The Best Golf Drivers

As another season gets underway, the golf world is buzzing with the releases of the newest golf drivers. Titleist, Cleveland, Callaway, Mizuno, TaylorMade, Ping, Cobra, and more all have new drivers on the market that promise new innovations to add distance and accuracy to your game. To help you find which one is right for you, we gathered a panel of customers to review and test the drivers to see how they performed against their current one. The golf driver selections for this test are:

Moderate Swing Speed Drivers

• Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max
• Cleveland Launcher XL 2
• Cobra Darkspeed Max
• Mizuno ST Max 230
• PING G430 Max 10K
• Titleist TSR2
• Taylormade Qi 10 Max

Best Driver Testing – Moderate Swing Speeds (95 mph or less)

Best Driver Testing – Faster Swing Speeds (95 mph or more)

Which Is The Best Driver For You?

Finding the best driver for your game really depends on your personal abilities and preferences, but we’ve compiled our findings to create this comprehensive guide discussing the latest and greatest drivers on the market. We determined which drivers were the best in terms of distance and accuracy.

Our testing panel is comprised of golfers of varying experience and ability levels, so you can find the players that are most similar to you. Each driver tested was the standard flight model, but was custom fitted for each tester to match their swing and the current driver they use.

How We Tested Our Golf Drivers

All of the data was collected in the controlled indoor environment of the TGW Wichita Pure Performance Center. Testing was conducted under the guidance of Rick Hatfield, TGW’s Master Fitter; who used a Foresight GC2 launch monitor to record numbers and had all of the golfers use the 2024 Titleist Pro V1 golf ball to keep variables constant. The data presented is an average of a minimum of 8 drives for each club. For this testing, we split our testers into two different groups and tested drivers made for golfers that have more moderate swing speeds (95 mph or less) and those that swing 95-105 mph (faster swing speeds).

Why It Won:

• On average, the Ping G430 Max 10K driver gave our testers the largest gain in distance across the entire group when compared with their current driver.
• Every single member of the testing panel gained distance from the Ping G430 Max 10K over their current driver.

Why It Won:

• The TaylorMade Qi10 Max driver tied the Ping G430 Max 10K in average yards gained when compared to current drivers.
• Every single member of the testing panel gained distance from the Ping G430 Max 10K over their current driver.

Why It Won:

• On average, the PING G430 LST driver gave our testers the largest gain in distance across the entire group when compared with their current driver.
• Every single member of the testing panel gained distance from the PING G430 LST driver over their current driver.

Why It Stood Out:

• The Mizuno STG 440 driver offered the second-highest average gain in distance for our testing panel.
• 5 of 7 members of the testing panel gained distance from the PING G430 LST driver over their current driver.

Why It Stood Out:

• The Cobra Darkspeed LS driver offered the third-highest average gain in distance for our testing panel.
• The Cobra Darkspeed LS driver was the longest in testing for 3 of the 7 testers.

Average Ball Speed:

• G430 LST – 146.6 mph
• Qi10 LS – 146.0 mph
• Darkspeed LS – 145.6 mph
• Paradym Ai Smoke TD – 145.4 mph
• TSR 3 – 145.1 mph
• ST-G 440 – 144.7 mph

Average Launch Angle:

• G430 LST – 12.2 Degrees
• Qi10 LS – 13.0 Degrees
• Darkspeed LS – 13.3 Degrees
• Paradym Ai Smoke TD – 13.8 Degrees
• TSR 3 – 13.9 Degrees
• ST-G 440 – 13.2 Degrees

Average Backspin (RPM):

• G430 LST – 2522.4
• Qi10 LS – 2241.7
• Darkspeed LS – 2542.6
• Paradym Ai Smoke TD – 2364.1
• TSR 3 – 2547.7
• ST-G 440 – 2691.3

Average Peak Height (Feet):

• G430 LST – 83.1
• Qi10 LS – 80.8
• Darkspeed LS – 90.2
• Paradym Ai Smoke TD – 91.3
• TSR 3 – 91.3
• ST-G 440 – 91.7

Decent Angle (degrees):

• G430 LST – 35.7
• Qi10 LS – 35.6
• Darkspeed LS – 37.8
• Paradym Ai Smoke TD – 37.4
• TSR 3 – 38.3
• ST-G 440 – 38.4

Average Ball Speed:

• Paradym Ai Smoke Max – 125.8 mph
• Qi Max 10 – 124.5 mph
• G430 10K – 123.7 mph
• TSR 2 – 123.3 mph
• Darkspeed Max – 123.1 mph
• Launcher XL2 – 121.7 mph
• ST Max 230 – 120.7 mph

Average Launch Angle (degrees):

• Paradym Ai Smoke Max – 12.8
• Qi Max 10 – 13.0
• G430 10K – 12.8
• TSR 2 – 14.0
• Darkspeed Max – 14.2
• Launcher XL2 – 12.4
• ST Max 230 – 14.6

Average Launch Angle (RPM):

• Paradym Ai Smoke Max – 2462.1
• G430 10K – 2620.1
• TSR 2 – 2617.6
• Darkspeed Max – 2933.4
• Launcher XL2 – 2549.8
• ST Max 230 – 3197.4
• Qi10 Max – 2685.5

Average Peak Height (Feet):

• Paradym Ai Smoke Max – 60.2
• Qi Max 10 – 57.8
• G430 10K – 57.1
• TSR 2 – 61.2
• Darkspeed Max – 65.6
• Launcher XL2 – 48.6
• ST Max 230 – 63.9

Average Decent Angle (Degrees):

• Paradym Ai Smoke Max – 32.0
• Qi Max 10 – 32.1
• G430 10K – 31.8
• TSR 2 – 33.0
• Darkspeed Max – 35.6
• Launcher XL2 – 31.3
• ST Max 230 – 36.8

Following our testing, the customer panel did have additional comments about several drivers feeling or sounding good, although it may not have given them the best numbers. While our findings is data-driven, we highly recommend all golfers get fitted and test the drivers themselves when possible – after all, golf is very much an individual sport.

Following our testing, the customer panel did have additional comments about several drivers feeling or sounding good, although it may not have given them the best numbers. While our findings is data-driven, we highly recommend all golfers get fitted and test the drivers themselves when possible – after all, golf is very much an individual sport. All told, we compiled a final ranking using statistics like the PGA Tour uses where distance and accuracy rankings are averaged together to determine a #1 driver overall. Ranking #1 for 4 of our 7 testers and #2 for a 5th, the overall winner was the Titleist TSR3 driver.