch on tour. I spent the majority of this week at Congressional Country Club, the site of this week's PGA Tour Event: The Quicken Loans National, working alongside Chris Tuten and our Titleist Tour team as they built and fitted products for our Titleist Tour Ambassadors. It was a great week as we saw the majority of players pick up ball speed, optimize spin, and maximize distance with 917.

 

Overall, two-thirds of players (18/27) put the driver in play this week at the Quicken Loans and to a man they were all very impressed with the product. The first thing they noticed was the overall look, feel, and sound of the product. The players consistently described the sound and feel as "very solid...I can feel the ball compress and jump off the face." While look and feel are extremely important, players on the PGA Tour believe in results and 917 shined here as well. We saw guys pick up as much as 3-4 miles per hour in ball speed, translating to increased distance. As early as Day Two at Congressional there was a buzz on the range as word was spreading that we have something special.

 

We are off to a great start on our product validation with the PGA Tour and Web.com Tour and will be extending this validation to global tours in the coming weeks. Stay tuned to Titleist.com and follow our progress on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook via #Titleist917."

[moonshine]

$449 to $499 a no go for me...wonder when #titleistpreowned.com will be up and running?

 

I can see it now early and often...."how come so many 917 drivers are on the bst" or "you guys are nuts asking what you do for used 917 clubs"

 

edit: when Woodland switches I may be impressed!

[ace036]

Anyone know the release date for this line?

[15th Club]

How did Titleist engineer the improvement in sound with the 917's?

 

Edit. -- Just to add this: I think "sound" is a huge selling factor, and as much as anything, I'd consider any driver if it offered an improvement in sound. Even if it were a light head that I {could/had to} go out and pay to get it hot-melted.

[bladehunter]

posted in teh equipment thread about this , but thought i would do so here too .... Saw that 2/3 of the staffers this week already swapped to the 917 driver.... Maybe this is a good sign for the line ?? It has to point to the dislove ( made that one up) of the 915 line doesnt it ? No i dont want to debate pay for play.. I get that..but I doubt they had a deadline as of this weekend to do so ... Looks to me more like they had been praying for an upgrade.. not a new model an actual upgrade.. I think it shows the gripes some of us had with the 915 were/are real... Heres to hoping im correct and the 917 IS a big step in the right direction ..

[swizbeatz]

My guess? It sounds and looks better = immediately in the bag.

[jons1]

This is the first week of seeding new Titleist 917 drivers on the PGA TOUR. After being fit by the Titleist Tour staff on Tuesday and then play-testing it during the pro-am on Wednesday, Bill Haas is putting a new 917D2 (9.5°) prototype in his bag. "I'm not the longest hitter with the most ball speed out here, so accuracy is the key for me," said Haas. "My immediate reaction was that I was hitting this straighter and still seeing a couple of more miles per hour ball speed which will ultimately provide me more distance. I really like the look and feel, and I am confident that it will perform under the gun come Thursday."

[Bartin]

posted in teh equipment thread about this , but thought i would do so here too .... Saw that 2/3 of the staffers this week already swapped to the 917 driver.... Maybe this is a good sign for the line ?? It has to point to the dislove ( made that one up) of the 915 line doesnt it ? No i dont want to debate pay for play.. I get that..but I doubt they had a deadline as of this weekend to do so ... Looks to me more like they had been praying for an upgrade.. not a new model an actual upgrade.. I think it shows the gripes some of us had with the 915 were/are real... Heres to hoping im correct and the 917 IS a big step in the right direction ..

 

I remember the 915s going in most of the bags immediately 2 years ago when it was released so I don't know how much it means and then quite a few reverted back to the 913 after a little while. I certainly hope it's a good sign though because I plan to get one at release. The only comments I've seen from pros about it was two different ones saying they gained a couple mph in ball speed which doesn't really make much sense to me. The only way to really do that is increase the COR assuming swing speed is constant and COR is already maxed out so I'm thinking that was a marketing line fed to them. Maybe the extra ball speed is for off center hits but that's not really an issue for a tour pro. The expected line from the pros if it was really a big upgrade for them would be that the spin is dramatically lowered since Titleist has one of the highest spinning drivers.

[wilavic]

There is a video of the Titleist tour van with a few minutes spent on the 917.It is a really nice looking head and I think it will be worth taking for a test spin.The video was posted by view golf, I'm old so i am not sure how to put a link to the video on here but it's easy to find on youtube by searching titleist 917.

[Philipp]

I'm old so i am not sure how to put a link to the video on here but it's easy to find on youtube by searching titleist 917.

 

here you go:

 

check the guy at the Scottys: "GSS is softer metal"... :cheesy:

[dciccoritti]

There is a video of the Titleist tour van with a few minutes spent on the 917.It is a really nice looking head and I think it will be worth taking for a test spin.The video was posted by view golf, I'm old so i am not sure how to put a link to the video on here but it's easy to find on youtube by searching titleist 917.

 

That was very cool. The 917D2 looks amazing. Thanks for sharing :-)

[wilavic]

I'm old so i am not sure how to put a link to the video on here but it's easy to find on youtube by searching titleist 917.

 

here you go:

 

check the guy at the Scottys: "GSS is softer metal"... :cheesy:

Thanks Philipp

[Bdmac79]

My guess? It sounds and looks better = immediately in the bag.

 

+1. I think the fact that Hoffman, Thomas, Simpson, and Loupe all switched so quickly should say something. Both Hoffman and Thomas went from a 915D4 to 917D2, which to me is the biggest surprise right out of the gate. Simpson had been using a 913D3. Loupe had been using a 909D2 until maybe just a few months ago (I think) before the 915D2, so this is clearly a quick jump to the 917 (and perhaps less surprising).

 

Haas mentioned that he got a few extra MPH of ball speed with the 917D2, and he too had used a D4 for a point this year after first bagging the D2 and then going back to it before his win.

[bladehunter]

posted in teh equipment thread about this , but thought i would do so here too .... Saw that 2/3 of the staffers this week already swapped to the 917 driver.... Maybe this is a good sign for the line ?? It has to point to the dislove ( made that one up) of the 915 line doesnt it ? No i dont want to debate pay for play.. I get that..but I doubt they had a deadline as of this weekend to do so ... Looks to me more like they had been praying for an upgrade.. not a new model an actual upgrade.. I think it shows the gripes some of us had with the 915 were/are real... Heres to hoping im correct and the 917 IS a big step in the right direction ..

 

I remember the 915s going in most of the bags immediately 2 years ago when it was released so I don't know how much it means and then quite a few reverted back to the 913 after a little while. I certainly hope it's a good sign though because I plan to get one at release. The only comments I've seen from pros about it was two different ones saying they gained a couple mph in ball speed which doesn't really make much sense to me. The only way to really do that is increase the COR assuming swing speed is constant and COR is already maxed out so I'm thinking that was a marketing line fed to them. Maybe the extra ball speed is for off center hits but that's not really an issue for a tour pro. The expected line from the pros if it was really a big upgrade for them would be that the spin is dramatically lowered since Titleist has one of the highest spinning drivers.

 

 

 

not entirely true.. we dont know that heads are indeed at max cor...we just know there is a COR limit.. we dont get to see cor tested titleist heads like we do TM tour issue heads... ive long wondered if Titleist kept theres conservative to cut down on warranty claims? TM and callaway obviously dont as they regularly cave in..

[moonshine]

I'm glad 917 is progressive over previous model...except for the price of course. I wonder if Woodland will switch...hmmmmm?

[Bartin]

posted in teh equipment thread about this , but thought i would do so here too .... Saw that 2/3 of the staffers this week already swapped to the 917 driver.... Maybe this is a good sign for the line ?? It has to point to the dislove ( made that one up) of the 915 line doesnt it ? No i dont want to debate pay for play.. I get that..but I doubt they had a deadline as of this weekend to do so ... Looks to me more like they had been praying for an upgrade.. not a new model an actual upgrade.. I think it shows the gripes some of us had with the 915 were/are real... Heres to hoping im correct and the 917 IS a big step in the right direction ..

 

I remember the 915s going in most of the bags immediately 2 years ago when it was released so I don't know how much it means and then quite a few reverted back to the 913 after a little while. I certainly hope it's a good sign though because I plan to get one at release. The only comments I've seen from pros about it was two different ones saying they gained a couple mph in ball speed which doesn't really make much sense to me. The only way to really do that is increase the COR assuming swing speed is constant and COR is already maxed out so I'm thinking that was a marketing line fed to them. Maybe the extra ball speed is for off center hits but that's not really an issue for a tour pro. The expected line from the pros if it was really a big upgrade for them would be that the spin is dramatically lowered since Titleist has one of the highest spinning drivers.

 

 

 

not entirely true.. we dont know that heads are indeed at max cor...we just know there is a COR limit.. we dont get to see cor tested titleist heads like we do TM tour issue heads... ive long wondered if Titleist kept theres conservative to cut down on warranty claims? TM and callaway obviously dont as they regularly cave in..

 

When Titleist introduced the active recoil channel in the 915s they said that the face was too hot which I assume means the COR went over the limit which is why they had to make the radial speed face(man these names are stupid) which is thicker metal in the center of the face to bring it back down to legal and that had the added benefit of increasing ball speed on non-center hits. That's what they claimed at least. Also I'm fairly certain most companies manufacture a little conservatively so that deviations in the manufacturing process don't result in some drivers above the COR limit, i.e. they produce them with a goal .825 COR with a margin for error of +/- 0.005.

[MattyO1984]

My guess? It sounds and looks better = immediately in the bag.

 

+1. I think the fact that Hoffman, Thomas, Simpson, and Loupe all switched so quickly should say something. Both Hoffman and Thomas went from a 915D4 to 917D2, which to me is the biggest surprise right out of the gate. Simpson had been using a 913D3. Loupe had been using a 909D2 until maybe just a few months ago (I think) before the 915D2, so this is clearly a quick jump to the 917 (and perhaps less surprising).

 

Haas mentioned that he got a few extra MPH of ball speed with the 917D2, and he too had used a D4 for a point this year after first bagging the D2 and then going back to it before his win.

 

The switch from the likes of Hoffman and Thomas to the 917D2 from the 915D4 is a big change. I read that Thomas is even using the same shaft as he he had in the D4. His stats from last week also had him with an average drive of 306.6 yards and driving accuracy of 60.71% versus 300.0 yards and 55.02% for his season average.

[^m9]

There is a video of the Titleist tour van with a few minutes spent on the 917.It is a really nice looking head and I think it will be worth taking for a test spin.The video was posted by view golf, I'm old so i am not sure how to put a link to the video on here but it's easy to find on youtube by searching titleist 917.

 

That was very cool. The 917D2 looks amazing. Thanks for sharing :-)

 

I think the guy had a D3 in his hand.

 

Nice shape, nice crown color.

[Brooks_Cupcake]

There is a video of the Titleist tour van with a few minutes spent on the 917.It is a really nice looking head and I think it will be worth taking for a test spin.The video was posted by view golf, I'm old so i am not sure how to put a link to the video on here but it's easy to find on youtube by searching titleist 917.

 

That was very cool. The 917D2 looks amazing. Thanks for sharing :-)

 

I think the guy had a D3 in his hand.

 

Nice shape, nice crown color.

 

You're right....

[Pure745]

Wow, that driver looks REALLY good! If it does have more ball speed and sounds better than the 915, it will be pretty much instantly in my bag.

 

Not sure which part of that video I liked better, the 917 or all the Tour Camerons! :shok:

[ace036]

Ah ha! So the guy in the Tour Van said possibly a Novemver release date!

[Yanki01]

Wow, that driver looks REALLY good! If it does have more ball speed and sounds better than the 915, it will be pretty much instantly in my bag.

 

Not sure which part of that video I liked better, the 917 or all the Tour Camerons! :shok:

 

FOR REAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! head covers and grips at your disposal.

[Judge440]

These look great!

[Thug Hunter]

That video looks like Pure745's collection.

[jons1]

Like most products, I would expect something around the pga merchandise show. I've also heard around November from a Titleist employee... maybe targeting the holidays? Half the country can't play golf that time of year so either way.

[renatto]

It's always November 14th right..

 

[jrshelby]

It's always November 14th right..

The 716 irons were moved up for the first time to 3rd week in October last year. Hopefully this happens with this launch. I can still get in a few rounds in late October for sure.

[renatto]

Ohhhh nice...