Take a look at the 2009 Golf Digest Hot List
The 2009 Golf Digest Hot List offers a wealth of information for golfers, whether they are avid golf equipment enthusiasts or casual observers looking at the latest trends in clubs and accessories. Golf Digest’s annual equipment ranking includes drivers, fairway woods, hybrids, irons, wedges, putters, bags, balls and more.
The Process
You might be curious about how experts rate golf equipment, such as Callaway drivers and TaylorMade irons. This spreadsheet has thousands of data points. There are hundreds of pages of technical information from manufacturers. Scientists. It also contains four parts. The four-part criteria includes a visit to San Jose in California for testing.
It is exhaustive. Golf Digest evaluated these results. “universe”A total of 471 clubs were entered. They were judged on four factors: 1) Performance (40%), 2) Innovation (30%), 3) Look/Sound/Feel (20%), and (4) Demand (10%).
Once all facts and data had been collected, judges participated in nine days worth of meetings. They also debated 800 times to create the 116 club Hot List. The judges ate plenty of takeout meals along the way.
Following is a peek at this year’s list.
Drivers
Golf Digest divides the category of golfers into drivers above $350 and those below $350. After that, it divides them into the gold and silver winners.
There were three winners of gold in the Over $350 category: the Callaway FT-9 (pictured), the PING Rapture V2 (pictured) and the TaylorMade r7 Limited.
Judges judging the FT-9 said that Callaway was the most proficient at multi-material use. The PING Rapture V2 has similar features to the PING G10 in terms of balance, carry and appearance. TaylorMade r7 Limited comes with movableweights and an Ozik shaft. It is said to have the most comfortable feel on any club.
Adams Speedline and Callaway Big Bertha Diablo were the gold winners of the Under $350 category. PING G10, TaylorMade Burner, and Callaway Big Bertha Diablo also won.
Irons
The three types of irons that correlate with interest and playing ability are: supergame improvement, game improvement, and irons for players.
Callaway X-22 and TaylorMade Burner were the gold winners in game-improvement. One player claimed he could blindfold the Callaway X-22 Irons. He said, “Sign me up.” Callaway X-22 was the leader in Demand, which is an evaluation of interest, reputation and excitement. PING G10 continues to be a leader in category, while TaylorMade Burner Irons were a strong contender, winning three categories, performance, innovation, and appearance/sound/feel.
TaylorMade was also awarded a Gold Winner in Super Game Improvement Category: The Burner Plus. It features an over-sized clubhead, offset and helps to get the ball into the air.
Titleist AP2 was the winner in the Players Irons category. TaylorMade Tour Preferred and Callaway X-22 Tour were also winners. Callaway X-Forged, TaylorMade Tour Preferred and PING models PING S57 are four of the six gold medalists.
Putters
Putter might be the most valuable golf club. Golf Digest examined two major categories of putters: mallet and blade.
The Odyssey Black Series I #6, TaylorMade Daytona TPKIA MA, and Titleist Cameron Studio Select were the gold winners for the category of blade putter over $200. They won in each of the four criteria, performance, sound/feel, and demand.
The top choices in the category of blade putter under $200 were the Odyssey White Hot Tour 1 and two PING Anser models, as well as the TaylorMade Daytona.
The Odyssey Black Series I 2-Ball and PING iWi Craz–E were the gold winners in the mallet putting category. MacGregor, Titleist Cameron models and Odyssey were also the top-ranked mid-mallet putting machines.
Bags
The Hot List judge took a close look at the lightweight bags. “do it all”Cart bags were selected by the 21 winners. Models from PING, TaylorMade and Titleist were the top winners of silver and gold, as well as models from Bag Boy and Ogio and Wilson.
What are the Tour Pros’ Plays
Which are the most important roles of top tour professional? Here are just some examples.
Callaway: Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Annika Sorenstam
TaylorMade Kenny Perry, Sergio Garcia, Paula Creamer
PING Angel Cabrera, Lorena Ochoa, Hunter Mahan
Titleist: Steve Stricker, Zach Johnson, Adam Scott