Vice Golf has carved out a strong niche in the golf world with its distinctive, colourful golf balls and apparel, challenging the traditional giants with a fresh, modern approach. Now, they've taken a significant leap into the club market with the VGD01+ driver. As someone who appreciates innovation but more often leans towards minimalist club aesthetics, I was particularly intrigued to see how Vice's unique style would translate into a driver, and more importantly, how it would perform against some of the best drivers in the game.
The Vice Golf VGD01+ driver is packed with technology and features. Its design incorporates a thin, high-strength titanium face to generate ball speed and promote high launch. It also features an adjustable hosel, allowing golfers to fine-tune loft and lie for optimal trajectory and spin. Furthermore, an interchangeable weighting system provides the ability to adjust for draw or fade bias, enabling precise shot shaping. This, combined with optimized CG placement and aerodynamic shaping, aims to deliver enhanced forgiveness and consistent performance across the face, helping golfers achieve greater distance and control. For the price point of £379/$399, this is a solid offering tech-wise.
My first impression of the Vice Golf VGD01+ driver out of the box was, admittedly, a moment of surprise. As I said, I typically gravitate towards very clean, understated club designs, but the VGD01+ features a somewhat playful aesthetic, particularly its patterned crown. Against my usual preference, I found myself genuinely loving this bold, almost artistic pattern, maybe because it offers a refreshing departure from the modern norm that gives the driver a distinct personality without feeling overly garish. The overall shaping is modern and confidence-inspiring at address, sitting nicely behind the ball, with a neat, somewhat squat but nicely rounded head, which I felt looked excellent in the playing position.
The sole design is also noteworthy in its aesthetic, featuring a stepped design that wouldn’t look out of place on the Batmobile! However, again, for some reason, I really liked it!
When it came to impact, the VGD01+ truly excelled. This driver delivers a premium, deep, and incredibly satisfying impact sound and feel. It's a solid thud that resonates perfectly, giving you immediate feedback that you've compressed the ball well. This sensation is something I often associate with top-tier drivers, and Vice has absolutely nailed this often tricky part of driver design, inspiring confidence and making hitting the driver a genuinely enjoyable experience.
From a performance standpoint, the VGD01+ driver proved to be a very capable performer. It provided good ball speeds and a generally high, stable launch, which is what most golfers are looking for. I found it to be reasonably forgiving on off-center strikes, maintaining decent ball speed and a relatively tight dispersion, helping to keep drives in play. The overall flight was strong with a pretty aggressive spin output of around 2200rpm for me on average. For context, that is in the TaylorMade Qi35 LS and Callaway Elyte TD region of spin.
While the overall performance is nicely rounded, this is still more of a niche driver for those looking to drive down spin and launch, and those looking for a touch more playability should probably steer themselves more towards the VGD01 driver, which is designed to offer a higher MOI with more spin and launch.
On the whole, I was seriously impressed with the Vice VGD01+ (although maybe the name could do with some work!). Essentially, I saw top-tier launch monitor data comparable with any of the big names, from an exceptional feeling and a really fun-looking driver. All of this, and it is priced around £200 lower than most of the ‘big guns’. This driver is not a gimmick and should be a serious consideration if you are in the market for a low-spin driver and you’re looking to save a little money.
