Best Golf Drivers for Mid Handicappers Reviewed

Although golf can be a relaxing pastime, it can also be frustrating. If you miss too many fairways, deal with long approaches into the greens or have no idea where the ball will go when you hit it off the tee, maybe it’s time to upgrade your driver. Your stroke is certainly important, but breaking 80 has as much to do with the technology you use as your ability. Luckily, the best golf drivers for mid handicappers can set you up with a better foundation from which to improve your game. You may never throw a club in exasperation again.

How To Choose The Best Driver For Me

The drivers that help your best friends to show you up on the golf course might not be the right ones for you. When you’re choosing the best golf driver for you, consider loft and shaft flex. You might also wonder whether a professional fitting is necessary. I’ll cover that in this section too.

What Is The Best Shaft For Me?

The shaft is responsible for transferring the power from your swing to the ball. When a shaft flexes to its full capacity, it delivers powerful distance and trajectory. There’s a trade-off, though. A stiffer shaft helps you make a straighter shot, but the ball may carry straight and low and have trouble stopping.

Optimal shaft flex is directly related to your swing speed. Mid handicappers often have a wide range of swing speeds. The faster you swing, the stiffer you need the shaft to be.

If you swing faster than 100 mph, you should probably look into a shaft with extra stiff flex (X). Someone who swings between 70 and 80 mph should consider a shaft with senior flex (A). An 80 to 90 mph swing deserves a regular flex shaft (R), and a 90 to 100 mph swinger should use a stiff flex shaft (S).

A professional fitting can help you determine your swing speed. You can also figure it out if you know which club you use to hit the ball 150 yards. If you use a PW or a 9-iron, you need an extra stiff flex shaft. If you use an 8-iron, you need a stiff flex shaft. If you use a 6 or 7-iron, you need a regular flex shaft. If you use a 5 or 4-iron, you need a senior flex shaft.

What Is The Best Loft For Me?

Loft is also partially determined by your swing speed. That’s because a clubhead with low loft is less forgiving. When you hit the ball straight and fast, if you miss, you miss big.

Someone with a fast, precise swing could use a driver with a loft of 9 to 11 degrees to add in the forgiveness factor. If you have an average swing speed, look into a driver with a loft of 11 to 13 degrees for extra carry. Slow swingers might want a club with 13 to 14 degrees of loft.

Should I Get A Professional Fitting?

Although a professional fitting isn’t absolutely necessary, it can help you get started on the right foot. Beginner golfers might never have a chance at success if they don’t use a driver with the right length, lie angle, shaft flex and grip. Once you’ve maximized consistency, you can move up to more personalized clubs.

A fitting for the average golfer should focus on basic fit and head design. However, by this point, you’re probably used to using clubs that feel a certain way. For better or for worse, you have developed certain tendencies that affect your game. A professional fitting will take all of this into account to help you find the best golf drivers for you.

Best Golf Drivers For Mid Handicappers: Reviews

TaylorMade M3

TaylorMade claims that the M3 will help you hit the ball farther and more consistently than ever before. It achieves this through a variety of means, including the twist face technology. TaylorMade has investigated the average golf swing for years instead of taking data from robots. The company determined that if golfers aren’t hitting in the middle of the clubface, they’re hitting high in the toe or low in the heel. The company has twisted the curvature of the clubface to reflect this.

That means that you don’t have to cringe if you miss the center of the face when you’re hitting the ball. If you’re like most golfers, your ball will still make it into the air and fly straighter than it would without the twist face. You might still slice or hook it, but you’ll have a better chance of making your shot.

Looking for a sweet spot on your clubface? You’ll find it just about anywhere on the TaylorMade M3 if you’re like most golfers.

You can also adjust the driver face and head to change the loft, lie angle and face angle. The Y-angle split-weight system adjusts to optimize the flight of the ball and provide maximum forgiveness. This offers a major change in the way that the weights are adjusted.

Before, the weights could be adjusted in a straight line closer to the clubface. Now, the weights sit toward the rear of the club, and the diagonal track affects the shape of your shot. Basically, you can fiddle with this model a lot more than you could with the M1.

Pros:

• Approximately 13,000 adjustable settings.
• Silver crown provides contrast for better visual alignment
• Twist face design helps off-center drives go long and straight

Cons:

• Twist face design might not help you depending on your swing
• Cost may be too high for casual players

Callaway Rogue

Are you looking for a powerful yet forgiving golf club? The Callaway Rogue delivers an excellent range with ego-pleasing forgiveness. It’s designed for a mid to high handicap and is quite long off the tee even if you don’t hit the ball perfectly.

The Callaway Rogue features jailbreak bars that offer rigidity for better power transfer. These bars give the driver body stiffness, preventing it from deforming at impact. Now, the jailbreak bars are lighter in weight than their predecessors, though. This allowed Callaway to adapt the weight on other areas of the head for better performance.

The entire head is much larger than that of the Callaway Epic. The shallower, deeper size contributes to the forgiveness factor. With a bigger head, there’s more room to hit the ball. Plus, the face on this club has a variable thickness. This gives you a bigger area on the face that delivers high ball speed.

When it comes to aerodynamics, this club excels. Callaway worked with Boeing to optimize its Speed Step technology and produce a head with an aerodynamic leading edge that slices through the air faster to improve swing speed.

Compared with the Callaway Epic, the Rogue sounds better. This makes it feel more solid, stable and efficient. I feel like it’s talking to me, telling me that I’m doing a great job when I use it.

The Rogue family of drivers also includes two different models. The Sub Zero offers an adjustable weight system that helps you adjust spin rates and launch angles. (I review the Sub Zero later on in this article). The Draw offers excellent slice correction. However, the regular Rogue is one of the best drivers for the average golfer.

Pros:

• Variable face thickness technology delivers precision with off-center hits
• Jailbreak technology optimizes the performance of the head at impact
• Improved aerodynamics
• Lighter than Callaway’s previous models

Cons:

• Limited MOI adjustability
• No slice correction
• Premium price tag

TaylorMade M3 440

You might be wondering how the TaylorMade M3 440 drivers differ from the regular M3. The M3 440 has many of the features that make the M3 great. Both clubs have twist face technology, which helps you aim farther and straighter no matter where you hit the ball. Both models also offer the Y-track, which lets you adjust the weight in a seemingly unlimited way. The hammerhead slot balances distance and forgiveness.

These drivers differ when it comes to loft options. The M3 comes in loft options of 8.5, 9.5, 10.5 and 12 degrees. The M3 440 only lets you choose between 9 and 10 degrees. Therefore, it might be better suited to more advanced players who don’t need the higher loft options.

And listen—as much as you don’t want to admit it, size does matter for many golfers. One of the main differences between the M3 and the M3 440 is that the 440 has a smaller head. The number 440 refers to the cubic centimeters of volume. In contrast, the M3 has a volume of 460 cubic centimeters, which is the maximum volume allowed in professional golf.

The smaller-headed option typically produces less spin, which might be ideal if you tend to be a high-spin player. It will also deliver slightly less loft at the same settings as the M3.

Pros:

• Twist face design enlarges sweet spot
• Adjustable Y-track weight system makes it easy to find a feel that you like
• Smaller head is desirable for some users

Cons:

• Offers less loft selection than the M3
• Smaller head offers less forgiveness

TaylorMade M4

If you don’t love fiddling with your golf club, you might not be a fan of the moveable weights of the various M3 drivers. Enter the TaylorMade M4. It’s part of the TaylorMade family and therefore looks similar to the M3 options. At a volume of 460 cc, it mirrors the size of the M3.

In case you’re wondering, it does have the twist face design. This should benefit you by delivering straighter shots no matter which spot on the face hits the ball.

The hammerhead slot in the sole should increase ball speed. Compared to this driver’s earlier version, the M2, the hammerhead slot is stiffer and longer.

Although the weight in the back of the sole is not adjustable as it is in the M3 drivers, it has been increased from 22 grams in the M2 to 41 grams in the M4. That did wonders for improving the club’s forgiveness.

You can buy a draw version of this club. The draw version has the weight positioned closer to the heel in order to close the face at impact and create additional draw bias.

One of the standout features of this club is the head’s geoacoustic design. Many clubs with a low center of gravity also have flat soles and low frequencies. The geoacoustic design remedies this, leading to a more satisfying sound and feel when you hit the ball.

The TaylorMade M4 comes in four right-handed loft options: 8.5, 9.5, 10.5 and 12.

Pros:

• Features twist face design and hammerhead slot
• Geoacoustic design results in a stiffer sole without the need for interior ribs
• Lower price than the M3

Cons:

• Fixed weight system may not be desirable for golfers who like to fiddle with their club
• Few improvements over the M2 2017

Callaway Rogue Sub Zero

Like the Callaway Rogue, the Sub Zero features jailbreak technology and X-face VFT technology. This helps the ball move farther at a faster rate. The triaxial carbon crown offers the largest carbon composite surface area ever created in a Sub Zero model. The weight is redistributed to increase MOI, and the center of gravity is aligned with a neutral axis to reduce spin.

You can add, remove or move the interchangeable weights to fine-tune launch angle and spin rate. With the 14-gram weight in front, your ball will end up with less spin. When it’s in back, you get increased MOI and higher launch.

If you’re player who strikes the ball well but deals with high-spin problems, you should be able to take advantage of this incredibly low-spin driver. If you want to add spin, move the weight to the back. You still may find that the ball spins less than with other clubs, although you’ll get plenty of distance and carry.

The weight also affects the level of forgiveness. You get plenty of wiggle room with the heavier weight in the back, but as you move it to the front, you need to up your game. I would recommend only moving the weight to the front if you have a fast, consistent swing.

The Rogue Sub Zero is quieter than the Rogue, but it delivers a satisfying crack when you hit the ball accurately. As with the Rogue, Callaway worked with Boeing to improve its leading-edge technology for better aerodynamics.

Pros:

• Interchangeable weights let you adjust spin rate and launch angle
• Ideal for high-spin players with a fast swing
• Large, 460 cc footprint is forgiving.

Cons:

• Better for players with specific needs than an average golfer
• Only comes in two loft options: 9 and 10.5

TaylorMade M4 D-Type

Like the other TaylorMade drivers that I’ve reviewed here, the M4 D-Type has that revolutionary twist face design. It also has the hammerhead slot and 460 cc volume. That gives it a large face and lots of forgiveness.

The M4 D-Type is constructed with a draw-biased design, though. If you’re tired of slicing the ball no matter what you do, you might consider trying this driver. It has a heel weight of 41 grams and a slight offset.

It also features distinct visual cues to encourage a square face at address and a draw-biased face when you strike the ball. The two-tone crown provides a contrast that makes the face angle look more open than it is. It’s a subtle optical illusion that produces a more closed face at impact.

If you’ve tried working on your swing but can’t seem to reduce your slice, you might want to stop trying so hard and use this club instead. The draw bias is definitely perceptible, but it’s not overpowering.

This club has a great feel. Moreover, it produces feedback that lets you know how well you hit the ball. When you hit the ball near the center of the clubface, you hear a medium-volume, low-pitched crack. The tone and volume change distinctly when the ball isn’t centered properly on the clubface.

Pros:

• 9.5, 10.5 and 12-degree loft options
• Ideal for the chronic slicer
• Great sound feedback

Cons:

• Created for a specific type of player, not the average golfer

Conclusion

For a mid-handicap golfer who tends to have the same shortcomings as the average golfer, one of the TaylorMade options might be the best driver to improve your handicap. As you work on improving your swing, the club mediates any inconsistencies. The larger volume also provides a bigger clubface for more forgiveness. If you have specific needs, like drawing in your slice, you might want to look at the TaylorMade D-Type or the Callaway Sub Zero. Any of the drivers I’ve reviewed here should help you improve your game.