Yonex Ezone 380 from The Golf Mechanic

[bradkv]

After much deliberation and research on this site, I decided to pull the trigger on this driver last week. I talked with Matt, The Golf Mechanic at length about the build, and was extremely impressed with how thorough he was and the questions he asked. Length, swingweight, and my tendencies were all discussed at length, and we settled on a 8* head with a Fujikura ATL X flex shaft. He thought the ATL might help with the low launch of the head, while maintaining a low spin rate, as my tendency is to fight too high a spin rate with the driver, while having NO issues with getting a high enough launch. He built the club on Thursday, and it was on my doorstep Friday when I got home from work.

 

I pulled the club out of the box and was immediately transported back in time to when drivers did not look like toasters on the end of a stick. The Ezone has a wonderful, slightly open pear shaped head, and just looks like it wants to be worked. It has a nice, fairly deep profile, without a whole lot of crown, if you know what I mean. It just looks like a driver that doesn't want to spin the ball much.

 

I didn't even let the paper padding stop settling on the counter before I left for my club to try it out. After loosening up on the range for about 15 minutes, I grabbed a cart and proceeded straight to our 13th hole, a 570 yard par 5 with a creek up the left side, and a fairly dense tree line up the right. I took 10 balls with me, and after 2 of them, I was sold. The Ezone is not the longest driver I've ever hit, but it is one of the longest without question. At 570 yards, the 13th is a hole I can reach in two, but not consistently, and when I can, it's normally only with a well struck 3 wood. Of the 10 balls I hit, 3 of them were within a hybrid's length from the green, 3 were in the left rough, and the other 4 were within a comfortable 3 woods distance. I noticed immediately the flat, low spin ballflight this driver produces, and I got at least 12-15 yards of runout despite 3 inches of rain on Thursday afternoon here. This driver gives me a very shallow angle of descent, while being long enough to carry the distance I'm used to carrying the ball.

 

The sound is amazing. It is a composite crown driver, and reminds me a great deal at impact of the FT Tour or Razr Hawk (The Razr Hawk is the longest driver I've ever tried), but with a more muted, solid sound than either Callaway. I would bet the ballspeed is about the same, but the Callaway heads both launch the ball just a little higher than the Yonex.

 

I had this driver built at 44.5", with a swingweight of D4. One of the very first things I noticed was how anti left this head is. My swing normally produces a 10-12 yard draw, but this draw was cut in half at worst. On top of this, normally a cut is hard work for me, but with the 380, I just weaken my grip a bit, and turn a little more, and voila, a little 5 yard cut is easy as pie.

 

Forgiveness was surprising as well, as my normal miss is on the toe. This driver has a noticeable bulge and roll, which is a look I didn't even realize I missed with the modern head. Looking down at this thing, It just looks like if you miss the center of the face, the ball will want to curve back to the center, which it does. Distance loss is noticeable, while not tremendous, and it offers enough feedback to let you know you've missed it slightly...another thing you don't really get with the big heads anymore.

 

I can't say enough about how professional and helpful Matt was during the build process, and I also cannot possibly cover in a brief review how good this driver actually is. Above average to impressive length, amazing workability, and just a beautiful club to look at, I would certainly suggest the Yonex Ezone 380 to any decent ballstriker looking to lower their spin rate and put a driver in the bag that begs to be curved around the course. If this is a club that interests you, give Matt a call. He will build you one amazing golf club!

[Puppetmaster]

Thanks for posting that. Nice review. And congrats on a sweet driver. I'm not completely sold on my Razr Fit yet, and threads like this just make it worse.

[KDMullins]

Matt does top notch work, and that's a great head. Love the muted sound.

[gqjeff]

we need pics

[Tiptx1122]

Yes Matt does a great job & is very knowledgeable. I've had him build several different clubs as I'm now gaming a Yonex Ezone Type 380 10* with UST Mamiya Attas T2 5S shaft as this club just oozes with confidence.