7 Best Driver For Beginners & High Handicappers In 2024

For our newer players, it’s crucial to understand hitting solid drives off the tee can be easy with the proper drivers for beginners!
We’ve scoured the internet (and our beginner golfer friend’s golf bags) to find the best beginner drivers catering to players looking to maximize their driver swing’s current potential.

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7 Best Drivers For Beginners & High Handicappers

1. COBRA AEROJET MAX Driver (Top Pick: Best Driver for Beginners)

The Cobra AEROJET MAX is our #1 driver choice for beginner golfers because it provides the 3 things newer players need to perform their best off the tee: 

1. Naturally high launching and low spinning design to maximize distance potential. 
2. Adjustable draw-bias weighting to reduce length-killing slice spin!
3. NEW aerodynamic club head shape for faster swing and clubhead speeds. 

The AEROJET MAX looks sleek and powerful at address with the addition of Carbon on the crown and sole. This material change saves weight, increases durability, and lets beginners swing a few miles per hour faster for tons of added distance. 

Besides being fully adjustable in the hosel, the AEROJET MAX driver has two bright blue adjustable rear and heel weights to increase flight stability or draw-bias to hit more fairways with confidence!

Adjustable Hosel: Yes (+/- 1.5° of Loft)

Multiple Shaft Options: Yes – MCA Kai’li Blue 60 (Mid Launch / Mid Spin), UST Helium Nanocore (Ultra-Lightweight)

One Reviewer Wrote: “I have tested about a dozen clubs and have owned several such as Callaway Rogue ST, TM Stealth, Callaway Big BerthaB21, and Cobra F9, and by far this is the best anti-slice driver I have used. A definite fairway finder and has very good distance for a draw biased driver.”

2. Cleveland Launcher XL Lite Driver (Best Driver for Moderate Swing Speed Beginners)

The Launcher XL Lite driver is Cleveland’s solution for moderate swing speed players looking to gain some distance and forgiveness for a budget-friendly price. 

The “XL Lite” name comes from the fact that this driver is ¼” longer and 12 grams lighter than the standard Cleveland “Launcher” driver model while keeping the same oversized easy-to-hit head shape. 

While the standard model comes with a counter-weight in the grip designed to help you control the club face, if you need some extra help to avoid that pesky slice, there’s a “Draw Model” available, and if you want even more control, there’s a shorter “Accuracy Model.”

Adjustable Hosel: No

Multiple Shaft Options: Only Project X Cypher 40 Shaft in Stiff (S), Regular (R), and Senior (A)

One Reviewer Wrote: “I was very pleasantly surprised at the performance of this driver. I hit the ball farther and straighter then any other driver I own. Purchase this with the senior flex shaft. My golfing companions were so shocked at how far I hit the ball and so straight. They had to test my driver also. They also commented how the good quality of the driver. I usually hit a slice with my driver but not with this one.”

3. PING G430 MAX Driver (Top Pick for Improving Beginners)

PING took golf’s most forgiving driver (the G425 MAX) and revamped it to be even more forgiving with upgraded materials, sound, and aesthetics in the new G430 MAX. 

An updated “T9S+ Face” with variable thickness and a new curved shape generates faster ball speeds with lower spin rates for added distance. Adding Carbon to the driver’s crown saves weight and lets PING engineers reposition that mass for more MOI (forgiveness). 

PING’s famous sliding high-density tungsten back weight remains from the G425 MAX and can be moved to deliver +/- 8 yards of flight change between the Draw, Neutral, and Fade settings. 

Adjustable Hosel: Yes (+/- 1.5°)

Multiple Shaft Options: Yes – PING Alta CB Black (Mid-High Flight), PING Tour 2.0 Chrome (Mid Launch), PING Tour Black (Low Flight), Project X Hzrdus Smoke Red RDX (High Flight), Mitsubishi Kai’Li White (Low Launch) 

One Reviewer Wrote: “I bought this club last month. Have played five rounds thus far. The ball strike feels great! Very easy to work the ball flight. Highly recommend!!”

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4. Callaway Paradym X Driver (For Beginners Seeking Distance & Confidence)

The Callaway Paradym X driver is a fantastic choice for beginners wanting to maximize their distance and “tee box confidence” at the same time.

The Paradym X promises “unparalleled distance” through massive weight savings (thanks to the primarily Carbon club head), a new speed-enhancing forged titanium club face, and Callaways famous “JailBreak A.I.” system that enhances performance on mishits. 

On top of having a natural slight draw bias, the Paradym X has a 5g adjustable back weight and a longer and broader head shape to appeal to the eye of beginners and higher handicappers. 

Adjustable Hosel: Yes (-1°/+2°)

Multiple Shaft Options: Yes – Project X HZRDUS GEN 4 Silver Graphite (Regular / Stiff), Aldila Ascent PL Blue 40 Graphite (Regular / Light)

One Reviewer Wrote: “I bought this club last month. Have played five rounds thus far. The ball strike feels great! Very easy to work the ball flight. Highly recommend!!”

5. Titleist TSR1 Driver Review (Ultra-Lightweight & Adjustable Driver for Moderate Swing Speeds)

The Titleist TSR1 is a fantastic choice for slower-swinging beginner golfers seeking to simultaneously receive a swing speed boost, a high level of adjustability, and ample forgiveness!

Titleist club engineers removed every unnecessary gram, “from head to grip,” to create the lightest driver Titleist has ever made. This lightweight design combined with the deepest center of gravity ever for a Titleist driver, creates effortless high launch and fast ball speeds. 

On top of offering premium shafts from every top manufacturer, every driver is fully adjustable through the hosel, making finding your perfect ball flight a matter of “when,” not “if.”

Adjustable Hosel: Yes (+/- 1.5°)Multiple Shaft Options: Yes – Options from Aldila, autoFlex, Fujikura, Graphite Design, Mitsubishi, Oban, Project X, UST Mamiya, VA Composites

6. TaylorMade Stealth 2 HD (Great for Reducing Slice & Boosting Launch)

The TaylorMade Stealth 2 HD driver is a premium option for beginners looking to increase their distance and tighten their dispersion through draw-bias technology. 

The “HD” in the Stealth 2’s name was birthed from the “High Draw” characteristics it was designed with. The “Asymmetric Inertia Generator” rear weight has been shifted closer to the heel to tighten downrange dispersion and add more forgiveness to bad contact hits. 

The updated bright red “Carbon Twist Face” is 2 grams lighter than previous models with a variable thickness design that significantly increases ball speed and the size of the sweet spot for improved mishit drives. 

Adjustable Hosel: Yes (4° Loft Sleeve)

Multiple Shaft Options: No – Fujikura Speeder NX Red (Senior (A), Regular (R), and Stiff (S))

7. Tour Edge Hot Launch C523 (Another Great Driver For beginners)

The new Tour Edge Hot Launch C523 is a beautiful driver option for beginners looking to save money while maximizing their forgiveness and distance potential. 

While Tour Edge might not be the first brand you think of for quality drivers, the Hot Launch C523 takes technology features that top brands use and puts them in an affordable package.

Like the Stealth 2, the Hot Launch features a “Power Channel” behind the club face, increasing flexion at impact for extreme distance. Like the G430 MAX, the Hot Launch features a heavy rear sole weight, drastically increasing forgiveness and peak launch height. 

Adjustable Hosel: No

Multiple Shaft Options: No – UST Mamiya HL-SST (Ladies (L), Senior (A), Regular (R), Stiff (S), Extra Sti

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Important Things to consider when choosing a Driver for Beginners or High Handicappers

Shaft flex, loft, MOL, what are all these things? 

As a beginner or high handicapper, it can be very overwhelming to pick the right driver; mainly because there are just so many things you need to consider! 

That’s why in this section, we’ll help narrow down your choices by identifying certain factors that you can consider when picking the best golf driver for you!

A Driver’s Forgiveness

One of the main reasons why golfers today can clock wicked swing speeds and hit the ball more consistently than ever is due to the advancement of golf technology. 

Golf manufacturers are constantly improving their golf clubs, especially their drivers, to make their golf clubs more forgiving to use as doing so makes the sport more fun, competitive, and beginner-friendly.

Before we jump into a drivers’ shaft, club head, loft, and so on. Remember, the no.1 rule for beginners and high handicappers when it comes to picking a driver is to focus on a driver that gives the most forgiveness.

To make it easier for you, here’s a breakdown of what you should look for in a forgiving driver:

• Regular shaft flex
• 460cc club head size
• 10.5 to 12-degree loft
• Highly Adjustable
• High MOI
• Center of gravity located more at the back of the club head

If you don’t have a clue about what any of these mean, don’t worry. We’ll cover each feature in more detail now.

Shaft Options

Probably the trickiest part when picking the right driver comes down to the shaft.

There are many shaft options available for a driver ranging from the type of material you choose, the weight you prefer, to the shaft flex best suited for your swing speed.

Shaft Material

Most, if not all modern drivers and golf clubs are equipped with a graphite shaft. Compared to an iron shaft, which was more popular in the 90s, a graphite shaft is the best of both worlds when it comes to durability and weight.

A graphite shaft is significantly lighter than an iron shaft, weighing anywhere from just 50 to 85 grams compared to an iron shaft which starts in the 120s. 

A lighter shaft is preferred because it allows us to swing faster! Plus, a stronger shaft material also means the driver is less likely to snap! Oops!

For a beginner, the weight of the shaft you should go with depends on many things. But, an easy-to-follow guide on picking the best shaft weight is:

• If you tend to hit the ball high, choose a heavier shaft (70 to 85 grams) so the weight of the shaft will help you swing lower.
• If you hit it low and want to get the golf ball higher, go with a lighter shaft (50 to 70 grams) so the club will want to hit higher.

Shaft Flex

A shaft’s ‘flex’ is a golf shaft’s ability to bend as force is applied to it throughout the golf swing, and there are five main types of shaft flexes available: Extra Stiff (X), Stiff (S), Regular (R), Senior (A), and Ladies (L).

Generally speaking, the faster your golf swing, the stiffer you’d want your ‘flex’ to be. For beginners, we recommend you go with the Regular (R). But this also depends on the type of beginner you are. 

For instance, if you’re a young baseball athlete looking to start playing golf, you can consider starting with Stiff (S). But if you’re an elderly looking to play golf with your grandkids, a Senior shaft is your best bet.

For most golfers, it’s quite tempting to want a stiffer driver just because they ‘think’ they can swing fast enough with it. Truth is, a Stiff and Extra Stiff shaft will often do more harm than good for most amateur golfers. 

Our advice, take it a step at a time and go with the Regular and make your way up! You might even find that you hit farther with a Regular compared to a Stiff.

Club Head Size and Weight

The size and weight of a driver’s club head plays a significant role in how the driver adapts to your golf swing. 

Picking a driver that will help you hit the sweet spot easier, is your best bet for the long game.

Club Head Size

The average club head size of a driver ranges from 440 cubic centimeters (cc) to 460 cc. 

For beginners, the best drivers are often the 460cc drivers, which happens to be the largest driver heads allowed by the USGA. Why the 460cc? 

Keep in mind as beginners and high handicappers, we want to have as much forgiveness with our golf clubs as possible, especially with the driver. And a larger club head does exactly that, as it allows us to make contact with the ball much easier due to its larger club face.

The drivers in this list are all 460cc.

Club Head Weight

A simplified breakdown when it comes to far with your driver is:

Fast Club head Speed + Heavy Club Head + Sweet Spot = Bombed Drives

So, you should just go for a driver with the heaviest club head, right? Well, no, it also depends on the type of beginner you are.

If we go back to the previous example, if you’re a young baseball athlete stepping into golf, you’re most likely able to swing just as fast with a heavier club head. If that’s the case, by all means, go for a heavier club head!

But, if you’re just playing golf casually and never worked on improving your swing speed, you’ll need a lighter club head so you can swing faster and hit the ball farther!

Loft

The loft is the angle created between the club face and the ground. And it’s good to know that the more loft your club has, the higher you’re balls tend to fly and the more backspin it’ll have, resulting in less roll when it lands on the ground.

Since we want to hit as far as we can with the driver, the lower the loft we can hit properly with, the better. The main tradeoff with drivers with a lower loft is that they’re much harder/ less forgiving to hit with, so they’re probably not the best for beginners.

Drivers today come with many loft options, the most popular lofts used by your daily golfers are the 9.5 degrees, 10.5 degrees, and 12 degrees.

For an amateur, your best bet is to settle with a driver with a loft angle between 10.5 to 12 degrees as they tend to be the most forgiving lofts available. Though you may not hit as far as someone who can hit properly with a 9.5 degrees driver, a driver that reduces the most amount of struggles early on is your best choice.

Good news is, most drivers today come with a hosel that allows the loft of a driver to become adjustable with a simple twist. This saves golfers from buying a new driver whenever they want to transition to a different loft! Awesome!

Adjustability

As we mentioned earlier, most drivers today come with a hosel. If you’re still confused as to what it is, think of it as buying a driver as multiple drivers at the same time

Why this is a game-changer is because you’re less likely to waste $500 dollars on a driver that’s wrong for you. You can simply adjust the loft to your preference with the simple twist of a driver wrench.

Moment of Inertia (MOI)

You’ve probably seen us use ‘MOI’ multiple times and have no clue what it means so here it is. 

The Moment of Inertia (MOI), is the ability of a golf club to resist twisting when it makes contact with the golf ball. This is most relevant when in the context of a mishit golf ball. What do we mean?

It’s very common for beginners and high handicappers to not hit the sweet spot of the driver. When we don’t hit the sweet spot of the club face, the club will usually twist outward or inward at impact. This results in a slice or hook due to an open or close club face. That’s where MOI becomes useful. 

A driver with a higher MOI is more resistant to these mishits. In other words, instead of the club face closing on impact when you hit the heel of the club, a driver with a higher MOI will still be somewhat squared on impact resulting in a relatively straight shot.

What does that mean for beginners? Well that easy, pick a driver with a high MOI as it’s the most forgiving option. 

Center of Gravity

The center of gravity (CG) of a driver is the point in a club head where the weight is balanced.

Where the CG is located on your driver can dramatically affect your golf swing. For instance, if the CG is further back in the club head, it’ll often lead to a higher loft on impact and more spin on the golf ball. While if the CG is in the front, it’ll result in a lower loft on impact and less spin on the golf ball.

Simply put, the CG is another way for golf manufacturers to create drivers that will fit more accurately to different golfers. 

Budget

To be fair, we’ve seen beginners with a $1000 driver and others with a $200 driver. But, in all honesty, the only difference they have is by a couple of yards with their new drivers.

That said, we may not know what you’re budget is, but definitely, the worst thing you can do is buy the most expensive driver just because of its price and brand. 

We’re not saying that a $500 dollar driver is the same as a $200 driver, but as a beginner, you probably don’t need to care as much about all the little extra features the more expensive drivers provide.

Choosing a driver that is a few years older but still new is still a good idea! If you’ve noticed from our list we’ve got drivers like the TaylorMade M6 which was released in 2019, yet it is still one of the most used and favorite drivers out there!

On top of that, you can also settle for some pre-owned clubs from sites like Global Golf if you’re really on a budget! They still come in great condition!

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Driver FAQ 

What is a good driver distance for beginners and higher handicappers?

If you can hit the driver more than 200 yards then that’s great! This will give you a shorter approach to the green, allowing you to use your favorite golf irons. 

Should I use a driver as a beginner or a high handicapper?

Yes, even if it is the hardest club the hit with, the earlier you start practicing with the driver, the faster you’ll be able to hit consistently with the driver. Don’t be scared of the big stick!

How many drivers can I have in my bag?

You’re allowed only one driver and 13 other clubs in your golf bag.

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Summary for Best Drivers for Beginners

Realizing more and more beginners are joining the game of golf as of late; major equipment manufacturers are designing drivers built to help newer players love the sport. 

While we firmly believe our top choice of the Cobra AEROJET MAX driver will suit most beginners reading this, we encourage every golfer to consider a custom fitting to try multiple models from our list to find what produces your best results!