3balls Golf
Phillip W. Young had no idea what he was getting into when he founded the Acushnet Processing Company in 1910. Initially, they produced uncured rubber for industrial applications. By the 1920s they were experimenting with fabricating molded rubber. In 1930, the first Titleist golf ball rolled off the lines. Design for astounding accuracy, it was known for its well-centered weighting. But it would be another 50 years before Titleist’s first driver appeared.
The original 1984 Metal Woods were traditional shaped clubs, with silver and gray club heads. They came in just two lofts: 9 degrees and 12 degrees, both clubs were 43 inches long and had a 54 degree lie angle. This driver was basic, but it would be the beginning of something beautiful for the Titleist company.
By the late 1990s, Titleist had tried their hand with several drivers. They manufactured the DCI Starship Driver, the KnowRight Metal Driver and the DTR Midsize Metal Driver. Each of these clubs offered a feature or two to help players with specific swings. The Starship had an extra large head for players with inconsistent swings. KnowRight attempted to compensate for swings that tend to pull to the right. And the DTR Midsize was intended to get the ball higher in the air.
The 975 line were the first drivers that Titleist created with features modern golfers would recognize. Introduced in 1998 and built through the early 2000s, the bigger club heads, thinner faces, and more forward centers of gravity on these clubs changed the game for players who had struggled with the much smaller, harder to play clubs of the 1980s and 1990s. These same features continued to be refined with the 983 and 905 series.
The D2 and D3 drivers we know and love today were launched in 2009 with the 909 series. Their comparatively giant heads (460cc and 440cc, respectively), very low centers of gravity, and reduced ball spin helped create straighter, longer drives, for Titleist fans, than anything that had come before. The SureFit hosel appeared in the 910 series, allowing independent adjustments to loft and lie, along with small enhancements to the already outstanding features of the Titleist 910D2 and Titleist 910D3 drivers.
The newest kids on the block are the Titleist 913D2 and 913D3, and they’ve gone even further from their roots. The D2 has a huge, forgiving 460cc full pear-shaped head, designed for experienced weekend players, while the D3’s 445cc standard pear-shaped head is tuned for the longer drives and better workability that semi-pros and professionals demand.
