LA Golf Driver Review: PGA Professional Joe Ferguson puts this intriguing new Bryson DeChambeau co-designed driver from LA Golf to the test…

As someone who has paid close attention to Bryson DeChambeau’s equipment adventures over the past few years, my interest was piqued when I heard he would be co-designing a driver with a brand he is heavily involved with - LA Golf. The day finally came, and I was put in touch with the LA Golf team, and the new LA Golf driver was winging its way to my house. Can it hold its own against some of the best drivers on the market? Here’s what I thought of it…The tech story here is a very interesting - and potentially game-changing - one, and it mainly centres around face curvature and gear effect. Essentially, what Bryson and LA Golf are saying is that players of different club head speeds should not be using the same level of face curvature on their drivers, and it is a theory I can get behind.

Most of you reading this review will know that the curvature is present to mitigate a heel or toe struck shot and straighten it out somewhat through gear effect, however, the research from LA Golf has shown that the less speed that is present, the less gear effect will kick in and too much face curvature can be detrimental to dispersion. This is something Bryson discovered himself at the other end of the speed spectrum when he was on his quest for speed, competing in the long drive scene.

He found that as his output increased, his heel and toe shots were being penalised significantly more than they previously were, leading him to the conclusion that more face curvature would be beneficial at his speed, and the result is what LA Golf is calling ‘FACE ID’, where the radius of the curvature will be matched to your individual speed. We have the 13-12 (which refers to the radius of the circle in inches), which is designed for speeds below 90mph, the 12-11 for those in the 90-109mph bracket, the 10-10 for 110-124mph, 9-9 for 125-134mph, and finally the 8-7 which is for the select few in the +135mph bracket.

I was asked to complete the online fitting ‘quiz’ to establish what head would be suitable for me, and was asked around half a dozen questions pertaining to shot shape, speed, tempo, etc, before being recommended the 10-10 head. Now, truth be told, I found the online fitting process a little underwhelming. Maybe because I have been a fitter throughout my career, I know there is a lot more involved in accurately identifying things such as the correct loft and shaft profile for a player than half a dozen questions; however, that is what I got, so I decided to trust the process. I have also heard since from the brand that they are seeing some excellent results from this process, so I may be an outlier.

The second somewhat disappointing part of the pre-purchase journey was the lack of information provided both on the website and at the end of the online fitting. For example, I was told that I would be in the 10-10 head, but had no indication as to what shaft had been recommended and what loft would be optimal for me based on my answers. As it happens, each level of curvature only comes in one base loft, and you have 1.5 degrees of play either way to tune yourself in once the product arrives. However, many will find this disappointing, as if you do need an alteration, the shaft graphics and grip no longer line up neatly, which will frustrate some players.

Furthermore, I felt there was a significant lack of technical information on the website to work with for those interested in such things. For example, at the time of writing, there is zero information even on things such as what the head is made of, let alone any more technical nuances such as launch/spin profiles or what altering loft does to the lie angle on the LA Golf adapter. Fortunately for me, I could pose such questions to the PR team (it is a forged beta titanium cup face that is laser-welded to a cast titanium aft body for those interested) and get the answers, but most customers don't have that resource so I would suggest more transparency on that front would be a good thing for all.

Looks-wise, I actually really liked this clubhead. The sole features small repeating LA Golf text and not a lot else, which keeps it very clean, and speaking of clean, the crown is as neat and minimalistic as it comes, which is something I can always get on board with. It has a very smooth black finish somewhere between matt and gloss, which looks great, but I will say that as soon as it gets a touch of moisture or fingerprints on it, the blemishes stick out like a sore thumb.

In terms of the all-important performance, I had my hopes set very high, and frankly, I was a little disappointed. In terms of the raw data, I tested it against my current gamer, the Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond, in the same base loft of 8 degrees, and it was generally slightly outperformed across the board. Off an average clubhead speed of within 0.6mph, the Callaway driver was producing 2mph more ball speed and a 297-yard average carry versus a 284-yard average from the LA Golf driver. Spin was up significantly, too, with a 2868 rpm average (LA Golf) versus 2435 rpm (Callaway).

While the all-titanium head looked and genuinely felt fantastic, a 13-yard carry difference is tough to ignore, particularly when it didn’t come with the promised enhanced accuracy - in fact, it was actually a little less accurate overall when I consider the comparable widest shots and the general dispersion patterns over my testing shots. However, my gut instinct (which I cannot prove just yet) is that this was simply a shaft and fitting issue more than anything else. The Bryson Series 65W Low shaft my driver came fitted with, while very high quality, did not feel a great match for my timing and delivery at all. It felt much softer in the tip than my Fujikura Ventus Black 6-X, and the subsequent deflection and droop through the ball compromised my strike location considerably, which I believe led to the drop-off in performance.

I watched another independent review of the LA Golf driver on YouTube recently, and the reviewer in question (who was also a high-speed player) found some excellent results, but he was playing the driver in his gamer shaft that he had been fitted for in person. Unfortunately, I feel that this highlights a real flaw in the current online model, and one that I don’t feel is doing justice to what I think is genuinely sound technology and innovation, and an otherwise strong product. It is quite a risk to shell out a not insignificant amount of money on a driver that has been fitted simply by using a quiz, and it is a risk that will lead to many not getting the best out of a potentially excellent driver.

I have contacted LA Golf to see if they can send me some adapters so that I can re-test this driver on a shaft that I know works well for me, and to their credit they have offered to send over a few more options which I am very keen to explore, because as I've said multiple times, there is serious potential in this design concept.

If I were to review this driver based purely on my experience and the club as is, it would have to be classed as a slight let down in terms of the results; however, I have hit enough drivers to know a good head when I see one, and this fits the bill. I just hope I get the chance for an apples to apples comparison to prove it.

The driver is priced from $494; however, there is a $150 upcharge for the Bryson Series shaft. It is available now from the LA Golf website.

One Month On...

To their credit, LA Golf were as good as their word and swiftly sent me a few new options of shaft (and the 9-9 head in 8˚) to see if we could improve on the data from my initial testing. I was sent two versions of the A-Series Low 60-W-5 shaft - one tipped 1" and one with zero tipping, as well as a couple of adapters to fit on any other shaft I wished.

Genuinely, I have to say the results were much improved all around. The tipped version of the A-Series shaft felt a lot more stable and akin to what I am used to, and the Fujikura Ventus Black 6-X I installed (a shaft I am very familiar with) also worked well for me.

Simply finding the centre more often obviously made a big difference to what I saw in terms of results. My ball speed jumped consistently over the 170mph mark, but most notably was how much tighter my dispersion became, which was very encouraging, and I can hand on heart say that it was noticeably straighter than my current gamer when struck off centre in this more appropriate shaft set up.

While I still have my reservations about any fitting process where a qualified fitter is not actually laying eyes on a player, I genuinely feel there is real merit to this progressive curvature story. If the fitting process catches up to the technical innovation here, then look out!

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