8 Golf Gear Trends

Golf Monthly

In this video Neil Tappin is joined by the Golf Monthly gear team - Joel Tadman, Martin Hopley and Sam De'Ath - to look at the trends they've picked up on from the launches this year. From higher spinning low spin drivers to mallet putters for arcing strokes, there are some interesting developments that could help your game.

Transcript

00:00 Hello everyone and welcome to Black Bear Golf Club and 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

00:16 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

00:50 of spin out, obviously there's things you can do in terms of the shaft and the loft

00:54 as it'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 speed to get

01:25 optimum ball flights and stopping power into greens which really gives them the distance

01:29 and therefore the confidence to carry on playing the game and really enjoying it. So we're

01:32 seeing brands like Mizuno with its JPX923 Hot Metal High Launch and Ping with its High

01:37 Launch build in the G430 iron range offering something more traditional in loft, very forgiving

01:43 clubs and also a little bit lighter as well to help slower swinging golfers get the ball

01:47 up in the air a little bit more easily and therefore giving them more carry distance

01:51 as well as more stopping power into greens. So it should make the game much more easier

01:55 for these slower swinging golfers with high handicappers and that will help them enjoy

01:58 the game a little bit more. One of the trends that I've seen in 2023 with fairway woods

02:04 is the redistribution of weight from the crown to the sole. As you can see here in the Mizuno

02:09 STZ230 fairway wood we've got a carbon crown here and the weight has been redistributed

02:17 to the sole of the club inside the Cortec chamber highlighted in blue here. That increases

02:22 MOI and forgiveness, ease of launch and that's why this has been one of the most forgiving

02:28 fairway woods we've seen this year. My first trend in golf grim for 2023 is draw bias drivers.

02:35 Now these have been around for a while but I think one of the differences with the models

02:38 that we're seeing from this year is that they don't seem to be quite as strong with the

02:41 draw emphasis. I've been testing a lot of the models, we've had the Stealth 2HD, we've

02:45 got the Zrixon ZX5, but there's a Callaway Paradigm X and there's a Ping SFT. Now all

02:52 of these models are aimed to try and create a little bit more draw bias but the emphasis

02:56 now seems to be on hitting it just straight and these drivers will tend to increase the

03:01 spin a little bit so they're maybe not for high swing speed players. But if you've got

03:05 a swing speed around about 90 miles or less then these are drivers well worth considering

03:08 because in testing we've been seeing that rather than really putting a big left swing

03:13 on the ball if you're playing right handed it just tends to be a little bit straight

03:17 and if you've got a slight draw then it will straighten up as well so these seem to be

03:21 a lot more playable for more players and that's a trend I expect to see continuing with all

03:25 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

04:01 out is the PXG 0211 driver, I think you get a lot of fantastic performance from that driver

04:06 and it comes in with a recommended retail price of just £199. So I think there are

04:10 some really good bargains even to be had but you'll have to do a little bit of shopping

04:14 around 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.

04:25 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

04:34 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 Peiying, 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.

04:55 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

05:19 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.

05:46 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

06:07 a little bit. All putting strokes do come on an arc so even when you've got a face balanced

06:12 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

07:06 for now from Black Bear Golf Club. Thanks for watching, we'll see you next time.

07:08 [Music]

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