Why Are So Many Top Players Still Using Old Drivers?

The PGA Tour season is now in full swing with three signature events having already concluded and the countdown to The Masters truly underway. It’s normally at this stage in the season when players have decided on any major equipment changes for the year having had the chance to test it on the range and put it in play during multiple events, whether that’s having signed to a new manufacturer or simply moving into the latest models from the brand they are signed with. However, it seems some of the game's biggest names have been reluctant to switch into the latest equipment (particularly with driver) so far in 2025 despite the promises of more yards and fairways found.

Ludvig Aberg is the latest player to win on the PGA Tour after a clutch birdie on the 18th hole at Torrey Pines to claim The Genesis Invitational by one shot over Maverick McMealy. But while there was plenty of hype around the Swede picking up his 2nd PGA tour victory, many onlookers may have overlooked the fact he switched back into his old TSR2 driver before the final round, having used the Titleist GT2 driver for the first three.

It would be completely understandable to think this was because he drove the ball poorly over the first three days and wanted some familiarity with his old driver heading into the final round. In fact, Aberg did the opposite. Looking at the Strokes Gained off the tee statistics from Data Golf, he ranked 5th, 1st and 18th respectively in the first three rounds and dropped down to 32nd for the final round. Would he have still won the tournament had he not made the switch? This we will never know.

As calm and collected as Aberg may appear on the golf course, there’s no denying that nerves will have played a role in that final round. I can only imagine that it’s a lot harder to drive the ball further and straighter when there’s the pressure of winning a PGA Tour event on the line but it’s fascinating the psychology of a player doing whatever they can to ease the nerves and feel as comfortable as possible when trying to win a golf tournament. It’s impossible to question the decision of the switch due to the fact he won the competition, despite statistically performing worse from the tee, but merely highlights the fact that intrinsic confidence in equipment is something that simply cannot be overlooked.

World number one Scottie Scheffler and world number three Rory McIlroy are two more notable players who are yet to take the leap and put new Qi35 drivers in play, despite them being regarded as some of the best golf drivers on the market. Both players are TaylorMade ambassadors and are choosing to still use their custom Qi10 drivers from the 2024 season. With how Scheffler's year went, you feel it’s very much a case of ‘if it isn’t broken, don’t try and fix it’ and Rory has already picked up his first win in 2025 at Pebble Beach where led the field in Strokes Gained off the tee (+5.7) and averaged 336.7 yards with his Qi10 driver.

While it may be of some annoyance to the likes of Titleist and TaylorMade that they have some of the star players in the roster unwilling to initially switch to a new product, I believe this only highlights how strong their product has been over the past couple of years and how great of a job their tour staff and fitters do in making sure these guys are playing equipment that is perfect for them.

While the drivers are firmly rooted for both players, Scheffler did opt for a new lofted Qi35 fairway wood at the Genesis which I saw him use to great effect on multiple occasions, and Rory made a switch to the TP5 away from the TP5x before his victory at the AT&T - which shows both players are open to tinkering some areas of the bag. I’m sure it would be nicer from a marketing perspective if these players were using the brand's newest equipment but I’m almost certain they would rather they use last year's model and keep on winning than switch and not win.

The perceived lack of adoption with the 2025 driver releases spreads to other major companies for players who have won already this season. Thomas Detry is a Callaway staff player who dominated this year at the Waste Management Phoenix Open en route to his first PGA Tour win and Harris English picked up his first win in four years with a two-year old Ping G430 LST.

To win by seven on the PGA Tour you need everything firing and while Detry ranked 2nd in Strokes Gained putting and 1st in Strokes Gained approach, his ability to drive it in play and a long way was what gave him these chances. He currently still uses a 2024 Callaway Ai-Smoke Triple Diamond driver rather than the new Elyte Triple Diamond model and after picking up his maiden win, I can't see that changing any time soon.

Interestingly for English, driving really isn't one of his strong points despite winning at Torrey Pines with the tight fairways and treacherous rough. He ranks 134th in Strokes Gained off the tee this season but makes up for that by ranking inside the top 10 in putting. While the smooth-swinging American may not want to change to the new G440 LST due to the possibility of driving it worse, it seems English is much more of a golfer who just gets comfortable and doesn't like change. His Ping Scottsdale Hohum putter, for example, has been in his bag since 2011!

The PGA Tour moves to the East coast of the US for the Florida swing after a trip down to Mexico and then onto a vast variety of courses as we roll into Major Championship season. As the temperatures and conditions differ, it will be interesting to see if these top players make any changes to the top end of their bag, particularly if the trophies keep appearing in the cabinet.

With the governing bodies adopting fairly strict rules on golf club design, it must be becoming more difficult for manufacturers to release new products that are demonstrably better than what came before. Even if the new driver is a few yards longer, if a player has fond memories of the previous model - be it events won or shots executed under pressure - then it becomes harder to justify a switch.

To me, this truly shows the importance of confidence and faith in equipment if it’s working. If you have older equipment in the bag, you’ll likely see the benefits of the latest equipment whether that be one of the best new drivers, fairway woods or irons. If you use clubs that you’ve been custom fitted for and they're performing well, you’d have to seriously weigh up the cost of purchasing new equipment and the time it takes to get comfortable with them to understand whether it’s worth switching to new gear. For every ability, even the world's best, if what you have is working there's a lot to be said for resisting temptation and sticking with what you've got.