Articles by Mike Stachura

Hot List 2025: Softest-feeling putters

Unlike most clubs, putters seem to require more of an emotional component to their evaluations from our Hot List player panel. Yes, there are elements like forgiveness and roll, and, of course, the look that a player can talk about, but the overwhelming metric in terms of performance lies in assessing how a putter feels. Read more…

Callaway CB12 wedges: What you need to know

Callaway updates its “game-improvement wedge” lineup with the new CB12, a wide-soled cavity-back design that redistributes 12 grams to the perimeter for increased forgiveness not just on full swings but on short-shot mis-hits, too.

Hot List 2025: Best wedges for greenside shots

The best wedges seem to have the capacity to make us feel better. Assuming we take advantage of their performance characteristics, good wedges can take us from crushing disappointment to steadying relief with one swing. That’s particularly true when it comes to the imminent disasters a wedge can resolve on pitches and chips from tough Read more…

Hot List 2025: Best wedges from the bunker

The best wedges need to be exceptional in an array of performance areas. That’s why we use our system of Hot List vectors to assess which of the wedges excel in the varying jobs required for an elite wedge. During our testing, our panel of 32 players test wedges in a series of areas, and Read more…

Hot List 2025: Softest-feeling irons

More and more of the quotient for success in iron design today lies squarely not in a rush toward more ball speed but in that most elusive of intangibles: feel. It’s why when we conduct our testing for the Hot List, we ask our player-testers to elucidate what they mean when they say a particular Read more…

SuperStroke REVL full-swing grips: What you need to know

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: When SuperStroke, the overwhelming force in putter grips, acquired the Lamkin brand last year and its tech rich 100-year history in developing full swing grips, the big question was how the two would join forces. The answer comes this week in the REVL lineup of three full-swing grips that distinctly Read more…

Hot List: Most forgiving irons

With modern improvements in mass properties and the concept of forgiveness on off-center hits, there’s always a lot of emphasis on what’s happening in the field of drivers. Truly though, we think that developing a forgiveness quotient in irons might have a more practical effect on your scores. If you mis-hit your 7-iron and still Read more…

TaylorMade Spider ZT putters: What you need to know

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The TaylorMade Spider putters are the top-selling individual model in the game and the preferred putter for the top two men’s players in the world and the No. 1 woman. Given that résumé, it was only a matter of time before the hottest putter model in the game offered its Read more…

PGA Tour denies driver testing scam: ‘The drivers being tested are the drivers being used in competition’

While Lucas Glover may believe there’s some bait-and-switch shenanigans happening during driver testing on tour, the PGA Tour seems certain there is not. That said, the tour remains committed to a random testing approach versus weekly full-field testing at this point. RELATED: PGA Tour commissioner defends Rory McIlroy for missing a third signature event in Read more…

The USGA doesn’t test drivers at the US Women’s Open. Here’s why

With top players in the men’s game having to give up their drivers because they’ve suddenly gotten too hot, the question arises, isn’t this possibly happening with the women’s game, too? The answer came this week at the most important women’s tournament of the year, the US Women’s Open, and the answer was sort of Read more…

Ben Hogan New Releases for 2025

Ben Hogan PTx woods, Ft. Worth irons: The iconic Ben Hogan golf brand, resurrected by golf entrepreneur Simon Millington in 2023, brings two drivers, fairway woods, hybrids and four new sets of irons to the market. Notable among them are the Ft. Worth MB and CB models, which feature lightweight ceramic matrix composite core pieces Read more…

Vice New Releases for 2025

Looking to learn what you need to know about the latest new products from Vice? These handy thumbnails will keep you up to date on the company’s new releases across all club and ball catetgories. Vice drivers, fairway woods, hybrids: Vice Golf, which launched its first batch of clubs with irons, wedges and putters last Read more…