Lynx Boom Boom 3 Driver Review – Sometimes you feel that all the talk around drivers is hot air, but around the Lynx Boom Boom 3 driver the atmosphere is different as the head is filled with a mixture of gases that are inserted under pressure.
Lynx Boom Boom 3 Driver Review
In the previous Boom Boom 2 driver, Lynx added a heated headcover to stir these gases into a frenzy to get the ball going further, but that was ruled to be illegal, so the Boom Boom 3 model has a new face with what Lynx call EET or Effective Energy Transfer technology.
This apparently ‘manages the kinetic energy at impact so that the ball is less affected by drag for optimum ball speeds’. Basically it’s their way of saying it’s the most bouncy face they can do to manage ball spin and stay within the rules.
The rest of the head is made from BiTi which stands for Bismuth-Titanium and it is very clean looking with no visual alignment aids at address.
The combination of materials and gas gives the Boom Boom 3 a unique sound that resembles someone quickly strumming across the strings on a harpsicord as it zzzings another one away. It took a bit of getting used to, but I quite liked it.
I was testing a 10.5° version of the driver and the trajectory was relatively low for this amount of loft. However it was the perfect height and getting this trajectory at 10.5° wil give you a little more margin for error. It is also available in 9° and 7.5°, but you would have to be a seriously high swing speed player to play these lofts, especially the latter.
The head is quite a tall 460cc, so the length heel to toe was narrower than a lot of the other drivers in the market. This also means the CG and sweetspot is quite high up the face, so this is not a driver you can really hit off the deck.
The sole is contoured and seems to have a nod in style to the black cat logo that featured on previous Lynx clubs back in the 20th century, which I quite like.
The Boom Boom 3 driver comes with a white Aldila RIP’d NV shaft that is 65 grams in stiff flex and is light and stable. If that is not your cup of tee then you can be custom fitted at a Lynx retailer with wide choice of other shafts and even opt for different colours of paint fill for some of the lettering on the sole.
It is quite a long standard shaft at 46″ which may not suit everyone, but the Aldila shaft can cope with it and your hands will like the Lynx branded grip.
The lightness of the longer shaft meant that when we put it on Trackman against some of its peers, the Boom Boom 3 was one of the faster clubheads through the air. However it also generates more spin than most other drivers and that brought the distance back a little for me, which seemed at odds with the mid-high trajectory. With custom fitting, you might be able to get the spin down using a different shaft and that might increase the already respectable distance.
The un-heated headcover has a full length opening that use magnets to keep your Boom Boom 3 protected and it pretty easy to use, although given the positioning of the product I would have expected a design that was a bit more up market.
And that brings me on to what could be the key decision for most people with this driver and that is desirability. I think it looks great, but it is more beauty queen than a stunning supermodel that will be in posters on the bedroom wall. Therefore it has to fall back on the brand name, which despite its heritage, is not as high profile as the big driver cheeses.
Lynx is trying to re-establish itself in the market at the upper end where it was before and the price is the thick end of £250 for a non-adjustable driver. I guess this is the going rate for all the materials and gases that goes into this club, but at this level, what will stop consumers from walking past the Boom Boom 3 to the higher profile brands?
That is the marketing game even though Lynx Boom Boom 3 is not particularly overpriced as a product. The performance, looks and that quirky sound are all top drawer and I don’t think that a premium driver has to be adjustable, as this can save weight that can benefit the speed of the club.
If you are brand driven or like having adjustability, then for around the same price you can get similar performance with that high profile logo and possibly even have some change left over.
However if you are in the market for a quality driver from a resurgent brand with classy looks and a unique sound, then the Lynx Boom Boom 3 is a worthy contender.
Reviewed by Martin Hopley – Golfalot.com
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