What Drivers the World’s Best Golfers Use and Why

<!–

–>

To simplify the list, we have chosen the top ten riders currently ranked in the world, which also gives us a good mix of riders.

There's a bunch of different riders here with different lofts and preferences and it's interesting to see how much power the big dogs have on their racing.

For reference, Total Driving measures a player's overall accuracy and distance off the tee. The number in parentheses is the player's ranking.

1) Scotty Scheffler – TaylorMade Qi10 (8.25°)

Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X (45 inches)
Driving distance: 303.8 yards (64th)
Total Number of Drives: 87 (2nd)

TaylorMade Says: “The feedback Scottie got while testing all the Qi10 heads was that he felt the Qi10 Standard was more predictable and forgiving for him. When you look at the way the heads are set up, you can see he was right. Yes, because his clubhead has weight, which creates higher inertia and more forgiveness.

“I asked if we could go back to the neutral upright setting because now I could see the loft and what I needed to see,” Scheffler said, “and we moved it back to the neutral setting and it immediately clicked. I Being able to hit all the shots I wanted to hit.

2) Xander Schauffele – Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Three Diamonds (10.1°)

Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana PD 70 TX (45.5 inches)
Driving distance: 308.5 yards (33rd)
Total drives: 128 (20th)

“We went to the Grove and adapted,” Callaway said. [Xander Schauffele]his spin rate per shot is probably 30% tighter than Paradym, and Paradym is not bad either. Forgiveness means something different to these people than it does to consumers, right? When PGA Tour players miss the center of the clubface, which is uncommon, they miss by a millimeter or two. Therefore, it is more important for them to reduce the difference in spin rate on each shot. The sides are faster everywhere, but we want the spin rate to be in the 200-300 rpm range, and I think that's what we're seeing based on feedback and working with each player.

3) Rory McIlroy – TaylorMade Qi10 (8.25°)

Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X (45 inches)
Driving Distance: 320.2 yards (2nd)
Total Number of Drives: 104 (6th)

“I've played most of my career with a 45-inch driver shaft, so I feel like there's no reason why I can't hit a 45-inch driver and control it and do what I want to do with it,” McIlroy said. .The profile of the Qi10 head allows me to use a slightly longer shaft easily. I just feel like the Qi10's slightly larger profile and longer shaft looks good to me and I can find the middle of it easier.

“Honestly, this is probably the best driver I've had in the last few years. I've really gotten comfortable with the driver, and I think some of the technical aspects of my swing are a little bit better – OK The drives were still really good, but the bad drives weren't as bad, so the misses weren't as bad.

4) Collin Morikawa – TaylorMade Qi10 LS (9°)

Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 60 TX (45 inches)
Driving distance: 296.0 yards (135th)
Total drives: 142 (31st)

Morikawa has been using a TaylorMade SIM driver since 2020 and has stuck with it despite the introduction of new drivers over the next three seasons. He then moved to Qi10 Max in early 2024.

“When I said I wanted Max, a lot of people looked at me crazy,” Morikawa said.

“Look, the guys at TaylorMade are awesome. They obviously modified a bunch of heads, added weight here and there, trying to match the CG (center of gravity). The sim looks great to me. It's a shallower head , not a deep head, nor a front-to-back head. It's very shallow compared to the new one, which is something I've always liked.

“It sounds and feels great. I have a lot of hot glue in this head. The Max is for people who need to get the ball in the air and need spin, and I have to explain to everyone that I have the amateur version. But no, I really enjoyed it and the misses were huge.

Americans have now switched to the LS version.

5) Ludwig Aberg – Titleist GT2 (9.75°)

Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X Shaft
Driving distance: 310.1 yards (22nd)
Total Number of Drives: 96 (4th)

“In the prototype phase, he came from TSR2 and tested GT2, GT3 and GT4,” Titleist said. “Ludwig is a very forgiving player. He has incredible ball speed, but he's a great iron player.” player, so we want to do everything we can to keep him racing. GT2 is a sweet spot for him, with very good launch and spin, but also forgiveness, so that's very strong for him and here. Some players are different. He actually adds a little bit of loft, which helps keep his spin on the ball and keeps the ball in play so he can really utilize his iron skills.

6) Hideki Matsuyama – Srixon ZX5 Mk II LS (9.5 degrees)

Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8 TX
Driving distance: 299.4 yards (107th)
Total times driven: 239 (160th)

Srixon said: “The ZX5 LS Mk II driver uses forward sole weighting to reduce long-distance spin, making it ideal for golfers with fast swing speeds. The ZX5 LS Mk II has the same large footprint and flat shape, and an adjustable hosel sleeve that adjusts face angle and loft.

7) Wyndham Clark – Titleist TSR3 (8.25°)

Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Green 60 6.5 TX (45 inches)
Driving distance: 314.0 yards (8th)
Total drives: 172 (75th)

“When I switched to the TSR3, it hit the ball faster for me and gave me more spin, which was huge for me,” Clark said. “Then I was able to keep it straight. Sometimes I'd get it because of the fade. There were too many cuts. So we did some renovations, which was honestly one of the most important keys.

8) Victor Hovland – Ping G425 LST (8.5°)

Shaft: Fujikura Speeder 661 TR X (45.75 inches)
Driving distance: 305.1 yards (55th)
Total drives: 152 (45th)

“I never really think about my driver length,” Hovland said. “When you're playing a [shorter length] Driver, it's hard to get that strong in the gym. This takes time. So why not try a longer driver, which is what I ended up doing. By doing this I accelerated 4 mph. Your brain realizes that you have a longer club and you can take the speeder off of you a little bit. You've been swinging the shorter driver, so you open up the growth, and then all of a sudden, the ball speed is no longer 4 mph, it's 5, 6, 7, 8. ball speed cruising. That's 10 mph faster than when I first came out.

9) Tommy Fleetwood – TaylorMade Qi10 LS (9°)

Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 6 X
Driving distance: 300.4 yards (97th)
Total Number of Drives: 108 (7th)

TaylorMade comments: “Tommy’s biggest gain with the Qi10 is the very tight spin rate, especially on turnovers. On turnovers, Tommy usually gets 3100-3200 spins, in this case, he got 2700 spins, which is great for him. It's huge because that means the distance is there. He's not out of the woods yet in terms of the ball, he went from launching at 10.5 or 11 degrees at 2,600 rpm to now 12 degrees at 2,400 rpm. When you add it all up, this is a real game-changer for him.

10) Bryson DeChambeau – Krank Formula Fire Pro (6°)

Shaft: Project X HZRDUS T1100 75g 6.5
Kickoff distance: 343 yards (based on his own game numbers at LIV)
Total Driving: N/A

DeChambeau commented: “Since I took it off at the beginning of 2018, this has probably been the best performance I’ve had in the last five years of professional golf. I don’t want to say too much. For anyone with a ball speed over 175 , this is all great.

Buy TaylorMade Qi10 Driver
Buy TaylorMade Qi10 Driver Max
Buy Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max D

Read more: 2025 First Look: What do we know about the new Ping G440 driver?