Apparently this new speed frame which sits behind the face on the new callaway drivers is going to help you hit it longer straighter more consistently than ever before let's see if that's the case. So the new callaway drivers are releasing. For 2021 are called the epic now we've heard that name before with callaway drivers it goes back four years ago when they first brought out the great big bertha epic drivers i actually had one of those in the bag which i'll come to later on two years later we saw the epic flash. And now two years after that we see the epic lineup now there's three drivers in this new lineup epic speed there's an epic max and an epic max ls which is low spin. So three new drivers in the lineup i test them out on the golf course at the driving range in here in the home simulator on gc quad and also i pulled out my original epic driver from four years ago to see how much of a difference there is. So when i think about the epic lineup instantly i think about jailbreak four years ago when it was first introduced these two bars that sat behind the face that helped keep the face more rigid helped with more ball speed off that club face then.
A new version came out with epic flash. And now we see this newer version now they're calling it jailbreak ai speed frame and it's the way they've utilized the technology that they have with this super computer it's all singing all dancing computer and if spotting all this information said make this face as fast as possible. So the new speed frame has altered slightly you can see it's got more bars at the top it's got more connection points at the bottom. And effectively it's supposed to make the ball come off the face faster and more reliable across the face more consistent on miss hits i test that theory in this video so the first place i went was to the driving range to test these three drivers out started off with the epic speed first now i took this opportunity to not only just warm up. But also get my first initial thoughts of the drivers behind the golf ball how they look how they feel i wasn't massively looking for performance because obviously i was just whacking range balls with no massive consequence. For me the epic speed driver head this year is beautiful it is. So classic like it almost doesn't even look like a callaway driver head no that sounds a bit daft. But it looks much more like a player's head it looks more like a tightless driver behind the golf ball and as we've seen in previous years callaway have gone with this green colouring with the epic franchise and it certainly does stand out really nice. And again sound hitting it in the driving range was fantastic really really familiar almost like dead noise that i got from the original epic all those years ago. And then.
I moved into the epic max now behind the golf ball the head shape of this was much bigger seemed much more confident boosting i would imagine golfers who struggle with driver would prefer to hit the epic max. For me sound wise and feel wise was very similar to the speed however. then.
I moved into the epic max ls this is the low spin model this year similar head shape to the max if i'm honest i didn't really see that much difference in head shape at all. And again feel and sound was very familiar. And very similar to the other two also [Music] now it's all well and good smashing drivers on a driving range when there's no real consequence. But i want to take martin the golf course where you didn't just want to hit him into the trees or the water or lose the golf balls and also what it's a hit prove he wants start off with the epic speed first performance wise really solid i felt that the ball fight was really strong i felt like it performed very well off off-centered hits which made me very excited to test that with the launch monitor. And again sound wise when i was outside in the golf course sounds awesome really a big fan of that epic speed driver this year then.
I hit the epic max driver difference in performance i would definitely say it was easier to hit than the speed i felt like the ball flight was a little bit higher felt like it was spinning up a little bit more. And if i'm honest i hit a lot of fairways with the max it felt like it was a driver that was a little bit more similar to the like the ping drivers i've tested earlier this year the g425s it felt like it was much more similar to performance of that then.
I tested the ls the low spin now typically when a brand brings out a driver that's a bit more low spin you see on your good shots they go further yes. But on your bad shots typically you get a little bit more punished now i've gotta say with this slow spin driver this year i don't actually think it's that low spin out in the golf course it felt. So similar in performance and feel and looks to the epic max the one that should be nice and forgiving that's a weird one that this year it just doesn't feel like the lineup is super simple because it got me thinking well who who's the speed. For who is the max. For who is the max ls4 it just feels like the cater. For for everybody but nobody at the same time so what i mean by that is i don't feel like the speed driver is only. For a certain type of goal for this year i don't feel like the max drive is only suited to your high handicappers. And maybe your low spin is only suited to your tour players now you might see that as a good thing. Or a bad thing ideally you want to go and get fitted and see which one's going to perform best. For you but it's just something i've noticed they feel super super similar in performance this year so then.
It was time to get them home here in the simulator test them with pro v1s on gc quad now i'll be honest this was a very valuable test this year because this is where we start to see little subtle differences in performance i also pulled out the epic driver from four years ago to see how much of a difference there actually is from jailbreak original to now this new jailbreak ai speed frame let's start off with the speed driver first now this driver again the way it's designed the way that the bottom of the golf club is is almost flared up it's supposed to help you swing it faster i didn't massively see the case of that i was swinging about 111 miles per hour pretty much exactly where i normally swing. And i was carrying the epic speed driver 285 yards which is pretty healthy i felt like the ball speed was good the spin rate was spot on. For me and the other thing i just wanted to call out because i definitely saw this i felt like the speed drive we just had a little bit of draw biased and it might be to do with the carbon toe on the driver this year it feels like it's taking a little bit of weight out stuck it a fraction more towards the heel. And with the speed there was a definite more slight draw to the left. So then.
It came on to the two max drivers the epic max and the epic max low spin i'm gonna start off with the max one first similar to what's on the golf course it just seemed super easy to hit so i definitely hit the max straighter it didn't quite go as far for me at 282 carry just because it spun up a little bit more than the speed but again that's what i'd kind of expect from this max driver it seems more forgiving it seemed easier to hit yes which is a positive. And finally this is the one i've got to be honest it did it surprised me the low spin driver on the golf course i didn't see it as being a low spin driver it didn't feel like i got punished at all on the driving range. Or on the golf course for this super low spin driver test it on gc quad you get real data and you get proper information facts it is a lower spinning driver roughly about 200 rpm lower spin. And as a result for me actually carried the furthest at 286 carrier and again all of the drivers on average testing it today.
I was swinging them at 111 miles per hour now something else i picked up on just throughout the testing of all the drivers that i hit there was obviously times where i didn't hit it in the middle of the club face surprise surprise i'm not a robot now this one particular i hit very much from the low heel. And i would typically see maybe 10 to 15 yards of drop off in performance just naturally because i know i didn't hit it as well what i did find whether this was the the jailbreak the new speed frame. Or whether it was the artificial intelligence behind the face i was only seeing five. Or six yards of drop off when i struck it really low from the heel which was very very promising i felt that was a real good positive now i also wanted to test out the weight track on the callaway epic max driver i won't say how much influence it would have. So i stuck it all the way into the heel the most extreme position and found that it definitely went more left for me now when i stuck it all the way up into the toe that's supposed to stop it from going left i wouldn't say it did that. But i would say it reduced how much draw i was getting on the driver. So all in all the ls is the one. For me i felt like i hit that really nicely now one of my favorite drivers ever that i've had in the back was the original epic driver the sub zero i actually put in the bag. So how much difference in four years is that between the original epic. And the new epic max ls well a grand total of four yards difference that's one yard per year that's not massively impressive is it considering all the technology the r d the super computers that go into these new drivers it's a little bit disappointing however. something that i definitely found out this year saw it in the callaway drivers. And i also saw in the ping drivers is that these new versions are definitely more forgiving. So if you've got the epic from four years ago don't expect these new ones to be any longer but do expect them to be marginally more forgiving we'll see you next.
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