J-Beam ZY-11 Review

2 Drivers have taken the lime light recently and both are made by J-Beam,  this all started during my fitting at Seven Dreamers where I asked what clients heads do they see the best performance during their in depth analysis and the lead engeneer blurted Jbeam 435 & 535…  Not sure if he wanted to let that out but the answer came quick so I’ll take it!  Why is it important who this man thinks produces a good driver?  Because his job is analyzing heads and designing shafts to work together and at his place of work he gets to see the absolute best clubs money can buy.  Since then the new and limited Black out 435 and even more rare ZY-11 have become two of TSG’s top selling drivers and boy am I happy these are catching on because now many players are expereiencing something very different and totally unique to what they are used to.

Ready to experience the ZY-11?  Follow the Jump Please…

First things first let’s acknowledge it’s shape,  it’s very much triangular in an upside down sort of way which makes its face super deep which is ideal for better players who miss high and low on the club face vs out near the toe and heel for me the face shape allowed for lots of space to land the ball on and while this shape is not traditional by any means the rest of the club head especially from above looks like a normal driver.  The laser-engraved face milling further reduces spin,  this driver is considered low spin/high launch but for me and just about everyone else who hits it the general consensus is that it is mid launch

Important to note that this driver head is fully foamed from the factory,  what is foamed?  It’s basically a material baked into the head to mute the sound and dampen louder hollow feel it’s an aquired taste most often prized by those who miss wood heads or love the way sub 400cc drivers sound and feel at impact,  it’s a very dead muted “thwack” or “tick” sound but very unique and in my opinion necessary as I could only imagine how loud and hollow this head would be without the foam inside.

Above my personal ZY-11 which I have in with a custom ordered 0.5* closed face angle to help me avoid the right side,  as you can see it’s shafted with a Seven Dreamers Matrix Shaft which is absolutely sublime and I can’t imagine another shaft in this head ever as it’s a match made in heaven but anyway as you can see looking down on this head it looks like most other drivers very hard to tell how deep it’s face really is.

Weights are located 2 in the front and one far in the back,  I love Jbeam heads not only for their adjustability in specs as TSG can custom order you special lofts, head weights and face angles but also because we also offer the wrench and weight kit so you can tinker with it yourself to achieve optimal flight and balance or even bias.

Feel – Foamed, Dead, Mute, Thwack, Tick,  not loud,  not hollow at all,  feels like a head that is sub 400cc with a hint of persimmon thanks to the factory foam job.

Distance – Very Long,  this is a big deal on the Draco circut which is Japan’s long driver series and the ZY-11 is a popular high end choice,  plenty of roll and carry with this head and if built right for your swing profile expect some of your longest drives evern.
Forgiveness – Very Forgiving especially high and low on the club face,  sweet spot must be huge with it’s large face profile even toe and heel shots are somewhat forgiving.
Spin – Very low spin
Trajectory – I would say medium of course shaft plays a big part in it and Jbeam confirms this is high launch compared to the blackout 435 our customers feel it’s got a low trajectory so split the difference it’s mid trajectory,  I’m getting 14* launch personally

personally
Dispersion – Very Straight,  ball has a hard time turning over left or right so it’s an absolute fairway finder unless you put a bad swing on it or have an improper build going on.

My bottom line with this club is it’s one of the longest I’ve ever hit and the absolute straightest I’ve hit and I’ve tried 4 different shafts already  the Basileus AAA 50R,  AAA 60Stiff,  TRPX Aura Stiff, TRPX Air SX, 2 types of 7D “Distance” shafts and all of them did pretty much the same thing super straight and long only the TRPX air traded some roll out for a higher launch and more carry.  I’ve hit 9.5, 10, and 10.5 and it appears I get the best distance, launch, spin rates from the 9.5*

I’ve had this driver side by side with many other drivers some even sporting the same shaft such as the Blackout 435 the only other driver I would rank as high as the ZY-11  you can see that by “clicking here”

Hard to see but in the above image there are two small gaps behind the silver face area,  very interesting detail that I’m curious about,  It’s on all of them and is supposed to be there but I’ve never seen this sort of thing in another driver before.

Below my coveted Seven Dreamers Distance Shaft!  Hope you enjoyed the review you can view the ZY-11 and Blackout 435 in the TSG ProShop!