Would you really hit a new driver longer than one that’s a few years old? – Australian Golf Digest

Question: Do new drivers add distance compared to those from three to five years ago?

Answer: Every time a new driver hits the market, golfers across the globe ponder the same question as they stare skeptically at the one in their bag: Am I giving up distance if I don’t switch to the latest model?

Unless you have deep pockets and routinely swap drivers without giving it a second thought, there’s a good chance your big stick is at least three years old, which lines up with the buying cadence for many avid golfers.

On the surface, the promise is tantalizing: new model, more yards. But as is usually the case, the reality is a bit more nuanced.

In Golf Digest’s Robo Report series, the Golf Laboratories swing robot compares the newest driver lineup against previous iterations to track their evolution. Some years, we see a pure distance increase. Other years, it’s an improvement in overall dispersion.

Unless you’re playing an ill-fitting driver, there’s a good chance you won’t see a massive distance gain on center strikes in a head-to-head battle against your three-year-old driver. The only exception would be if the manufacturer made wholesale changes to the material used in face construction (e.g., Titleist’s ATI 425 or TaylorMade’s carbon fiber). Even then, it’s difficult to make really big gains with golf’s governing bodies policing distance.

Where you stand to see the biggest distance boosts is on common mis-hit locations. For example, Callaway’s Elyte Triple Diamond yielded an improvement of six yards on a high-toe miss compared to Paradym Triple Diamond in robotic testing. Unless you’re a robot, shoring up off-center shots to make them perform more like a center strike is going to help you.

If you’re gaming a driver that’s a few years old and hitting it well, upgrading to a new model won’t necessarily give you a dramatic carry‐distance gain on your best ball. What you might gain is better performance and a tighter dispersion on misses, which you might need even more.

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com