Going forward, I will share my opinions, thoughts, and insights on happenings in the equipment world on a weekly basis. As someone who has run this company from many angles, and now one year into my role as GOLF.com’s equipment director, I wanted a space where I could be open and honest.
This isn’t an exercise in breaking things down, but rather to give you the insight and information I’ve been able to unlock in the almost eight years I’ve been doing this. It’s been an interesting ride to say the least, and I’m excited to learn, discuss, and debate on this platform.
To start, I’ll post a link to this article on my X account to start a conversation and answer your questions. I’ve always felt that it’s better to research and discover topics together than to do it in a vacuum all your opinion is welcome. (But let’s keep it classy, folks — this is golf, after all! No one’s curing anything here.)
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s go!
What Launch Season actually means
It’s here. Launch season. That fun, fast-moving part of the year where a new product is released and we, the gearhead community, go crazy. But Why the pandemonium? Why does the driver that was so great on December 31st become virtually obsolete on January 8th?
The short answer: it doesn’t. Or shouldn’t. The same goes for the driver from 2024, ’23, ’22 or even up to 2020. The truth is, the days of hitting the ball twenty yards further with a driver switch are over. Of course, distance is only one piece of a four-piece pie. I would rank the importance of performance categories for drivers as follows:
- Reliability (do I usually get it right?)
- Efficiency (is there a consistent miss I can manage?)
- Distance
- Accuracy
This year’s lineup is heavy on speed, as accuracy has been a key pillar for most companies in recent years. So the speed companies that tried to make Ping-like drivers (you know who you are) got close enough and are now returning to what they do best: making the ball go far.
What about you, the club buyerneed to know
How can you deal with this overload of information and make informed purchasing decisions? This is where we here at GOLF/Fully Equipment will do our best through honest content and our own discoveries to help you. So much so that we’ve created a new version of ClubTest launching in February that I believe will give consumers a deeper understanding of what works (or doesn’t) for their games.
At the end of the day, each club from the leading manufacturers is a blast. Even the companies that specialize in one part of the bag over the other – i.e. PXG (irons), Srixon/Cleveland (irons/wedges) and Mizuno (irons) – have serious metal-wood offer for 2026.
My advice? Touch as many things as possible and get a feel for the user experience. On those first swings, ignore the numbers too, because as you’ll see in my comments below, finding the right clubs for your game will be up to your fitter anyway. Pay attention to the look, the feel (sound), the vibe, the fun, etc. Once you find a club, you are excited to explore, then you can find out how to get it dialed with a mechanic.
Getting fit (especially this year)
2026 may well be the most competitive year ever in the club market. Check that: it is the most competitive year ever. I will never pick a club and say, “This is the best!” — I actually hate that word because it relates to equipment, because it’s a lie. The best for whom? When? How? It is an empty statement and it misinforms consumers. If I ever said it, I’ll back down!
This year will be a fitting war. Today, for example, TaylorMade is launching its Qi4D range, an outrageous offering in every respect. Great story: fast, forgiving, looks great, etc. It does everything. But it’s also a nuanced piece of technology that requires a good installer to break it open. A bit like an expensive bottle of wine – yes, you can pop the cork and start chugging, but if you let a seasoned sommelier do it for you, it turns from a tasty drink into an unforgettable experience. Qi4D is like that.
It’s also my contention that if you’re going to spend $700+ on a stick, it has to be perfect. Spend the extra dough to get it right. Some might say, “Yes, but maybe something ‘better’ will come next year.” Maybe just a Real A properly fitted driver will last much longer than what club marketers will tell you. Believe me, I’ve been on both sides. So if you’re a serious buyer or just want to confirm that what you have is suitable for your game, do that with an installer.
Only buy a new club if it performs substantially better than your current gamer. My suspicion is that this year in particular will be a year in which the new will defeat the old. That hasn’t been true as much in the past four to five years, but things will be different in 2026.
When I say it is an appropriate war, I mean it. The OEMs have all stepped up their game this year, knowing that their technology requires a sommelier to cook it. I think that’s great, and I experienced that myself last fall when I tested all this stuff. And it’s not just TaylorMade. Callaway, Ping and PXG all have new releases where one mechanic will be key to your success. I hope every OEM takes it upon themselves to ensure the brand independent installers (i.e. True Spec) know every trick to unlocking a club’s potential. Every company should consider fit as their number 1 priority, even more so than product.
Why? Because your fitting protocol is the key to actually letting your club do its thing. That’s more true this launch season than I’ve ever seen, and behind the scenes all the major OEMs are strengthening their processes or developing new ones. It’s such a big deal.
So if you’re one of those “grab it off the rack” shoppers, I suggest you change your tactics: now. We in the media give you a lot to think about, and that includes OEM marketing. But mark my words: it’s an absolute dog fight across the board in 2026 and the power is in your hands to your driver instead of the one with the most buzz.
You can’t make a bad choice this year, but the process of arriving at that choice is everything. Take your time, ask us lots of questions and be honest about what you need.
We are here to help
What I want for all of us is to play better golf, if not the best golf of our lives. But it is a process. Just as improving your technique is a process, so is buying new clubs. If my team and I do anything at a high level, it’s assisting you with the dial-in your process. Make no mistake: golf is expensive, and new clubs are not thoughtless purchases. They take time, dedication and self-reflection. In my first eleven months here at GOLF.com, I’ve worked hard to set the table with strategy and talent (Jake Morrow and Jack Hirsh) so that 2026 is the year when You the golfer has honest, unbiased information that you can actually use.
Equipment media is full of talented creators, but from my perspective, it’s time for all of us to step up and inform the masses in a more nuanced way. This year you’ll see a flood of content from the Fully Equipped Crew: an indispensable resource you can rely on to answer all your gear questions.
We’re here to help you, and honestly, I’m still trying to figure it all out on my own. This year is a huge turning point for my playing, which has been woeful in recent years. When I’m 50, I want to play the best golf of my life, and this year I will really prepare myself physically and materially. I’m tired of sucking at golf; Like the rest of you, I just want to get better. I’m excited to hear what you’re experiencing this year and will relate it to my own journey. That’s possible find me here on Instagram. My DMs are open.
Happy launch season! It will be so wild.
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