"This test might also illustrate that the majority of the distance gains we see on the PGA Tour today are not equipment based, but primarily due to the ball"

Thanks to reader Jordan for Andrew Rice's thorough and thoughtful Trackman driver test comparison between an old Taylor Made Burner Plus and a recent Titleist driver and the results are, well...shocking and not shocking. The old driver's drives weren't as straight, but they also weren't much shorter.

I was amazed at how small the difference between the two drivers, total distance wise, there was. Going in to the test I would have thought that there would be a 15 yard difference at least. I expected the smaller club to spin the ball less and lower the apex which it did, but I was truly amazed at how little distance I lost with it. I did notice a much greater tendency to hit the ball outside the sweet spot with the smaller club and that led to some fairly aggressive gear effect draws and fades.