The Adams Super S driver is one of the new drivers offered by Adams that combines a progressive look, technical details, and adjustability. This review was written after spending a little over a month with the driver on the course (around 10 rounds) and after quite a few additional range sessions.
First Impressions
There’s a lot to talk about with the introduction of the Adams Super S driver. To start with, the club has taken a substantial shift in the general look of the driver. Both of the new drivers (the Super S, and the Super LS) both have gone to a matte white crown with additional crown graphics, black face, and both have adjustable lofts. The look of the new drivers from Adams provides a much more progressive appearance and both are topped off by an impressive stock head cover.
When I first pulled the Super S driver out of the box, I was immediately impressed by the look of the driver. There’s something subtly simple about the driver. Despite the standard marketing of all of the new features and distance increases – the club has a very modern and clean look and feel. I immediately felt that I was looking at a well-designed driver and not at a club screaming at me with new technology. In my book – that’s a very good thing.
I typically avoid talking about headcovers on clubs, mostly because they’re all a huge disappointment. One of the first things I do after pulling out a new club is stick the headcover in a large bag sitting in the corner of my closet. That corner is a scary place and one that I hope to never have to clean out. To say that I actually used the stock headcover is a big deal, and for the Super S, I did.
The Look
There’s a pretty significant uprising of dedicated golfers that have been vocal in saying they detest the crown graphics that have become a significant trend this year.
Personally, I think the crown graphics are great. The graphics on the Super S don’t perform any functional purpose (other than the S as an alignment aid), but I have to say I really like them. The muted grey with the thin pop of red for the outline looks great in my opinion.
The Feel
Switching drivers is one of the most substantial changes you can make in your bag. There’s no other club with such a large variety of feels and general experiences across manufacturers. The combination of look at address, sound, and feel at impact all vary greatly across different manufacturers and product lines.
I’ve never put an Adams driver in my bag for a review, so I can’t give a valid comparison of other drivers from Adams. I can say that the feel isn’t really substantial in one way or another – both the sound and the feel fell somewhere in the middle of the road for my preferences.
The Super S does have the VST technology integrated into the sole of the driver and the velocity-slot (although noticeably shallower than on the fairway and hybrids) is a new introduction to the 2013 lineup of drivers from Adams.
Adams has also been very generous with the stock shafts in their clubs over the past few years and the stock Matrix Radix S shaft is a great pairing with with Super S head. The combination of Radix shaft and the Super S is a great pairing – especially for a stock combo.
Adjustability
The Super S is adjustable to lofts of 9.5, 10.5, and 11.5 degrees. There are three options to choose from for loft and those are your only choices for the Super S.
While companies clearly like to push the millions of adjustability options they offer, having the limited options is good enough for me. To this day, I still have a preference for non-adjustable drivers (although there are only a few left). The last thing I want to do is always be searching for the “perfect” adjustability combination. I can live with a few choices and that’s what you get with the Super S.
I played quite a while with the Super S at the 10.5 degree loft that it was set at when it arrived. After a few weeks of play, I decided to play around a bit with the loft and found that the 9.5 setting was much better for me. I gained both a few yards in distance and a few more yards of roll. It worth taking the time to tweak the settings to see which loft works best for your game and the shaft that you choose.
I’ve also noticed over the past year that I really prefer when the adjustability options are hidden from view at address. It’s hard enough to fight off the constant doubts flying through the mind of most golfers and questioning adjustment options is the last thing I want to be thinking about when I look down to address the ball. Adams has done a great job of hiding all indications adjustability at address while also making the adjustment easy and intuitive when you are playing with the settings.
The Performance
The sweet spot of the driver is large and easy to hit consistently – even for a mid-handicapper. When I did miss the sweet spot, it was a bit hard for me to tell. I frequently had to look at the face of the driver to tell where I hit the ball. Off-center hits lost a few yards and don’t have a material difference in feel of the club at impact.
I’ve read plenty of accounts of the Super S adding yardage for many different levels of golfers. For me, I didn’t notice a significant distance increase for well-struck drives. I did notice a fairly tight dispersion over a long period of time and very good distance on mis-hits.
Adams Super S Driver Conclusion
Over time with this driver I’ve played very consistently and feel like the driver has earned a high degree of trust from me. I know exactly what to expect and the driver has consistently performed to my expectations. The Super S is another solid and dependable offering from Adams that is sure to make the short list of drivers that the typical golfer should hit when considering a new driver.
Looking for some more pictures of the Super S driver? We have you covered there too. Take a look at our full-res photos of the 2013 Super S driver from Adams Golf.
