Golf Diary: Considering the Evolution of Drivers Wednesday, September 10, 2025

Recently, I've been thinking about something again. It's a simple proposition: "Drivers are for distance." Every golfer wants to hit the ball as far as possible. This insatiable desire is likely what has driven golf club technology to this point.

Once upon a time, small persimmon heads paired with steel shafts were the norm. This evolved into metal heads and lightweight carbon shafts. Furthermore, head materials changed to carbon and titanium, and faces became incredibly thin, producing high repulsion like a trampoline.

Professional driving distances have increased dramatically, to the point where Masters courses, like Augusta National GC, are forced to remodel every year. In response, the USGA and R&A have finally capped the coefficient of repulsion for golf clubs in order to protect the essence of the sport.

When repulsion regulations were introduced, manufacturers shifted their focus to "how easy it is to hit the ball" and "how to reduce errors." As a result, clubs evolved into models with lower centers of gravity and significantly wider sweet spots.

While 43.5 inches was the standard shaft length in the past, it gradually became longer with the introduction of carbon shafts, and at one point, even 46.5-inch drivers appeared. Longer shafts increase head speed, but they also increase the variance in smash factor. This led to an emphasis on technology that increases the moment of inertia (MOI) to improve straightness.

When the R&A set an upper limit for MOI, Nike's Sasquatch SUMO2 5900 was the club that pushed the limits to the very edge of the regulation. Its distorted head shape and unique sound made a big impact on golfers at the time. While this club did not last long, Nike retained the patent for increasing the MOI, and after the company withdrew from the market, it was passed on to P's G Series, an interesting development.

Today's drivers have a maximum head volume of 460cc and shaft length of around 45.5 inches. However, a YouTube video I recently watched introduced a theory that suggests the easiest driver length to swing is 43.5 inches and head volume is around 360cc.

In response to this, manufacturers have recently begun to offer shorter drivers and mini drivers. These clubs are said to have almost no difference in distance compared to larger heads and reduce the variability of errors.

It reminds me that golf is a sport about competing for score, not distance (with the exception of events like long drive, of course). High-repulsion clubs that are not allowed in official tournaments might be a "secret weapon" for achieving the highest score in a competition with friends.

The evolution of golf clubs can be seen as a history of the struggle between golfers' desire to "go further" and those who seek to control this with rules.

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