Golf tools, my buddies, shouldn’t be a zero-sum sport.
Yearly when the mainstream OEMs launch their new drivers, the web neighborhood is inundated with moaning, wailing and gnashing of tooth.
“Golf is getting too costly,” we cry. “These grasping OEMs are driving the common golfer out of the sport. When will it finish?”
Spoiler alert, my fellow GolfSpies: It gained’t.
Yearly, the best-selling drivers are additionally the costliest ones. Hey, I don’t make the foundations, I simply report the information.
Additionally yearly, direct-to-consumer manufacturers deliver you lower-priced options. This 12 months, nevertheless, has been a bumper crop. The record of sub-$400 drivers is each lengthy and spectacular. They is probably not as lengthy or as forgiving because the Huge Guys, however the truth is, they’re possible lengthy and forgiving sufficient.
It’s towards that backdrop that we’d wish to introduce you to a compelling participant available in the market: the brand new MacGregor Tourney MAX.
The new MacGregor Tourney MAX driver?
Technically talking, MacGregor is an outdated firm. Its golf roots date again to the late 1800s, and it spent much of the last century often called “The Best Identify in Golf.” The MacGregor model died in 2016 when model proprietor Golfsmith went underneath. Nevertheless, just some years later, it was resurrected by serial model resurrector Simon Millington.
The MacGregor Tourney MAX is the first “real driver” the model has launched since its rebirth. MacGregor proprietor Simon Millington’s purpose was to create a driver that will be a “Costco Beater.” The Kirkland Signature driver burst onto the scene in 2024 and, at $199.99, was getting a ton of affection. People thought-about it “pretty much as good as the large boys,” however at a fraction of the worth.
The fact of the Kirkland is that, whereas an incredible worth at $199.99, it was a mediocre performer in our testing. It ranked 15th in distance, 17th in accuracy and 14th in forgiveness and tied for 16th total. Tester suggestions ranged from “Nice driver for $199.99” to “It isn’t that dangerous.”
Not the best of bars to clear by way of efficiency, however at that value level? Arduous selections must be made.
Making the MacGregor Tourney Max
When making a driver for a particular value level, particularly one this low, you possibly can count on sacrifices. Millington’s first determination, if he was to remain at $199.99, was whether or not to make the motive force adjustable or use a greater inventory shaft. Finally, he selected each, deciding that pricing the MacGregor Tourney Max at $249.99 was shut sufficient to be in the identical ballpark.
The brand new MacGregor Tourney Max will be adjusted up or down 2o in 1o increments. It will also be adjusted between the usual lie and a extra upright lie, making it extra draw-biased.
And talking of draw bias, the usual loft setting offers the face a barely closed look. Including loft will make it extra draw-biased, whereas decreasing the loft will open the face barely. Given the worth level and the goal market, it’s not meant to be a low-spinning, fade-biased driver.
The MacGregor Tourney Max contains a carbon crown, which supplies it a premium look. Provided that Millington’s chief designer is former Adams designer Gavin Wallin, the Tourney Max may be very subtly paying homage to older Adams shaping. You must be searching for it, because it’s not practically as apparent as Wallin’s present designs for the new Ben Hogan drivers.
What do you get for $249.99?
At that value level, you possibly can count on a couple of sacrifices. You’re not getting the most recent variable face thickness know-how, nor are you getting something in the way in which of premium shafts. Nevertheless, not like the Kirkland driver, there are alternatives. You’ll be able to select between the UST DHI dRVR (A-, R- and S-flexes) and the Challenge X HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX (R-, S- and X-flexes).
The UST providing, whereas not technically light-weight, is a higher-trajectory shaft for slow-to-medium swing speeds. The HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX is a higher-grade shaft with a stiff midsection and tip for decrease launch and decrease spin.
MacGregor is providing two upcharge choices. The ultralight UST Helium NCT is an additional $40, whereas the mid-trajectory Denali Blue is a $50 upcharge. If there’s a selected shaft you need that’s not on the record, MacGregor will value it for you. You may as well buy heads solely.
While you maintain the MacGregor Tourney Max in your fingers, it doesn’t really feel “low cost,” nevertheless it doesn’t really feel like a $600 driver, both. Price sacrifices have been made on gadgets such because the hex screw. Throughout my first vary session, I clanked one off the heel, which loosened the rear sole weight sufficient to trigger a rattle. I came upon the onerous means that the burden doesn’t use the identical torque wrench because the adjustable hex screw, so I needed to dwell with the rattle till I received house and located the proper wrench.
Subjectively, the motive force is refined. The carbon fiber crown is good, and the script M alignment help is unassuming. The only is apparent, with slight MacGregor inexperienced accents and a so-so paintfill. The sound is stable and muted, not the tingy sound you usually get with lower-priced drivers.
Once more, these are little belongings you wouldn’t settle for in a $600 driver. A $249.99 driver is a unique story. The larger query, nevertheless, is are you able to play good golf with it?
Driver vs driver vs driver: What the information says
Utilizing the brand new Flightscope Mevo Gen2 launch monitor and vary balls, I used to be in a position to get the next numbers with the MacGregor:
Common carry: 229.1 yards
Common whole: 241.3 yards
Ball Velocity: 138.1 mph
Spin: 2,554 rpm
Excluding a giant hook and a giant slice, dispersion was fairly tight. The Tourney averaged 1.3 yards proper of heart with a modest draw.
For giggles and grins (since I don’t have a Kirkland), I hit up Golf Offers and Steals and located a new-in-plastic 2022 TaylorMade Stealth+, which was additionally promoting for $249. When it launched in 2022, the Stealth+ was thought-about the lowest-spinning mannequin within the new, carbon-faced Stealth household. In MyGolfSpy’s testing that 12 months, it ranked 5th total and was the longest driver within the take a look at.
Listed below are the Stealth’s numbers:
Common carry: 232.4 yards
Common whole: 241.2 yards
Ball Velocity: 140.6 mph
Spin: 2,738 rpm
As with the Tourney, the Stealth+ was, on common, fairly correct, though with a really slight fade bias.
Fairly doggone shut, I’d say. Whereas the totals are unofficial (given Mevo’s relative accuracy), the comparability is attention-grabbing. What it says to me is that for $249.99, you may get a driver which you can play fairly good golf with, whether or not it’s the three-year-old TaylorMade or the model new MacGregor. Apart from, at my age, in the event you instructed me on the primary tee I’d be getting 241 yards per drive, I’d be boogeying like Wilson Pickett within the “Land of 1000 Dances.”
Dancing apart, it’s attention-grabbing to notice that neither stood as much as this 12 months’s Most Wished driver, the Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond:
Common carry: 237.5 yards
Common whole: 253.3
Ball pace: 143 mph
Spin: 2,547
This requires a disclaimer, because the Triple Diamond was customized match with an ungraded Aretera shaft. It additionally prices $700.00.
A query of worth
The above knowledge is in no way “official” or the ultimate phrase, nevertheless it does inform us a couple of issues. Maybe the very first thing it tells us is that the MacGregor isn’t a toy or a chunk of junk. It’s a severe golf membership which you can play severe golf with. At $249, it gained’t break the financial institution, both.
Certain, if you wish to be cynical, you possibly can say it’s no higher than three-year-old TaylorMade know-how, and which you can get that TaylorMade know-how for a similar value. You’d be right on each counts. What you may get from MacGregor, nevertheless, is a sure degree of customization. The corporate will minimize the Tourney to size for you at no further value. On the very least, you possibly can select a unique shaft.
Sarcastically, the Stealth+ got here with the identical HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX shaft because the MacGregor. Nevertheless, because the TaylorMade is “new” outdated inventory, what you get is what you get.
Used is one other option to go. You will discover loads of two- to three-year-old fashions in that value vary, however once more, you’re coping with the shaft that’s already on the membership.
So what, then, is the worth of a brand new $249 MacGregor Tourney driver? It’s a good query with a easy reply. There’ll at all times be a section of {the golfing} populace that loves cut price looking. They discover pleasure to find used options at nice costs. There’s one other section, nevertheless, that solely desires to discover a respectable driver with out a ton of effort. It is probably not the right driver, nevertheless it’ll be a driver which you can play good golf with. That’s the section that Costco tapped into with its Kirkland Signature driver, and it’s a section that’s bit bigger than you would possibly assume.
Remaining ideas on the brand new MacGregor Tourney Max driver
It might or could not imply something to you, however it’s enjoyable (in a retro-nostalgic means) to be hitting a MacGregor Tourney driver once more. I gamed a stunning persimmon Tourney driver, with matching 3- and 5-woods, from 1985 by means of 1997, after I caved and purchased a COBRA King steel driver.
I do know, nostalgia doesn’t get the ball within the gap, nevertheless it does make the journey from tee to inexperienced a bit extra enjoyable.
The principle level, nevertheless, is that for $249, the MacGregor Tourney Max driver is a fairly refined stick. In my fingers on that day, the MacGregor was 12 yards shorter than the Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond. Twelve yards is twelve yards. It’s additionally 36 ft, in regards to the size of sacrifice bunt.
One other means of taking a look at it’s by way of yards per greenback. The MacGregor, at $249.99, received you the primary 241.3 yards. The subsequent 12 yards value one other $451. The primary 241 yards value you simply over a buck a yard. The subsequent 12?
$37.58 per yard.
These are the numbers. What would you do?
The MacGregor Tourney Max driver is accessible for each lefties and righties, in 9- and 10.5-degree fashions. For more information, go to www.magregorgolf.com.
The publish Can This New $249 Driver Earn a Spot in Your Bag? appeared first on MyGolfSpy.
