Moving forward on a weekly basis I will be giving my opinion, thoughts and insight on equipment-world happenings. As someone who has navigated this business from a few 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 in tearing things down but rather to give you the insight and intel that I have been able to unlock in my almost eight years doing this. It’s been an interesting ride to say the least, and I’m excited to learn, discuss and debate on this platform.
For starters, I’ll be posting a link to this article on my X account 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 so all your opinions are welcome. (But let’s keep it classy, people — this is golf, after all! Nobody is curing anything over here.)
With that 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 new product is dropped onto the market and we, the gear-head community, go absolutely bonkers. But why the pandemonium? Why does the driver that was so awesome on Dec. 31 become all but obsolete on Jan. 8?
The short answer: It doesn’t. Or shouldn’t. Same goes for the driver from 2024, ’23, ’22 or even down to 2020. Truth is, the days of hitting the ball 20 yards farther with a driver switch are gone. Of course, distance is only one part of a four-piece pie. I’d rank the importance of driver-performance categories like this:
- Reliability (do I hit it solid most of the time?)
- Efficiency (is there a consistent miss I can manage?)
- Distance
- Accuracy
This year’s lineup goes heavy on speed, because accuracy was such a pillar 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 now are returning to what they do best: making the ball go far.
What you, the club buyer, needs to know
So, how can you deal with this onslaught of information and make informed buying decisions? This is where we here at GOLF/Fully Equipped will do our best via honest content and our own discoveries to help you. So much to the point that we’ve created a new version of ClubTest that will launch in February that I think gives consumers a deeper look into what will work (or not) for their games.
At the end of the day, every club from the leading manufacturers is a banger. Even the companies that have specialized in one part of the bag over the others — i.e., PXG (irons), Srixon/Cleveland (irons/wedges) and Mizuno (irons) — have serious metal wood offerings for 2026.
My advice? Hit as much stuff as you possibly can and get a feel for the user experience. Also, with those first 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 fitter anyway. Pay attention to the look, feel (sound), curb appeal, enjoyment, etc. Once you find any club you are excited to explore, then you can figure out how to get it dialed with a fitter.
Get fit (this year especially)
2026 might be the most competitive year ever in the club market. Check that: It is the most competitive year ever. I won’t ever single out a club and say, “This is the best!” — I actually hate that word as it relates to gear, because it’s a lie. Best for who? When? How? It’s an empty statement and misinforms consumers. If I’ve ever said it, I retract!
This year will be a fitting war. For example, today TaylorMade is launching its Qi4D lineup, an outrageous offering by every metric. Great story: fast, forgiving, looks amazing, etc. It does all the things. But it’s also a nuanced piece of technology that requires a good fitter to crack it open. Kinda like an expensive bottle of wine — yes, you can pop the cork and start chugging but getting a seasoned sommelier to do it for you takes it from a nice drink to an unforgettable experience. Qi4D is like that.
It’s also my contention that if you are going to spend $700+ on a stick, make it perfect. Spend the extra dough to do it right. Some might say, “Yeah, but maybe next year something ‘better’ will arrive.” Maybe but a really well fit driver will last you way longer than what club marketers 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.
Only buy a new club if it substantially out performs your current gamer. My hunch is that this year in particular will be a year that the new beats out the old. That wasn’t true a ton over the past 4-5 years but 2026 is different.
When I say it’s a fitting war, I mean it. The OEMs have all stepped up their games this year knowing that their tech requires a sommelier to make it cook. I love that, and I experienced myself last fall when I tested all this stuff. And it’s not just TaylorMade. Callaway, Ping and PXG all have new releases in which a fitter will be the key to your success. My hope is that each OEM takes it upon itself to make sure that the brand-agnostic fitters — i.e., True Spec — knows every trick in the book to unlock a club’s potential. Every company has to look at fitting as the No. 1 priority, even more so than product.
Why? Because your fitting protocol is the key to making your club actually do its thing. That’s truer this launch season than I have ever seen, and behind the scenes all the major OEMs are either bolstering their processes or developing new ones. It’s that big of a deal.
So, if you’re one of those “grab it off the rack” buyers, I’d advise you to change your tactic — now. We in the media will give you a lot to consider and so will 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 find your driver rather than the one simply with the most buzz.
You cannot make a bad choice this year — but the process to landing on that choice is everything. Take your time, ask us a ton of questions, get honest about what you need.
We’re 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’s a process. Just as fixing your technique is a process, so is buying new clubs. If my crew and I do anything at a high level, it’s assisting you in dialing in your process. Make no mistake, golf is expensive, and new clubs aren’t mindless purchases. They take time, diligence and self-reflection. In my first 11 months here at GOLF.com, I’ve been working hard to set the table with strategy and talent (Jake Morrow and Jack Hirsh) so that 2026 is the year that you the golfer have honest, unbiased information that you can actually use.
Equipment media is full of talented creators, but from where I sit, it’s time for us all to level up and inform the masses in a more nuanced way. You’ll see a deluge of content from the Fully Equipped crew this year: a must-have resource that you can rely on to answer all your gear questions.
We’re here to help you, and honestly I’m still trying to sort through it all myself. This year is a huge pivot point for my game, which has been woeful in recent years. I want to play the best golf of my life in my 50s, and this year is when I will truly prepare from a physical and equipment standpoint. I’m tired of sucking at golf; like the rest of you, I just want to get better. I’m pumped to hear what you guys experience this year and will relate it to my own journey. You can find me on Instagram here. My DMs are open.
Happy launch season! It’s gonna be wild.
