Golf Digest 2007 Hotlist

[Pa Jayhawk]

Just reposting this from other thread. Courtesy of WBL
http://www.golfdigest.com/flash/hotlist

But for now you have to buy the issue.... (no "detailed" info on website yet) It looks like the FT-5 is their driver of choice this year followed closely by the new Big Bertha and also their FT-i. A Callaway runaway!!

I didn't buy the issue I just read this stuff off the website.

http://www.golfdigest.com/flash/hotlist/
... been waiting for that. Thanks!!!

edit 1 - Clicking on the clubs will give you details

 

[Rockford35]

All Callaway, Cobra, Nike, Titleist and TM. I wonder what 4 companies to the most advertising in GD magazine...

Not one mention of Bridgestone or Tour Edge. Ridiculous.

R35

 

[ezra76]

Quite cryin, Cleveland's in there.

Does Tour Edge have anything new?

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

All Callaway, Cobra, Nike, Titleist and TM. I wonder what 4 companies to the most advertising in GD magazine...

Not one mention of Bridgestone or Tour Edge. Ridiculous.

R35

They are in there, and rated under options such as Personal Preference, and performance. Just not on the editors choice. Actually the driver and hybrids are on the front page if you scroll down or look closely.

 

[Rockford35]

I still don't buy it. In 06, the Exotics fairways were rated in the top 10. This year, not even close. And, in 06, they scoffed at the $350 price tag for a fairway that lead to comments like "I can't even describe the feeling of this, it's like nothing I've ever it. I've never hit a longer fairway".

Yet, at $400 for the R7 TP, price wasn't an issue, and it still made it ahead of the Exotics on the list. Ridiculous.

This list is just a popularity contest biased towards on those companies that have a larger image. You can't deny this, it's pretty evident.

R35

 

[Slingblade61]

Where's the doe eyed innocence Rock?

You're much to young to be such a cynic.

 

[Rockford35]

It's in my Golf Digest hating nature to be a cynic.

I just wish they'd test "everything" rather than just what's hand picked by the editors.

R35

 

[ezra76]

They tested the Miura CB-301's. That surprised me. I don't particularly care for the look of them, the 201's are a much better looking club.

 

[FKA19]

It's in my Golf Digest hating nature to be a cynic.

I just wish they'd test "everything" rather than just what's hand picked by the editors.

R35

appaerently companies send in clubc to be tested or something of the sort. thats what i heard from some other board.

 

[Jules150]

I have to admit, not a single driver on that list turns me on.

 

[limpalong]

This list is just a popularity contest biased towards on those companies that have a larger image. You can't deny this, it's pretty evident.

R35

And, that is a large component of the "Industry Hot List". This is a completely different model than, say, Golf Magazine's Annual Club Test. The GM club test puts many clubs in the hands of many testers. The GD Industry Hot List has 4 staffers (judges) pour over piles and piles of statistics and data. What are customers asking for? What is turning for retailers? What are MSRP's of the various models? What do manufacturers say is new and different... cutting edge... technology about a particular model?
From this myraid of data, certain things become evident. Certainly, the TEE's have been a huge success for Tour Edge. We who live and breathe this game know the accolades that have accompanied the TEE. Yet... honestly... how many people off the street will walk in to a shop and be interested in a $400 fairway wood from a manufacturer they have never heard of? How often will the average consumer purchase an unknown for $400, when new fairways from a Callaway or a Titleist.... well known brands... are available at half the price? Doesn't make the TEE any less special!! Doesn't make the TEE any less phenomonal!!! But, within the industry, Tour Edge struggles to be a "hot" item with a relatively unknown name and, historically, associated with "value" priced equipment.
I sincerely think your moniker of "popularity contest" is an extremely good definition. That, in my opinion, is exactly what the "Industry Hot List" is meant to be! If I am a retailer in this industry, I can glean from this article good advice for stocking my shop with equipment that is moving. If I am a consumer, I can glean from this article new technology... examples of what is selling well within the industry... a feel for what might be value priced or overpriced... Nowhere, that I can see, is this "Industry Hot List" a playability review with only factors of distance.... workability... forgiveness... etc., the criteria for acheiving the top ratings. A playability review, gleaned from paper data, is only a single component of many in an attempt to determine what is currently "hot" within the golf industry.

We see on this site, and on most any other DB, an ongoing "discussion" about what is the best equipment out there. The opinions expressed are quite subjective. Therein, again in my opinion, lies the flaw in something like the Golf Magazine Annual Club Review. I don't care if a club does feel good to 20 testers of various handicap levels... that club may not look good to my eyes or fit my budget or work with my swing or.... The subject Golf Digest Industry Hot List, does give me a glimpse at what is making 'noise' in the industry this season. The top 5, or so, items in each category will be the items most likely to be seen in the bags of your fellow golfers around the local course as they seek to take quarters out of your pocket this next year.

 

[Rockford35]

Great post.

I'll guess just continue to take the quarters out of the pockets of my competitors with my lesser known and, according to GD, inferior equipment.

R35

 

[emc]

I have to admit, not a single driver on that list turns me on.

That's because the 905R wasn't there

 

[emc]

That's because the 905R wasn't there

I still prefer the club tests in the UK magazines, even though a lot of them are targeted with high handicaps in mind. In one mag they tested about 50 sets of irons, in Player's, GI, Super GI.

Here's a link: http://www.todaysgolfer.co.uk/nav?page=todaysgolfer.contentspage&view_resource=3314275

 

[LyleG]

Titleist never submits Titleist labled clubs to be tested, for either the hot list or GOLF magazines club test.