Top Gear 22

From drivers to putters, here are the best tested. What will be in your bag?

Top Gear 22 is where you'll find all the latest drivers, fairways, hybrids, irons, wedges and putters compared against each other, with published launch monitor data and recommendations of the top performers.

Everything that's new in 2022 has been hit (aside from Titleist's SM9 wedge), amounting to more than 200 clubs in total. Once we'd crunched all the data, the top-performing models in each category emerged.

These are the cream of this year's clubs; they highlight which will perform for you, based on launch monitor data. If you're in the market for any new clubs this year, use our recommendations to narrow your shortlist. Then get fitted, as that's the only way to optimise new models for you.

HOW WE DID IT

We asked all the major equipment manufacturers to submit their entire 2022 ranges for testing. We created a controlled test environment indoors and used a premium golf ball (TaylorMade's TP5x). We collected a ton of data from every shot hit, using a TrackMan launch monitor.

THE DATA

Before we came to any conclusions, we analysed the data for each club tested (excluding putters) on distance, spin rates and forgiveness. The latter we refer to as drop-offs the differences in ball speed, spin and carry between our test pro's on and off-centre hits.

This insight gives a reliable indication of how forgiving each model will be on the course, as we've argued for years that dispersion can be very misleading as it's based on how you swing on a particular day.

All that data was analysed, from which the top performers emerged, all for your benefit.

FORGIVING DRIVERS

CALLAWAY ROGUE ST MAX

LOFTS 9° / 10.5° / 12°

STOCK SHAFT Mitsubishi Tensei AV White 60 or Blue 50 / Project X Cypher