What are the Best Golf Drivers of 2025?
You need specific attributes to earn a seat at the top table of the competitive golf driver market. Power is the obvious place to start. Nobody is going to release...
You need specific attributes to earn a seat at the top table of the competitive golf driver market.
Power is the obvious place to start. Nobody is going to release a golf driver that doesn’t offer the promise of hitting the ball further.
Accuracy follows up as a close second. Your chances of shooting better scores are increased if you can hit the ball far and find the fairway more often than not.
Forgiveness allows golfers who struggle to consistently find the centre of the clubface the ability to hit the ball nearly as far and accurately as a centred strike.
Adjustability allows the driver to be tuned to achieve a desired shot shape and trajectory.
Finally, having different driver profiles in your lineup helps golfers of all levels find the right model for their game.
Three companies that excel in producing drivers that meet these criteria are Callaway, Cobra, and TaylorMade.
Each of these companies invests in research and design to produce drivers that would be familiar with how Formula 1 teams go about making their latest cars for competition.
We’ll explain what we mean by this statement by looking at the following areas:
- The Class of 2025: What’s New From Callaway, Cobra, and TaylorMade
- Performance Comparisons
- Adjustability and Customisation
- Maximising the Benefits of a New Driver Through Custom Fitting
The Class of 2025: What’s New From Callaway, Cobra, and TaylorMade
All three companies are coming off a strong 2024 with critically acclaimed launches.
However, the competition never stops, and with Titleist’s new GT Series released in the summer of last year, Callaway, Cobra, and TaylorMade could not rest on their laurels.
All three companies would have to be up to the challenge in 2025.
Callaway’s answer is the Elyte. Named in memory of the company's charismatic founder, Ely Callaway, the Elyte encompasses every ounce of knowledge Callaway has about maximising a driver's performance.
The Callaway Elyte driver has benefited from Callaway’s use of 3D printing techniques. Callaway spent millions of dollars on new titanium 3D printers to create test mules.
The 3D printers could quickly produce test variants based on Callaway's feedback from testing the heads in the wind tunnel, leading to the creation of 75 test mules in a short time.
The saved time from using the 3D printers means that Callaway believes the Elyte design could have taken up to five years to come to fruition through evolving generations under their old R&D process.
The Elyte sports a highly aerodynamic shape with an aggressive curve leading into a higher-set trailing edge. The area of the crown that feeds into the hosel has also been tweaked to improve aerodynamic efficiency.
What does it mean to you as the golfer? According to Callaway, the aerodynamic work has led to the Elyte being 1.3 mph faster in clubhead speed compared to the Ai Smoke.
Callaway has also doubled down on its use of AI. The Elyte introduces us to the Ai 10x Face, which offers 10 times more control thanks to an increase in the number of control points across the face.
In essence, Callaway is creating more forgiveness in the clubface regardless of strike location by maintaining ball speed and spin rates.
Cobra DS-Adapt
Cobra’s tech story for its new Cobra DS-Adapt model is the new SureFit33 hosel. We are all familiar with the idea of an adjustable hosel that allows for adding or reducing loft, but altering the loft would change the face angle.
Adding a degree or two of loft would close the face while decreasing the loft opens the clubface. It sounds counterintuitive, but that’s how it works.
For better players, looking at a closed clubface at address will scare them into thinking they are going to hit the ball straight left.
The opposite can be said for golfers who fight a slice. Seeing an open clubface at address will make them think they will lose the shot further right.
Part of the genius behind Cobra’s SureFit33 hosel is that it always keeps the face square at address, regardless of whether you add or decrease loft.
Cobra has also worked on creating a new PWRBRIDGE, which sits low and close to the face in the lower-lofted heads. The PWRBRIDGE is removed from the higher-lofted drivers, with the saved weight being positioned internally in the back of the head to increase stability.
TaylorMade Qi35
TaylorMade has followed a process of evolution over revolution regarding its new TaylorMade Qi35 model.
While the Qi10 was all about stability and TaylorMade's creation of a head design that breached the mythical 10K barrier, the Qi35’s key story is TaylorMade marrying the stability gains of the Qi10 to improve distance.
To achieve this, TaylorMade has focused on CG projection. CG projection measures the balance point of the head projected onto the face. The simple way to look at it is that CG projection determines launch and spin rates.
A real-life example would be striking the ball high on the face, resulting in a low-spin, high-launching drive. This indicates that the ball was struck above the driver’s balance point.
Those nasty, low-on-the-face, high-spinning drives are struck below the balance point.
TaylorMade has strived to lower the balance point on the Qi35 to create more opportunities for those lower-spinning, higher-launching drives.
Coupled with the Qi35’s moveable weights, which we’ll cover in more detail shortly, we’ll see how those launch and spin rates can be further enhanced to maximise performance.
Performance Comparisons
The features we’ve highlighted above are all designed to aid driver performance.
We would expect nothing else. However, Callaway, Cobra, and TaylorMade share similar traits in certain areas, such as the use of carbon fibre or carbon fibre derivatives.
The Cobra driver still uses carbon fibre across the crown and sole. Callaway and TaylorMade used carbon fibre liberally in previous generations but opted for something different this year.
Callaway is introducing a new material, christened Thermoforged Carbon. Thermoforged Carbon is lighter than standard carbon fibre. It helps Callaway position the centre of gravity more effectively, which is important given the reshaping of the driver head we spoke about earlier.
TaylorMade has also switched carbon fibre for a material called chromium carbon. Switching to chromium carbon gives TaylorMade’s engineers more saved mass to redistribute in line with the improved centre of gravity dynamics.
Other similarities shared are in the driver profiles.
Callaway offers four models in the Elyte range:
Cobra also gives us four options:
TaylorMade matches Callaway and Cobra, giving us:
The core Callaway Elyte, Cobra DS-Adapt X, and TaylorMade Qi35 will fit the widest variety of players, from elite to higher-handicap golfers.
The Elyte Triple Diamond, DS-Adapt LS, and Qi35 LS models are the low-spin bomber drivers for better players who can generate speed and consistently connect with the centre of the face.
At the other end of the spectrum, players who struggle with centre strikes and finding fairways can opt for the high-stability models that also offer a touch of draw bias, such as the Callaway Elyte X, Cobra DS-Adapt Max K, and TaylorMade Qi35 Max models.
Callaway and TaylorMade also offer models in the Elyte Max Fast and Qi35 Max Lite, which are lighter overall to help improve clubhead speed further while retaining high MOI stability.
The driver lineups also share similarities in adjustability options, which we’ll examine more closely as they are major talking points for this year’s releases.
Adjustability and Customisation
We’ve spoken about Cobra’s new SureFit 33 adjustable hosel system, which currently represents the most comprehensive hosel setup in the marketplace.
Each model of the Callaway Elyte and TaylorMade Qi35 range features adjustable hosels.
Callaway’s OptiFit hosel allows the loft to be increased by two degrees and lowered by one degree from standard. The hosel can also be adjusted for a neutral or draw-biased shot shape.
TaylorMade’s adjustable hosel offers twelve settings for reducing or increasing loft and altering shot shape to favour draw, neutral, or fade bias.
Moveable Weights
TaylorMade pioneered the concept of moveable weights by introducing the R7 series in the mid-2000s. The concept is simple, moving a number of different weighted screws into strategically placed weight ports on the sole of the driver will alter its playing characteristics.
TaylorMade gives us the Trajectory Adjustment System (TAS) in the Qi35, which, coupled with the CG placement, makes for an even more effective way to dial in shot shape, spin, and launch numbers.
The base Qi35 model shows two weight ports, a 13-gram and a 3-gram weight. Place the 13-gram weight in the rear port and get a highly stable driver. Place the 13-gram weight in the forward port; you’ll get a lower-spinning bomber with characteristics closer to the dedicated LS model.
Speaking of the LS model, two weight ports are positioned close to the face to help shot-shape playability. If you want your LS to be slightly more friendly, you can still position the 13-gram weight in the rear port.
Callaway opts for a single 13-gram weight in the standard Elyte model that can be moved to favour a draw, neutral, or fade bias, while the Elyte X and Elyte Max Fast have options for draw and neutral shot-shaping.
The low-spin Triple Diamond has an additional weight port positioned close to the face and a rear weight port. If the heavier weight is positioned in the rear, the Triple Diamond can offer benign playing characteristics, or you can turn it into the ultimate low-spin bomber with the heavier weight up front.
Cobra doesn’t just rely on the SureFit 33 hosel to dial in shot shape and loft. The DS-Adapt models also benefit from moveable weights.
Cobra’s system mirrors TaylorMade’s TAS system. Interchangeable weights allow the opportunity to alter spin characteristics by moving the CG backwards or forwards.
Moveable weights play a crucial role in dialling in the ideal playing characteristics you need in your driver.
If you predominantly slice the ball, having more weight in the heel will allow the toe to square up quicker to promote straighter shots.
If you want the ultimate expression of low spin, moving the CG forward close to the face will produce the desired result.
For golfers looking for stability through high MOI, positioning the weight in the rear and as far from the face as possible will help produce a neutral ball flight.
Adjustable hosels and moveable weights have one thing in common: They can only be genuinely optimised through custom fitting.
Maximising the Benefits of a New Driver Through Custom Fitting
How do you get more distance and accuracy when you purchase a new golf driver? You get custom-fitted for it.
As with any custom golf club fitting, understanding your driving game starts with an analysis of your existing setup.
A club fitter isn’t just checking to see how far you hit the ball with your existing driving. With the help of a launch monitor, the fitter is also assessing:
- Spin rates
- Launch angles
- Dispersion rates
- Angle of club path and face into the ball
This data is valuable in helping to decide which head profile is likely to suit best.
The idea of creating different head profiles by each manufacturer begins the process of narrowing the ideal configuration for each player.
TaylorMade has gone one step further to help the fitting process. It has created what it calls SelectFit heads - Qi35 heads with integrated reflective markers built into the 59th layer of the 60-layer carbon face.
The system works with GC Quad launch monitors and provides data on a new metric called closure rate. Closure rate measures the rotation of the clubface from heel to toe through impact and helps further understand how the clubface is delivered into the golf ball at impact.
The SelectFit heads measuring closure rates not only help target the ideal head profile but also help uncover the correct shaft profile based on how fast or slow the closure rate of the head is.
Cobra’s SureFit33 system sounds like a great tool to tinker around with on the range as you look to find your perfect setup.
However, SureFit33 works most effectively in the golf club fitting environment because of the data provided by the launch monitor. Knowing spin rates, launch angles, and face-to-path data can help the fitter tune in the correct loft and lie angle to optimise those figures.
Moveable weights in the Callaway, Cobra, and TaylorMade drivers can also be put into prime position based on the feedback provided by the launch monitor to help create the perfect launch and spin angles.
Having the correct setup with moveable weights isn’t just about adding distance; it's also helpful in tightening shot dispersion if needed.
As with all fittings, working with an experienced fitter and a launch monitor ultimately leads you to a driver setup that will help you hit it further and straighter on the course and boost your confidence.
Carbon composite materials, extensive wind tunnel testing, aerodynamic efficiency to improve performance, employing AI, adjustability, and customisation could easily refer to the construction of a Formula 1 car.
However, this is becoming the norm for driver design as manufacturers like Callaway, Cobra, and TaylorMade strive to extract every ounce of performance from their latest editions.
The Callaway Elyte, Cobra DS-Adapt, and TaylorMade Qi35 are utilising technology that encourages golfers of every level to get the most out of these clubs by going through a custom-fitting process.
If you want to change your golf driver this year and try the Elyte, DS-Adapt, or Qi35 models, book a driver fitting session with one of our experienced fitters at Nine By Nine Golf.
We not only have the full range of driver heads from each manufacturer but also a comprehensive line of customisable shafts that will help you deliver your maximum driving performance.
You can book a fitting session through the Nine by Nine Golf website, where you can also view all the latest releases. If you know exactly what your specs are, you can order directly from our website, and your driver will be built in-house by one of our technicians.
We’d be happy to help if you have any more questions relating to the Elyte, DS-Adapt, or Qi35 lineups or how custom-fitting can benefit your golf game.
