PXG 0311 GEN6 Driver Review
PXG 0311 GEN6 Driver
It’s one thing to claim your equipment is better than everyone else’s. Golf club manufacturers have made a killing doing that for years. It’s a whole nother thing to put your money where your mouth is. That’s the route PXG and founder Bob Parsons chose with the PXG 0311 GEN6 driver.
PXG invited any player to put their driver head-to-head against its 0311 GEN6 driver. If the GEN6 didn’t beat yours in distance or accuracy, you got $100. That’s what we call a win-win proposition, so we took the challenge.
The Verdict
In my test, PXG’s 0311 GEN6 driver swept the head-to-head battle in both distance and accuracy over my gamer, the PING G425 MAX. No $100 for me.
Considering the G425 MAX, in our opinion, is still one of the best drivers of the last five years, this result validate's PXG's exuberant confidence.
Overall, PXG says it has won 93% of the driver challenges. Of course, there are a few caveats to this.
First, the fact that PXG only has to show improvement in either distance or accuracy to win stacks the odds in its favor. The second advantage PXG has is a fitter to fine-tune the extremely adjustable GEN6 to optimize performance.
But at the end of the day, it still has to produce results to win, and the fact that the 0311 GEN6 is outperforming its competition more than 9 times out of 10 should tell you everything you need to know about how good this driver is.
PXG 0311 GEN6 Overview
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Price |
$499 | FIND AT PXG |
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Lofts |
7.5, 9, 10.5 |
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Adjustability |
+/- 1.5° of loft or 3° flat; adjustable weighting system |
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Shaft |
50+ options |
0311 GEN6 Pros & Cons
We left our testing with a lot of takeaways from the 0311 GEN6 driver. We'll dive deeper into how it performed in every facet, but first, here are the top pros and cons you should know.
Pros:
- Top-tier distance
- Tight downrange dispersion
- Three weight ports with weights in 2.5g increments from 2.5g to 20g, plus loft and lie adjustability for maximum fine-tuning
- Matte black carbon fiber crown and compact head shape create a satisfying look at address
- Countless shaft options to fit pretty much any flex, weight, and length combination you need
Cons:
- Adjustable weights are designed more for fitters than tinkerers
- Not everybody has access to a PXG fitting location
Adjustability
Sole view of PXG 0311 GEN6 driver
The 0311 GEN6 driver is one of the most adjustable drivers on the market today. A hosel that allows for 1.5° of adjustment up or down is relatively commonplace. The option of a flat setting (in exchange for loft adjustment) is also common.
Where the GEN6 really differentiates itself from the competition is the adjustable weighting system, which when combined with that adjustable hosel, offers pretty much any spec you can imagine.
The GEN6 has three weight ports, a heel, toe, and rear port. The standard configuration is 17.5g of weight. The weights that fill those ports come in 2.5g increments starting at 2.5g, ranging all the way up to 20g. This gives you the flexibility to not only choose which type of bias you prefer (draw, fade, or high MOI), but exactly how much of that bias you want. You can even use the weights to vary the total mass of the head, if you choose.
Given that there are so many weight combinations, and the driver doesn't come with every weight, the adjustable weight system is better to be fine-tuned during your fitting then left alone, rather than adjusted on the fly.
If you are a tinkerer, the full weight kit, with eight weights, runs $69.
Distance
In my testing, my final 0311 GEN6 build churned out two more yards in total distance than its head-to-head competitor, the PING G425. That stat doesn’t quite tell the whole story. The first iteration of the GEN6 driver I tested actually spit out more than a five-yard victory in the total distance category. As we fine-tuned it to tighten the dispersion, the total distance settled into that two-yard improvement window.
In independent testing by Golf Laboratories Inc, PXG highlights that the 0311 GEN6 beat out the PING G430 LST, TaylorMade Stealth 2 and Stealth 2 Plus, while coming up short of Callaway’s Paradym X, PING G430 MAX, and Titleist TSR2 and TSR3 drivers, given similar builds and center strikes. All of those total distances fell within a five-yard window, and we consider all of them to be in the top tier of distance.
The GEN6 driver gets its distance from a few sources, including its titanium alloy face, aerodynamic head shape, and weight-saving carbon fiber crown, which allow mass to be redistributed to more optimal locations in the head.
Forgiveness & Accuracy
PXG 0311 GEN6 (purple) vs PING G425 MAX (brown)
PXG boasts that the 0311 GEN6 is more accurate than the 2023 drivers from Callaway, PING, TaylorMade, and Titleist based on dispersion from strikes all over the face, referencing that same independent testing from Golf Laboratories. Our experience backed up that claim.
My dispersion with the 0311 GEN6 was 52.1 feet from left to right, compared to 106.1 feet from left-to-right with my gamer.
The high level of forgiveness is thanks in part to the tall face of the driver, which PXG notes performs particularly well on misses high on the face.
Look & Feel
PXG 0311 GEN6 Driver at address
The 0311 GEN6 features a matte black, carbon fiber crown. It has a compact shape from front to back and from side to side. The alignment aid is a simple white X. This gives a sleek and clean look with a more classic shape.
The XF edition of the 0311 GEN6, which favors maximum forgiveness, has a more elongated head, but both models check in at 460cc.
At impact, the 0311 GEN6 feels solid. Even though it’s plenty forgiving, there’s enough feedback to let you know exactly where you struck the ball.
Value
We’re not going to label a $500 driver as a top overall value choice any time soon, but the 0311 GEN6 checks in at $499, pricing it comfortably below its competition from Callaway, PING, Titleist, and TaylorMade, and even $50 less than the latest offerings from Cobra.
Given that the GEN6 performs as good or better than those drivers, we can’t deny that it’s a very good value within the premium driver segment.
Good Reason to be Confident
PXG has never lacked confidence, but it’s more confident in the 0311 GEN6 driver than any other it has put out in the past, and we found out exactly why. It’s as long as the longest drivers on the market, and more accurate. That’s a combination any golfer would happily take.