00:00 Hello everyone and welcome to Black Bear Golf Club. In this video in which we're going to
00:04 take a look at some of the biggest golf equipment related trends in 2023. You're going to hear
00:10 from the Golf Monthly gear team and everyone has picked two trends that they've spotted
00:15 from all of the different launches we've seen so far this year. Right, let's get started.
00:21 Okay, so for my first golf gear trend of 2023, I'm looking at the driver market and it's
00:26 something that I've noticed not just this season actually but last season as well and
00:30 that's that the low spin heads in each of the brands driver families to me is becoming
00:35 just that little bit more playable for handicapped golfers. So models like the Strixen ZX7,
00:41 they're not that low spinning as a standard setup which I think is a really good thing.
00:45 It means that to me they just feel that bit more playable. If you do need to knock a bit
00:49 of spin out, obviously there's things you can do in terms of the shaft and the loft
00:53 that's set up with a good fitting so they can play ultra low spin if you need them to
00:58 but the standard setup just to me feels a little possibly a fraction higher spinning
01:02 and therefore a little bit more playable as well. So my first gear trend for 2023 would
01:07 be brands offering more traditionally lofted game improvement irons. I think one of the
01:11 frustrating things I've seen down the years is game improvement irons getting stronger
01:15 and stronger in loft to deliver more distance but really alienating in the process the high
01:20 handicap golfer with slower swing speeds because they're just not able at their speeds to be
01:24 able to get optimum ball flights and stopping power into greens which really gives them
01:28 the distance and therefore the confidence to carry on playing the game and really enjoying
01:31 it. So we're seeing brands like Mizuno with its JPX923 Hot Metal High Launch and Ping
01:37 with its High Launch build in the G430 iron range offering something more traditional
01:41 in loft, very forgiving clubs and also a little bit lighter as well to help slower swinging
01:46 golfers get the ball up in the air a little bit more easily and therefore giving them
01:49 more carry distance as well as more stopping power into greens. So it should make the game
01:54 much more easier for these slower swinging golfers with high handicappers and that will
01:58 help them enjoy the game a little bit more. One of the trends that I've seen in 2023 with
02:03 fairway woods is the redistribution of weight from the crown to the sole. As you can see
02:08 here in the Mizuno STZ230 fairway wood we've got a carbon crown here and the weight has
02:15 been redistributed to the sole of the club inside the Cortec chamber highlighted in blue
02:21 here that increases MOI and forgiveness, ease of launch and that's why this has been one
02:27 of the most forgiving fairway woods we've seen this year. My first trend in golf grim
02:32 for 2023 is draw bias drivers. Now these have been around for a while but I think one of
02:37 the differences with the models that we're seeing from this year is that they don't seem
02:40 to be quite as strong with the draw emphasis. I've been testing a lot of the models, we've
02:44 had the Stealth 2HD, we've got the Strixen ZX5 but there's the Callaway Paradigm X and
02:50 there's the Ping SFT. Now all of these models aim to try and create a little bit more draw
02:54 bias but the emphasis now seems to be on hitting it just straight and these drivers will tend
03:00 to increase the spin a little bit so they're maybe not for high swing speed players but
03:04 if you've got a swing speed around about 90 miles or less then these are drivers well
03:07 worth considering because in testing we've been seeing that rather than them really putting
03:11 a big left swing on the ball if you're playing right handed it just tends to be a little
03:16 bit straight and if you've got a slight draw then it will straighten it up as well so they
03:20 seem to be a lot more playable for more players and that's a trend I expect to see continuing
03:24 with all the drivers going forward. Ok so this one is all about price and rather unsurprisingly
03:30 we have seen a few prices go up in 2023. Two things, firstly I'd say that it's not across
03:36 the board, it's sort of some brands are putting prices up, others are keeping them where they
03:41 are and of the brands that have put their prices up a little bit this year they're probably
03:46 not quite as drastic as I would have expected. Now what that does mean is that those brands
03:51 that are offering good value clubs that come in a bit less, those clubs are looking even
03:56 better value for money I'd say in 2023. Off the top of my head the one that really stands
04:00 out is the PXG 0211 driver, I think you get a lot of fantastic performance from that driver
04:05 and it comes in with a recommended retail price of just £199 so I think there are some
04:10 really good bargains even to be had but you'll have to do a little bit of shopping around
04:15 to find them. Another gear trend I've seen this year is hybrids aimed at the slightly
04:20 better player becoming a little bit larger and a little bit more toe heavy in their shape.
04:24 Traditionally down the years we've seen these sorts of hybrids be very toe heavy in their
04:28 shape like the Titleist TS3 or the Callaway Apex Pro being quite asymmetrical and we're
04:33 seeing a trend here, this is the new TSR3 hybrid, you can see here it's a little bit
04:37 bulkier and it is a little bit more symmetrical from heel to toe and that seems to be a trend
04:41 we're seeing a lot of different brands offering like Peangs, Srixon, Callaway offering more
04:46 traditionally looking hybrids and a little bit larger to give you a little bit more confidence
04:49 behind the ball and from the testing I've done so far it seems to produce better results.
04:54 So my second trend of 2023 is the return of gloss black crowns. So as we saw last year
05:02 the TaylorMade Stealth and Callaway's Rogue ST line had a matte and satin black finish
05:09 so we were expecting to see that again this year and only two brands have returned with
05:13 a matte black finish being the Ping and the Srixon. Apart from that we've got two examples
05:18 here of the TaylorMade and the Callaway Paradigm that have gone back to a gloss black finish.
05:24 I think personally it looks a bit more sleek, a bit more premium and that's my second trend
05:29 of 2023. Now my second equipment trend for 2023 is high MRI putters which have a little
05:34 bit of toe hang. So what do I mean by that? Well a high MRI putter is usually these mallet
05:38 styles and usually when you see them they'll come with what's called face balance. That
05:42 means when you're balancing your hand the face is going to point straight at the sky.
05:45 If you had a blade putter with lots of toe hang then the toe will hang down about that
05:50 sort of angle and what that does is help if you've got an arc stroke to square the face.
05:54 What you're seeing a lot more of now is as with the Scottie Cameron it's a high MRI head
05:59 but it's only got about 20 degrees of toe hang. What that does mean is you've got all
06:03 the forgiveness that a mallet head brings but it's going to allow the face to rotate
06:06 a little bit. All putting strokes do come on an arc so even when you've got a face balanced
06:11 head and you go straight back straight through you can feel the head resisting a little bit
06:16 what your hands are doing. If you have a putter that has a little bit of turn in it your hands
06:20 can relax and then you hold a lot more putts. So how do you spot this? Well the best way
06:24 of course is to do this but the real key is in the hosel. That's quite a short hosel there
06:28 but if you look for putters which have that type of short hosel that'll give you the same
06:33 sort of toe hang there. But even with an offset hosel like this one because the head is so
06:41 high in my balance this is a PXG then again you've got the same toe hang. I see this has
06:46 been around for a while but you're seeing all the main manufacturers putting this style
06:49 of putter into the range so look out for this and hopefully it'll make you hold a few more
06:53 putts. So there you have it that's our look at golf gear trends. Obviously we haven't
06:58 spotted everything so if you've spotted a few different golf gear trends please do feel
07:02 free to leave some comments below we'd love to hear what you have to say. But that's it
07:05 for now from Black Bear Golf Club. Thanks for watching, we'll see you next time.
07:08 [Music]
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