DRIVER 900: CHAPTER 1

From the brief to the first sketches.

By Inesis

December 10^th, 2021

The advanced players (handicap <15) get a kick out of hitting the shot they had in mind. To achieve that, they need to have control. It's Albert, the clubs' product manager's initial brief for the driver 900.

When we talk about control with a driver, we are referring to the capacity to adjust the ball's height to maximise distance. We are looking to keep the spin rate under 2500 revolutions per minute and restrict the ball's height to 30 metres.

We reuse, of course, the principle of 2 sizes (size 2: standard and size 1: -1 inch) and 3 swing speeds (slow, mid-range, fast), right and left-hander, to meet a maximum of advanced golf players' needs with 12 profiles.

In terms of architecture, we will base the Driver 900's design on the Driver 500, much sought after for its forgiveness. It's also a good way to maintain a form of lineage between the different drivers in the range. The shaft, which is already very good on the Driver 500, will be a notch above. We want to offer the very best to get the maximum amount of power out of the club.

Another difference compared to the driver 500, with its 12° loft, is that we are switching to a 10° club head for extra distance. It's logical to have a lower loft because, on average, the swing speed increases proportionally to the handicap. 10° is a median value enabling to adjust the ball's height via the shaft's flex or a potential adjustment system on the driver's head.

Lastly, the price will be challenging for the design team because we are aiming for around the 300/350 Euros price mark, in other words, roughly half the price of equivalent products on the market. That's right!

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

As the club's designer, Charles' job is to put the product manager's words into an image. In other words, absorb the brief and make drawings suggestions.

What is evident to Charles is that the Driver 900 must be in keeping with Inesis' DNA style: Athletic and Elegant. Compared to the Driver 500, used as the basis for development, the drawing must be more technical, more streamlined. The notion of control has to be visible in the design with the lines and with the technologies used: you will find CNC machining, laser engraving, etc. Charles has drawn a slightly smaller club head than the Driver 500, corresponding with advanced players' visual expectations. It will slightly reduce forgiveness in favour of club head speed for hitting longer distances.

Charles worked on different hypotheses when designing the Driver 900.

Charles also worked on the concept of the club head’s adjustability. An adjustable hosel is an option that has been studied. It indeed allows you to modify the loft directly, but it requires you to place lots of weight very high on the club head when you are better off positioning it as low as possible to lower the centre of gravity. The other options are the potential use of carbon on top of the titanium, the principal material used in a modern driver or otherwise detachable head weights. This will, of course, have to be worked on with the engineers to assess the golfing benefits and industrial feasibility of each solution.

Alexandre and Kevin, the modeller and the 3D engineer, will now get to work based on Charles' drawings. It will provide the team with a more specific idea of the club head's theoretical volume, weight and the positioning of the centre of gravity. We will also have to work on the club's inner design, the club face's architecture and thickness. But that's for next time...