Will 2019 be the best year for drivers ever?
We think so. Golfers in the market for a new driver will have more choices than ever and that’s exciting. In the golf industry, however, nobody is up without somebody else going down. Which brands are poised to gain ground in the market and which risk dipping a bit?
Keeping it in-house for this episode, MyGolfSpy owner, Adam Beach, and Editor, Tony Covey, discuss how the market is shaping up and make their predictions for a 2019 Most Wanted Winner.
Have a listen.
Allen Rindfuss
6 months agoi bought all of Pings G400,s hybrids and fairway woods and they are very good clubs. I also bought G400 Driver and i do not care for it. It is accurate and forgiving but lacks distance. WHY did they put Maraging Steel in the hybrids and fairway woods and not the DRIVER?
Albie
6 months agoWe don’t care! I just wanna win my Tuesday afternoon Nassau!
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Albie
6 months agoFor the last 8 years I’ve gone to my local golf shop once or twice a year whenever the “latest and greatest” comes out in search of the magic driving arrow. I’ll get on the launch monitor and swing away with a variety of $500 club head and shaft combinations, fiddle with torque wrenches, adjusting lofts and draw/fade biases. I always bring my old Callaway FtiZ non adjustable 13° driver, regular flex shaft as the benchmark. I would HAPPILY pay the $500 for 10 more CONTROLABLE and CONSISTENT yards, but it just ain’t there! Instead I just go home with a new grip on my FtiZ with the epoxy coating chipping off the bottom. I don’t think I’m the only one seeing little to no advancement in driver head performance in the last 8 or so years.
scott
5 months agoI had the same FTiz driver combination with a VooDoo reg shaft love it hit far and straight for many years but it was getting old. Then a brain fart happen I bought a new Taylor AeroBurner thinking It would be longer off the tee ( new tech ) but I never knew what side of the fairway it would land. So out with the Aero 12 degree and in with a Callaway XR 12 adjustable and back to long and straight but it cost me money to find out newer isn’t always better just new . PS Callaway has a new drive call Fusion with the same shape of the FTiz ( more money maybe ) ?
Ryebread
6 months agoI’ve recently “re-discovered” some older drivers with extremely high MOI. Pair them with some low lofts (vanity lofting back then, plus dynamic loft from high MOI), and it makes for a very nice performing package at a fraction of the cost….
Plumbob
6 months agoGreat Insider pod cast. I am flying to the US to play pebble in April 2019. And I am going to be investing in a new set of clubs and I lam loving that there will be so many drivers to choose from.
Daivd
6 months agoYeah geek8jg bout New drivers coming out but mainly looks th cobra f9 looks so nice but am torn to buy bc I have a m4 and a f7 king in my bag and still working on my game and think should work more from pin back so nail down my putter ,wedges,and irons first
PMookie
6 months agoHa! And JLukes played one driver all summer until TS2! ?????
Tony, and Adam, here’s a question: since all heads emit forces on a ball differently (speed, spin, launch, etc) is testing the SAME shaft in every head likely to be apples-to-apples? Maxing-out each head seems to demand finding the owner perfect shaft that matches THAT head.
I think, Tony, you might not give some heads you get the same shot as another. A low-spin head vs a mid-spin vs high-spin require different shafts to deliver similar performance for that one specific golfer’s swing….. Will take longer, and more resources, but might give you a truer final result.
Lee
6 months agoI’d love to find a driver to beat my original M2 which is an ancient 2 and a half years old. I love the look of TS3 but don’t have good experience with Titleist drivers and the shaft options on Ping in the UK are pathetic so my wallet is likely to stay closed in 2019 (mind you I hope not).
Nocklaus
6 months agoI still play TM SLDR with a Speeder Evo ll.
Hard to beat. (for me)
Steve McIvor
6 months agoTS range is different to anything Titleist have ever produced. Hence the naming change. Go and hit TS3. It will surprise you!
Albert Eng
6 months agoI am looking forward to your annual driver review. Every year I get a fit a new driver. Currently I game a M3 460 with a Graphite Design Tour AD TP shaft. I’m ready for the onslaught of new drivers!
Kevin Shaw
6 months agoIt’s all about the shaft. 2 years ago, I paid my $150 and I went to the Callaway fitting center in Carlsbad Ca. Got the head and shaft that was best for me. 2 years later it is still the best for me. In the last month, my club, has had both Taylor Made and Titleist fitters out. After hitting mine and all the stuff they both had, to a man, they told me to keep what I have.
Steve McIvor
6 months agoIt’s really not…. You’ve found a shaft you like the feel of – granted. But head technology will trump any shaft technology. At the end of the day, you don’t hit it out the shaft.
Robert Scott
6 months agoI think you’ll find it’s a balance between the two actually.
scott
5 months agoUsing your logic you don’t hit a ball with a shaft but you don’t swing a head without a shaft. Most driver heads have about the same COR number meaning no matter what the golf company say’s it’s has good has it get’s by USGA rules distance off the face so if you want more distance try a different shaft or lessons
Max
6 months agoPING REALLY REALLY pissed me off when they released the G400 Max without notice right after I bought the G400. I will not be buying PING this time around and I have owned every PING driver since the G25. They have lost my trust for a while. The argument was that it was for a slower swinger and they didn’t know it would be so good for everyone. But the problem with that is that they pride themselves on engineering. If you are good at engineering you should know what you have created, right? On the flipside, maybe they aren’t good at engineering after all and really didn’t know that the Max was going to be so good… either way it is a problem for me. Just bought a TS2 and will play it all winter and will look at the Cobra and Mizuno in February.
Raymond CHASTEL
6 months agoNew clubs, supposed to be better than those you have ,will never improve your game .
_Working on your body will ;Improve both your flexiblity and your strength -FIX YOUR BODY ,FIX YOUR SWING by JOEY DIOVISALVI ,physiotherapist ,coach of BRUCE KOEPKA and DUSTIN JOHNSON .or the ancient book by Doctor FRANK JOBE “30 EXERCISES FOR BETTER GOLF “.
-Work at home to develop a repeatable swing :100 swings ,without a ball in front of a window pane
-Hone your short game :no need to go on putting green :put on a carpet anywhere at home :300 puts per day from various distances.Chip about the same number of chips
-Never go to a driving range :it’s a complete waste of time ,go on the golf course instead as many times as you possibly can
With this amount of practice at home, when you go to play on the golf course ,3/4 times a week ,you should be on “AUTOMATIC PILOT”,all you have to do is to master the strategies to score well .
These strategies become obvious if you play often enough
Steve S
6 months agoAgree with most of what you say except about driving range. I go to the local range 2-4 times a when I’m not playing(like during crappy weather). I focus on ball striking and getting a smooth tempo and center strikes. Every couple sessions I take 40 balls and “play” local courses in my head switching clubs as appropriate. I find that When I do go back on the course I’m a much better player. Oh yeah, when I’m having a problem with my ball striking I’ll haul out my 15 year old blades and practice with them. Forces me to swing smoother and more in control.
scott
5 months agodriving ranges are great for pounding balls but you’ll never lower your score on the range that take playing the course . you never see a person on the range hitting 20 foot chips or punch shots between two trees ..I get more from 9 holes for $18 then a large bucket for $9…Play golf don’t practice golf you’ll see the differnce
Lmatteo
6 months agoI agree with Lou, The average golfer seems to be left wondering where do we all fit in. Most of us do not have plus 100 mpg swing speeds as we get a bit older. Would be nice to compare apples to apples. Although, if your a player who wants to play to the best of his/her ability , you still need to go and get fit, regardless of the the test results. It still would be nice to see comparaisons in the 95- 100 swing speeds with Reg vs Stiff shafts comparisons. Myself, I’m 61 play to a 14 hc and have lost a lot of club head speed the last 5 years. Stuck between Regular and Stiff shaft depending on make, model, and bend points. Any tests for us mid-handicappers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Harry Elias
6 months agoI agree. As I have gotten older (now 68, 15 hdcp) my swing speed and distance have reduced. I think having additional data to cover slower speeds and shaft flexes would be beneficial.
If GPS watches have taught me anything, I don’t hit the ball as far as I used to, or as far as I think I do.
Vic
6 months agoI expect for millions of amateur Golfers the best driver for 2019 will be the 2015-16 models that were “the best” a few years ago. For me, I’m waiting for the first driver with a computer chip that adjusts face angle during the swing and squares the face just before impact.
Brett
6 months agoWhich would be illegal. No major golf company will invest in equipment that is non-conforming.
W
6 months agoI’m 78 and don’t give a damn about conforming equipment. Problem is equipment makers should wise up and make equipment for recreational golfers vice pros or scratch youngsters. I want distance that I had 20or 30 or 50 years ago. I just want to have fun ..putting for birdies is more enjoyable than doubles.
Mike Reed
6 months agoPing will always be the winner because they appeal to the broadest group of golfers. Their custom fitting and product selection offer “something for everyone” and that will keep them as a sales leader. I play a G30 and am looking forward to trying the G400 on closeout!!
Lou
6 months agoI’m afraid Golf Spy will use the same 25-30 guys they always have test drivers and the results will always be skewed toward fast swinging, long ball hitters. The problem is of the million people on Golf Spy, the vast majority have slower swing speeds and the results will be for 100+ mph guys. In my estimation, Golf Spy is losing sight of the majority of golfers and catering to a very small segment. This makes the majority of your information fairly irrelevant to most of us.
SharkGolf
6 months agoFor which manufacturer do you work Lou? “Low ball hitters”, are you joking. The vast majority of golfers on Golf Spy are good golfers and Golf Sky’s work is not irrelevant at all.
Sam Robinson
6 months agoHi Lou,
Sam Robinson from the MyGolfSpy Testing Facility here. You may want to check out our “About This Test” details for every single one of our Most Wanted Tests. It displays the swing speeds, handicaps, and age range for each respective test completed here at the facility.
My team and I hand pick the testers, and work day-in and day-out to ensure we are not skewing the data in any way. We go to extra lengths to make sure our test group accurately reflects the golfing public, as well as strictly monitoring test sessions to record the most accurate data possible.
That being said, I invite you to visit our dedicated Testing & Research Facility in Yorktown, VA. Here you may sit in to observe a complete day of testing at MyGolfSpy – you will see for yourself the variety of golfers with varying swing speeds, handicaps and ability levels.
If you have any questions or concerns in the meantime, I invite you to reach out to me personally!
don
6 months agoWoW I love to hear that, thanks Sam this 1 paragraph may be the single most important one I have heard anyone from Mgs write defending how they collect data.
Brandon
6 months agoIn most of their testing it seems the mid irons carry somewhere in the 140 yard range. That is not by any means the result of a high swing speed.
Mike Reed
6 months agoI think Ping has always appealed to the broadest based group of consumers with their custom fitting capabilities and wide range of products. Their drivers are in many bags of people who use other clubs but they still maintain their reputation as being “clubs for everyone”. They will always be difficult to beat.
Fozcycle
6 months agoGreat discussion guys……I’m with Tony on this one……the Cobra F9 is pushing all the buttons.
Damon Butler
6 months agoJust a new dress for the same pig… lol. Handicaps don’t go down while more money gets put into the bag. Find your game, work on your game because you can’t buy a game
Sam
6 months agoCouldn’t agree with you more, Damon! That’s exactly what a geat pro and friend of mine in Italy said: Money can’t buy you a swing. Work on it, on your technical skills – that’s part of the fun of this sport , got to be patient though. One little hint which may have a big impact: rythm, or swing tempo, stay relaxed and smooth! Keep it up guys!
Walter
6 months agoI agree, look at Stenson and Fleetwood’s irons on FFWs.
Joe Kolarich
6 months agoLooking forward to playing the titleist TS2. I am a die hard Titleist fan.
Alex
5 months agoI’ve tried the TS2 in a fitting session last month (actually in that session I’ve tried all the 2018 driver in the market so far). My high expectation with Ts2 have been disappointed…actually all the drivers I’ve tried weren’t impressive at all though. FYI I am 3 hcp playing a not fitted 915 + Aldila rouge
Brian
6 months agoIsn’t every year the best year for drivers*
* YMMV, must have SS of 110mph+, robot testing only, vs 2007 models, saw .005mph ball speed increase
Terry
6 months agoHuh?