One number sums up five years of driver data

You've probably heard the pitch a thousand times by now. New driver, hotter face, more ball speed. Heck, I’ve heard that pitch more times than I can count in product meetings.

The industry's been selling speed for as long as I can remember, and that's what naturally gets people in fitting bays. But when we pulled five years of robot testing data during a recent round of analysis, ball speed looked like a flat line. The average at 95 mph in 2022 was 135.9 mph. In 2026, it's 136 mph. Nothing has moved.

So where did the R&D money actually go? Two places: Dispersion and spin rates.

The overall size of your miss pattern is important. And with our robot testing, the 95 percent confidence ellipse dropped from 1,316 square yards in 2022 to 1,021 in 2026. That's roughly a 25 percent improvement in how tight your off-center shots cluster together. Center strike still behaves the same, but it’s the miss that tightened.

Spin rates also saw a noticeable drop over the same five years. Lower spin plus tighter dispersion equals more distance, even though ball speed is locked in place.

So if your Stealth or G425 is still in the bag, the robot data says speed isn't the reason to upgrade. But mishit performance? That's a different conversation.

How drivers have changed in the last 5 years

We tested 161 drivers and noticed one metric improved in a big way.

By Jonathan Wall

What You Need to Know

Jonathan Wall

TaylorMade added another name to its NIL stable, and it's a big one. Charlie Woods, Tiger's son, was unveiled as the newest amateur golfer to ink an NIL (name, image and likeness) deal with the brand. The rising Benjamin School senior and Florida State commit is already using a TaylorMade-heavy bag (Qi4D driver, 3-wood and 7-wood, P·7CB/P·7TW irons, MG5 wedges and TP5x ball), which makes sense when you consider his dad is a TaylorMade staffer. He joins a TaylorMade amateur roster that already includes future FSU teammate Miles Russell, Asterisk Talley and Logan Reilly. 

Jonathan Wall

As I strolled past the practice green at East Lake a few weeks ago, I spied a gold putter resting safely inside a Toulon staff bag. 

Co-founder Joe Toulon, who was in town giving pros a peek at their latest wares, confirmed the gold "Leucadia" blade is part of the putter company's new Coastal California collection, which launched at the Tour Championship. Joe and his brother Tony, who also helped found Toulon, grew up north of San Diego and both chose the University of San Francisco for college. They know the California freeways well.  Interestingly, the new Coastal California face mill on these putters draws from classic California highway signage. The "golden sand" PVD finish and "ocean blue" accents are meant to evoke the place where sand meets sea. Four distinct models, each reflecting the places that shaped them, are currently available on Toulon's website. 

Golf Digest Editors

Golf bag shopping season is here.  We tested carry, cart, and lightweight bags for 2026, but the "hybrid" category is stealing the show. These crossover stand bags handle carry or cart duty, pack more storage than a standard carry bag and hold up great for travel.  Our picks span $260 to $520, with standouts from Ping, Vessel, TaylorMade, and Sun Mountain. Be sure to check out the full bag breakdown.

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