New drivers for the New Year
The start of the year looks promising for those in the market for a driver upgrade
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The start of the year looks promising for those in the market for a driver upgrade
The first week of 2025 is as good a reason as any to get new sticks. For those of us who’ve managed to avoid the temptation of gifting ourselves new clubs during the holidays, the start of the year may be the perfect time to go out and test brand-new, just-released clubs.
The top manufacturers have been busy keeping their offerings for 2025 under wraps, but at the same time, during the end of 2024, they’ve also been leaking pictures of what’s to come.
Here are a few drivers coming in the next month or two:
The 2024 Ai Smoke line from Callaway was pretty successful, with Xander Schauffele winning two majors using his Ai Smoke Triple Diamond driver.
Callaway has always made great woods, and the upcoming Elyte series should be no different.
From pictures, reviews and tech releases, their new buzzword seems to be Thermoforged Carbon Crown, a new material promising more speed with optimized launch and spin.
An enhanced shape also means the heads are more aerodynamic.
The Ai face is still on the latest drivers, optimizing more sweet spots all over the clubface.
Like the previous line, there will be a standard, draw-biased, low spinning and a lighter higher launching Elyte driver.
Improving on 2024’s Qi10 range, Taylormade is now coming out with the Qi35 series. They are promising more distance (of course), from more of the clubface.
The Qi10 line had some people criticizing it for the lack of distance gains of the Stealth series it replaced.
While Taylormade focused on forgiveness through less torque in 2024, they suffered a bit on the distance wars.
That, along with the isolated but concerning issue of cracking carbon faces, means Taylormade has some ground to make up. Will the Qi35 bring the faithful back? Only time will tell.
Cobra’s Darkspeed drivers in 2024 have been sneaky good. They’ve done well in several reviews and tests and were the choice of a few golf influencers. For 2025, the DS Adapt should maintain Cobra’s reputation for making good drivers that can hang, or even beat models from the top manufacturers.
The Titleist GT series was launched in late 2024, so it’s not exactly new for 2025. However, the reviews have been glowing, and Titleist continues to produce stunning drivers.
They’ve also overcome their previous reputation for lacking distance and forgiveness, with the GT line now regarded as one of the longest clubs available.
If you’re on the “purist” side of golf club enthusiasts, then the Titleist GT line is a must-try. Their new offering for 2025 is a mini-driver GT.
Ping has always been in the conversation when it comes to quality clubs. Their drivers have always been among the best out there.
In 2024, the Ping G430 Max 10k took a good product and gave it industry-topping forgiveness.
For this reason, Ping claimed the title of 2024’s best driver on multiple golf club review websites. For 2025, the Ping G440 range has some big shoes to fill.
The G440 range hasn’t been launched yet, and there’s limited tech information available.
However, if performance is any indication, the Ping G440 has already secured a professional win.
Ping is known for releasing products that perform and aren’t too gimmicky marketing-wise, so we can expect the 440 range to improve on the wildly popular G430 series.
Srixon has been popular for their irons for a while now. I have used Srixon irons since 2017. Their drivers, although not as popular as the brands above, have been scoring well in reviews.
This week, Hideki Matsuyama won The Sentry in Hawaii with a record-breaking score of -35. What’s in his bag? A Srixon driver, though he’s still using his reliable ZX5 MkII and hasn’t switched to the ZXi yet.
Like Ping, the Srixon ZXi driver line hasn’t been launched, so we’ll have to wait and see what it’s all about.
The start of the year looks promising for those in the market for a driver upgrade.
And for those wanting to spend a little less, new models coming out mean that 2024 models are now starting to go for a little less.
If you were eyeing a new driver last year, it may just be the perfect time to get it for a discount.
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