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Pinemeadow Golf, since its inception in 1985, has been one of the most successful golf club clone makers and sellers in the industry. In the company's own words, its "niche has always been being a smart follower." So what happens when a company whose success has been built on following the leads of others hits upon a great idea of its own? The Doublewall.

Pinemeadow's Doublewall driver is the company's first proprietary golf club design.


The Doublewall is so-called because it features two club faces - the outer face (or wall), which strikes the ball; and an inner face or wall that is inside the clubhead, slightly set back from the outer face.

The result, Pinemeadow says, is greater structural integrity in the clubhead and the creation of a "power chamber" between the two faces that increases the size of the sweet spot on the outer face.

The Doublewall, Pinemeadow says, will provide better performance across the clubface; that is, off-center hits will show less dropoff in distance than on drivers constructed in the "normal" way.

What is that "normal" way? Pinemeadow's Website for the Doublewall, www.doublewall.com, points out that most drivers are constructed with very thin faces, sole plates that are usually thinner, and crowns that are thinner still. The thickness of the material used in constructing the clubhead varies around the clubhead.

Companies do this in order to reposition weight around the clubhead - more here, less there - in an attempt to increase the perimeter weighting and to lower the center of gravity.

Typical game-improvement stuff.

Pinemeadow's idea is that eliminating differences in "give" should create a more stable clubhead, one that feels more solid. Pinemeadow's answer to resolving the discrepancy was the addition of the inner wall, whose "power chamber" reinforces the clubhead.

With an inner wall that reduces the "give" of the clubhead, Pinemeadow reasoned, the driver would show increased rebound and increased ball velocity off the striking face, and the dropoff in performance as the contact point moved away from the sweet spot would be less.

Pinemeadow submitted the Doublewall - which is USGA conforming - to an independent testing facility to put its ideas to the test. The results of that testing can be viewed on the Doublewall Website here. And yes, the fact that the company is willing to share the test results is a good indication that the tests turned out to the company's liking.

The tests, conducted by the company BioMechanica, focused on five different points around the clubface of a Doublewall; the first point was the center of the sweet spot, the other four points were away from the sweet spot, higher or lower, left or right.

BioMechanica compared the performance of the Doublewall to that of three other drivers at all five points. According to the test results, the Doublewall showed the most consistent COR across the five points. That is, the dropoff in COR as testing moved away from the sweet spot was less with the Doublewall than with the other drivers tested.

Mission accomplished for the Doublewall.

Of course, testing well and playing well are two different things. How does the Pinemeadow Doublewall perform on the course, with real golfers of different skill levels swinging it?

That's what we were curious to find out, especially after reading through the Doublewall Website. Because the Doublewall's is an interesting approach. In adding the inner wall and reinforcing the clubhead to reduce "give," the Doublewall eliminates the standard game-improvement approach (perimeter weighting, etc.). But in so doing, it - according to the tests - creates a clubface that performs better on off-center hits. Which is, after all, one of the ultimate goals of game-improvement club design (it's important to note, however, that Pinemeadow does not market the Doublewall as a game-improvement driver; rather, the company is marketing to all skill levels).

We spent several weeks putting a Doublewall into the hands of golfers of different skill levels with different swing speeds.

What we found is that reaction to the Doublewall among higher-handicappers and golfers with slower swing speeds was almost universally positive.

These golfers loved the feel of the club and saw great results in their drives. They felt the Doublewall added yards and improved their accuracy. Both elements are likely a result of the clubface's expanded hitting zone. High-handicappers aren't hitting the sweet spot very often, after all. And the Doublewall features a huge amount of bulge, which increases gear effect, another boost for higher handicappers.

Lower-handicappers and golfers with high swing speeds, however, were split in their opinions. Some such golfers praised the Doublewall; others were not dismissive, but were lukewarm (a standard comment for these was, "Yeah, it's OK, but I'm not giving up my driver for it"). Among the golfers who provided feedback on the Doublewall, only one was very negative.

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