Comparing Drivers of Different Eras

[Miler]

Miles of Golf did a study that compared hickory shafted drivers from the 20's, early steel shafted drivers from the 30's, 1950 drivers, 1980 drivers, and today's titanium drivers. In a nut shell, we found that from 1920-1980, distances increased 13%. From 1980-today it increased another 13%. Any wonder why everyone plays with today's technology. To see all the data and a video on this study, follow this link: http://www.milesofgolf.com/blog/golf-clubs/vintage-vs-technology/

[Bella Woods]

Mile of Golf has a state of the art club fitting operation and a very good reputation. I had my modern clubs fitted by
them (Brent Norton in particular) and I am very happy with them. Gene Bolden has been involved in vintage and classic
clubs for as long as I can remember.

The main concern I have with the testing results is in the area of the hickory club.

Hickory shafts are all over the board flex wise. It takes a long time to find the right shaft in my experience, you can't
just hand someone a club and expect them to be able to hit it. Scott Hayes looks like a very good golfer with a
nice swing. But with that smash factor and total distance (1.41 and 234.2 yards average results) coming from an
average swing speed of 103.9 - something is wrong. I have a spoon that I can hit that far with no problem. I think
with the right hickory shaft (fitted) he would have had much more favorable results. Same for the other guys in the
test.

Many of the decent golfers that play hickory clubs often, and in tournaments, can hit their drives 250 to 270 easily
(with modern golf balls).