BEST DRIVERS OF 2025 | Core/Max Drivers | 2025 Fitters Choice

This video features the best drivers of 2025 as decided by 2nd Swing Golf’s 2025 Fitters Choice. The 2nd Swing award-winning master club fitters have analyzed millions of swings and thousands of club fittings on the best drivers of 2025 and voted on their favorites in the 2025 Fitters Choice survey. This video in particular highlights the Best drivers of 2025 in the max/core category, including the Titleist GT2 and PING G440 Max driver.

0:00 Intro
4:03 Testing – PING G440 Max
14:50 Testing – Titleist GT2
21:03 Data & Conclusions

In this 2025 Fitters Choice video, 2nd Swing’s Drew Mahowald is joined by Emma Carpenter in the 2nd Swing Tour Van to test two of the best drivers of 2025 as chosen by 2nd Swing Fitters, including the Titleist GT2 and PING G440 Max.

Learn more about 2025 2nd Swing Fitters Choice: https://www.2ndswing.com/fitters-choice

Schedule an award-winning 2nd Swing Tour Van club fitting: https://fitting.2ndswing.info/schedule-now/

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today we’ve got a fitter’s choice comparison of the two best core drivers of 2025 Ping G440 Max and Titalist GT2 Emma is with us She’s going to hit both drivers on Trackman and we’ll break everything down for you and tell you why our fitter selected these two as some of the best drivers of 2025 Hey golfers I’m Drew Hold of Second Swing Golf here in the tour van at Second Swing at Minnetonka joined by Emma Carpenter for a fitter’s choice club comparison Two of the best drivers of 2025 We we’re in the high MOI or standard driver category Ping G440 Max and Titalist GT2 So um Emma you have GT2 in the bag So we’ll try to you know keep this I know there’s going to be some natural bias involved here as there always will be but um you know there’s a reason also why our fitters conducted or I should say took this survey and GT2 came out as one of the top two drivers It’s because it’s performed the best in the fittings and that’s even with a release last summer versus the spring So still has the momentum to uh be really good in the fitting base So I guess I want I want to get your thoughts on just what you like about GT2 why you play it why um you know it’s in the bag for you and what your favorite things are about the GT2 driver Definitely Well I had TSI 2 then I switched to TSR2 and then now I got GT2 So I mean just it’s been upgrade after upgrade and hearing all about the engineering of the GT Metals and actually how different it is The GT Metals I think are definitely something special So for me it’s a no-brainer to have this one in the bag I picked it up and was automatically swinging it faster hitting the ball straighter My dispersion went like this Um I mean carrying it an extra five six seven yards It was I mean it’s This is an awesome golf club Uh Ping I know that Ping makes great golf clubs I had a ton of teammates who played Ping drivers all through college Um I haven’t actually ever had a Ping driver in the bag I did have a Ping Fairway Wood So I mean I know that I think that I would definitely still like the feel of it but it it’ll be interesting to see I definitely believe your fitters and that it’s a good golf club Yeah Ping has always tested really well in the forgiveness um elements of their woods as well So that’s the one big piece Tylus as you mentioned some of the construction um updates that they’ve made The seamless thermopform crown is new for them optimizing weight to you know improve that performance on strikes all over the face Ping has done some new things They have a new free hoszle design which kind of accomplishes similar things to what Tylus has done Basically optimizing the weight throughout this weight in the back for for paying is now heavier than in the past models which optimizes that forgiveness as well So it but we’re going to test everything in standard today Um so we’ve got the G440 Max This weight is in the neutral setting standard hoszle setting Same with the GT2 We’re also going to use your gamer shaft to give things make things really just as absolutely comfortable for you in here as possible So this is the graphic design DI6S So I know you’ve been playing this one for a while So yeah Um I guess if it ain’t broke So do you have any you know hypotheses here or theories of what we might see in this test So question with this heavier weight on the back that helps with forgiveness Does that change speed Does it change distance What does that Yeah So it it’s primarily what it does is it’s going to improve performance on the mits right Um but what it also allows you to do uh is you could move this to the draw setting right to kind of promote a draw bias You could move this to the fade here and you could have a little fade bias Um and having it this far back and a little heavier allows you to maintain that MOI if you make those changes versus previously the weight was I think 25 or 26 grams Now it’s 29 So just uh I guess salvaging some of that MOI if you were someone that wants to make those adjustments Um it’s another little feature of the G440 here So cool Um yeah let’s do some testing here Huh let’s do it So I’ll start with the G440 Max And um I’m going to tell you right away that’s going to look very different than your GT2 at a dress Just club head design the crown the tribulators on there They look very different So is there any I guess what are your thoughts Try to verbalize what you’re looking at Yeah this is the classic Ping trademark look Is it like I’m actually so interested to know uh I mean I’m sure that it is but for all of these manufacturers making clubs a different way and trying to achieve Yeah getting the most out of a golf club with all of the engineering that goes into this Is it like top secret how they make these golf clubs Like do they keep it like under lock and key in the safe like how they’re building this stuff So there’s I don’t know I don’t know the exact answer to that It’s got to be It’s got to be because they all do it differently If there was one right way to do it then everybody would be doing it the same way Yeah I mean there’s patenting and stuff involved and everything like that So like there’s certain things that you know Ping does that other companies don’t right Um but like you know one example I think back to is last year 2024 you had um two or three of the big companies came out with you know a 10k driver where they were marketing it as a 10,000 MOI driver and they happened to do it in the same year in the same fashion right calling out the 10,000 MOI Um so that tells me that you know there’s some tricks in the trade that might be getting leaked around and I don’t know this for certain This is mere speculation on my end but um to your point I think that you get some of the best engineers in the world and you kind of divvy them up among some of these different manufacturers right And through their research through their science through their data they’re going to come up with very similar things right to accomplish the best golf clubs So you know I it is funny though how despite all that some of the things being similar across you see the crown and the design of this one and how different it looks compared to the titleist GT2 that you’ll hit So Right Right Yeah No it definitely looks different I I’ve always felt like Ping I don’t know if it’s actually bigger head It feels like it looks bigger like it’s just kind of longer in the back It probably is a little bit Yeah bigger footprint to look at than your drive Yeah titleist feels just like a little bit more of a more circular in a way and this feels like it just kind of Yep protrudes out That makes a lot of sense Yeah Oh boy Yeah that was um the first driver swing of the day Yeah Little low face there Low on the face I mean whatever Honestly the way that that finished was not that bad for how bad that golf swing was Yeah that’s fine Just a just a little warm-up swing We’re good Yeah Whoa Interesting Little bit of a Whoa draw there Why did it do that Looking at the path and face It probably hit Did you feel like you hit it in a good spot Didn’t feel that bad Okay It could have been out on the toe a little bit Yeah that’s the only thing that would probably make sense The spin is a little lower Yeah Okay That’s probably what it was Wow All right Okay That’s pretty good So what uh you know in terms of is this kind of similar you know you you’re swinging your driver probably a little under 100 miles an hour That’s pretty normal Um no Maybe I mean I would normally swing it a little bit faster than that Actually I wasn’t even looking at the speed Okay No I feel like I haven’t swung it that that slow in a little You typically Okay maybe around or maybe even a little over 100 Yeah I was going to say normally like this there has been you know the Ping driver heads may be slightly heavier too Um you know what We’ll get a we’ll get a comparison on that here too And like when you put your the GT2 down we can see how that feels right for you Again wow that was better than it should have been It must just be hitting a little bit on the toe Yeah I mean and that’s that’s fine I mean here’s the the reality is that Trackman actually you know recognized 1.5 on that smash factor And if it’s to me if you’re not hitting it the best So and actually we should note too that on a lot of drivers these days there’s a I guess the hot spot so to speak is kind of that high toe area where right there it you maximize that distance by lowering the spin So a shot like this will actually turn out even sometimes it actually might go a little further than when you hit it right in the center because you might hit in the center with more spin I’m really surprised at how low I’m hitting it I’ve never really had a problem getting drivers up in the air That’s been like my highest one so far I’m hitting it so low Might just be because I’m inside I have no idea These are fine I mean this is This is going well I don’t know This is like you’re hitting the ball solid It’s fine It’s not great though I just can’t believe it’s turning over that way Wow It is kind of turning over there for you on a few Why is it turning over so much That’s so crazy Okay that was by far my best one Okay That’s a pretty darn good one There we go So yeah talk to me about just how that driver feels It’s very different obviously again than what you’re probably used to So I would actually say uh the feel at the setup is really good Just in the back swing is where it feels so different than what I’m used to Like when I’m actually swinging it like um I feel like you can feel like when I set up like the look feels really good and then when I take it back I’m like gosh this is not what I’m used to swinging typically that feedback there would be more of a shaft thing Um but it also could I mean I could definitely see a scenario where the weight distribution of that club versus this one is is different in that regard So call me crazy and I don’t even know how exactly different it would be from the GT but call me crazy but like you know how I was mentioning that like it feels longer it looks a little bit longer and you said that it’s a little bit heavier at the back Like I almost feel like I can feel how long the club is Yeah And that’s totally fair It feels like a big club face when I’m taking it back And there’s probably a mental thing too to you know cuz I I kind of went into some good detail at the beginning there about just look at all this weight the back of the club right So now you’re swinging and you’re like I got to really yank this thing down to make sure I can get the club head around in my swing So yeah Um but I think um I mean these are really good driver numbers right I mean 149 on the average smash factor We’re getting a really good spin rate Um your total is right around 260.9 there And again we had really you know you were mentioning that a couple times your draw kind of you know really turned more than you thought And there was this one here that kind of actually fell out of the fairway But otherwise you got four out of your five here that we are uh taking note of in the fairway Classic Drew always put always having me hit drivers on a fairway that’s this skinny in a small fairway Yeah Um but I mean hey if you can hit four out of five 80% you know and actually the one we removed is uh still in the fairway too So you know Yeah Yeah Yeah I mean it it took me I would say like five or six swings maybe to just kind of get used to it and that’s why I would say my last one was my best one there Yeah Um but yeah it’s just it’s interesting just for me I think with the feel like I mean once I take the club back right about here I always know what kind of shot it’s going to be and I feel like I felt confident in the setup but when I was really actually swinging it it it just felt like I wasn’t used to it Um that’s something I feel like that a lot of people should keep in mind when they’re going into a fitting is that sometimes if you go into a fitting with a mindset of like you really want a certain club then sometimes you like literally try harder with that club rather than having an open mind And if you can swing every single club like it’s yours I think that that will give you really good information and feedback in terms of what actually works the best for you and what produces not only the best shots but just the most consistent miss Yeah that is really good thought Um and again we’re never going to remove total like every little bias someone has or you know if you look down at a club and you just like this is disgusting like that’s okay Um and you probably won’t swing at the best because of that That’s fine But um again I think the open mind part it’s a really good point to have Um because you might get into the Bay and a club that you thought would be the best one just isn’t for you Um and that’s that’s fine That’s the way that’s why we have all these different brands all these different models in here Um is because we want to be able to service you the best way possible Totally Well I I remember when the when the Callaway Paradigm came out a few years ago I was in college and my coach was like “Emma you got to try this new driver Uh Mariana’s using it My teammates using it I’m not kidding She is carrying a golf ball like at least 10 yards further.” Like “No way No kidding.” And I tried it out and I mean I think I swung that thing for like an hour and it was like I just can’t get it to work as well as my own So yeah And that’s nothing It’s not an indication that oh Paradigm just wasn’t a good driver Of course not Just for you and the way it looked it just wasn’t for you So right So I mean I do think that this is probably a driver that I could get used to and I think that it’s really really solid I did like the sound of it I thought that um it sounded really good It was I’m glad you brought that up because Ping has come a long way with the sound of their drivers Um I always say G425 was their driver I guess it would be four years ago now is when they launched it Um the G425 series But when we were doing videos in here you could hear all the way down the demo bays if someone was hitting a G425 driver because it was so distinct and so loud And so yeah like demo Oh someone’s hitting a G425 and demo bay number two down there So um they’ve come a long way and it sounds a lot better now So yeah I like I like the sound So all right let’s get to GT2 Yeah All right So now you put down GT2 Yeah I’m sure you notice a big difference And and then we talk about the shape too It’s more rounded than before Yeah I was right I was kind of making that call and I didn’t even pick up the title driver mainly because it was behind your desk but I was going to pick it up to compare it when I started talking about the shape but I I totally I was right Like the the ping one is a little bit more flat on top and then just kind of it’s almost triangular Exactly And then the title kind of comes up a little bit and it’s just a lot more like a pear shape Yeah Yes Yeah Yes Yeah So where I felt like here I mean I feel like once I set this down the ping would almost come out to here Yeah So it objectively I think is a smaller Yeah It’s smaller to look down at for Which is funny because I mean I still have a memory of the first driver I ever got when I first started playing golf Um it was an Adams Golf driver Yeah Adams What a That’s a throwback brand Yep That was the first driver I ever got and it had this massive club head and the uh guy who was coaching me at the time who was just kind of getting me into golf for whatever reason I didn’t really hit it all that well you know probably just because I was a little little tikeke beginner but he was like “Uh yeah you know I really thought that the bigger club head would be easier for you because it was literally just so much bigger I felt like it would feel easier for you to hit in the head and the face but not necessarily.” Um but and that memory always stuck with me of like just because the club face and the club head is bigger doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to find the center of it more often Or maybe it could I don’t know Yeah I mean it’s there’s a lot more to it than just the volume of the club head Right Right All right So good first swing there huh Yeah Yeah And I didn’t even really think that I got all of that either Pretty stock standard Yeah I mean you hit it almost dead straight It’s in the fairway It’s 20 almost 270 yards out there It’s good for a swing That launched a little bit lower but it really felt like more speed on that one Yeah Okay All right Actually look at that smash factor 1.51 Yeah that uh as long as I was aimed up the right that would be a good shot No I mean that was that was some speed And then you you know you I could tell too there’s a look element You know you’re swinging that just a little bit faster And which again that’s totally fine I mean that’s a we’re never gonna we don’t want to test with robots because there’s when you’re you know when you’re on the golf course or when you’re in the fitting bay there’s emotions attached to to everything Yeah Yeah that’s true subtle biases It’s all there Yeah You want to get the the data on the misses right Because Yeah If you if you swung just solely based off of what was going to be an ideal shot then it would be it would be different right Or I guess I should say if you compared clubs based on which one was the best little push slightly open club face there Okay Oops Again you’re 150 there Yeah just a little bit open face 14.6 I still carried it 242 though Jeez that’s crazy You actually got some really good distance out of that one Yeah Still 100 feet in the air which typically if you open the face typically that means you’re showing just a little more loft right So that was really really solid Yeah that I think that’s going to be pretty darn good Oh little push Okay man I didn’t think it was going to do that I gotta say though through what four swings I I think the GT2 distance-wise is is winning I mean it’s going like 10 yards further isn’t it Yeah You’re you’re swinging it a little bit faster getting a lot more ball speed Yeah Okay I hit that a little low on the face Okay Okay I’m just missing it right or left We haven’t really hit one super straight besides my first one it So I want to note that because if you you know you hit that one low in the face right Um the spin actually stayed in a good spot though which I like for titleless I know you’re you know you’re fighting the swing a little bit right now Yeah So that your face was closed that time 08 degrees Um but I actually like how cuz typically a low face strike will result in spin kind of spiking quite a bit going up towards even 3,000 So to see it stay low there I think is is worth noting And I think it it is maybe you don’t feel good about that swing necessarily but I think it shows that the club is forgiving in that sense where the spin will stay pretty consistent If you hit it solid if you hit it low face you know it’ll stay in a similar spot Right Right Another increase in that ball speed Wow that’s a good shot Really really solid All righty then Um let’s see here I carry 247 or two 249 250 basically 50 carry Yeah Let’s see I think this we got a couple Which uh which of these We got six up there We like to do best five of six So which of these two do you want me to take out of there I feel like probably that one on the right maybe just because it looks bad I mean I know this is and I I I personally like best five of six because I think and again for the sake of this we probably could have just done all six just based on the shots were not Yeah You know in a fitting right I think our fitters will throw out shots that are kind of you know quoteunquote egregiously bad or like if you straight up top one or if you chop one like right on the golf course a club isn’t going to change the performance of like a bladed skinny Of course not You know that’s kind of my my thought process on that But anyway um all right So here’s our data with Titus GT2 a PG G440 Max Fitter’s Choice driver comparison Um couple things I noticed right away a lot more efficient and a lot more speed with GT2 Uh you could definitely tell that Emma was you know you were swinging a lot more confident I think with the GT2 Part of that is you’re used to the look and feel Part of it is I think you just like that shape better Um and that resulted really in in in you know in total yards here for this 10 more uh yards right Um I guess what else did you you have feedback here on on these two drivers I guess one other thing I’m going to add too that ping dispersion looks pretty nice at the other day Like that right kind of open face angle miss so to speak that you had you know at least well I guess we took one out that was over here too with GT2 So um it was right in there This kind of rings it’s it’s really similar to what we’ve seen with Ping over the years is where they might not have been in testing the fastest or the furthest but they’ve been forgiving and they’ve been consistent And that’s where a lot of the drivers in the past have won for ping So in that regard I’m not surprised to see this kind of as the result Or maybe they’re not the fastest here Maybe GT2 is a little bit farther Yeah But that dispersion is pretty nice too I believe it I believe it I mean I think that with Ping too uh I was I mean we I forgot for a second there how much turnover I was seeing with the ping because that was the thing a few times I felt like I might have missed it right and it just like yeah really drew pretty hard back to the left Um versus the titalist I feel like if we were on the golf course actually watching the ball flight I would probably prefer to see even with those right misses You know it just kind of started right and just push big push out there It was they were all with a club path that was relatively straight and then or relatively square and then a club face that was like three degrees open four degrees open Um but so I feel like just overall with the ball flight the way that it was the way that it cuts through uh but still gets that nice height I think is really nice Definitely really impressed with the dispersion on the the paying driver You can’t ignore that Uh the Titalist one just it feels really smooth through the golf ball even on a miss I mean it just feels like butter versus the ping I like I said I did like the sound but it was just it felt like a little more of a punch It felt like I was kind of working a little bit harder Sure Um and those are all valid um pieces of feedback Absolutely Um I think and then it comes down to in this particular test and again you know the results may vary You know a player that comes in different golfer testing these two drivers might see something slightly different Yeah Um with the numbers Um but I think the the the main note that we need to take here is you know we got some really good performance on the forgiveness of the paying and then for you you just you’re swinging confidently with that titleist The GT2 is you’re able to rip that thing get some distance out of it Um and get dispersion dispersion was a little bit wider today I have always felt like I swing drivers better outside than inside Inside I just feel like so enclosed I feel like I’m going to hit the wall or something But I mean even with those misses even with like those high right misses the fact I was still able to carry it I mean 240 this one just barely right 250 I mean look at you look at the numbers If you’re looking for distance that I’m I’m 10 yards further total distance right with the GT2 as opposed to the G440 Max Yep But um yeah I mean they’re both great clubs Your your critters really they made good selections here I I mean as we talked about I put you on a skinny fairway here too So u you know and you’re still hitting fairway more often than not So with that said go get fit I mean our fitters decided GT2 and and Ping G440 Max Try these doing really well in the fittings so far in 2025 Um and if you’re looking for a new driver you got two great options here as Emma displayed today for us So thank you Emma for coming in and doing the swinging today This was this was great Really good testing and good information here Thanks Drew This was awesome [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]