Light drivers aren’t always a good thing. If that were the case, then every golfer on tour would be gaming the lightest driver to maximize club head speed.
Lightweight drivers are great for increasing your distance off the tee, but they are not so great for hitting fairways on a consistent basis. They are harder to control and are harder to be consistent with day-t0-day.
However, the majority of senior golfers with slower swings will benefit from the lightest drivers on the market. Because they have slow swing speeds, most seniors will see a significant increase in distance, and only a small decrease in accuracy.
A Couple of Notes About Light Drivers
It’s worth noting that I wanted to pick four different brands. Otherwise, XXIO probably would have won all of the spots for 1-4. They simply make the lightest weight clubs in golf.
Another note: I refuse to mention or recommend off-brand clubs. There are many clubs that weigh under 200 grams in total. However, they are cheaply made and won’t perform well at all. For example, the “Sooolong 168 gram driver” will not be mentioned again in this article. So, I’ll only list top brands that have been proven to perform well for senior golfers.
Without further adieu, here are the four lightest drivers for senior men.
1) XXIO Prime 11 Driver (246 grams)
XXIO has held the spot of “lightest driver on the market” for many years now. Their whole brand is focused on light weight, forgiving drivers with lightweight shafts for those with slower swing speeds. Somehow, XXIO has figured out how to make the lightest drivers on the market, all while maintaining great feel & forgiveness for your off center hits.
The XXIO Prime 11 driver is their latest release. As far as I can tell, it’s the lightest driver that they have ever produced. They give a total of 254g of total weight, but the total weight of the parts is only 246g assuming my math is correct. Either way, the XXIO Prime 11 driver is great option if you want to increase your club head speed as much as possible. Just keep in mind that you might lose some consistency with such a light club.
Unfortunately, the prices of XXIO drivers are insanely high. So because not everyone can afford them, I’d highly recommend one of the other three drivers, which offer far better value for your money.
- Total weight: 246g
- Club head weight: 184g
- Stock shaft weight: 33.5g
- Grip weight: 26.5g
2) Wilson D200 Superlight Driver (268 grams)
Wilson has prided itself on creating super light (get it?) weight drivers with their D series. The Wilson D200 Superlight driver is 1 gram lighter than the D100 and 5 grams lighter than the D300 driver. At 268 grams, this is sure to be one of the lightest drivers that you can buy, assuming that you don’t want to shell out tons of money for the XXIO driver.
Although it’s not quite as forgiving as the Cobra Airspeed, it’s still a great all around driver for a senior man golfer. With it being lighter, I’d expect more distance but a small decrease in consistency compared to the Cobra Airspeed driver.
Thankfully, the price of all Wilson drivers are very affordable. They don’t spend much on advertising anymore, and it seems that they have carried the savings over to the customers.
- Total weight: 268g
- Club head weight: 199g
- Stock shaft weight: 44g
- Grip weight: 25g
3) Cobra F-Max Airspeed Driver (285 grams)
Cobra keeps releasing a slightly lighter driver each year for the senior target audience. After knocking off a few grams every year for the last 5 years, their most recent release is their lightest driver yet: the Cobra F-Max Airspeed driver. The Airspeed driver is just a couple of grams lighter than their previous release (the F-Max Superlite driver).
Aside from the lightweight design, the F-Max Airspeed driver is as forgiving as they come. There are two models of the Airspeed: offset and no-offset. If you are newer to golf and want an extra draw bias, then go with the offset driver.
It’s worth noting that the club head is just 1 gram heavier than the XXIO driver. The weight of the club head is the most important when it comes to generating more club head speed and hitting longer drives.
- Total weight: 285g
- Club head weight: 188g
- Stock shaft weight: 50g
- Grip weight: 47g
4) Mizuno ST200X Driver (288 grams)
Mizuno is a brand that you probably haven’t considered if you are looking for the lightest driver head on the market. But thankfully, their new release, the Mizuno ST200X driver, is going to change that. The club head is under 200 grams, and Mizuno has never reached that threshold before as far as I can tell.
Aside from the weight, the ST200X is focused on high launch and a large draw bias built in. Truthfully, this may be the best driver overall for senior golfers that struggle with generating enough height and speed on their drives.
If you an afford it, I’d highly recommend that you get fitted for a driver by a professional club fitter. Try to find one that carries Mizuno clubs so you can demo the ST200X driver.
- Total weight: 288g
- Club head weight: 197g
- Stock shaft weight: 39g
- Grip weight: 52g
I am picking up an affordable used Ladies Cobra F-Max Superlite Driver with the higher loft and am happy that you wrote this article. Thanks! Looking at the component weights, I am guessing that the Men’s Cobra would be a bit stiffer and the Mizuno would be a bit whippy. Mizuno was not on my radar for sure but a higher lofted fairway wood might be. As for the (super whippy?) Xxio, would the ferrule and epoxy be about 8 grams?