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Golf gear guides

Buying guides, not hands-on reviews, and we will not pretend otherwise. Each one compares published specifications, explains the fitting logic, and says who a product suits and who it does not. How we research this.

Best Putting Mats: Four Picks and What Roll Speed Buys
Training aids

Best Putting Mats: Four Picks and What Roll Speed Buys

A putting mat is only worth the floor space if its roll is honest and it is long enough to cover the putts that actually cost you shots. Here are four that qualify, and what each specification changes.

14 min read
Best Golf Towels: Three Things That Matter, Four Picks
Apparel

Best Golf Towels: Three Things That Matter, Four Picks

Almost everything written about golf towels is padding. There are three variables, one of them matters more than the other two combined, and once you know which it is the decision takes about a minute.

11 min read
Best Golf Stocking Stuffers: Small, Cheap, Actually Used
Gifts

Best Golf Stocking Stuffers: Small, Cheap, Actually Used

Small golf gifts are where novelty wins and usefulness loses, because a joke towel photographs better than a bag of tees. Here is the version that survives past the first round.

11 min read
Best Golf Shoes: Four Picks, Spiked and Spikeless
Apparel

Best Golf Shoes: Four Picks, Spiked and Spikeless

A golf shoe is the only piece of kit you stand on for four hours and then swing against seventy times. Here is what separates one from another, four worth buying, and the specification almost nobody checks.

13 min read
Best Golf Nets: What Speed Yours Is Actually Rated For
Training aids

Best Golf Nets: What Speed Yours Is Actually Rated For

A golf net has one specification that can hurt you and it is the one most makers leave off the page. Here are four nets, what each one publishes, and how to check a rating against your own club speed.

14 min read
Best Golf Hitting Mats: Base, Turf and the Fat Shot
Training aids

Best Golf Hitting Mats: Base, Turf and the Fat Shot

A hitting mat either tells you the truth about where the club met the ground or it flatters you every single swing. That difference is a construction detail, and it is the only thing worth buying on.

14 min read
Best Golf Gifts for Dad: What He Will Not Buy Himself
Gifts

Best Golf Gifts for Dad: What He Will Not Buy Himself

The problem with buying golf gifts for dad is not that he is hard to please. It is that he has already bought every object he believes he needs, and refuses to spend on the things that would actually help.

12 min read
Best Golf Books: Four Worth Reading, and One to Skip
Training aids

Best Golf Books: Four Worth Reading, and One to Skip

Most golf book lists rank on reputation, which is why the same three titles from the 1990s appear on all of them. What matters is whether a book changes what you do on Tuesday evening.

12 min read
Best Golf Alignment Sticks: What Actually Differs
Training aids

Best Golf Alignment Sticks: What Actually Differs

Alignment sticks are round rods with no moving parts, which makes the real differences between sets easy to hide behind a logo. Here is what each maker publishes, what none of them publish, and where a driveway marker does the same job.

12 min read
Where to Sell Used Golf Clubs, Compared
Where to buy

Where to Sell Used Golf Clubs, Compared

Selling a set is a trade between how much you get and how much work you do to get it. Here is what each route actually pays, and how much of your time it costs to find out.

12 min read
Best Wedges for Beginners: Bounce First, Loft Second
Clubs

Best Wedges for Beginners: Bounce First, Loft Second

A beginner does not need a set of wedges. They need one club that will not dig, and the honesty to admit which shot is actually costing them strokes.

13 min read
Best Putters: Four Picks and the Fitting Logic
Clubs

Best Putters: Four Picks and the Fitting Logic

A putter is the club you use most and the one nobody gets fitted for. Here are four worth buying, what each specification changes, and which ones matter far less than the shop will tell you.

14 min read
Best Putters for Beginners: Fit First, Spend Later
Clubs

Best Putters for Beginners: Fit First, Spend Later

A beginner's putter has one job that money cannot buy and three that it can. Here is which is which, and four clubs that publish enough for you to tell.

13 min read
Best Players Irons: Control, Feel and the Strike Test
Clubs

Best Players Irons: Control, Feel and the Strike Test

A players iron is not a better iron. It is a narrower one, and it only pays back a golfer who finds the middle of the face often enough to notice what it gives them.

14 min read
Best Places to Buy Used Golf Clubs, Compared
Where to buy

Best Places to Buy Used Golf Clubs, Compared

Where you buy a used club decides how much risk you are carrying, not just how much you pay. Here is what each route actually protects you against, and what it costs to skip that protection.

13 min read
Best Online Golf Stores: Range, Shipping and Returns
Where to buy

Best Online Golf Stores: Range, Shipping and Returns

Golf is one of the few categories where the wrong purchase cannot simply be lived with, because a club that does not fit you actively makes you worse. That makes the returns policy part of the price.

12 min read
Best Launch Monitors: Four Picks and What They Measure
Tech

Best Launch Monitors: Four Picks and What They Measure

Every launch monitor gives you a page of numbers. The question worth asking is which of them the sensor actually saw and which it worked out afterwards, because the makers vary enormously in how plainly they say so.

14 min read
Best Irons for Mid Handicappers: The Middle Ground
Clubs

Best Irons for Mid Handicappers: The Middle Ground

The mid handicap iron is the hardest club in golf to shop for, because it is defined by what it gives up rather than what it does. Here is the trade set out in numbers you can check.

14 min read
Best Irons for Beginners: Four Sets, and a Caveat
Clubs

Best Irons for Beginners: Four Sets, and a Caveat

Irons bought on their own are the second most expensive decision in a beginner's bag and the one made with the least information. Here is what a beginner's iron has to do, four sets that do it, and the case for not buying any of them yet.

14 min read
Best Golf Hybrids: Four Picks and the Loft to Buy
Clubs

Best Golf Hybrids: Four Picks and the Loft to Buy

A hybrid only works if it replaces something. Here are four worth buying, how to decide which iron comes out of the bag, and why head size and shaft length matter more than anything printed on the sole.

13 min read
Best Hybrids for Seniors: Below 85 mph, Long Irons Stop
Clubs

Best Hybrids for Seniors: Below 85 mph, Long Irons Stop

A long iron does not become hard to hit at a slower swing speed. It stops working. A hybrid is the club that removes the speed requirement, and the specification that decides how much it removes is printed in grams.

13 min read
Best Golf Wedges: Bounce, Grind and Four Picks
Clubs

Best Golf Wedges: Bounce, Grind and Four Picks

Two 56 degree wedges with different soles behave like different clubs. Here are four worth buying, what bounce and grind actually change, and why a wedge is the one club you should expect to wear out.

14 min read
Best Golf Umbrellas: Four Picks and the Wind Question
Apparel

Best Golf Umbrellas: Four Picks and the Wind Question

One of these four makers publishes a wind speed the umbrella has been tested to. The rest publish a size and a colour. That gap is most of what separates an umbrella that lasts three seasons from one that lasts three holes.

12 min read
Best Golf Travel Bags: Hard Case or Soft Cover Compared
Bags & carts

Best Golf Travel Bags: Hard Case or Soft Cover Compared

Clubs cannot go in the cabin, so a travel bag is the only thing between a driver shaft and a baggage belt. The decision is hard shell against soft cover, and the specification that settles it is interior width.

13 min read
Best Golf Training Aids: Four That Actually Get Used
Training aids

Best Golf Training Aids: Four That Actually Get Used

Most training aids get used twice and then live in a garage. The ones that survive share a single property, and it is not the one on the packaging.

13 min read
Best Golf Tees: Height Matters, Brand Mostly Does Not
Apparel

Best Golf Tees: Height Matters, Brand Mostly Does Not

A tee costs a few cents and the tee you use matters far less than the height you push it to. Here is the part that is real, the part that is marketing, and four packs worth buying.

11 min read
Best Golf Swing Trainers: The Four That Report Back
Training aids

Best Golf Swing Trainers: The Four That Report Back

A swing trainer is worth owning only if it tells you something your own swing was not already telling you. Here are four that do, what each one measures, and the specification three of the four decline to print.

14 min read
Best Golf Swing Analyzers: What They Measure and Why
Tech

Best Golf Swing Analyzers: What They Measure and Why

A launch monitor watches the ball. A swing analyzer watches you, or the club, and never sees the shot at all. That difference decides which of the two is worth your money, and most buyers never have it explained.

13 min read
Best Golf Sunglasses: Tint, Polarisation and Fit
Apparel

Best Golf Sunglasses: Tint, Polarisation and Fit

Golf sunglasses are sold on lens technology and bought on looks, and the one specification that genuinely changes what you see on a green is the one nobody argues about properly.

13 min read
Best Golf Stand Bags: Weight, Legs and Straps Compared
Bags & carts

Best Golf Stand Bags: Weight, Legs and Straps Compared

A stand bag lives or dies on four things: what it weighs, how the legs deploy, how the straps sit and how many slots the top has. Here is what four makers publish, and what each choice costs you.

13 min read
Best Golf Simulators: Four Setups and How to Choose
Tech

Best Golf Simulators: Four Setups and How to Choose

A golf simulator is never really one product. It is a sensor, a screen, an enclosure, a mat and some software, sold in every combination from one box to a full room. Here is what to buy at four different levels and what each one assumes you already have.

14 min read
Best Golf Simulator Enclosures: Four Kits Compared
Tech

Best Golf Simulator Enclosures: Four Kits Compared

The enclosure is the part of a simulator build that turns a screen and a mat into a room you can actually swing in. Here are four kits worth buying, what a frame has to get right, and when a plain net does the job just as well.

13 min read
Best Golf Shoes for Walking: Four Picks for 18 on Foot
Apparel

Best Golf Shoes for Walking: Four Picks for 18 on Foot

Walking 18 holes is a five mile walk with a load on your back, done in a shoe designed around a golf swing. Those two jobs pull in opposite directions, and the shoe you buy decides which one wins.

13 min read
Best Golf Rangefinders: Four Picks and How to Choose
Tech

Best Golf Rangefinders: Four Picks and How to Choose

A rangefinder does one job, which is to remove the guess between you and the flag. Here are four worth buying, what each specification changes on a golf course, and the case for not buying one yet.

13 min read
Best Golf Rangefinder Cases: Replacements and Mounts
Apparel

Best Golf Rangefinder Cases: Replacements and Mounts

Almost every rangefinder ships with a case, so nobody buys one of these first. This is a replacement purchase, an upgrade purchase, or a sign that the case you were given is the wrong shape for how you play.

10 min read
Best Golf Rain Gear: Four Jackets and the Small Print
Apparel

Best Golf Rain Gear: Four Jackets and the Small Print

Two of these four makers publish a waterproof rating in millimetres. Two do not. That gap decides more about whether a jacket keeps working than anything printed on the swing tag.

14 min read
Best Golf Push Carts: Folded Size Against a Real Boot
Bags & carts

Best Golf Push Carts: Folded Size Against a Real Boot

A push cart is chosen on how it looks open and lived with folded, in a car boot, twice a round. Here is what four of them publish, what they leave out, and which numbers actually decide it.

14 min read
Best Golf Instruction Online: Four Platforms Compared
Training aids

Best Golf Instruction Online: Four Platforms Compared

The content on these platforms is not scarce and most of it is free elsewhere. What you are paying for is structure, and on one of them, a human being who looks at your swing.

12 min read
Best Golf Impact Screens: Four Screens Compared
Tech

Best Golf Impact Screens: Four Screens Compared

The screen is the one part of a simulator that gets hit every single shot, and the material tier decides whether it lasts a season or five years. Here are four worth buying and the tier that actually matches how hard you swing.

13 min read
Best Golf Hats: Sun, Sweatband, Fit, Then Styling
Apparel

Best Golf Hats: Sun, Sweatband, Fit, Then Styling

Three things about a golf hat change anything: how much sun it stops, whether the sweatband works, and whether it fits. One brand on this page publishes a number for the first of those. The rest is styling, and there is nothing wrong with that.

11 min read
Best Golf Grips: Cord, Rubber and What Rain Does
Apparel

Best Golf Grips: Cord, Rubber and What Rain Does

The grip is the only part of a golf club you touch, it costs less than a dozen balls to replace the lot, and most golfers are playing a compound chosen by whoever built the club.

13 min read
Best Golf GPS Watches: Four Picks and How to Choose
Tech

Best Golf GPS Watches: Four Picks and How to Choose

A GPS watch gives you the front, middle and back of the green without aiming at anything. Here are four worth buying, what each specification changes on a golf course, and the numbers the makers quietly leave off the listing.

13 min read
Best Golf Gloves: Four Picks, and When to Bin Yours
Apparel

Best Golf Gloves: Four Picks, and When to Bin Yours

A golf glove is a consumable, not equipment. Here is what separates leather from synthetic, how to size one properly including cadet, and the four worth buying.

13 min read
Best Golf Gifts: What Golfers Use, Not Just Own
Gifts

Best Golf Gifts: What Golfers Use, Not Just Own

Golf is unusually easy to buy the wrong gift for, because most of the obvious choices depend on a measurement, a preference or a swing you cannot see. Here is what does not.

13 min read
Best Golf Gifts Under £50: Four That Get Used
Gifts

Best Golf Gifts Under £50: Four That Get Used

Fifty pounds is an awkward budget in golf: too little for equipment, more than enough for something they will use every week. The trick is knowing which side of that line each category sits on.

12 min read
Best Golf Gadgets: The Ones That Survive Past February
Gifts

Best Golf Gadgets: The Ones That Survive Past February

Most golf technology is bought in December and abandoned by spring, and the reason is almost never the accuracy. It is how much the device asks of you before it tells you anything.

13 min read
Best Golf Drivers: Four Picks and the Fitting Logic
Clubs

Best Golf Drivers: Four Picks and the Fitting Logic

A driver is the club where the badge on the crown matters least and the four numbers on the spec sheet matter most. Here are four worth buying, what each specification changes, and how to work out which head fits the way you miss.

14 min read
Best Women's Golf Clubs: Ranked on How Well They Fit
Clubs

Best Women's Golf Clubs: Ranked on How Well They Fit

A women's set is one specification decided in advance and applied to every buyer. The only useful way to rank them is by how many of those decisions each maker is willing to hand back to you.

14 min read
Best Golf Clubs for Seniors: Build the Whole Bag Lighter
Clubs

Best Golf Clubs for Seniors: Build the Whole Bag Lighter

Changing the driver is the easy part and the smallest part. What decides how a bag plays at a slower speed is the eight clubs behind it, and that is a weight and loft decision made thirteen times over.

14 min read
Best Golf Clubs for Beginners: A First Set That Lasts
Clubs

Best Golf Clubs for Beginners: A First Set That Lasts

A first set is the one purchase in golf where spending more buys you the least. Here is what a beginner set needs, four that have it, and the two specifications that matter more than the badge on the head.

13 min read
Where to Trade In Golf Clubs: Four Programmes Compared
Where to buy

Where to Trade In Golf Clubs: Four Programmes Compared

A trade-in is a wholesale offer dressed as a convenience, and that is not an accusation. It is the deal on the table, and it is a good one as long as you know what you are giving up to take it.

12 min read
Best Golf Cart Bags: Pocket Access and Strap Channels
Bags & carts

Best Golf Cart Bags: Pocket Access and Strap Channels

A cart bag is judged strapped down, not standing in a shop. What matters is whether the pockets still open, whether the top still sorts the clubs and whether the strap sits where the bag was designed for it.

13 min read
Best Golf Balls: Four Picks and the Specs That Matter
Balls

Best Golf Balls: Four Picks and the Specs That Matter

The premium golf ball is the one purchase where the marketing has almost entirely replaced the numbers. Here are four worth playing, what construction and compression genuinely change, and the point at which paying full price starts to return something.

13 min read
Best Golf Balls for Slow Swing Speeds and Compression
Balls

Best Golf Balls for Slow Swing Speeds and Compression

The advice that a slow swing needs a soft ball is repeated everywhere and argued about by the people who build golf balls. Here is what compression really does at low clubhead speeds, and four balls that make sense under the threshold.

14 min read
Best Golf Balls for Seniors: Visibility, Feel and Cost
Balls

Best Golf Balls for Seniors: Visibility, Feel and Cost

Most senior golf ball advice is slow swing speed advice with an age label stuck on it. Here is what genuinely changes after sixty, what does not, and four balls chosen on the parts that do.

13 min read
Best Golf Balls for High Handicappers: Cost Per Round
Balls

Best Golf Balls for High Handicappers: Cost Per Round

At a high handicap the ball you play matters far less than how many of them you leave on the course. Here are four that survive being hit badly, and the sum that actually decides which one to buy.

13 min read
Best Golf Balls for Distance: Low Spin Off the Driver
Balls

Best Golf Balls for Distance: Low Spin Off the Driver

Every ball on sale is built against the same distance ceiling, so no ball can be much longer than another. What a distance ball actually does is take spin off the driver, and that is a trade rather than a gift.

13 min read
Best Golf Balls for Beginners: Soft, Cheap and Durable
Balls

Best Golf Balls for Beginners: Soft, Cheap and Durable

A golf ball is the only piece of equipment you buy again every month, and the only one you keep losing. Here is what a beginner ball has to do, four that do it, and the point at which the choice starts to matter.

12 min read
Best Golf Bags: What You Actually Carry for 18 Holes
Bags & carts

Best Golf Bags: What You Actually Carry for 18 Holes

A golf bag is bought on how it looks in a photograph and lived with for five years. Here is what separates four of them, and how to decide whether you should be carrying at all.

14 min read
Best Game Improvement Irons: Forgiveness by the Numbers
Clubs

Best Game Improvement Irons: Forgiveness by the Numbers

Game improvement is a marketing phrase with a measurable definition hiding inside it. Here are the four numbers that separate the category from everything else, and four sets that publish them.

14 min read
Best Fairway Woods: Four Picks and Which Loft to Buy
Clubs

Best Fairway Woods: Four Picks and Which Loft to Buy

Most golfers buy a 3 wood, hit it badly off the ground, and use it as a nervous driver instead. The data on that swap is unkind, and the club that actually earns its place is usually two lofts weaker.

13 min read
Best Drivers for Slow Swing Speeds: The Physics and Four Picks
Clubs

Best Drivers for Slow Swing Speeds: The Physics and Four Picks

Under about 85 mph the driver decision stops being about preference and starts being about physics. Ball speed is capped by the rules, so the only things left to move are how high the ball leaves and how little you have to accelerate.

13 min read
Best Drivers for Seniors: Weight and Flex Before the Head
Clubs

Best Drivers for Seniors: Weight and Flex Before the Head

Almost every senior driver guide starts with the head. That is the last decision, not the first. What changes with age is how much club weight you can accelerate, and that is a specification with a number on it.

13 min read
Best Drivers for High Handicappers: Four Forgiving Picks
Clubs

Best Drivers for High Handicappers: Four Forgiving Picks

If you shoot in the high 90s, the driver decision is not about distance. It is about how far offline the bad ones go, and that is a specification you can actually shop for.

13 min read
Best Drivers for Beginners: Four Picks You Cannot Set Up Wrong
Clubs

Best Drivers for Beginners: Four Picks You Cannot Set Up Wrong

A first driver has one job: to be swingable and hard to set up badly. Almost every buying guide sells beginners a slice corrector instead, which assumes a miss you have not developed yet.

13 min read
Best Complete Golf Sets: What the Piece Count Hides
Clubs

Best Complete Golf Sets: What the Piece Count Hides

A complete set is sold on its piece count, which is the one number that tells you almost nothing. What decides whether a set is good is which clubs are in it and how many ways it can be built.

13 min read
Best Cheap Golf Balls: Price Per Dozen and the Trade
Balls

Best Cheap Golf Balls: Price Per Dozen and the Trade

Below about twenty pounds a dozen the golf ball market splits into new balls from real manufacturers, balls somebody else already played, and balls that have been stripped and repainted. Only two of those three are worth your money.

13 min read
Best Budget Golf Rangefinders: Four Under £200
Tech

Best Budget Golf Rangefinders: Four Under £200

Every rangefinder on this page sits at or near £200. The interesting question is not which is best but what a cheap laser actually gives up against one costing three times as much, and the honest answer is less than the price gap suggests.

13 min read
Best Budget Launch Monitors: Four Under £1,000
Tech

Best Budget Launch Monitors: Four Under £1,000

Under a thousand pounds the hardware is genuinely capable and the honesty is not. Every unit here reports numbers it did not measure, and knowing which ones is the difference between practising usefully and chasing an estimate.

14 min read