Sometimes nothing beats hitting a drive on the screws, right down the middle. For you youngsters, “hitting it on the screws” is an old, but literal saying that harkens back a whopping 20 years to when golfers used persimmon heads with screws that held the clubface together. These days, things sure have changed. Drivers don’t have screws in the front, instead you’ll sometimes find them in the back and to the sides. In other models, you’ll find carbon, titanium, tungsten and steel, all designed to serve a particular purpose, which is to help you hit the ball farther and straighter than ever. 

If you’re sniffing around for a new driver this season, first ask yourself what kind of driver you need: Do you want more distance? Do you want to counteract your slice? How about a driver that features moveable weights? If your answer is “all of the above,” then you’re in luck.

We sent our Senior Editor Ryan Noll down to PING's fitting studio in Phoenix, AZ, and had him go through a driver fitting using the company's advanced computer system. See what Ryan learned and you'll quickly see that fitting is key for optimum performance. 

Titleist and Cobra, though owned by the same parent company, are equipment manufacturers that have had quite different design philosophies in the past. Titleist has always been known for tradition and performance, while Cobra products are normally associated with more progressive looks and distance-oriented performance.

The talk of the shop this year when it comes to driver technology is definitely the leaps we’ve seen in exciting new driver geometries. The golfer today can choose from just about anything: square, traditional, scoopback or even triangular. The fact is, the driver category is chockful with scores of options to choose from, making the category not only better, but more confusing for the golfer jonesing for a new big dog.

You can tell by looking at the latest square and triangular clubheads that the driver market is changing before your eyes. Other new drivers look conventionally shaped on the outside, but are vastly advanced on the inside. Regardless of their shape, most of the latest models look plain huge. Ever since the United States Golf Association ruled that driver clubheads had to max out at a 460cc clubhead volume, club designers have taken the next obvious route in order to improve their products’ performance in your hands: advancing technology.

The driver is the only full-swing club in your bag that you use 14 times a round (the ball retriever doesn't count). Thus, your driver sets up your entire round. Drive the ball well and it gives you an emotional boost—your round “feels” better than it is when you drive it great and score poorly. But drive it poorly and you feel like a rat, no matter what the score. So central is it to your game that you can tell when your A game is coming back because you begin to hit your driver solidly again.

One of the absolute keys to consistent driving, which is often overlooked, is a properly fitted club, and with modern fitting methods at your disposal, there’s almost no reason to buy a driver off the rack. Instead, make it a priority to take the trouble and time to do some investigation and experimentation before purchasing a new big dog. To begin, take the plunge and convince yourself that a premium-quality model is worth the investment and, if you can, try not to be overly concerned with price. Once that decision is made, pick out a few models that look good to you and also have the design characteristics that you desire (movable weights, preset shot bias, deep or shallow face, etc.). If you’re not sure what you want, or even if you are, find a shop near you that offers a wide selection of models and demo a few. Once you narrow down your choices, then get fitted on a launch monitor.