The post Callaway celebrates the 250th Anniversary of the USA with limited edition drop appeared first on Golf.

The post Callaway celebrates the 250th Anniversary of the USA with limited edition drop appeared first on Golf.

This year marks the 250th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and in celebration Callaway Golf has released an entire USA 250 collection including clubs, golf balls and accessories. Let’s dive into some of the details!

Drivers

The USA 250 collection brings the Callaway Quantum Max, Triple Diamond Max and Triple Diamond drivers into the fray. With a red, white, and blue overall color scheme and some very patriotic details including 13 stars on the crown, 1776 branding on the front weight ports of each, a nod to the address of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, as well as a matching ProjectX Denali 1776 shaft and Golf Pride Patriot Z-Grip, the USA 250 Quantum driver lineup is sure to impress even the most patriotic of golfers.

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Shop the USA 250 Collection from Callaway Golf

Each driver also comes with a matching 1776 themed headcover with “We the People” on the front side and a nod to the Declaration of Independence on the back. Triple Diamond and Triple Diamond Max will retail for $699.99 and the Quantum Max will retail for $649.99 in major retail store.

Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond Max USA 250 Limited Edition Driver

At Callaway, USA 250 is a moment to celebrate 250 years of American history, innovation, and pride. This limited-edition collection honors the spirit, craftsmanship, and performance that have defined the United States since 1776 — expressed through a lineup of precision-engineered drivers, putters, golf balls, and wedges. This is more than outstanding golf equipment — it’s a celebration of 250 years of bold ideas, relentless progress, and the pursuit of excellence. USA 250, built with the innovation and performance that defines Callaway. Built to honor. Built to compete.  

$699.99 from Fairway Jockey

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Putters

Personally, this is the coolest part of the launch for me. They did an amazing job with the putters, and switching the name from Jailbird to Freebird for the collection is just such a perfect nod. Available in a very nice red, white and blue finish with plenty of patriotic accents is the Ai-DUAL USA 250 Freebird Mini DB, Ai-DUAL USA 250 #7 S, Ai-DUAL USA 250 Freebird Cruiser and the Square 2 Square Ai-DUAL USA 250 Freebird. Each putter comes with a matching 1776 “We the People” themed headcover. Freebird Mini and the #7 will retail for $379.99. The Cruiser and the Square 2 Square will retail for $429.99. I think my favorite accent on these is the Jailbird models utilizing the red and white stripes as a nod to the American Flag.

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Wedges

Along with the Quantum drivers and Odyssey putters, Callaway is also bringing some custom Opus SP wedges to the USA 250 collection. Available in 50º to 60º increments, each section contains a slightly different laser engraving. The gap wedge lofts go for a “We the People” script, stars on the sand wedge lofts, and a nice waving flag on the lob wedges. Each wedge is also paint filled with red, white, and blue paint. Possibly the coolest detail here is the inclusion of a True Temper Dynamic Gold S200 with a USA 250 themed shaft label along with the same Golf Pride Patriot Z-Grip we saw on the driver lineup. Each USA 250 Opus SP wedge will retail for $219.99.

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Buy USA 250 Opus SP at Callaway Golf

Golf Balls

Chrome Tour, Chrome Tour X, Chrome Soft and Callaway Supersoft golf balls are all included in the USA 250 launch. The Chrome Tour lineup features a USA version of their stripe technology with a waving flag around the stripe and each numbered as 250. The Supersofts take a slightly different approach with the same 250 numbers, but this time adorned with a simple retro style USA stamp on the side. The Chrome Tour lineup will be available for $59.99 and the USA 250 Supersoft is available for $27.99

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The Callaway USA 250 lineup is rounded out by a few accessories including the headcovers available for individual sale, and a nice USA 250 themed hat from the team. You can find the entire collection at callawaygolf.com. Select items are also available from our friends over at Fairway Jockey.

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The post Why we may start seeing fewer driver models | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

The post Why we may start seeing fewer driver models | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

On this week’s’ episode of the Fully Equipped Podcast with Johnny Wunder, we talked about the prospect of the LS model being on its way out and the questions that its potential exit raises. Let’s explore the theory and the implications.

There’s a few things at play here.

1.) The death of the LS driver

Johnny and I talked about this last week as well. Jack also did a good write-up on the topic that you can read here. The idea is that we’re starting to see less use of LS-style drivers such as the TaylorMade Qi4D LS, Cobra OPTM LS, and Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond. Players are opting instead for Qi4D Core, Cobra OPTM X, or Callaway Triple Diamond Max profiles.

The main reason is that ‘core’ style heads, those that sit in the middle of a woods lineup, have gotten so versatile. With any of the ‘core’ style heads I have mentioned, I have been able to fit them into the same numbers I would get out of their LS counterparts but with far more forgiveness. The looks have also been significantly improved as well. The idea of playing smaller, pear-shaped LS-style heads was never especially appealing, but that’s not as much of a factor as it used to be. In fact, many LS style heads are getting bigger to boost forgiveness, like the Cobra OPTM LS. The new Titleist GTS 4 is also rumored to be a bit bigger than it has been traditionally.

The one category I believe is being overlooked, though, is the high-spin slice golfer. This is the golfer who traditionally steer clear of the LS head models because they worry about a lack of forgiveness. But with the modern heads that’s not such a problem anymore. I’ve fit quite a few higher handicap golfers into more forgiving LS models, like the OPTM LS or the Wilson DYNAPWR LS models, and it’s gone quite well. The big advantage is to take a 9-degree head and turn it all the way up on the sleeve to add loft and, even more importantly, close the face. A closed face with lower spin results in a much more friendly ball flight.

Is the LS head dead? No. Could it possibly be on its way out, or find itself in an increasingly niche market? I think it already has.

2.) The spawn of the Triple Diamond Max

A big reason why the lines between driver models are starting to get blurred was the emergence of the Callaway Triple Diamond Max model driver, which started in 2024 with the Ai Smoke Triple Diamond Max. As a special release item, the Ai Smoke Triple Diamond Max gave players a Triple-Diamond feel and flight bias but with a larger head for more forgiveness, a touch of added spin to complement the low-spin tendencies of the standard Triple Diamond head, and an easier time turning the ball over. It did all of that without losing the speed that the Triple Diamond is known for. The setup was the same as it was for the Triple Diamond: one weight forward in the head, and one weight in the rear of the head. This helps to control not only spin and launch, but also start line.

Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond Max Custom Driver

$699.99 from Fairway Jockey

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The normal in-line Triple Diamond head has always had a right-start bias with a tendency to support a fade for a right-handed golfer. By adding more weight to the front of the head, that feeling was intensified, and by adding weight back, start lines would get a bit more neutral and the face was easier to close so the player could manufacture a draw. Ai Smoke Triple Diamond Max was a monster. Non-contract athletes like Justin Rose and Sepp Straka won multiple times with the model. Fast forward to the new Quantum Triple Diamond Max, and many golf writers and equipment reviewers are wondering why the other heads in the Callaway lineup even need to exist. I said the same in my own launch video. I don’t think there’s a reason for fitters to take a second look at the Triple Diamond or the standard Max heads. Just go straight to the Triple Diamond Max for nine out of 10 players. That’s my opinion.

Gear

What makes the Triple Diamond Max so good is its versatility. You can add front weight or back weight, the head starts neutral and can be useful for players work work the ball either way, and spin is incredibly manageable on mis-hits across the face. If you look at the market over the last three years, you can see the response to the success of the Triple Diamond Max. TaylorMade’s new Qi4D core head shares lots of similarities. The OPTM X is a wonderful head that can change characteristics when you move the weights and play around with the FF33 adapter settings. There have been others. Wilson released its DYNAPWR MAX+ as a direct competitor to the Triple Diamond Max, and Ping’s new G440 K came into the fray as the new 900-pound gorilla in the room. All of these designs had the same goal: Make the platform as versatile and “fittable” as possible without sacrificing an ounce of forgiveness. Each company also happened to do this without sacrificing speed. Which was one of the original wins that we claimed for the new G440 K when we first tested the product.

Right now, we’re living in the best imaginable driver market for consumers. Having categories or types of heads that overlap or blur lines only means more chances for an incredibly detailed fitting. Each one is going to do something different, and because no two swings are the same, that can only be a good thing. Do I think that we are going to start seeing models taken out of lineups? No. But I do think the models are going to get more specific. There’s going to be a ‘core’ style head in each lineup that will work for 90% of golfers, something that wasn’t true even five years ago. And then you’ll have niche heads specific to golfer needs in specific areas. Which is nothing but fun, useful, and encouraging for the future of golf equipment.

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The post Inside the last-minute dash to get this Masters competitor’s driver… from a museum appeared first on Golf.

The post Inside the last-minute dash to get this Masters competitor’s driver… from a museum appeared first on Golf.

Update: Holtz did not use the old driver in his opening round of 81 at Augusta National.

Usually, when a player at a PGA Tour event, let alone a major, needs a golf club, there’s a plethora of equipment trucks from every OEM to build them one.

But on Tuesday afternoon at the Masters, U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Brandon Holtz needed one specific driver that no Tour Truck could build him. It was already built.

In fact, it was a driver Holtz knew quite well; he wouldn’t need much time to get familiar with it. He used it just seven months ago at the Mid-Am at Troon Country Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

The issue was that Holtz had last used that driver seven months ago. At the Mid-Am. At Troon Country Club. In Scottsdale, Arizona.

The driver in question, a Callaway Paradym Ai-Smoke Triple Diamond with a Fujikura Ventus 7-X shaft, wasn’t currently in Augusta or Scottsdale. It was 640 miles from the Masters at the USGA Museum in Liberty Corner, N.J., after Holtz donated it to the USGA as a memento from his win.

But this is the Masters, and he needed it back.

Holtz will tee off Thursday in the first round at Augusta National with that same driver he won with at Troon CC. How he got it back took a mad dash and several USGA officials, from Mike Whan, to Scott Langley, to the USGA’s office manager just to get it to Augusta National in time for Holtz to use this week.

“Pretty special for sure,” Holtz said as he awaited the delivery on Wednesday at Augusta National. “Shows you what the USGA does and will do for you.”

A USGA tradition

Holtz is a former college basketball player at Illinois State University who turned professional (in golf) just a year after his final college basketball game. He became one of the most unlikely Masters competitors in history by winning the U.S. Mid-Amateur last fall, the 39-year-old’s first-ever USGA event.

He did so largely on the strength of his driving. On the 34th hole of the final match, he hit a driver on the 308-yard par-4 to just eight feet and made the putt for eagle to win the match 3 and 2.

As is tradition, every USGA champion donates a piece of their equipment to the governing body to either be displayed in the USGA museum or placed in the archives there. Sometimes it’s a club, other times it’s a shirt, a pair of shoes or a golf ball.

Given the significance of his driving that week and the tee shot on the decisive hole, Holtz donated his driver to the USGA.

A unique service

USGA CEO Mike Whan probably isn’t used to being asked to deliver a golf club to the Masters on Tuesday afternoon of tournament week, but that’s exactly what happened.

Holtz was feeling so bad about his driving this week at Augusta that he had a member of his team reach out to Whan to ask if he could get the driver out of the USGA Museum and down to the tournament.

Just before 4 p.m. Tuesday, Whan got a text and the USGA team “circled the wagons,” Director of Player Relations Scott Langley said to see what they could do.

“I would venture a guess that neither Brandon nor us as the USGA had that on our bingo cards,” Langley told GOLF as he chuckled during a Wednesday night phone call.

The first obstacle was that the director of the USGA Museum was on vacation in Paris, but she was able to get in touch with someone at the museum who quickly found the driver and got it to Office Services Manager Wayne McGowan, who rushed it to UPS just in time for the overnight shipping deadline.

News

The driver made it to Augusta National on Wednesday and the USGA took it straight to conformance testing just to make sure Holtz could still use it. Wouldn’t that have been something to find it, get it all the way down to Georgia, only for it to fail a CT test?

Luckily, the driver passed the conformance test and was reunited with Holtz sometime before 4 p.m. Wednesday afternoon.

Was Holtz nervously watching the tracking number to see when his driver would get there? The club that could potentially make or break his game for his Masters debut. No, not all.

“They basically said, ‘hey, just enjoy your day, and we’ll get it to you at some point,'” Holtz said. “So no, I’m not tracking it, but I have faith that they’ll be here.”

Lo and behold, that faith was rewarded, and something Langley was proud the team could accomplish.

“As the USGA, we’re grateful that they’re willing to share their artifacts with us and allow us to display them within our museum and archives,” Langley said. “And in these rare cases where something pops up, and the player might want to put it [back] into play, we want to do everything we can possibly to accommodate that and we’re grateful that physically we were still able to with the timeline.

What happens next?

With Holtz reunited with his driver, that does leave the museum with a hole in its collection.

There’s now nothing from the 2025 Mid-Amateur champion. So will the USGA ask for the driver back when Holtz’s Masters comes to an end?

Langley laughed at the thought.

“That’s a good question,” he said. “I think it’s fair to say we’ll check in with him. We’d love to have it there, and in these cases, these players really appreciate the chance to have one of their artifacts in our museum as well. It’s not just saying it because it’s ours, but it’s just an amazing collection of golf history.

“I’m sure we’ll have a conversation about it … I’m sure we’ll have a laugh over it at the end of the week, and we’ll agree on where the best place for it to live is.”

But for the rest of this week, that driver is living the dream along with Holtz in Augusta, Ga.

Want to find the best driver for your game in 2026? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

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The post Why companies go for one- or two-year release cycles | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

The post Why companies go for one- or two-year release cycles | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

For companies like Callaway, Cobra and TaylorMade, you know you are getting a new driver each January. It’s like clockwork.

For Srixon and Ping, they also release drivers in January, but they only release a new line every two years, but again, it’s like clockwork.

Then there’s Titleist, which also follows a two-year release cycle for its metal woods lines. The company just started teasing its upcoming GTS metalwood line with a Tour launch two weeks ago at the Texas Children’s Houston Open. That’s earlier than the typical summer launch they’ve employed in their last couple of cycles.

On this week’s episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped, co-hosts Johnny Wunder and Jake Morrow broke down why it makes sense for some companies to go for a two-year product cycle and others a one-year cycle.

While many people on the internet always claim there aren’t meaningful performance gains for companies that release a driver every year, Morrow pushed back on that common criticism.

“I think some of the companies going every year is smart, because I think those companies churn out iterations faster,” he said. “And there’s a reason for all those launches.
There’s always that one thing that they needed to release. And a lot of times it’s because that thing leads to the next thing, but they can’t get there unless that’s actually out in the public.”

But on the other side of the coin is Titleist, which sits back and can react to the market with its more flexible release cadence.

“Titleist is like the tiger that’s sitting under the shade, just waiting to see what’s happening in front of it until they decide it’s ready for their food, right?” Morrow said. ““And that’s why people are like, why did Titleist switch to a release schedule this year? Because they f****** can. Like, because they sat back, they were like, okay, we’ve got this, we’re going to do this, we’ve tested this, here’s the update to our thing, how it compares to others. We’re just going to sit here and wait until we think it’s ready for the market and people are going to actually see benefit from it and then we’ll release it.

Drivers

“Turns out this year, it looks like, it appears like it’s going to be a little bit early.”

We still don’t know any technical details behind the new lineup, but there were 34 GTS drivers in play at the Valero Texas Open, making for an impressive two-week conversion rate.

Morrow guessed that Titleist is probably bullish on the new GTSs, leading to the earlier launch.

But there’s also good pressure on the R&D teams of companies with one-year cycles to constantly innovate.

“You don’t get a sit back for six months,” Wunder said. “Not that any of these companies, even the two-year launch cycle people, don’t sit back. But when you are constantly thinking about next year, next year, next year, next year, next year, I know for a fact that Callaway, TaylorMade, all those guys, I guarantee they’re all 75% cooked on the one for 2027 already. Because this is kind of when— we’re in April, so if I go back in time, we’d be seeing unpainted prototype heads on the truck kind of around now.

“It wouldn’t have a name on it. It would be a project name, and you’d see it wouldn’t have any paint on it, but you’d see it and you’d be able to hit it.”

For more from Wunder and Morrow, listen to the full episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped here, or watch it below.

Want to find the best driver for your bag in 2026? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

The post Why companies go for one- or two-year release cycles | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

The post Is the type of driver head dying a slow death? We explain | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

The post Is the type of driver head dying a slow death? We explain | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

With Gary Woodland winning in Houston using a prototype Cobra OPTM Max-K driver, the days of LS heads dominating the PGA Tour are surely over.

Just a few years ago, it would have been unthinkable for a fast player like Woodland, who leads the PGA Tour in clubhead speed this season, to consider anything other than a compact low-spin style driver.

But thanks to modern technology, more and more players are opting for more forgiveness-minded drivers, while still getting plenty of speed.

On this week’s episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped, co-hosts Johnny Wunder and Jake Morrow debated the death of the “LS” driver.

Woodland said earlier this year that he opted for the OPTM Max LS-K, a prototype version of Cobra’s high-MOI Max-K driver that would still be considered a more forgiving head with a deep and low CG, because he realized he drives it best when the weight is deep.

Wunder realized that when he was at Callaway, Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele also drove it well with the weight in their drivers more neutral instead of forward, the characteristic of LS drivers.

Cobra OPTM LS Custom Driver

$599.00 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, Cobra

“None of those guys were frontloaded weights and they all drove it well when they played,” Wunder said. “The only time that they had a ton of weight up front is if they played with a lot of loft. So what I’m seeing is that these core heads, for example, if we’re going to talk about Callaway, the reason why the TD Max works so well, is that you can make it super low spin or you can make it super fast and super forgiving. [TaylorMade] Qi4D is like that. That’s why you’re seeing so many Ping players go from 440 LST into 440K. Because you can go down in loft.”

Because adjustability has come so far in modern drivers, companies are able to take more forgiving shapes and make them low spin by neutralizing the CG and lowering the loft. The only issue there is struggling to see the loft, which can be fixed with minor optical tricks like drawing lines on the face or brighter faces.

Morrow pointed out that the line between a company’s core model driver and the LS driver has blurred over the years, thanks to that adjustability. But that also means LS heads have gained forgiveness, which makes them great tools for players who fight a slice.

“I have put a lot of slicey people into a low lofted LS head that’s lofted up because it closes the face and it eliminates a lot of spin,” Morrow said. “They’re like, ‘Well, I’m supposed to be playing this because this is for the fast guy.’ Well, no, no, no. It’s just a spin thing.”

So is the LS driver ready to die? Probably not, but the use cases for them are definitely changing.

For more from Wunder and Morrow, listen to the full episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped here, or watch it below.

Want to find the best driver for your bag in 2026? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

The post Is the type of driver head dying a slow death? We explain | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

The post Pros without equipment deals have more options — but also more work appeared first on Golf.

The post Pros without equipment deals have more options — but also more work appeared first on Golf.

When golf-equipment manufacturers release drivers at the beginning of the year, most staff pros transition into their respective brand’s new clubs — but not without some work. 

Much of the nitty-gritty fitting is done behind the scenes and, even after that process is complete, many pros will still hang on to their old gamers as infants do to their security blankets. That’s because while players might see performance gains in new offerings, they still have an emotional attachment to and deep trust in their old clubs gained from thousands of competitive reps.

The transition process can be even trickier for equipment “free agents,” i.e., those pros without gear deals who need to actively seek out testing opportunities. For this breed of pros, the testing process — often across several brands — requires more hustle and patience. 

Seven of the top-25 players in the world are free to play whatever clubs they choose, and the drivers they play paint an interesting picture.

Four of those players — Chris Gotterup (Ping G440 LST), Matt Fitzpatrick (Titleist GT3), Ben Griffin (Ping G440K) and Patrick Reed (GT3) — game drivers available at retail, but only Griffin’s is a 2026 model. 

The other three players — Justin Rose (Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke TD Max), Sepp Straka (Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke TD Max) and Maverick McNealy (TaylorMade Qi10) — use drivers that were released in 2024 and are no longer available.

Does that mean newer drivers aren’t any better? Absolutely not.

As we noted above, if these seven players want to make a change, they need to seek it out, and for now, none of them have decided to test the market.

Further down the world rankings, however, you’ll see far more movement. Wyndham Clark, in his first year of free agency, already has played at least four different drivers. Same goes for Lucas Glover, who despite being a Srixon staffer, has gamed drivers from different brands. Harry Hall also has been active on the gear-change wheel, switching among three different drivers.

Interestingly, all three of those players are currently using TaylorMade’s Qi4D driver, with Clark set to make his third start in a row with it this week after experimenting with four other drivers in four events earlier in the season. 

The Qi4D isn’t the only 2026 driver seeing lots of free-agent usage. Callaway Quantum saw its first worldwide victory this year by way of Nacho Elvira in Dubai, and Anthony Kim also won with it at LIV Adelaide.

Dozens of pros have toyed with new drivers only to switch back and then switch again, a theme many Tour reps have noticed.

“Heads are a close battle this year,” Fujikura Tour rep Marshall Thompson told GOLF. “It’s very competitive in terms of club speed, dispersion, center-face contact, start direction. There’s not one clear-cut winner from what I’ve seen.

“Even on the Tour side of it, these non-contract guys that I continue to work with on a weekly basis, they still have four or five headcovers in the bag and they’re still trying different options, and we’re already to the Florida Swing.”

In other words, don’t be surprised if the drivers in top players’ bags today might look different come Masters week.

3 Things I’m Thinking

Daydreaming of Titleist’s GT1 hybrid: I’ve been thinking about this club since Cameron Young added it to the bag at Torrey Pines, and now that he’s won the Players with it, I can’t wait for my next visit to TPI to try what is their largest hybrid with a fairway-wood shaft. This part of my bag is in flux with a lot of options from Fully Fit, but I did not try this combo specifically.

Putters are rolling: There are many prototype putters on Tour, and I have a feeling many of them are going to end up at retail. Perhaps the most notable models are the L.A.B. Link 2.1 and Link 2.2 HS, which hit the consumer market this week. If you’re searching for a flatstick, now might be a good time to buy.

Spring (and golf) is in the air: My first winter in Boston has been a rough one, but golf season finally seems within reach. The snow is melting, driving ranges are opening and balls are in the air. Opening day is coming!

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The post Why this driver does so well at popular fitting house | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

The post Why this driver does so well at popular fitting house | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

Fitters have gotten two full months to work with this year’s crop of new drivers, and for this popular fitting house in Florida, there’s a clear winner so far.

On this week’s episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped, co-host Johnny Wunder asked fitter Bryan LaRoche of BryanGolf in Fleming Island, Fla., which driver has been doing the best so far.

His answer was pretty emphatic.

“The winner? Callaway, across the board though,” LaRoche said. “Yeah, I would say this is the first year in a while, not just with Callaway but with any company where legitimately every one of their drivers is fitting players and outperforming other drivers in a way.”

LaRoche went on to say that Callaway’s Quantum line isn’t just selling well because it’s the fastest. He made it clear that his fittings focus on what is going to help the golfer shoot lower scores, whether that be through improving speed, launch conditions or dispersion.

Callaway Quantum Max Custom Driver

$649.99 from Fairway Jockey

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He said Callaway’s Quantum Max D, Triple Diamond and Triple Diamond Max have been his top three selling heads, but then mentioned how much he loves the Qauntum Max core model.

“The core model, which is their best, I think, core model as long as I’ve been fitting for the last 8, 9, 10 years,” LaRoche said. “So maybe Epic, the first Epic core model was pretty good.”

LaRoche also mentioned how well Cobra and TaylorMade’s drivers are selling this year.

The TaylorMade drivers are an interesting case study because with all the weight options in the head, it can take a little more time to unlock them, but for someone willing to give it that time, it usually ends up paying off.

For more from Wunder and LaRoche, listen to the full episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped here, or watch it below.

Want to overhaul your bag in 2026? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

The post Why this driver does so well at popular fitting house | Fully Equipped appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘Not going to be very popular’: Jim Furyk called for major driver rule change ahead of TV debut appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘Not going to be very popular’: Jim Furyk called for major driver rule change ahead of TV debut appeared first on Golf.

Just two weeks ago, Golf Channel announced it would have a new lead analyst in the TV booth for the 2026 Arnold Palmer Invitational and this week’s Players Championship: Jim Furyk.

With his TV debut at Bay Hill now in the rearview, Furyk seems to have made it through with largely positive reviews. At the very least, he didn’t seem to draw anyone’s ire.

You might not be able to say the same about comments Furyk made before the Arnold Palmer Invitational coverage got underway.

In an interview with Trey Wingo on the “Straight Facts Homie” podcast released last week, Furyk shared a major gear hot take. If he could change one rule in pro golf, it would be to reduce the legal size of driver heads.

Furyk calls to reduce sizes of driver heads for pro golfers

While Golf Channel’s announcement that Furyk would temporarily join their TV team this year came as a surprise, his credentials speak for themselves.

He’s a major champion, having won the 2003 U.S. Open at Olympia Fields in Illinois. While collecting 17 PGA Tour wins during his career, he also played on several U.S. Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup teams.

He went on to be a losing American Ryder Cup captain (2018) and winning Presidents Cup captain (2024). Furyk also served as one of Keegan Bradley’s vice captains at the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, won by the Europeans.

But during his appearance on the “Straight Facts Homie” podcast, the hot topic of the day was controversial rules that Furyk would like to see abandoned.

Rules

Furyk revealed he’s not a fan of the new rule allowing players to tamp down spike marks on greens. Alternatively, he provided a tepid defense of the rule prohibiting free relief from divots.

However, the first rule Furyk said he would change if he had the power was neither of those. Instead, he argued for a major gear rule change: reducing the size of driver heads for the pros on the PGA Tour.

“I’ll tell you what I would do. I’m not going to be very popular for this, but I would reduce the size of the driver head,” Furyk said in his “Straight Facts Homie” interview.

He used the performance characteristics of his own mini driver as an example of how the rule change would impact Tour players’ games.

“I’ll tell you, I play a mini driver in my bag for my 3-wood. And when I hit that mini good, it goes darn near just as far as my driver. It’s less than 10 yards difference,” Furyk explained. “But if I mishit it, if I hit it a little thin, I hit a little on the toe, I hit a little on the heel, I lose a bunch of yardage.”

He continued by arguing that young pros playing large modern drivers are able to swing all out with every tee shot. With a smaller driver head like Furyk’s mini driver, they’d have to dial it back for accuracy’s sake. In other words, the less forgiving drivers would force pros to swing easier, thereby reducing the distance of their drives.

“I think you’ve got these young guys that are rearing back and swinging 110 per cent at it, and you can kind of cover areas on the face and get a lot of forgiveness and a lot of distance. I just think it would show an extra skill set,” Furyk said. “They’re extremely talented, don’t get me wrong, but I think it would also limit guys swinging 110 per cent at it all the time. They’d have to kind of pick and choose their spots and maybe golf courses wouldn’t have to quite be as long.”

1 key difference between Furyk’s driver rule and golf ball rollback

However, Furyk also clarified one way he would make his new driver rule different than a another gear rule change that the USGA and R&A have planned.

In 2023, golf’s governing bodies announced what is known as the “golf ball rollback.” It’s a new rule putting manufacturing limits on how far golf balls can fly. The goal is to reduce average drives by 15 yards. But this rule is not just for pros. The rule change will apply to all golfers.

Initially, the golf ball rollback was planned to be introduced to pro golfers in 2028 and then recreational golfers in 2030. Though recently the USGA and R&A reportedly told ball manufacturers they were considering changing the timeline so that all golfers, pros and Average Joes alike, would start playing the new balls in 2030.

Instruction

Furyk, on the other hand, argued that his proposed driver head rule should only apply to the “golf professional,” not amateurs.

“Maybe not necessarily for the average golfer, but I would do that for the golf professional. Because you can hit it all over the face right now and it’s pretty forgiving. You don’t lose a lot of distance,” Furyk said.

Ultimately, the golf ball rollback is designed to fix one problem with modern golf. Because of equipment innovation (and an increase in fitness and athleticism), players are hitting it much longer than in the past, especially in the pro ranks. This has forced numerous historic golf courses to be lengthened (and then lengthened again).

Furyk sees his driver rule as a way to combat that problem, too.

“They’d have to kind of pick and choose their spots and maybe golf courses wouldn’t have to quite be as long,” Furyk said.

Furyk will be back in booth for Golf Channel at the 2026 Players Championship when the opening round gets underway on Thursday.

You can hear Furyk’s full comments on his proposed drive rule change on the “Straight Facts Homie” podcast here.

The post ‘Not going to be very popular’: Jim Furyk called for major driver rule change ahead of TV debut appeared first on Golf.

The post Looking at the stats behind Scottie Scheffler’s TaylorMade Qi4D debut | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post Looking at the stats behind Scottie Scheffler’s TaylorMade Qi4D debut | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

Welcome to Fully Equipped’s weekly Tour equipment report. Every Friday of PGA Tour weeks (plus other times, if news warrants), GOLF equipment editor Jack Hirsh runs you through some of the biggest news surrounding golf clubs on Tour, including changes, tweaks and launches.

For the first time in two years, Scottie Scheffler is playing a PGA Tour event without his venerable TaylorMade Qi10 driver.

After months of testing and an initial run last December at the Hero World Challenge, Scheffler has finally put TaylorMade’s latest Qi4D driver in the bag at the Arnold Palmer Invitational this week.

On Thursday at Bay Hill, Scheffler snapped his not-breaking-par-in-an-opening-round streak at three with a 2-under 70. Off the tee, his stats were somewhat middling at first glance as he gained .522 shots on the field (T22), hit 8 of 14 fairways and averaged 303.4 yards on all tee shots.

Those are quite pedestrian for the guy who has been top-two on the PGA Tour in SG: OTT the last four seasons (including 2026) and led the category in 2023.

But looking closer at Scheffler’s radar stats from the 11 times he actually used his new Qi4D driver on Thursday reveals one of his more efficient outings in recent memory.

In terms of accuracy, he hit 6 of 11 fairways with the driver, but four of those five misses were just barely off doglegs in the fairway after the ball landed in the short stuff. Not all misses are necessarily equal.

On No. 6, he obliterated his ball 351 yards just through the fairway on the famous 90-degree dogleg par-5 and left himself just 209 yards to the green. That shot still gained him .02 shots OTT despite finishing in the rough. The other three lost him .28 shots to the field.

When we look at his radar statistics, that’s where things really start to show the improvement.

His clubhead speed was 119.67 mph, actually a touch slower than his season average of 120.5, 34th on the PGA Tour. Despite that, his ball speed was up 180.895 mph, more than 2.6 mph faster than his season average.

Scheffler’s ball speed is faster this season, 178.32, than last year and 2024 at the same point in the year, but a 2.6 mph jump is huge. While there could be many factors at play here, including temperature and other conditions, the fact that this jump came in the first round of using a new driver can’t be overlooked.

His carry efficiency in Round 1 (his carry distance divided by his club head speed) was 2.53, which would be fifth on Tour so far this season. Scheffler was T126 in the stat heading into this week, and he was T110 and T135 the last two years.

TaylorMade Qi4D Custom Driver

SHAPED FOR SPEED The re-engineered head profile increases ball speed thanks to improved aerodynamics developed through advanced simulations. FACE FOR DISTANCE 60x Carbon Twist Face™ is a technological cornerstone that provides weight savings, incredible ball speed and more consistency vs. a titanium face. ADJUSTABLE PERFORMANCE 4° loft sleeve can be used to adjust loft, lie and face angle for optimized flight. TOUR PROVEN TECHNOLOGIES New and improved cut-through Speed Pocket™ protects ball speed and reduces spin on low-face strikes. Advanced CAD modeling creates a design with a clean and powerful sound, a foundation of TaylorMade driver performance. Multi-Material Construction allows engineers to strategically place mass in areas of the head where it maximizes performance, speed, and stability.

$649.99 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, TaylorMade

His total distance efficiency (total distance divided by club head speed) was 2.62, which would be 63rd on Tour and up from his season average of 2.572.

What does this all mean? 

We’ve known this year’s drivers were fast, but now we can see evidence of it. 

The fact that Scheffler wasn’t swinging as fast in Round 1, likely a little gun-shy in his first round using the new big stick, yet still increasing his average ball speed by 2.6 mph, is a massive gain. If Scottie Scheffler is picking up 2.6 mph of ball speed, that can’t be good for the rest of the field.

It will be interesting to track as he logs more rounds with the new driver and gets more comfortable with it. With that comfort will probably come more fairways as well. 

But there’s a reason Scheffler seemed pleased with his results off the tee with the new driver on Thursday. He specifically called out the spin retention of the new driver on Thursday, which owes to the new, tighter roll radius of the Qi4D face.

“I feel like what we have seen is more consistent spin numbers,” he said. “So that will help it be a little bit more accurate off the tee. Directionally, I struggled a little bit with it at the start of the year, but I got to what I thought was a really good spot last week, and I liked what I saw today.”

Scottie Scheffler’s Qi4D driver specs

Qi4D 9.0° driver
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7-X
Front weights: 8g heel, 13g toe
Back weights: 8g heel, 8g toe
FCT Sleeve: 1 Toward Higher

Drivers are still unsettled

Scheffler wasn’t the only big name to make a driver switch this week.

Cameron Young switched out of his Titleist GT2 driver for an 11.0-degree GT3 with the same Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro Orange 70 TX shaft he had in his GT2. The higher loft of the lower-spinning GT3 head helped him further optimize his numbers as switching to the Pro V1x Double Dot Prototype last summer.

The prototype Double Dot flies lower than his previous Pro V1x, so Young worked with the Titleist team to see what he needed to do to optimize carry with his driver, Titleist Director of Player Promotion J.J. Van Wezenbeeck said.

Working together with Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, Fordie Pitts, the team determined Young needed a touch more launch. The 11-degree GT3 (lofted down .75˚ in the D1 setting) succeeded in getting launch up from 9 degrees to 11 while only going from 2400 to 2500 rpm spin.

Titleist GT3 Custom Driver

GT3 – Speed-Tuned Distance & Control GT3 offers Titleist’s boldest combination of power and personalization. With a speed-tuned design that allows you to precisely match performance to your most frequent contact location, you can make your biggest drives even bigger while taking total control over flight and shaping. For players with a relatively consistent impact location, GT3 offers a precisely adjustable CG Track to max out distance and directional control. Seamless Thermoform Crown A reimagined ultra-lightweight design, born from a new Proprietary Matrix Polymer. The tunable acoustic properties of this unique composite allow Titleist engineers to realize new material gains while maintaining our signature sound and feel. All wrapped in a clean look that inspires total confidence. Split Mass Construction A breakthrough in internal weighting unlocks longer drives and enhanced directional control in GT3. The Adjustable CG Track now sits closer to the face for more dynamic CG control, while additional discretionary mass is pushed to the back of the club to maintain optimal stability through impact. Advanced Aerodynamics GT3 features a new raised tail contour that represents a dramatic shift in driver aerodynamics. Previously impossible to execute due to design constraints, this advanced shaping results in a driver that swings faster while still providing optimal CG control.

$649.00 $449.99 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, Titleist

The reason for going to a higher lofted, but more forward CG head was so they could increase the launch without increasing spin. Young led the field and gained 2.277 strokes off the tee in Round 1.

Lucas Glover also added a new Qi4D driver, which is at least his third driver change of the year. That’s similar to Wyndham Clark, who is also most recently in a Qi4D and has played four different drivers this year. And Harry Hall, who earlier this season played a Qi4D LS before switching to Titleist driver, is now playing the core model this week.

Meanwhile, Denny McCarthy added a G440K.

Normally, some of these trivial week-to-week changes would go down in Odds and Ends, but it seems like more players, especially gear free agents, are swapping drivers this season. That’s likely a testament to how good the offerings are; players have taken notice.

“What I’m seeing… heads are a close battle this year,” Fujikura Tour Rep Marshall Thompson told GOLF this week. “It’s very competitive in terms of club speed, dispersion, center-face contact, start direction. There’s not one clear-cut winner from what I’ve seen.

“Even on the Tour side of it, these non-contract guys that I continue to work with on a weekly basis, they still have four or five headcovers in the bag and they’re still trying different options, and we’re already to the Florida Swing.”

Check this out

This section is dedicated to cool photos we’ve snapped recently on Tour, but haven’t had a reason to share yet. For this week, check out Sahith Theegala’s new G440K driver. Sahith played his way into the field at Bay Hill after a down 2025 by ranking 24th in the FedEx Cup race so far this year.

Odds and Ends

Some other gear changes and notes we’re tracking this week.

Ryan Gerard is playing putter whack-a-mole. Used three different putters at last week’s Cognizant and then two different putters so far at the API … Harry Hall added 13 new TaylorMade clubs to his bag this week, including becoming the newest member of the Spider-mafia … That gave TaylorMade 18 Spider putters in play at the 80-man field at Bay Hill … Chris Gotterup swapped his Qi35 5-wood for a Qi4D 7-wood … Ludvig Aberg switched back to his previous Odyssey Ai-One No. 1, which has more loft on it … Jhonny Vegas added a GT2 to optimize his ball flight with the Pro V1x Double Dot as well … Sahith Theegala is using a Ping G440 Max 9-wood this week … Chris Kirk switched back from Quantum TD Max to the standard TD … Daniel Berger added a Vokey SM11 60.04T lob wedge to the bag.

3 things you should read/watch

A selection of GOLF content from the past week that may interest you.

Si Woo Kim’s golf bag is one-of-a-kind. Just like him | Bag Spy – Dive deep into the bag of one of the best hangs on the PGA Tour, who carries a blade 3-iron, just three wedges and has to be barred from working on his own clubs.

Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond Custom Driver

$699.99 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, Callaway

PING went ALL OUT with their NEW truck – Go behind the scenes of Ping’s brand new Tour Truck.

The key gear switch that led to Nico Echavarria’s Cognizant victory – Nico Echavarria had played Srixon’s Z-Star XV ball since joining their Tour staff last year, but right before his victory at PGA National, he made a switch.

Srixon Z-STAR DIAMOND Golf Balls

Z-STAR SeriesWhether you’re chasing major championships or your next personal best, the all-new Z-STAR series is the choice for serious players everywhere. Featuring reformulated cores and covers across the line, this generation of Z-STAR golf balls delivers greater distance, optimized spin, and tour-level stopping power around the green. It’s a formula designed to give you one thing: pure performance when it matters most. With a blend of greenside control and long-game distance, the new Z-STAR ♦ DIAMOND also delivers the unique benefit of increased spin on long and mid Iron shots.

$49.99 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA TOUR Superstore, Srixon

The author welcomes your comments at Jack.Hirsh@golf.com.

Want to overhaul your bag in 2026? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

The post Looking at the stats behind Scottie Scheffler’s TaylorMade Qi4D debut | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post The 6 drivers our staff loved during testing | Fully Fit 2026 appeared first on Golf.

The post The 6 drivers our staff loved during testing | Fully Fit 2026 appeared first on Golf.

Welcome to Fully Fit 2026, GOLF’s new platform for providing you with real-golfer insights into what 2026 gear might be best suited for your game. To this end, we assembled six GOLF content creators of varying abilities and ran them through the gauntlet of six full-bag fittings (driver to putter!) at six major club manufacturers in Phoenix and Carlsbad, Calif. Our hope: that you might see shades of your own game in one of our panelists’ and take some learnings and inspiration from their fitting experiences. In this installment (below), check out the drivers that each of our Fully Fit 2026 panelists chose for their golf bags. You may browse our each panelists’ full 2026 dream bags here:

Jake Morrow (0 handicap) | Johnny Wunder (2) | Wadeh Maroun (2) | Jack Hirsh (2.4) | Maddi MacClurg (5.6) | Sean Zak (7.8)

MORE FULLY FIT: Fully Fit hub page | Why we’re ‘testing’ golf clubs differently this year | Inside 6 days of fittings and testing | Browse 2026 drivers | Browse 2026 irons | How 5 days of club fittings changed my mind on golf equipment

Choosing the right driver is one of the first steps to playing great golf, and this year that decision is harder than ever.

When getting dialed in by some of the best fitters from the major OEMs, the differences between drivers are minimal, perhaps just 1 mph of ball speed or a few hundred RPMs of spin. But those numbers can be the difference between confidently stepping up to the tee or not.

After fittings at six different manufacturers, here are the drivers our six panelists chose for their bags for 2026.

Jack Hirsh’s Driver

Head: TaylorMade Qi4D
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX
Loft: 9.0˚ @ 8.5˚
FCT setting: 1 Click Lower (1.5˚ sleeve)
Front weights: 9 g toe, 8 g heel
Back weights: 5 g toe, 4 g heel
Length: 45.5″ CUT
Tipping: 0″
Swingweight: D2

TaylorMade Qi4D Custom Driver

SHAPED FOR SPEED The re-engineered head profile increases ball speed thanks to improved aerodynamics developed through advanced simulations. FACE FOR DISTANCE 60x Carbon Twist Face™ is a technological cornerstone that provides weight savings, incredible ball speed and more consistency vs. a titanium face. ADJUSTABLE PERFORMANCE 4° loft sleeve can be used to adjust loft, lie and face angle for optimized flight. TOUR PROVEN TECHNOLOGIES New and improved cut-through Speed Pocket™ protects ball speed and reduces spin on low-face strikes. Advanced CAD modeling creates a design with a clean and powerful sound, a foundation of TaylorMade driver performance. Multi-Material Construction allows engineers to strategically place mass in areas of the head where it maximizes performance, speed, and stability.

$649.99 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, TaylorMade

Why it’s in my bag: Let me preface this by explaining I have played a TaylorMade driver since the M3 in 2018. I actually struggled a good bit during my TaylorMade fitting when it came to the driver, so much so that we had to stop and come back to it later. Due to my own bias, I was probably trying to make things work, despite knowing the driver was going to be super competitive this year.

The Qi4D was the only head I struggled with the Fujikura Ventus TR Blue in, the same shaft I fit into with every other head. But finally, my fitter, Chandler Carr, pulled out the Whiteboard, a shaft I’ve really never used much before, and we started getting the right ball flight and tight draw I’ve been looking for. Interestingly enough, I am a “Low Rotation” player according to TaylorMade’s new fitting ideology, but the Whiteboard 73 X is listed a “High Rotation” shaft. Mitsubishi shafts run slightly softer than others, which is why Chandler pulled the TX flex, which, despite being the same shaft, acts like a “Low Rotation” shaft at my speeds.

Putting some of the weight in the toe also helped me with getting my desired ball flight. There are just so many ways to fit this driver to what you need.

So far in playing this driver, the speed has been everything I could want and removing the fear of left has made it so much easier to work the ball both ways off the tee. That’s something I feel like I need to do to play my best golf.

1 key data point: ±165 rpm spin standard deviation on 8 shots. Even when I don’t hit this driver well, I’m amazed to see that the spin almost never drops below 2100 and almost never climbs above 2900. That’s really crucial if I’m ever trying to hit a fade, I can be confident that I won’t spin on up into the wind, and I can be sure my toe misshits won’t dive out of the air. This is all tied to TaylorMade’s new tighter roll radius on the Qi4D. The number above takes out two balls where I came out of the swing and didn’t finish it (a common thing I do in simulators), hitting it off the bottom of the face. Those balls didn’t get above 3000 rpm.

See Jack’s full bag here

Jake Morrow’s Driver

Head: Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond MAX – 10.5º
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana WB 63 TX
Opti-Fit Setting: D/-2 (Strong Cog)
Front weight: 2g
Back weight: 6g Heel +1g Toe
Length: 45″
Tipping: 1″
Swingweight: D0

Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond Max Custom Driver

$699.99 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, Callaway

Why it’s in my bag: I actually actively tried NOT to have this one in my bag this year. There are two other drivers in the Cobra OPTM X or the TaylorMade Qi4D that I could absolutely play with zero hesitation, but I’ve been playing a Callaway player’s driver for the better part of the last decade, and this just feels like home. It looks like a Callaway, it sounds and feels like a Callaway, and it’s FAST. Even on my bad days, the Callaway has given me the fastest ball speeds out of the bunch that I tested this year. I am still juggling the TD and the TD MAX, but I can’t really go wrong with either. A lot of the decision for what travels to Battle at the Beach is going to be based on some more on-course testing with both heads, but regardless of which head I choose, I know I’m going to be hitting the ball just a touch farther this year than I did last year.

1 key data point: Ball speed. I touched 170 with this several times in testing. As I gear up to get back to 170 on a consistent basis, I feel like I’m going to get there a little faster with this one.

See Jake’s full bag here

Johnny Wunder’s Driver

1/2

2/2

Head: Taylor Made Qi4D
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black Velo+ 6X
Loft: 8˚
Setting: Upright
Front weights: 5g heel, 8g toe
Back weights: 9g, 9g
Length: 45.25 EOG
Tipping: .5
Swingweight: D4

TaylorMade Qi4D Custom Driver

SHAPED FOR SPEED The re-engineered head profile increases ball speed thanks to improved aerodynamics developed through advanced simulations. FACE FOR DISTANCE 60x Carbon Twist Face™ is a technological cornerstone that provides weight savings, incredible ball speed and more consistency vs. a titanium face. ADJUSTABLE PERFORMANCE 4° loft sleeve can be used to adjust loft, lie and face angle for optimized flight. TOUR PROVEN TECHNOLOGIES New and improved cut-through Speed Pocket™ protects ball speed and reduces spin on low-face strikes. Advanced CAD modeling creates a design with a clean and powerful sound, a foundation of TaylorMade driver performance. Multi-Material Construction allows engineers to strategically place mass in areas of the head where it maximizes performance, speed, and stability.

$649.99 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, TaylorMade

Why it’s in the bag: I haven’t seen this combination of ball speed, spin efficiency and forgiveness in one club since TaylorMade’s M2. I got consistent ball speed and spin numbers across the face, and my smash was always at 1.48-1.49.

1 Key Data Point: Ball speed across the face and consistent smash factor. At 107 mph, I was always around 159-160, and at 110 mph I was in the mid 160s. It was the fastest driver I tested…and the most efficient. Now, to be fair, the Ping 440K was really close; at the end of the day, it came down to TaylorMade Tour Rep Adrian Rietveld and his ability to recreate what worked with the Ping and crank up the speed. It literally came down to 2 mph up and down the face. Toughest driver decision I’ve ever made. Qi4D has that advantage with the quad-weight system; if you get a fitter who knows what they are doing, having that many levers to pull is a huge advantage.

See Johnny’s full bag here

Maddi MacClurg’s Driver

Head: Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond Max
Shaft: Denali Frost Silver 60G 6.0
Loft: 9º
OptiFit Setting: NS
Weights: Neutral
Length: 45.5″
Swingweight: D2

Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond Max Custom Driver

$699.99 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, Callaway

Why it’s in my bag: Wow! This driver is fast. I was completely blown away during testing, not just by the increased speed and distance, but also by how forgiving it is. My good strikes were rewarded with explosive ball speed and a piercing ball flight that carried farther than any driver I’ve ever hit. Even my off-center hits — normally big, wipey fades — stayed relatively on line and didn’t sacrifice much speed or distance.

1 key data point: My ball speed with this driver was off the charts. I even hit LPGA-level speeds (between 145–155 mph) a few times when I really stepped on it. Even on normal swings, I picked up at least 5 mph in ball speed, and that was just during testing. Can’t wait to see how my numbers look once courses thaw out this spring.

See Maddi’s full bag here

Sean Zak’s Driver

Head: Titleist GT2
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD VF-6 X
Loft: 9°
SureFit Hosel Setting: A1
Length: 45.5″
Tipping: 0″

Titleist GT2 Custom Driver

GT2 — Speed & Forgiveness Across The Face For players who don’t always find the center of the face and need the stability of a high-MOI driver without sacrificing speed. Speed & Forgiveness Across The Face Delivering impressive distance from any impact point, GT2 extracts maximum performance through forgiving design. Get the stability and added confidence of a high-MOI driver without sacrificing speed. Seamless Thermoform Crown A reimagined ultra-lightweight design, born from a new Proprietary Matrix Polymer. The tunable acoustic properties of this unique composite allow Titleist engineers to realize new material gains while maintaining our signature sound and feel. All wrapped in a clean look that inspires total confidence. Split Mass Construction GT2 delivers a powerful balance of forgiveness and speed thanks to a breakthrough in internal weighting. Mass is shifted to the back of the clubhead to increase MOI for better stability, while also pushing weight low and forward to optimize speed and spin. The result is a driver that frees you to swing with confidence.

$649.00 $449.99 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, Titleist

Why it’s in my bag: Because it’s home. The GT2 head shape really agrees with me, being a bit more elongated than some pro-level shapes. My driver fittings were fascinating because most fitters found me hitting low-launch soft cuts with a decent amount of spin. They attacked my spin-rate and tried like hell to get me to launch the ball higher, working in new shafts and hosel settings every few swings. But I fear that the driver swing itself needs to change for me to actually get this thing in the air at tour-preferred trajectory (100 feet off the ground).

1 key data point: My launch angle was always in the single digits, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing; it’s just not ideal. We’ve got some work to do on the driver swing front if we want to start carrying it farther, but I’m quite comfortable with the shot shape. Once we dial in a swing that moves up on the ball a bit more, I could see myself shifting into a GT3 or TaylorMade Qi4D. Luckily, I’ve got those in the holster if necessary.

See Sean’s full bag here

Wadeh Maroun’s Driver

Head: Cobra OPTM LS
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Red 6-S
Loft: 9.0 @ 8
FutureFit33 Setting: F4
Weights: 3g Fade, 11g accuracy, 3g forgiveness
Length: 45”
Tipping: none
Swingweight: D0

Cobra OPTM LS Custom Driver

$599.00 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, Cobra

Why it’s in my bag: When working with Perry Dickey out in Carlsbad, the big thing I was looking for was removing the right miss. My miss with driver was to set up for a draw and push fade, but because I was already set up to the right, the push fade over-exaggerates on the course. After a couple of swings and some adjustments, Perry had this thing dialed and performing. It is fast and straight.

1 key data point: Ball speed! Getting to 165 is a lot for me, and it is getting there with ease.

See Wadeh’s full bag here

Ready to overhaul your bag in 2026 like our Fully Fit panelists? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

Watch Fully Fit 2026 below!

The post The 6 drivers our staff loved during testing | Fully Fit 2026 appeared first on Golf.