The most playable driver on the tee in 2024? Our PXG 0311 Black Ops Driver Review

Promising all abilities maximum forgiveness without sacrificing distance – but is the PXG 0311 Black Ops driver mission accomplished?

Many of the recent metal launches across the golf industry could easily be mistaken as names for the next James Bond movie. Stealth, Paradym Ai-Smoke, Darkspeed, Blueprint. Even Qi10 has a 007-esque feel about it.

Perhaps coincidental, but more likely to symbolize the hours, weeks, and months of undercover ingenuity directed toward unlocking unparalleled distance and forgiveness in a golf club – the engineer’s holy grail.

Showing their hand in 2024’s arms race is PXG’s family of drivers, fairway woods, and hybrids, featuring the company’s breakthrough technology – Black Ops.

The Arizonia-based brand, led by military veteran, entrepreneur, and golf nut – Bob Parsons, is committed to only releasing products that are “markedly better” than its predecessor.

And while it took a while for PXG’s wood game to catch up with their acclaimed irons, 2023’s GEN6 models landed PXG “at the top table of drivers” as put by Simon Daddow, TG Equipment Editor.

One year on, with growing credibility in the woods market and an uncompromising approach to marginal gains, PXG is understandably bullish about its ability to compete with the best and disrupt the hierarchy of golf’s best driver brands.

Let’s take a look under the headcovers and see the tech behind what PXG believes will help players of all abilities hit it longer, straighter, and more consistently than ever before.

Black Ops: The Tech

Precision Weighting Technology

As per the GEN6 models, Black Ops drivers present three weight ports with the default set-up being one heavy (12.5 g), and two light (2.5 g) that are interchangeable to support preferred spin and shape. Available weights range between 2.5 and 20 g in 2.5 g increments so players can fine-tune their ideal head weight and shot bias.

Pulling the CG towards the toe will create a fade bias, with weight in the heel helping to square the face and add draw. Those seeking higher MOI, launch and forgiveness can distribute more weight in the back.

AMF Face Technology

PXG attributes significant distance gains to employing a propriety high-strength titanium alloy face material called AMF (Advanced Material Face) that supports increased face deflection during impact. Sourcing alloys that strike an optimal balance between strength and flexibility is key for golf club engineers, and PXG has looked for inspiration from external industries to keep pushing the boundaries of performance in this area.

The face is further optimized through a variable thickness design that helps to ensure consistent and efficient energy across multiple impact points on the clubface, resulting in more ball speed and improved distance.

Further still, a non-uniform bulge and roll face design, refined for consistency through robotic polishing, strategically adjust the horizontal and vertical curvatures across the face. This design supports enhanced forgiveness and improves overall performance by optimizing the club’s reaction to off-center hits. 

High-strength composite construction

The Black Ops lightweight composite crown and sole inserts have been constructed from high-grade carbon fiber using a sophisticated compression molding process. Using such a lightweight, yet strong component, has allowed PXG to optimize weight distribution in the clubhead, pushing mass to the perimeter, helping nudge MOI to near 10,000 g/cm².

With CG now able to sit lower and further back, engineers have been able to create a high launch angle and low spin rate combination that reportedly delivers increased distance performance and forgiveness.

PXG 0311 Black Ops Driver

RRP: $599.99 / £549.00 | Lofts: 8° / 9° / 10.5° / 12.5° | Headweight: 203 g | Lie: 60° | Length: 45.5″

The Black Ops driver and its tour-inspired counterpart – the Tour-1 driver, have been meticulously designed with custom fitting in mind, which PXG says makes them “some of the most versatile and high-performing clubs in the industry.”

The hero 0311 Black Ops model is geared towards a wide range of players and is characterized as a high-launch, yet low-spin option by PXG. It’s a combination that will appeal to those whose preferences edge towards forgiveness but are reluctant to compromise on ball speed.

It’s why PXG has stopped short of pitching the Black Ops driver as the mid-high handicap option, anticipating it to be the preferred choice of some high-level players too.

Blacks Ops drivers are available in a range of premium shaft options and come with PXG Z5 Black grips as standard.

How to choose between Black Ops models

The Black Ops standard model (left) has a noticeably different profile to the Tour-1 with a significantly elongated front-to-back footprint. The more compact Tour-1 presents a more aggressive look at address featuring a taller face and a more curved crown. The Tour-1 also lies at 58.5° in an unadjusted set-up, compared to 60° in the Black Ops model.

PXG expects the vast majority of golfers will better suit the Black Ops model, with the Tour-1 geared toward more advanced players with high swing speeds who seek extremely low spin performance and penetrating ball flights.

The Black Ops model is geared towards a wide range of players and is characterized as a high-launch, yet low-spin option by PXG. It’s a combination that will appeal to those whose preferences edge towards forgiveness but are reluctant to compromise on ball speed.

It’s why PXG has stopped short of pitching the Black Ops driver as the mid-high handicap option, anticipating it to be the preferred choice of some high-level players too.

How do 0311 Black Ops drivers compare to GEN6?

	0311 Black Ops	0311 Tour-1	0311 GEN6	0311 GEN6 XF
Ball Speed (mph)	150.1	151.5	150.4	150.1
Carry Distance (yds)	260.4	254.8	257.9	258.3
Launch Angle (°)	11.5	9.8	10.9	11.0
Backspin (rpm)	2260	1821	2412	2386
Dispersion (yds2)	749.8	1558.4	1277.7	1968.8
L-R Dispersion (yds)	23.3	28.3	29.5	23.5

The Black Ops Family

Committed to its mandate of delivering maximum forgiveness without compromising distance down the bag, PXG has launched the equally innovative and versatile Black Ops Fairways and Black Ops Hybrids.

As per the driver models, the fairways and hybrids boast a high-grade and lightweight carbon fiber crown, saving mass so it can be redistributed low and to the clubhead’s perimeter for optimal CG positioning and added forgiveness.

Players also maintain the ability to dial in their preferred spin and bias settings with PXG’s Precision Weighting Technology. 

What PXG says

Billed as a “complete and total victory in woods engineering”, it’s fair to say PXG expects Black Ops to be the breakthrough they’ve been waiting for in their bid to ruffle feathers in the world of big sticks.

“I have often wondered why golfers are content to give up distance to achieve forgiveness, said PXG founder and CEO Bob Parsons.

“We’ve spent much of our R&D efforts focused on that challenge, and I am proud to say we’ve cracked that nut. Black Ops Woods are straight like an arrow, more forgiving than a priest on Sunday, and absolutely stunning to boot!”

Joel Dahmen (PGA Tour Pro): “I love the way the new Black Ops Driver looks at set up and the face feels so hot. Geno is having to figure out yardages he’s never had to figure out before.”

Erik Cole (PGA Tour Pro & Rookie of the Year): “The new Black Ops Driver is a great blend of forgiveness and speed. Switching to it, I’ve noticed more speed with solid shots, as well as with off-center strikes. It also looks great over the ball, which makes it easy to have confidence in it on tour.”

Verdict: PXG 0311 Black Ops Driver

“This is the ‘most playable’ driver in the industry,” said Director of R&D for Woods, Caleb Kroloff when I sat down with the senior engineer at PXG London South. Caleb described how discovering a surprisingly strong relationship between launch angle and ball speed data led to a driver design concept that launched high while minimizing spin to create performance without compromises.

As a medium-swing speed player, I don’t want to sacrifice any distance, so being able to maintain ball speed while tightening up dispersion is absolutely something I can get on board with.

From a looks perspective, I found very little not to like. The PXG customary blacked-out livery continues to wrap around the clubhead with raw metallic detailing on the sole and light grey accents on the glossy black crown.

The club face squares off nicely behind the ball and is easy to align centrally with the face thanks to the ‘X’ at the front of the crown. The larger front-to-back footprint of the standard model was confidence-inspiring, particularly when compared to the much more compact profile of the Tour-1.

The driver sounded fantastic at impact and felt incredibly stable throughout the swing. It only took a few swings before I forgot I had a new driver in hand, instead focussing on trying to hit my optimal launch characteristics based on ball speed data captured by the Trackman 4 launch monitor.

My ball speed topped out around 140 mph for a 225-yard carry which is exactly where I would expect to be based on my on-course yardages. I struggled to hit the expectations of the Trackman optimizer tool, however, after an excellent PXG fitting experience, I eventually got dialed into a setup that was producing a high-launch, low-spin combination as promised.

I was pleased to see my usual right-side miss never really veered too far off the fairway which backed up the tight dispersion claims PXG is so excited about.

All considered, the Black Ops feels like a complete performance package that will serve a wide range of abilities really well. It’s unlikely to produce the fastest ball speeds of the year, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see independent comparative data backing up claims of this being one of the most playable.

Expect more heads to turn toward PXG this season.

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About the author

Ross Tugwood

Golf Equipment Writer

Ross Tugwood is a golf equipment writer for todays-golfer.com, specializing in data, analytics, science, and innovation.

Ross is passionate about optimizing sports performance and has a decade of experience working with professional athletes and coaches for British Athletics, the UK Sports Institute, and Team GB.

He has post-graduate degrees in Performance Analysis and Sports Journalism, enabling him to critically analyze and review the latest golf equipment and technology to help you make better-informed buying decisions.

PXG 0311 Black Ops Driver

RRP: $599.99 / £549.00

Lofts: 8° / 9° / 10.5° / 12° (LH: 9° / 10.5° / 12°)

Lie: 60°

Headweight: 203 g

Standard shaft length: 45.5”

Stock shaft options: EvenFlow Riptide CB, PX Cypher, MCA Diamana S+, ProjectX HZRDUS Smoke Yellow, MCA Tensei AV Raw Blue, MCA Tensei AV Raw White, Aldila NVS Pink NXT

Stock shaft options: PXG Z5 Black (Midsize, Oversize, Standard, Undersize)