Are we in a golden age of equipment?

[SquirrelyDave]

During that era there were some driver heads being offered in the 400 to 440 size range. Also fairway metals in the 140CC to 160CC size range. Hybrids in the 100CC to 110CC size range. I think the 425 or so driver size is easier to consistently square at impact. I definitely believe the older, smaller head size fairway metals and hybrids were easier to play off sloped, grassy, hard pan and and other less than ideal lies.
Today's fairway metal and hybrid heads are a bit too large. Also, the recent trend of using rubber-plastic all over the sole of these clubs does not make good sense for playing shots from the ground.
Finally, I do believe the former epoxied shaft-to-head connection offer a bit richer and more stable impact sound/feel than today's adapter connected offerings.

I don’t think I can argue any of those points. I think there’s something to be said for the tech we’ve got now, but I do think there’s room for the smaller profile stuff, and there’s at least some of that on the market.

 

[David Lake]

I do not think that marketing hype has the impact on today's golfers as it has in the past. The fact is that there are some very good equipment choices out there currently.

 

[DG_1234]

I don’t think I can argue any of those points. I think there’s something to be said for the tech we’ve got now, but I do think there’s room for the smaller profile stuff, and there’s at least some of that on the market.

I agree "there is something to be said for the tech we've got now".
A few months ago I bought a set of G700's, Ping's most recent super game improvement-super tech iron offering. I made the purchase because I wanted to give the latest tech a try. What I've learned is that the large head high tech super forgiving irons do absolutely provide both distance and accuracy forgiveness. However for me, the large heads are a bit harder to square at impact so they actually promote more mishits than does a traditional size iron head. For this reason I think sometimes new tech-larger heads are kind of a two edged sword.

 

[KingSinghUNLTD]

I dunno if it's necessarily a golden age, because while nearly all the equipment is very good today, we aren't experiencing radical shifts in the equipment landscape like the era of titanium drivers or graphite shafts. While this is good because technological advances have reduced the likelihood that a product line is likely to be a stinker (by my estimation, we're about five years removed from the last product whiff by a major OEM) I'd say that improvements are still quite incremental after you initially get your toe in the proverbial waters. That is, the first time you get fitted with modern equipment you'll see a jump in performance, but after that, gains will be a little harder to come by or quantify.

That's not a bad thing, necessarily. Only that it's becoming more obvious to me that a revolutionary leap in club performance is (probably) not happening this year...and next year doesn't look awesome either.

Couldn’t have said it better....

 

[KingSinghUNLTD]

A blind test would be so much fun to do, especially in drivers. Try to take out any bias and just let the numbers do the talking.

I feel with drivers the looks play a role in inspiring confidence or feeling helpless. If one takes away the looks, one can look at the robot testing results. Personally I prefer the blind test idea for shafts only but can see how someone would be inclined to do it with drivers/other clubs.

 

[KingSinghUNLTD]

I think this just seems like the golden age for equipment because of the dissemination of information, the ease of accessing the information, the availability of technology to generate this information (Sam PuttLab, Trackman etc.) and exchange of information by hackers at portals like THP. Surely people had similar feelings when steel shafts were first used in irons.

There is also the downside of enormous amounts of information...the use of podcasts, vlogs, and other channels by OEMs for promotion (aka “hype”), sponsorships etc.

So no, I’m not certain it is the golden age, it just feels like it because of the information available today.