Golf's hottest topic: new high-COR drivers are coming. Are you ready?

Golf Digest, Sept, 2002 by Mike Stachura, Isaac Gruber

The pro at one of the East Coast's tonier private clubs is dead serious. "A lot of my members think every driver in my shop is obsolete now," he says. "If there's a chance that they're going to get more distance, they're buying it." In its own way, that sounds like a bell tolling. Its message: The age of high coefficient of restitution is upon us.

New drivers that break the current springlike-effect limit of .830 were already on golf shop shelves by late June, as manufacturers anticipated the adoption of a proposal extending the acceptable COR limit for drivers to .860. Unintentionally, the proposal, announced jointly in May by the U.S. Golf Association and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, could do more to spur the selling of golf clubs than it did to shore up the division between the game's two ruling bodies.

THE MARKET

Several companies started marketing high-COR drivers weeks before the USGA's "notice and comment" period deadline of July 15 had passed. One of those was Adams Golf, which started shipping the GT 363R July 1. It's based on the company's previously introduced GT 363, but it has a thinner face to produce a higher COR. The original is now selling for as little as $200, about 20 percent less than its high-COR brother. Adams Golf CEO Chip Brewer says the philosophy for potentially jumping the gun on the proposal was simple. For one, the proposal looked as if it would go through unaltered, meaning drivers with higher-than .830 CORs would be legal by January. Two, distance--or at least the perception of distance--sells.

"People buy new drivers for one reason, and that's to hit it farther," Brewer says. "I'm not aware of any company that's ever done well by offering a driver that's shorter."

THE INTEREST

Generally speaking, the concept of high COR needs some selling. Golfers who know about the issue want to know more, while those who don't couldn't be less interested. A handful of new TaylorMade R500 Series drivers sold out in a weekend at one store in Michigan, while another specialty shop in Connecticut sold three in two days in July, even though the club is still on the USGA's nonconforming list. Mail-order retailer Golfsmith was taking advance orders at a steady pace in early July.

High COR wasn't yet a substantial issue at some of the more exclusive private clubs. At The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., head pro Brendan Walsh says high-COR was so low on the members' priority list that a meeting on the subject scheduled for May hadn't taken place. In July it was the new under-the-old-limit Titleist 975J-VS drivers that were drawing more interest than any high-COR clubs. At Castle Pines Golf Club, outside of Denver, "It's a nonissue," says pro Keith Schneider. "Maybe guys don't want to lose face by showing up with a club that used to be illegal."

At some public golf courses, it was hard to find basic knowledge of the issue, let alone interest. Said one typical muny golfer: "I buy lots of things to improve my game, but none of them really do." Rich Bin is director of golf at Palo Alto (Calif.) Municipal, where more than 90,000 rounds are played annually. High COR hasn't resonated with the clientele there yet.

"With how far the ball is going, I think the average guy, instead of looking at distance, is looking for something that goes a little straighter," Bin says. "They want to hit the fairways a little bit more rather than get an extra 10 yards."

WHAT'S NEXT?

Now might be the best time since the early 1990s to purchase a new driver, whether it's a high-COR model or not. "There has never been a time when the bargains were better," says Edwin Watts, co-owner of Edwin Watts Golf, the country's largest chain of off-course golf shops.

Some golfers are buying high-COR drivers even though the USGA hasn't made a final decision. "People aren't waiting," says Rick DeMane of DeMane Golf in Greenwich, Conn. "They don't seem concerned about what the rule is going to be."

With new technology (i.e., developments in lightweight, affordable, stainless-steel drivers that make 300 cubic-centimeter clubheads possible) and good prices, there are real opportunities, says Barry Rinke, vice president at Golfsmith: "It's a win-win for the golf industry and consumers."

Additional reporting by Isaac Gruber