GRIPS:Golf Pride ZGRIP Cord (full swing) / SuperStroke Traxion Tour 2.0 (putter)
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Play through rain, shine and everything in between with our favorite umbrellas.
Rain or shine, umbrellas are a sensible and often necessary golf accessory.
If you’re a purist and love to walk the majority of your rounds, umbrellas are a must. Whether fending off the rain as you power through less-than-ideal conditions, or catching a break from the summer heat and the sun’s harmful rays, a good umbrella can make or break a summer round.
Looking to walk the course more this summer? Check out our Best of… lists for push carts, shoes, gloves, hats, and more.
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Your iron game need a boost? Check out these clubs for more speed, height and forgiveness.
Most golfers would love to be able to hit muscleback blades and irons designed for players with abundant clubhead speed and consistency, but the game is hard and those types of clubs are unforgiving. Catch a muscleback blade a little thin, and your 6-iron shot might get 4 feet off the ground. If you make contact far enough out near the toe, you might be lucky to get the ball to advance more than 100 yards in the air.
Thankfully, equipment makers know what most players need is a set of irons that helps generate more ball speed and height, clubs that can compensate for mis-hits. Today’s game-improvement irons pack loads of innovation into shapes that often look like a better-player’s club, which can instill confidence while also lending a helping hand.
If you are in the market for a new set of irons with qualities such as forgiveness, playability and increased distance, talk to a good custom fitter about the game-improvement clubs listed below.
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GRIPS: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
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For players with a consistent swing, there are lots of classic-looking irons available that can enhance their performance.
There was a time, not too long ago, when irons designed for single-digit handicap golfers came in two varieties. If you were good enough to play them, muscleback blades were touted as being the ultimate in feel and control. If you weren’t quite good enough for those, cavity-back options offered a little forgiveness thanks to some perimeter weighting, but they were still compact in size and featured thin toplines, narrow soles and only a touch of offset.
In recent years, however, the better-player iron category has fragmented and added a new genre. While there are still muscleback options for elite players and game-enhancing cavity-backs out there, better-player distance clubs have emerged as one of the hottest areas of the market. They typically have the compact looks of traditional clubs, but use multiple materials and different design features to create more ball speed, increased forgiveness and better performance for players who have a repeatable swing.
Equipment makers typically produce new game-improvement and max game-improvement irons every season, but better-player irons often run on two- or three-year product cycles, meaning they are updated every 24 to 36 months. Why? The market for irons designed for single-digit handicap golfers is significantly smaller and players who often shoot in the 70s (or better) are usually not in the market for new technology. They prefer refinements to things they know and trust, so innovations come more slowly.
If you are someone who typically shoots below 80, who contends at your local club championship or is an aspiring tournament player, the irons listed below could give you the combination of control, feel and distance that you need to take your game to the next level.
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Sure, everyone wants to hole more putts and get more distance off the tee, but pros have accepted the notion, based on analytics, that the more birdie chances you have, the lower your scores will go, even if you are not a great putter. Distance off the tee can help, but accuracy and consistency from the fairway with your irons will translate into birdie chances and keep big numbers off your scorecard.
Below is a list of the players who lead the PGA Tour in strokes gained approach the green, along with the irons they currently play.
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The newest putters from brands like Bettinardi, Odyssey, Ping and TaylorMade are designed to be more forgiving and create a better roll.
There is no club in a golfer’s bag that can instill confidence like a putter. Sure, a new driver that gives you more distance and accuracy is fantastic, but when you have a hot putter you can turn bogeys into pars and halve holes that you should have lost. When you know that your putter is hot, the confidence can bleed into the rest of your game because you don’t feel pressure to hit perfect approach shots and your short game doesn’t have to be flawless. Your putter, as the cliché goes, can make up for a multitude of sins.
Several companies have recently made exciting new putters available. There are traditional-looking, heel-toe weight blades, compact mallets and high-MOI putters that feature new materials and innovative designs. Working with a good custom fitter, one of these putters might help you have your best season on the greens ever.
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Check out which clubs the PGA Tour’s best drivers are using now.
With the Fall Series and the West Coast Swing now in the rearview mirror and the PGA Tour’s Florida Swing having started, there have been enough events played in the 2021-2022 season to start to get a good statistical feel for the game. Most players have competed in at least four to six events, so their stats have meaning and are less likely to see wild changes based on one week’s performance.
One of the most coveted stats on the PGA Tour is strokes gained off the tee, which measures the advantage (or disadvantage) a player has exclusively from his performance on par 4s and par 5s off the tee. A positive number means a player is better than the average golfer on Tour, while a negative number means the player is worse than average. Golfers who excel in this statistic tend to make a lot of money, find themselves in contention on the weekends and become household names. The best season-ending strokes gained off the tee average ever was turned in by Bubba Watson in 2012 (1.485), and Rory McIlroy has finished the season ranked either first or second five times in the past 10 years.
Below is a list of the golfers who rank in the top 10 in strokes gained off the tee, along with the drivers they are currently using.
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Adding extra weight helps Mizuno’s newest putters deliver extra stability in classic-looing shapes.
Gear: Mizuno M.Craft OMOI putters
Specs: Forged and milled 1025 carbon steel heads with interchangeable weights
Who it’s for: Golfers who prefer head-heavy, stable putters in classic shapes
Available: March 17
Price: $349.95 each
The Skinny: By shifting more of the overall weight of each OMOI putter to the head, Mizuno has increased the stability in these classic-looking putters. The moveable weights in the sole allow for further customization.
The deep dive: While Mizuno has been making a concerted effort to grow its share in the wood market, as witnessed by the recent release of the ST-X 220 and ST-Z 200 drivers, fairway woods and hybrids, the Japanese company has long been known for making some of the most sought-after forged irons in golf. These folks know how to superheat metal and craft it into clubs that feel great when they hit a golf ball.
In 2020, Mizuno reentered the North American putter market. For those who might not remember, Scotty Cameron made putters for Mizuno in the early 1990s, and Bob Bettinardi had a line of putters with Mizuno in the 2000s, but the M.Craft series was all Mizuno.
The Mizuno M.Craft OMOI 1 putter (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The three new M.Craft OMOI putters, as with the previously released clubs, all look like putters you have seen before, in keeping with the Mizuno tradition of letting the performance do the talking. The #1 and #2 are classic-looking, heel-toe-weighted blades with a single black alignment line. The #1 is slightly deeper from front to back and has a small slant neck, while the #2 has a thinner topline, longer blade length and a plumber’s neck hosel. The #3 is a compact semi-circular mallet that is face-balanced and has a lone black alignment line and a double-bend hosel. They are each available in chrome, black or blue finish and come standard with a KBS Tour Black Ion-plated shaft and Lamkin Sink Fit pistol grip.
What sets the M.Craft OMOI putters apart is their weight. The #1 and #2 tip the scale at 370 grams, while the #3 is 383 grams. Each putter comes standard with a moveable 8-gram weight in the heel and toe areas of the sole, and a weight kit with two 3-gram weights and two 13-gram weights so players and fitters can customize the swing weight and overall weight easily.
The trend in putters over the last decade has been to make things heavier, but by opting for a slightly lighter shaft and grip, Mizuno said the M.Craft OMOI putters can deliver more stability by being more head-heavy. It also said its research shows that M.Craft OMOI putters make more consistent face rotation through impact, which means the face should point at your intended target more often as you strike the ball.
Swinging a standard-weight putter of about 350 grams, then a M.Craft OMOI at 370 grams, you can feel a subtle difference. It took me about 60 seconds to swap out the 8-gram weights and screw in the 13-gram weights, but the extra 10 grams of total weight did not create a massive difference in how the putter felt during the stroke. That’s probably a good thing, because if the M.Craft OMOI putters felt radically different than traditional putters, it could be unsettling. The trick is to make them look like one of your favorite putters, which they do, but have the benefit of extra stability that added weight can provide.
In the market for some new wedges? We’ve got you covered.
Remember the pitch shot you hit the last time you played golf that flew a little higher than you anticipated, bounced a few times and then rolled 15 feet past the hole? Technique plays a big role in the short game, but if the grooves are worn because your sand wedge or lob wedge is three or four years old, it’s time to consider investing in a new set of wedges.
Most recreational golfers buy their wedges one at a time right off the rack. A 56-degree wedge needs to be replaced, just drive to the store and buy a new one, right?
Maybe, maybe not. Many pros and elite golfers tend to swap out their sand wedges and lob wedges at the same time for two reasons: they wear out both clubs equally fast and they don’t pay for their wedges.
Meanwhile, you do pay for wedges and probably don’t practice and play half as much as the pros do, so it could be tempting to replace clubs one at a time. If your financial situation dictates that, then do it, but replacing your higher-lofted wedges together means you can expect the same type of spin and performance regardless of which club you use.
Pitching wedges and gap wedges are a little different. Those clubs are extensions of your iron set, and you might even use the pitching wedge that came with your irons. That’s fine, just be aware of the distance gaps as you move from your irons to your wedges. Some game-improvement pitching wedges can have as little as 41 degrees of loft, so a typical gap wedge with 52 degrees of loft would create a massive gap in your scoring clubs. A good custom fitter can help you find the ideal mix of irons and wedges, and even manipulate lofts if necessary, to make your gaps logical and systematic.
Lots of research goes into wedges, with new groove designs and head shapes constantly being tested. However, while several companies come out with updated wedge models every year, other companies run wedges on two-year product cycles.
It is also common for brands to introduce a new wedge family but keep the previous generation of wedges available for a second season.
Checking out the clubs below is a great way to start your journey to more spin and better performance around the greens.
