In the vein of hot and sexy golf clubs, I figured it was time to roll out the red carpet and call up Joan and Melissa Rivers to meticulously judge the gowns and hair styles of the nominees. Just kidding, but I have poured over what I think are the best looking drivers of all time and have come up with the following list, in order.

And the winners are…

1) Titleist 975 J Driver

This was Titleist’s second titanium driver in the 975 series. The “J” came with a larger head than the “D” version. The “J” was a traditional pear shape that gave it a classic presentation at address. The shaft that I played was the True Temper EI-70 but this driver was the first that I remember guys “tinkering” with. Shafts were changed at will in this head and some spectacular combinations were found, I am sure. I liked the color scheme the best. The head was a flecked gray or silver which made it look like a traditional steel headed driver. Beautiful.

2) Callaway Great Big Bertha

This was Callaway’s first titanium driver and was a beauty. They used the WarBird sole plate on this head and the soft gray color set this driver apart from a variety of others. The head was beautiful looking and played great. Any contact on the toe of the club produced a bombing hook that would run for miles. I can recall almost all of our college team playing either the Titleist or the GBB. Some of us played both at different times.

3) Taylor Made 510 TP

The jet black crown of this club just looked like it was humming. This was a beauty. Round and very traditionally shaped, the 510 TP was the Taylor Made company’s resurgence into the “better player market.” They had already proven they could make drivers for most golfers, this one proved that they had not lost touch with the tour player or the better amateur. The best part of this club was the shaft. At the time, the Fujikura Speeder 757 was all the rage. At an arm and a leg for pricing, very few had a chance to play it on a regular basis. Taylor Made used that shaft as the “stock” shaft in this club. They painted it a slick cherry red and chrome color and it looked phenomenal. Many manufacturers followed suit later and stocked their drivers with “upgraded” shafts.

4) The Ping Blonde/Black

I will catch some flak for this one as they were not persimmon, but you have to remember, I am only 34 so the persimmon wood had passed me by when I got involved. These were laminated woods and looked beautiful. The shapes were traditional wood, pear shapes, but they came in 2 different colors. The Blonde looked like a traditional wood driver, while the black was colored to set it apart and offer a different presentation at address. The shaft was “whipped” to the head and looked great.

5) The Cobra “original”

This was the driver that Tiger used to win the 1997 Masters tournatment. The head was gray and the face was the first, I can remember, to use different grove paterns to control the spin of the ball off the face. The crown had the distinctive “dimples” or “depressions” in it that made the face more stable. This technology would be used on almost all their drivers since then. This was a beaut.

Stay tuned for part 2 later in the week.

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