Why I Stand In Defense Of The Cleveland HiBore XL Driver

The Cleveland HiBore XL driver is my driver of choice for the 2025 season. That, dear readers, is a hill I’ll die on.

Until I choose not to. That’s my right as an adult.

As MyGolfSpy’s resident grown-up (my take) or old fart (the rest of the staff’s take), I take my share of abuse from my treasured colleagues. That abuse has been turbocharged ever since the HiBore XL, my beautiful Dorito-looking sunuvabitch, finished where it did in this year’s MyGolfSpy driver test.

“Barba, we gotta get you a real driver….”

“Dude, you must have been ‘high’ when you ‘bore’ that driver…”

Yeah? Well, you know, that’s just like your opinion, man…

Usually, this Dude abides, but this next one was over the line.

“Barba, leave it to you to pick the driver that finished DFL!!”

I’m sorry but this aggression will not stand, man. Jokes are jokes, but facts are facts. The Cleveland HiBore XL driver did not finish DFL in this year’s testing. It finished NTDFL or Next To Dead F*#@king Last. For the record, the Cleveland HiBore XL Lite finished DFL.

I’m a journalist. Facts matter.

I’m also, according to my wife, a contrarian (I think she’s wrong, but that’s a story for another day). In that spirit, I’ve penned this missive in defense of my lovely little hunk of triangulated joy. Our testers may not have fully appreciated it, but all I can say is: Sometimes you find the right driver. Other times the right driver finds you.

Cleveland HiBore XL: By the numbers

I’ve seen MyGolfSpy’s driver testing process up close in my decade as a staff writer. I can assure you it’s exhaustive, controlled and eminently fair. Each tester hits hundreds of shots over several weeks. In the aggregate, the total number of shots exceeds 18,000. The testing team makes sure drivers are properly rotated and that the testers don’t get fatigued. They also do their best to “fit from stock” by dialing in the loft and using an appropriate standard shaft.

So imagine my surprise, nay, shock, when my favorite driver of 2025 didn’t even sniff the medal stand.

NTDFL.

Ain’t that a kick in an area just a few degrees south of the midsection?

The Cleveland HiBore XL driver was, technically, tied for NTDFL with an overall score of 8.20 out of 10. Put that 8.2 on a 100 scale, it’s an 82. That’s a solid B-, which got me out of high school. In our world, however, that 8.2 placed the HiBore XL in a dead heat with the Stix Golf Compete and the COBRA DS-ADAPT MAX D. The HiBore XL Lite scored an even 8.0 for DFL.

Is 30 feet a lot?

What dragged the HiBore XL down was distance. It tied with the Honma TW 767 MAX for the shortest driver in the test. It did, however, manage to finish in the middle of the pack for accuracy and forgiveness.

So I got that going for me.

Which is nice.

It just wasn’t enough to offset the lack of pure testosterone.

The data is the data, friends. My HiBore was fourth from the bottom in ball speed, just under 2.4 mph slower than the fastest driver in the test, the COBRA DS-ADAPT LS. It was dead last in carry distance, 8.78 yards behind the leader, the Titleist GT2, and it was next-to-last in total distance, 10 yards behind the GT2.

Is 10 yards a lot? It is if you’re a Buffalo Bills fan but to the rest of us, it’s just 30 flipping feet.

The Cleveland HiBore XL driver: On course is what matters

So why am I writing what could wind up a CLM (Career Limiting Moment)? Because I hit the ever-loving snot out of the HiBore where it matters – on the golf course.

If you haven’t already, my Dorito-on-a-stick and I invite you to read my We Tried It piece from a few weeks back. Now that’s some data, my friends.

My golf partner on the weekend in question was one Will Yoder, a Sports Partnership exec at Instagram/Meta who also happens to be my nephew.

“I can confirm he [meaning me, his favorite uncle] hits it [the HiBore] very well,” young William wrote on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter last week. “It’s annoying.”

The endorsements don’t just come from family. Two weeks after my rounds with my nephew, I teed it up with a group that included Golfweek senior writer 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 like that? There’s more.

“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 good wordsmith.

What does this mean?

Look, it’s easy to look at our test results and conclude the HiBore is a lousy driver. That, however, is the wrong way to look at it. The biggest ding on the HiBore’s scorecard is distance. It finished in the middle of the pack for accuracy and forgiveness. But, remember, the difference between the HiBore and the longest club in the entire 37-driver test is 10 yards. That’s 30 feet or roughly a third of the distance between home plate and first base.

It was the shortest driver in the test, which is different from saying it’s a short driver. For me, it’s long enough.

Also, it would be way too simplistic (not to mention silly) to say my results invalidate MyGolfSpy’s testing or that MyGolfSpy’s testing invalidates my results. I hit the snot out of the Cleveland HiBore XL driver, and that’s all that matters to me. Theoretically, could I find a driver that I hit even more snot out of? Maybe but the point of a driver is to get me in a position to hit my second shot. Ten yards isn’t the difference between using a 5-iron or an 8-iron for my approach. It might be the difference between choking down on a 7-iron or stepping on an 8.

While those extra ten yards are nice (if theoretical, for me at least), they do come at a $250 premium (Hibore at $399, Titleist GT2 at $649). That comes to – checks math – $25 per yard.

Perspective, people, is everything.

What do you need to play good golf?

It’s a pretty simple question with a pretty simple answer.

For me, that Dorito-looking MFer is good enough.

For now, anyway. Hey, I’m no different than youse guys. I’ll go hit the Triple Diamond next time I’m in a store. If more snot flies out of it, I’ll be the first to say that I’ve found the secret to golf and will be well on my way to scratch.

Until I yank one OB, that is.

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