The driver is almost always the most talked about golf club in everyone’s bag.
And a good part of the reason for that is the average golfer often watches with wonder as the best players on the PGA Tour smash the ball seemingly endless distances down the middle of the fairway.
It seemed not that long ago that the 300 yard mark was the benchmark for the very long drivers on tour but now it appears you need to be hitting the ball 400 yards every now and then to be truly considered one of the game’s ‘big hitters’.
So what drivers are the pros using to achieve these huge distances?
We took a look at the top 100 players on the PGA Tour and analysed in detail the driver each of them carries to try and find what is the most common driver set up among the top pros.
Titleist’s TSR3 is the most used driver among the top 100 PGA Tour pros with 16 choosing it, including Justin Thomas and Max Homa. PING’s G430 LST is the next most popular model with 13 playing it while TaylorMade’s Stealth Plus and Callaway’s Paradym Triple Diamond drivers rank equal 3rd with 9 pros each using them.
The make and model of any driver only tells us so much though and when we looked at the drivers being used by this elite group it was fascinating to see the variance in lofts and also the multitude of different shafts being used.
It was also very interesting to note what has changed since we last carried out this detailed analysis two years ago!
Most Played Driver on PGA Tour? Titleist Are Getting More Popular!
The amount of equipment available to PGA tour players is clearly on a different scale to anything that mere mortal amateurs can aspire to.
If a Tour pro wants to test out a new driver, shaft or set up it’s immediately made available to them and they are able to swap out drivers as often as they want from tournament to tournament or even practice session to practice session.
It’s no surprise therefore that we discovered 24 different models of driver being used by the top 100 pros on the PGA Tour but the big brands of Titleist, PING, TaylorMade and Callaway very much dominate accounting for 90 out of the 100 drivers in play.
What was interesting to note though was that Titleist’s dominance among the big manufacturers has grown since the last time we did this in-depth study a couple of years ago.
Titleist drivers are the most played by the top 100 PGA Tour pros with 33 using them. PING models are the next most popular with 22 picking them. Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods’ driver brand of choice, TaylorMade is used by 19 pros. Callaway drivers are chosen by 16 of this group with Srixon drivers being used by 6 of them.
Compared to two years ago this means an extra 6 out of the top 100 PGA Tour pros (33 in 2023 vs. 27 in 2021) now consider Titleist to be the best drivers for them therefore further reducing the market share of the other big brands among this elite group.
What also becomes very apparent once again when you look in detail at the drivers used by the PGA Tour pros however is the huge number of different set ups and each driver is clearly custom fitted to a very exact extent for each player.
For example even though 13 out of the top 100 use a PING G430 LST driver you can bet your last dollar when you look closely that there will be a unique set up for each player whether that be achieved through an adjustment to the loft, set up or shaft.
It is noticeable also that not all the players are in a rush to move immediately to the latest model of their preferred brand of driver and do continue to play with older drivers.
So to give the full picture of how many and which pros are using which brand and model of driver here is the complete breakdown of the drivers used by the top 100 players on the PGA Tour in order of popularity.
| DRIVER | NO. OF TOP 100 PGA PROS | |
| Titleist TSR3 | 16 (inc. Justin Thomas, Cameron Young, Max Homa, Billy Horschel, Will Zalatoris, Cam Smith) | Check eBay View at PGA Tour Superstore |
| PING G430 LST | 13 (inc. Kevin Kisner, Tyrell Hatton, Joaquin Niemann, Corey Conners, Sahith Theegala, Seamus Power) | Check eBay View at PGA Tour Superstore |
| TaylorMade Stealth Plus | 9 (inc. Adam Scott, Sepp Straka, Luke List, Jason Kokrak) | View on Amazon Check eBay View at PGA Tour Superstore |
| Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond | 9 (inc. Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm, Chris Kirk) | Check eBay View at PGA Superstore |
| Titleist TSi3 | 8 (inc. Matt Fitzpatrick, Wyndham Clark, Anirban Lahiri) | Check eBay View at PGA Tour Superstore |
| PING G425 LST | 8 (inc. Tony Finau, Viktor Hovland, Joel Dahmen) | Check eBay View at PGA Tour Superstore |
| TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus | 7 (inc. Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa) | Check eBay View at PGA Tour Superstore |
| Titleist TSi2 | 4 (inc. Sungjae Im, Brian Harman) | Check eBay View on Amazon View at PGA Tour Superstore |
| Titleist TSR2 | 4 (inc. Jordan Speith, Chez Reavie) | Check eBay View at PGA Tour Superstore |
| Srixon ZX5 Mk II | 3 (inc. Hideki Matsuyama, Shane Lowry) | Check eBay View at PGA Tour Superstore |
| Srixon LS ZX5 Mk II | 2 (inc. Brooks Koepka, Andrew Putnam) | View on Amazon Check eBay View at PGA Tour Superstore |
| Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond S | 2 (inc. Sam Burns, Adam Hadwin) | Check eBay |
| TaylorMade Stealth | 2 (inc. Cameron Tringale, Adam Long) | Check eBay View at PGA Tour Superstore |
| Callaway Rogue ST Triple Diamond LS Callaway Rogue ST Triple Diamond Callaway Epic Speed Triple Diamond Callaway Epic Speed Callaway Epic Max LS Cobra Aerojet LS Mizuno ST-Z 230 PING G410 LST Srixon ZX7 TaylorMade M6 Titleist TS3 | 1 each (inc. Patrick Cantlay – TS3) |
What Degree of Driver Do the Pros Use? It Starts With a 9 Most of the Time
Once upon a time a driver used to come with one loft option and players were stuck with it.
Modern golf technology has obviously moved on hugely since then and the loft options available to golfers now, and especially at the elite PGA Tour level, are incredible.
The Titleist SureFit Hosel system for example features a sleeve and ring set up each with 4 settings and as a result enables 16 unique loft and lie angle combinations with a precision of up to 0.75 degrees between different options.
The players on the PGA Tour are the best in the business and when it comes to the degree of driver they use it seems clear that the exactness with which they approach it and their overall driver set up is part of the reason they are so successful.
9 degrees is the most used driver loft among the top 100 PGA Tour pros with 32 setting up with it, including Rory McIlroy. 14 of this group play a 9.5º loft. The next most played degree of driver is 10.5º chosen by 8 pros with 8º and 10º used by 7 each. 6.5º is the lowest driver loft in the top 100 and 12.1º is the highest.
It is common also for the top pros to change the loft of their driver occasionally depending on what the course they are playing demands but below is the current breakdown of driver lofts played by the top 100 PGA Tour players.
| DRIVER LOFT | NO. OF TOP 100 PGA TOUR PROS | SELECTED GOLFERS |
| 9 degrees | 32 | Rory McIlroy, Matt Fitzpatrick, Billy Horschel, Collin Morikawa, Kevin Kisner, Adam Scott, Tom Hoge, Corey Conners |
| 9.5 degrees | 14 | Xander Schauffele, Hideki Matsuyama, Tyrrell Hatton, Keith Mitchell, Denny McCarthy, Joel Dahmen |
| 10.5 degrees | 8 | Sam Burns, Joaquin Niemann, Keegan Bradley, Brooks Koepka |
| 8 degrees | 7 | Scottie Scheffler, Will Zalatoris, Sungjae Im |
| 10 degrees | 7 | Max Homa, Jordan Speith, Tommy Fleetwood |
| 8.5 degrees | 6 | Shane Lowry, Justin Rose |
| 9.25 degrees | 6 | Justin Thomas, Cameron Young |
| 8.75 degrees | 3 | Patrick Cantlay |
| 6.5 degrees | 2 | Gary Woodland |
| 9.75 degrees | 2 | Sepp Straka |
| 7º 7.25º 7.5º 7.75º 8.25º 8.4º 10.7º 10.75º 11º 11.5º 12.1º | 1 each | Adam Hadwin (12.1º) |
What Driver Shaft is Most Used on the PGA Tour? There’s Weight Too!
PGA Tour pros are incredibly precise when it comes to the setup of their drivers and nowhere is that more evident than when it comes to the shafts that they choose to use with the biggest club in their bag.
When we carried out our analysis of the driver shafts being used by the top 100 players on the PGA Tour two years ago we found 70 different models being used and that number has now increased to 73 in 2023.
Fujikura’s Ventus Black 6X is still the most used driver shaft among the top 100 PGA Tour pros with 7 choosing it. The Ventus TR Blue 6X is the next most popular chosen by 5 players. Graphite Design’s Tour AD DI 6X and Fujikura’s Ventus Black 7X shafts are the third most common with three pros each picking them.
That almost every one of the top 100 pros is using a shaft that is unique to them however shows how must care the best players in the world take when it comes to making their choice and that attention to detail is again clearly evident when it comes to the driver shaft weights they use.
The most popular driver shaft weight used by the top 100 PGA Tour pros is 65g with 14 players selecting it, including Jordan Speith. 10 each use heavier shafts of 68g or 76g with 69g shafts the next most common weight being used by 7 pros . 56g is the lightest driver shaft among the top 100 with 90g the heaviest.
Interestingly while our analysis of the shafts the best pros on Tour use across all their clubs (which you can see here) shows that True Temper is the shaft choice amongst the irons used by the top 100 this is not the case with driver shafts.
Once again when it came to driver shafts we found Fujikura models are the most popular driver shaft brand increasing their share among the top 100 PGA Tour pros from 28 two years ago to 34 in 2023.
Mitsubishi driver shafts, including the Tensei and Diamana series, remain the second most used in this elite group with 25 golfers using them.
True Temper shafts meanwhile are only the 3rd most popular in the drivers of the top 100 PGA Tour pros with 15 choosing them and all opting for shafts within the Project X HZRDUS range
Graphite Design driver shafts by comparison are the choice of 13 of this group.
| BRAND OF DRIVER SHAFT | NO. OF TOP 100 PGA TOUR PROS USING BRAND | BRAND’S MOST USED SHAFT |
| Fujikura | 34 (inc. Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Sam Burns, Jordan Speith, Billy Horschel, Viktor Hovland, Kevin Kisner, Cameron Smith, Will Zalatoris, Keegan Bradley, Justin Rose) | Ventus Black 6X Check eBay |
| Mitsubishi | 25 (inc. Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Thomas, Cameron Young, Tony Finau, Max Homa, Collin Morikawa, Shane Lowry, Brooks Koepka) | Diamana D+ Limited Edition 60 TX Check eBay |
| True Temper | 15 (inc. Davis Riley, Sahith Theegala, Keith Mitchell, Russel Henley, Lucas Herbert, Taylor Pendrith) | Project X HZRDUS Gen 4 Black 60 TX Check eBay |
| Graphite Design | 13 (inc. Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Joaquin Niemann, Adam Scott, Brian Harman) | Tour AD DI 6 X Check eBay |
| Aldila | 5 (inc. Jon Rahm, Kevin Streelman) | Rogue White 130 M.S.I. 60 TX Check eBay |
| UST Mamiya | 3 (inc. Scott Stallings, Corey Conners) | LIN-Q M40X White 6F5 |
| Accra | 3 (inc. Wyndham Clark, Seamus Power) | TZ6 65 M5 Check eBay |
Before you go ….
Knowing what drivers the top pros are using to hit the ball as far as they do is one thing but how much does their equipment explain the huge distances they hit the ball both off the tee and with seemingly every club?
Read our next article to find out the key reasons why the pros hit the ball as far as they do, including how much of a role their clubs play, and how you can potentially add 20 to 30 yards to your own drives!
How Do Pros Hit the Ball So Far?
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