Alex Etches
Custom fitter, gear deep-dives
“There's no surprises with this driver.”
A sleek, classic driver whose standout trait is remarkable shot-to-shot consistency rather than headline distance, though the price hike toward big-brand money dampens the value case.
+ the facts · 4 pros · 3 cons− the facts
- +Impressively tight standard deviations: carry, spin, ball speed and total all cluster with no surprise outliers
- +Consistent fairway-finding dispersion in his test
- +Classic, sleek matte Srixon looks with laser-milled face and two interchangeable sole weights
- −Very loud, powerful sound that won't be for everyone
- −Price hiked to £549 RRP, erasing Srixon's traditional value advantage over TaylorMade and Callaway
- −Not going to win any longest-driver awards this year
For: Golfers who value predictable, repeatable numbers off the tee over chasing max distance
Golf Monthly
UK magazine, season-long testing
“just exceptionally good product that is clearly producing good performance”
A classy, unflashy driver that quietly delivered his second-longest carry distance of the whole test.
+ the facts · 4 pros− the facts
- +Second-longest average carry at around 297 yards
- +New textured crown fixes the smudge-prone matte finish of the previous ZX
- +Same clean head profile across every model in the range
For: Golfers wanting understated looks with genuinely long performance
Mark Crossfield
Coach, famously hard to impress
“I would just max it out as much as possible”
Looks, feels and spins almost identically to the Max, so with the heel-toe weight ports only moving things fractionally he questions why you wouldn't just take the Max's forgiveness.
+ the facts · 3 pros · 3 cons− the facts
- +Feels rock solid and sits beautifully neutral
- +Same strong numbers as the Max, 166 average ball speed and ~2,400-2,500 spin
- +Heel and toe weight ports allow a fractional draw or fade bias
- −Weight ports only move spin/bias by a small amount (~200-300 rpm), tiny real-world effect
- −So similar to the Max that he'd just max out the forgiveness instead
- −Really expensive
For: Players who want a fractional draw or fade bias dialed in rather than pure MOI
Golfbidder
Europe's biggest used-club specialist
“It might be good looking, but it ain't making top three”
Comfortably the best-looking driver of the 2025 crop, but it launched sky-high for him and didn't make the top three on performance.
+ the facts · 2 pros · 2 cons− the facts
- +Won the looks ranking outright: face, crown and sole all praised
- +Mishits still came out surprisingly nicely
- −Ballooned extremely high (10.5 loft head), costing distance
- −Didn't make the performance podium
