Thank you! We asked you to help us determine the best drivers on the market, and your responses allowed us to compile the information we are now sharing with our Frankly Friends. Below you’ll find the results of the survey.

We hope you find these reports interesting, and that you’ll participate in our ratings of golf equipment, by signing up as a Frankly Friend below. These surveys let us determine those products that are “Frankly The Best,” as rated by you.
Thanks again.

In our last Newsletter we asked our Frankly Friends to help us identify the best driver by answering a few questions about what they use and how they rated it. Mark Broadie, (a professor at the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University) and Bob Christina (Dean Emeritus School of Health and Human Performance University of North Carolina) helped us review the responses.

Here are the results, and some details as to the demographics of those who rated the drivers -- as well as what to expect from some of the major manufacturers in 2006.

Best Brands

Best Driver Models

Report Details

2006 Drivers

What are the best Drivers?
As rated by our Frankly Friends.

Brands and Drivers were rated. Brand rating is based on customer satisfaction for all the drivers rated in each Brand. These are listed in rank order by handicap range.

"Frankly The Best"

Brands are:

Cleveland, Cobra, Ping and TaylorMade.

Brands in rank order by handicap range

Handicap range o to 10
1. TaylorMade
2. Ping
3. Cleveland

Handicap range 11 to 20
1. Ping
2. Taylor Made
3. Cleveland

Handicap range 21 to 25+
1. Ping
2. Cobra
3. Cleveland

"Frankly The Best"

Driver Models are:
The ratings based on satisfaction of present and previous driver as well as the length of time owned and frequency of play.

Handicap range o to 10:
1. Ping G5
2. Titleist 905S
3. Callaway BB Fusion FT3
4. Cleveland Launcher 460
5. TaylorMade R7

Handicap range 11 to 20:
1. Ping G5
2. Cobra 400 SZ
3. KZG Gemini
4. Ping G2
5. TaylorMade R5

Handicap range 21 to 25+:
1. Cobra 440SZ
2. Taylor Made R7
3. Taylor Made R5
4. Ping G2
5. Cleveland Launcher 460

For females for all Handicaps:

1. Ping G2
2. Taylor Made R580
3. Cobra 400SZ
4. Cleveland Launcher 460

We will ask about drivers again toward the end of the season to update the ratings and include new drivers you have bought and used.
Thank you again for your input

Report Details

Introduction:

We believe that there is no better way to rate a product than by asking the consumers who bought it, and have used it for some time, to let us know what they think.

We also reviewed the products from a technological point of view to make sure that they were not moving backward. Technology has come so far that there is less and less room for improvement. We are keeping watch to make sure that clubmakers do not start making changes for change’s sake that actually make the clubs worse. We did not find any such cases.

The timing of this “Frankly The Best” listing means that it is impossible to include the clubs that are about to be introduced. Rating these new products before you’ve had significant time with them would encourage pure speculation. Our listing of new drivers is just that, a listing. We’ll all know more, and we’ll ask for your thoughts, after a season of play.

If you like what you have, don’t change until you are sure that you will be able to make friends with the new versions. Nothing is better than an old friend.

Rating Procedure:
There are two ratings: Brands and Models. Brands are listed and ranked based on the overall satisfaction of all models rated within that brand, and listed by Handicap range. Models are rated and listed based on the ratings provided by the Frankly Friends, with some slight adjustments for frequency of play and consistency of the rating. Clubs with fewer than 7 responses were not rated. Brands with more responses received a slight bonus for the Brand rating.

Respondent Demographics etc.:
• 5% of the responses were from our female friends and 95% from the guys.
• The respondents have handicaps better than average, with 62.2% between 0–15, and 20.2% between 16–20.
• 90% play more than 21 days a year, with 77% playing more than 30 days a year.
• 33.6% have owned their present driver from 6 months to 1 year;
31.7% have owned it from 1 to 2 years; 13.8% more than 2 years; and 20.9% less than 6 months.
• More than 175 driver models were identified in the survey.
• 70 different brand names were identified.

Lofts of drivers are changing:
• 86% of present drivers have lofts 9.5 degrees or more, compared to 77% of previous drivers.
• 49% of present drivers have lofts 10.5 degrees or more, compared to 39% of previous drivers.

Comments And Conclusions

• Market share is changing.
• Lofts are changing upward.
• Golfers change their drivers every eighteen months or so.
• Drivers are getting better (generally) but by small increments because of design and regulatory restrictions as well as natural laws.
• Manufacturers are designing and golfers are accepting a move to optimum launch conditions, which require more loft and less spin.
• Frankly Friends are above average in skill and in the number of rounds played per year.

2006 Drivers

What to look for from some of the major manufacturers, be it good or bad, in 2006. Some of these clubs are available now but you may have to wait for others.

Adams Golf - RPM 460 Dual
Ben Hogan - CS-3
Bridgestone - J33R 460
Callaway - X460 / X460 Tour
Cleveland - Ti460 / Ti460 offset Cobra - Speed Series
Dunlop - LoCo Dart / Super LoCo
MacGregor - MacTec NVG2 / NGV2 Tour
Maltby - KE4
Mizuno - MX-500
Nicklaus - Airmax 460 DPT
Nike - SasQuatch / SasQuatch Tour
Ping - G5 / G5 offset
Srixon - W-506 / W-403 AD
Taylor Made - R7 Quad 425 / R7 460
Tommy Armour - Torch / Ayr Time
Titleist - 905T / 905S
Wilson - Dd6
Yonex - CyberStar CT

Thank you again for your participation and completing the survey on drivers. We hope the results are informative and useful for you and we will continue to survey our FranklyFriends to determine what they believe is "Frankly The Best".