We’ve finally got an all new Titleist VG3 in the house for pretty picture taking. I tested the driver back at the Japan Golf Fair back in February and made a quick review back then explaining the the driver’s design aspects and development. For many years, Titleist has been accumulating data about golfers head speed, age, distance etc. They came to the conclusion for this new design that this driver should provide the best performance at an average club head speed (40 – 43 m/s), unlike previous Titleist Drivers which were made for faster swinging and better players. Tileist Japan’s development team with joint cooperation from Titleist America sought to create a high performance Titleist driver with a focus on flying distance.

An Automatic Titleist for the Average Golfer?

The VG3 was created after a year of development and testing and was finally released in Japan back in March to big fanfare as the Titleist driver that finally average golfers or those who wanted forgiveness could play. Now that I actually have the driver sitting here in my office I can sit back and take a closer look at it.  Aesthetically it is rather simple looking which is a good thing meaning its a clean design. Even though it targets the average to mid-capper golfer the head is still rather traditional shaped but the face is more shallow than typical Titliest drivers. As discovered in real loft and real face angle testing, the face looks square to slightly open meaning the VG3 probably still isn’t meant for the slicer.

Nice feel and sound Face…

I like the face of the driver, its a forged cup face and doesn’t have score lines going across the center of the face or sweet area which is something I prefer. The tap test is something I do with a tee on all the drivers I get. I take a tee and tap spots all around the driver to see what kind of sound it produces.While this tap test is what I do personally, I find I can relate the sounds to how the driver feels and sounds at impact. A higher pitched sound usually means a thinner part of the face while a lower softer sound means a thicker spot. The Titleist cup face does have a thicker sweet area and thinner walls around the sweet area for that sling shot effect we all love in a variable thickness face.  This is reflective of the VG3’s soft feeling but crisp sounding face.  Not all drivers are created equal when it comes to tee tapping!

Click on Read More for Pics and the VG3 development Video!

Clean well made design…

Some people have said they found the design to be very basic however I find the driver has a premium but minimalist look to it. Workmanship and finish is top notch and while I still have not confirmed it I can still swear that this multi piece forged design has  Endo written all over it especially knowing Titleist’s ties with Endo and the fact that this driver is premium forged in Japan.  I found the VG3 head to have less bulge than typical average/mid capper golfer models. This seems to be a trend in Japan as a lot of driver releases this year seem to sport less bulge in the face. This is a characteristic that better golfers seem to like as it allows them to more naturally work the ball.

I didn’t do a hitting video for the VG3, as the demo they sent me is the wrong flex so I’ll post the promo video from Titleist again for those who want to hear the sound. When I tested the club previously, I used the Motore 5.0 and VG50. The VG50 is the high launching shaft of the 3 stock options and its probably the most forgiving shaft for the average golfer. It’s higher torque and active tip square quickly to the ball and really works to give max carry. The Motore 5.0 on the other hand launches the lowest of the 3 and climbs to a mid high trajectory. I wish I had a chance to hit the VG60 which has a mid launch but with the most penetrating trajectory and is 45.5″ as opposed to the other 2 models which are 46″. Both the Motore 5.0 and VG50 paired well with the VG3 providing great feel and forgiveness though both models are probably best for the smoother tempo and swinger rather than hitter.

VG3 Ball on the horizon…

One thing I am looking forward to is the new VG3 Ball release. It appears this ball may replace the GranZ as the premium Titleist soft distance ball since I have not heard anything yet about the new GranZ ball being released. The GranZ has long been one of the best 3 piece balls in Japan and even I took the opportunity to grab 4 boxes for this season since they are on closeout.

Anyway here we go again for those who missed it the first time. The promo video from Titleist for the new VG3 driver which features Serizawa in the US testing the driver and commenting on its performance as well as Dan Stone, VP Club R&D making comments on the driver.

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And here are of course the pretty pics! You can find the VG3 here in the pro shop.

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