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In this review, I’ll be taking a look at the Titleist TSi1 driver.
The first entry in Titleist’s new TSi line of drivers, the TSi1 focuses on light weight and distance. It’s made of very lightweight components, allowing golfers with low-moderate or moderate swing speeds to generate more speed through the ball and maximize distance.
The TSi1 also features new advances in face technology, an enhanced MOI, and adjustability that is characteristic of the entire TSi line.
Just how long and forgiving is the TSi1? How does it perform on the course? Is it worth putting in the bag?
I’ll try to answer all of these questions and more in this review. Here’s what I’ll be covering:
- Ratings
- Features & Technologies
- Performance
- Look, Sound & Feel
- Where To Buy This Driver Online
- Conclusion
Read on to find out what you need to know to make an informed purchase.
Note: Unless otherwise stated, stock shafts and stock grips are used when evaluating this club. In most cases, the golf clubs reviewed on Golfstead are acquired temporarily for testing purposes and are not purchased. The review that follows is based on the personal experience and research of the author. Because everyone’s swing and body are different, results with a particular club may differ from person to person.
What are the reviews like?
The Titleist TSi1 driver has been received remarkably well by both professional critics and consumers.
Even though it didn’t make the Golf Digest 2021 Hot List, it still enjoys 5-star ratings on Golf Monthly, Golf Galaxy, and DSG, among other places.
What People Like
- a game-changer for older golfers and golfers with slower swing speeds
- very long and straight with a slight draw bias that helps slicers
- easy to swing
- great aerodynamic shape with an aesthetic that doesn’t go crazy with colours
What People Don’t Like
- only appealing to a certain subset of golfers
- not easy to buy without getting fit for it first
What are the features?
There are three main elements to the feature set of the TSi1 driver. They are:
Ultra-Lightweight Design
The TSi1 driver is nearly 40 grams lighter than comparable drivers.
Through strategic weighting and reshaping, engineers were able to position the CG for a slight draw bias, higher launch and more ball speed compared to the original TS1. These characteristics become most prominent for slow to mid swing speeds.
Multi-Dimensional MOI
The typical MOI that most other driver brands advertise and offer mainly focuses on horizontal performance towards the heel and toe.
Titleist goes above and beyond this, providing a more holistic “super MOI” (they don’t use the word “super” in their advertising, but I think it’s a quick and effective way to describe it). The face of the TSi1 is very stable not just horizontally, but vertically towards the crown and sole as well.
This results in higher ball speeds in more areas of the face, as well as tighter spin and directional performance, giving you more confidence to attack every drive.
Fine-Tuned Adjustability
There are multiple opportunities to adjust and fine-tune the TSi1 driver to best suit your swing. This is ideally done by a fitter who would know which changes can bring about the most benefit.
The first is the SureFit hosel, which enables sixteen (16) unique loft and lie combinations for ball flight optimization. The second is the removable back weight on the sole which can alter stability and spin characteristics of the driver.
The head weight of the driver can be adjusted in increments of two grams.
Stock Info
The TSi1 driver is available in 9°, 10°, and 12° standard lofts at 460CC. Unfortunately, only the stock 10° model is available to lefties.
Titleist offers a range of quality shaft options to players:
- featured graphite shaft: ALDILA ASCENT UL (35/40)
- premium graphite shafts: Tour AD DI, Tour AD IZ, and Tour AD XC
The stock grip is the Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360.
Below are the specs of the Titleist TSi drivers. Click or zoom to enlarge.
How does the driver perform?
I myself wasn’t the best person to test the TSi1 because I don’t fall in the swing speed range it’s marketed towards. However, my buddy Pete was a good fit, and his test of the driver really helped to inform my review beyond what I could have gleaned myself.
Distance
The distance you get with the TSi1 will depend on many factors, one of the main ones being your club head speed.
Basically, if your club head speed is around 72-90 mph, the TSi1 is going to maximize your distance better than almost any other driver out there. You typically see these kinds of speeds with young men just learning the game or with senior golfers.
This is mainly due to the weighting in the head, which also encourages a low spin rate at these speeds.
On the other hand, if your club head speed is 95+ mph, your results with the TSi1 are likely to be underwhelming. In this case, swinging a driver that is too light can result in sub-optimal flex and inconsistencies that not only lead to reduced distance, but poor accuracy as well.
Forgiveness
When it comes to forgiveness across the face, Titleist has you covered nicely. We did find that mis-hit performance was good not just towards the toe and heel, but in the vertical direction as well.
This is despite the fact that the TSi1 was designed with a focus on speed, not forgiveness. Other drivers in the TSi line like the TSi2 actually have objectively more forgiveness.
Despite the TSi1’s impressive forgiveness considering its weight profile, the reality is that removing weight is going to lead to reduced forgiveness — it’s the natural tradeoff. And you also need to consider the fact that the target market for the TSi1 will tend to need less help with accuracy off the tee because of a slower swing speed.
Launch & Trajectory
The TSi1 driver is all about easy launch. Indeed, under the right conditions, you’ll get a nice, high launch with a relatively straight ball flight. The flight is modestly affected by a slight draw bias weighting.
The TSi1 also allows for a healthy amount of workability, so if you want to put a little curve on your shot to get around a dogleg, you can absolutely do that.
The TSi1 has has more than enough playability to deliver for the low-moderate swing speed player.
What about look, sound & feel?
The Look
The TSi1 driver has a very contemporary look with a modern grey/silver/black colour scheme. It’s something that speaks pretty well to my tastes, but I imagine that some golfers would prefer more lighter tones.
The shape is very similar to that of the TS1 driver, but unlike the TS1 driver, the TSi1 uses the TSi logo as the alignment aid on the crown.
At address, the center of the clubface sets up just a touch towards the heel, lending itself to the inherent draw bias of the driver.
The clubface has an interesting texture but it doesn’t seem to serve much of a purpose since it isn’t very good at leaving ball imprints.
The Sound & Feel
The TSi1 driver certainly feels very light. With the stock ALDILA ASCENT UL shaft, the swing weight is C7 and the overall weight is around 259g. Of course, this swing weight will not suit every golfer, but senior players tend to prefer it.
At impact, the TSi1 produces a metallic “pop” sound that predictably has a bit of hollowness to it but is also firm enough to feel stable. Feel is similar across the face, but the sound gets duller and less crisp as you move away from the sweet spot.
In my opinion, impact feel is excellent given the light weight of the club. You’ll definitely know when you miss the center of the face (feedback is solid), but again, because TSi1 users tend to have shorter, slower swings, this is not so significant.
Where should you buy the TSi1 driver online?
Titleist provides several different avenues for you to get fit or to understand which loft, length, shaft, etc. would be best for you.
For new TSi1 drivers, you should check out Rock Bottom Golf, Global Golf, the Titleist store, or eBay. RBG and Global Golf offer payment plans, performance guarantees, and club trade-in programs to help you minimize the financial hit. RBG also allows you to input completely custom specs.
With that said, new driver models don’t stay new for long, and eventually the option for custom orders will disappear. At that point, you’ll have to look at an off-the-rack TSi1 or even a used one.
For used TSi1 drivers, your best bet is probably eBay. They are a fantastic source for golf equipment, both new and used. You can also see which used drivers Global Golf has for sale.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, the Titleist TSi1 driver helps golfers with low to moderate swing speeds increase their launch and maximize their distance.
One of the biggest customer bases of the TSi1 is senior golfers who have lost club head speed and, while they may have no issues with finding the fairway, aren’t getting as much distance out of their drives as they would like. In such cases, the TSi1 is an absolute must-try.
Another situation where I think the TSi1 driver would be a great choice is for people just starting to learn the game. New players will not have gotten their golf muscles in shape and will likely have slower swing speeds starting out, so chances are they would really appreciate a lightweight driver like the TSi1.
Otherwise, anyone who is interested in playing an unusually light driver should give the TSi1 a try.
Are you interested in the TSi1 driver? Have you played it? What’s your experience? Let us know in the comments below.
With a swing speed of 75-80 mph, which Ascent UL shaft
is recommended ? There appear 4 0r 5 Ascent UL shafts
avail from Titleist.
Hi John. With the ASCENT UL, R3 is meant for the lowest swing speeds and S for the highest. At your swing speed, I would start with the R2 flex. If that’s too much flex for you, go for the R flex.