Good source for objective equipment reviews?

[jasongst]

Whether one driver or golf ball hits farther than another is an objective question that can be scientifically tested, yet too often we are force-fed user opinion surveys using relatively small sample groups. I've seen the occasional Golf Digest bar graphs showing distances and spin, but they are far from exhaustive because they don't tweak any variables, and they are a magazine, so they only list a handful of recently-released stuff (no historical context whatsoever).

I'm already guessing the answer is no, but are there places we can look to get objective test results for clubs and balls? It should be doable for anyone that has access to a robot and access to the equipment. Here are some examples of variables that should be tweaked (sampled at multiple values) for a driver test (forgive the layman's terms):

• Club head speed
• Club shaft (make, model, flex, length)
• Forward/backward club face angle at impact
• Upward/downward swing path at impact
• Impact position on club face
• Ball used in test

With results like these, we would be able to determine which club performs best for our play style (club head speed, tee height, etc.). Additionally, we would have much better insight into what kind of tweaks to make (depending on what club we own) to maximize our launch conditions. And we would finally know which clubs really are the most forgiving, or which are the farthest-hitting.

I have seen something close to this for golf balls at www.golfballtest.com , up until last year, that is. Unfortunately they have now become a pay site, although you can see the old contents by using the Way Back Machine. (If anyone has an opinion on the value of the redesigned pay site, please tell; maybe it's worth it.)

User opinions are a valuable resource, but with the amount of salesmanship floating around out there (especially with the magazine hype-machines) it is extremely difficult to separate perception from reality. The brand name alone is going to have a significant impact on user opinion results.

[DavidFehertysBike]

The best source for equipment reviews is yourself. Get out and hit a club, and if it dosent feel right, try another.

[eberryhill7]

They don't test variables like you want, but golfreview.com is a good site to get reviews from people who have used the products.

[BigAl5150]

You can also check the main site and click the Reviews tab.

[jasongst]

Thanks for the suggestions so far, but unfortunately they are the opposite of what I'm looking for. TheSandTrap and golfreview.com are primarily subjective reviews. That's fine and plenty helpful in its own way, but it's not the science I'm looking for.

[titaniummd]

Thanks for the suggestions so far, but unfortunately they are the opposite of what I'm looking for. TheSandTrap and golfreview.com are primarily

This site has the most comprehensive and objective reviews.

I liked Golf Test USA and Rankmark over Golfreview and Golfgearreview. I do not like the Magazine ratings since there is limited objectivity. They started putting ball flight analysis but that is dependent upon the composite of testers (from scratch to 36 HCDP)

[cbe_golfer]

With results like these, we would be able to determine which club performs best for our play style (club head speed, tee height, etc.). Additionally, we would have much better insight into what kind of tweaks to make (depending on what club we own) to maximize our launch conditions. And we would finally know which clubs really are the most forgiving, or which are the farthest-hitting.

In my mind, such an objective review is not possible or useful because the greatest variable in golf is the golfer himself. Even Tiger does not know what kind of swing he brings to the course that day..not on his first swing at least.

[jasongst]

In my mind, such an objective review is not possible or useful because the greatest variable in golf is the golfer himself. Even Tiger does not know what kind of swing he brings to the course that day..not on his first swing at least.

While it is true that our swings will vary, it is also true that we will still have tendencies, and it would be wonderful to be able to narrow our club choices based on objective data that matches our tendencies. Think of a typical club demo session. You hit some clubs, observe the launch monitor, and try to draw conclusions based on limited data and gut feeling. How many clubs did you try? Likely not many. How many shafts? How can you be sure you are swinging like you normally do? How many shots are you even hitting flush? You are spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars on clubs based on a gut feeling; one that may change tomorrow, or one that may be plain wrong. Even if you read a bunch of reviews you are merely making judments based on someone else's experience, someone who probably doesn't swing like you. Science doesn't tell us everything we need to know, but it fills a big void left by our perceptions and our wild guesses.

Not only would good scientific data give us a good head start when trying to determine which clubs to look at, it may also give us better insight into how best to utilize the equipment we have. And besides, it's possible that there are some clubs that just perform better in almost every swing. That would be nice to know for once.

[jasongst]

This site has the most comprehensive and objective reviews.

On the the contrary, while this site offers good, verbose reviews, they are very much subjective; almost entirely about look and feel. The only objective information is the specs they grab from the manufacturer. (This observation is based on the AP1 review.) And I agree with you about the magazines.