The Loop
Trend Settings: Gauging interest in adjustable drivers
Wrench set: Is adjustability still a selling point?
Have adjustable drivers become so popular that golfers have stopped noticing the feature? A recent Golf Datatech study of serious golfers (15 or more rounds a year) shows a modest decline in enthusiasm for adjustable drivers for the first time since 2010. Last spring, 79 percent of golfers said they were interested in purchasing an adjustable driver. While still high, that number was down to 71 percent in the current study. More than 95 percent of drivers from major manufacturers being introduced for next year will be adjustable.
As the report's authors note: "It may be that adjustability has become so common that serious golfers no longer view it as 'special' and are now expecting it in their driver, similar to 'distance' in a golf ball." Curiously, the number of single-digit players "not interested" in an adjustable driver grew the most, up from 13 per- cent in the spring to 22 percent in the current study