Four exciting drivers coming in 2024 after being added to USGA conforming list

James Richardson
November 15, 2023

The new year is nearly upon us and one of the best things about a new year is the launch of new golf clubs.

We are all holding out for the release of a club that we hope will take us from struggling to crack 100 to living the dream on the PGA Tour – or the DP World Tour if you have slightly less extravagant dreams.

Four manufacturers have seen part of their plans for the new year revealed with the news dropping that new designs have been added to the USGA’s conforming list.

All manufacturers strive to ensure that their new clubs are added to the list, making them competition ready and ensuring that unwitting amateurs aren’t asked to explain an illegal club in their bag.

Ping G430 Max 10K

According to reports the new G430 MAX 10k from Ping will seek to be a merger of sorts between the LST and Max ranges.

You can get an early look at the driver in action by following Cameron Champ at the RSM.

Champ commented on the forgiveness of the driver which will be something of great interest to mid-to-high handicappers.

“I’ve been pounding balls with it,” Champ told GOLF.com. “I was excited about it and wanted to keep hitting it to be sure. The feel is different than any driver I’ve hit. To me, it feels very soft coming off the face, you can really feel it. I’d go so far as to say it’s the softest driver I’ve ever hit. Different sound, too.

“Even within the first few balls I noticed the spin numbers weren’t jumping. With the misses, it was pretty interesting to see. For me, an ideal drive is around 2,500 to 2,800 [RPMs].

“Even with a miss, the max for me was still around 2,800. It felt like the misses weren’t as bad and still felt like solid contact. And for them to be able to hold spin was huge. When you miss, you either get a bunch more spin or hit it off the toe and it has nothing. With all the balls I hit with it, it was impressive to see how the spin stayed pretty damn close to a good shot.”

Cobra Darkspeeds

Cobra will drop three new clubs in the Darkspeed driver family with early indications being that they will feature many of the technologies introduced in Aerojet and LTDx ranges.

The H.O.T Face first used in the 2022 LTDx range of drivers is back and the company is very proud of its much-vaunted PWR-BRIDGE weighting system.

The latest update to the conforming listing includes three models under the Darkspeed name; Darkspeed LS, Darkspeed X and Darkspeed Max.

It is unclear if any Cobra-sponsored professionals will be adopting any of the new Darkspeed drivers.

PXG 0311 Black Ops driver

It has been speculated that PXG’s new driver lineup for 2024 will include the Black Ops, Black Ops Tour-1, and Black Ops Tour-3.

The Black Ops will reportedly be the most forgiving of the three and is targeted at a broad player market, The Tour-1 is for better players and the Tour-3 is the harshest on wayward contact.

Zach Johnson, Joel Dahmen, and Celine Boutier may have clubs made available to them but PXG have been mum on a release date and still market their sixth Gen family of drivers as the ‘new’ range.

TaylorMade Qi10

Already in the bag of Rory McIlroy, the rank and file will have to wait until 2024 to get their hands on the new TaylorMade Qi10 driver.

“You’ll probably see a new driver in the bag this week,” McIlroy said.

“It’s just a new driver that I’ve been playing around with,” he added. “So seeing that this week is, you know, I still want to go out there and try to win the golf tournament, but it could be a good time to test it out in the competition.”