What's the best golf equipment of all time? Can you beat any of these? | National Club Golfer

published: Dec 14, 2021

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updated: Oct 3, 2023

What’s the best piece of golf equipment of all time?

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The NCG team put their gear heads on and take a wander down memory lane

best golf equipment

I’m joined by Dan Murphy, Steve Carroll and Alex Perry to talk all things gear. In particular, I’d like to know what they think is the best golf equipment of all time – but first…

What’s your favourite piece of new equipment from 2021?

Hannah: Can I cheat and pick two? In the first half of the season, it had to be the TaylorMade SIM2 Max driver which combined with the new KBS TD shaft gave me a serious increase in distance and accuracy off the tee.

RELATED: How does the SIM2 driver compare to the original SIM?

Then in the autumn came the Titleist T100S irons which are a standout. They just tick all the boxes. I love the compact, tour-inspired design, but these are packed full of technology to give me that extra distance I need.

RELATED: Why Titleist’s new irons have gone straight in our gear expert’s bag

Dan: I thought that, liked ripped jeans, I had reached the end of the road with rescue clubs. Then I hit the Ping G425 hybrids and compared the numbers with various long irons and fairway woods. Two things became apparent: one was that this hybrid was far more consistent in terms of both dispersion and distance; the other was that it didn’t, contrary to my preconception, go left on me any more often than with the other clubs I was trying. It’s been in the bag ever since.

RELATED: Why Ping’s new hybrids were our gear experts favourite clubs to test

Alex: For my entire life I have battled what my friends so lovingly call a “power fade” with my driver. So when I got my hands on the Ping G425 LST and TaylorMade SIM2 Max D, my game was changed forever.

Suddenly I’m finding fairways and setting up putts for birdies instead of bogeys. I feel like I’m reborn. But which is in my bag? Well, I’m more consistent with the G425, so that. But the SIM2 is several yards longer, so that goes in if I’m playing a wide-open course with a few more grip-it-and-rip-it opportunities.

RELATED: What’s the best anti-slice driver of 2021? Our resident ‘power fader’ put them to the test

Steve: Any clubs that add 15 yards are staying in my bag and I’ve never regretted adding the Cobra Radspeed irons. A short hitter has become an average one. Oh, and the putter isn’t bad, either. Happy days.

RELATED: How do Cobra’s Radspeed irons compare to Speedzone?

RELATED: Why this new putter is a game changer for club golfers

You’re an up and coming tour star and free agent, which would you choose for driver, woods, irons, wedges, putter, apparel and shoes?

Hannah: If my current set-up is anything to go by it would be a seriously mixed bag. One thing’s for sure my trusty Ping hybrids would be keeping their place. After that it would be hard to get rid of my Vokey wedges, while I love my TaylorMade SIM2 Max driver, then it’s a toss-up between TaylorMade and Titleist for the irons. I may go Bryson DeChambeau-style and have a quirky putter brand like SIK or LAB. As for apparel and shoes, cover me in the three stripes of Adidas.

Steve: As a junior, the only irons I ever wanted had Titleist emblazoned across the back and that continues to this day. I just adore the look of the musclebacks, even though I’ll never be good enough to hit them, and the cavities just seem to get better with every new model. It’s the same for wedges – Vokey please – and I’m a Scotty Cameron man at my core.

Apparel-wise, I’ve recently developed a deep love for Original Penguin and I’ll always wear FootJoy on my feet.

Dan: The only person I know with a longer affiliation to Ping clubs than me is Lee Westwood. It goes back to my teenage years and a second-hand set of Karsten 1s.

I guess it’s a trust thing. I’ve got so used to looking down on Ping clubs that anything else just doesn’t look right to my eye. I occasionally have a dalliance on things like hybrids, driving irons and putters and I’m a sucker for a pretty 5-wood. But my wandering eye doesn’t usually last long and I find myself back on the Ping doorstep pleading for forgiveness and promising to mend my ways.