Golfers are always looking for a new and better driver that will allow them to get a few more yards off the tee. From the days when Ben Hogan and Bobby Jones were in their prime to the era of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, technology has and continues to play an important part of the game of golf.

Back in the 1940’s and 1950’s the game was played with persimmon wood club heads and steel shafts. While those clubs were once the latest technology for drivers, now it is more about using lightweight composite club heads and light flexible graphite shafts. As an example how clubs have evolved over time, take a look at Cleveland Golfs classic driver.

One of the main goals of driver design today is to make a club that is very light so that the golfer can generate more club-head speed and thus hit the ball further down the fairway. To accomplish that goal, clubs are meticulously engineered and tested to exacting standards. Cleveland and other golf club manufacturers do their best to decrease the coefficient of drag so that when the club is swung, it will meet with less resistance from the air.

The club face is also designed to be very forgiving with off-center hits by adjusting the center of gravity in the head and creating a larger sweet spot. The combination of high strength and lightweight metal alloys like titanium or composite plastic materials and graphite, make the ball fly further off of today’s modern clubs. It would be interesting today to see if Bobby Jones would beat Tiger Woods playing with his “inferior” clubs.