Yesterday we looked at distance for all 17 drivers in our test. For most guys absolute distance is the only thing matters. 300 yards into the trees is still 300 yards right?
There is, I’m told, a small (but hopefully growing) minority of golfers for whom distance isn’t everything. These are the guys who are willing to leave a little bit of yardage on the table if it means they don’t have to reload frequently, and more often than not, they play their second shot from the fairway.
It’s for this select group of golfers (the more intelligent than I crowd) that we set out to find the Golf’s Most Wanted Driver for accuracy.
How We Calculate Accuracy
As with every other aspect of this test, individual scores are determined based on how each club performs relative to each individual tester’s ability. Just as we never directly compare average distance for a guy who hits it 210 yards to that of a guy that can pound the ball 300 yards; neither do we directly compare accuracy for a guy who misses the centerline by a ton with that of a guy who misses by just a few yards.
Our accuracy scoring is made up of two components:
:: TRUaccuracy – The relative point value that indicates how far up the fairway the ball traveled for every yard it deviated from the centerline.
:: Global Fairway Percentage – The percentage of the total number of fairways hit achieved by each club in the test (based on a charitable 40-yard wide fairway).
Global Fairway Percentage Example
To keep it simple, assume that in testing 17 drivers, Tester A hit a total (all clubs combined) of 100 fairways. If 7 of those were hit with the Titleist 913, and 5 of them were hit with the Wishon 919THI, the Global Fairway Percentages would be 7% and 5% respectively.
Using Global Fairway Percentage instead simple fairway percentage prevents the tester who generally hits a high percertage of fairways from influencing the results more than the tester who generally hits fewer fairways. Again, all scores are based on the performance of each club relative to the individual tester’s ability.
2013 “Golf’s Most Wanted” – Most Accurate Drivers
If you’re looking for perhaps the biggest shocker of this year’s test, look know further than the Titleist 913. When you consider that Titliest is a brand that’s basically built a reputation for being almost exclusively for elite players, it’s pretty amazing that their latest driver would be prove to be the most accurate among all clubs in the test.
While the 913 lagged slightly behind Callaway’s Xhot when it comes to proximity to the target line, our testers hit more fairways with the 913 than any other driver in the test.
Callaway’s XHot once again inserted itself into the conversation leading the field in truaccuracy, and finishing a respectable 6th overall for fairways hit.
Our testers frequently commented that Cobra’s AMP Cell driver seemed to always go straight regardless of how they hit it. The numbers suggest they were right.
Rounding out the top 5, Cleveland’s Classic XL produced the 2nd highest fairway percentage, while Tom Wishon’s 919 make a strong case for the argument that shorter (in this case 44″) can be better, especially when the premium is placed on accuracy.
2013 “Golf’s Most Wanted” – Most Accurate Drivers
Results by Swing Speed
For those who want to drill down a bit further to get an idea how the top drivers performed for a distinct set of testers, we split players into two groups (by swing speed), and recalculated the scores for all the clubs in our test:
For the higher swing speed player looking for more accuracy, our test found 3 standout performers. Titleist’s 913 once again led the pack producing the 3rd highest truAccuracy score, and by far the highest fairway percentage in the group (relatively speaking). Titleist? Easy to hit straight? Yeah…that’s happening people.
Securing the #2 spot, Callaway’s XHot produced the #1 truAccuracy score for the group, and finished a respectable 4th for fairway percentage.
Just as it did for the entire group, Cobra’s AMP Cell proved to be extremely accurate for our higher swing speed players. It’s truAccuracy score of 84.73 was 2nd best among the 100 MPH and over crowd. Combined with a well above average global fairway percentage, it easily made the top 3 and nearly surpassed XHot. We should also mention it comes in blue.
Closing out the top 5 are (once again) the Cleveland Classic XL, and the PING Anser, which cracks the top 5 for the first time.
For the low swing speed player Adams Speedline Super S tops the list of most accurate drivers. It’s loud as hell, but it sure flies straight. While it ranked 4th for distance from the centerline, for our slower swing players, it proved to be the easiest to keep in the fairway.
PowerBilt once again breaks into the top 5 which suggests the AirForce One DF could very well be the best driver of 2013 that no one is talking about. Among slower swing speed players it produced the highest truAccuracy score, and the 3rd best Fairway Percentage.
Not surpriginsly given the emphasis on control, the 44″ Wishon 919THI finished 3rd overall for this group. It finished 3rd for truAccuracy and 2nd for fairway percentage.
Completing the slow swinger’s top 5 are the Geek No Brainer (the other component brand in the test), and the Cleveland Classic XL (the only club in the top 5 for overall, as well as high and low swing speed players).
Your Questions Answered
Do you have any questions about the 2013 Golf’s Most Wanted Test? We’ll be answering them in an upcoming “Most Wanted Driver” mailbag post. If there’s anything you’d like to know about the clubs in our test, or test test itself, send an email to [email protected].
Be Sure to Check Out all the Posts in our 2013 Most Wanted Driver Series:
:: Presenting 2013 “Golf’s Most Wanted” Driver Test
:: MyGolfSpy’s Golf’s Most Wanted! – Longest Driver
:: MyGolfSpy’s Golf’s Most Wanted! – Most Accurate Driver
:: MyGolfSpy’s Golf’s Most Wanted! – Best Overall Driver
:: Q&A: MyGolfSpy’s 2013 Most Wanted Driver Test (Your Questions Answered)
:: MyGolfSpy’s Most Wanted Driver Test – Beyond the Numbers
gerryJ
11 years ago
I hope the “simple” explanation of how fairway accuracy is measured is wrong. If it is anything like what you say, you are measuring a weighting of perserverence in using one club amongst others whatever that means.
In the example
“to keep it simple, assume that in testing 17 drivers, Tester A hit a total (all clubs combined) of 100 fairways. If 7 of those were hit with the Titleist 913, and 5 of them were hit with the Wishon 919THI, the Global Fairway Percentages would be 7% and 5% respectively.”
If A hit 7 out of 14 tries with T913, and 5 out of 5 with Wishon, i would expect the % of fairways hit to be 50% and 100% for that one tester. If A hit the same bumber of times with each club, say 10, then the % would be 70% and 50% respectively.
You don’t get fairway accuracy across clubs by adding or averaging percentages by testers.
In general adding or averaging percentages across different categories gives misleading results.
When you combine results for different testers you should NOT be using the % as you describe but rather two columns for EACH CLUB over all testers, one for fairways hit, one for shots played and sum the totals then compute a % for each CLUB.
It’s not about the tester, it’s about the clubs.
Fighting Leprechaun
11 years ago
@gerryJ: Useful and well-supported comment, although reading it gave me flashbacks to my grad school regression analysis course!