Testing Over 20 Different Drivers
Joe Ferguson runs through all the drivers on the market and picks out his favourites in looks, feel/sound, performance, consistency and value before picking his overall favourite
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00:00Okay, let's get started by talking about the looks, and that's crucial because in driver
00:07as any other club, it's really important you like what you're looking down on, and I think
00:102024 might just go down as a vintage year for driver releases.
00:15I'm going to start with the Callaway AI Smoke.
00:18Now, I love the look of this driver.
00:19It's been a little divisive.
00:20I've seen some other reports and reviews and thoughts online, people not quite liking the
00:24effect on the bottom.
00:25I love it.
00:27The vibrant, kind of smoky effect that's created here really pops from a retail point of view
00:31on the shelf, and I love the accent colors they've used in the fonts and the weights
00:35here.
00:36So what Callaway have done here, they've created a more light gray color that blends beautifully
00:41into that front piece, and I think the aesthetic overall, all the drivers in this family look
00:46absolutely fantastic.
00:47Now, similarly with TaylorMade, they've changed tactics as well, so the red face of the Stealth
00:54and Stealth 2 is gone.
00:57I think I've said this in one of my other reviews, but it was quite divisive, so there'll
01:00be many people jumping for joy that it's gone, and there'll be a few people a bit upset because
01:05they really like the red.
01:06I'm in the jumping for joy camp.
01:08I much prefer this kind of dark navy face.
01:12It's a bit subtler, and I think it'll appeal to more of the masses, and it certainly suits
01:17my eye better.
01:18Also, what you'll notice on the TaylorMade range, the whole family, the QI10 family,
01:24they've dropped this sort of banner strip at the front altogether.
01:26It's been replaced with an infinity crown, so it's the same sort of black gloss finish
01:31all over the head, and I just think it looks really, really clean.
01:35One other thing I like about the QI10 range, handy little white strip they've put on the
01:39leading edge here at the top.
01:42Because the face and the crown are now a little bit more similar than they were, we haven't
01:45got the red and the black as different as they were before, they've added this little
01:51strip to help with alignment, to really pick out that face angle.
01:54I think it's really, really good.
01:56I've got the LS model in my hand, and that's a similar shape to its predecessor, but in
02:00the QI10 Standard and the QI10 Max, it's a much more rounded and larger profile, and
02:06I actually really, really like that.
02:08I really like the new shape they've created there.
02:11Great work from TaylorMade too.
02:13Another noteworthy mention before I get to my winner, Cobra Dark Speed.
02:18There's not much to say about this because there's not actually that much going on, but
02:21that's what I like about it.
02:22Super minimal.
02:24Matte black all over.
02:25Looks really slick, looks really sleek.
02:27On the other ranges, there's some blue accents, there's some red accents, but we're talking
02:31minimal.
02:32It's one of the most minimal and least offensive heads, but looks really sophisticated in that
02:37matte black.
02:38For me, my overall winner in terms of looks, it might be a bit of a surprise, the Mizuno
02:43STG.
02:44I just think Mizuno have got a knack of making some really, really good-looking drivers.
02:49They've got plenty of tech that you can see on the bottom with the sliding rails here,
02:53but they don't overdo it with logos, they don't overdo it with colors, but the standout
02:57point for me in the STG that probably won it for me in this category is the profile
03:01down behind the ball.
03:02It's a little bit more compact, it's got 440cc as opposed to most drivers which are looking
03:07at 460.
03:08It's a little bit more of a compact head and it's quite deep in terms of its space, which
03:14is a look that really appeals to me.
03:16On the top, it's all gloss black, but it's got a blend of carbon effect into a more solid
03:22color.
03:23It's just a really sophisticated, premium-looking driver.
03:26Mizuno keep knocking them out and I keep liking them.
03:29This is my best-looking driver of 2024.
03:35The first one I want to talk about in terms of feel is the Mizuno STG.
03:39Much like its looks, it's got a subtle and understated feel and sound to it.
03:46It's kind of muted, a bit more of a dull thud.
03:48I'm just going to hit one away here and hopefully, you'll be able to pick up on the camera, on
03:52the audio, the noise that it's emitting.
03:55It's a nicely struck shot and it's got quite a deep thud to it.
04:03Like I said, there's a certain sophistication to the strike that I really like about that.
04:08At the other end of that sound and feel spectrum, we've got the Cobra Darkspeed LS.
04:13Onto the Cobra Darkspeed LS.
04:16Like I said, this is probably just at the other end of the spectrum.
04:18To me, in testing, it just feels a bit harsher, a bit firmer, and emits a more high-pitched,
04:24sharper noise.
04:25Again, I'm going to hit one away and hopefully, you'll be able to pick that up on the audio.
04:31Again, decent hit there and I hope you just heard that.
04:38The impact sound just feels a little bit quicker, a little bit of a sharper burst, so a higher
04:45pitch noise.
04:46That's not good or bad.
04:47They'll just be personal preferences at each end of the spectrum.
04:51My favorite feeling and sounding driver of 2024 is the PXG Black Ops.
04:56Before I talk about the PXG Black Ops, I just wanted to give an honorable mention to the
05:00Titleist TSR3.
05:02This is a really solid driver.
05:03It's been around a little longer and again, all-round performance is great, but from a
05:07feel and sound point of view, it's pretty much bob on.
05:11I think this just eclipses it, if I'm totally honest.
05:14With the PXG, they've done a lot of work on human audio and how humans' perception of
05:20sound and they've come up with what they call natural frequency optimization.
05:25Within this head, there's a lot of tech that's really fine-tuning that noise and feel.
05:29Again, like the others, I'm just going to hit one away and hopefully, you'll pick it
05:32up because for me, what they've achieved here is fantastic.
05:43Noise-wise, I just think it's perfect.
05:45Again, this will all be subjective in terms of what you like to hear and what you like
05:49to feel, but this, to me, sits beautifully in the middle.
05:52It's not too soft and modely coddling my hands at all.
05:55It's not too harsh and there's too much feedback.
05:57It's just a really good, solid feeling driver, makes a great sound right in that mid-pitch
06:02and it really suits everything I want.
06:04For me, the best sounding and feeling driver of 2024, PXG Black Ops.
06:13Before we get into that, if you could do us a favor, if you really enjoy this video, if
06:17you could hit that like button, it really helps us.
06:20Subscribe to the channel if you haven't and comment down below what's been your favorite
06:24driver of this release season.
06:25I'd love to hear it.
06:26Okay, so let's talk about distance.
06:28As I mentioned, I've hit an awful lot of drivers over the past few months.
06:32I'm just going to pop some data up on the screen for you to take a little look at.
06:35Again, if you need to pause it to take that in, there is a lot of data and a lot of numbers
06:39there.
06:40Take a look and get back to me.
06:43From a data point of view, as a driver tester, try and make things as fair and equitable
06:47as possible in terms of testing the same base loft, the same balls, the same launch monitors,
06:52making it as equal as possible.
06:54The nature of club testing and how manufacturers get you samples, there can be some small discrepancies
06:59in there.
07:00You do need to take these with a little bit of a pinch of salt, but this is what I experienced
07:04from my testing.
07:06There is one anomaly in 2024 that I need to talk about that's come up through testing.
07:11That's around shaft length.
07:12It came to my attention for the TaylorMade QI10 Max.
07:17A lot of the drivers that are trying to maximize moment of inertia this year have squashed
07:22their heads down a little bit in order to be able to spread weight wide.
07:25What that's done is when they've squashed that head down, hosel's gone down and shaft
07:29lengths are coming down with it, really, in theory, unless you address that.
07:34TaylorMade haven't addressed that with the QI10 Max.
07:37They've just let that play a quarter of an inch shorter than the rest of their range.
07:40That's, in my testing, I noticed that in terms of ball speed, the shorter length of shaft,
07:45I wasn't able to generate as much club head speed, and as such, that didn't translate
07:48into ball speed.
07:50Don't let that fool you.
07:51The QI10 Max head is a really quick head, it's just I wasn't able to generate as much
07:56speed at that length.
07:57However, that could be addressed through a custom fitting.
08:00Interestingly, other manufacturers have gone the other way.
08:03Mizuno, with their ST Max driver, have actually gone longer in length, assuming that if you
08:10hit it across the face a little bit more because of that extra length, you're going to get
08:13away with it because of the quality of the head.
08:16They've addressed that in a couple of different ways, which is really interesting.
08:20Back to the raw data, and this is just about distance, my longest carry and total numbers
08:25both came with the TaylorMade QI10 Standard model.
08:29That's, interestingly, the model that Rory McIlroy's just switched into from the LS model.
08:33That was a really high performer for me in terms of overall distance output, and that
08:38is clearly the winner of this category.
08:40Before we go, an honorable mention to the PING G430 Max 10K driver, which was less than
08:46a yard behind the TaylorMade QI10 Standard model, with significantly higher MOI and a
08:52lot more stability in the head.
08:53From a driver of that ilk, to produce that level of ball speed was truly impressive.
09:02Consistency for me encompasses dispersion, not just from a left to right point of view,
09:06but also from a front and back point of view.
09:08You want to make sure that all your good strikes with the driver are going to carry that bunker
09:12or that ditch or whatever you need to.
09:14Consistency is key.
09:15I've picked out three drivers that I think really embody that consistency theme.
09:20The first one of which is the TaylorMade QI10 Max.
09:25This is a big story for TaylorMade this year.
09:27This is their hero driver.
09:29How they've created this MOI story is they've essentially squashed down the head so it's
09:35shallower than it was, but they've pushed all that weight backwards into more extreme
09:39positions to create real stability in that head.
09:42The effect that has is on these off-center hits, there is tremendous consistency.
09:48You're losing less ball speed, tighter dispersion down the range from a left to right point
09:52of view, but also, as I said, from front to back.
09:54This is one of the most consistent drivers that I've tried this year.
09:59Next up, the second driver that I've picked out is the Mizuno ST Max.
10:05Again, it's a similar principle.
10:07They've gone down the same kind of route, squashing that head down, shallowing the face
10:11and pushing those weight to extreme locations.
10:15Very similar stuff that I saw with the QI10 Max, huge consistency across the face.
10:21That's key in this category, I think.
10:22Those across-the-face hits, none of us are perfect, none of us center it every time,
10:27and the ST Max really performs.
10:30For me, in this category, there's only one winner, and that is the PING G430 Max 10K.
10:39I'm telling the same story again here to a certain extent, but that's what's happened.
10:43The head's been spread wider, more extreme weight locations, but across the face, I found
10:48it so difficult.
10:49I'm not renowned as the world's straightest driver of the golf ball, if I'm brutally honest,
10:53but this driver flatters me so, so much, no matter where I hit it on the face.
10:58Center strikes are obviously great, and they usually feel great throughout this equipment.
11:03Across the face, the retention of ball speed and the tightness of the dispersion just sets
11:07this driver apart.
11:08For me, the PING G430 Max 10K takes the title of the most consistent driver of 2024.
11:19I want to talk to you a bit about value.
11:21With the economic climate looking a little, shall we say, under the weather, price point
11:26is probably a really relevant category to talk about this year.
11:30To start with, I just want to point out the PING G430 Max 10K.
11:34This is pretty punchy.
11:35This is at 599, so that's about 600 pounds for a driver.
11:39Whilst I really like it in huge amount of performance elements, that is quite a punchy
11:44number.
11:45A couple more that represent some probably more value here.
11:49We've got the Wilson Dyna-Power Carbon, which is a nice overall performing driver.
11:53Good numbers, as you'll have seen from the performance section.
11:56It retails at 429, but you can actually pick it up.
11:59It's been out for a little longer than some of these drivers.
12:01You can actually pick it up for under 400 pounds, which I think represents really good
12:05value.
12:06For me, probably the winner in this category is the Cobra Darkspeed, the family as a whole,
12:12really.
12:13You can pick them up for 429 at a recommended retail price.
12:16The performance elements that go into this, the look, very premium look, and the head
12:21cover, which is phenomenal, by the way, that is exceptional value.
12:25For me, the most value you can get in a driver in 2024 would be the Darkspeed family from
12:30Cobra.
12:34The time to reveal is here, and my favorite driver is the PING G430 Max 10K.
12:42If anyone's seen my review of this driver, that may not have come as a surprise to anyone
12:46because I was effusive in my praise.
12:48PING has achieved something here, which I didn't even know was possible.
12:51The level of stability, of forgiveness, and playability of this driver on its own is exceptional,
12:58but combined with the ball speed, the spin, the lowest spin number I was getting from
13:03this, as I said, I didn't know this was achievable, and it really is truly exceptional.
13:09The price is punchy at 599, but to me, this is worth every penny.
13:13You're going to see all of the performance benefits I've just spoken about.
13:16It looks great, it feels great, and it's going to stand the test of time, this one.
13:20I think this will go down as an all-time classic, and it's my favorite of 2024.