Getting the best golf club takes time, money and knowledge.
Few are as complicated and intricate as golf when it comes to sports. Such a sport also requires complicated and intricate gear. It is perhaps for this reason that the best golf clubs are some of the most technical and complex sports gear that you can buy. These clubs include drivers, hybrids, putters etc.
These clubs have wildly different makeups, different designs and many unique attributes that all need to be carefully considered before making a purchase.
When the time comes to invest in some new gear or buy new clubs, the sheer number of things you have to look out for can become very tiring and overwhelming. On top of this, most clubs have different designs and specifications which appeal to different tastes and playing styles. This means that if you’re a beginner or less experienced, you won’t be able to tell what effect these small changes will have on your game.
The best and safest option is often to go with clubs that are adaptable and suited to most situations.
Keep reading to find out the best golf gear you can buy in 2022.
When it comes to golf gear manufacturers, you can’t go wrong with TaylorMade. Since its inception in 1979, TaylorMade had carved out a name for itself in the golf gear industry by pioneering things like metal drivers, which were not popular before TaylorMade began developing them but now dominate the market.
They are known for high-quality, expertly made clubs suitable for almost all players and circumstances.
This set is no different. It is a premium set, with a price tag almost reaching $2000. TaylorMade makes good use of that added price by including 14 different clubs in the set along with a bag.
The 14 clubs include six irons, a driver, a putter, two fairway woods and two hybrids, along with a trolley bag.
These clubs are all very high-quality and will boost the performance of any users who invest in them. They are all built to last and can be maintained in top condition for years with just a bit of care.
Buying golf sets is always convenient since, for one singular purchase, you’ll get your hands on everything you’ll need to play golf. It also helps that the manufacturer is TaylorMade in this case, so you know each piece in the set will be up to a certain standard.
The only downside is that this set will appeal to mid to low handicap players. This is understandable since only experienced and skilled golfers will consider paying such a high fee for golf gear, but it may disappoint some beginners with extra cash who want to make a long-term investment.
Irons are some of the most iconic clubs in the average golfer’s arsenal and the club that people think of the most golf, besides the putter.
Irons are notorious for being difficult to control and use, especially for beginners, and these clubs pose the biggest hurdle for a beginner to learn golf.
Cobra Golf has dealt with these issues in several ways to produce an iron that is beginner-friendly and offers high forgiveness.
The extra features that these iron packs include an unconventional design that features a 3D printed badge and carbon fiber strips on the side. The low density of carbon fiber means that the club is lighter and much easier to use.
This is the first time 3D printing has been used in a mass-produced iron, although Cobra Golf has toyed with the idea in the past with a limited edition putter with 3D printing.
For the body, Cobra Golf has used its trademark PWRSHELL design that includes a face with variable thickness, and an undercut speed channel to increase loft and rebound. It also uses the increasingly popular radial weighting technique to produce an iron with high forgiveness and useability.
Best Driver: Callaway Epic Flash Sub Zero
Our pick for the best driver you can currently buy is the Callaway Epic Flash Sub Zero. Callaway, one of the most respected and renowned manufacturers in the golfing industry, made this driver.
This driver was released in 2019 in response to the once-dominant Callaway’s fading market share. The plan worked since the Epic Flash Sub Zero was one of the highest-selling drivers of that year.
The unique thing about the Sub Zero is its clubface, dubbed the “flash face” by Callaway. It is unconventional because the flash face was designed by an artificial intelligence housed in a supercomputer worth $5 million.
This artificial intelligence went through thousands of thousands of potential designs for the flash face, testing them all thoroughly in simulations and learning from its mistakes in the process. Thousands of dollars and millions of hours later, Callaway got a final design used in the final product.
As a result, this design can be considered the pinnacle of what can be achieved within legal constrictions when it comes to the design of a clubface. This design maximizes ball speed and distance while keeping a high degree of forgiveness.
Ball spin is quite low, and the ball travels quite far even with low-powered swings. The sweet spot is quite wide, so mishits are quite infrequent. The Sub Zero has had special modifications, which increases ball speed even if the swing speed isn’t that high.
Build quality is excellent, with a robust body made of tough materials like metal and carbon fiber. Besides containing the unique flash face, the clubface also contains a sliding weight better to control the loft and spin of the ball. There are also more adjustable settings on the body to better control and customize the shot being played.
Due to these special features, the Sub Zero is quite forgiving, with a high skill ceiling. Thanks to the durability and build quality of the driver, you can use the Sub Zero for years and take your game to the next level.
It functions as a long-term driver but is also affordable since it’s been out for a few years. The sheer value for money you’ll get makes this purchase seem like a no-brainer.
Read our best golf drivers buying guide.
Best Putter: Scotty Cameron Phantom X 11.5 Putter
Putters are regarded as one of the most important, if not the most important, clubs in your collection. Good putters can singlehandedly improve your score and increase your overall performance with little effort, whereas bad putters have such a negative effect on performance that using the best quality hybrids, fairway woods, drivers, and irons alongside the bad putter won’t make much of a difference.
The Scotty Cameron Phantom X Putter is a new addition to the high-quality but high-priced Phantom line of putters.
Phantom putters are often very forgiving and can be used by beginners and high handicap players to boost their performance instantly.
It is a wingback mallet designed for maximum stability throughout the stroke. The wings on the end of the putter may seem distracting at first but are actually excellent tools for alignment and are frequently used by some of the most experienced golfers in the world.
The precision milling and well-made, responsive body give a good deal of feedback which you can use to make sure your strokes are all being played well.
This putter will suit players who have an arc in their putting stroke the best. If you don’t, you’ll still get a lot out of this putter, but it’s best to adapt your style if you decide to invest in this putter.
Best Fairway Wood: Callaway Big Bertha B21
Fairway woods are quite complicated. Most commercially available fairway woods that don’t cost absurd amounts are good enough for experienced players but are almost unusable for struggling beginners or high handicap players.
This is a problem inherent to most fairway woods because beginners are not good enough to gain a significant advantage from these high-end pieces.
In response, Callaway has produced the Big Bertha B21, a fairway wood that chucks all the conventions out the window and has a unique design. Since traditional fairway woods weren’t cutting it for beginners, Callaway decided to try something new to address the problem instead of following suit.
Callaway tries to achieve this in a few ways. The B21 has low ball spin and high stability throughout shots to make sure mishits are uncommon, and players can consistently play the same shots. The face is also bigger than other drivers in its class and much bigger than the faces Callaway typically makes.
The B21 contains a flash face designed by an AI similar to the Sub Zero also produced by Callaway. The clubface also contains the “jailbreak” technology, which is just two bars joining the ends of the clubface to improve stability and, in the process, looking like bars of a jail cell.
Thanks to the extreme reduction in side-spin and back-spin, the ball’s flight is mostly straight and more efficient, so the ball travels for longer and goes farther.
Callaway has successfully produced a highly unconventional fairway driver that is beginner-friendly while not sacrificing quality.
Best Hybrid: Cleveland Launcher HALO 4
The need for a hybrid club in the average golfer’s set cannot be understated. Though they have not been popular until recently, their presence has revolutionized the golfing industry so much so that half of all golfers now carry a hybrid.
The Cleveland Launcher HALO 4 is one of the best golf clubs you can buy today, and it can replace fairway woods and irons.
Fairway woods and irons are notorious for being some of the most difficult clubs to control, especially beginners. Hybrids try to fix this issue by merging parts of the design of both woods and irons while trying to minimize the drawbacks of each.
The HALO 4 is one of the most beginner-friendly clubs available on the market. It is highly adaptable and can be used in most circumstances, a characteristic found in most hybrids that have earned them the reputation of being golf’s Swiss Army Knife.
What is unique to the HALO 4, however, is the specifications. It contains a HiBore crown that lowers the center of gravity for a higher launch angle and a triple fin Gliderail that improves shots’ stability.
It also features a very durable body resistant to all kinds of damage and a striking, fashionable paint job.
The net result of all these adjustments is a very forgiving hybrid, even for hybrid standards and one that appeals to high handicap players. For this reason, it’s not just one of the best hybrid clubs, but one of the best golf clubs you can buy.
Golf Clubs Buyer’s Guide
Since it can be difficult to tell which clubs to buy, we’ve prepared a buyer’s guide to help you make any decisions.
Price
The price of golf gear can vary wildly due to the nature of the gear. The best golf clubs are made using high-quality materials and involve meticulous design and millions of dollars invested, which drive the price up.
However, some clubs manage to accomplish everything they set out for and deliver a high-quality package at a low cost. These clubs are usually made using relatively inexpensive materials and aren’t as durable as higher-end clubs, with some exceptions.
Other cheap clubs have a low cost simply because they were released a few years ago, such as the Epic Flash Sub Zero. While it remains a high-quality driver and one of the best golf clubs you can currently buy, its age means that Callaway had to reduce the price over time.
Generally, clubs range anywhere from $100 to $500. Clubs on the higher end of this range are usually premium and meant for advanced players or pack a lot of features, whereas cheaper ones aren’t as adaptable.
However, these clubs can also function as a long-term investment. If you buy an expensive club, you can justify the purchase easily because you’ll be able to use it regularly for several years.
Forgiveness
Another important consideration is the degree of forgiveness that the club has.
Some clubs, especially very expensive ones, are meant for experts or even professionals and so are not very forgiving and are quite difficult to use.
Others are more beginner-friendly and offer high forgiveness.
You can measure how forgiving a club is by seeing how it punishes suboptimal shots. Forgiving drivers penalize the user less for mishits and have other adaptations, e.g., reduced ball spin, which increases the distance the ball travels even if a shot is played with imperfect technique.
Most people will prefer forgiving drivers since these drivers are quite adaptable to many play styles. Beginners can pick them up and have fun with them, while experts can still use them to improve their game.
Buying a set vs. buying clubs individually
Buying a set is usually more convenient for most people since you save time researching and testing out individual clubs. Sets provide everything you’ll need to golf in one package.
However, buying clubs individually can be better in some circumstances. For example, if someone is knowledgeable about golf and golf gear and is confident that they have found the best golf clubs available, buying them individually can often save money.
Conclusion
Golf gear is some of the most technical and complicated gear out there. In this article, we’ve provided you with some of the best golf clubs that are commercially available with a wide range of options. The entries on this list should satisfy all types of golfers.
Our pick for the best entry on this list would have to be the Cleveland Launcher HALO 4. As a hybrid, it offers versatility unmatched by most other types of clubs. It combines the advantages of fairway woods and irons while reducing the drawbacks and keeping things beginner-friendly.
However, the rest of the entries on this list are all suitable for beginners. So what are you waiting for? Get yourself some clubs today!