REVIEW: Lynx Black Cat Driver

The Cat Is Back

Growing up there were a number of golf brands that dominated the market that are either no longer in existence; Ram, Dunlop, Northwestern, and Lynx. They have been replaced by new comers that weren’t even founded yet when I was a kid playing golf, Taylormade, Callaway, Srixon,etc. I remember Lynx being a popular brand “back in the day”. Their clubs even won some majors. While I never owned any Lynx clubs, they were more than just a Golfsmith house brand, they made legit clubs. However in the late 90′ they went bankrupt. It wasn’t until a few years ago that a British couple bought the rights to Lynx Golf and this year brought the “Cat” back to life in the US.

Lynx Golf is making a return to the US with its Black Cat line. I would say it is designed to fit a wide range of golfers, probably singe digit handicap golfers through decent double digit players. The Black Cat driver is a fully adjustable head at the hosel and weighting. The driver is a deep face, compact head with a very nice “round” shape. It is tall and not overly deep front to back and has a clean matte crown. The bottom is glossy black with green accents. It is a really nice looking, almost “stealthy” combo. It is paired with a UST Mamiya Recoil ES 460 shaft which has a cool ion finish. I think the deep face and compact head is appealing to golfer that don’t like the big “flat” driver heads.

The Lynx Black Cat driver has some of the standard technologies we expect in any modern driver. The adjustable hosel means it can play from 8.5* up to 12.5* as well as normal and upright. This also can help with some right and left control. The weighting system is a reversible bar that can have the heavy weight forward or back. This will have some impact on launch, but I found it impacts the spin and sound more than anything. I went weight forward to reduce the spin as much as possible and found I could get to numbers that were pretty low, as low as some of the lowest spinning drivers on the market. The sound is a little more piercing, but still muted. Move the weight back and the sound gets deeper and the spin goes up a few hundred rpms. The standard wrench makes the adjustments easy and obvious.

I am a big fan of the Lynx Black Cat driver’s deep face;I like the look, I like the performance. Deep face drivers generally work well for me. The Lynx Black Cat driver took a little dialing in for me, I was surprised that I was fighting the right side with it, but after an adjustment to the hosel, I was able to find the middle of the fairway with the driver along with good distance. The low spin and strong flight really made this a pleasant surprise. With the big names dominating the driver market, it is nice to see the Lynx Black Cat keep up. As you can see from the picture below I hit balls all over the face to test forgiveness and was impressed how many of those hits turned out good.

The Lynx Black Cat driver comes stock with a UST Mamyia Recoil shaft in the ES 460 model. The Recoil line has many different options, but this is a nice mid launch lower spin shaft that is really stable. The swingweight is on the heavier side at 45.5″ but plays very nicely over an entire round. The white “leather” headcover is nice and the over all presentation and package is solid. As far as I could tell, there aren’t any custom shaft options or lengths at this time, but like any club, a DIYer or clubfitter could make adjustments if needed. Lynx also hits a nice price point since so many drivers are heading north of $500, this $399 driver will give you the same performance with a little less out of pocket.

Flightscope Xi Tour Launch Monitor

Lynx Black Cat Driver

Spin: 2088 rpms
Launch Angle: 12.3*
Dispersion: 6.5 yds
Club Head Speed: 107.7 mph
Ball Speed: 159.6 mph
Total Distance: 290.2 yds
Carry Distance: 272.5 yds

Lynx is back! The Black Cat driver is a testament to the companies commitment to the US market by bringing a quality club that can compete with the best. It offers great looks, quality shaft, nice sound and very good performance on the course. If you like a deep face driver that looks clean on the crown in a matte finish, but still want adjustability on the sole; this is a great option. The Cat is Back!

For more information: www.lynxgolfusa.com

Quick Hits:
+Deep face
+Clean matte crown
+Adjustable hosel
+Dual weights
+Nice stock shaft
+Low Spin
+Excellent performance