Golf Club Comments

Club: tour series bloc 455cc driver
Manufacturer: Pine Meadow Golf

Overview of the Pine Meadow Bloc

The Pine Meadow tour series bloc 455cc driver isn’t anything fancy, it’s literally just a square club, but like sleeper sports cars it’s performance hides behind it’s basic look. You can compare it’s features and design to the Callaway Ft-i square driver (retails for $499).

This club was introduced in early 2007 and has been selling extremely well for Pine Meadow since it came out. It’s claim to fame is the increased MOI (moment of inertia) thanks to the square head technology. This provides a more forgiving surface for amateur golfers to hit a straighter more accurate tee shot.

The face is made from 6A-4V Titanium and the body from 3A-2V Titanium, this gives the driver a wonderful sound when you make contact. With this club in your bag you’ll enjoy increased confidence because you’ll know the club head is more forgiving. As you get used to the club you’ll realize you can increase your swing speed, and still keep your accuracy which means more distance.

The Equipment and Makeup of the Club

• Comes standard with a Low-torque graphite shaft
• Optional 12 degree loft, but standard is 10 degree
• Club Head Volume is just under the legal limit of 460 cc at 455 cc )but with it’s performance you won’t miss those 5 cc)
• Face height is approx. 6 cm for both the 10 and 12 degree models
• Like all Pine meadow clubs you can customize flex of the shaft, length of shaft, and the grip.
• For an additional cost there are steel and graphite shaft upgrades available
• For you lefties good news there is a 10 degree version of this club for left handed golfers
• The female version of the club has all the same options and features.

See all the Specs of the Club on Pine Meadows Website

How the tour series bloc 455cc plays

The sound of the club head at impact is amazing, almost sounds like a baseball bat. It will draw eyes at the driving range for sure. Of course no clubs is slice proof, but if you do slice you’ll notice almost immediate benefits from the square technology. As you get used to this club you’ll find you can increase your swing speed and you’ll be getting more distance off the tee.

Reviews on Pine Meadows website suggest that anyone can hit this club a good distance. The 12 degree model may not give the same distance but it will be even more forgiving then the 10.

Buy or don’t buy the Pine Meadow Bloc Driver

If you’re shopping for a new driver I think you have to give the Bloc some consideration. It’s performance record and price point are unbeatable. The square technology will help those of you that are having difficulty off the tee, but if you hit it near the sweet spot most of the time now I wouldn’t rush out just to buy a square driver because it’s new.

I give the Pine Meadow Bloc 455 cc driver a buy recommendation for beginners and intermediate players. You should see more distance and accuracy off the tee, with a sound that’ll have everyone looking your way.

Get the Block 455 c Tour Series Driver from Pine Meadow

Also available in the Pine Meadow Bloc Series:
Bloc Hybrids
Bloc Putter

They might be funny looking but square golf drivers are one of the latest crazes to hit the amateur golfer market. Their promise of more forgiving tee shots, and a larger sweet spot can’t be ignored especially if you struggle off the tee.

What’s the Big Deal about Square Headed Golf Drivers?

A square golf driver has a very high moment of inertia a (MOI) when compared to regular rounded golf clubs. OK, so what does MOI mean? Simply put the MOI of a golf club is it’s ability for the club head to resist twisting at the time of impact with the ball. If you’re consistently hitting the ball square and directly in the sweet spot then a square head golf driver isn’t going to have dramatic effect on your game. It’s those of us that don’t often hit that sweet spot that can benefit from this new technology.

An example will explain it a bit better:

Let’s assume you’re a right handed golfer. You swing and toe the ball off the tee. A normal driver head will twist at impact because you didn’t have the club head square to the ball, causing the ball to sail off to the right. If you were using a square golf driver you wouldn’t have the same twisting at impact because of the higher MOI. Therefore your ball wouldn’t sail off path as much as it would with the regular golf driver.

These are more forgiving golf clubs. If you think back about six or seven years ago before driver club heads reached the 460 cc size they are today companies started increasing the size of the sweet spot so that amateurs could hit the ball straighter more consistently. This is the next step in that technology. We now have the size, and we now have a more forgiving club head with a higher MOI.

Some examples of square head golf drivers

Tour Series BLOC 455 cc square driver

Pine Meadow (a custom club manufacturer) has probably the best value on the market for a square golf driver. On their website they suggest you can compare this driver to other square head clubs in the $499 price range, while this club retails for under $100 bucks.

The offer the club in 10 and 12 degree head, and you can custom order it to your flex, grip, length, and shaft requirements. If you’re looking to try out a Square driver this is probably the best value. There are over 100 positive reviews of this club on their site.

Check out the Tour Series BLOC 455 cc here

Callaway FT-i Driver

A more expensive club then the Pine Meadow the Callaway FT-i is their premiere square headed driver. With a 460 cc club head you can customize it to suit your needs. There’s more variety to the club head lofts from Callaway from 10 to 14 degrees. It’s a nice looking club, but I might have a tough time justifying the price difference between that and the Pine Meadow BLOC club.

Check out the Callaway FT-I driver here

Should You get a Square Golf Driver?

If you’re shopping for a new driver then I think it’s worth while considering the new square technology. They’re more forgiving, and will land you in the middle of the fairway more often. If you don’t need a new driver then I wouldn’t rush out to just buy the latest piece of golf technology, but if you consistently hit your tee shots off the toe or heel of your club it’s probably worth while considering trying one of these new square golf drivers. The Pine Meadow club I mentioned above would be an inexpensive driver to pick up and try, you might be very surprised with the results.

So for some maybe the question to use a clone golf club or a brand name isn’t the big of a decision. For some money is no object so buying the latest Taylor or Callaway club at a premium doesn’t matter, but for the rest of us value golfers (myself included) we’re on the lookout for a deal.

Sure you can scour ebay looking for a used or factory second version of that club you really want, but wouldn’t it be a whole lot easier if you could find a brand new club, with similar features for a fraction of the cost. You can, and that’s what we’re gonna chat about today.

The Custom Club Industry

The Internet has really lent its hand to promoting the custom golf club industry. Clone clubs just weren’t a big thing when the golf industry was primarily run by mom and pop specialized shops. Today there are big players in the clone and custom club industry offering online fitting, hundreds of shaft and club head options, all delivered right to your door.

The draw backs of a custom or clone club

At first glance buying a custom fit club from a company like PineMeadowGolf.com really doesn’t have any draw backs. You get a similar built club to some of the top names in the industry. The length and shaft are custom fit to your specifics, and all this comes at a fraction the cost of what a brand name club would cost.

Are you sacrificing quality? As someone who is personally using a clone golf driver and set of irons I really don’t think so. I drive the ball (when it goes straight) every bit as far as my buddies using their $500 drivers, and I’ve still got a few bucks left to have a beer after the round!

So why would anyone by a Brand Name Club?

The brand names are the ones who do all the research and development. They’re the ones who break the new technology, and are pushing the envelope. Custom and clone club manufacturers are to an extent copying what the brand names did in the previous season or two. So if you like to be on the cutting edge of golf club technology you’re going to be buying brand name clubs.

Also now that the big chain stores are catching on to the custom fit concept their hiring more specialized staff and providing better quality training so that you can walk into any store in America and be custom fit for a set of irons, hybrids, or woods.

What Should you Buy?

There will always be those that need to have the brand name clubs in their bag, and there’s nothing wrong with that. For me, I’ll buy clone and custom clubs for the rest of my golfing days but that’s just my preference. I’m not a scratch golfer, and I believe I’m getting all the performance out of my custom club as I would from a club twice the cost.

What it comes down to is you have to play with what you’re comfortable with. If you like the feel of the brand name club then you should buy it, BUT don’t buy it just because the brand name is stamped all over it.