2017 Most Wanted – The Best Driver For Your Swing Speed

I found it interesting that the Srixon Z565, which is draw biased and higher launch, was ranked #1 for high swing speeds and the Z765, which is fade biased and moderate launch was the winner for slow swing speeds. It seems counterintuitive based on the marketing profile for each club. What gives guys?

Why don’t manufacturers (ball, shaft, club) use robots that can be calibrated for repeatable speed and contact. That way the numbers are true to the set up and not human capability, repeatability or feel. Seems the only way we will know what is real, better, different for a given set of conditions.

My swing speed is 95-101. One point i would like to make here. I purchased the epic 10.5 earlier this year and had a project x Red 65 gram 6.0 shaft put in it. I purchased shaft ($300) from project x through my club fitter. Its been a great shaft for me. Stay with me… I just purchased the M2 from taylormade and i saw they offered a project x red with the same specs as my shaft for a free upgrade. I recieved it and took both clubs out yesterday- The Epic was 20 yards longer! I used same balls, etc. i was shocked! I swapped out the taylormade free upgrade shaft and put in a Project x black 65g 6.0 shaft I purchased last year to fit my M1. The M2 then started performing as stated on here. I actually out drove the epic a few drives. The accuracy was better than the Epic also. I then looked on ebay and noticed a bunch of those taylormade free upgrade Px red shafts forsale. There is no way those shafts are the same quality! The black ones with the red writing are junk. The solid red ones are the great performing shafts. Long story short, I believe those free upgrade shafts are not the same quality as the ones you can buy from the shaft company. I proved it yesterday. We need that test on here Upgrades. Are they really upgrades?

Nice to see Wilson Staff representing again this year. Although, it seems the performance in the top 5-10 in each category is negligible. Great job again boys!

Was the taylormade m2 dtype tested?

All well and good but what about us super seniors that are between 70 and 85 speed. there’s ton of difference between a 95 mph swing and a 78 mph swing. In fact, in my own personal opinion, there’s too much of a difference between 80 and 95. you have 95-105, but 80-95. Granted that 105-120 is a useful grouping as at those speeds, lots of other factors come into play.

But between 80 and 95, i’ll bet that the shaft differences will make more of a difference in the driver than the head. When i was swinging at about 95, I was using a Stiff shaft most of the time. At about 80, i had to switch to a regular shaft. And even then, the type of regular shaft made a lot of difference. low “fast flexy” kickpoint helped significantly. mid or upper flex was disaster. Actually worse than stiff shafts.

But there are lots of seniors/super seniors or super super seniors that have speeds between 70-80 or just above. What about them.

In fact, on your tests, i see that all the swing speeds were about 90mph. I’d be willing to bet at 80mph, you won’t see the same distances, spin or anything. And it might even change the order of the rankings around a bit.

I personally am at about 78 mph give or take a swing. (total carry + roll about 175-185 unless super hard ground). And I’ve found that if i get more than 14 launch angle, I seriously lose distance. 17-18 degrees are absolute disaster. about 12 is the max distance for me.

Also i do wonder whether one having a smooth swing pattern versus a slow/super hard downswing type would significantly change the patterns. Most assuredly the shaft flex would change at any speed. Ernie els doesn’t use the same shaft flex as Tiger did. both hit it a mile but with totally different style of swing. Neither better or worse, just different.

I am curious regarding the number of low speed players that participated and their handicaps. The latter might account for the Z765’s dominance in the low speed category. Every review of this club ends with an admonition that the club is touchy; that it favors the right side ; that it is best left to low handicappers and ideally those with higher swing speeds. If your low speed testers were also low handicappers, it might account for these results.

I posted a message regarding the omission of the Tour Edge Exotics EX10 adjustable driver from your tests a few days ago, but I do not see a reply, so I am posting here.

I am a Professional Clubfitter, a big supporter of My Golf Spy, and user of your data. I have tested many golfers using the drivers in your 2016 and 2017 tests, and i generally concur with the results that you have published. I also love the Air Force One DFX Tour driver that came in at the #4 spot in this comparison for the 105-120 MPH clubhead speed group (i own one with a 757 Speeder Tour Spec shaft, and it works great for my 108-110 MPH clubhead speed, but it isn’t really very forgiving when my driver swing is a bit “off”).

The reason that I am inquiring about the omission of the EX10 adjustable driver from Tour Edge Exotics is because I have gotten excellent results in fitting this driver model for golfers with clubhead speeds from 80-85 MPH All the way up to 110-120 MPH. I personally have one, shafted with the new Aldila Rogue M-AX Red 65-S shaft, and it has earned the #1 spot in my bag!

Was the EX10 adjustable driver left out of your testing for any specific reason? I know that I would love to see how that driver would do against the ones in your 2017 tests.

Thank you, and kind regards.

Doug Mael
Doug’s Custom Clubs/Tour Quality Golf http://www.dougscustomgolfclubs.com

Again I am flabbergasted by the results. I have the Cobra King Ltd, AFO DFX and Wilson Staff Triton. The Triton is much longer than both of the others yet finishes close to the bottom. I am consistently getting 30+ yards more in the fairway with the Triton. Guess I am an anomaly. Thanks for all the great work guys!

Long time since my life has been slow enough to really get on MGS. Site looks great Adam. Really happy for you guys.

Srixon being new to the top of the pack I’d guess many readers would like to see a small write up on this brand alone. Of course I’d like a small write up on everything that piques my curiosity. At first I was surprised at the other end of the spectrum that the high speed players fared comparatively poorly with the 765 vs the 565. I assume this is strike based on a lower MOI head in your tests?

Anyway i take away what i always do from these great tests…

Our market is filled with great clubs. Each formulated to fill the niches for which they are designed.. go find your niche.

thanks guys….and good to be be back on the site

Thanks for the test I was thinking that low spin drivers would not benefit slow swingers I thought they need a lot of spin to keep ball in the air I really don’t know

I guess I need a Srixon. Very surprised how low performing the titleist was.

I recently created an account with your forums and although I knew about your site and read it a lot, this is the first time I REALLY paid attention to what you do. This is so awesome! I know it take a lot of time and effort to do all of this testing, but I hope you guys with do this for the rest of the clubs in the bag. Many kudos and thanks for this! It is greatly appreciated!

Interesting results TBO. My Titleist 917 doesn’t rank as well as I thought. Oh well … works for me, so I guess that’s all that matters.

Thanks for the great review. Interesting results. I am happy to see that you ranked the drivers for swing speed. I find this more helpful.

Kinda bummed as I just bought Callaway BB. I’m in the 88 ss group.
Maybe I should trade?

I note no senior shafts on even the slowest swingers. Are they not useful ?

Wow, it appears a lot of data gathering analytical effort resulted in an out come that is one hundred and eighty degrees from the manufactures? Example: Srixon 765 is the club for slower swing speeds players. Only offered with lower two lower lofts and a heaver shaft (no senior shaft offered)

well my down swing speed is at 129.5 miles average on every swing and i use a titleist D2 915 setting d 2 playing with a addilla 70 3.0 x stiff shaft and it feels likw a regular shaft to me. o and spin rate is at a high of 4988 rpm for a 9.5 driver

Love a good Sirxon

Is there somewhere on the website (I tried a search but did not find) where you explain the formula used for TRUERank? Here is the reason I ask: In your under 95mph table you rank the Srixon #1 and the Ping Gsftec 13, but the Ping is 2.7yds more online and the Srixon is less than 3yds longer. On a percentage basis it would seem the Ping to be way more accurate 18.37% will only being 1.33% shorter, so length must have a higher weighting or am I missing some other factor?
It is very interesting to see how the ranking of clubs vary according to swing speed. The other interesting thing is there is not a lot of difference between the number of many of the drivers suggesting we probably could not go too wrong with most of the drivers.
Thanks for the testing and all the data. Very helpful.

Why were all the smash factors averaging out to about 1.40 if real golf balls were used? it seems awfully low but then i would guess the the contact was spotty at best because those ball speed rating are way too low given that clubhead speed. Generally on center contact with a decent attack angle, the smash factor should be closer to 1.5 especially using Bridgestone golf balls.

Excellent review as per usual.

I really wanted this analysis to help me narrow down the driver I want.

I want distance but to me accuracy is more important. I had been considering the M2. Looking for something so validate this choice. So this info is very timely.

The problem is my Driver swing speed is 95 MPH. So where do I fit?

If I fit in the 95 to 105 category I see that the M2 leads the hit parade at 17.5 off line. So far so good.

If I fit in the 80 to 95 category I see that the M2 drops all the way down to 15th at 18.8 off line.

Hmmmmmm………

M2 sounds like trash

Great work as usual. One question for you about the results. Were the EPIC (non-SZ) version results come from testers mostly utilizing the standard setting? Do you have any idea about what percentage utilizing the “draw” adjustment on the face? I’ve been hesitant to try out the standard EPIC due to the noticeable dip in MOI with the club in the draw setting.

Love these tests as a starting point. Please don’t look at them as gospel. We fit lots of drivers and this year Epic/Sub Zero has won more often than not. Using GC2 with HMT, we have sold 100 Epic/sub zero drivers, next closest is M2 with 38. We usually take 3-6 drivers into a fitting that takes well over an hour and we usually see the numbers are distinct. 3-5 MPH ball speed gains. Doesn’t matter to us which one wins, most important thing is that the customer walks out with the driver that fits them best. Love all the data, but it just goes to show you, take a group of 30 people vs a different group of 30 and you can see vastly different results..

I just got the Wilson Triton and with the Ti sole plate and HZRDUS red R shaft and a little messing with the weights and shortened to 45 have picked up 15 to 20 yds at 78 yrs. And, I have missed 4 frwys in 4 rounds. I don’t know my SS but after a stroke I am sure I can’t break the speed limit in a School Zone. Went from 180/185 to several over 200. Nice Driver.

Then how is the GBB #1 in golf now? I don’t care for Callaway, but the marketing engine must be a doing them a solid right now…

Would also be interesting to see the data with various high end shafts in terms of what shaft/flex/torque/kick point nets the best results vs swing speed.

For those looking to purchase a new driver, it would be interesting to take this great data with them when getting fit. The data should give them a good place to start in terms of swing speed. Golfers tend to known what they want before they purchase or at least have a top 2 brand driver in mind when going to their fav retail or pro to get fit. It sorta opens your mind to other possibilities. Good stuff MGS. Thx.

No Cobra KING LTD data? Still a current offering!

Love hitting driver, have always wanted to hit further, possibly neglecting other areas (SEE certainly neglecting other areas)

This is the best driver review i have ever seen, useful and comprehensive for each category of golfer.

Never would have bet on the Srixon being number 1 for faster swingers

M1/M2 > Epic

Just wanted to say that MyGolf Spy is doing the Lord’s work here.

Hopefully the epic subzero is what he suggests being I just spent to much on one haha.

Great work, keep it up! Thanks.

I wonder how much influence the stock Miyazaki shaft in the Srixon had. My only complaint about the Epic is most of the no upcharge shafts are junk.

Also, it is hard to believe Titleist is at the bottom on these things every year, you would think they would try and do something about that.

Regarding the Z765 at the top of the list for low swing speeds; we see this year after year after year. What you generally get with these clubs is lower launch, lower spin, with a greater percentage of total distance often coming from roll..

It’s not necessarily the prettiest ball flight, and it can be problematic if the course calls for maximum carry, but by the numbers, we very often see swing speed spin guys get more total distance out of drivers often regarded for higher swing speed players.

Awesome job in dicing/categorizing the results by swing speed….these results confirm Callaway’s increased ball speed claims from the Jail Break technology…..marry that with the right shaft and clubhead configuration i believe you have a bigger ceiling for increased distance…..anyways…..great analysis…..by the way….my swing speed is around 118 mph….thanks again

I have the F7 +. I have several different shafts. One shaft was really bad for both the head and my swing. The other shaft was pretty good. The last shaft was just right. the shaft that was not good forced me to swing in a way that caused the ball to go right and short probably with a lot of spin. (outside testing on course). the other shaft let me swing without effort and felt like it was almost not there. Me likey this one and ball go farther. If I had the M1 or M2 in my bag, I would not like the looks and swing go bad for me. Cobra me likey the looks, makes me feel good. Like looking at my wife. Ball go deeper when I like the way it feels and looks. The 3 yards difference in test makes no difference to me. The way she feels and looks do make difference. I take looks and feels over data anyday.

There are the figures I was waiting for! Great to be able to see where the #’s lie for each of our swings.

Thanks as always and nice review/guide. Out of curiosity, do you guys use the same test candidates year over year? Would love to hear their feedback and the qualitative datapoints. Of course that wouldn’t and shouldn’t affect the ranking in this test.

Do you guys have a podcast?

Can you tell me what shaft was in the M1 that you tested for the slower swing speeds? Flex and Brand of shaft? Thanks!!

Wow 765 for lower swing speed…..interesting

In the slow swing category were regular shaft used

As usual, a very informative and surprising article. Great job GS.

Thanks for adding the middle category of swing speed! My speed is right a 100mph and was caught in the middle in past reports.

Wow, 765 won for 88-85?? Isn’t that suppose to be for lower handicap and high swingspeed?

Really Interesting results. Srixon keeping the No. 1 spot in both the high swing speed and Low Swing Speed categories. But with completely opposite drivers than I would have guessed.

I’m interested to hear any thoughts on why the 765 performed so well for the slower swing speeds. I’m right in the middle of that slower category, and was considering the Z565. But now sounds like I need to look at the 765.

Same with Cobra, I was thinking F7, but the F7+ performed so much better for the slower speeds.

Isn’t the shaft the key element when considering swing speed? I doubt the heads alone would lend themselves to one speed over another; although I guess if they were designed as low spin/high spin that could factor in, as well as what loft they are. Still, shafts are also designed to account for launch, spin, etc. Interesting to see what others think on this.

Let’s say your average swing speed is actually at 105. Sometimes it’s a bit higher and sometimes it’s a bit lower. Should you be inclined to look at the data in the higher bracket or the lower?

My clubhead speed is typically 121-124. High launch, high spin player. I have the 440 with the Black Tie 80M3. Thing doesn’t balloon, stays on line, and stays in the sky a long time. GBB was too spinny, as well as the M2.