Latest Golf Equipment Trends Explained!

While March Madness captured basketball lovers across the nation, nothing says golf like the Masters Golf Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga. on April 11-14. Even those who never intend to chip a golf ball out of a sand trap will to tune in and watch Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods and other top pros make magic on the greens.

That said, it got me wondering what’s hot in the sport.

The adjustability craze

Mike Diette, a teaching pro at the Palos Verdes Golf Club in Palos Verdes Estates for the last 13 years, provided some insight, especially about the newest drivers that do just about everything for you except hit the ball and shout “Fore!”

They are called “game improvement” clubs. 

“The TaylorMade R1 is the newest club out,” Diette, 43, said in an interview at the club’s pro shop that overlooks the lush, tree lined fairways of the 18-hole golf course on Via Campesina high above Malaga Cove. “The number one factor is the ability to change the loft of the club.” (Simply put, “loft” refers to the trajectory the ball will take when hit.)

“The R1 (loft) can be changed from 8.0 degrees to 12.0 degrees so that, basically, one club (head) can fit any golfer,” he said. The Titleist 913 can also be adjusted, he added, and both clubs can help golfers correct direction. For instance, if golfers tend to hit the ball to the right, he said, they can close the face to help them hit the ball straighter.

“There’s any number of (sole plate) adjustments you can make depending on whether you want the club face open or closed,” he said. 

The clubs also can be adjusted for weight and have graphite shafts that can be changed.

TaylorMade’s next model club, RBZ Stage II, costs less, Diette said, but has less adjustability: “You can change the loft and lie, but you don’t have the weight ports and sole plate adjustments.”

The adjustability craze really got going about seven or eight years ago, Diette explained. “It started with demo clubs.” Instead of having to inventory 20 or 30 different clubs, manufacturers started making removable shafts. 

“Because every golfer is different, one golfer will come in and he wants a 10.5 loft driver, but he needs a senior shaft, and if we don't have it, he is out of luck," Diette said. "So they came up with this adjustability capability, where you take a screw out (of the head) and switch shafts to the right head.” 

Although shafts range from “stiff” to “regular” to “senior” to “ladies,” the term really refers to how much flex a shaft has, Diette said. More flex can help a golfer with a slower swing speed.

“Seniors usually don’t swing as fast, so more flex will help them,” he said.

A top pro’s swing speed is anywhere from 110 to 130 mph, he said. Where a scratch amateur may swing 90 to 100 mph, a senior player might be under 80 mph. 

Diette—who lives in Redondo Beach with his wife, Nicola, and two kids, Hanna, 5, and Andrew, 3—joined the Canadian pro tour right after graduating from California State University Long Beach where he was on a golf scholarship. After a year on tour—once he realized how much money he was spending “trying to survive out there”—the Inglewood-born golfer came home to Hawthorne and said, “I’m going to get a job.” 

One thing that’s never changed for the blue-eyed assistant pro: “I love golf.” He also loves teaching the game in the spellbinding beauty of Palos Verdes Estates and telling it like it is in the pro shop, where golfers come to browse the clubs, clothes, bags and shoes and ask a lot of questions.

An expensive sport

Between green fees, club dues and equipment, golf can be an expensive sport, he said.

Although the game-improvement clubs can run up to $400 for a driver, irons average about $100 per club. “If you go steel, it might be less; if you go graphite, it might be more,” Diette said. Special shafts, depending on the stiffness or flexibility, can cost more. “I think $100 is a good mid-point (to) start from.”  

Putters are a whole other animal. They come in different lengths, different weights, slightly different shapes, different materials, and “different millings on the face so that when you hit the ball it makes if feel a little bit softer,” Diette said. “Putters are really individualistic.” 

Long putters and belly putters, however, are a matter of controversy within the USGA (United States Golf Association), he said. A proposed rule change threatens to ban how the putters are used, a decision that should be forthcoming in the next couple of months.

“The problem is the anchoring,” Diette said as he demonstrated a hold with a long putter that was anchored against his mid-section. So long as the club is not anchored in the chest or belly, he said, it’s perfectly legal to use them. 

“I can even hold (the club) up along my forearm as long as it’s not touching any (other) part of my body.” The USGA website shows all the different putting forms and explains what’s allowed and what isn’t, he added.

The heads of putters come in all different shapes and sizes as well. One even controls what is called “the moment of inertia,” the pro said, meaning the ball will go straighter, even if it is hit off center. “Some don’t like the looks of (the putter). That’s why I say putting is individual.”

TaylorMade, Callaway and Titleist are the three major club manufacturers right now, he said. “There’s also Ping, Mizuno, Adams, Cleveland, and a couple of other smaller companies that don’t have that much market share.”

Oddly, Tiger Woods’ brand, Nike, “isn’t a big seller,” the golf pro said. "Tiger is Nike, head-to-toe—clothes, shoes, balls, hats, everything. The only thing we do tend to sell is Nike clothes—but we can’t sell the wedges, can’t sell the drivers. We’ve tried.”

The reason, he said, has to do with history: “Nike hasn’t been in golf as long as Titleist, TaylorMade, Ping, Cobra and Callaway, so they just don’t have that market yet. They’re trying, but I think part of it is the equipment has to be proven on tour for years, and it’s still not there.”

GPS watches, bags, balls and more

“What's really popular are the GPS watches, which have all golf courses downloaded," Diette said. "All you have to do is turn it on and go.” These watches determine yardage from where the golfer is standing to various points on the green. They are “really easy and convenient,” Diette said.

Laser rangefinders, too, are more accurate these days.

Golf balls are all pretty similar, Diette explained.

“There are premium balls that have a Urethane cover that tends give you a much softer feel when you putt and chip,” he said. “Surlyn, a lot harder material, doesn’t feel as soft, and you don’t get as much spin off of it.” 

Pros use Urethane, the softer ball, and “Titleist is the No. 1 ball on tour,” the pro said. “It’s probably got 75 percent of the market.” 

According to Diette, golf bags at the Palos Verdes club range from $120 to $220 and tend to be lighter than they used to be: “Our members here generally walk, and they are looking for a walking bag. Occasionally we get someone who wants a bigger bag for a cart.”

With everyone into health and exercise, he said, “Not too many people are buying bigger bags anymore.”

'Like wearing nothing at all'

Another big change is in golf shoes. “Shoes are really interesting,” Diette said, pausing at a table full of various brands and choosing a new Adidas. “This is the adiZero, but if you feel the shoe, (you feel) how light it is.” 

Compared to a high-end leather Nike golf shoe, the adiZero ($180) is “like wearing nothing at all,” he said. Even the rubber cleats are feather light, yet able to make a firm grip.

Almost all the manufacturers offer nubbed rubber soles instead of iron cleats.  “They give you some grip, but not quite the same.” Like tennis shoes, golfers can wear them on the street, not just on the golf course. They are comfortable and casual, and "even Nike has one," he said.

As far as clothes are concerned, Diette said, “Tech made its way into the golf business 10 to 15 years ago.” Golf shirts made of microfibers “are comfortable and easy to care for. Throw it in the washer and dryer and you can wear it.”

Cotton shirts, while comfortable, require a lot of care. “You go to do the wash, and they come out all wrinkly,” he said.

One thing golfers in the South Bay rarely buy is rain gear. “Not unless they are going to Oregon or Ireland,” he said, flashing a smile. “There are too many good days of weather here to plan on a rainy day.”

The Palos Verdes Golf Club is located at 3301 Via Campesina in Palos Verdes Estates. For more information about golf clubs or attire, call the pro shop at 310-375-2759. Brands mentioned in this article are available at most club and golf shops and popular sporting goods stores, including Golfsmith and Dick's Sporting Goods in El Segundo.