So long Hi-Bore

[brent]

Well what a difference a week makes. I earlier posted the praises for the Hi-Bore well until yesterday. Head to head I played with a 905R 9.5 with V2-75, and a Hi-Bore 9.5 with V2-65, I used the Bridgestone E6 ball for both drivers. Both drivers hit very high but the 905R seemed to have lower spin and a flatter trajectory. The 905R was consistently longer and I was trying to outdrive the 905R cause I wanted to keep the Hi-Bore. The Hi-Bore hit some really long drives and I was in places I never am; but then again so was the 905R and more often than the Hi-Bore. Maybe it is the shaft difference, I don't know, but the Hi-Bore is not as low spin at all, I don't understand that idea with ridicolus drops in spin rates unless people are just getting fit perfectly. I looked at my friend and said "maybe I should spend more time with it to work on it" his response was "you had 27 holes with it thats enough time I think". On to ebay!

[r7tp4me]

Interesting, I hit a 905R 8.5 with stiff speeder for Titleist alongside a 9.5 Hi bore with 65 gram stiff V2 and I reckon the 905 went as high !!! distance was similar but the trajectory on the Hi Bore was flatter !!

 

Pete

[6thFairway]

On my launch monitor tests, the 905R was significantly higher-spin, which is good for me. I ended up buying the 905R because the HiBore was just too low in spin.

[Redbird]

I think it takes some swing tweaking and some time to adjust to teeing the ball lower with the hi-bore. It's definetly not the type of driver you just tee the ball up there and rip at it.

[MORTOYZ]

I'm right there with ya, except both of mine have the 75gr V2 and are 10.5*. For me, the balls off the HiBore fell out of the sky as if they hit a wall at about 250 yards out, with no roll. It was way to much work for me to try and make the HiBore work. Something about the shape and being different really makes you want to make the HiBore work. But for me, e-bay is the answer.

[NikeTaylormade891]

I didn't like the hard feel at impact of the Hi-bore when I demoed it

[pingshack22]

Sorry to hear the Hi-Bore is not working for you guys. While there is some serious dogging on this thread, I must say it is the best driver I have hit to date. It is giving me the perfect trajectory and I hit it much longer than the SQ, 905r, and Cally X-460 Tour. It is all about preference and I know too many guys that are killing it to say it is not a good driver.

[omahajack]

I think the Hi Bore has implemented some cool new technology, but it is clearly not a club for everyone.

 

I thought it was "The One", but I have a relatively low spin rate, in the mid 2000's, so I found it not to be the best club for me. I wanted it to be "the One", but its not.

 

Interestingly enough, I hit its older brother, the 460 Ti, much better, with all around better stats, no matter how you look at it.

[mj6234]

I've said it before. I think the Hibore is best for high SS high spin players. Period.

 

That being said, it was marginally better (with the incorrect shaft for me) vs an R5 with 757 S and a Cleveland Comp w/UST V2 65 X.

 

I swing 120 and tend to have higher spin. I want to play the Hibore with the V2 75 X and then test again.

 

My LM results are floating around on here somewhere with the exact #s.

[brent]

I think the Hi-Bore is an excellent driver, it has been longer than any driver I've hit the past few years. However, the 905R was just as long and more accurate for me. There is definitely some spin issues for some with this thing, into the wind, this thing just was too high. Several of my friends hit this and one commented on the ballon issue into the wind. When the ball doesnt roll on hard dry Texas fairways something isnt right. In my opinion this club will help higher handicaps because the balls gets up so high so quick.

[doubletrouble]

Unless you get fit for a hibore off a monitor, your setting yourself up for dissappointment. I had some issues thinking I knew what I needed, and i was way off.

Take the time to use a monitor, get the right setup and there is nothing better.. NOTHING

[bd8802]

Unless you get fit for a hibore off a monitor, your setting yourself up for dissappointment. I had some issues thinking I knew what I needed, and i was way off.

Take the time to use a monitor, get the right setup and there is nothing better.. NOTHING

 

Shaft made a HUGE difference for me on LM numbers. 9.5* with a V2 was solid with spin around 2200 (little low, but i need a 10.5 anyway because of a 12* launch) 10.5* with a Prolaunch Blue had spin 4000+. I could not beleive the difference a shaft makes.

 

You are right, if you are going to get a new driver, a launch monitor fitting is manditory in my mind.

[poppyhillsguy]

Come on! 27 holes is not nearly enough time to get an evaluation on a club.

 

Is Davis Love going to switch to Callaway after his 82 at Sawgrass?

[Mapleleaf14]

I totally agree with Doubletrouble... you need to be fitted for a Hi-Bore it seems. I am hitting mine longer and straighter than anything else I've ever hit. (Our shop just had a demo day and I tried hitting everything!) I've done alot of "comparison hitting" with all my other drivers and some demo drivers as well and nothing compares to the Hi-Bore. For ME.

 

There will definitely be people who can't hit it or just don't like it, but I am in almost disbelief when I hit it. Sometimes I hit it and think "that's not gonna be that great" and then watch it land in the fairway and roll and roll!

 

I would recommend that if you are interested in a Hi-Bore, you should definitely be fitted for one.

[nikemike]

I totally agree with Doubletrouble... you need to be fitted for a Hi-Bore it seems.

 

Replace "Hi-Bore" with any oem. First impressions are lasting. That's why I read so many threads stating something is 20 yards longer or shorter than something else and know it's as simply as being fitted properly. The thing is, most people go in a store and test the manufacturer's shaft/head combo. If that does not impress them, they normally won't go any further in swapping shafts or any "extra" work.

[brent]

Shoot 27 holes is plenty of time for a club ho!

[lutherham]

I have heard a lot of guys telling me that the Hi-Bore hits higher than the 905 R...Is this true? I am between these two drivers myself and I generate a fair amount of clubhead speed and also generate a lot of spin. I am thinking about going w/ 75 gram V2 in the 905R because I was told it will keep the ball down for me. Anyone feel as if there is a shaft that fits the Hi-Bore to keep the ball down? I would be willing to listen

 

:stop:

 

Masters time...Does it get any better!

[Mapleleaf14]

I hit the 905R with the V2 and the NV and hit both higher than my HiBore with an NV. The NV is a fairly inconsistent shaft though IMO, (anyone else find that too?) and I tried several before choosing the one I went with. I "pured" it and reshafted and regripped it and I am now totally "in love" with my HiBore! My father hit mine and after about 15 minutes told me to get him one! I got another 9.5 with an NV and when we put it on the frequency machine it was a fair bit weaker than mine. We both hit it alot higher than we hit mine so I'll be going through some more shafts tomorrow and I'll try to find one close to mine and reshaft his as well.

 

I agree with alot of the above posts. It does pay to do some "work" and get what you really need. Not everybody has a shop with the tools and the resources to do it themselves though. I am lucky in that way. I was able to pick the best shaft from a group and use it for mine.

 

I am in the 106-108 mph range and normally hit the ball pretty high, but the Hi Bore just works for me I guess...I'm getting a great trajectory.

[Donnyj]

Tried the high bore kept hitting high fades not as long as callaway 460.....I think it's all hype.

 

Donnyj

[italianstallion]

I have to agree the spin rates for the hi bore are terrible for me. With a 9.5 with NV 65, the lowest spin rate I got was 3500, with launch angles of upwards of 17*. In my mind, this isn't your high swing speed players club. Nice for people who need to get the ball up, terrible for people that already can get it up.

 

All this coming from someone who loves Cleveland stuff

[badstrick]

I took a couple of cracks with a hi-bore yesterday with range balls it seemed to fly pretty decent and I am a high spin/ swing speed player. I was amazed at how you can hit them off the deck with this club, can't do that with your avg. 460 cc driver. I have no clue what my launch monitor specs would be with this club though.

[SwingBlade]

Before this weekend, I would have said the best ever was my 460 Launcher Comp 9.5 with Diamana 63 S. Flies really nice and works left or right pretty well and very forgiving with a smooth swing. Averaging about 275-280 but have had quite a few over 300. Longest last year was 340 on an uphill dogleg left. Before that, it was my Tour R7 10.5 with a 661 stiff Fuji. Also great club with long rollout.

 

But then came Sunday. At about 3 PM I picked up my new HiBore 9.5 with the UST V2 67S shaft. I had 8 to pick from and mine is dead square. I was previously fitted on a Cleveland launch monitor and have hit three different heads and six different shafts.

 

You know how when you set up to hit a new driver for the very first time you are kinda thinking, "Please go high, straight and long! Please don't duck hook or slice into eternity!" It is like the whole tone of the relationship will be set with the first drive.

 

Well, on the first one I aimed at a telephone pole holding up the net at the end of the short portion of the range about 250 feet away. I missed the pole by three feet and impacted the net about 50 feet off the ground.

 

Out of the next twenty drives aiming towards the long section of the range, only one was less than 265 and only two were more than 40 feet left or right of the new aiming pole. Only one would have been in the treeline of a tight fairway. Two were over 300 and straight as an arrow.

 

As the saying goes, I am not this good. However, it is very important to be fitted on a launch monitor in order to optimize loft and shaft of a HiBore. Perhaps far more important than most might imagine.

 

Since this is not a deep face driver, it takes awhile to relearn how to hit the ball dead center and not on the upper portion of the face as with DF drivers where one is trying to maximize DF gear effect. Along that same line, it is critically important to tee up the ball correctly. I found that I got best results with only about 1/4 to 1/3 of the ball sitting above the crown. Anything more than 1/2 above and performance came down measurably. I have previously been using 2/3 to a full ball above on my deep face drivers to optimize the launch angle.

 

This is different technology and what works for most DF drivers does not necessarily work for the HiBore. The HiBore almost seems to resent any assistance from the owner/operator in achieving the proper launch angle. I would hazard that the worst thing one could do is to alternate hitting the HiBore and a DF driver in a typical range test session. Each needs a different tempo, swing path, and swingspeed in order to optimize performance. Further, the HiBore head is relatively light compared to most DF drivers.

 

With the HiBore, the phrase "scary straight" comes to mind. Frankly, thoughts of going left or right don't even enter the equation when setting up to hit with the HiBore. It is weird. Getting the optimum launch angle is all that is of concern. For me, the V2 shaft is far and away the best ever for my own swing, at least in this head. Torque is as tight as a 757 only there is no heavy boardiness, more of a crisp responsive light feeling. It is about 10 to 15% stiffer than the stock Fuji shaft, which still performed well for my swing. However, the dispersion is measurably tighter with the V2 - at least for my swing. The Aldila and Pro Launch shafts did absolutely nothing for my swing in the HiBore. Spin was way too high and dispersion wasn't tight. But, everyone's swing is different. I feel the HiBore highlights those differences in a whole new way and that is part of the problem. New technology requires new thinking and a slightly new approach to the driver swing. That is not unlike the new approach to the driver swing and ball launch that had to be learned with the first DF drivers.

 

So far, I can fade the HiBore a little, but anything more than a very slight draw has been elusive. Maybe if I try to be really aggressive with the wrists. But, for this kind of predictably straight flight, I can forego the draw or use my 3 wood. I think a slightly closed head would probably draw a little easier, but probably not a lot.

[ZBigStick]

I totally agree with MORTOYZ. This club needs a lot of work and attention. If I had the support or means I am sure I could get it to work. I demoed with three lofts and three shafts and could not get it to stop hitting the 'wall'. I would have needed a full range session and access to more shafts such as 757, Diamana 83 or VS Proto 80. I also had a hard time finding the correct teeing height. Great feel, nice matte grey finish, ability to hit it off the deck...This club could benefit from a MAC or Callaway type shaft swaping fitting cart.