Dan Mercer
Runs the desk and writes the opinion column. Plays off single figures, has tested more gear than is sensible, and writes the stuff he'd want to read.
Latest by Dan
Tour Bags Are Now a Year Ahead of the Shop, and That Is the Point
Ryan Fox won the Open with a driver you cannot buy, at any price, on any date. Days later Srixon put more unreleased gear into play. The gap between the tour truck and the pro shop has stopped being an accident.
By Dan Mercer
How to get a golf handicap (and why it's cheaper and easier than you think)
You no longer need a pricey club membership or a stack of medal cards. Here's the fastest route to an official Handicap Index in 2026 — and the everyday rounds that now count towards it.
By Dan Mercer
Skechers GO GOLF Elite 6 review: is 'most comfortable shoe in golf' enough?
Skechers keeps winning the comfort argument on golf shoes. Whether that's the shoe you should buy depends entirely on how — and where — you play.
By Dan Mercer
5 tiny upgrades that never leave a golfer's bag — unlike most of what you buy
No swing promises, no subscriptions — just 5 small, cheap bits of kit that each solve one genuine on-course annoyance so well they stay in the bag for years. The list, and exactly what each one fixes.
By Dan Mercer
Kirkland Signature vs Titleist Pro V1: is the Costco ball really 90% of the Pro V1 for a third of the price?
The cult Costco ball has become the internet's favourite way to call out premium-ball pricing. The robot data says it's genuinely close — closer than the price gap has any right to allow. Here's exactly where it matches the Pro V1, where it doesn't, and who should stop paying full whack.
By Dan Mercer
The smartest time to buy a golf simulator is the middle of summer
Nobody is thinking about indoor golf in July — which is exactly why the golfer who builds now plays all winter while everyone else is fighting over stock in November.
By Dan Mercer
Golf GPS in 2026: what's actually worth buying now
Golf GPS had a big year — laser-and-GPS hybrids, connected rangefinders and slope displays that finally earn their keep. Here's the landscape: what's worth your money now, and the new arrivals worth knowing about.
By Dan Mercer
The golf glove is the cheapest upgrade in golf — and most golfers get it wrong
A glove touches every full swing you make, costs less than a sleeve of premium balls, and most golfers play the wrong one for the conditions. Here's the small rotation of gloves that keeps your grip locked in — dry, wet, cold and sweltering — for the price of one premium dozen.
By Dan Mercer
You're told to buy 15 things to start golf. You need about 6.
The golf industry loves a beginner with a credit card. But most of the starter shopping list exists to sell you gear, not to get you playing — and half of it will actively slow your progress. Here's the honest list of what a new golfer actually needs, and the expensive stuff you should absolutely not buy yet.
By Dan Mercer
Age steals 20 yards off your tee — and a new driver isn't how you get them back
The decline is real and it's measurable, but the industry's answer — buy the newest driver every two years — targets the smallest lever. The three that actually move the needle are recoverable clubhead speed, a ball matched to your slower swing, and the weight you're carrying up the fairway.
By Dan Mercer
The best golf GPS watch is the one you'll actually wear
Golf watches now range from a simple yardage display to a rugged solar computer that tracks every shot. The trick isn't buying the most features — it's matching the watch to how you actually play and what you'll genuinely use. Here's how to pick the right tier.
By Dan Mercer
"Golf isn't a sport" is a dead argument. The players adding distance already know it.
The modern game is an athletic, speed-obsessed pursuit, and the amateurs actually gaining yards are the ones treating their bodies like athletes do. The gap almost nobody works on isn't swing reps — it's recovery and mobility, the cheapest speed you're leaving on the table.
By Dan Mercer
Your yardages are fiction — and millions of tracked shots prove it
Ask a golfer how far he hits his 7-iron and you'll get a number. Ask a shot-tracking database and you'll get a different, shorter, truer one. The gap between the two is costing you more strokes than your swing is — and the fix costs a month of honesty, not a new set of irons.
By Dan Mercer
How good are cheap rangefinders now? Good enough to embarrass a Bushnell
The gap between a pocket-money laser and a flagship one has quietly collapsed. For most golfers a value rangefinder now does the whole job — here's the ladder from dirt-cheap to feature-loaded, and exactly where the extra money still buys you something real.
By Dan Mercer
Your back-nine collapse isn't fatigue — it's dehydration, and it's costing you strokes
Sports science puts the threshold at around two per cent of body mass: lose that much to sweat and your fine motor control and decision-making measurably degrade. A four-hour round in July heat gets you there easily if you drink on autopilot. Here's the protocol — and the gear that makes it effortless.
By Dan Mercer
Swing speed training, explained: distance stopped being something you buy
MyGolfSpy's 2026 Most Wanted test hit 20,580 shots with 42 drivers and found the gaps between them are tiny. The gap between swing speeds is enormous — and overspeed training is the one proven way to move yours. Here's how speed sticks actually work, what they cost you in time, and who should skip them.
By Dan Mercer
The push cart won America — riding should be the exception now
Walking golf boomed in 2020 out of necessity and never receded: a walked round is roughly five miles and comfortably north of a thousand calories, the old trolley stigma is dead, and the courses that banned push carts have quietly given up. On the busiest golf weekend of America's year, here's the case for making the cart the exception.
By Dan Mercer
The only part of the club you touch is the part you never replace
Golf Pride just launched a whole new grip geometry out of Pinehurst, which is a good moment for an awkward question: when did you last change yours? Worn grips force tighter grip pressure, which quietly wrecks face control — and fixing it costs about a dozen premium balls.
By Dan Mercer
New, last year's, or used: how to buy golf gear smart in 2026
With a flood of new launches this year, here is a money-savvy framework for when full price is worth it and when it absolutely isn't.
By Dan Mercer
What the 'longest driver of 2026' number won't tell you
Every year a chart crowns one driver the longest, and every year thousands of golfers buy the wrong club because of it.
By Dan Mercer
Starting golf? The gear that matters — and the gear that doesn't
New golfers waste the most money on the wrong things. Where your first spend actually buys progress — and what to ignore until you're properly hooked.
By Dan Mercer
Are lake balls worth it? The honest answer
Grade-A lake balls give you most of a premium ball for a fraction of the cost — if you buy the right grade. Here's how to tell recovered from refinished, and who should bother.
By Dan Mercer
The most overrated gear in golf (and what to buy instead)
Golf is spectacularly good at selling you the wrong thing. Here's where the money quietly leaks out of your bag — and the unglamorous stuff that actually drops shots.
By Dan Mercer
FootJoy StaSof review: the premium glove tour pros have trusted for decades
The best feel and grip money can buy in a glove — as long as you accept that premium Cabretta leather wears faster than synthetic.
By Dan Mercer
adidas Tour360 25 review: the classic golf shoe with trainer comfort
Twenty years of adidas's flagship, now with BOOST cushioning and proper waterproof leather. Is it the best blend of tradition and tech yet?
By Dan Mercer
Buy last year's driver — it's the smartest club purchase in golf
The new flagship is a few yards and a big premium away from the one it replaced. Let someone else pay for the newness.
By Dan Mercer
Vessel Player V Pro review: the carry bag that feels like a luxury good
Stupidly nice to own, genuinely good to carry — if you can stomach the price, almost nothing else feels like this.
By Dan Mercer
You don't need a new driver. You need a fitting.
Every January the longest driver ever arrives — again. The dirty secret is that the gains are tiny and the real distance is in a fitting bay, not a new badge.
By Dan Mercer
Stop buying premium balls if you lose three a round
The Pro V1 is a magnificent golf ball. It's also a waste of your money if it spends half its life in the trees. The honest maths.
By Dan Mercer
Pro V1 vs Chrome Tour: the premium ball question
The two balls most good players agonise over. They're closer than the tribalism suggests — here's how to actually choose.
By Dan Mercer
Zero-torque putters: hype or help? (And the cheaper alternatives)
Golf's hottest putter category, decoded. It's genuinely useful if your short putts miss left and right — and you no longer have to spend L.A.B. money to get it.
By Dan Mercer
Direct-to-consumer irons are the smartest buy in golf right now
You're paying a brand tax on irons and the independent data has finally called the bluff. Here's the case for buying DTC — and the one catch to manage.
By Dan Mercer
Stop buying alignment sticks you'll never use — the only 3 training aids worth it
Your garage is a graveyard of gadgets. Here are the three that actually earn their place, and why everything else is clutter.
By Dan Mercer
An electric trolley is the best money I've spent on golf
Not the clubs, not the gadgets. The thing that made me enjoy walking 18 again was the least glamorous purchase in the bag.
By Dan Mercer
You're not good enough for blades — and that's completely fine
Blades look incredible in the bag and cost you shots on the course. A loving intervention for the ego-buyer.
By Dan Mercer
Get a putter fitting before you get a driver fitting
You use it on nearly half your shots and almost nobody fits it. The most neglected, highest-value fitting in golf.
By Dan Mercer
