Moving forward on a weekly basis, I’ll be giving my thoughts, opinions and insights on happenings in the world of gadgets. As someone who has navigated this business from several different angles and now a year into my position as GOLF.com’s director of equipment, I wanted a space where I could be open and honest.
This is not an exercise to break things down, but to give you the knowledge and intelligence that I have been able to unlock in my nearly eight years of doing this. It has been an interesting journey to say the least, and I am excited to learn, discuss and debate on this platform.
For starters, I will post a link to this article on my site Account X to spark conversation and answer your questions. I’ve always felt it’s better practice to explore and discover topics together than to do it in a vacuum all of them your thoughts are welcome. (But let’s keep it classy, ​​folks—this is golf, after all! Nobody’s curing anything here.)
With that out of the way, let’s go!
What Launch Season Really Means
It’s here. The start of the season. That fun, fast-moving part of the year where new product is released and we, the gear community, absolutely freak out. But why pandemic? Why does the driver that was so great on December 31st become obsolete on January 8th?
Short answer: No. Or you 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 20 yards farther with a key driver are gone. Of course, distance is only one part of a four-part pie. I would rank the importance of driver performance categories like this:
- Reliability (does it hit hard most of the time?)
- Efficiency (is there a persistent shortage that I can manage?)
- Distance
- The accuracy
This year’s lineup goes a long way toward speed, because accuracy was such a mainstay for most companies over the past few years. So the speed companies that tried to make Ping-like drivers (you know who you are) got close enough and are now going back to what they do best: making the ball go far.
What you club buyermust be known
So how can you deal with this onslaught of information and make informed purchasing decisions? Here we are here at GOLF/Fully equipped we will do our best through our honest content and discoveries to help you. So much so that we’ve created a new version of ClubTest launching in February that I think gives consumers a deeper look at what will work (or not) for their games.
At the end of the day, ANY club from the main producers is a noise. Even companies that specialize in one part of the bag over others—eg, PXG (irons), Srixon/Cleveland (irons/wedges), and Mizuno (irons)—have serious Metalwood deals for 2026.
My advice? Hit as many things as possible and get a feel for the user experience. Also, on those first few swings, ignore the numbers, because as you’ll see in my remarks below, finding the right clubs for your game will come down to your winner anyway. Pay attention to sight, feel (sound), curb attraction, pleasure, etc. Once you find any club you are excited to explore, then you can figure out how to call it with an assembler.
Get fit (especially this year)
2026 could be the most competitive year ever in the club market. Check that: She IS most competitive year ever. I will never single out a club and say, “This is the best!” — I actually hate that word as it relates to the device, because it’s a lie. Best for who? When? How? It is an empty statement and misinforms consumers. If I ever said it, I retract!
This year will be a fitting war. For example, today TaylorMade is launching its Qi4D linea wild offering by any metric. Great story: fast, forgiving, looks great, etc. It does all things. But it’s also a nuanced technology that requires a good fitter to crack it. Much like an expensive bottle of wine — yes, you can pop the cork and start munching, but getting a seasoned sommelier to make it for you turns it from a pleasant 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, make it perfect. Spend the extra dough to get it right. Some may say, “Yes, but maybe next year something ‘better’ will come.” Maybe but a really A skilled driver will last you a lot longer than the club dealers will tell you. Trust me, I’ve been on both sides. So if you’re a serious buyer or just want to confirm that what you have is right for your game, do it with a fitter.
Buy a new club only if it significantly outperforms your current player. My guess is that this year in particular will be a year that the new can overtake the old. This was not true for the past 4-5 years, but 2026 is different.
When I say it’s a fit fight, I mean it. OEMs have all stepped up their games this year knowing their technology needs a sommelier to make it cook. I love this and experienced it myself last fall when I tested all of these things. And it’s not just TaylorMade. Callaway, Ping and PXG all have new releases in which a putter will be the key to your success. My hope is that every OEM takes it upon themselves to ensure that brand agnostic assemblers – ie. The real specs — knows every trick in the book to unlock a club’s potential. Every company should see adaptation as priority no. 1, even more than the product.
Why? Because your fitting protocol is the key to making 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 either strengthening their processes or developing new ones. It’s such a big deal.
So, if you’re one of those “grab it off the shelf” shoppers, I’d advise you to change your tactic – now. We in the media will give you plenty to consider and so will OEM marketing. But mark my words: It’s an absolute dogfight in 2026, and the power is in your hands to find YOUR driver than the one with more noise.
You can’t make a bad choice this year – but the process of getting to that choice is everything. Take your time, ask us a bunch of questions, 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 like fine-tuning your technique is a process, so is buying new clubs. If my crew and I do something at a high level, it will help you call YOUR the process. Make no mistake, golf is expensive and new clubs are not a no-brainer purchase. They require time, diligence and self-reflection. In my first 11 months here at GOLF.com, I have worked hard to set the table with strategy and talent (Jake Morrow and Jack Hirsh) so that 2026 will be the year that you golfer has honest and unbiased information that you can actually use.
The hardware media is full of talented creators, but from where I sit, it’s time we all stood up and informed the masses in a more nuanced way. You’ll see a flood of content from the fully equipped crew this year: an indispensable resource you can rely on to answer all your gear questions.
We’re here to help, and honestly, I’m still trying to figure it all out myself. This year is a highlight for my game, which has been miserable the last few years. I want to play the best golf of my life in my 50s, and this year is when I’m going to really prepare from a physical and equipment standpoint. I’m tired of absorbing golf; like others, i just want to get better. I’m excited to hear what you guys experience this year and will relate it to my journey. You can find me on Instagram here. My DMs are open.
Happy launch season! It will be wild.
