Sub 70 849 Pro Driver

We’ve covered Sub 70 Golf irons and wedges at length on this site, but the highly-anticipated Sub 70 849 Pro driver is our first real foray into their woods. (Unless you count a couple of nice hybrids.) New for 2021, the 849 Pro is geared toward better players with its compact 450cc profile, adjustability, good feel, and strong flight. And as expected, the price is very modest. This premium driver performance is available for only $299 with custom options available for an upcharge.

The Looks

Though 450cc is only ten cubic centimeters less than your standard full-size driver head, it really makes a difference in the Sub 70 849 Pro. The head is nice and compact behind the ball with a deep-ish face and a “capital D” head shape. While the face sits a half degree open at address, the topline and face are on the straighter side. For me, this really helped with alignment and squaring the club to my target.

Aesthetically, the 849 Pro driver is very on brand for Sub 70 with its modern vibe and totally blacked-out color scheme. While the carbon fiber crown looks really sick too, it also serves a very functional purpose. By using lightweight carbon on the crown, weight is removed from the top of the club so it can be strategically placed in different locations to optimize the center of gravity (CG). In this design, the CG is lower in the head making it easier to launch the golf ball. To further tune the CG for your swing, Sub 70 added three adjustable weights to the sole. By moving these weights around, you can dial in the CG for your preferred ball flight.

How Does it Feel?

Good compact “player’s” drivers just seem to have “a certain feel” to them. With its titanium face and body, and the carbon fiber crown, the Sub 70 849 Pro’s feel is very tight and precise. I’ve always found it easier to find the center of the face with a smaller head size, which was the case here as well. In turn, the ball really feels like it jumps off the face. Additionally, the aforementioned sole weights give it a nice and smooth balance with solid club awareness throughout the swing. Overall, the 849 Pro feels direct and to the point with good pop. Not just good pop, but the right pop. If you’ve hit multiple drivers in the past, I know you know what I mean by that.

How Does it Sound?

This is another classic case of the sound matching up perfectly with the feel of the club. Sub 70 put a lot of effort in getting the sound tuned “just right”. The sound is very tight with a nice snap to it when you really catch one. By combining the titanium face and body with the carbon crown, the 849 Pro has a smooth “thwap” that’s akin to the crack of wooden baseball bat. Though it may be a limited sample set, I think the 849 Pro is one of the best sounding woods I’ve seen from Sub 70 to date.

On-Course Performance

One of the things Sub 70 says about the 849 Pro is that it’s “the epitome of less is more”. I’m not sure if they meant because of it’s smaller shape or because of it’s simplicity, but either way, that comment really resonated with me in terms of performance. There is a lot of practical adjustability in regards to loft, lie, and face angle, as well as the sole weights to influence flight bias as I mentioned before. These are pretty straightforward and easy adjustments to optimize your flight the way you want it.

But that wasn’t it for me. “Less is more”, to me, meant the 849 Pro just performs. No screaming bells and whistles. No “rocket science” marketing angles or taglines. Just a rock-solid reliable performer. My flight was a strong piercing bullet with a medium launch and medium-to-low spin rate. By design, the 849 Pro is easy to manipulate so you can shape shots as necessary and flight accordingly. Frankly, the 849 Pro totally exceeded my expectations and was incredibly powerful. While it’s said in basically every Sub 70 club review, the premium performance at this price point is an impressive and incredible value.

Final Thoughts – Sub 70 849 Pro Driver

Sub 70 Golf has quickly developed a reputation in the golf world for premium tools of the trade at excellent price points. In other words, a reputation built on doing things the right way with their customer’s best interests in mind. As such, Sub 70 has lived by the credo that they’ll only introduce new equipment to fill a specific need in the market OR if they are significantly improving something in their existing lineup. No new clubs just for the sake of saying they have a new club. The Sub 70 849 Pro driver is an excellent example of that principle and a solid driver for the brand to hang their hat on.

Stock Sub 70 849 Pro Driver Specs

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