So so far we've seen launches of taylormade stealth drivers callaway rogue st cobra ltd x to name just a few but over half of you watching this video will not buy those drivers this year let me explain what i mean. So i asked this question on my twitter i said if you were to buy a new driver this year would you buy brand new. Or would you be looking to buy second hand 53 of you said secondhand. And that does not surprise me one bit. So it got me thinking what about if i took a walk down memory lane and had a look at some second-hand drivers so i've hooked up with my really good friends golfbidder you've never seen golfbidder before a fantastic company where they'll buy your old clubs off you and also you can buy second-hand golf clubs off the website as well it's reliable it's professional. And i would highly recommend it if you're looking into buying second-hand golf clubs now i've decided in this video to pick some drivers from a year i think was fantastic. For drivers the year 2017. now i've picked 2017 for a number of reasons one it was a really strong year. For drivers like a lot of drivers i tested that year were very very promising however. there's three in this video that i've picked out that i thought were really really good the second reason is a lot of the technology implemented in 2017 we're still seeing in drivers that are coming out in this year 2022. And my final point is the price like these drivers that are five years old have dramatically come down in price. So you're getting great saving yet they don't feel really really really old and also it wouldn't surprise me for one second if some of the golfers in your club and even some of the better players still have these drivers in the bag today.
They're that good now i'm not gonna do this any particular order what i've done i've tested these three drivers out in the golf course at the driving range. And i give you a rundown of what i really like what technology we still see in some of these drivers and also maybe what's changed what we're missing the first one i needed to get my hands on was this because i had this driver in the bag this is the callaway great big bertha epic now this was a phenomenal driver the first time we saw jailbreak in a driver these two bars that sit behind the face that connect the bottom of the head. And the top of the crown for more stability the first time we really saw callaway start to experiment with more carbon on the bottom and a little bit on the crown as well now this one is the standard epic which had the movable weight at the back as well. So you put it more fade or draw biased if you wish and obviously had the adjustable neck sleeve now this driver for me and as i mentioned i had this one in the bag not only sounded great not only looked great but also really performed so once i was hitting at the driving range i couldn't wait to kind of get those sensations back again. And this driver did not disappoint me still to this day i would put this in my top probably top three best sounding drivers ever it's just got that really satisfying crack off the face i feel like again the performance was very strong there's a couple of things you might just want to be aware of certainly with the epic it definitely suits a slightly faster swing speed because sometimes you don't quite strike it you can get ones that spin a little bit too low. And i think that's the promise with the driver like the epic if you're absolutely crushing out the middle. And swinging it fast you can definitely get this driver to work the slight downside it definitely wasn't forgiving. And even now comparing it to more modern drivers that's the only angle you might just fall down with on this and that's what i found when i was testing this driver on the really good ones you cannot fault it some of the bad ones it's not the most forgiving. But with all that being said considering i've been hitting all the brand new drivers this year recently this still stacks up in performance very good driver. And again what if you're looking for second hand one to consider now the next.
Driver i could not miss out on the shortlist from 2017 is this the taylormade m1 now if you remember this is the second iteration of the m1 because 2016 was when they first released. And one of them two very very popular drivers but then.
In 2017 they brought out the next.
Version which arguably was a little bit better in a few very important elements now the m1 big factor was this kind of multi-material head construction you've got the big carbon mass crown with this really really nice white border which still believe it. Or not five years later still looks modern but i would be more than happy to play with a driver that looks like this now and again when i was hitting them in the driving range. And out on the golf course this is a beautiful looking driver behind the ball it really really is now obviously what you'll see these days with the new stealth etc. And even the last few versions of taylormade between this and those models they've introduced things like twist face speed injection twist face carbon faces all things that might improve performance slightly but to be honest with you i find that really hard to measure certainly against this driver now on this particular m1 model you've got the adjustability options and that's why i've chosen this one over the m2 certainly when you're buying second hand it's worth looking at an adjustable driver just so that you can fine tune it if you need to. So obviously getting fitted for one of these is much more challenging if you buy them second hand. But looking at this on performance for me this is still one of the most forgiving drivers i've hit. And believe me it is still very very long. And then.
The final driver i had to put on the shortlist was this the ping g400 what a driver this was now unlike the other two brands i've mentioned before taylormade. And callaway ping don't particularly go with really outlandish bold crazy claims but it's still packed full of technology it has turbulators on the crown to help with airflow to help you swing it faster in the g400 lineup it had this dragonfly technology on the back of the head where the strip weights are going to move it lower. And further back and also we saw the introduction of this vortex on the back of the head as well again a way of the aerodynamics working better around the head we still see signs of some of this technology even now in the g425 driver lineup but what you get with ping is forgiveness. And again testing on the driving range and out on the golf course we saw just that i was at jcb on the first hole hitting this which the bloody hard hole believed me. And time and time again the ball as i hit it i was looking up. And they were just flying down the fairway it's not the longest. But where you might not get a huge amount of distance you definitely get forgiveness i get asked a lot about what's the most forgiving driver what's going to give me the best benefit the best help well i would definitely look. For a ping driver of any description but you won't go far wrong with this g400 so you might be thinking what's the point in this video i want to go and buy a brand new driver i want to feel great knowing i've got latest technology or for not one second am i saying don't do that like there is almost no better feeling in the world buying a brand new driver that you know is the latest. And greatest taking the wrapper off taking it to that golf course for the very first time if that's what you want to do carry on however. what i'm trying to get to here. And the point is that if you're looking at by picking something up second hand there are some fantastic drivers on offer at a much lower price. And believe me they're still incredibly good drivers and if you are looking at buying second hand well my good friends at golfbidder have got you covered. And lastly i'd love to hear from you in the comments below if you're going to be getting a new driver this year are you going to go. And buy brand new and if so what you're looking at getting or you're gonna be looking down the second-hand route option and also i'd love to know what driver you've got your eye on guys thanks for watching stay tuned lots more to come.
