GOLF CLUB TEST DIARY.
Today I tried out this golf club.
The test club was the Grand Prix GP PLATINUM Driver.
The shaft is a Grand Prix original shaft.
The loft is 9 degrees, the club length is 45.25 inches, the shaft flex is S, and the total club weight is 315g.
This is the first Grand Prix driver I have ever owned.
I knew nothing about this manufacturer.
It made me realize how many manufacturers there are that I still don’t know about, and I always reflect on how ignorant I am.
When I hear the word “Grand Prix,” I think of the Formula 1 Grand Prix, as I love cars, but speed is also important in golf, and although the meanings are slightly different, there are also common words such as “driver,” “torque,” and “spin,” so I thought it was a fitting name for a golf club.
Today I decided to borrow this new driver that a friend of mine recently purchased and try it out.
It’s a very cool design that’s all black.
It has an indescribable, great vibe.
I thought it was pronounced “GP Platinum,” but it’s actually pronounced “GP Platinum.”
This airplane mark is very distinctive.
A friend of mine told me that all of the Grand Prix clubs have this airplane mark on them.
Perhaps it is meant to evoke the image of a powerful, sharp flight, like an airplane jet engine?
I thought this airplane mark resembled the spread wings of an F-14 Tomcat…
I have very fond memories of the movie Top Gun, which was released in 1986.
The music was great, and the story was so good that I think I went to the cinema to see it about four times.
The flight jacket worn by the main star, Tom Cruise, called Alpha’s MA-1, was so cool that I remember buying two of them myself.
This is bringing back some very nostalgic memories.
Is it because there is a fighter jet design in the center of the sole?
These two round parts look like jet nozzles.
Do they actually act as weights?
Or are they just design elements?
In any case, I thought it was a very intricate design.
Toe side
Heel side
There are protrusions on both the toe and heel sides.
Do these serve any purpose?
Looking at this shape reminded me of the Srixon Z-TX driver that I tried out two years ago.
It says “GP MAX GRAND PRIX.”
I thought the word “MAX” was very appropriate for golf, a sport where distance is required.
Perhaps “MAX” is the best for distance and “MIN” for score.
However, the fact that distance does not necessarily translate into score is what is strange about golf, and I think it’s part of the fun.
It’s a shallow type.
It’s not as shallow as the PING driver I tried out yesterday or the Royal Collection driver I tried out the day before yesterday, but this driver also didn’t give me the impression of being particularly “thick.”
Perhaps it’s “semi-deep”?
It seems like drivers with this type of shape are becoming more and more common.
The “neck” is properly secured, and it doesn’t feel like it’s necessarily about a “low center of gravity.”
It seems to have a good balance between “operability” and “ease of getting the ball up in the air.”
Even from this angle, it’s a very beautiful driver… I thought.
The word “FORGED” really stands out.
The face has a good feel and looks to have great bounce.
Looking at this face reminded me of the famous driver “MIRAI” that I tried out last year and really liked.
Come to think of it, this manufacturer is also based in Shikoku, just like the MIRAI.
The “face” felt somewhat unique.
It’s not an atypical head, but the rear of the head is slightly extended, which gives it the impression of “high straightness.”
I’ve come across many heads like this in the past, and it didn’t feel particularly strange to me.
When I took a practice swing, it wasn’t as tough as I thought it would be, and it’s a driver with pretty average specs.
It wasn’t too heavy, and I didn’t think it was a tough type of driver.
The flex of this original shaft is “S”, but it didn’t feel very stiff and I didn’t think it was a tough shaft.
It felt not much different from the “S” flex shafts of major famous manufacturers that are lined up at mass retailers.
When I try out clubs from a manufacturer I’ve never used before, I often try them out in a “feeling around” state without being able to understand their characteristics or tendencies, but at least based on my impression today, the Grand Prix clubs didn’t seem too tough.
Of course, you can insert shafts from each manufacturer according to your preference, so I think the impression would be different if you used a shaft to your liking.
I wonder what it would be like to insert a “DI-7”, “CB-50 (W)”, “Diamana Ahina”, or “Fire Express” into this head…? Just thinking about it makes me excited.
When I set up with the ball in front of me, I thought it had a slightly unique face, but it wasn’t difficult to set up.
My eyes were drawn to the back of the head, so it seemed to have a high level of “straightness” rather than “face rotation.”
I tried bending it left and right in various ways… Rather than that, I could clearly imagine a thick line in the middle.
I have been used to many drivers with strong straightness, and many of them did not leave a good impression when I set up.
However, this driver was different.
An indescribable atmosphere came into the air, and I began to feel that the shot I was about to hit would be very “real.”
I felt a surge of excitement and power from my toes to the top of my head.
This was often the case with the great drivers of the past, but for some reason it has become less common recently, so I felt like I had traveled back in time.
To be honest, I didn’t think it had a “face so beautiful it would make me stare”, but for some reason I was already in a really good “high spirits” even before I started to hit it.
It was easy to imagine it going straight, and the weight felt a little light for me, so I thought I’d start by asking this driver for its guidance, without any tinkering, and just swing through naturally…
I started the test drive.
The first thing I noticed was its exceptional “intense distance performance.”
After hitting the first ball, I couldn’t help but mutter “amazing.”
I started out by “waiting and seeing,” and didn’t really hit it that hard, but the ball flew out with great force.
“What is this…?” I thought.
Would it be okay to call it a “mega distance driver”?
Or should I call it a “super distance driver”?
I gradually got harder to hit it, but it responded well to that, and the ball kept moving forward.
It had strong “propulsion” and didn’t lose momentum.
“That’s incredible distance performance…” I thought.
The shaft didn’t feel too solid, either, but it followed me well without going wilder than I expected.
This is a driver that lets you go “full throttle” right from the first time you meet it.
In terms of “stability,” I felt it was very high, just as I had imagined when I set up.
It was very straight-lined, and didn’t curve much.
It didn’t deviate from the line I had in mind, so I feel like I can hit it with confidence in real games.
I didn’t feel anxious about where the ball was going to go after I hit it, so I felt like I could keep my head down.
It’s not my specialty, but I’ve been practicing every day to improve the accuracy of my fade ball, and today it was very easy to hit, and the beauty of the ball’s trajectory made me involuntarily droop.
There were several shots that made me think, “It’s a shame to use it at the driving range. I want to save it for real games.”
On my home course, there are holes on the hook-type course that I’m really bad at, and there are several holes that I struggle with depending on the wind direction, but with the ball trajectory today, I felt like I could attack it very easily.
I hit the ball many times with the image of standing on the tee of that hole, and I was able to carry the ball with a great feeling.
In my own mind, I think I was able to keep every shot on the fairway.
I felt very satisfied with today’s “virtual round”.
Compared to a draw ball, I think a fade ball has a more “forgiving ball trajectory.”
Even if a draw ball would result in a mistake, a fade ball absorbs it well and the mistake doesn’t become a mistake.
I think anyone who has changed their ball style from a draw ball to a fade ball will understand.
Hook balls are a “double-edged sword” because they can fly farther, and I think Japanese courses are easier for fade balls.
In the past, I’ve often had chip-ins at crucial times and caused my score to drop, so being able to hit the ball on a trajectory like today’s makes me feel very reassured and I feel like I can approach the course from a different perspective.
I think I can increase the variety of ways I attack the course.
This driver makes it easy to hit fades, but I didn’t think it was a driver that was weak in terms of ball control.
Rather, I think it’s a driver that is “forgiving” so that even if you hit it a little “cut”, it won’t lead to serious injury.
It may look difficult, but in reality I felt that it was very “easy” and familiar in many ways.
It doesn’t feel “strict” and is very comfortable.
With many drivers with a wide sweet area up until now, the power also seems to be dispersed because of the wide sweet area, but I didn’t feel that with this driver.
Of course, I didn’t feel that this driver had too wide a sweet area, but it is more “forgiving” than “strict”.
A “good club” is not a club that doesn’t make you feel any mistake no matter what you make, but a club that naturally makes you swing well when you swing it.
In terms of “ease of the ball rising,” it rose very well and I didn’t get the impression that it was tough.
It’s not a driver with a high carry ball, and I don’t think it’s a driver that’s prone to low line drive, but it’s somewhere in between… Is that how you would describe it?
It’s clearly “for hitters,” but it’s not tough enough to be “limited to hard hitters,” and I felt that it’s “easy to use” and doesn’t limit the user.
This was especially true with the genuine “original shaft” that I tried out this time.
It may seem heavy to those who usually use drivers that weigh “less than 300g,” but I think the weight of “315g” is the same as drivers from major manufacturers that are lined up at mass retailers.
So I think many people will find it very familiar, right? However, some people may find this shaft difficult to use, saying things like “the ball rises too high” or “I want a tougher spec.” For those people, I think it would be best to try out a shaft that they normally use and are familiar with, or various other shafts.
This is exactly the good thing about “parts sales.”
Being able to choose the exact specs yourself is a huge advantage.
You can have fun perfecting it to suit your needs… Isn’t it fair to say that?
The “feel” was also soft, which left a very good impression.
Looking at the face like this, it does look a bit hard, but I think the feel of recent drivers has really improved.
I think it’s become softer in a good way.
In the past, a “hard feel” was preferred, and there was a time when it was thought that this hardness led to distance.
Especially during the heyday of metal, I often saw drivers that emphasized the “hardness of the face”.
I think the idea was to “make the ball fly with hardness”.
I hit too many balls with such drivers, and I once hurt my wrist, and my right elbow became what we call “metal elbow”, and I couldn’t swing the club properly.
However, the times changed to titanium, the feel of the hit improved greatly, and my metal elbow has also improved completely, and as the head volume became larger, the era of flying the ball with “repulsion performance” rather than “hardness” continued for a while.
When I think about that, I wonder what all the competition was about in the days of “hardness”.
Today, far from hurting myself, hitting the ball has become a lot of fun thanks to this comfortable feel.
The sound was also very satisfying, and it felt really pleasant to hit it with.
It wasn’t harsh at all, and on the contrary, it was a clear sound that made you feel the power and straightness of the trajectory.
In terms of “operability,” the ball’s high straightness makes it difficult to intentionally curve the ball significantly, and it felt very unnatural.
I tried hitting a hook ball by being very forceful, but I ended up with a “dag hook,” which is impossible to use on the course.
I thought it would be better to take advantage of the high straightness and swing through the ball in a natural way.
However, it felt very easy to hit low balls with this driver.
I want to tee it low and hit a ball with a low trajectory, but when I do that, it ends up being a “cut shot” and the ball slices… I’m sure there are quite a few people who feel the same way.
Even with that in mind, this driver makes it easy to get the ball on the face well, and it holds the ball firmly without letting it go, so it felt very easy.
I think that “adjusting the height” is in a sense an “advantage of a deep head,” and it’s quite difficult with a shallow head, which rises too much no matter how you hit it.
However, with this driver, such control felt very easy.
A low, linear ball is easy to hit and is less affected by the wind, so it is very practical, but some people may be concerned about the extreme drop in distance.
Even with that in mind, today I didn’t feel like the ball was dropping that much compared to a normal shot.
For those who feel a “dropping” with low balls, this driver gives a nice extension, so I’m sure there are many who will like it.
I think the “high straightness” and “ease of adjusting the height (ease of hitting a low ball)” are also major attractions of this driver.
It’s been a long time since I’ve had this much fun trying out a driver.
Of course, I’ve come across plenty of fun drivers this year and had a great time each time, but I don’t think I’ve ever hit as many balls as I did today, and I can’t seem to stop.
In my normal practice, I hit far fewer balls with a driver than with wedges or short irons, but today, it was a landslide victory for the driver.
I felt like I had to get it back to my friend quickly, but I found myself enjoying it endlessly, as if thinking, “just one more ball.”
I’m very envious of my friend who can enjoy this driver any time he wants.
When I first held it up, I thought it had a slightly unique look… But as I played more and more balls, it didn’t bother me at all and I was able to get used to it.
My friend told me that this driver also comes with a white head, but I think the normal color is better as it is, and I didn’t really feel like trying out a white head…
That said, if I could see it in person, I’d definitely give it a try…
The only drawback is that it is expensive because it is not mass-produced like the major famous manufacturers and is made in Japan, but I really wanted it.
When I felt this well-balanced high performance, I thought that the price setting was not too high at all and it is a driver that is well worth it.
My desire to buy was stimulated by the “MAX”.
I wonder how many drivers I will want.
I came across many great drivers in the first half of this year, so I thought that this year’s “Driver of the Year” had already been exhausted, but in the second half of the year, there are a series of great drivers.
I think that the drivers of the major famous manufacturers will be announced at a long awaited time, but I wonder if they will be able to surpass this Grand Prix driver.
“Distance”, “straightness”, “ease of handling according to the situation”… It is quite excellent, and it seems that you can develop it to your “advantage” just by using it, so I would like to give the word “advantage” to this driver.
1. Grand Prix GP Platinum Driver: A Blend of Luxury and Performance
Grand Prix is known for its commitment to excellence, and the GP Platinum Driver exemplifies the brand’s dedication to innovation and quality. This driver is crafted using state-of-the-art technology and premium materials, ensuring both aesthetic appeal and outstanding performance on the course.
1.1 Key Features of the GP Platinum Driver
Premium Titanium Construction: The driver head is forged from high-grade titanium, offering strength and lightweight performance for faster swing speeds.
Aerodynamic Design: The sleek clubhead shape reduces drag, allowing for effortless power generation and increased clubhead speed.
Adjustable Hosel Technology: Customize loft and lie angles to optimize your launch conditions and match your unique swing.
Forgiving Sweet Spot: A large, forgiving sweet spot enhances accuracy, even on off-center hits, making this driver suitable for a wide range of players.
2. Performance Analysis
The Grand Prix GP Platinum Driver delivers a combination of power, accuracy, and forgiveness that few drivers can match. Here’s an in-depth look at how it performs in key areas:
2.1 Distance
Explosive Ball Speed: The titanium face is engineered to maximize energy transfer, resulting in impressive ball speeds and increased carry distance.
Optimized Launch Conditions: Adjustable settings allow players to achieve their ideal launch angle, reducing spin for a piercing trajectory.
2.2 Forgiveness
Stability on Off-Center Hits: The advanced perimeter weighting minimizes distance loss on mishits, ensuring consistent performance across the face.
Confidence-Boosting Design: The driver inspires confidence at address with its large clubhead and strategically placed weighting.
2.3 Workability
Precision Control: The GP Platinum Driver allows skilled players to shape shots with ease, providing the flexibility to adapt to various course conditions.
Customizable Adjustments: Fine-tune your ball flight with the adjustable hosel for optimal results.
3. Why Choose the Grand Prix GP Platinum Driver?
3.1 Cutting-Edge Technology
The GP Platinum Driver incorporates the latest advancements in golf technology to deliver an edge on the course. From its aerodynamic design to its adjustable settings, every detail is engineered for peak performance.
3.2 Luxury Aesthetics
Grand Prix doesn’t compromise on style. The GP Platinum Driver boasts a sleek, polished finish and meticulous craftsmanship that make it a standout choice for golfers who value both form and function.
3.3 Custom Golf Club Fitting Compatibility
One of the most significant advantages of the GP Platinum Driver is its compatibility with professional golf club fitting services. By customizing the driver’s settings and pairing it with the right shaft, players can unlock their full potential on the course.
4. Comparisons with Other Premium Drivers
Grand Prix GP Platinum Driver vs. TaylorMade Stealth 2
Material Quality: The GP Platinum Driver features premium titanium, while the Stealth 2 utilizes carbon construction.
Adjustability: Both drivers offer adjustable settings, but the GP Platinum’s focus on precision craftsmanship gives it a luxury edge.
Grand Prix GP Platinum Driver vs. Callaway Paradym
Forgiveness: The GP Platinum Driver is slightly more forgiving, making it an excellent choice for players seeking consistency.
Workability: While the Paradym excels in distance, the GP Platinum Driver offers superior shot-shaping capabilities.
5. Key Specifications
FeatureSpecification
Loft Options9°, 10.5°, Adjustable
Head MaterialForged Titanium
Shaft OptionsCustomizable
Weight DistributionLow and Back
Clubhead Volume460cc
Adjustable SettingsLoft, Lie, and Face Angle
6. Testimonials from Golfers
John D. (Handicap 10): “The Grand Prix GP Platinum Driver is hands down the most balanced driver I’ve used. It gives me confidence off the tee and performs beautifully under pressure.”
Emma L. (Handicap 20): “I’ve gained at least 15 yards on my drives since switching to this driver. The forgiveness is incredible, and I love how easy it is to adjust.”
Mike R. (Pro Golfer): “This driver is a game-changer. The craftsmanship is second to none, and the performance speaks for itself.”
7. Importance of Golf Club Fitting
To maximize the performance of the GP Platinum Driver, professional golf club fitting is essential. A custom fitting session can tailor the driver to your swing characteristics, ensuring optimal results.
Benefits of Golf Club Fitting
Enhanced Accuracy: A fitted driver improves shot consistency and helps you hit more fairways.
Optimized Distance: Customizing loft, lie, and shaft ensures maximum power and carry distance.
Increased Confidence: Knowing your driver is perfectly suited to your game provides a psychological edge.
8. Final Thoughts: The Ultimate Golf Investment
The Grand Prix GP Platinum Driver is more than just a golf club; it’s a statement of quality, performance, and luxury.
Whether you’re striving for longer drives, tighter fairways, or simply a better all-around game, this driver delivers on every front.
By combining advanced technology, premium materials, and meticulous design, Grand Prix has created a driver that truly stands out in the crowded world of golf equipment.
If you’re looking for one of the best golf drivers on the market, or if you want to elevate your game with a driver designed to perform at the highest level, the GP Platinum Driver is an investment worth making. Pair it with a professional golf club fitting session, and you’ll be ready to take your game to new heights.
Experience the Grand Prix difference today and transform your golf journey.
