8° / 9° / 10.5° Mitsubishi Diamana S Limited 60, Project X HZRDUS Smoke Green 70
Yes (+/- 2°)
In Asia golfers love lighter, longer, draw-biased drivers, yet this is the first time Mizuno have brought such a model to the west. Heel weighting, an upright lie angle and a 39g shaft (seriously light) all help create a draw flight. We reckon the X will be right up the street of ageing golfers who’ve lost a bit of speed and moderate swing speed golfers who put a premium on speed over all-out forgiveness.
The SIM’S new chalk coloured paint and “chromium” carbon fibre crown look absolutely stunning, and give a fresh, clean appearance when most of the competition are clad in shiny black paint. In our opinion at least, SIM are the best-looking drivers Taylormade have made for a while. If you’re looking for a low-spin driver, or want to dial in a particular shot shape (a 10g sliding sole weight gives 20 yards of draw or fade bias), SIM absolutely has to be on your shortlist in 2020. It is every bit as powerful as Callaway’s Mavrik Sub Zero (the pair tied on 278 yards carry) and by posting a club speed above our test average, we have to say the new aerodynamic sole design is earning its keep. Taylormade’s tour staff are likely to be split 50/50 between the SIM and SIM Max. The Max has an 8% bigger face size and a 10% higher MOI over SIM; that should make you question whether you really need to go low spin or not.
If you need further proof low-spin drivers aren’t for everyone Ping staff pros Tony Finau and Lee Westwood don’t play the lower spin LST model. Where other brands put in weight tracks at the expense of MOI forgiveness, Ping say the G410’s movable weight tech has zero impact on MOI. Essentially this is last year’s model, and even though our data has the LST giving up seven yards to the longest low-spinning driver in 2020, we reckon thanks to its fitting and forgiveness tech it’s still relevant in any low-spin driver conversation.
It’s ironic the Epic Flash Sub Zero (on paper) was our longest driver of the year, yet our pro made no bones about not being able to use it successfully on the course. And that comes down to its lower forgiveness levels. Hopefully, those words alone will set alarm bells ringing for you, especially when you see ball speed and carry gains jump up on a launch monitor when trying one. Many golfers are seduced by the traits of low-spin driver tech, yet less than 10% of golfers actually need one...