The weather in Japan is still very wacky with today hitting 19C. Very hard to believe it’s almost mid December but that’s totally fine with me as it means the weather is still great for golf. Today I headed out with two of my playing partners for a night round down at Moon Lake. Since it was a night round, I dressed more warmly, but ended up overdressing as it was hot. Once you get going at a good pace it’s easy to keep the body warm and loose.
Golf is certainly more fun when you’re driving the ball well. Your second shot gets shorter, you feel confident at the tee and that awesome impact puts a smile on your face. Lately I’ve been in that phase, and interestingly, I’ve gotten it by testing drivers with stiffer shafts than I’m used to. Lately I’ve developed a very slow take back but very aggressive transition at the top, so the stiffer shafts have worked out for me. The PRGR iD 435 driver I tested recently was sporting an M-43 shaft which worked well for me so I decided to bring to Moon Lake the new Tourstage X-Drive 705 Type 455 loaner I got from Bridgestone to game. The 705 is shafted with a new Tour AD DJ-6 Stiff, so I thought it’d also be a good opportunity to check this shaft out.
The new X-Drive 705 is a high tech premium driver which is aimed at pro and better player. The 705 is available in 2 flavors, the Type 415 (415cc) and the Type 455 (455cc). The 415 is the more compact of the two, made for control and workability while the 455 is made for distance and stability. The 415 is deep and while the 455 is also mid deep it is also longer heel to toe.
Both drivers are high back and deep face pear shaped drivers (the 415 more so than the 455). The new 705 features a hybrid intergrated power body utilizing an all new CA-Ti lightweight alloy in creating a hyper mesh crown which is 0.35mm at its thinnest point. The cup face features a dual arrow design with a sweet spot 5% larger than the X-Drive 703 and a variable thickness face for feel and high ball speeds. The toe and heel are chemically milled for optimal MOI and CG. The conforming 705 drivers are made at Endo and feature straight to open face angles.
I like the way the 455 sets up. It is not tiny or compact looking at address even though it is more of a high back design. As spec’ed the face angle does set up square . If you like a muscular looking high tech driver, the sole of the X-Drive gives you a futuristic almost Optimus Prime kind of Transformer look. It looks like it means business. I had a 10.5* and with the DJ-6 I actually found the trajectory rather penetrating with very good run. It was a bit windy but I had no problems hitting some of my best drives of the year with this combo (I’m guessing I averaged around 235y today – 90mph driver swing). The low torque and what seems to be real loft, is very stable and controlled.
Feel is very much like the previous 703 Limited, soft at impact with a nice crisp sound to it. It is reasonably forgiving for what is considered an athlete golfer model. I was able to keep the ball in the fairway for most of the round even on off center hits, not loosing much distance. The Tour AD DJ-6 does have lower torque than the preceeding DI-6 but I like the feel, the shaft has a very predictable unload even with an aggressive transition thanks to its nanotechnology design.
So is this a better driver than the 703 Limited? It’s hard to say, and that goes for many of the new models these days trying to surpass their previous generation models. Manufacturers are trying to push the envelope of technology as to what they can do with limited COR and head size, and the 705 is representative of lots of innovative features, so in that sense it is more advanced than the 703 which was already pretty advanced. It’s definitely a good driver that will make lots of people happy offering a great balance of feel, distance and control/stability. Yes looks are subjective, and I personally like the looks. It shows with quality and great finish and workmanship. I had a good round with it today, so I guess I can say for now, I like it. Hitting the driver straight and far will usually make most golfers pretty happy.
The 705 Type 455 and 415 are both available in the Tourspecgolf.com pro shop for anyone who’s interested in getting one.
Pictures of the club in daylight from earlier today:
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It’s that time when there’s so much new gear to choose from that it’s going to be hard to decide on which one or ones to pick. As always, great review T! Tourstage definitely makes quality drivers & it’s great that they keep striving to improve clubs with their innovations.
Great review tario. So will you be keeping this driver in the bag since you’ve been hitting your best drives of the year?
I’m seriously considering it, it’s been a while since I bagged a Tourstage driver and I was just so surprised how it performed for me.