I’ve been playing golf off and on for about 20 years now and as a mid-handicapper, I’m prone to shooting in the low nineties thanks, in large part, to inconsistent tee shots. It’s no surprise that hitting your second shot from the middle of the fairway is a lot easier than hitting it from underneath a tree that’s located behind several other trees. And so we dance.
I took the train from Boston to New York in early February to test out Callaway’s new Diablo driver – a golf club based on the simple idea that a LOT of golfers tend to slice the ball off the tee, and that a simple way to correct that would be to slant the club’s face ever so slightly to the left – one degree, to be exact — in order to compensate. So does it work?
Yes. And almost eerily well. Here’s video if you’re interested:
While learning golf as a kid, I was taught to swing easy. Then as a teenager, I found swinging the club as hard as I possibly could to be much more enjoyable, even if it meant shanking most of my tee shots three fairways to the right. As an adult, I’ve realigned my constitution with the “swing easy” mantra, as I no longer enjoy losing money to friends and spending 15 minutes in the woods on each hole.
The problem with the Diablo – the wonderful, magical problem – is that you can basically go back to your swing-as-hard-as-you-can days and the ball still goes straight. With my regular driver, I swing easy and, if it goes straight, it’ll go about 250 yards. With the Diablo, I was swinging as hard as I could, it went straight every time, and once I got warmed up I was hitting the ball 275 yards in the air, plus however far it would have rolled after it landed.
Granted, this was all done at an indoor range with no weather or wind but the results were still encouraging. I’ll have to take the club out on a real course once the weather starts warming up, but if you’re a mid-handicapper and you have a tendency to slice your drives you may want to at least test out the Diablo at your local course or sporting goods store to see if it straightens out your swing.
The driver has an MSRP of $299 and comes in “neutral” or “draw” setups – I hit the 9-degree draw version. If you hit the ball straight off the tee, you could go with the neutral but you’d probably be better off hitting whichever club you’re using now. Correcting the slice is the big idea here, so the extra one degree that the draw version turns the clubhead inward allows you to swing the Diablo naturally without resorting to turning your wrists, locking your front knee, or any of the other hundreds of tricks people have tried over the years.
The club itself features an all-titanium head and is pretty standard-sized – not one of those gigantic, oversized drivers that most people are playing nowadays. The way the Diablo’s clubhead fits together allows it to be super thin while at the same time making pretty much the entire face the sweet spot, which also helps for hitting the ball straight.
All in all, I’m impressed with the Diablo (if you couldn’t tell). I’ll have to try it out on an actual course, but things are looking good so far.
Big Bertha Diablo Driver [Callaway.com]
Doug, will this club be legal to play in tournaments and such? Seems like a cool idea, I’ll definitely check this out but don’t think I would buy one.
I think serious golfers will probably look down on this, and I’m sure people learning to play will be discouraged from using this as a crutch.
Yes, it’s legal. Rocco Mediate uses it on tour. It’s pretty much just your standard driver with the face pitched one degree to the left. Nobody would really notice anything different about it unless you told them.
Rocco uses the standard version which is actually 0.5* open, since he is naturally a right-to-left player. And Phil has been playing the Diablo 3W 15*, again standard. This is not just a gimmick club for slicers.
Nice, Doug. I like the golf reviews. As a consultant who has to schmooze some big wigs here and there on the links it’s nice to get it all in one place. I’ve only hit the neutral and it’s great. I do like the R9 a little better though. The new Callaway balls are great, probably the best out right now. Who doesn’t like long balls? ; )
Me hopes yee got a free driver out of it!
…and of course it’s legal for tourney use. Who in their right mind would make a club that pros can’t use???
Sign me up for the Callaway DIABLO! The “serious golfers” can do whatever they want and the R9 has too much going on for me to deal with. I’ll be simply gripping and ripping it past all of them!!
No you wont, your just a hack. Go grip it and rip it into the other fairway you jack ass! If any of you idiots new how to read or would actually look at your own swings you would see how bad you really suck. Go back to the range and quit holding my round up you piece of garbage.
Just one thing, you arrogant a**hole, learn to spell!
Don’t be too disappointed when you take the Cali out to the real world. It’s a good driver, but nothing special
Hundreds of drivers have closed faces, and quite a bit more than the 1* of the Diablo. If you are carrying the ball 275 yards, you have a swing speed of 110 +. I doubt it, please repost after a few rounds on real courses and then tell us accurate yardages.
No kidding, ” I carry the ball 275 but need to buy a club with a closed club face because i cant figure out how to swing on plain…”, your a hack and will never drive the ball 275 even on a cement fairway!
well, alan…i did hit it an average of 270 at the shop I went to and the pro there said the system was a little short, that the ball would actually go farther on the course….it straightened out my slice and the ball was coming off the club at 170 mph. The pro said that would put my swing in the 120+ range…although he did say I was trying to kill it, but since the ball was going straight, he couldn’t falt me for it…..I loved the Diablo and it is in my bag now, along with the $1 fairway wood
ehh dog,
don’t be sulky and hate the world because the newbees are all whoopin your hacker a$$ on the links.
I am looking to get the new Callaway Diablo driver but am not sure of the best starting point to try them out. I tend to play my slice and the ball flight is about average/high on some holes. Which draw should I try first and do you recommend getting the wood or the hybrid. I have difficulty hitting my low irons from the rough, would the hybrid improve this?
I have just bought the Callaway Diablo 10* DRAW, and while I see that it is trying it’s hardest to control the slice I’m putting on the ball, while ever my swing is “imperfect” this beautiful new club isn’t going to perform magic and put my ball in the middle of the fiarway every time.
The slice happens due to mechanics, and if you don’t solve this then I can’t see any DRAW club solving the problem for you.
Having said that, the upside of the work I’m doing to correct the slice, along with a brand new Diablo sees me hitting the back wall at the driving range 1 ball in 4 or 5. That is encouraging so I will continue with this club for now.
I tried that club about a month ago. As mentioned above, it really reduces side spin if your tendencies is to leave the club face open at impact (most likely issue for majority of us).
Coming over the top (as intended to hit a fade) will produce a gentle face.
Ehh Dog you should really get your head out of your ASSets and post elsewhere…………
Ehh Dog we all know you su ck and you’re just posing as a decent golfer. Take some lessons and you won’t be so bitter when people like me kick that a$$.