Mizuno GT180
£449 golf.mizunoeurope.com
◆ Lofts: 7.5°-11.5°
◆ Shaft: Choose from 11 premium options
◆ Adjustable hosel: Yes
◆ Loft change: Eight settings from 7.5°-11.5°
TECH: Three weight tracks (and two 7g weights) in the sole allow customisation of launch, spin, forgiveness and the ability to dial in either a draw or fade bias. A face angle prop lets you decide how you like the face to look at address, and the forged SP700 titanium face is optimised for ball speed.
WE SAY: Drivers just don’t come more adjustable than this; it’s a real triumph of Mizuno engineering. Our test pro loved it, and wanted to put all its settings to the test. Naturally his faster swing speed was best suited to a low-spin set up, but we found by decreasing loft (via the hosel) spin could be controlled and ball speeds increased even further. Like most of the titanium heads we tested we can’t say the GT180 was one of the very longest, but if you’re always searching for the perfect optimum ball flight you can tinker with the weights, face angle prop and hosel to your heart’s content. To really see a change in spin or ball flight our data suggests keeping both weights together (more mass means a bigger impact on numbers).
TOP GEAR VERDICT
A super-complex driver to set up correctly if you’re not entirely sure what you’re doing, and our data suggests you put up to 18 yards on the line by getting it wrong. £449 is an eye-watering amount for any new driver, but for decent golfers with above-average swing speeds the GT180 looks, feels and sounds fantastic.