Demo Days at Northway 8 in Clifton Park provided me with my long anticipated, first opportunity to demo clubs from golf’s master craftsman, Jesse Ortiz of Bobby Jones Golf.  As I mentioned in my brief review of the TaylorMade Tour Burner, my swing isn’t quite where I’d like it to be, so I admittedly wasn’t able to make the most of my swings.  The upside is that Northway 8 will begin stocking the entire Bobby Jones lineup, so there will be more chances in the future.

My flippy, over-the-top, chickenwing swing aside, I hit about 15 balls each with the Bobby Jones Workshop driver, Fairway woods, and renowned lineup of hybrids.

Workshop Driver

It’s a struggle to describe the shape of the Workshop driver.  In a world where square drivers are becoming commonplace, the Bobby Jones Workshop driver definitely has a unique look at address.  While Bobby Jones Golf describes their new driver as having a ‘dynamic triangle’ shape.  To my eye, it’s not square, not pear, and not triangular, it quite simply is what it is; a combination of the 3.

To my eyes, the shape of the head gives it the appearance of being larger than the 460cc that it actually is.  The illusion of added mass inspires a confidence I don’t get from other clubs.  The scooped sole design looks great as well.  It’s probably for the best that I don’t currently own one of these.  It’s such a beautifully crafted club, that I’m not sure I’d actually want to hit a ball with it; not at the risk of damaging the fantastic looking sole.

As for the stuff that matters most, you know, performance…  The Bobby Jones Workshop Driver isn’t the most forgiving driver on the market in 2008, but it’s fairly high up on the list.  If you need every ounce of possible forgiveness, look at Sumo², or a Callaway FT-i.  If you’ve got any margin for error, the Workshop Driver warrants serious consideration.

I’m not going to get into a debate about distance.  Firstly, for most amateurs, it’s overrated.  Secondly, As I’ve said numerous times before; the vast majority of drivers on the market today are built to USGA limits.  There simply isn’t 10 yards difference to be had from one to the next.  What matters more are the closely related elements of sound in feel.  In both categories, the Workshop Driver is a winner.  I’ve often spoken highly of the feel of Titeliest, and TaylorMade drivers.  While maybe not quite the equal of a Titleist in that regard, it’s darn close.

The lack of custom shaft options in the Bobby Jones lineup is a bit disappointing (actually, it’s a total bummer).  That said, I really enjoyed swinging the Workshop Driver, and the Graphite Designs JS-6 and JS-7 shafts are better than average stock options.  As much as I like the Nike Sumo 5000 (and I really do like it), if given the choice of any of the 2008 drivers I’ve tried so far, without hesitation, I’m putting the Jones Workshop driver in my bag.

Fairway Woods

I managed to catch a few flush with the Jones Fairway woods (albeit with an open club face).  The feel is outstanding, and distance appears comparable to other leading fairway woods on the market.  Unfortunately, it can’t rotate your hands for you.

In my opinion, what really stands out about the Jones Fairway wood is the size of the head.  While the industry trends seems to be to make fairway heads larger (in some cases they look the like the 350cc drivers of 3 years ago), the Jones head is quite shallow and compact.

My guess is that in the age of mammoth heads, some people will be put off by the diminutive size of the Jones fairway.  I prefer smallish heads in my fairway woods.  With any club the visual perception of the golfer is huge.  For me, large heads look unwieldy and don’t inspire much confidence on close-cropped fairways.  The Jones fairway, however; does nothing but inspire confidence.  I love the look of this club at address.

For Demo Days, we’re all pretty much stuck hitting off of range mats, which means I don’t have a clear picture, or any picture for that matter, of how the Jones fairway wood will perform out of the rough.  Based on the numerous other review I’ve read, however; I think it’s reasonable to assume that performance out of the tall grass is among the very best in this category.

Hybrids

We’ve been hearing about Jones hybrids for a couple of years now.  In truth they’ve developed an almost cult like following among their proponents.  In fact, it was the multitude of positive reviews of Jones hybrids that sparked my interest in the brand.  Come to think of it, I don’t ever recall seeing one single negative review of a Jones hybrid anywhere.

Again, I was only able to test the Jones hybrids off the mat.  I could go on and on about how much I love the feel (and more so the look) of these clubs, but perhaps the best compliment I can pay the Bobby Jones hybrid is this; If you were to switch out my Titleist 585H with a Jones hybrid, I’d be plenty ok with it.

Now truthfully I’m not going to spend money to replace a 1 year old club that I’m very happy with, but if I had to restock my bag from scratch tomorrow, I’d be hard pressed not to take the Jones over the Titleist.  At a minimum I’d take one of each.

Wedges

Based on the amount of traffic to this site from people looking for info on the new Bobby Jones Pelz Wedges, I’m not the only one who’s more than a little curious about Jesse Ortiz’s latest creations.  Unfortunately, the Bobby Jones Sales Rep didn’t receive any wedges in time for Demo Days, so I wasn’t able to get a look at them.  Sorry, I’ve got nothing for you, but I’ll keep trying.

Final Thoughts

Overall I’m very impressed with the entire lineup of Bobby Jones woods and hybrids.  The smaller heads of the fairway woods and hybrids may not appeal to every golfer, but to my eyes, they’re pretty much the ideal design.

The Workshop Driver is the best looking, best sounding, and best feeling new driver of 2008.  At least among those that I’ve tried thus far.  If I was in the market for a new driver, the Workshop drive would be first on my list.  Actually, I’m giving some thought to buying one anyway…

Kudos to the Jones rep (Greg) for not only remembering me from one day to the next, but also for remembering the ridiculous conversation I had with my wife on day 1 about bar stools (she came with me day 2, and they had a nice little chat about those stools).  Also, Kudos to Greg for giving me some feedback on my swing (it was particularly atrocious).  I’ve applied some of what we discussed, and I feel like I’m swinging the club better than I have in a couple of years.

Personal stories aside, there isn’t a club in the Bobby Jones lineup that wouldn’t be a welcome addition to my bag.