Driving Success – The Most Popular Driver on LPGA Tour (2024)

The game of golf is obsessed with distance these days and when it comes to that topic the conversation typically moves swiftly to the biggest club the bag – the driver.

On the LPGA Tour the distances the top pros are driving the ball continue to increase and at this rate, it will not be long before the longest hitter on the LPGA Tour will get close to averaging 300 yards in driving distance.

And to find out which clubs are driving these increased distances at the top of the women’s game Golfing Focus took a detailed look at the drivers the top 100 players on the LPGA Tour is carrying.

Callaway’s Paradym Triple Diamond and Titleist’s TSR3 drivers are the most popular among the top 100 LPGA pros with 11 players each using them. PING’s G430 LST driver is the next most used by 10 player. Together Callaway, Titleist and PING drivers are used by 73% of this group. TaylorMade models are played by 7% with Nelly Korda using the Qi10 Max.

The make and model of any driver only tell us so much however.

And when we looked at the drivers being used by many of the best players in the women’s game it was interesting to see the multitude of different shafts being used and the variance in lofts chosen by different players.

What was also fascinating to note was what had changed since the last time we did this analysis a couple of years back and that despite all the focus on distance in the modern game former world number 1 – Ariya Jutanugarn – still chooses not to carry a driver at all!

Most Popular Driver on LPGA Tour – Top 100 Player Breakdown

Even a cursory glance at the average driving stats of the LPGA Tour quickly highlights that the same trend can be seen in the professional women’s game as in the men’s.

The distances the top pros are hitting the ball is steadily increasing.

The great Laura Davies topped the driving charts in 1993 with an average distance of 254 yards however such a distance would barely scrape her into the top 100 longest hitters on the LPGA Tour today.

The advances in golf technology, specifically with the driver, have been a factor in this increase in average driving distances.

And when it comes to the elite women’s professional game, it is no surprise therefore that most of them use the latest models from the top manufacturers.

But it is not always the case that the top LPGA Tour pros will always opt for the latest and greatest driver being advertised.

In total Golfing Focus’ in-depth analysis uncovered 40 different models of drivers being used by the top 100 LPGA Tour pros with Callaway, Titleist and PING models as we have noted dominating the driver landscape.

It was interesting to note though that when we last did this analysis a couple of years back PING was the dominant driver brand among the top women pros with Callaway the fourth most used.

Callaway’s significant move to be the most played driver brand in such a short space of time is therefore notable.

Although as with all our analysis of pros’ clubs how much of this rise is due to sponsorship and endorsement deals must be considered.

Significantly also it was notable that the top two driver models we found being used by the top 100 LPGA Tour pros – PING’s G430 LST and Titleist’s TSR3 – are two of the top three most popular drivers among the top 100 PGA Tour pros.

As with the men’s game however, when you look in detail at the drivers being used by the top women pros the fact that they use the same model of driver does not tell the full story.

The similarities often stop there with individual players choosing different setups that suit their game best.

As a result the shafts, lofts and lie angles rarely match between different players. Certain pros find different combinations deliver ball flights which are either too high or too low due to their individual swing and delivery of the driver at impact.

For example, even though we uncovered 10 of the top 100 LPGA Tour players using a PING G430 LST driver, not one of those setups matches the other when you take the shaft, loft and lie angle choices into account.

“[I don’t use the current driver model] … because I found the numbers to be identical to my current one …. Unless the numbers prove otherwise, no point of changing, but that’s just my opinion.”

Jenny Shin, LPGA Tour winner player explaining why she continues to use Callaway’s older Epic Speed Triple Diamond driver model

It is also interesting to note when it comes to looking at the drivers selected by the top 100 LPGA Tour players that former world no.1 Ariya Jutanugarn is excluded from such an analysis.

And the simple reason for this is that she does not carry a driver in her golf bag.

Ariya Jutanugarn’s decision not to carry a driver is a fascinating one and indeed triggered her ascent to world no.1.

After a string of missed cuts in 2016 her caddie pleaded with her to take her driver out of the bag and after agreeing to do so she moved to be ranked no.1 in the world the following year in 2017.

While today Jutanugarn uses her driver in some practice rounds she has never returned to putting it back in the bag for competitive rounds for the simple reason that she does not feel accurate enough with it preferring instead to hit 3-woods and 2-irons off the tee.

And even with this change she still ranks just outside the top 60 for average driving distance on the LPGA Tour so it doesn’t seem to be affecting her too much!

The complete breakdown of which drivers are used by the top 100 players on the LPGA Tour is detailed in the searchable table below.

What Driver Shafts Do LPGA Players Use?

When it comes to driver shaft choice the top professionals in the world are often very particular regarding their preference and the top 100 players on the LPGA Tour are no different.

Not all the individual driver shaft data is available for this elite group with details not being available for 35 out of the top 100. For the remainder however, we found the following.

Fujikura shafts are the most popular driver shafts on the LPGA Tour with 24% of the top 100 using them including Lilia Vu and Brooke Henderson. Their Ventus Red 5S is the most used individual driver shaft picked by Rose Zhang and Stacy Lewis while 6 pros each play either a Ventus Blue, Ventus Red or Ventus TR Blue driver shaft.

Mitsubishi driver shafts are the next most popular with 17% of the top 100 using them including Nelly Korda who picks the Diamana GT 60 S model.

Graphite Design shafts are the third most common driver shafts and are used by 11% of the top 100.

There are then other driver shafts produced by Basileus Shafts, KBS, Matrix Shafts, Miyazaki, PING, True Temper, UST Mamiya and Yonex which are used by only one or two LPGA pros.

Moving to the question of which driver shaft flex LPGA players use the data was again patchy but we still discovered a preference for stiff driver shafts with 39 of the 50 LPGA pros for which this stat was available choosing this shaft flex.

Charley Hull, Angel Yin and Lexi Thompson use an extra stiff driver shaft with another eight pros choosing a regular flex driver shaft including Atthaya Thitikul and Leona Maguire.

Turning our attention to driver shaft weight – which is a much greater consideration to any top player compared to flex – 56g was the most used according to the data available, including by Lydia Ko.

Indeed Golfing Focus found 62% of the top 100 for which details were available choosing a driver shaft of between 50 and 59 grams with only 28% opting for a heavier driver shaft of between 60 and 60 grams.

This group included Nelly Korda with her choice of a 62g Mitsubishi Diamana GT stiff shaft but the heaviest driver shaft we found being used among the top 100 was Linn Grant’s 75g Fujikura Speeder 757 TR S shaft.

In total Golfing Focus’ detailed study of the drivers LPGA Tour players use uncovered 34 different driver shafts being used by the top 100.

If you include different flex and weight combinations that number rises to 44 but it was again interesting to note that Fujikura’s dominance among the driver shafts used by the top women pros matches what we uncovered when we took a similarly in-depth look at the shafts PGA Tour pros use.

And this marks a change from the last time Golfing Focus did this research a couple of years back when we found Graphite Design shafts to be the dominant choice of the top women players.

What Driver Loft Do LPGA Players Use? Don’t Forget Loft is Dynamic Too!

Professional golfers are very precise with their equipment.

Different players will choose different degrees of driver depending on their swing, how they want to flight the ball and also on the conditions.

Modern golf technology makes it much easier now for players to alter the internal weighting and lofts of their driver and when it comes to the driver set up of the top 100 LPGA Tour pros it is clear they take advantage of the preciseness modern drivers afford them.

Driver lofts used by the top 100 LPGA Tour pros range from 7 degrees, played by Angel Yin to 11.1 degrees chosen by Allisen Corpuz in her G430 Max 10k driver.

The most common driver loft is 9 degrees with 44% of this group choosing that degree of driver, including Brooke Henderson and Danielle Kang according to the data available.

10.5 degrees is the next most used driver loft by 23% with Nelly Korda picking that loft in her TaylorMade Qi10 Max driver. 10% meanwhile opt for a 9.5 degree lofted driver.

When looking at the choices of driver loft selected by the best players on the LPGA Tour it was noticeable that there was less variance compared to their male colleagues.

But what we all must crucially bear in mind when it comes to looking at driver lofts is that loft is dynamic as well as static!

The static loft stamped on any LPGA Tour pros club is just one part of the equation and dynamic loft – in simple terms the amount of loft on the club face at impact with the ball – affects the trajectory and most critically distance more than the ‘static’ loft.

We cover in depth in another one of our articles how much driver loft affects distance but if you’re changing driver and thinking of simply copying a driver loft and set up of one of the top LPGA Tour pros just take a pause for a moment.

The loft of their driver is part of the puzzle but it is not the biggest part!

For those that are interested however below is a breakdown of driver lofts currently used among the top 100 LPGA Tour players.

Before You Go …

As well as taking a deep dive into the drivers the top LPGA Tour pros are using we’ve done exactly the same with the best PGA Tour and Champions Tour players.

So have a read of our next articles to find out what drivers the best male pros are choosing with their much driver faster swing speeds.

What Drives The Senior Tour Pros? Most Popular Driver On Champions Tour

What Driver Is Most Used On The PGA Tour?

Other top articles related to this topic:

• The Complete Guide To The Most Popular Clubs On LPGA Tour
• Do LPGA Players Use Hybrids? They Have Many in Hand
• Perfecting The Approach: The Most Popular Irons On LPGA Tour
• Do LPGA Players Use Stiff Or Regular Shafts? Don’t Just Flex Focus
• Do LPGA Players Use Graphite shafts? Break It Down By Club Type
• Rolling To Victory: The Most Used Putter On The LPGA Tour
• What Golf Balls Do LPGA Players Use? They’re Not Very Lady Like!
• What Clubs Do PGA Pros Use?
• In the Bag: Unpacking the Clubs Champions Tour Players Use
• How Often Do Pros Hit Driver? Not As Much As You Think!
• How Do Pros Hit the Ball So Far? It’s Not About the Equipment