'The Big Easy' Turbo Power titanium driver

We tested the latest budget driver from KaneGolf in Glasgow. Find out more...

Bob Warters's picture
Tue, 28 Oct 2003
'The Big Easy' Turbo Power titanium driver

The Big Easy driver

Price: £99 (10.5 deg., 45-inch shaft)

Ernie Els dislikes the nickname ‘The Big Easy’ – given to him by a US journalist. It has caught on as an alternative handle around the world but infers, he says, a slow, lumbering, laid-back attitude.

He’s also not happy either that a similar name is given to the flesh pots of downtown New Orleans where the heady mixture sex, drugs and modern jazz combine to give the city a seedy reputation.

Quite why then Glasgow-based Kane Golf decided to christen their latest driver with this name is a mystery – other than to try to cash in on Els’ reputation as one of the longest, straightest drivers of a golf ball in history.

The company is fast gaining momentum as a provider of budget golf equipment challenging the major brands from its www.kanegolf.com website.

Having heard from visitors to our site as well as a respected former colleague who swears by their clubs, I asked the company’s Danny Kane to let me try a selection on behalf of Golfmagic.

Over a couple of rounds and a session on the range I put the club through its paces and, bearing in mind it’s priced some £300 below some of the latest state of the art offerings from major brands, it performed quite well.

KaneGolf claims the anti-slice head is closed only two degrees but with its sculpted offset face it appeared at address even more ‘toed in’ than other anti-slice drivers.

Even as a fader of the ball I wanted to stand even more closed to my target line than ever before.

On occasions during competition play I caught the ball sweetly and the head’s 10.5 degree of loft sent shots on a low, penetrating flight that matched the distances of pricier Cobra, Titleist and TaylorMade drivers in the hands of colleagues.

But it lacked consistency and I seemed to be forever fighting a pull-hook.

Colleagues who also tried it found themselves adjusting their grip and stance to allow for a similar tendency to hook.

However, what I did like was the soft wrap ‘shock absorber’ grip which had a sponge-like appeal and prevented tension at address.

Verdict

At £99, new and improving golfers on a budget will find The Big Easy ‘Turbo Power Titanium’ driver a help in straightening their slices. And with a 350cc head it’s certainly easy to hit – even off the deck. But personally I will keep trying to work on my swing to cure any slice rather than rely on a hooded clubface to keep the ball on the straight and narrow.

Golfmagic rating: 7.5/10