This week, at the US PGA Tour’s Quickens Loans National, marks the start of the tour seeding and validation process for prototype Titleist 917 drivers.
The company has its 917D2 and 917D3 driver heads in both right- and left-handed added to the USGA’s List of Conforming Driver Heads effective this morning.
Perhaps the biggest difference from its predecessor, the 915, is the addition of a SureFit CG on the sole, which is the ability to move weight to either the heel or toe area to affect directional ball flight.
This concept was first seen from the company in its C16 driver.
At Congressional Country Club this week, Titleist Tour Reps and members of the Titleist Golf Club R&D team will be busy fitting players into new prototype 917 drivers, answering their performance questions and gathering their feedback and data.
The “Active Recoil Channel” slot appears to be slightly wider than the 915 and the USGA listing touts a “Radial Speed Face,” which also was a feature of the C16 and the 915 drivers designed to create better off-centre hit ballspeeds through a variably thick face. The adjustable hosel appears to be similar to previous models and the lofts are 8.5, 9.5, 10.5 and 12 degrees.
Expect several players to put the club in play this week. At the 2014 Quicken Loans when the 915 model debuted, 15 players put the new driver in the bag that week, including Jordan Spieth and Jason Dufner.
This same process will continue over the coming weeks across the worldwide professional tours, as well as the tour seeding and validation process for prototype 917 Fairways.
