Clubs
Drivers, irons, wedges and putters — what actually adds distance, dials in your approach play and holes more putts.
Scotty Cameron Newport 2 vs Ping PLD DS72: an arc-stroke blade that now has a carbon steel insert, against Hovland's face-balanced, solid-milled mallet
Scotty replaced the Super Select Newport 2 with a Studio Style version in March 2025, and the shop Newport 2 isn't solid-faced any more. Against it, the PLD Milled DS72 Hovland has used since his first win. Neck, face, fit, the tour bags, and who should buy which.
By Dan Mercer
Takomo Lumo M1 vs Odyssey Ai-ONE Jailbird: the low-torque mallet costs about a third less, and the neck decides between them
Takomo's new Lumo M1, its first putter, went on sale on 7 October as a direct-to-consumer answer to the stable mallets. It is cheaper than the Ai-ONE Jailbird but isn't half the price, and it gets there with a heel shaft and onset instead of a centre shaft.
By Ross Hamilton
Srixon ZXi RKT LS vs ZXi LS: a taller face and a quieter head, or last year's low-spin driver at 38% less
Srixon cut the first ZXi LS hard as the RKT LS reached shops on 16 October. Same size, same lofts, same front-and-back weights. What changed is the face, the shape and the sound, and Ryan Fox's Open driver is neither of them.
By Jordan Hale
TaylorMade Spider Tour X vs Scotty Cameron Phantom 12: three neck options against one, and the one is built for a straight stroke
Two big tour mallets at similar money. The Spider comes with 21 degrees of toe hang, 30 degrees or face-balanced; the Phantom 12 comes one way. The face, the aim line and what the tour bags we track say about each.
By Ross Hamilton
SIK Pro C-Series vs T.P. Mills Trad II: the SIK corrects a wandering forward press, the Mills is a one-off you buy for the craft
Bryson DeChambeau putts with one and Jordan Spieth with the other, and they could hardly come from more different beliefs. One face is engineered to cancel out what your hands do at impact. The other is a single hand-finished head whose selling point is the person who made it.
By Ross Hamilton
Mizuno Pro M-15 vs Takomo 101 MKII: the expensive set's gain is in the mid irons, the cheap one's is in the long
These two sets have never been judged against each other, because MyGolfSpy did not put them in the same category. That line, not the gap between the prices, is the decision in front of you.
By Jordan Hale
Scotty Cameron Phantom 3.2 vs Phantom 12: same price, same face insert, and only one lets the face rotate
Scotty added exactly two shapes to the 2026 Phantom line and put the same number on both tickets. They also share a face. What is left to choose between is the neck, and that has a right answer for you specifically.
By Ross Hamilton
Tour Edge Exotics Milled vs PING S259: the cheaper line starts at 50 degrees, and your gap wedge decides this
One of these lines runs from 46 to 62 degrees and changes its groove design as the loft climbs. The other starts at 50, puts one milled face across all 17 configurations and spends its variety on bounce instead. Where the top of your wedge set sits settles it.
By Ross Hamilton
TaylorMade Qi4D vs Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond Max: only one is built to be bought off the rack
Both landed in January, both are nine months into a twelve-month cycle, and both start getting marked down about now. The thing that decides it in September is what happens to each head when there is no fitting bay attached to the purchase.
By Jordan Hale
PuttOut vs Perfect Practice: one of these mats has no hole in it, the other has two and a ball return
Both are sold as putting mats and they are not the same product. One has no hole in it. The other has two, and neither of them is the size of a golf hole.
By Ross Hamilton
Tour Edge Hot Launch Max D vs TaylorMade Qi Max HL: the test winner against the set in every fitting bay
One of these sets won MyGolfSpy's 2026 Most Wanted title in super game-improvement irons. The other one is on the rack forty minutes from you, in a bay you can book for Saturday morning. Both of those are real reasons to buy, and only one of them is about the iron.
By Jordan Hale
TaylorMade P770 vs PING i240: one of these is a set, the other is two clubs
Both are compact, both are aimed at good ball strikers, and both turn up in Solheim Cup bags this week. But the tour usage says they are not competing for the same slot in your bag at all.
By Jordan Hale
Odyssey White Hot OG Rossie vs Tri-Hot 5K Double Wide: a face insert from 2000 against tungsten in the sole
Two Odyssey putters sit on the same rail for almost the same money and answer opposite questions. One is built around a face insert from the year 2000, the other around tungsten in the sole. The tiebreaker is not your stroke arc.
By Ross Hamilton
Ping G440 K vs Titleist GTS2: only one of these is actually sold in a slower-swing build
Both get handed to the same golfer across the same counter, and they solve opposite problems. The tell is not the head, it is the shaft weight on the order form.
By Jordan Hale
Cobra 3DP MB vs Srixon Z-Forged II: one of these blades starts as metal powder
Two musclebacks aimed at the same golfer, made in ways that have nothing in common. One is hammered out of soft carbon steel. The other is printed, lattice and all, and costs roughly twice as much for fewer clubs.
By Jordan Hale
Mizuno Pro M-15 vs Titleist T100: one of these is a tour iron and the other is forgiveness you'd rather not admit you need
Two irons good players cross-shop hardest this year, and they are not two grades of the same club. One asks you to strike it. The other quietly covers for you.
By Jordan Hale
Hi-Toe 5 vs Vokey SM11: the tall wedge finally gets a grind range
TaylorMade's first forged Hi-Toe arrives with five sole grinds, which is TaylorMade competing on Titleist's own ground for the first time. It still won't look like a Vokey at address, and that decides more than you'd think.
By Jordan Hale
Evnroll EZPZ vs L.A.B. DF3: delete the torque, or control it?
Two putters, two opposite answers to the same problem. The DF3 removes face rotation entirely; the EZPZ slows it down and keeps a normal putter's look. Your stroke decides which is right.
By Ross Hamilton
Half the price, or the ball flight you have been missing
One of these iron sets costs roughly half what the other does. That is not the reason to choose between them, and treating it as the reason is how golfers end up with the wrong set.
By Jordan Hale
One of these drivers expects you to book a fitting. The other assumes you never will.
Two 2026 flagships built on opposite theories of where a driver gets dialled in — in a fitting bay, or in the factory. Which one suits you depends far more on that than on head shape or launch numbers.
By Jordan Hale
Titleist GT2 vs Ping G440 Max: speed against the miss you actually hit
Two of the most-fitted drivers in golf, and the choice between them comes down to a question most golfers answer dishonestly.
By Jordan Hale
Titleist T100 vs Ping i240: two players' irons, and one of them is lying to you about your handicap
Both are beautiful, both are fitted, both are aimed at the same golfer on paper. The difference shows up on the strikes you'd rather not talk about.
By Jordan Hale
Vokey SM11 vs TaylorMade MG5: grind range against spin that lasts
These are the two default wedges in golf and they're sold on genuinely different premises. One gives you more ways to match your turf; the other keeps its spin longer. Which matters depends entirely on where you practise.
By Ross Hamilton
Titleist GTS2 vs Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond: two 2026 flagships betting on opposite golfers
One is built around maximum stability, the other around a compact 450cc low-spin head that asks you to find the middle. Golfers cross-shop them on brand loyalty every week, and roughly half of them walk out with the wrong one.
By Jordan Hale
Titleist T100 vs Srixon ZXi7: one costs 27% more and the difference is not what you think
Neither of these goes further than the other. The honest split is turf interaction, shaping and whose fitting cart you can actually get into — and a lot of buyers at this tier are paying for a head when they never made a shaft decision.
By Jordan Hale
TaylorMade R7 Quad Mini vs Callaway Ai Smoke Ti 340: which club are you actually replacing?
Mini drivers have gone from curiosity to a permanent slot in the range. These are the two most credible ways in, and they solve two completely different problems.
By Jordan Hale
TaylorMade Qi4D vs PING G440 Max: the 2026 driver decision most golfers get backwards
Two of the year's biggest drivers, cross-shopped in every fitting bay — and most players walk in chasing the wrong thing. One wins the robot test outright; the other quietly saves more rounds. Here's which head actually belongs in your bag, and why the answer probably isn't the one you'd guess.
By Jordan Hale
Spider ZT vs Odyssey Jailbird: two routes into zero-torque
The big brands' answers to the zero-torque craze, head to head — and which one suits how you actually putt.
By Ross Hamilton
Takomo vs PING: are direct-to-consumer irons really as good?
A value upstart against an iron-making institution. The honest verdict on whether skipping the big brand costs you anything.
By Jordan Hale