Rating Gate is a free independent golf club review source with a team of about 5 JPGA players who give unbiased reviews of many of Japan’s top selling drivers, shafts and irons. They have quickly grown into one of Japan’s most respected and premier golf equipment sites as they do not hesitate to tell it as it is even if a top brand driver under performs.
Rating Gate recently reviewed the Crazy FX-435 Driver and found it to be one of the longest drivers ever produced with the best overall performance for players who swing 96-110mph by a large margin. The ratings were recently updated on February 15th 2010 showing full specifications and noting exactly where the drivers performance shines.
The TX-435 was originally produced by J-BEAM for the CRAZY Shaft co. It features a 6A-4V body and in my opinion one of the best face materials for drivers, a cold forged DAT 55G next generation Titanium which is also used in the Kamui 456 & 420. It’s head volume is not 435cc’s like the model name It’s actually 445cc’s. It’s available in 9.5, 10.5,11.5, and 12.5* lofts with a square to 2* open face angle depending on loft. The head weight standard is 198 grams and the total face height is a deep 56mm.
The testing was done using the Crazy TJ-46 shaft, Rating Gate recommended this shaft over all others. In the review notes there are many interesting comments such as this driver isn’t as good for players with a swing speed below 95 mph also the appearance reminds several guys of the X-Drive 435. The driver held its ultra long performance between the lengths of 45.5″ – 44.75″ any longer or shorter the distance began to decrease. Its not surprising in our opinion that the driver excels for faster swing speeds as Crazy shafts typically do their best with better players with faster swing speeds.
It appears this shaft is a must have for those who are interested in hitting their longest drives ever.
Rating gate also reviews and provides detailed information on several of the the big name OEM’s like Taylormade, Titleist, XXIO, Srixon and others. Unfortunately they don’t come anywhere near this head and shaft combo for this swing speed. The only other driver that resembled the same results as the Crazy driver was the very popular Epon Technity 460ZR, a driver we also loved for its feel and distance.
Besides performing their own reviews, Rating Gate also brings in many recreational and average golfers like you and I to test the same clubs they test and then provide a list of what they consider to be the best driver for each swing speed category. Different drivers will excel at different player levels and swing speeds and the Crazy FX-435 is number 1 for faster swingers as tested by regular golfers. Number 2 was the Yamaha 4.6V followed by the new Legacy Tour from Callaway. For those who are curious, the Kamui 456 took the number one spot for slower swingers under 90mph.
For reference here are a few other popular drivers that Rating Gate has reviewed.
Check out more cool pictures of the Crazy FX-435 driver!
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