That Thunderclap You Heard was My New Adams Speedline Tech Driver

By: Jay Flemma


It was not thunder, it was not a sonic boom, it was not the Pittsburgh Steelers linebackers sacking a quarterback, and it was not the detonation of enough C-4 to stop a herd of charging brontosauruses (brontosauri?). That teeth-rattling, bone-shaking, earth-moving, Pangea-breaking cataclysm was my brand spankin' new Adams Speedline Tech driver turning fairways into rubble.

SpeedlineTech-1

"Whoa! Where'd that come from?!" my playing partner asked incredulously as my drive, a towering moon shot with exactly one click of a fade landed in the dead-center of the fairway 290 yards away, dropping softly like a paratrooper . . . just like I drew it up on the chalkboard.

"I'm curious about that myself," I thought. Even I was markedly impressed. When I hit my old Cobra properly, it went a country mile, but the Adams Speedline Tech is another league all together.

They call the Speedline Tech (hereafter "S.T."), the latest, greatest Adams driver. They may well be right. The club exceeded my expectations and the company's hype. Its swing feel, set-up appearance, launch angle, and workability are top notch. I'm hitting more fairways, I've picked up a few yards and, most importantly, I'm working the ball both ways off the tee, executing the shots I plan. (So this is what "Position A" looks like.) Many people will find its adjustability another bonus, but frankly, if you learn to swing the club properly, you'll only need that feature to dial in specific golf courses' set-ups and routings.

Swing Feel & Weighting

When you swing a golf club, it has to feel smooth, well-balanced and have a workable grip. Weight is highly individual; some prefer a weighted driver for tempo, others prefer the lighter weight classes. With its titanium head and scalloped carbon fiber wing, the ST is remarkably light yet hot-faced. As a bonus, the wing helps you feel if you swing the club properly, swing it off line and it feels noticeably heavier. Much is made of the ST being long - 46 inches instead of the normal 45, but that only comes into play if you don't swing the club properly. Despite my personal preference for a driver where the center of gravity is weighted through the sweet spot, I find that when I swing the ST, a shaft-oriented weighted club, the results are superb.

Our only complaint is the grip. It's a little slippery and makes me grip the club a little more tightly than is probably best. Something a little tackier next time, please.

Performance

The club can hit the high fade and the low draw. The natural launch angle on a normal golf swing is a towering moon shot, high and straight. The draw comes out a little higher than with my old Cobra and with a little less spin, but my consistency and accuracy have improved markedly.

Looks

From the top, the metallic black paint job looks classic. You only notice the scalloped wing when looking at it from the bottom, which admittedly looks reedonkyoulous, but hey, if it hits fairways and outdrives your lugnut golf buddies, who cares what it looks like?

Conclusion

It's an adjustable driver, but I don't need it! I'm working the ball both ways just as it came out of the box (although some if that is also attributable to the eagle eye of Paramount Country Club head professional Steve Scott . . . one two-minute lesson worked wonders!).

I hit last year's Speedline well in demo testing, but some of the shots I've hit with the ST are downright criminal. I love it. Come play with me. Just bring your Band-Aids and your Bactine. You'll need them.

Adams Speedline Tech Driver
Loft tested (degrees): 9.5
Shaft: Matrix RUL 54

Hat tip: Tony Korologos and Bobby Wilson

Since launching his first golf writing website in 2004, http://jayflemma.thegolfspace.com, Jay Flemma 's comparative analysis of golf designs and knowledge of golf course architecture and golf travel have garnered wide industry respect. In researching his book on America's great public golf courses (and whether they're worth the money), Jay, an associate editor of Cybergolf, has played over 420 nationally ranked public golf courses in 40 different states, and covered seven U.S. Opens and six PGA Championships, along with one trip to the Masters. A four-time award-winning sportswriter, Jay was called the best sports poet alive by both Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports writers and broadcasters. Jay has played about 3 million yards of golf - or close to 2,000 miles. His pieces on travel and architecture appear in Golf Observer (www.golfobserver.com), Cybergolf, PGA.com, Golf Magazine and other print magazines. When not researching golf courses for design, value and excitement, Jay is an entertainment, copyright, Internet and trademark lawyer and an Entertainment and Internet Law professor in Manhattan. His clients have been nominated for Grammy and Emmy awards, won a Sundance Film Festival Best Director award, performed on stage and screen, and designed pop art for museums and collectors. Jay lives in Forest Hills, N.Y., and is fiercely loyal to his alma maters, Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts and Trinity College in Connecticut.