So which were the top drivers racking up the tour wins in 2017?
We’ve reached the end of the European Tour season. Yes, I know it annoyingly starts again the following week but it seems like a good time to look back.
Well, we’ve split it into European Tour and PGA Tour and then left the majors and WGCs separate seeing as both count on both tours.
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The count starts from the beginning of 2017 up until the conclusion of the Race to Dubai at the DP World Tour Championship and the RSM Classic on the PGA Tour.
Now before you start, yes we know that 95 per cent of these players are contracted to play the drivers they use so inevitably the brand which pays the most tour players to use their stuff will come out on top.
But it’s still interesting to see which models were in play each time a player made it to the winners’ circle.
And, just for ease, we’ve grouped the 2016 and 2017 versions of the TaylorMade M1 and M2 together.
Top drivers by tour wins: European Tour
Players such Sergio Garcia (M2), Jon Rahm (M2) and Justin Rose (M1) were partly responsible for the TaylorMade dominance on the European Tour.
And we’ve almost got a 50-50 split between the M1 and M2 models across the board.
Brett Rumford, Bernd Wiesberger and Paul Dunne were among those who had success with the Titleist 917.
We were a little bit surprised to see the Callaway Epic a little bit behind due to it’s phenomenal success in the pro shops since it’s launch back in January.
Alex Noren and Branden Grace both clocked up wins with the Epic Sub Zero model.
Tommy Fleetwood recorded his two wins with the Nike Vapor Fly before switching to the Titleist 917 driver at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
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TaylorMade M1 – 10
TaylorMade M2 – 9
Titleist 917 – 5
Callaway Epic Sub Zero – 3
Ping G400 – 3 (Matt Wallace, Tyrell Hatton x 2)
Callaway Epic – 2
Nike Vapor Fly – 2
Titleist 915 – 1 (Renato Paratore)
Titleist 913 – 1 (Rafa Cabrera Bello)
Top drivers by tour wins: PGA Tour
We’re still seeing a strong performance from the TaylorMade M1 thanks to players such as Dustin Johnson and Si Woo Kim (Remember him? He won The Players…).
Justin Thomas was leading the charge for the Titleist 917 driver with help from Jason Dufner and a late flurry from Patton Zizzire and Patrick Cantlay.
Callaway Epic winners included Adam Hadwin, Grayson Murray and Marc Leishman.
And special mention to Henrik Stenson for his win without a driver in the bag. He hits his Callaway Diablo Octane Tour 3-wood better than many hit driver.
TaylorMade M1 – 8
Titleist 917 – 8
TaylorMade M2 – 7
Callaway Epic – 5
Callaway Great Big Bertha – 2 (Hideki Matsuyama, Kevin Kisner)
Cobra F7+ – 2 (Rickie Fowler, Bryson DeChambeau)
Titleist 915 – 2 (Jordan Spieth)
PXG 0811 – 2 (Billy Horschel, Pat Perez)
Callaway Epic Sub Zero – 1 (Grayson Murray)
Ping G400 – 1 (Austin Cook)
Callaway Diablo Octane Tour 3-wood – 1 (Henrik Stenson)
Top drivers by tour wins: The Majors
TaylorMade M2 – 2 (Sergio Garcia, Brooks Kopeka)
Titleist 915 – 1 (Jordan Spieth)
Titleist 917 – 1 (Justin Thomas)
Top drivers by tour wins: World Golf Championships
TaylorMade M1 – 3 (Dustin Johnson x 2, Justin Rose)
Callaway Great Big Bertha– 1 (Hideki Matsuyama)
Top drivers by tour wins: Totals by model
TaylorMade M1 – 21
TaylorMade M2 – 18
Titleist 917 – 13
Callaway Epic – 7
Top drivers by tour wins: Totals by brand
TaylorMade – 39
Titleist – 19
Callaway – 15
Ping – 4
Cobra/Nike/PXG – 2 each
Top drivers by tour wins: NCG verdict
So there was no surprise to see TaylorMade as the top brand but we were quite surprised to see more wins for the M1 than the M2.
I think there has been a perception that the TaylorMade M2 is the number one driver on tour and that may still be the case but there were more wins with the M1.
It was also a bit of a surprise to just see all victories coming courtesy of just seven brands – and one of those (Nike) is no longer making golf clubs.
We’re not saying that these are the only brands to consider when it comes to making your own purchase as the likes of Srixon, Mizuno, Bridgestone, Wilson, Benross and Lynx are all making very strong product.
But we can understand the challenges of these brands when they don’t have that ‘tour validation’ when it comes to drivers.
And as stated earlier, TaylorMade pay more players than Ping do for example so there is a disparity between the number of Ping drivers winning on tour and Ping’s market share which is extremely strong.
If you’re in the market for a new driver in 2018 you may like to choose one featured here. But we can expect new drivers from TaylorMade, Callaway, Cobra, Mizuno and Titleist in 2018…
The Best Drivers of 2017
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