Golfing News & Blog Articles

OUR JOB IS YOUR GAME

Player’s irons don’t offer the same measure of technology that you’ll find in other iron categories. Instead, the category offers the target golfer a compelling blend of precision and craftsmanship with a side of harsh truth. Well-struck shots are often rewarded, while mishits are punished—often severely. While stronger players can benefit from designs in the player’s iron category, the majority of double-digit handicap golfers will be better served elsewhere.

For our 2022 player’s iron test, we’ve focused on models added to the market since our last test. As will become standard practice, we’ve also included the winner of last year’s test.

MOST WANTED SCORING

We have reformulated our 2022 Most Wanted results to a 100-point scoring system. This new system better identifies golf clubs to potentially help you shoot lower scores.

For player’s irons, we’ve split our key metrics into three categories.

Britain's Georgia Hall carded a one-under-par 71 to win the Saudi Ladies International in Jeddah on Sunday, and her second Ladies European Tour title.

Sam Burns moved to No. 10 in the world for the first time after repeating at Innisbrook on Sunday.

Shaun Norris carded a 70 in his final round to win the DP World Tour's Steyn City Championship with 25 under par on Sunday.

Putter Fitting 101

What was your first putter? I remember my first—a PING B60 knock-off. My grandma bought it for me in the mid-2000s. A bargain at $25. I used it from the eighth grade through high school. Memories were made with that putter, both sweet and bitter. More often, frustrating. I’m nostalgic just writing about it. I’m certain you might be, too, recalling your first. That’s the thing with putters. We form an overwhelming, everlasting bond with them. In the end, that might be our undoing, especially when it comes to shooting lower scores.

For me, times have changed. Shooting lower scores is my No. 1 goal and it should be yours. Back in 2010, when I graduated high school, I had zero comprehension of a putter fitting. It’s 2022 and there are still golfers who aren’t aware of putter fittings and the potential improvements they can produce.

This isn’t rocket science so let’s take a look at some key, simple ingredients that go into a putter fitting.

Fitting Ingredients

Toe hangLoftLengthLie angle

Toe Hang

Picture this. You have just been exposed to the game of golf and now you have to choose a putter. Right off the bat, most beginners probably won’t know what “toe hang” is. Let’s keep it simple.

Take a putter in your hand, balance it about three-quarters of the way down the putter shaft and let gravity take over. This is a simple way for anyone to estimate what their putter’s natural toe hang is. Give it a go.

Davis Riley played before the biggest crowd at the Valspar Championship and delivered his best performance.

Shaun Norris opened a four-shot lead after three rounds of the Steyn City Championship on Saturday, putting the South African in prime position for his first European tour title.

“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” – Greek philosopher Epictetus 

Golf mirrors life in so many ways, which is why the game is so great and there’s so much to it. One of those ways is having to deal with the frustrations and setbacks when things don’t go our way. In a game with such a fine line between success and failure, this is an inevitable part of our journey. How we respond to challenges and failure – in golf and in life – is a big factor in our long-term success and overall happiness. 

Immediately after hitting a poor shot is one of those times. If we are not able to choose the best response, those initial feelings of disappointment can quickly turn into a loss of confidence and affect the mental state we bring to the next moment. 

Picture the scene, you’re about to tee off on the first hole of a tournament. You’re feeling nervous and uncomfortable because this tournament means a lot to you, and you want to get off to a good start. The gathering of people around the tee box doesn’t help either. You take a deep breath and go through your pre shot routine but you make a tentative swing and the ball spins away and goes out of bounds. You’re a little frazzled by what just happened and despite your best efforts to calm yourself down, your re-load isn’t much better and finds the trees. There is a sinking feeling when you quickly realize you are staring a triple bogey or worse in the face. Not the start you wanted. I’m sure you’ve experienced something similar, we all have. How you deal with this feeling and reset yourself, can make or break your round. 

Why is a Post Shot Routine important?

Adam Hadwin, who won his first PGA Tour title at the Valspar Championship five years ago, took a one-shot lead at the event on Friday.

Shaun Norris opened a three-shot lead with a second-round 62 at the Steyn City Championship in South Africa on Friday.

COBRA Limited Edition Black Drivers and Wedges

New limited black finish for LTDx drivers and KING Cobra wedgesDrivers get an all-black color scheme with a white LIN-Q aftermarket shaftFull KING COBRA wedge line gets stain black QPQ finishDrivers $599; wedges $149Available starting today

Today’s release of the new COBRA Limited Edition Black drivers and wedges is simultaneously intriguing and predictable.

It’s predictable in that the KING COBRA wedges have been out for a full year now. And OEMs love giving their gear – particularly wedges – a second-year boost with a new look. The new COBRA Limited Edition Black wedges certainly check that box.

What’s intriguing is that kind of an admittedly gimmicky boost is unusual for a driver that’s been out for only about two months. If it was anyone other than COBRA it’d be eyebrow-raising curious. But since it is COBRA, who has been known to drop Limited Edition colored drivers like Ted Lasso drops colorful colloquialisms, we can say it’s business as usual.

COBRA Limited Edition Black LTDx Drivers

COBRA is giving the entire LTDx driver family the new blacked-out color scheme. Looking down on the driver, the frame, carbon fiber crown and face are still the same black they’ve been for the past two months. But the white and orange striping on the sides is now gray.

The difference is noticeable once you turn the club over. The traditionally loud orange and white sole accents and orange sole weights are now all black and gray. Now, this is what you call Stealth.

On Wednesday, March 16th golf’s governing bodies (USGA and R&A) sent an official notice to equipment manufacturers regarding “changes that address the long-term cycle of consistent hitting increases in hitting distances.”

The specifics of that memo provide plenty of fodder for future debate, but the entire topic is predicated on a single premise.

Golfers are hitting the ball too far.

Or are they?

Leveraging the Arccos database, which includes 516,000,000+ tracked shots, the data tells a compelling, if not contradictory, story.

The TaylorMade Tour Response is a three-piece golf ball designed for slow to moderate swing speeds.A new striped version offers a radical take on alignment technology.Retail price is $39.99.A new Soft Response ball is also available ($29.99).

The headline is new version of TaylorMade Tour Response but the subhead should prove far more interesting.

A brief recap: The 2022 Tour Response represents the second generation of what was once Project a. What was true with Project a remains true for Tour Response. It’s a three-piece urethane-covered golf ball designed for everyday golfers. That is to say, golfers with moderate swing speeds or who are otherwise “force limited.”

Basically, Tour Response is best suited for slow to mid swing speed golfers.

Where Tour Response Fits

From a competitive standpoint, TaylorMade looks at Tour Response a couple of different ways.

Sam Burns has a share of the Thursday lead along with Adam Hadwin, David Lipsky and Jhonattan Vegas in the Valspar Championship.