Monday, June 4, 2007

Snake Eyes Z9 - UST Proforce V2 - Winn Excel Black

The Snake Eyes Z9 is a new club head line from Golfsmith. The Z9 consists of a 460cc, 15-3-3-3 Beta Titanium Face and Crown. The crown is a thin .5mm thick. Esthetically, this a great looking club head with a simple black crown and a footprint that gives confidence but doesn't look huge. Overall the club head performed great, shots were consistent and the ball practically jumps off the club face. The club head felt light yet responsive throughout the swing, and the sound was solid yet not over powering. The only negative would be the lack of an alignment aid on the top of the crown, the side dimples help some, but the lack of the normal Snake Eyes emblem was very noticeable. Overall, I give this an 8.5 out of 10.

The UST Proforce V2 has become the defacto high end standard of the UST line of shafts. This is the shaft used by many touring pros. I've tried UST shafts in the past, with varying success. Usually, the tips are to responsive for my swing which causes the dreaded high, power fade. The Proforce V2 however produced a very tight shot disbursement with only a few shots slightly fading to the edge of the rough. Torque was very good with no noticeable twisting with the large 460cc club head (see Z9 above). Overall, this shaft performed remarkably well, and while I won't say it's as good as my current favorite shaft, the Accuflex Evolution, it's pretty close. Overall, I give it an 8.5 out of 10.

Since Golf Pride has seemingly decided to stop making my favorite grip for woods, the Whisper grip, I decided to put a Winn Excel Black grip on this driver combination. Overall the Winn Excel was very similar to the Whisper and will now become my new woods grip. 8.5 out of 10.

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