I have recently purchased two of these from a well known auction site. On first view this a small headed club, don't be fooled though, this performs with the correct setup. The next thing to say is there is very little forgiveness in this head, if you are not a pure striker you will struggle. This though is what I like about it. The club is much more controllable than my g30 and goes further out the middle. If you want distance small headed quality clubs are the way forward. The problem with g30 and the like is the 460cc heads and light weight make it difficult to bring the sweet spot into the middle of the ball, its like swinging a balloon on a broom handle, hence the large sweet spots. The SMT is not light and requires you to have the the ability to generate true club head speed to get maximum performance. I have a 9* (launch angle is .25 greater) with a 42 inch bi matrix regular shaft weighing in at E1 swing weight. This setup provides a penetrating ball flight with some good roll out, excellent for windy days. I have a second driver 11* again .25 greater launch angle fitted with Aldila DVS regular shaft in regular length. This setup provides a very high yet penetrating ball flight, seemingly this flies the ball into the jet stream here in the UK, I get awesome carry with this set up, maybe 15 yards more than my 10.5* G30. All round a wonderful club for ball strikers.

I just got this spectrum 8* loft fitted with a Penley ETA tour X stiff shaft. I purchased this to replace quite an excellent club that I had assembled last year because I wanted a lower shot trajectory. All I can say is WOW!! I had contacted SMT golf to ask what loft they recommended for my 110-115 mph clubhead speed, and I received an email the next day from the founder of SMT golf. He recommended an 8* head, so that is what I purchased. I had averaged about 290 yards with my previous club, but due to the "latest and greatest technology setting the CG as far back and low as possible", my trajectory was much higher than I wanted it with the 9* head and spine-aligned UST proforce V2 shaft. The results with the Spectrum have far exceeded my expectations!! I golfed yesterday and hit drives ranging from 290 (uphill and hit slightly off the toe) to 350 (and that included an uphill landing and having to carry a 50' pine tree about 270 yards from the tees). Even better, I hit 10 fairways and the ones I didn't hit I wasn't more than 10' off.

The most impressive thing to me, though, is the workability this club offers. I have been able to open my stance slightly and hit a nice power fade, or if I really want to crush on set up slightly closed, turn my front shoulder in and hit a nice low draw that runs a good 15-20 yards after it lands. Tee it low and hit a rope into the wind, or tee it up a bit to clear some trees to cut the corner on a par five. I have had my three best rounds of the year since getting this club, and broke 80 for the first time in five years yesterday. I know that conventional knowledge says that driving is not all that important, but I couldn't disagree more. When you are constantantly hitting short irons and wedges into greens (and I always play the back tees), as opposed to mid-long irons, golf is a much easier game. I do have to admit that if I putted better, I would now easily be shooting in the 70's (I am averaging about 32-33 putts per round, but I'm working on that), but the fact is that I average that many putts and am flirting with 70's already.

The best thing about custom club-making is that you can fit the club perfectly to your swing, as well as using the top-line shafts available. Not to mention that without all the advertising costs, this club cost me less than $200 and beats everything else I have tried. Hands-down the best driver/shaft combination I have ever experienced.

Customer Service

Mike at SMT is great, and very willing to offer help/suggestions. They have the best warranty in golf, which I hope I never have to utilize.

Similar Products Used:

Taylor Made R7 quad, Snake Eyes 650T (very good club too, similar to the Taylor Made), Cleveland Hi-Bore.

I had this club custom fit for me a couple of weeks ago and I took it to the driving range last week and used it to play a round today. I have to say that this club goes a ton! I am a sceptic of companies that state your drives will go 20 yards further than normal, but this driver fits the bill. It is amazing how the ball screams off of the clubface. I used the Deep Red most recently and was consistently over 300 yards with it, with a long of 362 yards. At the driving range, I was flying the 300 yard marker with the SMT and decided to stop hitting since the ball was landing on the fairway of a par 3 hole! I have always used 3 brands of drivers since I started to play golf 18 years ago and this is the first club I bought that was not a corporate brand name. I wish that I would have discovered them sooner. I am sold and will be an SMT customer from now on.

Customer Service

Not needed at this time

Similar Products Used:

Ping Si3 8.5* w/ XXS Bang prototype shaft/46", Taylor Made 7.5* w/XXS UST Proforce 65 shaft/ 45.75", Wilson Deep Red 7.5* with Graffaloy Tour XS flex shaft/45" (This is an awesome club, much better than the Ping and the Taylor Made, pretty close to the SMT, but not quite).

I bought this driver head because I heard SMT was good quality and I couldn't afford $300 for a TM R540XD. It's a really good head to look down on at address as it's not too big (391cc) and not the typical pear like the 983. It has no grooves on the face but you can still work the ball (or in my case slice or hook). The ball just springs off the face whether you hit it in the sweetspot or off-center, but (as with everything else) you'll lose distance with off-center hits. When you hit it though, the ball goes a loooong way and fast. SMT heads have won many long drive championships as well. I would recommend a heavier shaft for it, though, as it is very light. It took a Winn grip, a 10gm weight down the shaft (Grafalloy ProLite 35-S) and 5gm lead tape on the head to get it to a D2 swing weight. It was a C7 without the weight. The Spectrum also plays about 1/4* weaker than specified. So, the 10* is actually 10.25*. If I would have known that I would have gone with a 9*. By the way, SMT makes drivers with lofts ranging from that of a putter up to 12*. If you're in the market for a new driver and don't have a lot of money to offer, give the SMT Spectrum a try. At $109 (head only plus $10 rebate) it's tough to beat. You could have yourself a top shelf driver for about $160 depending on shaft/grip choice and assembly costs.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Titleist 983K/E, TaylorMade R540XD