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Do you still believe the latest driver goes further than its predecessor

Tour players hit the sweet spot rather more than club golfers!

Since 2008, the emphasis has been significantly more geared towards forgiveness and better launch attributes for club golfers on off-centre shots as opposed to simple distance improvements - which are restricted by several limits!
 
When I hit my SLDR well it went an absolute mile, but poor shots were terrible.
The Titleist 915 isn't quite as long on the best shots, but much better on miss hits.
 
Longest drive I ever hit was with an old driver, the Rapture V2. Absolutely nutted it and it went a mile. Off centre, not so much.
 
I think there is a limit to how far the club can git the ball with a given swing speed, so the rest is down to flight optimisation or increasing swing speed, but there is a also a limit to how much the latter can occur. Quality of strike always has been, and remains, a key element.
 
JamesR said:
When I hit my SLDR well it went an absolute mile, but poor shots were terrible.
The Titleist 915 isn't quite as long on the best shots, but much better on miss hits.
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Similar experience. I had no intention of buying an M1 but made the mistake of trying it side by side with my SLDR on a GC2. It was very obvious that the M1 was hitting them out of the heel a good 15 yards further than the SLDR. This is my stock shot so the purchase of the M1 was a no brainer.

As has already been said, manufacturers will continue to produce clubs with more forgiveness but I think the distance limit has almost been reached.
 
The latest driver won't go further
But the right driver will.
My latest fitting added on 15 yards no doubt but that was due to my previous driver no longer being ideal for me.
 
In the hands of an Iron Byron - probably yes
In the hands of a mere mortal - almost certainly not.....off the sweet spot
Away from the sweet spot modern drivers are much better.
 
Been playing at the same course for nearly 30 years using various drivers. On one hole we have a fairway bunker that is 230 yards to carry. I can clear it comfortably with modern equipment. Back in the day I could clear it with a persimmon driver (steel shafted) but only when hitting it out of the screws. Miss-hits used to go about 150 yards if I was lucky.

In my opinion:

- The technology is more forgiving, but
- To hit it further you need to hit it better with a faster swing speed.
 
Drivers are easier to hit these days but not a huge amount longer.

That said, I played with a bloke on Wednesday who has just got a Ping G driver and I prior to him getting it, I was probably 40-60 yards longer than him off the tee. On Wednesday though, I hit a couple of long drives and he was about 10 yards behind - the club has made a huge difference to him.
 
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