Discover The Truth About The New Square Drivers

You've probably heard about the new square drivers. Everyone's talking about them this month. But will they be talking about them in 6 months? Time will tell. But here's the facts on the technology behind them and what they mean to your game.

The idea behind the technology is that when you move the weight in the club head away from the club face you create a more stable golf club that won't twist on mishits. This is called greater Moment of Inertia (MOI). Greater MOI should lead to more stability and theoretically make the ball go further and straighter. I guess you could say manufacturers have gone to extremes with the theory and this new square design.

One reason manufactures have gone this direction is because the USGA has put a limit on head size and the rebound effect of the club face. The head has been limited to 5" by 5". That means the last place manufacturers have to move weight to are the corners of the club. The face is already relatively square so the back corners are what's left. Thus the square headed drivers.

Both Callaway and Nike have already come out with clubs using this concept. Nike has the SQ Sumo and Callaway has the FT-i. Not many pros are using them although K.J. Choi won with the Sumo last fall. We haven't heard if Tiger, a Nike endorsee, will be using the Sumo. Should be interesting to see. Many pros are not using them because they say they go too straight. Thankfully many of us "normal" golfers won't have that problem.

Component clubmaker Tom Wishon, who wrote the book, "The Search For The Perfect Golf Club," wonders if this square technology and the chase for high MOI is really another type of chase...to win the golfer's dollar.

Wishon said since golf companies have hit the limits for face rebound speed and head size, now the race will be on to figure out who can get the MOI to the specified limit. But he wonders if golfers who already have drivers that have a reasonable high MOI currently will notice much of a difference with the new geometrically challenged breed of clubs.

However, Golf Digest in its recent club test gave the new square drivers high marks. It gave the Callaway an Editors Choice award and also ranked the Sumo highly. One Golf Digest tester said about the Sumo..."It has a nice high ball flight...Better players would rate it a 6 out of 10, but high-handicappers might like it." What that says to me is it's straight and long but might have too high of a ball flight for a really fast swinging golfer. I think us normal golfers will take straight and long anyday.

The Sumo has been reviewed on some golf forums. On GolfMagic.com, Bob Warters and his buddies took the Sumo and a clone version out for a test ride. They said all the clubs were long and straight and might actually live up to the hype. In particular he mentioned..."It's not perhaps what a leading manufacturer like Nike Golf would want to hear, but first impressions comparing the company's latest SasQuatch Sumo 2 (square-headed) drivers and a cheaper copy - the Turbo Power XQ MUTO 460Ti - detected little difference in performance." With the new brand drivers selling for between $400 and $500 dollars and the clone selling for under $100 it makes you wonder if all those endorsement dollars are getting a little out of hand. I guess that's a discussion for another time.

So it looks like the technology has promise. The only way to know for sure it to give it a try. GigaGolf offers the above XQ MUTO for $99. It's technology is based on the Nike Sumo. GigaGolf offers the MUTO with a top-of-the-line shaft and grip. Might be worth a try.

Well get ready golfers. The square headed drivers are here and you'll get to see if they are worth the money and the hype. Come back here often and we'll keep you up to date on how they work out.