GolfPass Gear Report: September, 2024

Presented by PGA Tour Superstore

Fall is well underway, but it doesn't mean you have to put the clubs away just yet.

There are all sorts of ways to extend your golf season. Shopping smart by stocking up on thin, warm under-layers is a great way to make a 45-degree golf day feel downright pleasant.

Plus, there's always your next golf trip to think about (if you don't have one on the books yet, click here for some inspiration). While the major slate of new golf equipment releases is still a couple of months away, we've got a new golf ball release to report on, as well as some snazzy shoes that blur the line between golf and regular footwear.

The new JPX925 Hot Metal HL irons were designed for maximum forgiveness, launch and spin to help middle- and high-handicap golfers hit and hold more greens. The irons' newly-engineered CORTECH design includes a Contour Ellipse face that seeks to provide consistent flight across a larger area of the clubhead. Tungsten weighting low in the head is meant to raise peak height and encourage softer landings. Acoustic sound ribs fine-tune the sound at impact. Cost: $1049.99 (4-PW or 5-GW)

The GT3 offers Titleist’s boldest combination of power and personalization. The Adjustable CG Track now sits closer to the face for more dynamic control. A Speed Ring VFT Face works with a new raised tail contour that represents a dramatic shift in aerodynamics, allowing golfers to gain speed that equates to more distance. Available in multiple shafts, the GT3 represents the popular middle-range offering of Titleist's new GT series of drivers (alongside the GT2 and GT4). Cost: $649-$849 depending on shaft and model

PXG revels in going against the grain of the golf industry. Whereas most OEMs release new equipment on strict annual or biennial schedules, they roll out new products pretty much whenever they feel like it, arguing that they're only interested in debuting new gear when they feel it's going to be a big improvement on the previous generation. So it is with PXG's new line of golf balls, which have surfaced 19 months after the Scottsdale-based company's original foray into the category last February.

The original PXG ball received good reviews, which tended to note that it was a very high-spin ball by contemporary standards. The second-generation of balls brings the spin down somewhat and also splits the product line in two, in similar fashion to other ball companies. The new PXG Xtreme Tour is a bit softer, a little longer and a little lower-spinning than its counterpart PXG Xtreme Tour X ball. Both models are available for $49.99 online; loyalists who buy two dozen at a time will receive a third dozen for free. - Tim Gavrich

Ever since ECCO started selling spikeless shoes in the early 2010s, the line between what golfers will and won't wear on the course has grown gradually blurrier, to the point where an argument can be made that "golf shoes" is becoming an irrelevant term. If a shoe is comfortable and offers good traction on grass, it's a golf shoe, whether marketed as such or not.

I've owned several pairs of Merrell shoes in my life, but never played golf in them until I was sent a pair of their Moab Speed 2 GORE-TEX shoes ($170). They are classified as hiking shoes, but Merrell has realized that golf can be seen as a form of low-intensity hiking. After several practice sessions and a couple of rounds, I'm convinced that the universe of golf-acceptable shoes is much wider than I'd previously figured. Between Merrell and the barefoot-style Xero shoes which I have reviewed in the past, golfers have a lot more options than they might have assumed. - TG

Although we featured this book last year, Author Taba Dale has upgraded its presentation thanks to a new publisher. She spent more than four years researching and writing this 320-page hardcover book, which is 9 by 9 inches, weighs more than 2 pounds and includes 100 color photographs. Golf and wine have always been loved by connoisseurs, but Dale ties them together beautifully. Each signifies the good life, something we all seek whenever we tee it up or toast a fine bottle. Price: $95 - Jason Scott Deegan

Vegas Golf leans into the game's wild side with "golf's trifecta" - products that promote drinking, smoking and gambling on the course. True to form from a company named after Sin City. Each product costs $19.95 so they're ideal as affordable gifts - a cigar holder made out of a real golf ball, a golf game played with 12 different poker chips and a golf towel that you can drape over an open windshield in the cart to get the attention of the cart girl. It reads 'need beer' highlighted in green on one end and 'need more beer' in red on the other. The premise behind the golf game is to collect poker chips with positive outcomes on them - like 'Birdie' or '1 Putt' - and avoid the negative ones that read 'Water', 'Trees' or '3 Putt'. While we don't condone slow play, we're open to golfers giving the game a try and see if it provides a change of pace once in a while. - JSD

Gear

July 27, 2018

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