You know when you have that sensation that next golf season is yours for the taking? I truly feel that way about my golf game in 2026.
A handful of my colleagues and I just returned home from a week-plus of testing the 2026 club offerings from the major manufacturers in Carlsbad, Calif., and Phoenix — and, boy, am I excited.
In fact, I feel so confident that my 2026 set will take my game to the next level that I’ve started fixating on finally qualifying for the U.S. Mid-Amateur. (It doesn’t hurt that next year’s event will be held at Sand Valley’s spectacular Lido course.)
As an equipment editor here at GOLF, I already had a finely optimized setup for my game, and yet I still expect to change every club in my bag next season — with the exceptions of my mini driver, putter and potentially my hybrid. That’s after coming into our recent gauntlet of fittings and testing wary only of my driver setup.
Now I’m certain I will have a set of clubs that mitigates my dreaded left miss while also allowing me to easily hit any shot I want without having to “make it work.” In a video we’ll publish early next year, you’ll see a great example of me making my current driver work as opposed to the driver working for me.
Essential to our testing process were the supremely talented fitters with whom I was lucky enough to work: Bryan Rourke at Ping; Chandler Carr and Brandon Dooley at TaylorMade; Louis Raynard at Titleist; Andrew Lusty at Cobra; and Gerritt Pon at Callaway. Collectively, they help me find new grinds for wedges, different shaft profiles for my woods and irons dialed to my loft/lie specs.
There is so much amazing new tech coming and I’m eager to tell you all about it — but I can’t just quite yet! What I can tell you is that 2026 can’t get here soon enough.
3 Things I’m Thinking
TaylorMade and Ping coming in hot to 2026: While I can’t go into detail about my experiences with the TaylorMade Qi4D and Ping G440K driver yet, I will say these two clubs are already hot on global tours. TaylorMade has its top dogs (Scottie, Rory and Tommy) gaming its new drivers before 2026 even starts, in addition to a host of other pros on various tours. Meanwhile, Ping also has seen strong adoption of its G440K driver; Lauren Coughlin just won with it on Sunday at the Grant Thornton Invitational.
Is Cobra’s mini driver finally coming? Lexi Thompson was spotted with a new Cobra King Tec MD Mini Driver at the Grant Thornton. Could this be the long-awaited Cobra mini driver we’ve seen prototypes of since late last year? Images shared by GolfWRX appear to show finished cosmetics and no mention of “prototype.”
What is Jason Day up to? We used this same headline several weeks ago in this space — and it still applies! In October, Day debuted a set of Avoda prototype irons in his bag. He didn’t play again until the Grant Thornton last week, and came armed not only with a new set of Avoda prototypes but also with a seven-year-old TaylorMade M5 driver, which to this day is my favorite driver I’ve ever owned. (It’s also the driver Tiger Woods gamed at the 2019 Masters.) Day is cooking up some cool stuff for 2026, and I’m 100 percent here for it.
Want to overhaul your bag in 2026? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.
