PXG certainly knows how to market and launch its products, so after sitting through a pretty comprehensive presentation on the upcoming drivers, I was eagerly anticipating my chance to try out the PXG Black Ops driver and see if it will take its place amongst the best golf drivers of 2024.
From a technology point of view, the two main targeted areas - as normal - seem to be distance and forgiveness. The distance element, PXG feels it has addressed through a titanium alloy face that it is referring to as AMF Technology. It claims that the higher strength and increased flexibility increases face deflection and produces a higher launch and lower spin.
With regard to the forgiveness, the composite construction has been specifically designed to push mass to the perimeter, which has pushed the combined MOI reading to near 10,000 gcm2.
When you put the Black Ops driver down behind the ball, you are greeted with a fairly busy aesthetic. Whilst clean and simple are my usual preferences, PXG has pulled this fussier look off well with an all gloss finish, carbon crown and subtle, light grey accent graphics. The shape is pleasingly rounded and the head sits extremely square in the neutral setting.
On the sole of the club there are three adjustable weights to help you dial in launch conditions really precisely. I was fitted into the 8° head, an Accra TZ5 X flex shaft at 45.5 inches long and a D3.5 swingweight.
The first impressions from hitting the ball were excellent. I would go as far as saying this might be my favorite sounding driver of the 2024 launches and as sound and feel are so closely linked, it predictably feels great. In a lovely middle ground of lively without being harsh, impacts with the PXG Black Ops are a genuinely pleasurable experience.
I had the benefit of being custom fitted into this driver at the PXG London South indoor fitting centre, and launch and spin were soon dialled into a really nice window of just over 11 degrees and approximately 2100rpm respectively by utilising the adjustable head weights. This produced a really nice flight for me and I also enjoyed the stability of this head. Sometimes you can pick up a driver and it can feel somewhat volatile off the face, ready to veer wildly offline at any sign of a mishit, but the Black Ops resolutely stuck to its task, producing consistent and very stable ball flights.
One point to note is that my ball speed numbers pretty consistently fell short of what the Trackman 4 launch monitor was suggesting was optimal with regards to my clubhead speed, even when strike location was very central. This is not completely unusual for me as a pretty high speed player and for a number of reasons, I very rarely get close to an optimal 1.50 smash factor, but with the Black Ops driver I was maxing out at 1.42 with the majority of my drives sitting at 1.41.
That aside, I genuinely liked the Black Ops driver. It feels and looks extremely premium and well built, and the acoustics are spot on. Furthermore, I found it to be a genuinely stable and reliable driver that gave me real confidence over the ball.
