919FD FAIRWAY DRIVER

DAN Not at all contentious, these are all good questions for sure and I enjoy having the chance to respond. The 919F/D is a specialty design that has a handful of small things that it can do over a normal large volume driver, but one big thing it can’t. It’s primary use is as a club to use off the tee on tight holes that otherwise would require a driver. The F/D headweight means you won’t build this to a length any longer than 43.5 with 43 being what most would do. With our knowledge of high strength alloys and… Read more »

Fred:
As long as the Accra Shaft has a tip diameter of 0.335″ which is most likely, it can be removed from the other head and installed in the 919F/D with no problems. As to what length it would come out to be, that depends on the difference in the distance from the bottom of the shafting bore to the ground between the two clubheads. That is something a competent clubmaker should know about to be able to allow for any differences there might be in this dimension in the two heads.
TOM

BEN To give you a frame of reference, the FP of the 919THI 11* loft driver is 19mm. The FP of the 919F/D-11* model is 17mm and the FP of the 929HS #3wood is 16mm. As a designer I only see FP as a visual aspect of the head that has to be matched to the size of the head. In very, very minute terms only with players who have a very late release, more FP on a head can contribute to a slightly higher trajectory for any given loft while less FP is the opposite. But these things are… Read more »

Ben All metal woods regardless of maker are manufactured so there is a small hole in the bottom of the bore that will open up into the open cavity of the head. The head production factories do this so they can inject a special “sticky glue” into the heads that is intended to catch and hold small particles that may break loose from inside the head during the life of the club. All makers of metal woods do have a stopper plug installed in the bottom of the bore to close off that access hole so when a shaft is… Read more »

Jarrod that is one of the two weight bore chambers in the head which are there to enable the clubmaker to add weight to the head to get it to the swingweight or head feel that best fits each golfer’s strength + swing tempo and sense of headweight feel for good timing and rhythm in the swing. The other weight bore is below the tip of the shaft in the hosel. The weight bore on the toe end of the sole is covered by a little oval shaped medallion with an adhesive back. Unfortunately it sounds like it just gave… Read more »

JARROD Yes, the 919F/D has the same identical construction and materials as the 929, 950 and 775 which are the other steel/high COR face models with bendable hosels. So the F/D can be bent +/-4* in any direction provided the clubmaker has the right bending machine to properly clamp and secure the body of the head to enable the hosel to be bent. While the hosel could stand reaming to a 0.355 taper or 0.370 parallel I would question doing this from the standpoint of performance with an iron shaft. This is a wood, made to the weight of a… Read more »

RICH: First questions I would ask to try to get to the bottom of the performance issue you have had with the FD would bem 1) what length did you make it, 2) what swingweight did you build it to at that length, 3) what length is your 3 wood or 4 wood in your previous woods, 4) did you have any issues at all in the past hitting a fairway wood high to fly and carry. Most people who use the FD play it at a length of between 43-44″. Most build it to have the same shaft and… Read more »

Bruce The 919F/D is offered in spec loft models of 11* and 14*. Through our Hand Select service, we could sort through inventory and potentially find lofts of 10, 12, 13, 15 in addition to the spec lofts of 11 and 14. But we would not be able to find one at 16* because the production tolerance on the heads is only +/-1* from spec. I kind of doubt you would want to use the F/D as a fairway wood because it has a 40mm tall face height. Typical fairway woods these days have a face height between 32mm and… Read more »

ALLEN Sigh. . . . having been a teacher to the clubmakers for over 30 yrs now through my books and articles and information, I can tell you with great disappointment that there are some of the clubmakers who start to spew out bad information when they think they are starting to get smart in this field. I used to call it “sophomore-itis in clubmaking” when I began to see this among some clubmakers many years ago. Whoever said that you no one could use an 11* 919F/D head is ignorant and has no idea what he is talking about,… Read more »

Allen Griggs I’ve got the fd driver in 11 deg and it’s the best thing I’ve ever hit I don’t think I need a driver as this is long off the tee but I do want to try Tom’s driver as people say it’s long It’s easy to hit off the fairway and when in the rough it flys out with no spin (I was laying up to a par 5 hit it out of the rough and it rolled on to the green 250yards could not believe it) Just wished they could do this club in 8 deg to… Read more »

I found a 10* and had it bent closed 1 1/2 degrees and I am loving it. I use it instead of my 3 wood since I also bought a 8* driver and finally hitting the ball straight. Love it

Hi Garry Thanks very much for your interest and we’re always happy to help. I designed the F/D to offer an alternative to those players who, 1) disliked the larger size drivers and just mentally wanted a driver that was much smaller, 2) wanted a shorter tee shot club for tight holes and wanted a larger head with larger face and potentially higher COR than what they could get if they used a 3w for such shots. Because of the larger face area vs the 929HS woods, the COR of the F/D is higher than the 929, but not by… Read more »

BILL
Sorry for the confusion. The 919F/D is 260cc not 200cc. To contrast to the 365PF #3 wood, the 919F/D has a face height of 39.5mm while the 365PF has a face height of 33mm. To give you more of a frame of reference, a typical 460cc driver will have a face height anywhere between 52mm and 58mm. Hope this gives you a better sense of the relative size difference with the 919F/D head.
TOM

Tom,
Thanks for the info, that was just what I wanted to hear. I am thinking about making up a set of woods with the 11 degree 919F/D, and 4/79 365FS fairways.
Bill

KOURT
Actually, the hosel on the 919F/D head is a BENDABLE HOSEL and it can be bent to change either the lie or the face angle or both by a range of +/-4 degrees, not 2 degrees. This must be a typo in the catalog, I am sorry. Lots and lots and lots of spec numbers to get right and I have always missed a few when I do the catalog info work.
TOM

ROB Than that sounds to me like you should be into either the S2S Black 85 S with a bit of additional tip trim such as +1″ or you could be into the S2S Black 85 X with normal 0 tip trim to fit your more aggressive move at the ball. Whether you go tipped S or std X depends on your sense of feel for the shaft – if you have a definite dislike for a shaft to ever feel even slightly soft, then go with the X. Other wise the tipped S. The 85g weight of these shafts… Read more »

Ronnie, the fairway wood covers will fit the 919F/D.
TOM

BRETT: When I designed the 919FD fairway driver, I designed it chiefly to be a club to use off the tee with a peg under the ball for tight tee shot holes. While I knew that better players could hit it off the deck, that was not the intent. So any use of the FD for fairway wood shots off normal lies is an afterthought, not a primary intent. Mini driver to me is a smaller head size built to a driver length. What you sound like you want is a driver that you can control better and hit much… Read more »

Brett I’m sure Tom will answer this properly, but I can tell you what I have found with the 14 deg 919 F/D after putting it in the bag a few months ago. The main benefit for me is that I can use it for accuracy on tight holes, and also can use it instead of my driver for the whole round if my driving isn’t that good. Perfect example just yesterday. I hit two poor drives and then just used the F/D for the rest of the round. I lose very little distance and am more accurate. With my… Read more »

Thanks Tom and Frazer I think this kind of club is exactly what I am looking for. A 2-wood. Maybe even have it as a 15th club that I can alternate with a 4-wood depending on the course. My driving can be my biggest weakness so having a go-to straight club is ideal. My only thought is that building the 2-wood from a 919THI head would give a lot more off-center forgiveness. I have to admit that I do like the smaller size of the F/D head. Either way, something to discuss with my fitter when the time comes. As… Read more »

Building a 43″ 919 FD per my fitting. Do I tip trim inbetween Driver (none) and 3-Wood (1″) for the S2S Red Stiff shaft? Thanks!

Kourt For all things being completely equal as you say and especially with respect to the same point of impact IN RELATION TO THE BALL’S CG, there would be no difference in distance or ball speed. The only difference could come from +/- tolerances for the COR of the face in the specific heads of both types that are chosen. But if you equalize that by measuring enough of each head so you find one of each with the same COR, it would be the same for performance. The only place that size of the head matters is with regard… Read more »

Tom, So all things be equal the distances should be the same. Okay, in another post by you, you mentioned that if your driver is 44″ then your next longest club(3wd) should be 43″. Again all things being equal where does the extra distance come from when using a driver over a 3wd, is it all in the extra length (44″ vs 43″) of the club/shaft that produces the extra distance? IS this the same for the tour pros who seem to hit their 3wds almost as far as their drivers, typically anywhere between 20 to 30 yds difference. I… Read more »

I should have added that both the 12* 3wd and 919FD would only be used off a tee peg. What loft would you think would be good for the 919FD, the fight of the 12* is just about perfect and I typically hit it anywhere between 250/260 depending on weather conditions. My present driver is stated as 10* and when I hit it center of face(or close) I like the flight height. would the 10* 919fd be a fit. I know tough question to answer, just your gut feeling/experience is enough.
Thanks again

Hi Tom,
Thanks for your detailed reply. I think I’ll give one of your 919FD a try and just see how it works out at 44″. With the “hand picked” option you mentioned in other posts, does it cost extra for every spec you want changed? Looking at the specs the +/- of each spec is quite wide.
For example I’d like a loft of 10* square face, standard 57* lie, head weight of 202/203g(easier to add weight than remove for SW adjustment in the future). Do each of these spec changes constitute an hand pick? Thanks again.

Hi Tom, Thanks again for your reply. I understand what you’re saying and believe you when you stress the extra mile you have the factory do when getting the specs as close as humanly possible. I was just asking if these specs requested would be checked when doing a hand selecting pick. If a 10* loft and 57* lie are asked for that that is what is picked and I believe the answer is yes, which is what I expected. I don’t mean to question you on this, but the last go around I had with another companies product( a… Read more »

I should clarify that the first driver model I purchased from this company did have the static loft on the head, which was 10*, the second and different year model I purchased from them did not have any loft marked on the head or in their literature, which led me to question them as to what it was.

Kourt Without being there in person to see you hit the club and observe several things, I can;t really say for sure why this club is generating a lower ball flight. For most everyone else that we get a chance to see or hear from, we’ve not heard that. The smaller size head does put the center of gravity closer to the face than in a 460cc driver by a good bit. That’s one possibility. but in truth, the ONLY way one can know for sure is to see launch monitor data from a normal driver you do hit high… Read more »

Thank you Frazer, I really am pleased to hear you have things pretty well sorted out for your fitting needs and that you like what you have now. Very interesting that you mentioned the F/H heads. They truly were a very nice design that very few people had the chance to discover this. In fact, my 3 and 4 hybrid clubs in my personal set are 915F/H heads (21 and 24.5) and have been for years and will be for years as well. I too wish I would have kept some of them around !!
TOM

ROY The question of what exact shaft model and flex a golfer should use is one that cannot be accurately answered by email. That decision is best done after an analysis of the golfer’s clubhead speed, downswing tempo, point of release. Since you said you have worked with a clubmaker for some of your previous clubs, I suggest that you go back to meet with him to have him do the swing analysis that can help him make the recommendation for what shaft would best fit you, to then be installed in the F/D clubhead. If you are currently playing… Read more »

ROY
Dimensional specs for the 919 F/D are as follows – 260cc volume, 40mm face height, 88mm face to back breadth, 92mm face width.
TOM

ROY I am sorry but I never look at any of the other companies’ designs or models. They’re of no interest to me in my work and there is no reason I would ever need to look at them. So I cannot tell you anything about the mini drivers from these other companies. I can tell you that the people who have been fit into one of our F/D heads do like it and the COR is every bit as high as any large size titanium driver for ball speed and distance. We will be adding a 4 hybrid and… Read more »

Thank you Daniel for sharing your experience with the new F/D driver !! We’re very pleased to hear that the new club is working well for you and doing everything it was supposed to do for your game !!
TOM

ADAM Thanks very much for your interest and we are very pleased to hear you like the performance of the 919 driver you have. Unfortunately at this time, we do not have plans to develop the 919F/D in a left hand version. Our decision to develop any model in a left hand version is dependent on the demand for its right hand version. In all my design experience, never has a left hand version of a model sold more than 8% of the units it will in left hand. The 919F/D is just a little bit too limited in its… Read more »

Jack: Yes, the 919F/D can definitely be a driver for your wife or anyone who wishes a far smaller size head. Form the 919F/D 14 degree model, we can select one with 15* if that higher loft would be more suitable to her clubhead speed and angle of attack, or if the 14* loft itself is enough, of course that can be had as well. we also offer the 730CL driver which is a 400cc size head – still a much larger size than the F/D but noticeably smaller than the typical 460cc drivers that populate the driver market. And… Read more »