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  1. #1
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    "tour van" or "tour issue" drivers

    i have been seeing lots of these drivers on ebay lately...

    they generally have no serial numbers or the numbers they have refer to the tour...

    how are these clubs different from normal oem stuff...

    is the GBB ii pro series any different in the "tour issue" variety...

    curious what anyone knows about this subject in general...

  2. #2
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    Thanks to Big hitter at bomb squad golf for this explanation of how a tour drivers differs from retail one.



    The titanium used in the production of the Tour heads is generally NOT the same as the retail models. It is a very high grade titanium which is stronger and less prone to failure. The average player will never hit 10,000 balls with his driver like a Tour pro will, and thus, has no real need for this quality of materials. It is also more free of imperfections, and much more costly to tool because of the hardness. This grade is mildly heavier, but that is not of great concern because no Tour player plays a 46 inch driver. Just a few grams heavier, which is why you will always see the weight discrepency in Tour and retail heads, even raw and unweighted.

    The COG in the Tour heads is almost ALWAYS at a different point than the retail models, generating a mildly lower ball flight and spin rate that most good players desire. There also are NO weight bias' built into the head, unlike retail heads which 99% of the time, have a heel weight bias. This is pretty much true with all Tour drivers no matter what the companies might LIKE the consumer to believe. With a Tour driver, the COG is generally around 2-3mm higher in the Tour head, which results in about 1-1.5 degree of launch angle lower, and 300-600 rpm of spin rate lower than the retail heads. Of course, this can vary slightly.

    In Tour fairway woods and utilities, there will also be a mildly higher COG, and either neutral or fade bias built into the COG of the head. 99% of retail fairways and utilities have a heel/draw bias, and generally a more upright lie angle to help the "average" player control their slice.

    Of course we all know the face angle is generally square or open on a Tour head, but this is an adjustment made by the Tour department or van, and is really not relevant to any production or internal differences, but is still a difference none the less.

    All heads are also tested and conform to the maximum allowable COR.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by AJW

    The average player will never hit 10,000 balls with his driver like a Tour pro will.
    Give me a break will you...that's the problem with internet advice. Lots of the time it's just from some dude trying to be overly theatrical. Pro's probably don't even use the same driver for more than six months.

    If someone gave me five Tm R7 drivers to hit,(all with the same shaft) and one was a "tour van" and the other four were retail, and I hit ten balls with each without having any idea which was the "tour van", would I know it when I hit the "tour van"?

    I wouldn't bet money on it...
    Last edited by Chili Dipp; 02-09-2005 at 11:01 AM.

  4. #4
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    I agree with chili dipp 99%, the other 1% is just that maybe a tour player could tell that difference but 99.9% of amateurs probably wont.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by joshmv
    I agree with chili dipp 99%, the other 1% is just that maybe a tour player could tell that difference but 99.9% of amateurs probably wont.
    You obviously haven't hit a tour club then

    If you can't feel the difference you've got to have metal hooks for hands, they're much more solid and muted than retail drivers. It's something you can't really explain, you'll know when you hit it though.

    Tour clubs aren't better for everybody obviously, but they do have their niche in the market and there is a huge difference.

  6. #6
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    i actually have a tour cg10 wedge along with my retail cg10's and that's where I'm getting my experience. If your wondering if I just suck thats not the case and I consider myself pretty good at telling the slight differences between clubs but maybe drivers are different.

  7. #7
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    Tour Van Clubs?

    Ever wonder how these eBay sellers get hold of “TOUR VAN STOCK”? Somehow I don’t think the OEM’s hand out used drivers to any Joe Blow passing by, or caddies for that matter.
    Currently there are a lot of counterfeit clubs on the market, and I bet most are being hawked on eBay. I recall reading a newspaper article about this problem last year.
    I know of one reputable golf retailer who got burnt for $500 when he took a set of “Callaway” irons in on trade, turns out they were copies. Of course those clubs were so damn good they passed as the real thing. Only when the RCMP showed up at the store to collect them did the retailer find out they were fakes.
    Buyer Beware on anything that has no serial numbers, listed as TOUR VAN products etc.
    I prefer to hold the clubs in my hands before I lay out my hard earned money on them.
    Last edited by Golfbum; 02-12-2005 at 04:27 PM.
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  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Golfbum
    Ever wonder how these eBay sellers get hold of “TOUR VAN STOCK”? Somehow I don’t think the OEM’s hand out used drivers to any Joe Blow passing by, or caddies for that matter.
    Currently there are a lot of counterfeit clubs on the market, and I bet most are being hawked on eBay. I recall reading a newspaper article about this problem last year.
    I know of one reputable golf retailer who got burnt for $500 when he took a set of “Callaway” irons in on trade, turns out they were copies. Of course those clubs were so damn good they passed as the real thing. Only when the RCMP showed up at the store to collect them did the retailer find out they were fakes.
    Buyer Beware on anything that has no serial numbers, listed as TOUR VAN products etc.
    I prefer to hold the clubs in my hands before I lay out my hard earned money on them.
    First of all, any person looking to buy a tour club would 1) know what a fake would look like 2) know enough to buy from a reputable seller.

    These things get on the market because pros get drivers for free all the time from a bunch of different caddies, it's ridiculous. They obviously can't "sell" them, so they just hand them off to their caddy to make a little profit on them or get a tour club liquidater to come buy some from the garage. That's how they're introduced to the market, you just have to knowledgable.

  9. #9
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    The talk about tour this and tour that is all bull!!!!! The only difference between the Pros equipment and ours is that the pros have a team of club builders at there disposal to tweak their equipment for their swing! THAT IS IT, PERIOD! They add weight here, reduce weight there, change shaft combinations all in a search to find each professional's Holly Grail of a club! Sure they get the newest greatest stuff out of their Companies R&D department but by no means are those differences standard throughout the industry. It's just like racing vehicles. Some stuff works and some stuff doesn't! Some of the stuff will find it's way to the general public in the near future. The fact is anyone with a ton of cash can pay to go through a factory fitting (I don't mean the local proshop fitting either) where they'll put you through the ringer getting your equipment dialed in for your swing. Stuff designed to work for Tiger Woods ain't going to work for Vijay Singh or John Daly so why do you think it's going to be that much better for you?

  10. #10
    There is no way they are investing in "different tooling" to make "tour clubs". That's just silly. The difference in the Ti's machinability would be nill. Also, use your head. If there was actually a "truly different version" being made well then..............they would sell it to you!!!!!1 That's what they do, sell things for money[duh]. Even if it cost 5 times as much, you would find schmuks who would pay for it. Do I believe pros get different clubs, yep. They get the cream of the crop, and they test a buttload of drivers and take the highest (legal) performing ones, etc..

  11. #11
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    Guys,

    There are people in a Tour Van tweaking OEM equipment for PGA Tour players. However, I'm sure the equipment that comes and goes out of the van is not for sale nor advertised to the general public. In my opinion, "Tour Van" or "Tour Issue" are merely terms. These terms are used loosely, and whored around by Sellers to get you hot and horny to buy the product from them.

    If you came across a club identified as "Tour Van" or "Tour Issue", how would you know if it was actually authentic? Makes you wonder if the club was merely a cast off from the tour van, stolen goods or simply a counterfeit doesn't it?

    Yes, OEM manufacturers do design clubs for certain prominent Tour Players to their specifications. These specifications may be a variety of things, but not certainly not material. If you believe that they use special materials for Tour guys and crap for the public, then you must also believe that Callaway golf balls use special dust from the moon to make them longer than any other ball.
    Last edited by the hummer; 03-29-2005 at 07:22 PM.

  12. #12

    Talking Newest Taylormade R9 driver

    I found 2 kinds of Taylormade R9 drivers, are coming for 2010.
    All are 460cc, but no R9 460 model, please look the following link:

    http://www.discountgolfclubsequipmen...5-rh-p-87.html

    http://www.discountgolfclubsequipmen...iver-p-80.html

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