Why Are So Many Pros Holding Onto Their Old Drivers?

As a gear nerd who follows the PGA TOUR, I love spotting trends—I’ve even started a weekly column on the very subject: Trend Tracker. Everything from long neck putters—which made a brief comeback last year—to irons, drivers, and wedges, I try to keep an eye on it all.

Which is why, after Ludvig Aberg’s win at the Genesis Invitational this past week I noticed a funny trend—not one winner on the PGA TOUR so far in 2025 has used the most recent driver model from a manufacturer. Yes, there have been top finishes, and yes, Ludvig himself used the most current Titleist GT2 for the first three rounds at Torrey Pines, but it wasn’t in the bag when the final putt was sunk (he switched back to his TSR2), so I didn’t count it.

Now it is early in the season and many players are just starting to find a rhythm, but considering how many resources are available to move into the latest and greatest, it had me hypothesizing some possible explanations. But, before we get to that, here are those winning drivers I was talking about:

2025 PGA Tour winners and their drivers

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Hideki Matsuyama - Srixon Zx5 LS

Nick Taylor - Titleist TSi3

Sepp Straka - Callaway Ai Smoke (Triple Diamond)

Haris English - Ping G430 LST

Rory McIlroy - TaylorMade Qi10

Thomas Detry - Callaway Ai Smoke (Triple Diamond)

Ludvig Aberg - Titleist TSR2

The Bigger Picture

With it being early in the season, I decided to look at a bigger data set, which led me to compiling all the drivers used by every player that finished in the top-5 for the season so far (including ties).

Disregarding brands and just looking at the breakdown, only 19 of the 42 players who finished in the top-5 used a current model driver. At the Farmers Insurance Open, there were zero most-current model drivers in the top-5. Meanwhile, at the AT&T, every player finishing in the top-5 was using the newest model, except winner Rory McIlroy.

But Why?

I don’t believe this is an indictment of current model drivers, in fact I believe it to be the opposite. It goes to show that products from the last five years have been mostly exceptional across the board, and with just how important driving has become in the modern game—once players are dialed in, they are becoming more reluctant than ever to switch.

(Do you want to be the person trying to get Scottie Scheffler to swap anything after the season he had?)

It’s a huge testament to the engineering and design teams at each company along with the tour fitting and build staff that each manufacturer brings week to week on the PGA Tour and how good they are at ensuring their players are performing at the highest level. I will 100% attest that the manufacturer support staff across the board are an amazing group of fitters that have nothing but each player's interests in mind regardless of if they are a contracted staff player or an equipment free agent looking to make a tweak.

As for consumers, the message is pretty clear. Yes the latest and the greatest offer more options, more forgiveness, and greater adjustability than ever before but unless you take the time to work with a fitter to get you dialed in, you’re not maximizing your potential off the tee.