Welcome to Fully eligible 2026GOLF’s new platform to provide you with real golfer insight into which 2026 equipment might be best for your game. To that end, we gathered six GOLF content creators of varying abilities and put them through the gauntlet of six full-bag rigs (from driver to bag!) at six major club manufacturers in Phoenix and Carlsbad, California.
***
It was a grand experiment.
Rather than list each of the major golf club companies’ new releases for this year in a way that doesn’t guide you to what’s best for your game, we did something different. We sent six of our GOLF builders to six of the major manufacturers’ assembly facilities in Phoenix and Southern California for six equipment for full bags during the nine days.
The mission was simple: put together each of our panelists’ dream setups for 2026 clubs in the hopes that you can relate to one of their games and be able to learn more about which clubs might work for you.
FULLY CUSTOMIZED: Why we’re ‘testing’ golf clubs differently this year | Browse 2026 Leaders | Browse 2026 bars
Dream trip? No doubt – but also exhausting! (See the little violins.)
Panelists included our GOLF Fully equipped equipment team—Johnny Wunder (director), Jake Morrow (content manager) and myself (associate editor)—along with GOLF editors Sean Zak and Maddi MacClurg, and Fairway Jockey president Wadeh Maroun.
It was an education like no other. We learned about our swings, our games, our clubs and our bodies—like how many golf balls we could hit in a week without breaking down.
To browse our final bags from the project, by clicking the links below or continue reading for a brief overview of our journey.
Jake Morrow (handicap: 0) | Jack Hirsch (2) | Johnny Wunder (2) | Wadeh Maroun (2) | Mad MacClurg (5.6) | Sean Zak (7.8)
Fully Fit 2026 Day 1: Ping Proving Grounds (Phoenix)
;)
Jack Hirsh/GOLF
Our journey started in Phoenix on a flat grassy area in the middle of an industrial park. The Ping Proving Grounds location makes a lot of sense when you consider the long industrial history of Ping’s parent company, Karsten Manufacturing.
On the proving grounds, we encountered our first travel companion: new driver Ping G440 K, a club that can be hit across the face and still shoot the ball like a racket. The new one S259 wedge also proved popular. Had we all just found our driver at the first stop of the trip? Of course, it was too early to make any decisions, but it was a good reminder that every company’s gear is so good; the final selection would not be an easy task.
Fully Fit 2026 Day 2: TaylorMade Kingdom (Carlsbad, California)
;)
Adam Christensen
A quick hop over the sun-baked desert on the Southern California coast and we were off to our next stop in the Kingdom of TaylorMade. The name was fitting as we changed shoes in a locker room next to Tiger Woods’ golf bag while looking at Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy’s bags from their respective 2025 major wins.
At TaylorMade, the fit wars kicked into high gear with their many shifts new Qi4D drivers, fairway woods and hybrids. Many of us were also eager to be able to one Spider shooterthe winningest golf family on the PGA Tour last year.
Fully Fit 2026 Day 3: Titleist Performance Institute (Oceanside, California)
;)
Jack Hirsh/GOLF
Our next stop took us to arguably the OEM’s most impressive facilities: the Titleist Performance Institute. The TPI is less of a convenience facility and more of a Candy Land for golf nerds. It’s a massive 33-acre range set on a plateau overlooking the Pacific Ocean with 10 different greens that can play as a par-3 or short course designed by David McLay-Kidd.
Here our panelists were schooled on Titleist’s “three Ds” of iron fitting, while also being introduced to the latest Vokey SM11 wedges and Scotty Cameron Phantom putters—not to mention going through a top-down assembly to dial in the most important piece of gear in the bag. We were half way done, but many more to come!
Fully Fit 2026 Day 4: The Cobra Tour Fit Experience (Encinitas, California)
;)
Jack Hirsh/GOLF
At the end of our first week, we arrived on the back range at Encinitas Ranch Golf Course to work with the Cobra team and their young OPTM metal wood AND 3DP Iron Connection. Cobra’s Tour Fitting Experience uses their vintage Tour truck to give players the experience of a tour-level fitting, and we got just that, especially with the appearance of tour representative Ben Schomin.
We could have ended the trip right here. The complete 2026 Cobra lineup, top to bottomit’s the best it’s ever been, and everyone could walk away with everything they need to play great golf. But the show goes on!
Fully Fit 2026 Day 5: Ely Callaway Performance Center (Carlsbad, California)
;)
Adam Christensen/GOLF
The second week of our rig saw our group refreshed after a weekend off and ready to head to Callaway’s Ely Callaway Performance Center where speed was the name of the game.
Callaway’s new Quantum drivers they were fast and accompanied by new ones Chrome 2026 Tournament Golf Ballsthey were equal fasterwith many of us seeing our fastest travel ball speeds. Now we all had a lot to think about when it came to our setups.
Fully eligible 2026 Day 6: Cleveland/Srixon/XXIO at Navy Golf Course (Cypress, California)
;)
Adam Christensen/GOLF
Our sixth and final stop on the trip took us north to Orange County, where a young Tiger Woods learned the game at the Navy Golf Course. We were all on our last legs, having pushed our bodies to the limit, but sometimes that’s the best time to adjust.
