Golf drivers are undoubtedly the most expensive of all the clubs in your golf bag. Some argue that this high price is justified as the driver is the most crucial golf club.
A high-quality driver will help you hit a well-struck shot off the tee that boosts confidence leading to a superior overall performance during the round.
Today’s market is full of state-of-the-art golf drivers from multiple brands. Each of these brands invests heavily in R&D to come up with technologically advanced features.
These companies are in cut-throat competition with one another and are always on the lookout to be on the top.
Fueled by curiosity, our team of analysts gathered data on the preferred golf drivers of the top 50 PGA professionals (based on official world golf rankings as of 16th September 2021). We scrutinized every aspect of their golf drivers, including, the brand, the model, their loft, and the shaft they use.
After the analysis, we found a few interesting findings that reveal the preferences of the majority of the top 50 golfers. We have listed the top 50 players as per their official world golf ranking along with their driver, loft, and shaft.
1. Jon Rahm
Callaway Epic Speed Triple Diamond LS (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Aldila Tour Green 75 TX
2. Dustin Johnson
TaylorMade SIM Max (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Speeder 661 X
3. Collin Morikawa
TaylorMade SIM (8 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 60 TX
4. Patrick Cantlay
Titleist TS3 (9.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60 TX
5. Xander Schauffele
Callaway Epic Speed Triple Diamond (9 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD BB 7 X
6. Justin Thomas
Titleist TSi2 (9 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60 TX
7. Bryson DeChambeau
Cobra King LTD Pro (7.5 degrees)
Shaft: LA Golf Tour AXS Blue 60 X
8. Louis Oosthuizen
PING G400 (9 degrees @8.75) (D4)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 S
9. Tony Finau
PING G425 LST (9 degrees @7, Big -)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 70 TX
10. Brooks Koepka
TaylorMade SIM2 (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 70 TX
11. Harris English
PING G400 (9 @9.2 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Kuro Kage XD 70 X
12. Abraham Ancer
Callaway Epic Speed Triple Diamond LS (8.5 @7.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro Blue 60 TX
13. Rory Mcllroy
TaylorMade SIM2 Max (9 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Kuro Kage XTS 70 X
14. Viktor Hovland
PING G425 LST (9 degrees)
Shaft – Project X Hzrdus Smoke RDX Black 6.5
15. Jordan Speith
Titleist TSi3 (10 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 X
16. Daniel Berger
TaylorMade SIM (9 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
17. Tyrrell Hatton
PING G425 LST (10.5 degrees @8.8)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana RF 60 TX
18. Hideki Matsuyama
Srixon ZX5 (9.5 degrees, flat)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8 TX
19. Patrick Reed
Titleist TSi3, (9 degrees)
Shaft – Aldila Rogue silver 60 TX shaft
20. Webb Simpson
Titleist TS3 (10.5 degrees)
Shaft – Mitsubishi Tensei Blue AV 65 TX
21. Scottie Scheffler
PING G400 LST (8.5 degrees @7.75)
Shaft: Fujikura Atmos Black Tour Spec 7 X
22. Paul Casey
Titleist TSi3 (9 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 70 TX
23. Cameron Smith
Titleist TSi3 (10 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft – Project X HZRDUS Smoke Yellow 60
24. Kevin Na
Callaway GBB Epic (9 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD GP 6 TX
25. Sam Burns
Callaway Mavrik (10.5 degrees)
Shaft – TPT prototype
26. Matt Fitzpatrick
Titleist TSi3, (9 degrees)
Shaft – Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei AV Raw Orange 65 TX
27. Jason Kokrak
TaylorMade SIM (9 degrees @8.5)
Shaft: Accra TZ5 85 M5 Proto
28. Billy Horschel
Titleist TSi3 (9 degrees)
Shaft: Project X EvenFlow Riptide 65 6.5 TX
29. Sungjae Im
Titleist TS3, (9.5 degrees)
Shaft – Graphite Design Tour AD DI 7 X
30. Joaquin Niemann
PING G400 LST (10 degrees)
Shaft – Graphite Design Tour AD DI-7x)
31. Will Zalatoris
Titleist TSi3 (9 degrees)
Shaft – Fujikura Speeder 757 TR X shaft
32. Corey Conners
PING G400 LST (8.5 degrees)
Shaft – UST Elements Gold 6F5
33. Lee Westwood
PING G425 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft – Mitsubishi Tensei Orange 60TX
34. Phil Mickelson
Callaway Epic Speed (5.25 degrees)
Shaft – Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
35. Kevin Kisner
Callaway GBB (8.5 degrees)
Shaft – Fujikura Motore X F1 6 X
36. Ryan Palmer
TaylorMade M6 (10.5 degrees)
Shaft – Accra TourZ RPG 472 M5 Shaft
37. Tommy Fleetwood
TaylorMade SIM2 Max (10.5 degrees)
Shaft – Diamana DF 70 TX
38. Marc Leishman
Callaway Epic Speed (10.5 degrees)
Shaft – Fujikura Ventus Black 7X shaft
39. Adam Scott
Titleist TSi4 (9 degrees, A2 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI
40. Shane Lowry
Srixon ZX5 (9.5 degrees)
Shaft – Mitsubishi Diamana White 70 X
41. Sergio Garcia
TaylorMade SIM2 Max (9.0 degrees)
Shaft – Fujikura Ventus Black 6X
42. Max Homa
Titleist TSi3 (9.5 degrees)
Shaft – Aldila Rogue Black 130 MSI 60 TX
43. Brian Harman
Titleist TSi2 (9 degrees)
Shaft – Graphite Design Tour AD IZ TX
44. Christiaan Bezuidenhout
Callaway Epic Speed (8.5 degrees)
Shaft – Mitsubishi Diamana DF 60 TX
45. Justin Rose
TaylorMade M1 2017 (8 degrees)
Shaft – Mitsubishi Tensei CV Pro Orange 70 TX shaft
46. Stewart Cink
PING G425 Max (10.5 degrees)
Shaft – Graphite Design Tour AD XC 6 TX shaft
47. Garrick Higgo
Titleist TSi3 (9 degrees)
Shaft – Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 X
48. Ian Poulter
Titleist TSi3, (9.5 degrees)
Shaft – Mitsubishi CK Pro Orange 60 TX
49. Matthew Wolff
TaylorMade SIM2 Max (9 degrees)
Shaft – Graphite Design TP 7TX
50. Si Woo Kim
Callaway Epic Speed Triple Diamond LS (8.5 degrees)
Shaft – Fujikura Ventus Blue 6X shaft
Findings
At first glance, the list might seem quite ordinary. However, on closer inspection, we found that a significant number of PGA pros have an affinity towards certain brands, models, loft, and shaft types. We have discussed the same below.
Majority Of The Top 50 Prefer Titleist Drivers
Notably, Titleist has emerged as the most preferred brand of elite golfers. 16 out of the top 50 PGA professionals favor Titleist golf drivers with Patrick Cantlay as the highest-ranking golfer (fourth) who uses them.
TaylorMade is the second favorite brand of the top 50 golfers as 11 of them are regular users. Dustin Johnson is the highest-ranking golfer (second) who uses a TaylorMade driver. Callaway and PING jointly occupy the third spot with 10 users each.
Jon Rahm, the world number one, uses a Callaway golf driver. While, the world number eight, Louis Oosthuizen, is the highest-ranking golfer who uses PING golf drivers.
Finally, Srixon and Cobra fill the last spots with two and one users, respectively. The 2021 Masters Tournament winner, Hideki Matsuyama, is the top-ranking golfer who uses a Srixon driver. Meanwhile, Bryson DeChambeau (seventh) is the only player in the top 50 who uses a Cobra golf driver.
Top PGA Pros Prefer Titleist TSi3
Most top-level golfers from the top 50 opt for Titleist TSi3 golf drivers with a total of 10 users. Fifteenth-ranked Jordan Spieth is the most famous user of Titleist TSi3 driver.
TaylorMade’s SiM series is the second most desirable golf driver product line with nine users. Out of these, five players use the latest TaylorMade SiM2 that has remarkable features. While others, including the likes of Dustin Johnson and Collin Moriwaka, use TaylorMade SiM and SiM Max, respectively.
Out of the ten Callaway driver users, seven use the high-end Callaway Epic Speed driver. The current world number one, Jon Rahm is the most popular user of the Epic Speed driver.
Pros Prefer 9 Degrees Loft
Interestingly, during our analysis, we came across massive variations in the loft. Golfers use a number of different loft settings. However, out of the top 50, eighteen regularly play with 9 degree lofted drivers. This is followed by 10.5 degrees, which is used by eleven players, and 9.5 degrees, which is used by 5 players.
Jon Rahm and Dustin Johnson are the highest-ranking players who use 10.5-degree lofts. Meanwhile, Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas are the high-ranking golfers who play with 9-degree lofts. Notably, Bryson DeChambeau and Collin Morikawa are the players who play with the least amount of loft, with 7.5 degrees and 8 degrees, respectively.
Mitsubishi Leads The Race For Driver Shafts
Like the loft settings, we found a lot of variance in the shafts opted by these elite golfers. However, 39 of the top 50 choose either one of these three brands, Mitsubishi, Fujikura, or Graphite Design. Mitsubishi is the leader with seventeen users, including, Patrick Cantlay and Collin Morikawa. While Fujikura and Graphite Design are not far behind with twelve and nine users each.
