2015 Most Wanted Driver – (Distance Awards)

The Performance You Deserve.

THE LARGEST, UNBIASED, DATA-BASED DRIVER TEST EVER PERFORMED IN THE GOLF INDUSTRY.

We spent the past 365 days flying around the country, making conference calls, consulting with engineers, industry experts, statisticians, mathematicians. The end result of that collaboration is what we believe to be the largest, fully-independent, 100% #DataCratic driver test ever conducted.

This year’s Most Wanted Driver Test took months to complete. Our testing procedures were significantly expanded. Our test included more golfers, more drivers, and more data than ever before. 28 drivers have been put to the ultimate test. An industry standard 20 golfers just like you spent over 150 hours in testing.

Over 10,000 shots were captured, more than 250,000 data points scrutinized. All testing was conducted with a Foresight GC2 Launch Monitor with HMT. All testers used Bridgestone B330-RX golf balls.

Our goal is to empower the consumer with truthful and reliable information that will help you identify the best driver for your game. We celebrate all of you who love golf equipment.

This guide is for you.

For more details on our testing process, see our How We Test page

How We Consider Distance

For many of you, everything takes a backseat to distance. You’re willing to sacrifice a little bit of accuracy and some forgiveness on mishits for the satisfaction that comes from those select few drives that leave the rest of your foursome questioning what’s in their bag.

Our distance guide is for you.

What’s important for readers to understand is that our distance rank is not a reflection of the average distance across all shots in our test. Our distance ranking is based on a sampling of the best shots hit by each tester with each club during the test. Its intent is to best reflect how each driver performs on optimal hits.

Our test for distance is testing how far a driver can possibly hit a ball. Period.

2015 Overall Distance

Callaway Big Bertha Alpha Double Black Diamond Test Report:

Produced longest peak distance (267.5 yards)

Produced longest single drive average (272 yards)

Among the lowest spinning (2419 RPM) drivers tested

Royal Collection SFD X7 Test Report

Produced the highest average clubhead speed (104.4)

Ball Speed (147.8) was more than 1 MPH above average

46” shaft and ultralight design contributes to distance

Cobra FLY-Z+ Test Report

Produced above average peak distance despite 45” stock shaft length

Near-average launch (12.6°) with low spin (2441 RPM)

Lowest peak height (27.9 yards) of any driver in Top 5

Tour Edge E8 Beta Test Report

Average launch with lowest spin rates (2304 RPM) of any driver tested

Only true compact head (440cc) head in the top 5

Produced 1.2° less dynamic loft on average

Cobra FLY-Z Test Report

Longest driver among low/back CG (high MOI) designs

Among Top 10 lowest spinning drivers tested

Highest launching club (13.5°) in the Top 5

The Rest of the List

Click to see the Full List of Overall Rankings



Callaway Big Bertha Alpha Double Black Diamond Test Report:

More than 2 yards longer (297.7) than the runner up

Highest single drive average (301.6 yards) for higher swing speed players

Lowest spin to launch ratio for high 100+ MPH swing speed players

Those needing more spin should put gravity core up, and consider moving 7g weight to the heel



Cobra FLY-Z+ Test Report

Above average distance (295.6) despite shorter than average (45”) shaft

Lowest spinning (2242 RPM) for 100+ MPH swing speed players

To increase launch, spin, and MOI place Flip Zone weight to the rear



Royal Collection SFD X7 Test Report

Highest launch and spin of any club in this group

Produced 1.6° more dynamic loft on average

Highest spinning club (2640 RPM) in Top 5 for 100+ MPH golfers

46” shaft is the longest within this group



TaylorMade R15 Test Report

Second highest launching (13.4°) of any club in Top 5 for 100+ MPH golfers

Those looking for more forgiveness should slide weights to the edges



Tour Edge E8 Beta

Among lowest spinning drivers (2290 RPM) for 100+ MPH golfers

For those who prefer a smaller head, E8 Beta is the longest of the 440cc crowd

Royal Collection SFD X7

Produced highest clubhead speed (92.8 MPH) of any club within this Top 5

Results suggest 46” is an option for those seeking maximum distance on best shots

Cobra FLY-Z

Highest launch (14.0°) of any club in the Top 5

Highest peak height (26.2 yards) of any club in Top 5

Nike Vapor Flex

Lowest launching (11.7°) in this Top 5

More distance from roll than relative to other clubs on this list

Smallest footprint (~425cc) with shallow face Well-suited for high spin players who hit down on the ball

Well-suited for high spin players who hit down on the ball

Tour Edge E8 Beta

2322 RPM average spin was lowest in group by more than 200 RPM

Produced lowest angle of attack (-1.1°) and dynamic loft (15.3°) relative to other clubs in this group

Titleist 915 D2

Highest Ball Speed 132.2 MPH of any club in the Top 5

Single drive average only .1 yards behind leader for sub-100 MPH testers

Don’t Miss

2015 Most Wanted Driver – Accuracy Awards

2015 Most Wanted Driver – Overall Awards



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