Titleist TSi3 Driver Review - Club Twirls are in Its DNA

There's something sensual about absolutely mashing your drive, splitting the fairway, and having the confidence to believe it's something you can duplicate every time you grab driver from the bag.  I can tell you this because it's exactly what I've experienced with the new Titleist TSi3 driver.

Titleist has implemented its most advanced technologies into the TSi3, making it a driver that delivers relentless distance and accuracy.

Before I was even dialed into an ideal shaft and SureFit CG track setting during my fitting, I could tell on my first handful of swings the TSi3 driver face was hotter than my previous gen TS3 across a wider hitting area.  You can read about my fitting impressions and how TSi3 compared to TSi2 in my Instagram post below.

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Titleist uses a new ATI 425 aerospace titanium with TSi3 that gives you all kinds of performance benefits.  Foremost being longer, more consistent distance and improved dispersion - on both good and not so good strikes.  I've hit longer and more accurate drives with TSi3 than any Titleist driver I've played before  And it's happened time and time again since putting this in play back in October near release.

 

Mishits high on the face, low on the face, and out towards the toe have produced distance gains a good 10 to 15 yards better than my TS3.  I kid you not.  And I'm legitimately talkin about misses a full ball away from center strikes.  The new face is clearly faster (or hotter) than the previous model.  And maybe more importantly, the face is also more efficient.

Some drivers on the market boast a larger or more optimized sweet spot, but they're really not consistent around the face.  By that I mean, yes distance is improved or accuracy is improved, but there's still great variety of distance or accuracy loss around the face when you miss perfect center.

 

With the TSi3 driver however, I saw similar kinds of distance and accuracy on mishits across all areas of the face (up, down, left, right gave me much more consistent performance and results).  And that's a huge advantage and peace of mind to know I can go after it even when I'm not swinging my best.

Titleist clearly also did something to improve stability.  Directional dispersion on both my best strikes and mishits has been consistently tighter than with TS3.  I've hit a few of those "oh no" drives (when you immediately feel poor contact at impact), and was amazed how long and playable these drives nevertheless remained.  And misses are not only less punitive in distance and direction loss, they're also closer in distance and dispersion to even my good strikes.

 

I suspect some of the distance gains I've seen can also be attributed to the lower spin head design and more boring flight.  TSi3 trajectory is stronger than TS3.  It's a faster, longer lasting flight.  You watch shots that take off fast, and continue screaming past peak height and into decent with no slow down.  I'm not sure how much higher this launches than the previous model, but it's plenty high enough to still help slower swingers.  And decent is clearly shallower which benefits all player types.

 

TSi3 is also designed to be more aerodynamic than TS3 (Titleist says drag is reduced up to 15-percent).  This of course can translate to greater clubhead speed and consequently more ball speed.  Honestly, I can't distinguish the new aerodynamics during my swing.  But there's no denying I'm hitting this father.  What I can feel however is that greater stability, and as mentioned earlier that just gives me the confidence to go full send every time I'm hitting driver.

 

Appearance wise, the TSi3 driver finish is a deeper, juicer black than the previous model.  And the hitting area of the face has an obvious contrast that I found mentally locks me in more with better framing of the ball.  It also has an overall rounder shape that lets you see more of the face (especially near the toe).

The SureFit CG track has five different settings to fine tune CG and ball flight, and a SureFit hosel offering 16 different loft and lie combinations.  Even if you can't get fit for this driver, I strongly encourage you experiment with these settings to precisely match your swing and optimize performance.  TSi3 adjustability is exceptional, and this alone makes it one of the best drivers of 2021.

 

In the sound department this is less metallic than TS3.  It's more thwack sounding than the louder crack of the previous model.  I normally think sound is predominantly about preference more than performance.  But in this case I believe the different acoustic actually delivers more and better feel.

 

In just six months the TSi3 driver has given me some of the most memorable drives of my life.  On two different occasions I took on the toughest risk-reward driving hole at Inverness Club and couldn't have placed my ball in the fairway more perfectly.  At my home course Manakiki I hit the longest drive I've ever hit on the closing hole.  And on a ridiculously windy day at The Ocean Course at Kiawah I hit every fairway on the spiteful back-nine but one.

Causality?  I can't say for sure.  But one thing I do know with certainty.  The new Titlist TSi3 driver is even better than advertised.  And club twirls are in its DNA.