Drivers

2018 Most Wanted – The Best Driver For Moderate Swing Speeds (90-105 mph)

BY MyGolfSpy
Apr 13th 2018
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What makes one driver better for one golfer over another? What key metrics in a golfer’s swing influence the way equipment performs?

The desire to capture more data is why we expanded our test pool to 35 golfers and collected more than 10,000 shots. The more we know about the performance of each of the 25 drivers in our test, the better we can help narrow your choices. Whether you’re an off-the-rack buyer, a guy who’s constantly tweaking your gear, or someone who is going to take the time to get fitted by a knowledgeable professional, we’re here to help you.

As we’ve done in the past, for 2018, we’re again segmenting our data to provide more meaningful information to the individual golfer. We’ve broken down our driver test results into three different swing speed categories. In part two of this three-part series, we’re showing data specific to mid-range swing speeds (90-105mph).

ADVANCED GOLF ANALYTICS

Data matters. And when it comes to finding the right equipment, it’s critical. We help solve this by applying the largest connected set of head-to-head data to tackle one of golf’s biggest challenges.

All testing was conducted inside our fully independent test facility located in Virginia. All testers used Bridgestone Tour B-RX golf balls for consistency and to reduce test variables. All ball and head data were collected using Foresight Sports GCQuad Launch Monitors. This comprehensive dataset was then run through our proprietary Most Wanted Rankings methodology. What we have developed is the most comprehensive test to determine the leaders in the driver category.

For more information, check out our How We Test page.

HOW WE CONSIDER PERFORMANCE

Each year we work hard to improve our testing methodologies from the previous test. In 2018, we’ve added yet another building block – statistical significance. Our Most Wanted winner is the club that finished in the statistically significant top group (based on Strokes Gained Driving) for the highest percentage of our testers. To simplify things a bit, we call the final order TRUERank; a metric that includes the order of finish (rank), along with the percentage of golfers for whom each club was shown to be in the top group.

For those interested in breaking out the individual components that make up total performance, we still provide you with club speed, distance (total yards and carry), and accuracy (offline/yards from center).

Be sure to check out the sortable tables to find the best driver that fits YOU.

RESULTS:

TRUERank: Swing Speeds (90-104)

Club	Ball Speed	Launch	Spin	Carry	Total	Offline	Shot Area	TRUERank
Callaway Rogue Sub Zero	136.05	14.55	2,140	225.95	239.92	17.67	3,049	1 (46%)
PING G400 LST	135.12	15.21	2,480	221.99	235.56	16.16	3,278	1 (46%)
Mizuno ST180	134.95	16.23	2,289	224.86	237.48	17.89	3,392	1 (46%)
Cobra KING F8+	136.55	15.11	2,380	226.45	239.93	16.31	3,202	4 (38%)
PING G400	136.02	15.84	2,467	225.12	237.97	17.03	2,934	4 (38%)
Mizuno GT180	135.89	14.63	2,417	224.33	237.86	16.24	3,100	4 (38%)
PING G400 MAX	135.28	15.04	2,469	222.33	234.69	18.16	2,971	4 (38%)
TaylorMade M3 440	133.63	15.35	2,211	221.38	236.04	15.66	2,552	4 (38%)
Wilson Staff C300	134.62	15.59	2,157	220.06	234.02	17.01	3,852	9 (31%)
Callaway Rogue	136.51	14.64	2,139	227.51	241.4	18.08	2,889	9 (31%)
Tour Edge HL3	134.48	14.02	2,166	220.22	232.14	21.05	3,228	9 (31%)
TaylorMade M3	134.68	15.24	2,219	223.73	237.46	17.45	2,893	9 (31%)
TaylorMade M4	134.84	15.02	2,370	223.21	236.54	16.24	2,915	9 (31%)
Titleist 917 D2	135.74	15.01	2,234	225.38	238.76	17.92	3,244	9 (31%)
Titleist 917 D3	134.99	15.33	2,350	223.84	238.67	16.19	2,650	9 (31%)
PING G400 SFT	136.22	15.23	2,539	222.21	234.98	17.63	2,928	16 (23%)
Bridgestone Tour B XD-5	134.24	15.33	2,579	219.69	232.42	17.32	2,825	16 (23%)
Vertical Groove Driver	132.68	15.75	2,316	219.11	231.37	18.78	3,164	16 (23%)
Tommy Armour TA1	134.85	14.44	2,237	220.77	234.56	19.01	4,171	16 (23%)
Cleveland Launcher HB	134.24	15.29	2,363	219.84	232.26	18.62	3,839	16 (23%)
XXIO X	135.34	15.98	2,554	220.31	231.35	20.09	3,480	16 (23%)
VEGA RAD-04	134.39	14.82	2,357	218.61	231.39	19.22	4,822	22 (15%)
Cobra F Max	134.63	16.21	2,806	218.54	229.86	17.89	2,953	22 (15%)
Wilson Staff D300	133.67	15.45	2,165	219.49	232.13	18.57	4,276	22 (15%)
Cobra KING F8	136.77	14.7	2,292	224.02	237.19	19.11	3,881	25 (8%)

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comments

Join The Discussion

Wes Brown

5 years ago

I have tried several different drivers over the last year. I have settled on the PING G-400 SFT. I get consistent 240 yard drives where I aim. It is a very forgiving club. At 78 years old with a 15 handicap, this club meets my expectations.

Kent Mayer

6 years ago

Thanks!

GaryL

I tried almost all the latest models, and XXIO X won pretty handily for my swing(low 90’s).
It just works.

Thanks

Dave

I tested 5-6 drivers last Summer and am amazed how close my results are to the ones here. I got the best results from (in order) Callaway Epic, Ping400 LST, and TM M2 (2016 & 2017, no difference between these two). The Epic was just a few yards longer so I went with the M2 (2016). As noted by someone, it’s amazing how good these manufacturers are and that it’s hard to make a bad choice.

Lethal

The standard Rogue outclassed the Sub-Zero in every class but one. Even the avg spin was 1 solitary RPM more. I can’t work out how it ended up so far down the list?

Tony Covey

Explained in the how we test and rank page. Averages don’t tell you much. For that matter, neither distance, nor accuracy, nor dispersion paints a complete performance picture, which is why we use strokes gained driving as our key metric. The rest of it all comes down to reliable differences and how often a given model is among the best for each tester. Again…all laid out in the how we test and rank page.

mackdaddy

Tony/Adam, would it be possible to get the top 5 or 3 from each year since say 2015 tested against one another? Only a few top fitters still make the older models available but it would let us know which heads to ask to test.

Dave S

Tony – sorry if this is a dumb question, but is it fair to assume that the “most accurate” driver is the one with the smallest # of yds Offline? I get that the Shot Area stat is also a component of accuracy, but for Driver, of all clubs, I’m not as concerend about yds long or short (seeing as the top drivers have very marginal difference in this stat). When i hit a driver I care about how far it will go and will I hit the fairway (more the latter). I know MGS used to do a “Most Accurate” driver piece as well along with the Most Wanted… has that been discontinued?

Don

I think what it really shows is that all the companies are making good stuff and gives us a great variety to choose from. In my own tests I did when I hit them all last year, it was the same thing. S it came down to what suited my eye and what felt best for me. No tester can tell you that. they just help you with raw data. it is not personal. I ended up with the Epic Subzero and when I tested it against the Rogue, the numbers were almost exactly the same and not enough to even consider changing. And nothing will for about 3 or 4 years until my swing changes and technology has another advancement. I appreciate these reviews and find them interesting, but more so, how everyone wants to justify or while why the one they chose was not what a non bias data source showed. You should not need validation. Especially since they are all so close, there clearly is no wrong choice. So have fun. It is golf people

Deepak

I agree with Don,get your basics right first then only things follow, control your breathing and keep cool on the course it’s a game of nerves.

Jim

Seems really odd that the drivers for moderate swing speed are all the low spinning ones. Usually those are for high speed players because the low spin will result in shorter distance, at least that’s what I understood. As a moderate swing speed player I wouldn’t consider this type of driver. Just seems counter to the common understanding I guess.

Lance

Makes perfect sense when you consider the average golfer hits down on their driver with open face(increased spin loft). Low spin driver will help most of these people gain more distance

chrisk

I’m one of those guys that swings a driver 100-105 mph and while I generate good spin on my irons, it’s a distance killer on driver shots. Swing tweeks probably would help more than anything, but in this particular test it appears the yardage differential isn’t anywhere near what it was with the high-speed guys. And I guess that means guys with similar speed to mine are just about can’t-miss in their decisions on new drivers

ROD_CCCGOLFUSA

“Statistically significant” differences deserve statistical data supporting your findings. Certainly, none of the winners was more than one standard deviation ahead of the losers. Once again, we have Golf Digest rankings presented as genuinely reliable data. Disappointing.

JasonA

So, you’ve hit upon the one thing that I found __really__tricky__ about this set of results.

The standard deviation used is on STROKES GAINED metric PER INDIVIDUAL PLAYER for ONE CLUB relative to another CLUB individually. That value is then “bucketed” by standard deviation amounts again per player.

Nothing to do with averages at all. It is actually a great metric to use but really hard to explain.

It is also hard to personalize: am I one of the 8% that is uber successful with Cobra King F8 ? or one of 46% that win with Mizuno ST180 or in the same / different (???) 46% that love Ping G400 LST …

What would be good is to see a per tester correlation – i.e. do testers find two clubs basically interchangeable? but two other clubs are highly divisive.

Not even close Rod. Did you read the how we test and rank page? JASONA basically nailed it below.

When we look at averages across the entire pool, we generally find one or two clubs that are outside one standard deviation on either side of the average.

However – when we breakdown the individual results we do find reliable differences. The number in the top group varies from tester to tester. In a few cases it was 1 or 2 drivers, for others, it’s better than half the field.

By looking at the rate at which any given driver appears in the statistically reliable top group, we get something that approximates the probability of success for any given golfer.

Bill

Interesting that the G400 actually spun less that the G400 lst!

We see this quite a bit. If you tested the two drivers at identical lofts, with identical shafts, the expectation is that the LST would spin less. That said, when you’re adjusting, tweaking, and otherwise trying to achieve the best results things don’t always line up.

For example, it’s possible that one tester would get better results with an LST at 10° with the stock shaft, while he might hit the standard G400 at 9.5° with the tour shaft.

Thanks again… I will keep my current stick.

Nick Thurgood

Tony, why do you think the M3, especially the 440 always has such low balls speeds (relatively speaking)?

On paper, it’s likely the lowest MOI driver, which means less ball speed on mishits. It performed surprisingly well for us. Testers kept it in the fairway without giving up too much in the way of distance. The strokes gained metric is a different way to evaluate performance in a fitting environment, but we think it’s the future.

Chris S

This data has been super fun to parse through. Thanks for all the work compiling it. But it does leave me asking myself 1 more question, that I think you probably have the data for.

I know in testing all these were setup for the best performance for the player, so different stock shafts were used as needed. But do you have a list of what shafts had the best performance?

Basically, this test, but looking at the shaft instead of the club head as the variable?

Thanks for the hard work.

Joe

Surprised the M3 440 scored that low with a tight dispersion while not giving up too much in distance.

Metric used is “best driver for most players”

Seems the twist face will work great for 38% of players, and clearly on averages appears to work “somewhat” for just about **all** players. But it is more often “somewhat” effective than **optimal** compared to other clubs. It’s like a 4-door saloon. Not handling of sports car. Not economy of city car. Not load carrying of a truck. Not people carrying of MPV. Best average though.

My take – twist face Version 2 could be great – but it’s not there quite yet.

Jake dickerson

Not sure my previous comment went through but I meant F8+ not F8. I’m confused why f8+ is ranked below sub zero since the f8+ outperformed the sub zero in every category except shot area. And I don’t see how f8+ can be less offline that sub zero but have a larger shot area.

Offline is a simple measurement of left/right dispersion. Shot Area also considers front/back (consistency of total distance). It’s not at all uncommon for a club that’s less offline to have a larger shot area.

Our rankings are driven by strokes gained (and whether or not the strokes gained differences are statistically significant). Strokes Gained contains elements of distance, accuracy, and perhaps most importantly, lie condition (fairway vs. rough).

don

Thank you that explains shot area much better, but I also would like the answer to why 1 club is ranked ahead of another when they are longer, and more accurate. This is what is most wanted in a driver is pop off the tee and the ability to find it in the fairway. Spin etc are far secondary as those simply help the 1st 2 happen.

Don – Have you read the how we test and rank page linked in the post?

Averages only tell a partial story and even within somewhat narrow swing ranges, distance, for example, skews towards the clubs that longer hitters hit best. That’s why it’s important to have a system to normalize the data and the results.

Here’s a quick overview of how we do things.

For every shot we determine the strokes gained driving value.

On an individual tester basis, we determine the club which produced the highest average strokes gained driving value. We consider this to be the ‘best’ club for each tester.

We then determine, based on a 90% confidence interval (we use 95% when we look at the tester population across all swing speeds), any other clubs for which performance was not reliably different from that best club.

These clubs determine the top group for each tester. In some cases, we find that the best club is reliably different from all others in the test, but the average size of the top group is just under 8 clubs, I believe.

Finally, we look at how often each club appears in the top group across the pool of testers – that’s what the percentage next to the rank represents. So in this case, the Rogue SZ was Ranked #1 because it appeared in the reliably different Top Group for 46% of the testers, while the Cobra F8+ appeared in the Top Group 38% of the time.

Are Offline and Shot Area weighted equally? Seems like, for the Driver at least, that yards offline would be more important than front/back, esp. when it comes to hitting fairways. For irons or wedges, I could see Shot Area being more valuable.

Thank You for responding Tony. I never considered the fact that length etc gets skewed by long hitters. Yes I read and understood how you test and I love it. What I was questioning was how you calculate the strokes gained value for each shot before calculating the strokes gained average for every tester with each club. I feel certain things need more weight and others less weight. Some one who hits the ball 150yds needs more carry and doesn’t worry about accuracy. A guy who hits it 400 certainly care more about finding it than 3 more yards of carry.

Brad

Left to right dispersion is almost entirely the archer and not the bow he’s using to shoot the arrow. If a club is very poorly suited then sure, it would make a difference. Barring that, the differences between several well fit clubs will be 95% down to the subset of swings the golfer took with each club, and the results could change (previous best might be worst) if the tests were repeated on different days or weeks apart.

Short and long dispersion (a better measure of accuracy) is more easily shown to be the result of more or less forgiveness in a club from different MOI or engineering of the face to keep ball speeds up on mishits across the face.

Ryan

I agree with Rob C. The Callaway Rogue Sub Zero is the real deal. When I went for a fitting at GolfTec this was the top performer with the 14 gram weight set in the front towards the face. The runner-up was the Ping G400 LST. My driver swing speed is only 90 mph. The best fitted shaft happened to the be the stock Project X EvenFlo 6.0S 65g. After three rounds I have hit my longest drive (274 yards according to my Arccos tracker) and they are in control as the driver shaft was cut short 1″. Most drives are routinely in the 240-260 range. My old driver was a Ping G30 with a Padderson Kevlar green shaft and those drives were typically 230-240 yards. I am loving the upgrade with the new tech.

Rob C

Great stuff Ryan! The Even Flo is a GREAT shaft, I did ok with it but was slightly better with the synergy. And I did pick up a few mph ss with the Rogue over my previous PING G30. I still need better contact with the center as I’m only getting around a 139 to 140 on smash factor and as a result only about 230 on my drives.

Sounds like that shorter shaft really helped you in this regard, perhaps something I should have considered.

Jerry

I am assuming similar shafts were not used but were similar flexes used in the testing? I know moderate swing speeds flux between regular and stiff and wondered what was predominantly used.

DougWilsonsSlapper

What do Shot Area and Offline mean?

For Accuracy/Offline we use the average distance off the target line. In a quick two-shot example, if one shot was 10 yards left of center, and the other was 5 yards right of center, Our offline/accuracy value would be 7.5 yards.

Shot Area is essentially a measure of dispersion. The value represents the area (in yards/sq) of a 95% confidence ellipse. In simple terms, it represents the area of the oval that most launch monitor software draws around a group of shots. We aggregate this data to show an average across all of the testers in the group. It’s the best metric we have for shot pattern consistency.

Thanks. So, the Shot Area could be a really large number depending on the testers, but the Accuracy/Offline should be pretty consistent? Is that fair to say?

Bryan Wilson

Great information but was disappointed that in your description of the clubs tested you did not include brand of shaft, length and flex used in each of the drivers evaluated. The shaft is the engine that powers the head and the correct one for your swing can improve almost any driver.

I could not agree more. By now we all understand using stock shafts, but why not tell us what is used as there are different offerings even in stock shafts. If nothing else the flex used.

Please consider letting us know the settings used also. My f6+ is a completely different beast with the weight forward versus back. They are not like years ago just slightly different.

Ted Ebert

I agree a 100% not including shaft info, the test results are meaningless.

Ernest Poirier

I contacted Callaway last week, because my fitting with TaylorMade was not productive. After an hour of trying different TwistFace heads, and dozen’s of shafts, the new $500 model wouldn’t out perform my existing TM Driver.

I’m hoping someone from Callaway replies to me, so that when an authorized fitter visits my area, I can test a number of Callaway heads and shafts, and get a driver that is built for me. As a healthy, athletic 40yrd old, I’m sick of my 245 yd drives. My 3W goes 225 and is much MUCH more accurate, so I use it way more.

Rant Over

scott

Not to sound snotty but could your lack of distance be you not the club. If you buy a different club the chances are your still going to hit it the same distance. A 245 carry is a far drive most golfers over estimate how far they think they hit the ball by 20 yards.

That’s not snotty at all. But, based on all the advertising we are fed everyday, newer / “better” equipment, I was HOPING that a new driver, that was fit to ME, would produce more desirable results.

The only reason I don’t overestimate my driver statistics, is because they are based on 3 years of indoor simulator use. I download all my swing data, analyze it in a spreadsheet, and with nearly 490 driver swings, I know my average carry and total distances with my driver. (along with a plethora of other statistics given by the ForeSight Launch Monitor).

Gary

What was the weight settings on the Rouge Sub Zero (12 front-2 back or 2 front-12 back)? The first lowers the spin and second easier to hit.

Kenneth Boucher

Not a true test as you left out the best of the best PXG.

Terry McDowell

This post made me spit out my coffee. Well done sir.

OlPal Gary

Not too many Duffers that have the money of a Fool !
If you can afford to pay that much for a club that meets USGA guideline just like all the others than be our guest..
I don’t know of any !!
We do change shafts however!

I know those two at the top are going to shock a lot of people. And before the comments come about slow swing players shouldn’t be playing low spin heads. that’s not true anymore.

As a 90 MPH swing speed myself, the last two drivers I have been fit into were “low spin” heads, the Rogue Sub Zero and the Titleist 917 D3.

As long as your launch is high enough to negate the lower spin, you will get better numbers out of it in most cases.

Regis

I agree with you except to point out that these results are for”moderate” swing speeds where 90 mph is the lowest swing speed. Those with a SS of less than 90 mph (arguably the largest segment of avid golfers) probably still benefit from a higher spinning head. Personally one of my best drivers is the TMAG SLDR in a 12 degree loft with a lighter shaft and that is true for many of my buddies. But it depends on how consistent you are with center contsct

This is something we’ve seen time and time again despite the fact that it conflicts with conventional fitting wisdom. Until you get to the really low end of the swing speed scale, TaylorMade’s Loft Up numbers 17°/1700 RPM will maximize distance. Realistically, those numbers aren’t attainable for the majority of golfers. You also have to consider the consistency of spin under those conditions. If you’re getting 1700 as an average, and you hit a ball high on the face, spin drops to knuckleball levels, so even for consistent golfers with higher swing speeds, I’m reticent to fit for anything below 2100 RPM (I love 14/15 2100 if I can get it).

Having said all of that, we’ve seen classic ‘tour’ heads, produce exceptionally good results for slower swing speed players. The Tour Edge head from a few seasons ago springs to mind. What you often get is more ball speed and a lower ball flight with a lower spin, boring trajectory, and plenty of roll. The ball flight isn’t always textbook beautiful, but for golfers who keep the ball in the fairway, the extra roll can have a big distance benefit. It’s not something I’d recommend for a course with longer forced carries, but it absolutely can work.

Steve S

After reading the MGS/Ping driver fitting study (http://mygolfspy.com/mygolfspy-labs-the-driver-fitting-study/) I completely changed my approach to driving.

I now use a 4 inch tee, line up the ball off my front toe and have about a +5 degree attack angle. With my old driver (2007 TM Burner 9.5 degree stiff) I added almost 15 yards of carry. I’m a 88 to 92 mph swinger, depending on my back, temperature, etc. I’m also a believer in physics which says the stiffer the shaft the less dispersion. To offset the lower launch you can use a higher lofted driver. This spring I’ve switched to a Mizuno JPX-EZ(2016) at 10.5 degree with a Mitsubishi X flex shaft. I’m now carrying it a least 10 yards further than my old Burner. And that is in temperatures that haven’t topped 60 with a bum left knee. Can’t wait until summer!

My normal launch is 14.5 and 2450 RPM and I can still get too low spin in wet conditions. Which are frequent here in Ireland. Ball just falls out of sky and then I’ve fingers crossed getting some run – on soft winter fairways.

I’d be just plain scared of trying to live with 1700 / 17 ave launch recorded in dry conditions.

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Driver Ping G30	Hybrids PXG 0317
3/4 IRON PXG 0311XF	5-GW Srixon Z 565
SW PXG 0317	LW PXG 0311
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Drivers

2018 Most Wanted – The Best Driver For Moderate Swing Speeds (90-105 mph)

INDEPENDENT & UNBIASED

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20.4m

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GET FIT FOR YOUR GAME WITH TRUEGOLFFIT™

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HOW WE CONSIDER PERFORMANCE

RESULTS:

TRUERank: Swing Speeds (90-104)

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comments

Wes Brown

Kent Mayer

GaryL

Dave

Lethal

mackdaddy

Dave S

Deepak

Jim

Lance

chrisk

JasonA

Bill

mackdaddy

Nick Thurgood

Chris S

JasonA

Jake dickerson

Dave S

Brad

Ryan

Rob C

Jerry

DougWilsonsSlapper

DougWilsonsSlapper

Ted Ebert

Ernest Poirier

scott

Ernest Poirier

Gary

Terry McDowell

OlPal Gary

Rob C

Regis

Steve S

JasonA

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