In conjunction with a top club fitter, each of the 15 testers in our 2016 Gear Trials: Best Driver Test determined what new drivers were best for their game. The top-performing driver for each tester earned a Gold Medal (1st place), the second best-performing driver earned a Silver Medal (2nd Place) and the third best-performing driver earned a Bronze Medal (3rd Place). See the results for all testers here.

All Gear Trials Player Profiles include screenshots from Trackman, showing both Optimization and Shot Dispersion charts for the drivers that earned medals for each player, as well as a tester’s “gamer driver.” Carry and Total numbers highlighted in blue show that a driver’s launch conditions are in the optimal range. To learn more about the basics of ball flight laws and the Trackman numbers used in this story, visit www.trackmanuniversity.com.

Here’s What Happened

Chad, an assistant pro at a golf course in Myrtle Beach, came to the test with one of the drivers on trial — a TaylorMade M1 460 (10.5 degrees) with a Fujikura Pro 73X. He voiced concerns that nothing would beat his gamer, since he had been fit recently for the driver. Those concerns, however, were unwarranted.

With 111 mph of club head speed on average, Chad had little issue with ball speed and his swing path was mostly zeroed out. His path went left of the target on his misses, however, and when that happened he hit the ball off the toe more often than not.

Chad’s bad miss was a low toe-hook, but of even more concern were his launch conditions. He was averaging a launch angle of only 7.9 degrees with his gamer and too much spin (2409 rpm), which was caused by a downward attack angle and a non-optimal shaft, according to Miles of Golf fitter Shawn Zawodni.

“Bro, your attack angle is higher than my launch angle,” Chad said to fellow tester Ryan Nelson after one of his drives.

With Chad’s launch angle around 8 degrees and Ryan’s attack angle around 7 degrees, he wasn’t far off. Zawodni told Chad that with a properly adjusted head and the correct shaft, he would see significant improvements. So began the test, and the search for a low-spinning, high-launching driver for Chad.

TaylorMade M1 460 Data (Gold Medal)

In Round 1, Chad’s ball speed jumped using Ping’s G LS Tec (10.5 degrees) with Ping’s Tour 80X shaft.

“Really liked the Ping G LS,” Chad said. “[It was] easy to hit, seems like an easy [driver] to hit the sweet spot.”

Chad also hit Ping’s G driver, but the ball was going left, due to the slightly more rearward center of gravity (CG) and more closed face angle, according to Zawodni. Chad relayed that the the “toe was closing too quickly,” and the leftward spin-axis confirmed his feelings.

He was also hitting the ball left with Ping G LS Tec, but spin was down (averaging 2093 rpm), ball speed was up 8.5 mph, and total distance was up an astounding 22.5 yards on average compared to his gamer.

Next up was Titleist’s 915D3 (Titleist’s 915D2 has an inherent draw bias, so that was passed over) with Graphite Design’s Tour AD-DI 8X shaft. Zawodni liked the heavier shaft to combat Chad’s leftward miss. Although Zawodni switched Chad to a 7X shaft later in the test, Graphite Design’s Tour AD-DI proved to be a great fit for Chad’s swing.

With the Titleist 915D3, Chad found success, and couldn’t believe how high he was launching the 9.5-degree head. Launch was up, and his dispersion was tighter as well. Ball speed was down, however, and he was losing distance. Titleist’s 915D4 proved to be a poor fit despite its fade bias, since the golf ball was spinning too much and heading right on every shot.

“I feel like I’m not hitting the center of the face,” Chad said about the 915D4.

Cobra King LTD Data (Silver Medal)

Chad moved onto a toe-weighted PXG 0811 driver (9 degrees) with an Aldila Rogue Silver 70X shaft.

“It looks like a Ping,” he said. “A real simple and nice shape.”

The results were baby fades, but ball speed, launch angle and carry were down. Zawodni put him in a 10.5-degree head with the same shaft to chase more carry, but it didn’t prevail. Last up in Round 1 was Srixon’s Z745, which he said felt “dead and not stable.” The Round 1 winner was Ping’s G LS Tec with the Tour 80X shaft, which he hit farther than Titleist’s 915D3.

In Round 2, Chad found two drivers he liked and performed well, making for a difficult decision. It came down to Callaway’s XR 16 Pro and Nike’s Flex 440. He liked the looks of the XR 16 Pro (10.5 degrees) with an Aldila Rogue Silver 70X shaft, but it was launching slightly lower and spinning more than Zawodni wanted. Chad then hit the Nike Flex 440 with a Fujikura Speeder 757X shaft, which he said “feels like an iron shaft” due to its stiffness. He liked that stability, as well as the feel of the driver.

“Sound and feel [of the Flex 440] were solid and the numbers were beauties,” Chad said.

To dial in the numbers, Zawodni moved the Flex 440’s adjustable weight to its forward position, which resulted in higher ball speeds, a higher launch angle and a mid-spinning trajectory; enough to get the nod from Chad into the finals over the XR 16 Pro.

Ping G LS Data (Bronze Medal)

In Round 3, Chad found two worthy drivers. Shawn helped him dial in his M1 460 head to fit his swing; he adjusted the Front Track weight all the way toward the toe to straighten out his most common mishit, and added a Graphite Design Tour AD-DI 7X, which proved to be a better fit than his gamer shaft, a Fujikura Pro 73X. The new setup was “stupid good,” Chad said, and he was seeing 13 yards yards more distance because of a higher launch, lower spin, tighter dispersion and lower efficiency.

The King Cobra LTD (11.5 degrees) with a Tour Spec Pro 73X was performing as good as the M1 460, however.

“I was surprised at how crazy low spin the Cobra LTD was. Zero CG is real!” Chad said.

Chad saw an increase of ball speed and a drop in spin, but launch was still a little lower than optimal (averaging 9.5 degrees), according to Zawodni. Both drivers moved onto the finals.

TaylorMade M1 460 Data (Gamer)

Ping’s G LS Tec, while averaging the longest total distances of the finalists, was heading too far left for Chad in the finals. So he quickly eliminated it as an option.

It was a two-horse race: TaylorMade’s M1 460 (10.5 degrees) with a Graphite Design Tour AD-DI 7X and Cobra’s King LTD (11.5 degrees) with a Fujikura Pro Tour Spec 73X. There were small differences in launch characteristics and ball speed favoring the M1 460, but the final decision came down to preference, and a limitation from the King LTD head.

“If the King LTD had a high-launch head option, that would be the winner,” Chad said. “[The decision] was pretty tight between the M1 and Cobra LTD, but I liked the M1 a hair more based on the weight… felt I had more control with the M1, too.”

With just a few adjustments to his M1 460 gamer head and a new shaft, Chad picked up 13 yards. Lesson learned: If you buy an adjustable driver, make sure you’re optimizing the weight settings for your swing.

Overall Dispersion

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