Best innovation in golf, last 10 years?

Tadashi70

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What was/is the best innovation in golf in the past 10 years.

The golf ball? Driver? Irons? Hybrids? Maybe it’s a piece of technology not related to the clubs but golf gear. What say you THP?
 
Hybrid technology including driving irons. 10 years ago everything was basically trash, and now you can find a hybrid that matches your eye/feel/disposition, and it'll be premium awesomeness
 
I have to go with Jailbreak. It is honestly the first driver technology that has come along since I switched from a Steelhead III driver to an R9 that I saw a consistent, measurable gain in distance and accuracy.


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Hybrid technology including driving irons. 10 years ago everything was basically trash, and now you can find a hybrid that matches your eye/feel/disposition, and it'll be premium awesomeness

Great choice there.


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i think it's the ball. golf ball performance even at very affordable prices rivals and probably surpasses the very best balls on the market from 10 years ago.

a close second would be graphite in woods and irons. lightweight and strong is something that wasn't available (or as affordable) as it is today.
 
Lower CG irons have really aided the average player. More forgiving, more distance....more fun!!!
 
i think it's the ball. golf ball performance even at very affordable prices rivals and probably surpasses the very best balls on the market from 10 years ago.

a close second would be graphite in woods and irons. lightweight and strong is something that wasn't available (or as affordable) as it is today.

Agreed. The ball followed by advancements in graphite shafts.
 
Adjustable shaft hosels, and moreso the ability to adjust/quick change out a shaft.
 
Adjustable shaft hosels, and moreso the ability to adjust/quick change out a shaft.

110% agree. Completely changed fitting.


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I think it's the modern launch monitor. GC Quad and Trackman have made custom fitting into a massive industry and added a massive layer to golf equipment.
 
Gps/Range finders. Helped speed up the game and drop scores a bit. Can’t recall the last time I walked off a distance.


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Taylor Made GAPR :angel: (OK, Not literally, but...)

Hybrids in general is a category I see big positive change. GAPR is the newest and perhaps best example of how flexible modern hybrid design is. Three profiles (shall we call them hybrid, mid-hybrid, and mid-iron?), four lofts each profile, each with adjustable hosel for fine-tuning, twenty+shafts --> near infinite options to match a club to your gaps, your iron set, and style of play.

Long irons of yester-year are obsolete for 99.9% of us.
 
Interesting question! I think most golf gear has improved pretty much in a linear fashion. If you are going back 20+ years I'd definitely without a doubt say the ball. Today's Tour level balls are 7 trillion light years better than the old balata balls of back then. You killed one, it looked like an egg. You hit it thin, it smiled grotesquely back at you.

If I had to pick I'd probably say Hybrids. I'm not sure I knew they even existed or if I did I thought they were a crutch for bad golfers. I now carry one and while I'd rather hit a 2i off the tee (workability and flight height control) I prefer to hit a hybrid BY FAR from any other lie.

Shafts are another biggie. 10 years ago they were in the baby stages. 10 years before that there was regular and stiff. I own a driver that used to belong to one of the longest hitting pro's in PGA history. He used to hit the ball "four football fields" if you want to know whom it was. It has a stock stiff shaft in it. Sent it to another THP'er to play around with and he was as shocked as me when I first acquired it about the shaft in it.

Now through fitting (ooh ooh, another topic!:)) you get a shaft that is right for your swing. Before you had to try to fit your swing to the shaft. I'm not 100% sure this is a positive as getting a stock shaft, you had to learn how to hit it. Not allowing your swing to be what it is and getting the shaft that best matches it.

Fitting! I've never been as I know my swing and what specs I need, but at some point I'll take the plunge via Club Champion, etc. I guess the more I think about it the more I think that this process with a competent fitter is probably the most important in the last 10 years. I've rarely if ever heard someone that felt they were competently fitted say that their HC went up. In lots of cases it went down almost beyond belief. It still takes a lot of work to improve but having the right gear for you is well worth it.

Lets go with this. With the advent of TrackMan and similar (not to mention affordable home sims!) it's much easier for someone with the proper time to practice to practice correctly and with the correct equipment. I'd venture to guess that almost anyone with unlimited time to practice could get down to a 3-5HC. Most probably to scratch or better with unlimited time, access to today's data, and properly fit clubs.
 
I think it's the modern launch monitor. GC Quad and Trackman have made custom fitting into a massive industry and added a massive layer to golf equipment.

Another very good one...
 
I’m going to have to cop out and say graphite shaft technology. The characteristics the OEMs are able to put into the shafts now are just mind blowing.
 
Twist Face.


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Launch monitors. I remember back in the day when I would help test balls at the TM private range I would have to mark where the ball lands and someone else would mark where it stopped. That is how ball testing was done in 2001
 
I’m going to have to cop out and say graphite shaft technology. The characteristics the OEMs are able to put into the shafts now are just mind blowing.

It’s not really a cop out at all. It’s come so far in the past decade.
 
Hollow body iron progression. Not as flyer'y. Not as terrible sounding. Accurate. Smaller.

It's a blade that isn't a blade. Magical.
 
Imo launch monitors and range finders either gps or laser. I think both of these things have changed golf.

Equipment wise id say hybrids made the biggest dent into peoples bags and then have also evolved within themselves.

I think as of late....jail break has been the first driver to actually live up to any measurable amount of marketing hype. And balls I believe have changed with more urethane balls now also offering cores to help the errant mid and higher cappers and also mid priced balls being more acceptable on the greens to the lower cappers.
 
Spikeless golf shoes! Pretty sure I’ll never walk 18 with spikes ever again. There are lots of others pieces of equipment that have no doubt changed the game, but for me day in and day out, comfortable feet are hard to beat.
 
Arccos/Cobra Connect and or Game Golf
 
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