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Does new equipment really improve on the past?

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MaineFootWedge

MaineFootWedge

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Albatross 2026 Club
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With companies all coming out with their new offerings soon, they will all be claiming incredible gains and improvements on their past equipment.
But does it really live up to the hype, or is it just that.............hype to get us to buy it??

I've seen many tests on YouTube with old clubs vs new clubs, and the differences are very minimal at best. But we all like to have the newest, latest, greatest thing no matter what the cost is.

What do you think....................real or hype?
 
Golf equipment is a funny thing. I was active on another golf board for over 20 years. Occassionally I'd go back randomly 7-15 years in the equipment forums. If you took out the name of the clubs, the conversations were essentially the exact same as they were the current year. :)

Overall, I think golf equipment has steadily gotten better. I think the crop of drivers today is better than 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago. But that doesn't mean there weren't some really good clubs made back then. I could play some of my old favorite drivers, the R5 and G400 Max and play some really good golf.

I think the changes in irons have been around increasing launch and distance. But there were good irons back in the day that we could all play golf with.

IMO, the changes have been more modest in fairway woods and putters....and these are often the clubs that are oldest in a lot of player's bags.
 
To answer the question.
Yes.
 
There have definitely been some advances in materials used and Ai tech infused, which leads to more forgiveness.
But in distance gains, there doesn't seem to be as much advances.

Putter inserts seems to be a big improvement with Ai tech being used to make them much more forgiving for off center hits.

Don't get me wrong................I love having new shiny items every year, but there are tests out there that show that big gains are not a thing.
 
FKN3PUT said:
With companies all coming out with their new offerings soon, they will all be claiming incredible gains and improvements on their past equipment.
But does it really live up to the hype, or is it just that.............hype to get us to buy it??

I've seen many tests on YouTube with old clubs vs new clubs, and the differences are very minimal at best. But we all like to have the newest, latest, greatest thing no matter what the cost is.

What do you think....................real or hype?
Click to expand...
Yes, it’s real.

We have some he man marketing haters here, but the reality is, improvements are real.

Issue for many, like those tests you reference, is they test primarily on the button, when the biggest leaps have been everywhere else.

Is an advancement gen to gen enough for upgrading? That’s up to the person. But when you get into 3+ generations the differences re drastic, specifically in woods.
 
Definitely the new equipment is much better at off center hits then the equipment of yesteryear.

I can hit a toe shot with my Elyte driver and still get it in play and with good distance.........but years ago the old driver would send it off to never never land or worm burn it 20 yards.
 
Improvements are real, they’re just not Earth shattering.
 
mantan said:
Golf equipment is a funny thing. I was active on another golf board for over 20 years. Occassionally I'd go back randomly 7-15 years in the equipment forums. If you took out the name of the clubs, the conversations were essentially the exact same as they were the current year. :)

Overall, I think golf equipment has steadily gotten better. I think the crop of drivers today is better than 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago. But that doesn't mean there weren't some really good clubs made back then. I could play some of my old favorite drivers, the R5 and G400 Max and play some really good golf.

I think the changes in irons have been around increasing launch and distance. But there were good irons back in the day that we could all play golf with.

IMO, the changes have been more modest in fairway woods and putters....and these are often the clubs that are oldest in a lot of player's bags.
Click to expand...

Please don't hold the amount of times i called something "all-timers" against me lol
 
I think you'll see improvements every year but don't think we see massive improvements every year or at least it's rare. Clubs and equipment is better than the past for sure
 
FKN3PUT said:
With companies all coming out with their new offerings soon, they will all be claiming incredible gains and improvements on their past equipment.
But does it really live up to the hype, or is it just that.............hype to get us to buy it??

I've seen many tests on YouTube with old clubs vs new clubs, and the differences are very minimal at best. But we all like to have the newest, latest, greatest thing no matter what the cost is.

What do you think....................real or hype?
Click to expand...

I think the problem with golf clubs is the improvements are incremental, but in the past, the marketing was a bit too bombastic.

So, for some it's hard to reconcile this. Are new drivers going to get you 10 yards more every release? No they will not. But that does not mean they are not better. As @mantan pointed out above if you've been around a while you remember "When someone offers you 17 more yards , you take it!!!" and various other marketing lines. These probably sour the market a bit at times. But they served their purpose

I've done real trackman tests of 10-15yr old clubs versus my current ones. On the one hand , you hit the older ones better than you think you will....but on the other hand, you do actually see the improvements

Better launch (loft for loft), better forgiveness on off-center hits etc.

I think a handful of people at 2 companies caused a lot of trust issues with marketing. But the clubs are genuinely better then they were
 
of course. In most cases.
 
I think overall they get incrementally better with time. That doesn't mean that each club gets better each year or that the best club for any individual player is a model from this year.
 
I think often times, the benefit of newer technology is muddied by excellent swings, or tiny sample sizes.
 
MtlJeff said:
I think the problem with golf clubs is the improvements are incremental, but in the past, the marketing was a bit too bombastic.
Click to expand...
This is where I think the "hype" label is earned. They clearly overstate what's going on year to year.
 
Absolutely yes. But (for me) less than many think.
 
I also think marketing is a bit misunderstood.

If a company takes a new product to a range and the average distance improvement between those why try and their gamers is 10 yards, they aren't wrong by saying that. Does it mean those golfers were fit for their current product or using something made in this side of the century? No, of course it doesn't.

I think the discussion shifting from demo day experience to realized gains like MOI or etc is a good thing.
 
DataDude said:
This is where I think the "hype" label is earned. They clearly overstate what's going on year to year.
Click to expand...
what is overstated by companies recently?
 
Between ball and equipment, 100% better.
 
FKN3PUT said:
There have definitely been some advances in materials used and Ai tech infused, which leads to more forgiveness.
But in distance gains, there doesn't seem to be as much advances.

Putter inserts seems to be a big improvement with Ai tech being used to make them much more forgiving for off center hits.

Don't get me wrong................I love having new shiny items every year, but there are tests out there that show that big gains are not a thing.
Click to expand...
Pure distance gains, on center face hits, are hard to come by at this point because just about every OEM is maxed out on what they can do and still meet conformance. The distance gains are more about ball speed retention on off-center strikes. That doesn't provide as much benefit to the really good golfers who hit the sweet spot most/all of the time, but it's a huge benefit to higher caps who tend to, uhhh, explore the face a little more.
 
Canadan said:
what is overstated by companies recently?
Click to expand...
You see this and only this in a store and what does it imply?

1762889155998.png
 
BigMac said:
Pure distance gains, on center face hits, are hard to come by at this point because just about every OEM is maxed out on what they can do and still meet conformance. The distance gains are more about ball speed retention on off-center strikes. That doesn't provide as much benefit to the really good golfers who hit the sweet spot most/all of the time, but it's a huge benefit to higher caps who tend to, uhhh, explore the face a little more.
Click to expand...

Yes, we get our money's worth out of the face of the club
LOL

I agree...........forgiveness is going to be the biggest gains now for most of us, and I'm good with that since I need all the forgiveness they can give me.
 
Nobody has anything long enough to hit the new off of it before it’s onto the next thing, how would you know?

🤣
 
Yes it does. Does it help every specific individual with their problems? No. But it inproves
 
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