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Iconic Titleist 975D vs GT3 Driver Comparison
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Apr 1, 2025
Tiger Woods is well known for the 'Tiger Slam' which he achieved in 2001 when he held all four major titles at the same time. It was an incredible achievement, one that has not been repeated since, and it was one that he completed using a Titleist 975D driver. This is undoubtedly one of the most iconic golf clubs ever made and we got hold of one from golfclubs4cash for under $50 / £40 GBP. The big question is... can it still perform and how does it stack up against the latest GT3 driver from Titleist? Joe Ferguson took it to Frilford Heath Golf Club to find out in Golf Monthly's series of Retro Review.
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0:00
Retro review time, we've got an absolute belter for you today
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In my eyes, this is the most iconic driver of all time
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It is the Titleist 975D. Now we've teamed up with Gold Clubs for Cash
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one of the leading retailers of pre-loved equipment, and they've sent us some absolute gems like this to test
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So if you're interested, check those guys out in the description below. now Tyler's manufactured this driver between 1998 and 2001 and just about anyone who was anyone was
0:35
using it Davis Love III, Sergio Garcia, David Duval became world number one with it and Tiger Woods
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even won the Tiger Slam with this driver now I've picked it up for $38.99 from Golf Clubs of Cash
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so I can't wait to see what it can do now as always on Retro Review we're going to put it up
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against its modern-day equivalent, which is going to be the Titleist GT3. This is fresh out. This
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has been receiving rave reviews, so this is some pretty stiff competition. Right, so we're just
1:02
going to do this really organically today. I've come down to the driving range at the beautiful
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Frilford Heath Golf Club here in Oxfordshire. I've got my full swing kit launch monitor, and I've got
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a load of golf balls, and I'm just going to hit a load with each, talk you through what I'm seeing
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talk you through what I'm feeling, and then maybe we'll get the data together at the end, and we'll
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have a discussion about what the actual tangible differences between the drivers are. But from a
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non-measurable sort of point of view to start with, the first thing you notice is quite clearly
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their head size. We've got 260ccs in the 975D, which looks rather small next to this GT3 at 460ccs
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It's not just heel to toe, front to back, it's everywhere. The overall dimensions, the face depth
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there's just a lot more real estate to that GT3. In terms of specs this one was custom fitted for
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me recently at Woburn at the Tileless Performance Institute. Graphite design X-Flex shaft. It's
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measuring at eight degrees of loft. I've tuned it up just a little bit to match the 8.5 that's on
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the 975D. We've got the old EI70 classic shaft here but it's just in stiff flex so it might be a
2:11
a little bit soft for me. And in terms of length, I know the GT3 is at 45 and a half inches
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The 975D looks like it's a solid inch shorter than that. So there may be some swing speed
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differences just to put that out there to start with. But I'm going to start with the 975D
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because I'm itching to see the performance on this after so long. Let's just hit some away
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and see where we get to So yeah like I said straight away in behind the ball it looks no bigger than my three which is certainly interesting
2:45
It's a great start from a feel point of view. That's exceptional. A lot softer than any of the drives I've been trying recently
2:53
From a data point of view, yeah, I put 110 miles an hour speed into that, 161 ball speed out of it
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which gives me a relatively good efficiency. 1.47 or smash factor, you might know it
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Spun up a lot, 3,500 revs there and barely 240 yards of carry
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So that's not great output, if I'm totally honest, from 110 miles an hour speed
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We are hitting into quite a strong headwind here. It looks very similar
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That's probably on top of the last ball. Slightly more efficient, 165
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of ball speed, which is pretty good. That's not bad at all from a driver that's
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that's part of 30 years old. The feel is just exceptional. It's just melting into the club base
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There's no tinginess, there's no clanginess. It's a really, I don't hesitate to say soft
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because you don't want a soft feeling driver, but it is. Just leaking a touch to the right
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Maybe seven or eight yards of fade on that one. Slightly less efficiency
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but the ball speed's still pretty decent there. One best part of 163 miles an hour
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That did get the spin down under 3000, so we're pushing a 250 carry now into this decent headwind
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So that's a really interesting start. It feels great, it looks gorgeous in behind the ball
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I could really get used to that head size again. I would like to, I'm going to hit a lot more now
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because I want to see what those heel and toe strikes do. I've struck all those pretty solidly
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which I'm quite impressed with myself about. But once I can get a few more of these balls in
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let's hit some heel and toe strikes, some high and low in the face
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and I'll see how much that affects the ball speed and the performance numbers. I'll do that now, then we'll get onto the GT3
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and we'll take it from there. If you're enjoying this retro review
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and you like seeing these iconic clubs, don't forget to hit the like button
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and subscribe to the channel. Also, get in the comments down below and tell me what you'd like me to review next
5:05
Well, that was really interesting. I found a couple of things. When I hit a few more balls, I actually found a couple of things
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which I'll talk about in the conclusion, which made it perform a little bit better for me It was a lovely little trip down memory lane to a driver that I used in the past And I really interested to see with these conditions that we playing in today
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what a modern day GT3 that is less than two months old
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really, can do. So let's get to it. Let's hit a few away and see what we've got
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I mean, as I said before, the first thing that hits you is just the sheer volume of the head
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And it just does inspire an awful lot more confidence behind the ball
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so let's see if that translates into better results there's a really nice strike out the gate
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nice and low nice and powerful significantly significantly different data there that's
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really interesting so off a touch more club head speed admittedly about two or three miles an hour
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more there which would be that'd be factored in by the length i would think that's giving me that
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I've generated 172 miles an hour ball speed nearly, 1.49 efficiency, a spin rate of basically
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bang on 2,000, which into this wind has given me a carry at nearly 270 off these range balls
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which is pretty solid. So that's a significant difference straight out the gate there. Let's
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see if that sort of theme continues. The feel, I was expecting harsher actually
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even though I've tested this driver a lot, I thought it was going to feel harsher coming from that sort of buttery soft 975D
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But it did feel great. I know Titleist have done an awful lot of work on the acoustics and feel of this new GT range
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So that feels like it's coming to fruition there. Let's see what we get up next
6:57
It's a noticeably longer, sort of lower, more penetrating ball flight. Popped up a little bit in spin there
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so it's still under 3,000 just. More club head speed, 118, 170 of ball speed, 260 carry
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which is decent output in these conditions. Yeah, we're noticing quite a bit
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of performance difference here. That'll be an interesting one. It was low and off the heel
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It's got a little sort of fadey flight to it, so I'd expect the spin to kick up a lot there
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It didn't massively, it's 2,600 revs. Carries dropped, that was less than 250
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which off 118 miles per hour of club head speed rather, isn't great, so the efficiency did drop a fair bit there
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to 1.43, which is actually not something I've seen with this driver. I'm actually testing those sort of low heel strikes
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who performed a little bit better so I wondering if that a ball issue but interesting Let hit another one Okay squared it up a little bit
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so it's gone a little bit left there on me. That'll take some spin down
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so that's dropped under 2,000 revs of spin, which actually into this wind is actually really, really useful
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It's given me 173 miles an hour ball speed and a very efficient strike
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although, like I said, it has gone a little bit left. Interesting initial data there
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Let's get through a few more shots, So like I said, I want to have a good pool to pick from and really get my ideas together
8:24
And then we'll talk a bit more about the data in the conclusion. Well, that was really, really enjoyable, that session
8:43
It was like a little walk down memory lane with a driver I've used before. And if anything, I feel a little bit sad
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I wanted the 975D to do a little bit better on the launch monitor, but it's very difficult to
8:55
hide from those numbers. So when I compare the overall carry distance with the GT3, for example
9:01
this gave me 250 yards into this wind, whereas the GT3 was pushing 270, so nearly 20 yards of
9:07
difference there. 159.7 miles an hour of ball speed with this, 172.2 with the GT3. And the spin
9:16
was the real killer because we're hitting into quite a strong headwind here this is spinning at
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nearly 3200 revolutions per minute the gt3 less than two and a half thousand so it was just
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penetrating through the wind a little bit more and in terms of efficiency the gt3 is going to be
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1.47 smash factor so the ball was coming quicker off the face relative to my club head speed
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certainly than the 975d so overall the measurable stuff you can't really argue with the gt3
9:44
very much outperformed the 975D. And some of the intangible stuff though, I still really like it
9:51
from a feel point of view. Whilst Titleist has done a great job with the GT range as a whole
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the sound, the feel, it's really become more palatable than some of their other ranges
10:02
I still think the 975D was better. It was softer, it was muted, it was a nice dull thud
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and I really, really enjoyed it. And let's keep it in perspective. The model I was using there
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the GT3 as a stock model retails at the best part of 600 pounds in the setup I've got it at
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with that shaft that I was fitted for it's north of 700 pounds this is less than 40 pounds yes you're
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not getting a product that performs as well but if you're someone who needs a little bit more spin
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and need a little bit more help to get the ball airborne then perhaps for less than 40 pounds
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there's some value to be had here
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