Thomas Tanner

Feb 10, 2023

6 minutes

If your current driver is five, six, or even seven years old, you might be getting an itch to change, and rightly so. Over that period, the advances in the whole world of driver technology and the manufacturing process have been tremendous. And another major brand has come to the very front of the reckoning. And that's Titleist; with their TSR driver.
 
Now if that's you and you're wondering if you should upgrade your driver to the TSR, then read on! 

Titleist upgrades their drivers every two seasons and are coming to this new TSR from having the most popular driver on the PGA Tour, its predecessor, the TSi. They are building on a huge success, which is crucial as Titleist is very much in the camp of evolution rather than revolution regarding R&D.

But sometimes there needs to be root and branch change which Titleist drivers underwent a couple of years ago. The Titleist "Speed Project" immediately produced results in terms of distance and accuracy and has seen a whole swathe of amateur and professional players switch to using the brand clubs.

Is it time to upgrade your driver?

If you're thinking of changing your old driver, whatever the brand, I'm not going to try to compare it to this new TSR, but what we do say is this. The evolution of driver technology is very similar to that of mobile phones. Year to year, you won't see much difference between models, but if you, for instance compare a seven-year-old phone to a new phone, the differences are noticeable, and it's exactly the same for drivers.

The build and aesthetics of the TSR are all about being sleek and aerodynamic, minimal and classy, all while being unmistakable Titleist. The Sure-Fit weight track system in the TSR3 is concealed in the rear skirt of the head and is extremely clever. 

This feature is not about setting the club up for draws and fades by moving the CG location but placing the weight behind where you tend to strike the ball on the face. Neutral in the middle of the sweet spot, heel or toe on either side to increase your consistency and put the meat where it's needed. And it works. It's an update to the same system used in the TSi3, which was the most popular driver model on the PGA Tour in 2022.
 
Titleist has also done much work on their clubface over the past few years. The TSR face is manufactured in Pittsburgh by Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI). It is made of a titanium alloy with higher yield and tensile strength, which allows engineers to have tighter tolerances for face thickness in production. 

The TSR1, TSR2, and TSR4 have Titleist's new Multi-Plateau Variable Face Thickness design, which means a much bigger and more responsive sweet spot on the face. Golfers who only sometimes make contact with the centre of the clubface will get a much better strike, especially with the TSR2.

Which one should I buy?

One thing we like about the TSR family of drivers is the clear division between the four drivers released.

The SureFit hosel is retained in all four models, and it's everything you need to set the driver up to suit you. Upright or flat, more or less loft, setup for draws and fades.

We have a whole article on which Titleist TSR is right for you and also a video on how to adjust your TSR driver.

So, should you upgrade to the TSR driver?

Feel free to use Golfbidder to start your part-exchange if you already own a driver from a major brand that is only a year or two old, but don't expect huge gains in distance and forgiveness.

But, if you own something five or so years old and want something new, with the knowledge that it's the best of the best out there, then you will see a noticeable improvement in performance when you get your hands on the Titleist TSR driver.