Okay, here's the dilemma. My old driver is a Cobra SS370 Unlimited which I have had for about 2 years. I hit it really consistently and hit pretty much 70% of fairways most of the time. The length is OK really, nothing spectacular. My friend has just bought a new driver, so has a Titleist 905T with an Aldila NV shaft going spare. I've started using it, and am hitting less fairways with it (58% on Sunday), but when I catch it, it goes absolutely miles (500 yard par 5 in drive and 4 iron, 410 yard par 4 in drive and wedge).

Should I stick with the new Titleist driver and hope the consistency improves as I get used to it? Or go back to my old faithful (which will be banned in 2008 incidentally). Plus the Titleist looks a lot better in the bag....

Becarful Del I started down thi road a few months ago, trying to replace my Cobra 440 with aldila one shaft 85 gram,

Since then i've tried a 905, new hogan, makser 440, ft-3 and have a Ignite on it's way from ebay as we speak.

The search for the holy grail of distance is a rocky road. I feel the largest factor in drivers is shaft, find one that suit's and stick with it, hence the ignite has a aldila NV in it. My rescue has this shaft and i find the stiff tip and high kick point suits my loading of the shaft.

I would try a few more if I was you, fairways means so much and if it's 7 iron or 9 iron dose it matter.

2 weeks ago i hit 11 out 13 fairways and shot a 73 (par 68)

fT-3 in the bag this week i hit 1 fairway nearly 2 and shot 85

Interesting points ajmooseman. My Cobra has a YS-6 stiff in it, and I think it has the right combination of kick and stability. The 905 has the Aldila NV stiff in at the moment. I think it may be a little too stiff for me, as I used to be able to consistently draw the YS-6 and all my misses with the NV are pushes. My pro said he's swap the shafts over, so it may be worth me doing that and seeing if I am more consistent then with the 905. I might give the NV another couple of chances though, as it was frosty on Sunday, so couldn't swing properly as I was scared of slipping (or indeed did slip). Unfortunately our club has mats in the winter on a lot of holes and they are lethal when it's frosty. On the tees that weren't mats, I did hit it well though.

Compared to the Cobra the 905 has an unforgiving head. Its also lower spin.
The NV shaft tends to launch high and put quite a lot of spin on the ball.
You are going from one of the asiest driver heads to hit to one of the hardest.

Reducing your driving accuracy for a few yds isn't worth it, but a 12% drop in fairways for a significant gain in yardage is prolly worth it, especially if those 12% misses are still in play.
Remember after 3 years you are very familiar and comfortable with the 370, and it will take a few weeks to dial in the 905, but if you hit the majority of fairways with it first time out sounds like you'll get on well with it.

I suggest giving the 905 with NV a few more goes before deciding to swap the shafts.

Thanks Creosote. I think you might be right. Thinking back, of all of the fairways I missed, I still had an approach to the green. Apart from the first, which was my first swing for a week on a cold and slippery mat. I'll keep going and see how I get on. At least I've got my YS-6 as a reserve if I feel the NV isn't right. The 905 feels a lot nicer than the Cobra as well. Much nicer noise than that horrible "bing". The 905 sounds like a shotgun going off rather than someone being hit with a frying pan.

Del: I use the 905 myself, with the Fujikura Speeder shaft. One thing thats quite important is that Titleist use a bore through head, so that the shaft is set deeper into the head than with most other driver manufacturers. This makes all the shafts tip-stiff (pause for Golf Bhoy to attempt some witicism here). The result of all this is that the shaft will play a lot stiffer to flex in a 905 head.
As an example my "Stiff" Speeder shaft was measured at 7.2 on the Rifle scale by Precision Golf, I believe this puts it at slightly stiffer than X flex. What I have found is that this combo seems to work (for me anyway), in that the extra tip stiffness gives a tighter shot dispertion pattern, but at the same time the overall shaft still has some whip in it so you get good distance - good distance + accuracy = the holy grail!

My playing partner (off 3) plays the 905T with NV in stiff but he launches it too high as do most people with the NV. If you can find one with the Speeder shaft then I do recommend at least giving it a hit before you decide.

Ive had a lot of drivers and am a fan of Cobra, so far the 905T is the best driver I have had. If you like them and get on with it then its a truly great driver.

I've played the 905T with YS-6 stiff for 6 months, tried the 905S with a Grafalloy Blue stiff and that was like a poker. I do like the the 905 but feel I have lost a little distance compared with previous driver (R7). Just about to order a Nike SQ 460 Tour, but have the same concerns about the NV 65 stiff - alternatives are the Prolaunch 65 and the Diamana 83 (although this puts another £100 on the price!...any thoughts welcome...

I'm facing the same dilemma for different reason - I'm sick of the "that's illegal in 2008" comments. I'm looking to replace my cobra 454 for something conforming.
I'm quite tempted to go off the top brand labels and try a good value make I used to use some time ago, don't laugh; RAM - first driver I had really and I always rated it highly.
Anyone tried the Ram FX driver?
I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

Threeputter, are you referring to the Ram FX9? If so, the FX9 has had rave reviews from most golf magazines and voted one of the best drivers under £100. Also take a look at Benross drivers. They have Grafalloy shaft as standard along with Golf Pride grip. Both are great value drivers.

Just got back from my lesson and have hit the new ignite I put it bavck in the bag after 5 goes, NO not because i didn't like but because i didn't think i could better the drive's i'd hit. First swing nice tempo see's a nice rainbow flightr with a hint of draw. second one i realy go after producing a slight fade which would have probable just missed the fairway . My pro points out the fact i should return to tempo of the first which i do on swings 3,4,5. We work up the practice field collecting balls i find drive's 1,3,4 and 5 all with in 20 feet of each at about the 240 mark. 240 uphill cold weather and range balls i can handle. So maybe the hunt is over, will update after tomorrow's round.

Wow. Can't ask for more than that ajmooseman. Just need to take that to the course now. Ignite you say...? Hmm.

Went to the range a couple of days ago and didn't get on with the 905 too well really. It was an off day though, wasn't hitting my irons too well either. Until with 3 balls left I realised that I was swinging way too fast. Slowed the tempo down and hit the last 3 sweet. Damn.

Taking the 905 out on Sunday to the course, where hopefully it won't be frosty, so I can evaluate it properly. If I don't get on with it too well, I may put the YS-6 shaft into it.

Yep trying the other shaft is worth a go, Exmax charge's me about a tenner and i usually get a new grip at that. You can always swap it back and bang it on ebay.
Have a good un this weekend i'm playing first light in the morning so frost my come into it.

Del, if it is frosty and you need to hit off a mat try teeing your ball on the nearside of the mat with you standing off it.

Just checked Metcheck.com and it says it's not going to be frosty, so I'm trusting it. Sick of playing in the frost.

Had a great day with the driver, so defo sticking with the 905. Hit 8 fairways out of 12 and only missed one that cost me. That was the first as well, so first swing of the day.

Playing with the guy who sold me the driver. He has bought a Cleveland Speeder and I'm booming the ball past him. 30 yards a couple of times. He was not happy.

Glad to here it Del, didn't have a bad day myself hitting most of the fairways and yardage was pretty good, just the short dtick that let me down this week.

It's very rare that I have both the driver and putting working at the same time, so was very pleased on Sunday. 8/ 12 fairways and 28 putts, so that can't be bad. Just need to work on hitting more greens and I'd be laughing.