Clubs - Callaway FT IQ

disclaimer: picture is taken from www.diytrade.com.

i have decided to blog about this driver, with only the intention to allow readers know what they are up to. i would hope this help folks who love Callaway product who wanted to get his/her hands to it understand what they are about to purchase.

first of all Callaway make good products, there are lots of die hard fans who love them and have been with them since hawk eye generations or some even earlier.

back to this FT IQ driver, at first sight if you are a custom to round drivers you will definitely feel awkward at address. they look very much shorter and when compared with my other drivers they are shorter but my measurement is just an approximation. From the spec its stated 45" in length just like my other drivers. another thing is i always have to lift the club a little to make the club face looks square at address, if i let it rest on the ground, the face closes a lot i mean significantly disturbing, not to mention this will deloft the launching angle as well. If i don't bother about this and go ahead make my swing, the ball flight is a draw to a slight hook. i am already a draw tendency player with neutral/open club face drivers, so this is a no no for me - not an added advantage at all. the minor compensation that i have to make leaves to a little short on my drive; less relax equals less distance.

as far as forgiveness, its already quite forgiving, not to mention the 460cc large contact face makes one hard to miss. the shaft on the club is Mitsubishi Fubuki Stiff with 60g and the loft is 9 degree. i always play 9.5 degree due to my swing pattern and this 9.0 degree combination with the shaft does make my ball flight trajectory fly a little lower, if you ask me its not optimal unless i compensate like i have mentioned earlier, then everything looks good except the distance. the grip has this nice thumb place holder as guide, so alignment shouldn't be a problem. but if visually don't help here, Callaway even go all the trouble to shape the grip so its not entirely round, just like some of the Mizuno clubs. if you dissect the grip you will realized its tear drop shape. this is made believe to help some golfers in alignment through gripping feel.

in summary this is a nice club but it doesn't benefit me, is it the shaft? or is it the club head? i would say its a little bit of both, but most of the culprit has to be the close face that turn me off. from the Callaway website specification, its 1 degree close face not a lot on paper but a lot at address.

to put things into a better perspective and use as a reference point, i am a 5'7" athletic build with my 7 irons play 148m (malaysia denser air) 170 yard (US lighter air)