Innehållsförteckning för Hot List SIP 2025 från Golf Digest

SCIENTISTS MARTIN BROUILLETTE, PH.D. Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sherbrooke TOM MASE, PH.D. Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo JOHN MCPHEE, PH.D. Professor of Systems Design Engineering, University of Waterloo DICK RUGGE Senior Technical Director (retired), USGA FITTERS CHRIS MARCHINI Director of Golf Experience, Golf Galaxy, Coraopolis, Pa. ANDREW FARLOW Golf Galaxy, Richmond, Va. ALEX KENNEDY Golf Galaxy, Pittsburgh DEVIN LOGUE Golf Galaxy, Richmond, Va. DANIEL MARTINEZ Golf Galaxy, Orlando PAT SNYDER Golf Galaxy, Pittsburgh…

As drivers have become bigger, lighter and more forgiving—thank you, manufacturers!—you probably have picked up some distance without doing anything to your swing. However, I know distance gains are addictive, so now you might be tempted to go at the ball harder than ever. That’s fine, but don’t make the mistake of adding speed to your driver swing in the wrong place. I’ll explain. Many amateurs sacrifice yardage by thinking they need to swing down hard into the ball at the start of the downswing. This notion typically leads to the driver slowing down as it meets the ball. There’s no snap-like action through impact. What you want to do is think about having the club moving its fastest at the ball or even after it. Think of it like…

If you look at the heads of most game-improvement and super-game-improvement irons, you’ll probably notice they look like they’ll make it easier to hit the ball higher and straighter. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, but even with those features, you still have to make a swing that capitalizes on their design. Many poorer iron players swing down into the ball too steeply, and that creates a lower, clunkier shot. Your emphasis with these clubs should be to make a shallower swing into impact, which will promote better contact and get the ball up. You don’t want to feel bunched up; you want a feeling of extension. One way to better understand this approach is to think about something I call the “tree of trust.” If you visualize and then…

Just as there was with the first Hot List 22 years ago, there’s a kind of pursuit of the impossible that drives our equipment testing. While “What are the best new clubs?” seems a straightforward enough enterprise, each possible answer only spurs more questions. “Best” is a word that draws a lot of attention, but we here at Hot List Central present our annual collection of drivers, woods, hybrids, irons, wedges and putters in terms of what fits your game and your swing. These are the clubs that should move to the top of your own shopping list. Although the intent of our testing hasn’t changed in two decades, the process for getting this year’s Hot List and its 143 winners in front of you is almost unrecognizable. What once…

The versatility and ease of use of the newest fairway woods make them a popular—and wise—choice if getting the ball in play is more important than maxing out your distance with a driver. The thing to remember, however, is that these clubs are designed to get the ball up in the air when it’s resting on the ground. Knowing that, you have to make a couple of adjustments if you’re going with a 5-wood or similar off the tee. The first is to check your ball position. The big mistake is to play it like you’re swinging a driver. If you address the ball up by the heel of your lead foot, you make it much harder to catch it on the center of the face. Instead, play it a…

One area of the game where you should have a healthy expectation of success is pitching. Although wedge technology is better than ever, you still need to take advantage of it, so let’s review how to set up and swing when you’re trying to hit a green inside of, say, 50 yards. The common mistake because of the look of the club is to get into a setup where you can scoop the ball off the turf. Instead of hanging back with your body as I’m showing (below, left), which will likely cause you to hit it fat or thin, you should get into a more aggressive setup. Your sternum should be in front of the ball. I’m dangling a club from it (below, right) to show just how much…

High-lofted wedges are more forgiving and userfriendly than ever. In addition to being designed to glide along the turf better, many have bigger heads and grooves from one end of the face to the other. Not only do they give you a decent result on less-than-perfect strikes, they also can add more touch to your shots around the greens. Here’s one way to take advantage of the tech. I often see amateurs mistakenly decelerate the club into the ball because of a lack of confidence—they fear hitting the chip too far. You have to keep your speed up through impact, and one way to be more aggressive is to strike the ball closer to the toe of the clubface. This deadens the shot, so it doesn’t go as far. It’s…

1. HOW OFTEN DO YOU BUY NEW CLUBS? A I get a new driver every other year, maybe three years on the irons, and one season with wedges. B Most interested in the driver but certainly wouldn’t go five years without changing out my whole bag. C Is Nike still making clubs? I think my irons are Nike. I also have a sweet chipper you can use lefty or righty. 2. YOU JUST WON A SET OF MUSCLEBACK BLADES IN A RAFFLE. WHAT DO YOU DO NEXT? A Trade those in for an iron fitting for a proper set for me because no one who isn’t on TV should be playing those. B Get them re-shafted to my specs. C No 2-iron? These are worthless. Give me the Derek Jeter-autographed…

In addition to our overall star ratings for each club in Performance and Look/Sound/Feel, we also ask our player-testers to provide their input in two other dimensions that you will see in the individual club writeups. First, we look at the collective average of each player’s score for the Look, Sound/Feel and Performance criteria for clubs that earned one of the Top 5 highest average scores based on player handicap. So you will see in the writeups a mention of a club that earned a Top 5 average score for a particular handicap group in one of those criterion. Another area where you will see ratings are what we call “vectors.” These are meant to be descriptive ratings about a certain characteristic of a club, and in most cases (exceptions…

To take advantage of the technology in your driver, especially if you don’t swing it over 100 miles per hour, you might have been told it’s best to tee the ball high and catch it on the upswing. Do that, and you’ll maximize the time the ball stays in the air and minimize the amount of distance-robbing backspin. That’s good advice, but perhaps more important to getting the most out of your driver is to make sure you strike the ball in the center of the face. If you’ve been hitting the ball high on the face more often than not, it’s probably the result of having a steeper downswing. Your club might be descending as it reaches the ball or even be level with the turf. If you keep…

There’s no question that higher-lofted fairway woods have really increased in popularity in recent years. Even some tour pros are using 7-woods when they were once thought of as taboo for better players. That said, hybrids still are a popular, user-friendly option for average players who struggle to hit middle and long irons. To that point, the thing to remember about hybrids is that they are intended to be used more like irons. With the beefy clubhead, I know they sort of look like a fairway wood, but you’ll get a lot more out of these clubs if you set up and swing like you’re holding a 5-iron. That means playing the ball more in the middle of your stance and striking the ball with a slightly downward angle of…

No matter whether your wedge is brand new or 20 years old, you’re still facing the same dilemma in a greenside bunker. You’ve got to trust that if you make a big swing through the sand with it and purposely miss the ball, the shot is going to come out high and soft and stop quickly on the green. Bunker play is all about commitment, and I’ve got a great way for you to practice it that will boost your confidence. There’s something strange about making a big swing on a short shot with the intent of hitting behind the ball. Seeing the ball sitting there can prompt you to do all kinds of things that make these shots a lot harder. So why not practice without a ball until a…