Fred Vuich

To paraphrase Ben Hogan's line about finding the secret to better golf, the best way to understand a club's DNA is to dig it out of the dirt. Sure, it's nice to know who plays a certain club on Tour, but the fact is those guys could play with anything. The size of a company's marketing budget doesn't make a difference, either. Or what a brainiac R&D guy says the club should do. What matters is how it performs when you are holding it in your hands.

For ClubTest 2007, we invited 40 readers to poke and prod the newest clubs for two weeks at Ginn Reunion Resort in Reunion, Florida. Your fellow readers (and ClubTesters) are conscientious guys who work on and off the course. They formulate thoughtful, concise and descriptive responses for each model. Ask any of the testers—it's not as easy as it sounds.

We go to great lengths to ensure that testers review clubs with proper specs for them. First, each player is custom-fit for drivers. Our research partner, Hot Stix Golf (hotstixgolf.com), uses a launch monitor to capture data for testers' current drivers. (All test drivers go through a diagnostic evaluation at Hot Stix headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona.) Hot Stix fitters use the data to recommend a match between testers and test clubs (fairway woods, irons, etc). Hot Stix Golf also gathers objective, comparative data using a launch monitor for the drivers, fairway woods and hybrids in ClubTest. That's the beauty of ClubTest—we provide you with subjective and objective information so you can be confident in your next purchase.

Since we started the ClubTest program in 1992, we've learned something new every year. One takeaway from this test is that all the products listed are quality sticks (that's not always the case). Some clubs, naturally, play better than others. But each one has something useful to offer, even if it isn't a Testers' Top Pick. Now it's time to bone up on what's out there so you can begin to shape your new set. Enjoy.