Which equpment reviewers do you trust/like?

[fred faldo]

I enjoy watching many of them but for me with my age, ability and ss I tend to pay more attention to The Average Golfer

[ezra76]

I like 2nd Swing. I started back playing last year and watched a lot vids. They did a test of best drivers in the last decade and I got a GBB Epic used based on that. Love it for $160 vs. a new one.

[this_is_golf]

I love when Andy Carter and Matt Fryer do an on course vlog together. So damn funny. They don’t typically review equipment so I didn’t include them.

[Z1ggy16]

I kiiiiind of trust Finch the most because he doesn't actually sell clubs. While I trust TXG and think they give the most in depth information overall, there's just no way they can be 100% unbiased,as their business model relies on people coming in to try new stuff. If they concluded something wasn't that great or last year's stuff was better, foot traffic would go down. 

[bcstones]

None, not a single one....I might read what sites may way w/the knowledge that they all are in the business of selling. What is playable for them, may not be playable for me....besides, I prefer the vintage blades not the hype of keeping up w/the sales of today's club manufactures...

[Bye]

TXG, especially now Matt is back. The interaction is great and some of the stuff they cover is really interesting. 

[Carolina Golfer 2]

Trust or Enjoy.  I’ll start with enjoy first.  Most already mentioned.  Alex Etches, TXG, 2nd Swing and Michael Newton, Shiels to some extent.   But I don’t base any expected performance results on what I seee from tbem. 
 

Trust.  As a couple others have said Sophie from Golfalot.  Not only a swing speed and distances I can relate to.  But she gives some real thought into what she says.  She looks at it from so many different aspects.   
 

also member reviewer from here and MGS are very good and give good honest feedback.  I’ve seen. Members on both not afraid to criticize-respectively-a product they received  for free.  That’s into you can trust. 

[PuffyC]

Have to say I really like Sophie at golf a lot too. She seems to be one of the few who aren’t afraid to call it like she sees it. She’ll include actual perf and comparison data to back it up too, something most others won’t do.

[djohnsonx]

I like TXG, Rick Shiels and Alex Etches on YouTube just to see the new stuff that's coming out.  I don't particularly trust what many people say because no club seems to be any better than another at this point

[Albatross Dreamer]

58 minutes ago, djohnsonx said:

I like TXG, Rick Shiels and Alex Etches on YouTube just to see the new stuff that's coming out.  I don't particularly trust what many people say because no club seems to be any better than another at this point

Was going to say the same thing. Can see everybody has their biases too when someone on one of those channels will be like "wow this one is so much better" when the numbers show that is clearly not the case. Not saying that's a bad thing, as we all have certain feels we like best that are often more important than hard numbers.

 

I also come to WRX for more nuanced point of view that I'm not going to get from someone that got the product for free.

[chisag]

1 hour ago, djohnsonx said:

I don't particularly trust what many people say because no club seems to be any better than another at this point

 

 

... This just isn't true at all and I often wonder why people participate in a golf equipment forum if they think none of it is any better. That said, there is just so much nuance in golf clubs and potential improvements. I am playing the Sim2 and when fitted for the Stealth by a TM rep last spring, I gained on average about 1.5 yds with equal dispersion. TM rep asked what I thought and I said my Sim feels/sounds better and I would have to gain at least 5 yards fr it to be worth changing. He completely agreed. BUT had my dispersion been Bette or spin more ideal or the Stealth sanded/felt better it would be in my bag. 

... Clubs are always improving and although that very improvement may be worse for any given individual, if you demoed a new club every year, sooner or later one will be an improvement over what you are playing. Of course some MB's and solid forged CB's may not. 

... I wrote the WRX official review for the Mizuno MP59's and I absolutely loved them. I used to give out the Best Of The PGA Show awards to every category. Driver, fw wood, hybrid, irons, wedges and putters. I demoed everything at the show on demo day and then picked out what was the best and wrote a review. Of course it was a very positive review because say out the of 20 drivers I hit, it was the very best one I hit! And they were always better. The million dollar question was: is it better for you? Constant accusations of being paid by the OEM or called a shill more than a positive response caused me to stop. I paid for my trip to Orlando, hotel, food and everything else so it was an expensive trip. I spoke to VP's of many departments including every Marketing VP and nobody ever offered me so much as a free drink. As an independent reviewer, I was offered no payola, no swag, no requests to change a negative in the middle of a positive review, just information when I requested it.  I would send my review to them before posting to check for any errors I may have made like maybe stating they use 1020 carbon steel when they used 1025. Never did any of them question what I wrote or ask me to change anything. Ever. 

... So to loosely quote Steve Arlo (Ben Stiller) in the Zero Effect "You know there aren't really good guys and bad guys. There are just a bunch of guys!?!" Marketing and selling golf clubs is like every other endeavor in a capitalist economy. There are reputable and not so reputable products and it is up to the consumer to research and figure out which is which. The Marketing by all the big OEM's is just a tool to capture your interest and after talking with all of them, none expect anyone to change clubs every time a new one comes out. Titleist went so far as to say if you had the first generation of the AP2's, they would not recommend upgrading til the 3rd version and then only of you found the turf interaction to be better because the Pro's had given them feedback that may or may not apply to an Am. What all of them want is when you do decide to change clubs, you sill stick with them because they want a customer for life, not just a product cycle. 

... So yea, I trust and enjoy reviews but that doesn't mean what Rick Shiels finds better for him is better for me. But it does give me an idea about any given club and I can take it from there.  

[Cwing]

5 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

 

... This just isn't true at all and I often wonder why people participate in a golf equipment forum if they think none of it is any better. That said, there is just so much nuance in golf clubs and potential improvements. I am playing the Sim2 and when fitted for the Stealth by a TM rep last spring, I gained on average about 1.5 yds with equal dispersion. TM rep asked what I thought and I said my Sim feels/sounds better and I would have to gain at least 5 yards fr it to be worth changing. He completely agreed. BUT had my dispersion been Bette or spin more ideal or the Stealth sanded/felt better it would be in my bag. 

... Clubs are always improving and although that very improvement may be worse for any given individual, if you demoed a new club every year, sooner or later one will be an improvement over what you are playing. Of course some MB's and solid forged CB's may not. 

... I wrote the WRX official review for the Mizuno MP59's and I absolutely loved them. I used to give out the Best Of The PGA Show awards to every category. Driver, fw wood, hybrid, irons, wedges and putters. I demoed everything at the show on demo day and then picked out what was the best and wrote a review. Of course it was a very positive review because say out the of 20 drivers I hit, it was the very best one I hit! And they were always better. The million dollar question was: is it better for you? Constant accusations of being paid by the OEM or called a shill more than a positive response caused me to stop. I paid for my trip to Orlando, hotel, food and everything else so it was an expensive trip. I spoke to VP's of many departments including every Marketing VP and nobody ever offered me so much as a free drink. As an independent reviewer, I was offered no payola, no swag, no requests to change a negative in the middle of a positive review, just information when I requested it.  I would send my review to them before posting to check for any errors I may have made like maybe stating they use 1020 carbon steel when they used 1025. Never did any of them question what I wrote or ask me to change anything. Ever. 

... So to loosely quote Steve Arlo (Ben Stiller) in the Zero Effect "You know there aren't really good guys and bad guys. There are just a bunch of guys!?!" Marketing and selling golf clubs is like every other endeavor in a capitalist economy. There are reputable and not so reputable products and it is up to the consumer to research and figure out which is which. The Marketing by all the big OEM's is just a tool to capture your interest and after talking with all of them, none expect anyone to change clubs every time a new one comes out. Titleist went so far as to say if you had the first generation of the AP2's, they would not recommend upgrading til the 3rd version and then only of you found the turf interaction to be better because the Pro's had given them feedback that may or may not apply to an Am. What all of them want is when you do decide to change clubs, you sill stick with them because they want a customer for life, not just a product cycle. 

... So yea, I trust and enjoy reviews but that doesn't mean what Rick Shiels finds better for him is better for me. But it does give me an idea about any given club and I can take it from there.  

You should have become a YouTuber.
 

It seems most of those that are being discussed in this thread get sent tons of stuff to review free of cost.

Edited January 7, 2023 by Cwing

[Ruleschamp]

3 hours ago, eric61 said:

Oh! I forgot 2nd Swing. Specifically when it’s Thomas and Drew. Thomas is great, and Drew does a good job of “hosting” and keeping things on track. I actually think Drew is a good tester too. Some of their other folks come across too much as salesmen.

 

Bad news for you.  I don't think Thomas works at 2nd Swing any longer.   I was told the "Best of 2022" were his final and those were taped weeks ago.   I believe that's why you saw a new guy instead of him as the reviewer of the Callaway Paradym clubs.  Thomas now works for Swing Lab Performance Golf as the Director of Instruction and Operations Manager.

[TreqJosh]

Thank you to those who mentioned Ask Golf Nut - I like the extensive work with performance of off-centre strikes and their effect. 

[sociojeje]

19 minutes ago, Ruleschamp said:

 

Bad news for you.  I don't think Thomas works at 2nd Swing any longer.   I was told the "Best of 2022" were his final and those were taped weeks ago.   I believe that's why you saw a new guy instead of him as the reviewer of the Callaway Paradym clubs.  Thomas now works for Swing Lab Performance Golf as the Director of Instruction and Operations Manager.

Great news for him but a big loss for us... He is a true professional golfer unlike many others. 

[Chunkitgood]

I prefer the 16 cappers who review for Golf Digest and always say the new club is one club longer than their old clubs and they have less loss of distance on mishits with the new clubs.

 

I’d be really surprised if the actual result scoring from playing with any and I mean any modern club manufactured by a big club maker would vary for any player other than the highly skilled.

 

The differences in MOI make no practical difference.  The differences in COG and resulting spin and launch angle are theoretically significant,  but are overwhelmed by operator error/inconsistency in delivery of the prevalent “loft adding” swing.

[Ruleschamp]

22 minutes ago, sociojeje said:

Great news for him but a big loss for us... He is a true professional golfer unlike many others. 

 

I agree.  He's very good.  He loves doing Youtube videos so I won't be surprised to see him start his own channel or create a channel for the new place.

[Albatross Dreamer]

1 hour ago, chisag said:

 

 

... This just isn't true at all and I often wonder why people participate in a golf equipment forum if they think none of it is any better. That said, there is just so much nuance in golf clubs and potential improvements. I am playing the Sim2 and when fitted for the Stealth by a TM rep last spring, I gained on average about 1.5 yds with equal dispersion. TM rep asked what I thought and I said my Sim feels/sounds better and I would have to gain at least 5 yards fr it to be worth changing. He completely agreed. BUT had my dispersion been Bette or spin more ideal or the Stealth sanded/felt better it would be in my bag. 

... Clubs are always improving and although that very improvement may be worse for any given individual, if you demoed a new club every year, sooner or later one will be an improvement over what you are playing. Of course some MB's and solid forged CB's may not. 

... I wrote the WRX official review for the Mizuno MP59's and I absolutely loved them. I used to give out the Best Of The PGA Show awards to every category. Driver, fw wood, hybrid, irons, wedges and putters. I demoed everything at the show on demo day and then picked out what was the best and wrote a review. Of course it was a very positive review because say out the of 20 drivers I hit, it was the very best one I hit! And they were always better. The million dollar question was: is it better for you? Constant accusations of being paid by the OEM or called a shill more than a positive response caused me to stop. I paid for my trip to Orlando, hotel, food and everything else so it was an expensive trip. I spoke to VP's of many departments including every Marketing VP and nobody ever offered me so much as a free drink. As an independent reviewer, I was offered no payola, no swag, no requests to change a negative in the middle of a positive review, just information when I requested it.  I would send my review to them before posting to check for any errors I may have made like maybe stating they use 1020 carbon steel when they used 1025. Never did any of them question what I wrote or ask me to change anything. Ever. 

... So to loosely quote Steve Arlo (Ben Stiller) in the Zero Effect "You know there aren't really good guys and bad guys. There are just a bunch of guys!?!" Marketing and selling golf clubs is like every other endeavor in a capitalist economy. There are reputable and not so reputable products and it is up to the consumer to research and figure out which is which. The Marketing by all the big OEM's is just a tool to capture your interest and after talking with all of them, none expect anyone to change clubs every time a new one comes out. Titleist went so far as to say if you had the first generation of the AP2's, they would not recommend upgrading til the 3rd version and then only of you found the turf interaction to be better because the Pro's had given them feedback that may or may not apply to an Am. What all of them want is when you do decide to change clubs, you sill stick with them because they want a customer for life, not just a product cycle. 

... So yea, I trust and enjoy reviews but that doesn't mean what Rick Shiels finds better for him is better for me. But it does give me an idea about any given club and I can take it from there.  

I could be wrong but I'm not sure that's what he's saying. What I thought he meant is that there's not drastic differences between all the clubs coming out now. For example the TSR, Stealth, Paradym, Aerojet, etc are all within the margin of error. But of course one of them is going to be the best for each individual person. But highly unlikely that one club is going to be the best for everyone.

 

So I think you're sort of saying the same thing, which was also illustrated in when you only saw 1.5 yards difference when trying the new club. And there's only a limited amount of data to glean from the club reviews online for the reason you mentioned.

[Mrgreen36]

9 hours ago, JohnM88 said:

TXG and 2nd Swing. 2nd Swing can be a little marketing heavy but Thomas has a nice, repeatable swing and you can see all of the club and ball data to determine if the delivery changed any results vs. the actual equipment. 

 

I'm there just for the Minnesota dialect. 

 

When the one dude on txg wears shorts, I can't watch them. 

 

 

[djohnsonx]

9 minutes ago, Albatross Dreamer said:

I could be wrong but I'm not sure that's what he's saying. What I thought he meant is that there's not drastic differences between all the clubs coming out now. For example the TSR, Stealth, Paradym, Aerojet, etc are all within the margin of error. But of course one of them is going to be the best for each individual person. But highly unlikely that one club is going to be the best for everyone.

 

So I think you're sort of saying the same thing, which was also illustrated in when you only saw 1.5 yards difference when trying the new club. And there's only a limited amount of data to glean from the club reviews online for the reason you mentioned.

That's exactly what I meant and could have conveyed it better in my reply. I think part of my issue is that YouTube personalities post a fair amount of clickbait in terms of title and other things.  Rick Shiels' titled his video on the Paradym "the driver to beat in 2023." That's a bold claim for not having hit anything else so far. Also, best driver for who?  It going to vary across the board and from person to person. If one driver was objectively better than any other, everyone would be playing it.

[knudson81]

6 hours ago, eric61 said:

Sophie Walker at Golfalot is great. Her swing speed might not be very high but she’s such an excellent ball striker, obviously, as a former tour pro, that her observations are meaningful and valuable. 
 

The TXG guys, of course.

 

I watch the podcasts of @knudson81 and Tony/Chris from that other site.

 

Hannah Holden/National Club Golfer is great.

 

Rick Shiels. I like that he tests stuff against older models from the same manufacturers.

I like Crossfield too. He’s got a great, smooth swing. And he sometimes is willing to sort of toss aside the marketing blather in ways other reviewers can’t. 
 

The Average Golfer is good. I like his willingness to try (and advocate for) stuff like a chipper, a 9 wood, etc.
 

The ones I’ll watch sometimes are Michael Newton, Jay Smith (AskGolfNut), Dan Hendrickson, Peter Finch, Matt Fryer, Andy Carter, and I’m sure I’m forgetting some. James Robinson puts out such a huge quantity of stuff, but some of his videos with Chris Dennis are good.

I truly appreciate that, thank you!

[chisag]

3 minutes ago, Albatross Dreamer said:

I could be wrong but I'm not sure that's what he's saying. What I thought he meant is that there's not drastic differences between all the clubs coming out now. For example the TSR, Stealth, Paradym, Aerojet, etc are all within the margin of error. But of course one of them is going to be the best for each individual person. But highly unlikely that one club is going to be the best for everyone.

 

So I think you're sort of saying the same thing, which was also illustrated in when you only saw 1.5 yards difference when trying the new club. And there's only a limited amount of data to glean from the club reviews online for the reason you mentioned.

 

 

... The finer point is every clubs different and for some, that difference can be drastic. I remember when the 2nd generation of the Big Bertha came out and so many young players hated it because it sounded and felt dead to them. Having grown up with persimmon woods it was a welcome change from the loud, explosive sounding drivers some of us had to hot melt just to tone down. For a younger player that grew up with the Sumo Square 😳  it was awful. For me it was drastically better and I loved it. I gained about 7 yards and not sure whether it was the Jailbreak technology or just a ton of confidence in the look, feel and sound. But I wouldn't have known unless I hit it. Of course I agree it is very rare when club is universally better like the Ping Eye2 or original RBZ fairway woods yet it does happen. And to your well stated point, more often than not if we get 20 folks testing the Paradym, Stealth 2, TSR, G430 and Aerojet they will all be winners and some will prefer what they are playing even if they could trade straight up. But again you won't know til you hit them and the Reviewers can help narrow down the ones you want to hit. If you play a draw like Matt with TXG, you know there is no need to hit the Paradym X. 

... That said, this is a golf forum and the equipment section to boot so I just don't understand comments like they are all the same, nothing new will perform any better than what you have, etc. especially when they haven't demoed one. Just adding or subtracting spin or improving launch or reducing/enhancing draw/fade for your swing may prove to be beneficial and if it is in a package you love to look at, sounds and feels great, isn't that why most of us post here? 

[chisag]

12 minutes ago, djohnsonx said:

That's exactly what I meant and could have conveyed it better in my reply. I think part of my issue is that YouTube personalities post a fair amount of clickbait in terms of title and other things.  Rick Shiels' titled his video on the Paradym "the driver to beat in 2023." That's a bold claim for not having hit anything else so far. Also, best driver for who?  It going to vary across the board and from person to person. If one driver was objectively better than any other, everyone would be playing it.

 

 

.. Sorry if I misinterpreted your post. 🤟 Bold claims are as you said Clickbait and any reasonably intelligent golfer knows that and pays little to no attention. For us older folk they are carnival barkers. You just seperate the wheat from the chaff and find what might apply to you. I tune in to hear the sound, get a preview look and then enjoy the show., not to see if it is the one to beat.  

Edited January 8, 2023 by chisag

[djohnsonx]

3 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

 

.. Sorry if I misinterpreted your post. 🤟 Bold claims are as you said Clickbait and any reasonably intelligent golfer knows that and pays little to no attention. For us older folk they are carnival barkers. You just seperate the wheat from the chaff and find what might apply to you. I tune in to hear the sound, get a preview look and then enjoy the show. 

Thanks for clearing that up. That is why I watch as well. To see the look and sound and see how it performs in an entertaining person's hands. I take what they say with a grain of salt because it may or may not work for me.

[Albatross Dreamer]

14 minutes ago, djohnsonx said:

That's exactly what I meant and could have conveyed it better in my reply. I think part of my issue is that YouTube personalities post a fair amount of clickbait in terms of title and other things.  Rick Shiels' titled his video on the Paradym "the driver to beat in 2023." That's a bold claim for not having hit anything else so far. Also, best driver for who?  It going to vary across the board and from person to person. If one driver was objectively better than any other, everyone would be playing it.

I'm no fan of clickbait myself, but I understand that people gotta play the game if making money off it. And to be fair it may well be the driver to beat if it's the first one he hit. 😂  Obviously there's no one driver for everybody. but they wouldn't have a business if they said that all the time. I agree with what you're saying though!

[cgasucks]

9 hours ago, JohnM88 said:

2nd Swing can be a little marketing heavy but Thomas has a nice, repeatable swing

 

+1  Thomas at 2nd Swing is so consistent that he shows that buying the latest model clubs are no better than those made 10-20 years ago when hit on the sweet spot.

 

Check out this Youtube video of him comparing Titleist drivers from the 975J to the TSi.  His smash factor is so consistent that the ballspeed of the 975J can keep up or even exceed those of the newer drivers.

 

[NoHYBNoFW]

I have been watching every single one of all the mentioned YouTube and all of them are good.

 

None of them will really come out and say this product is garbage but you have to measure their level of excitement about a new product. An okay product will get a mild reception while a great product will get them excited enough you can sense it in their voice and body language.

[Roejye]

I don't know about trust, if I'm interested in a club then I'm probably going to be testing it myself. The person I enjoy most is Alex Etches as he's very entertaining and hits bombs. I also watch Shield and Finch as they do seem to be pretty honest. I used to watch txg but then they dropped Matt, now that he's back I'll probably look into them again. I don't really search out reviews, I prefer course vlogs and challenges more than reviews.

 

I will say that if a review is about a more non traditional/gimmicky club I'm more interested in watching that.

Edited January 8, 2023 by Roejye

[dubbelbogey]

8 hours ago, GHIN n Juice said:

I’m probably in the minority, but I still like Crossfield.  I think he really believes there are very few differences in equipment and all his reviews start from that point.  If he sees something that moves the needle then he’s quick to point it out.  

 

I tend to agree that his take seems to actually be the most grounded. But I also get that his personality doesn't sit well with some.  I like that Crossfield will actually come out and say effectively that it just doesn't matter very much overall. (Note, this is not the same as it might matter for a particular golfer, but that has always been the case, even in the persimmon woods and butterknife blade days.)

 

The vast majority of equipment reviewers, frankly, have been schmoozing with the factory equipment reps for far too long. Their reviews look, sound and feel like regurgitation of what the manufacturers want them to say. It's the old adage - say it often enough, long enough, and loud enough and it becomes gospel. There are reviewers employed by the GolfWRX brand who are particularly guilty of this.  

 

Additionally, I tend to place less faith in any reviewer who also sells gear. I don't necessarily think it's intentional and certainly not intentionally misleading, but it's absolutely and inherently biased. Not so much that it's biased towards a particular brand (though that can happen, too) but that it's biased to sell you something. While the TXG review delivery is better than most, they're still 100% in the business of selling gear and are therefore biased. They're not exactly the Consumer Reports of the golf world. They're part of the industry machinery whose very existence depends on consumers listening and then buying the new stuff.

 

But it's not really about "trust" for me. Just information. I rarely buy much new equipment. I'm definitely in the camp where gains are small and incremental at best (at least currently). Nothing recent has approached gains like we originally saw with the 460cc driver and original ProV1 (or Strata, if you prefer). Sure the current 460cc driver is a lot better than the original ones, but the current ones aren't really any better than anything in recent years. The endless dithering about how such and such iron is more revolutionary (on the whole) than anything in the past is simultaneously boring and amusing.

 

 

[pdaero]

I watch quite a few different golf channels on Youtube, and TXG (with Matt) are my favorite - good, honest club reviews and excellent ball reviews also. Rick Shiels does a great job in recent years of reviewing clubs inside and outside and providing very honest feedback.