Question for the driver aficionados

More forgiveness is the main difference between a club like the Radspeed and the new Darkspeed.

Companies are using A.I. to move weight around the clubbed to increase the MOI.

So forgiveness and better shaft quality are the main differences.

I agree with you completely. I know it won’t make me much better if at all.

I’m just wondering how much difference do the year to year changes make. Hypothetically, if I get quick and slice my current driver I will be 10 yards off the fairway but with a new driver will I be 8 yards off the fairway?

I’m not interested in buying anything new at all. I’m just trying to understand the difference year over year.

I’m asking this because I’m interested more than anything

Not enough to spend $500-$1000.

Finding your preferred shaft is probably worth getting fit.

The heads are all maxed out.

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With most major brands coming out every year with a new set of drivers, how much year over year improvement is there?

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Not much. If you just look at the metrics from teh review sites you'll see the difference, year over year, from one year's model to the next, is marginal. I'd say this is true across the board for irons, woods, balls, etc. I think the graphs in a lot of the reviews are kind of funny because what often looks like a significant difference between two clubs is usually just a yard or two. I can see a skilled player buying a new driver if they want something very specific, like lower spin or trajectory or something like that, but I don't think there's any meaningful benefit for people who are switching clubs every year or two with the exception of something like an older player switching from blades to cavity backs as their skills erode. Most players aren't consistent enough with their ball striking to see a meaningful difference from year to year.

The USGA sets parameters of how big the club can be, how the ball reacts with the face and so on. By now, drivers have got to be maxed out on what can be done to improve distance, forgiveness has got to be close now as well. Titleist comes out with clubs every 2 years, im sure the manufacturers who come out with new drivers every year more than likely slap a few cosmetic difference on them and send them out, Stealth, Stealth 2, Paradym, Paradym smoke. My son now plays golf but before he played baseball, bats were the same way,they'd take last years model and slap some new stickers on it and call it a new model all in the effort for you to spend money and it works.

I still have the Sim 2 Max driver, 4 year old technology, I hit the new Qi10 and didn't see enough on Trackman to make me want to spend 600-1000 for a new one.

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I’m a 12

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Older equipment, but I know what they’ll do

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You sure about that?

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Not enough to spend $500-$1000.

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This. Us everyday 12-18 handicappers will be just fine waiting for new stuff to come out and picking up the scraps of a couple releases ago.

For example, with Ping, you’ll never know the difference between a stock G430 Max 10k and G425 Max, so go grab one of the last few 425’s still in stores and pick up the matching 3 wood on the way out the door too if they’ve got one for about the same money as the 430 Max 10k.

Oh I get it. I was talking to myself as much as anybody. I spent a solid $2500 on golf clubs last summer and will end up spending another $500-1000 if I don’t show any self restraint this summer.

The difference between my callaway XR and rogue is wide. However I will say there was one round in Thailand where I was completely dialed in and hitting the XR like 260 every time. Dialed.