PXG Lightning Tour Driver vs. TaylorMade Qi4D LS Driver Review

This comparative review pits a driver that has three players on Tour in the top-10 in driving distance so far this season against one of the most popular drivers on Tour being used by the world's top ranked players.  I'm talking about the new PXG Lightning driver and the new TaylorMade Qi4D driver.

We're going low spin models for this driver duel with the Lightning Tour in one corner and the Qi4D LS in the other.  And the outcome of this showdown delivers some results I did not see coming.

Testing Notes

I tested both the PXG Lightning Tour and TaylorMade Qi4D with 9 degree heads, in standard settings, using the same Graphite Design Tour AD DI 6S shaft.  And like we always do in these head-to-head driver comparisons I'm going to distinguish good center contact from misses by referring to good center contact as an area about the size of a thumbprint.

 

Misses will be areas another thumbprint up, down, toe, and heel (which is basically about 10+ mm in any direction from the center thumbprint).

Appearance and Feel

The PXG Lightning Tour and TaylorMade Qi4D LS are both 460 cc heads that look more compact than their size.  Lightning Tour is round but deeper and more angular towards the back with a black gloss finish.  Qi4D LS is a traditional pear shape with a matte gray finish.  Qi4D has a slightly smaller footprint (toe to heel) than Lightning Tour.  Lightning Tour has a deeper (taller) face than Qi4D LS.  Both drivers sit square to slightly open at address.

 

You hear and feel more differences between these two drivers at impact than you see at address.  Lightning Tour is a slightly more metallic, higher pitched sound and feel at impact.  Qi4D LS is a quieter, lower pitched, more carbon like thwack sound and feel at impact.  Both gave me a sense of explosiveness at impact.  But the sense of explosiveness came more from sound with Lighting Tour while it came more from feel with Qi4D LS.

Note:  In the next three categories of performance metrics I'm talking about shots hit pretty well, in that thumbprint size center impact area.  In the last section on forgiveness we'll revisit these categories for mishits in all directions.

Ball Speed and Launch Metrics

With my swing speed and smash factor for both drivers within decimal points of each other the PXG Lightning Tour ball speed was 1.1 mph faster on average than the TaylorMade Qi4D LS.  Lightning Tour launched 1.4 degrees higher on average than Qi4D LS.  And Lightning Tour peak height was 2.0+ yards higher on average than Qi4D LS.

Spin and Distance Metrics

TaylorMade Qi4D LS had 300+ rpm lower spin on average than the PXG Lightning Tour.  Lightning Tour had 2+ yards more carry on average than the Qi4D LS.  Lightning Tour had 1.5 degrees steeper descent angle on average than the Qi4D LS.  Qi4D LS had 3+ yards more total distance on average (from greater rollout) than the Lightning Tour.

Dispersion Metrics

TaylorMade Qi4D LS had a tighter downrange dispersion than PXG Lightning Tour by an average of 3+ yards.  However the Lightning Tour had a tighter left-to-right dispersion than the Qi4D LS by an average of 3+ yards.  And maybe most interesting was the dispersion bias of the two drivers.  Qi4D LS dispersion was 7+ yards further right on average than Lightning Tour.  And Lightning Tour was 6+ yards further left on average than Qi4D LS.

The Road So Far

At this point in the fight I had the PXG Lightning Tour and TaylorMade Qi4D LS just about even on points.  Lightning Tour had more carry, Qi4D LS had more rollout.  Lightning Tour had more launch, Qi4D LS had lower spin.  And which driver edges the other on dispersion really comes down to your shot shape and preference.  Lightning Tour has a slightly greater left bias dispersion and Qi4D LS has a slightly greater right bias dispersion.

Forgivness

This is the area where I think the PXG Lightning Tour and TaylorMade Qi4D LS are very different, even significantly different.  And remember here I'm talking about shots hit high, low, toe, and heel another thumbprint impact area (10+ mm) out from that good center contact thumbprint area.  As we revisit the previously discussed performance metrics now for misses I'm breaking these down into two forgiveness sub-categories: downrange (vertical) forgiveness and left-to-right (horizontal) forgiveness.

 

If you spend enough time testing both of these drivers and getting numbers for impact all over the face the first thing you will notice is the PXG Lightning Tour definitely has a bigger sweet spot.  And by that I mean an area that retains consistent ball speed, launch, and spin like a perfect center strike.

 

The Lightning Tour sweet spot is legitimately about half the size of a nickel coin larger than the Qi4D LS sweet spot.  That may not seem like a big deal but numerically that would be about a 25-percent larger sweet spot.  And I found the bigger sweet spot also extends slightly more out towards the toe (which is where a lot of golfers miss).  Essentially the Lightning Tour just gives you a bigger bulls-eye to hit great shots.

Vertical Forgiveness

On misses high the PXG Lightning Tour and TaylorMade Qi4D LS are both exceptional and this is the most forgiving miss area with both drivers.  You can miss almost a full nickel size up from the absolute center of the face with both drivers and retain enough ball speed, launch, and spin to hit excellent shots.  With Lightning Tour these misses lost only about 2.6 yards on average compared to center strikes.  And with Qi4D LS these misses lost about 5.3 yards on average compared to center strikes.

 

On misses low however Lightning Tour is much more effective than Qi4D LS.  Misses a full nickel size down from absolute center with Lightning Tour lost about 10.4 yards on average.  The same misses with Qi4D LS lost about 19 yards on average.  And when your misses are extremely low on the face (hey it happens) the performance disparity between Lightning Tour and Qi4D LS even more significant.

To be fair Lightning Tour and Qi4D LS are not designed to be forgiving drivers above all else.  If you're missing all over the face with driver maybe it's better to look at more forgiving models (like the Lightning Max 10K+ or Qi4D Max).  But there's no denying Lightning Tour offers some of the best low miss forgiveness of any low spin driver on the market today.  And that's a security blanket we can all benefit from.

Horizontal Forgiveness

The same area misses toe and heel with the PXG Lightning Tour and TaylorMade Qi4D LS drivers result in significant performance differences in both total distance lost and left-to-right dispersion.

Missing a full nickel size area towards the toe with Lightning Tour lost 6.3 yards on average.  These toe misses with Lightning Tour also widened dispersion by 5.6 yards on average compared to good center strikes.  Missing a full nickel size area towards the toe with Qi4D LS lost 15.8 yards on average.  And these same toe misses with Qi4D LS widened dispersion by 10.8 yards on average compared to good center strikes.  Lightning Tour is the more stable driver on toe misses and produces less sidespin.

On heel misses a full nickel size over the comparative performance between both drivers remained similar to toe misses.  The Lightning Tour lost 11.8 yards on average, while the Qi4D LS lost 23.5 yards on average.  And in these same heel area misses the Lightning Tour dispersion widened by 8.7 yards on average compared to good center strikes, while the Qi4D LS widened dispersion by 15.5 yards on average compared to good center strikes.

Final Thoughts

The PXG Lightning Tour and TaylorMade Qi4D LS are the best low spin drivers each company has ever designed.  Distances on good strikes are equally long with Qi4D LS having an edge.  Qi4D LS also has slightly tighter downrange dispersion while Lighting Tour has slightly tighter left-to right dispersion.  A choice between these two drivers on good strikes might come down to appearance, sound, and feel preferences as well as the different dispersion biases mentioned above.

However you have to be consistently more precise with Qi4D LS to have it outperform Lightning Tour.  With Lightning Tour you have the slightly larger sweet spot.  With Lightning Tour you have significantly better distance retention no matter where you miss on the face.  And with Lightning Tour you have tighter dispersion on misses a full golf ball in any direction high, low, toe, or heel.  You'll hit shots with both drivers that terrorize fairways and land into next week.  But with Lightning Tour you'll hit these shots more often.