Somebody has to finish last.
That is true in every MyGolfSpy test and the 2026 driver test is no different. But the point of looking at the bottom of the board is not just to call out which drivers struggled. It is to figure out why they struggled and what golfers can learn from it.
Sometimes, the reason is obvious. A driver gives up too much distance or falls apart in accuracy and never recovers. Other times, the issue is a little more nuanced. A club may not be a total miss. It may just be built for a narrower player type than the rest of the field.
The three drivers that finished at the bottom of our 2026 test were the COBRA OPTM Max-D, Mizuno JPX One Select and Vice Golf VGD01. Here’s what cost each one.
COBRA OPTM Max-D
| Metric | Score |
|---|---|
| MGS Score | 7.9 |
| Distance | 7.3 |
| Accuracy | 8.0 |
| Forgiveness | 8.9 |
The biggest issue for the COBRA OPTM Max-D was distance. Its 7.3 distance score was the lowest of the three drivers we’re highlighting here and the raw yardage backs that up. It averaged 229.01 yards of carry and 240.00 yards total, more than 15 yards behind the longest driver in the test.
Its 8.0 accuracy score was also near the bottom of the field. So while forgiveness held up reasonably well, the COBRA was still giving away too much in the two categories that tend to matter most in a driver test like this. If you are shorter than the competition and also not accurate, it gets difficult to make up ground.
Golfers looking at the OPTM Max-D should understand what the tradeoff appears to be. There may be some stability and consistency here but the cost is that you could be leaving meaningful distance on the table.
What I’d Try Instead: PING G440 SFT
If you want a driver built to help keep the ball in play, the PING G440 SFT delivered much better accuracy with more distance than the COBRA.
Mizuno JPX One Select
| Metric | Score |
|---|---|
| MGS Score | 8.0 |
| Distance | 7.9 |
| Accuracy | 8.0 |
| Forgiveness | 8.1 |
The Mizuno JPX One Select is a different type of bottom finisher. With the COBRA, you can point right to distance as the biggest issue. With the Mizuno, the bigger problem is that it never found a category strong enough to lift it.
Its scores were low across the board: 7.9 for distance, 8.0 for accuracy, 8.1 for forgiveness. This driver was simply bottom-tier in every major scoring category in our testing.
The swing speed results did not offer much of a rescue either. The JPX One Select remained near the bottom in the mid-speed test and finished last in the slow-speed test.
What I’d Try Instead: Mizuno JPX One
If you like the Mizuno profile, the standard JPX One delivered a better all-around result across every scoring category.
Vice Golf VGD01
| Metric | Score |
|---|---|
| MGS Score | 8.2 |
| Distance | 8.0 |
| Accuracy | 8.2 |
| Forgiveness | 8.4 |
The Vice Golf VGD01 followed a similar path to the Mizuno. It did not have one catastrophic weakness but it also did not have a category strong enough to lift it.
Its scores were low across the board: 8.0 for distance, 8.2 for accuracy, 8.4 for forgiveness. That kept it near the bottom of the test.
One small note in its favor was that the VGD01 performed better in the slow swing speed results, suggesting it may fit a narrower player type a little better than the overall finish implies.
What I’d Try Instead: Tour Edge Exotics Max
If you want a clearly stronger all-around option, the Exotics Max delivered better distance, better accuracy and better forgiveness than the Vice.
Final thoughts
There is always a temptation to look at the bottom of a test and assume those drivers are automatic write-offs. That is not really the lesson here. The idea is to ask better questions before you buy. If you are considering one of these drivers, the takeaway is not just that it finished near the bottom. It is that you should know exactly what you may be sacrificing if you put it in the bag.
For a complete look at all 2026 driver tests, see our information here:
ChristianR
1 month ago
It’s really weird that Mizuno, who was really improving its woods line since some years, has decided to go that way.
I mean, almost all the tests have highlighted the same poor performances, how is it possible that they didn’t noticed in their pre-production tests?
Don’t get me wrong, material could be good but probably needs more development or a better engineering to work properly, even TM had it’s up and down with carbon faces (but they are backed up by big market share).
PS. Despite the marketing, Vice is simply OEM quality clubs there’s no surprise here.