Takomo Ignis D2 driver: What you need to know
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Takomo, the Finland-based club company that’s built a following for its relatively low-cost better-player clubs in the direct-to-consumer space, is introducing its second driver, the Ignis D2. The D2 follows last year’s launch of the D1, a low-spin offering with multiple hosel settings and sole weighting adjustability. The D2’s approach seeks more universal appeal with an emphasis on higher launch and consistent spin, driven by its larger footprint, deeper center of gravity and new springier titanium alloy face insert.
PRICE: $330, (9, 10.5 degrees, with eight-way adjustable hosel at +/- 2 degrees).
3 Cool Things
1. High society. In many ways, the Takomo Ignis D2 is kind of an everyman driver. That’s easy to see by its defining mantra, according to Teemu Laine, Takomo’s head of product. The goal he said was “making the driver as forgiving as possible.” That forgiveness takes the form of its larger overall address area, as well as with heel, toe and deep center internal weighting. A lightweight carbon composite crown also helps to lower the overall center of gravity, which helps lead to the higher ball flight with the driver that most golfers need the most help with. Reducing the weight ports in the sole to one (from two on the D1) and placing it in the rear helps to create additional launch through more dynamic loft coming into impact, Laine indicated.
“Removing the two weight ports allowed us to save weight in more than the weights alone, as the weight port design itself carries quite significant weight,” he said. “The saved weight has been moved further out in the toe and heel, as well as behind the back weight. This new weight positioning has moved the center of gravity further back, which creates a higher launch angle along with higher spin rates. Based on the D1 feedback, the consumers regarded it as quite low-spinning, which we wanted to fix for D2.”
2. About face. The Takomo Ignis D2 driver makes use of a lighter, more flexible HST160C titanium alloy that has been developed specifically for use in drivers. Compared to traditional titanium alloys (Ti 6-4, which is an alloy made of aluminum and vanadium), HST160C is specifically engineered to flex more dynamically for better, more consistent ball speeds. “With the new material, we can have thinner body walls, a thinner face, and make sure that the structure is still strong enough while flexing as intended,” Laine said. “HST160C is great at elastically deforming and returning to the original shape, essentially helping with the spring-like effect. Thinner walls save weight, especially when combined with the carbon crown, and that saved weight has again been used elsewhere to move the CG further back.”
Rather than a separate face insert, which is common among most premium drivers because it affords more design freedom in terms of face mass, face thickness and face flexibility, the Ignis D2 body, sole and face is cast as one piece with the crown a formed piece of lightweight carbon composite. The face also features variable thickness, Laine said, noting the overall casting creates efficiencies, in addition to cost savings.
“While doing so, we can avoid one structural liability in the welding of the face insert but can still draw the benefits of a variable-thickness face,” he said. “The face itself is thicker at the sweet spot right in the center of the face, thinner around the center, and it has four further thinner spots in high and low toe and high and low heel.”
3. Multiple personalities. The Ignis D2 comes standard with a 3-gram weight in a rear port, but an optional 8-gram weight is also included. That allows players to play a heavier head that better matches with a slightly shorter shaft. The heavier weight option also pushes the CG even further back for higher launch.
While it maintains a neutral face angle, the D2 also features a more upright standard lie angle, which should help many average players to counteract their slicing ball flight, and the adjustability can push the lie angle another degree upright for even more draw bias. Altogether, there are eight settings on the adjustable hosel that range from plus/minus two degrees of loft.
In addition, the Ignis D2 comes standard with the higher-launching Ventus Red shafts (stiff and regular), but is also offered in Ventus Blue (5R to 6X).