Titleist has always gone by the slogan “Serious clubs, serious performance”. With the new 905 series drivers they have followed this line of thinking in building a driver geared towards the stronger player.
What Titleist has done is taken the 983 series drivers, one of the best on the market in 2003/2004 and made it even better.
On the 905 Titleist has kept the distinctive “pear-shaped” head and traditional Titleist dark grey finish. It looks much like the Titleist drivers of the past and it is, with slight modifications and upgrades. Like the 983, the 905 has two different models. The 905T at 405 cc’s is the larger of the two. It has a shallower profile and is larger from front to back to produce a slightly higher ball-flight with more spin. The 905S measures in at 395 cc’s with a deeper face for a lower spinning, penetrating ball-flight. The vast majority of golfers are going with the 905T model to improve distance and forgiveness. Perhaps the biggest change other than the size of the head is the new aluminum hosel tube that Titleist is using. This allows them to remove weight from the hosel and redistribute it in the head to areas where it is more effective. Titleist is still using their plasma weld technology giving them one of the hottest drivers in golf. The 905 series are available in an array of different stock shaft options including the Aldila NV, Graphite Desing YS-6, Grafalloy Blue, and Titleist Speeder by Fujikura. With all these options at the same price it is easy to find a match for any player considering the 905.
Just like with the 983 series the 905 is geared toward the better player. They do not provide a lot of overall forgiveness and are designed for more control and workability over ball-flight. Although the feel is not as solid as with the 983 it is still one of the best out there and the classic design is appealing to the stronger player. The most disappointing thing about the Titleist is their refusal to produce a 460 cc driver. With 3 of the top 4 players in the world using 460 cc heads it seems inevitable that eventually everybody will be using one but Titleist seems unwilling to go that route. Until they do I think we will see their sales slow down in comparison with the lofty expectations they have set for themselves. Overall the 905 is still a great driver for the better player but it seems to be a little bit behind its competitors.
Overall Rating – 70%
Target Handicap – 14 and below
Ball Flight – Low
Offset – None.
Head Size(s) – 905T (405cc), 905S (395CC)
Shafts – Titleist 4560, Graphite Design YS-6, Aldila NV 65, Titleist ProLite by Grafalloy, Titleist Speeder by Fujikura.