The new Titleist GTS4 driver isn't dramatically faster, longer, or lower spinning than the previous GT4 driver. But it does something arguably a lot more beneficial. GTS4 produces a tighter, more predictable range of results, particularly when impact starts moving away from center.
GTS4 ball speed was only marginally higher than GT4. Launch and spin were remarkably close between both drivers. And neither model produced a headline-grabbing advantage over the other on perfect strikes. However as you're about to see GTS4 delivers repeatable performance gains that push it to maximum performance for a low spin Titleist driver.
I tested the Titleist GTS4 and GT4 drivers using the same Fujikura Ventus VeloCore+ Blue shaft, using the same Titleist Pro V1x balls, and numbers were recorded using Trackman. I hit both drivers out on the course and indoor on the sim.
Sound and Feel: Pedal to the Metal
The new Titleist GTS4 has a slightly more metallic sound and feel at impact than the GT4. GT4 is more muted but both drivers feel equally solid. GTS4 also delivers a little more feedback than GT4.
Sound and feel is always about personal preference. And so neither GTS4 or GT4 is better or worse in my opinion. If you want a driver that tells you, "Yeah, you just smashed that," then GTS4 has more of that personality. If you want a driver that subtly goes about its business, that's the GT4 vibe.
Ball Speed: GTS4 Wins but Don't Expect a Miracle
The Titleist GTS4 driver wins the speed battle but it's a small victory. I saw 1-2 mph more ball speed with the GTS4, which translated to about five additional total yards compared to GT4.
GTS4 isn't going to make you start suddenly carrying your drives 20 yards further than GT4. But speed alone isn't where GTS4 really makes its case (more on that below).
Launch and Spin: Basically a Draw
The Titleist GTS4 launched approximately 1.5 degrees higher and produced about 100 rpm more spin than GT4. Not a massive performance gap here.
An interesting twist I want to mention (to highlight the importance of getting fit if you can) is I also had a friend of mine hit both drivers and we recorded his numbers. He's a faster swing speed player than I am, well over 110 mph swing speed. And he had opposite launch and spin numbers than I did. He found GTS4 actually produced slightly lower launch and slightly lower spin.
And again I mention this just as a reminder than launch and spin numbers are extremely player-dependent. We all have different deliveries, strike locations, speeds, and angles of attack that can change performance results. Get fit if you can and don't automatically assume GTS4 will launch higher or spin more for you than GT4.
Forgiveness and Dispersion: GTS4 Starts Showing its Teeth
Both Titleist drivers are designed to be relatively neutral in flight but they didn't behave exactly the same for me. The GT4 showed a slightly more right-biased tendency, while the GTS4 showed a slightly more left-biased tendency. And normally that's a kind of difference you can really just shrug off. But GTS4 did something else much more important. GTS4 handles my big misses better.
On both left and right misses the GTS4 finished as much as eight yards closer to the center line than the GT4. And that kind of forgiveness is the difference between, "Well, that's still playable," versus "Well, at least it's in that other fairway over there somewhere."
When my swing got a little ugly (and let's be honest it eventually does for most of us) GTS4 did a better job of keeping shots from wandering too far from the fairway and that's a big advantage for the GTS4 over GT4.
Weight Settings: Things Get Even More Interesting and Revealing
The stock configuration for the Titleist GT4 puts the heavier 11 gram weight in the front port and the lighter 3 gram weight in the back port. The stock configuration for the GTS4 also puts its heavier 8 gram (track) weight in the front and the lighter 5 gram weight in the back. I was fit for a 9 gram and 4 gram weight in my GTS4 (rather than the 8 gram and 5 gram weights), but for you mad scientists out there I compared GT4 and GTS4 by switching the heavier weight in the front and back for testing.
Heavy Weight in the Back
With the heavier weights in the back of both the GTS4 and GT4 the results were very similar:
- GTS4 had about 1 mph faster ball speed
- GTS4 had about 75 rpm less spin, and
- GTS4 launched about 1.5 degrees higher.
Both drivers were more stable with the heavier weights positioned in the back rather than the front. But there was a major difference in how the face of the GTS4 and GT4 reacted with heavy weight back.
The GTS4 squared the face more naturally and more often keeping shots much closer to center line. But the GT4 didn't want to square the face as easily or often resulting in more blocks and slices. It's a difference that grabs your attention to on the launch monitor and absolutely shows up on the course. GTS4 just keeps the face in a more playable direction than GT4 more often.
Heavy Weight in the Front
When I flipped the weights around the results changed:
- GTS4 had about 1 mph slower ball speed
- GTS4 had about 50 rpm more spin, and
- GTS4 launched about 1 degree lower
Again here the really interesting part wasn't the difference in numbers as much as the difference in dispersion. GT4 produced more snap-hooks and low-left misses when my timing wasn't quite right. But these misses occurred much less frequently with the GTS4.
And I began to see this was becoming a recurring theme. GTS4 doesn't necessarily produce dramatically better results on perfect swings. But it produced better results when my swing wasn't perfect. And this is a very compelling form of forgiveness.
A Note on GTS4 and GT4 Weight Designs
The GT4 front and back weights are the same physical design and directly interchangeable. The GTS4 uses physically different front and back weight designs so if you want to experiment with different GTS4 weight combinations you can't simply swap them out (you'll need to purchase additional custom weights).
Consistency: GTS4's Quiet Superpower
Consistency might be the most compelling advantage of the Titleist GTS4 over the GT4. GTS4 produced more consistent results than the GT4 in several key categories (including):
- Ball Speed: About 0.5 mph tighter
- Launch Angle: About 0.5 degrees tighter
- Spin Rate: About 43 rpm tighter
Each of these numbers alone won't make the golf equipment world stop and gasp. But all combined they resulted in GTS4 downrange dispersion being 6+ yards tighter than the GT4. And that means you're going to see a narrower range of consistent outcomes when you pull GTS4 from your bag versus GT4.
And in my opinion that's what you want from driver. In fact I'd say consistency is one of the most valuable characteristics a driver can have. Not necessarily the single longest drive. Not necessarily your absolute fastest ball speed. But a driver that makes your average or typical drive consistently (and predictably) better. This is what GTS4 does.
Another Big Advantage: Adjustable CG Track
There's one feature that really separates the Titleist GTS4 driver from the GT4 and that's the adjustable CG track. And this gives GTS4 something GT4 simple can't provide: the ability to manipulate center of gravity to help optimize ball flight, shot shape, and even ball speed.
I tested GTS4 versus GT4 in the A-1 setting for an apples-to-apples comparison in this review but my fitting put me into a B-1 setting that made my GTS4 performance advantages even more dramatic.
The GTS4 CG track isn't just a "hey look at this cool adjustable thing" feature. It actually gives you another way to tune this driver to your swing. It allows you to work with your natural impact tendencies instead of simply accepting them. Maybe you're naturally a little heel-biased. Maybe you fight a fade. Maybe you tend to get a little too quick and occasionally send one screaming left. This gives you the tool to optimize GTS4 for what you actually do.
Conclusion
Here's the thing. I actually really like the Titleist GT4. And if you're a great ball striker, prefer the smaller head, and don't need an adjustable CG track to fine tune your ball flight GT4 makes a lot of sense. It's compact, it's low spin, and when you hit it well it's really, really good.
But there's a catch. You have to hit GT4 well. The GT4 is an excellent driver for a relatively small group of golfers who can deliver the club exactly where they want it. For everyone else? I'd take the Titleist GTS4.
GTS4 takes that same compact, low-spin driver DNA of GT4 and adds something far more valuable for a majority of players: consistency, forgiveness, and adjustability. It produced tighter ball-speed, launch, and spin windows for me. It kept my misses closer to the center line. It reduced the severity of both big left and big right misses. And that adjustable CG track gave me another powerful way to further tune performance to my swing.
Ultimately the GTS4 is the more complete package and the more useful driver adaptable for a larger group of players and skill levels.
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