Cleveland HiBore XL Driver
$399.99
in inventory
BUY NOW
Pgatoursuperstore.com
The Cleveland HiBore XL driver is my driver of alternative for the 2025 season. That, expensive readers, is a hill I’ll die on.
Till I select to not. That’s my proper as an grownup.
As MyGolfSpy’s resident grown-up (my take) or previous fart (the remainder of the employees’s take), I take my share of abuse from my treasured colleagues. That abuse has been turbocharged ever because the HiBore XL, my stunning Dorito-looking sunuvabitch, completed the place it did on this 12 months’s MyGolfSpy driver check.
“Barba, we gotta get you a real driver….”
“Dude, you must have been ‘high’ when you ‘bore’ that driver…”
Yeah? Properly, you realize, that’s similar to your opinion, man…
Normally, this Dude abides, however this subsequent one was over the road.
“Barba, leave it to you to pick the driver that finished DFL!!”
I’m sorry however this aggression won’t stand, man. Jokes are jokes, however details are details. The Cleveland HiBore XL driver didn’t end DFL on this 12 months’s testing. It completed NTDFL or Subsequent To Useless F*#@king Final. For the file, the Cleveland HiBore XL Lite completed DFL.
I’m a journalist. Info matter.
I’m additionally, in keeping with my spouse, a contrarian (I believe she’s fallacious, however that’s a narrative for an additional day). In that spirit, I’ve penned this missive in protection of my pretty little hunk of triangulated pleasure. Our testers could not have absolutely appreciated it, however all I can say is: Generally you discover the correct driver. Different instances the correct driver finds you.
Cleveland HiBore XL: By the numbers
I’ve seen MyGolfSpy’s driver testing course of up shut in my decade as a employees author. I can guarantee you it’s exhaustive, managed and eminently honest. Every tester hits lots of of photographs over a number of weeks. Within the combination, the full variety of photographs exceeds 18,000. The testing staff makes positive drivers are correctly rotated and that the testers don’t get fatigued. Additionally they do their greatest to “fit from stock” by dialing within the loft and utilizing an applicable normal shaft.
So think about my shock, nay, shock, when my favourite driver of 2025 didn’t even sniff the medal stand.
NTDFL.
Ain’t {that a} kick in an space just some levels south of the midsection?
The Cleveland HiBore XL driver was, technically, tied for NTDFL with an total rating of 8.20 out of 10. Put that 8.2 on a 100 scale, it’s an 82. That’s a stable B-, which obtained me out of highschool. In our world, nevertheless, that 8.2 positioned the HiBore XL in a useless warmth with the Stix Golf Compete and the COBRA DS-ADAPT MAX D. The HiBore XL Lite scored a good 8.0 for DFL.
Is 30 toes so much?
What dragged the HiBore XL down was distance. It tied with the Honma TW 767 MAX for the shortest driver within the check. It did, nevertheless, handle to complete in the midst of the pack for accuracy and forgiveness.
So I obtained that going for me.
Which is sweet.
It simply wasn’t sufficient to offset the shortage of pure testosterone.
The info is the information, buddies. My HiBore was fourth from the underside in ball pace, slightly below 2.4 mph slower than the quickest driver within the check, the COBRA DS-ADAPT LS. It was useless final in carry distance, 8.78 yards behind the chief, the Titleist GT2, and it was next-to-last in complete distance, 10 yards behind the GT2.
Is 10 yards so much? It’s in the event you’re a Buffalo Payments fan however to the remainder of us, it’s simply 30 flipping toes.
The Cleveland HiBore XL driver: On track is what issues
So why am I writing what may wind up a CLM (Profession Limiting Second)? As a result of I hit the ever-loving snot out of the HiBore the place it issues – on the golf course.
For those who haven’t already, my Dorito-on-a-stick and I invite you to learn my We Tried It piece from a couple of weeks again. Now that’s some information, my buddies.
My golf companion on the weekend in query was one Will Yoder, a Sports activities Partnership exec at Instagram/Meta who additionally occurs to be my nephew.
“I can confirm he [meaning me, his favorite uncle] hits it [the HiBore] very well,” younger William wrote on the social media platform previously generally known as Twitter final week. “It’s annoying.”
The endorsements don’t simply come from household. Two weeks after my rounds with my nephew, I teed it up with a gaggle that included Golfweek senior author David Dusek.
“Everyone in our foursome at Cabot Citrus Farms hit some good shots and some less-than-good shots on a course littered with sand and features some of the most undulating fairways you can imagine,” writes David. “As spectacular as the venue was, watching John hit one straight drive after another became comically boring.”
You want that? There’s extra.
“John was as consistent with his new Cleveland HiBore XL as the original HiBore from the early 2000s was ugly. With its inverted crown, the driver was not winning any beauty pageants, but it worked. On the Karoo Course in January, John’s HiBore XL worked, too.”
I do love me a great wordsmith.
What does this imply?
Look, it’s simple to take a look at our check outcomes and conclude the HiBore is a awful driver. That, nevertheless, is the fallacious method to take a look at it. The largest ding on the HiBore’s scorecard is distance. It completed in the midst of the pack for accuracy and forgiveness. However, keep in mind, the distinction between the HiBore and the longest membership in the whole 37-driver check is 10 yards. That’s 30 toes or roughly a 3rd of the gap between residence plate and first base.
It was the shortest driver within the check, which is completely different from saying it’s a brief driver. For me, it’s lengthy sufficient.
Additionally, it might be method too simplistic (to not point out foolish) to say my outcomes invalidate MyGolfSpy’s testing or that MyGolfSpy’s testing invalidates my outcomes. I hit the snot out of the Cleveland HiBore XL driver, and that’s all that issues to me. Theoretically, may I discover a driver that I hit much more snot out of? Possibly however the level of a driver is to get me ready to hit my second shot. Ten yards isn’t the distinction between utilizing a 5-iron or an 8-iron for my strategy. It may be the distinction between choking down on a 7-iron or stepping on an 8.
Whereas these additional ten yards are good (if theoretical, for me not less than), they do come at a $250 premium (Hibore at $399, Titleist GT2 at $649). That involves – checks math – $25 per yard.
Perspective, individuals, is the whole lot.
What do you might want to play good golf?
It’s a fairly easy query with a fairly easy reply.
For me, that Dorito-looking MFer is sweet sufficient.
For now, anyway. Hey, I’m no completely different than youse guys. I’ll go hit the Triple Diamond subsequent time I’m in a retailer. If extra snot flies out of it, I’ll be the primary to say that I’ve discovered the key to golf and will probably be effectively on my method to scratch.
Till I yank one OB, that’s.
Verify Value
The put up Why I Stand In Protection Of The Cleveland HiBore XL Driver appeared first on MyGolfSpy.
