Drivers

I’ve been exploring the world of golf drivers recently, and I’ve learned quite a few things that I want to share with you. If you’re looking to buy a new golf driver, it’s important to consider several factors like clubhead size, loft, and shaft options. So, let me share a quick golf driver buying guide that will help you make the best decision and find the perfect driver for your game. Let’s dive in!

Considerations on how to choose a golf driver

This golf driver buying guide will surely give what you need

Head size of your golf driver

The volume of club heads is measured in cubic centimeters. The maximum limit provided is 460cc. most drivers in the market range from 440cc to 460cc. The golf players who choose 440cc like to shape the ball more in the air as different launch conditions are generated. Drivers with 460 ccc are typically designed to offer more forgiveness.

Material

In recent times, almost all the club heads are either made of titanium or composite heads. Titanium is lightweight, strong, and long-lasting. The club heads were therefore increased without the increase in weight.  Lightweight drivers enable the golfers to swing faster and produce more distance.

Different types of materials are combined to produce composite drivers. Heavyweight materials such as tungsten or lightweight materials such as carbon are combined with titanium to have a composite driver in place.

The combination is aimed at improving the performance of the best golf drivers. The lighter materials are mostly used on the rear section or the crown, they help to reduce the driver’s weight and alter the center of gravity of the driver. The heavy materials help to increase the perimeter weight of the club which increases the MOI.

Moment of Inertia

It’s often referred to as MOI.  It shows the forgiveness of the club in terms of its ability to resist twisting at impact. A club isn’t likely to rotate or twist when the ball is stricken at the center of the face with a high MOI.

This is the single balance point of the best golf drivers. The center of gravity can be adjusted by moving them horizontally, vertically, forward and back in a club head. The fixed and adjustable heads are moved inside the head for this purpose.

The ball will launch higher when the CG is lower and further. This is because the spin is increased. More forgiveness can also be achieved in this process, as the MOI will be higher. Once the CG is moved forward, the ball speeds are increased but the MOI and the ball spin are reduced.

The loft of your golf driver

The loft is measured on a vertical axis and dictates how high or low the ball will fly from the clubface. A clubface will lay perpendicularly on the ground when its loft is at 0 degrees. Most drivers in the market have their loft ranging from 8 to 12 degrees. The loft adds the ball’s backspin that helps it generate lift and rise into the air.

More backspin is created when the loft is more. Golfers whose swing speeds are lower at around 90mph or less should consider the best golf drivers with higher lofts of 10 degrees or more. This higher loft will enable them to optimize their launch conditions.

On the other hand, players with higher swing speeds of over 90mph should consider lofts that are below 10 degrees. These lower handicap players produce more spin and distance; thus, they don’t require too much loft.

It’s however important to note that how the ball will fly is not dependent on the loft alone but also depends on the launch angle.

The loft to choose will depend on your speed;

  • Speed of less than 60mph requires a loft of 14 to 15 degrees
  • Speed ranging from 60 to 70mph requires a loft of 12 to 13 degrees
  • Speed ranging from 70 to 80mph requires a loft of 10.5 to 11.5 degrees
  • Speed ranging from 80 to 80mph requires a loft of 9 to 10.5 degrees
  • The speed that is more than 90mph requires the lowest loft available.
  • Launch conditions

Launch conditions are factors combined to show how the ball is struck and the expected results.  This phrase is common when your driver is being custom fitted. The key factors that create launch conditions include ball spin and launch angle.

The perfect one is the combination of a launch angle of 17 degrees and a spin of 1700 rpm. This is however not possible currently at the normal swing speeds. Currently, the ideal launch conditions are when the launch angle is 10 to 12 degrees depending on the speed of your clubhead, and the spin is fewer than 300rpm.

Swing weight

This is an important golf club feature, but it’s often overlooked. It’s crucial to know the total weight of the best golf drivers and the head’s weight, which in this case is the swing weight. This should be considered for the improvement of the player’s driving.

The suitable head weight and the total weight is determined by your physical strength, golfing athletic ability and your swing tempo. The percentage of off-center hits increases when the total weight and swing weight is lighter.

Shaft Flex

Shafts are very important in drivers. When the shafts are lighter and less stiff, a higher right to left-biased ball flight is produced. On the contrary, when the shafts are heavier and stiff, the ball launch will be lower and the ball is shaped to the right.

This means that a player using the right shaft has a higher tendency of hitting the ball straighter, further and more consistently. The shaft flexes offered by manufacturers are usually regular (R), stiff (S) and extra stiff (XS).

Other flexes are light (L), senior (A) and more options for extra stiff (XXS, XXXS).

Shaft Length

The legal limit of a shaft length is 48 inches; however, most drivers have 45 or 46 shaft length. This is considered an ideal length for the best balance of control and distance. Longer drivers are known for increasing the ball speed and provide extra distance, but the additional length of the driver might affect accuracy and control. Therefore, a shaft length of about 45 inches suits most of the golf players.

Feel and sound

The combination of the right shaft, wing weight, and clubhead are the key aspects that affect the driver’s feel. The feel and sound of a driver determine how a golfer sees it attractive or unattractive. It’s important to feel satisfied every time you pull the trigger as this instills confidence throughout the golf course.

Cost

In recent years, the cost of best golf drivers has increased significantly. Drivers with titanium are more expensive than those with steel. Modern driver heads use titanium; hence the price has been pushed higher. But, considering the benefits you get from using a driver whose head is made of titanium, the cost is justifiable.

Best Golf Drivers from Popular Brands

The most popular manufacturers of drivers include Titleist, TaylorMade, and Callaway. We will select the top two drivers of the three brands.

Titleist TS2 Best Golf Drivers

best golf drivers

This driver has a new face design and the crown has thinner titanium. The two features are combined to produce lower spin and higher ball speeds. Its off-center-hit stability is increased by the lighter weight thinner crown. The weight is redistributed low and deep. The face thickness and refined crown lower the CG to provide a higher launch. The shape of the driver increases the speed of the clubhead and offer more distance. TS2 offers incredible speed and forgiveness across the face.

Features

The Titleist TS2 is the ultimate in distance. With its increased ball speed and lower spin, you’ll hit the green with ease. Our patented Speed Chassis technology has been scientifically proven to increase your clubhead speed by over 20%, so you can hit the ball further than ever before. And with our new streamlined shape, you’ll experience less drag than ever before—which means even better distance.

We’ve also incorporated ultra-thin titanium crowns into our new line of drivers to reduce drag by 20% and increase clubhead speed by 5%. The result? A Titleist driver that delivers higher launch angles and a low center of gravity for more distance than ever before. Our TS2 model comes with a variety of options for customizing your driver depending on your needs: fixed or movable CG, high or low MOI, etc. Choose from one of our two standard models or create your own custom order today!

Titleist TS3 Best Golf Drivers

best golf drivers

This driver has a round shape and is among the popular ones in recent times. It has a great performance and has a wide face to work with, thus instilling confidence in you. Its feel and sound are satisfying and is very responsive. The responsiveness is obtained by knowing exactly where to hit the ball. It’s not so long, but this doesn’t limit how far it flies. This is because it has an amazing low spin that gives an optimal ball flight especially for the golfers who hit a little lower.

Features

The TS3 driver features Speed Chassis technology, which provides faster ball speed, higher launch, lower spin, and enhanced MOI—so you can hit the ball further than ever before. It’s also streamlined for increased speed, so you can get more distance from every drive.

The ultra-thin titanium crown allows weight to be shifted lower and deeper for higher launch and lower spin. And with a refined crown and face thickness that creates Titleist’s lowest CG ever for higher launch and lower spin, you’ll experience more forgiveness than ever before. The TS3 model has an adjustable CG and classic shape for customized performance.

TaylorMade M5 Best Golf Drivers

best golf drivers

This driver has Speed Injected Twist Face Technology that boosts the performance of the driver. It’s long and provides the ball’s flight path is straight. It also has an inverted T-Track that provides a fast and forgiving driver that boosts its speed. This explosive speed is what has made TaylorMade M5 a popular driver in both Rory Mcllroy and Tiger Woods. Although it’s expensive, its performance justifies the price and is rated highly.

Features

You’re a better player than the average golfer. You know what you want, and we know you’ve got it in you to get there. The TaylorMade M5 Tour Driver is designed to help you hit those shots the way you want to—with more spin and trajectory control than ever before.

The Inverse T-Track allows us to position two 10g weights in the optimal location for increased control, while the flexible Hammerhead slot works with Speed Injected Twist Face to produce a larger sweet spot and preserve ball speed on off-center strikes. A smaller 435cc head size provides a confident look at the address for those better players out there, so you can focus on what really matters: swinging for the fences!

TaylorMade M6 Best Golf Drivers

best golf drivers

This driver also utilizes Speed Injected Twist Face Technology that boosts its performance. The technology offers less loft in the low heel and more loft in the high toe to deliver a more consistent spin that some golfers find it difficult to achieve.  It provides great forgiveness and distance. A feature that stands out in the TaylorMade M6 is its controlled trajectory. It’s fast but not as fast as the M5. It’s also quite expensive as many of the drivers in this category, but it’s definitely a worthy investment. The crown of the driver is fully carbon to optimize the MOI and CG. This enables it delivers on all fronts.

If you are not ready to buy new model drivers from TaylorMade, check out our M2 Driver Review – a great driver!

Features

The TaylorMade M6 driver is the perfect tool for golfers who want to maximize their game. The Speed Injection process is designed to optimize COR across the entire face of every M6 driver head, so you’ll be playing with a driver that’s engineered to make everybody faster.

In addition, Twist Face™ technology allows for more consistent spin on off-center hits and a corrective face angle on off-center hits, which reduces side spin and produces straighter shots. The aerodynamic carbon sole design with “Inertia Generator” provides increased clubhead speed for more distance. And finally, 54% more carbon than M4 allows for more weight to be housed within the “Inertia Generator.”

Callaway Epic Flash Best Golf Drivers

best golf drivers

The Epic driver is powered by Artificial Intelligence and is rated highly in the market. Among all the other drivers, Callaway has produced, epic flash is the fastest.  The technology produces the Flash Faces.  The combination of Jailbreak technology delivers great forgiveness and extra distance.

Moreover, it has an excellent head size and its color stands out from a majority of drivers in the market. The colors are green and yellow making it bright and bold. The driver also projects a higher trajectory that most players enjoy. The combination of all these factors boosts the performance of Callaway epic flash driver.

More Top Picks For Callaway Golf Clubs.

Features

The new Callaway Epic Flash Driver is here, and it’s ready to take your game to the next level. This driver has been redesigned with a new flash face technology that promotes faster ball speed in the center region of the face.

It also features jailbreak technology, which places more impact load on the face to promote faster ball speed. The new T2C Triaxial carbon crown material gives you higher MOI for improved stability and forgiveness on off-center hits. And one more thing—the sliding 16-gram weight gives you the power to easily promote draws, fades, or a straighter flight!

Callaway Epic Flash Sub Zero Best Golf Drivers

best golf drivers

This driver being a Callaway brand, it utilizes the new Flash Face Technology and Jailbreak Technology. The combination is aimed at providing amazing speed and distance. The ball flight control is enabled by an adjustable perimeter weighting.

The Flash Face is designed with the help of artificial intelligence and “Machine Learning.” This makes it higher tech than the previous Callaway face technology.  Although the ripples have random size, height, and configuration, they are combined to increase COR in the face’s center region.

It also offers great forgiveness, but the level of forgiveness is lower than that of epic flash. It has a more compact head to address, hence you can hit the ball confidently.

You might want to take a look at an interesting Callaway Driver Buying Guide we published.

Features

The Callaway Epic Flash Sub Zero Driver features a new Flash Face Technology design that increases ball speed in the center region of the face. It also has Jailbreak Technology, which promotes faster ball speed by placing more impact load on the face.

The Callaway Epic Flash Sub Zero Driver is equipped with a slide-able 12-gram weight that easily promotes draws, fades or a straighter flight. The advanced head shape and internal weighting result in more forgiveness and longer distance than ever before.

What does COR mean in relation to golf drivers?

COR has been using in the article and it’s worth highlighting what it means. It’s at times referred to as Characteristic Time (CT).  COR, however, stands for Coefficient of Restitution. When the COR of a driver is 1.00, all the energy produced by the clubhead is transferred to the ball.

Nevertheless, most governing bodies of golf provides a COR limit of 0.83. This means that the energy transferred from the clubhead to the ball can’t be more than 83%.

You are now equipped with key information on golf drivers. Have the above concepts and recommendations in mind when deciding on what driver to purchase. This will eliminate disappointment and your golf performance will be enhanced.

Take a look at the other golf clubs you will need to improve your game.