Gear Of The Year 2018

Looking for new clubs this year? This is the place to start

Now in its third year, Top Gear is firmly part of the calendar. It’s one of the biggest, most comprehensive gear test conducted, and the ONLY place where you’ll find all the latest 2018 drivers, fairway, hybrids, irons, wedges and putters compared against each other, by multiple testers, with published launch monitor data. And it comes at the time when all the new products are available to buy in pro shops.

There are two reasons why four months are spent arranging and conducting this mammoth test. The first is the interest, both in print and online, which reinforced how much golfers want to know about the latest equipment, and how it compares to the gear it’s replacing.

Secondly, the golf equipment market changes every year. Most brands (Ping and Titleist are the notable exceptions) work on annual product cycles, which means a raft of new clubs flood the market at the start of the year. So there’s no point us testing drivers in July or fairway woods in September when almost all those clubs have been on sale for months already.

That’s why we’ve put them all in one special issue, near the start of the golf season – with lots more detail and images.

How we did it

We asked all the major manufacturers to submit their entire 2018 ranges for testing. We tested both indoors with a premium ball and outside in a range bay using range balls, as that’s how many golfers will get fitted. We collected a ton of data from every shot, using a Foresight Sports GC Quad launch monitor and then pored over all this info to come up with our conclusions.

Our launch monitor

We picked Foresight Sports’ GC Quad, as it’s the latest model on the market. Thanks to four high-resolution stereoscopic cameras (which capture 10,000 frames per second) we were able to collect thousands of pieces of data not only from the ball, but also from the clubface. We picked it for several reasons: • We were able to record where every shot impacted the clubface, making it possible to analyse where the fastest shots came from and monitor how much ball speed was lost on off-centre shots •It can be used both indoors and outside. That means we were able to create a controlled environment inside at a comfortable temperature to collect data, while using a premium ball. To ensure data was relevant to you, we also tested outside using range balls •By hooking the Quad up to an ipad, we saw where every shot had gone and recorded how it flew •Its portability let us take it to different ranges if we needed to gain more data Visit www.foresightsports.com for more information.

Where we did it

The tests have been conducted at the National Fitting Centre at The Belfry since 2005. It’s a fabulous facility with indoor fitting bays for the majority of major brands, plus a team of expert club fitters who will help you choose.