Kick Point: The Golf Gear Show

This week, we're getting stuck into the min-driver market, comparing and ranking those currently on the market, including the TaylorMade R7 Quad, PXG Secret Weapon, Callaway Elyte, and the Titleist GT280, to see which is Joe's favorite and which might be right for your game. Some top drawer Ask The Pod's this week, before diving into a WITB of one of the coolest customers on the PGA Tour (with an even cooler bag), Jake Knapp. Enjoy!

Chapters:

00:00:00 Intro and waffling

00:03:55 Titleist double left dot ball chat

00:07:49 Intro...

It's a Kick Point first this week, a head to head to head to head to head to head! We've taken what we think are the six best low-handicap irons of the bunch and pitted them against one another in six different categories. Which of the Ping Blueprint S, Srixon ZXi7, Mizuno Pro S3, Callaway Apex CB, TaylorMade P7MC and Titleist T100 will come out on top? We also have a brilliant Ask The Pod on how to 'custom fit' yourself to second-hand clubs, and Matt Wolff joins us for an in-person What's In The Bag. 

Happy Friday!! We're back in the studio this week for more equipment fun. The bulk of this week's episode is dedicated to direct-to-consumer brands. These golf brands - like Takomo, Ben Hogan, New Level and Tour Edge - are becoming increasingly more popular and prevalent, but what are they and how do they differ from the original equipment manufacturers like Callaway and TaylorMade? Is the gap between these brands and the OEMs closing? Which categories, if any, do these brands still struggle to compete in? Joe picks his favourite brands for each equipment sub cateogry to let you know...

We've been let out of the studio again, and this week's episode comes live from the range at the British Masters. We spent Tuesday interviewing some of the best and biggest names on the DP World Tour, and thought we might as well cobble together a podcast episode while we were there! Alongside our reactions to what we'd seen in players' bags up and down the range, we've also got a couple of excellent Ask The Pods and a superb WITB interview with last week's winner (and outsider for a late Ryder Cup pick), Marco Penge. A Mizuno staffer and...

We're back in the studio! After a month or so on the road, we're back with a Tested This Week on the new Maxfli Tour and Tour X balls and your correspondence and questions on Ask The Pod. Our guest this week is Trottie Golf, or just Chris Trott to his friends and family. Now a YouTube star in his own right, you'll likely have seen Trottie on TaylorMade's YouTube channel creating content with some of the best players in the world, but, before all of that, he was Tour Director at Taylormade. Sitting down with us in the...

Our final special of the summer sees us back at JCB Golf & Country Club to give all of the major equipment manufacturers a summer school report after a very busy year of releases. Those who have been listening since the very early days will remember we did this last year, and it was relatively successful, so we're wheeling it out again. Every brand, graded. It's as simple as that. Any disagreements with us, make sure to get in touch, and we'll be sure to debrief on your reactions when we're back in the studio next week. Hang around until...

It's the final episode of our US Tour! This week, we're in Phoenix, Arizona, taking a peek behind the curtain at Ping's HQ. We've got insights into the brand's new proprietary shaft lab, its unique production line, and its state-of-the-art putter fitting centre. Joe was also fitted on the Proving Grounds for the new i240 and iDi driving iron - we've got our first impressions of both. Finally, we're joined by Ping PGA Tour Rep Kenton Oates as we dive into the equipment of Viktor Hovland. Kenton has been working with Viktor since he left college in 2019, and gave...

We've got another very special episode lined up for you this week, filmed live at TaylorMade's 'Kingdom' in California. We've pulled back the curtain to bring you an in-depth chat with the man personally responsible for crafting Scottie Scheffler's golf clubs: Adrian Reitveld, TaylorMade's Senior Tour Manager. Having worked with Scottie since he turned pro in 2018, Adrian reveals the hidden quirks of the world's #1 golfer's setup and breaks down the story behind Scottie's now infamous Spider X putter switch.

But that's not all. Before Adrian joins us, we've got insights from our behind-the-scenes tour of TaylorMade...

Happy Friday, folks. I hope you're enjoying The Open! We've got a very, very special episode lined up for you this week, the first of three from our trip to the USA in late June. Our first stop was with our friends at Titleist, which was recorded from a state-of-the-art podcast studio at the Titleist Performance Institute in Carlsbad, California.

We had a jam-packed day at Titleist's US HQ, so expect to hear about our time behind the scenes at the Titleist factory and everything we saw behind the scenes at the stunning Titleist Performance Institute...

Happy Friday, KPers. It's another hot one in the studio this week, so please forgive our clammy faces and flustered nature. For those who enjoyed watching the shaft wall collapse two weeks ago, we've got another treat for you this week, too...

Onto the content, and we're starting with what should be a very helpful segment on our favourite training aids. What are the best and most practical ways of using alignment sticks to help you practice better? We've also got something of an Ask The Pod special this week, with three brilliant questions on fairway...

Happy Friday, folks! Another busy episode for you this week. To start, we've got a brief chat about Bryson's new LA Golf irons and why he hasn't been quite able to settle into them just yet, as well as a Tested This Week on the return of Maxfli and the new XC2 irons - are they the real deal in the player's distance category?

Ask The Pod is back this week with some of your brilliant correspondence and a question asking us to debunk whether taller (or shorter) golfers really need longer or shorter shafts, respectively...

This week, Dan's been hit by two golf balls and tells us about his rich vein of golfing form, Joe's been on a diet, and the lads catch up about why Rory has struggled to find his driving game again after his driving was deemed non-confirming ahead of the Canadian Open. The Cool Board is back with wedge stamping, bag rain covers and big letter hats under the microscope. And finally, we dive into the bag of Collin Morikawa. What exactly is it that makes his grips 'like putting your hands in a NutriBullet, according to Joe? 

It's our birthday! Who'd have thought we'd have made it this far?! To celebrate, we're bringing to you what we have considered our most enjoyable interview to date with former Premier League and England footballer turned golf YouTuber Jimmy Bullard. Jimmy has never hidden the fact that he's a huge equipment geek, so we were very excited to have him on the show. Sat in the gardens of the Manor House is Castle Coombe, Joe and Jimmy cover everything from tapering on grips, swing weight vs total weight, Jimmy's club building cave and their theories behind why the Qi10...

Happy Friday, folks. Hope you're enjoying the US Open! To accompany your weekend of watching professional golfers hack it out of thick rough, we've put together 82 minutes of two 'professional' journalists trying to hack their way through an interview with former Tour pro and now broadcaster Nick Dougherty. Joe has some history with Nick from their junior days, and it's safe to say Joe was and is a big fan...perhaps too big. Once Joe stops fanboying at the start of our interview, Nick offers us some brilliant insights into the equipment he loved during his playing days, as w...

Happy Friday Kick Pointers (Joe's newly appointed name for our viewers and listeners). In this week's episode, Joe revisits one of the most notable and hotly anticipated driver releases of 2025 - Bryson Dechambeau's LA Golf Driver. A fascinating concept that involved different bulge and roll profiles depending on swing speed, Joe talks us through his thoughts on the product as well as the less-than-optimal online fitting service currently offered by LA Golf. 

Speaking of Bryson, our friends at Golf Clubs 4 Cash have kindly sponsored this week's WITB segment, where we dive deep into the bag for DeChambeau's d...

We've got loads to get stuck into this week, so thanks for joining us! Joe is in something of a golf purgatory. Should he resign his PGA membership to become a full-time vibesman on the golf course? And, should he start playing clubs he thinks look cool, rather than have any function? After that, we take a brief look at the Tour's take-up of zero torque putters. What has been the reaction from Tour players to this growing trend, and is the argument for zero torque putters starting to win more people over? 

Ask The Pod wants t...

Happy Friday, thanks for downloading another bumper episode! We start this week with the Cool Board. Where will golf speakers, groove cleaners and Sunday bags find their way onto the board? The Explainer this week sees us dive into aftermarket shafts. What exactly is different about an
aftermarket shaft versus a stock shaft? And, is the investment in an aftermarket shaft really worth it? Joe explains all. 

Ask The Pod this week wants to know if anyone really needs a 60° wedge. If someone like Dan Grieve only uses his for emergencies, are we wasting a slot in...

Happy Friday, Happy Kick Point Day. With the leaderboard at the PGA Championship looking more like a Sunday at the 3M Open than one of professional golf's premier weekends, hopefully, we can act as an area of respite from the less-than-exciting leaderboard in Charlotte. 

First up this week, Joe's got something he needs to get off his chest- why is there such little consensus in golf equipment? Where one fitter might tell you swing weight is the most important aspect of a club fitting, another might tell you it's swing weight. Why is there no standardisation in m...

Happy Friday! We've got another bumper episode for you this week, so thanks for downloading. 

Ask The Pod this week wants to know what the best and worst club builds and purchases we've made are, and The Cool Board is back for a second week, too. Heading somewhere on the board this week are black irons, 14-way dividers on stand bags and bag tags. Finally, with the PGA Championship starting next Thursday, we thought we'd take a trip down memory lane to 2015 to take a look at what Jason Day had in the bag for his first (an...

It's Friday, it's Kick Point, you know the drill. Thanks for downloading this week's episode. We really do appreciate you supporting and enjoying the show! As always, there's plenty of waffle to start this week, including Joe's Easter adventures in a renovated bus, Dan's trip to HobbyCraft and some of your correspondence on which golf equipment best suits which brand of car. 

Onto the actual equipment chat, we've got a review of the latest mini driver to hit shelves, the TaylorMade R7 Quad mini. Does it do much to move the category on from last year's Brnr Cop...

Happy Friday, and thanks for downloading the show! Settle in for a bumper episode. After Joe's #banthebutler campaign was picked up by No Laying Up last month, we thought it would be fun to think of more special, one-off events that could be run on the PGA Tour. What would happen if players had to play an event using a persimmon driver, 3-SW blade irons and a ballata ball? Who would fare best, and who would fare worst? Joe also answers whether shaft weight or shaft flex is more important in a club fitting. While the answer is (spoiler a...

Little did we know when we recorded this episode at the end of March that we'd be sitting here right now with Rory McIlroy as a Grand Slam winner. Yes, we filmed this many weeks before the Masters, so we are clueless to Rory's triumph, hence the complete lack of reference to one of the biggest moments in our sport's history! 

Back to matters of equipment. This week, Dan has a rant about driving range etiquette and people's obsession with how far they're hitting the ball, Joe has an explainer all about torque in shafts, and this w...

Happy Masters Friday! We hope you're enjoying the tournament, and thank you for spending some time with us when there are plenty of other exciting things happening in the world of golf. After a suspiciously L.A.B Golf DF3-shaped Odyssey putter appeared on Tour last month, we ask if copying in the golf equipment industry is a problem or just fair game. Elsewhere, Joe's been playing around with his putter (again) and has changed the shaft in his trusty blade for the first time. Should we all be thinking about our putter shafts in as much detail a...

Sit back, relax, and get a drink in your hand; it's nearly Masters week! To celebrate, we're heading back to 2019 to take a deep dive into the winning bag of Tiger Woods. Can you call 2019 retro? Either way our popular retro WITB series is back. Thanks to this week's partner GolfClubs4Cash, we have examples of Tiger's clubs with us on set this week. We must stress these aren't Tiger's actual clubs (that would've been some coup), but it's a wonderful addition to Joe's detailed What's In The Bag. 

Also this week, Joe catches us all up with...

Joe's got something he wants to get off his chest this week. He thinks the new PXG Wildcat driver has been criminally under-spoken about and wants to give what he thinks is an emerging new driver sub-category the time of day. How can this shortened, lighter, loftier 460cc head driver benefit slower swing speed golfers?

The explainer this week focuses on whether the shafts we can also use the shafts Tour pros use. Of course, you can, in theory, but the real question is, should you? Ask The Pod wants to know about Joe's wildest 3D printing d...

Joe's in storytelling mode this week with two belters about the time he met Rory McIlroy at Celtic Manor and a little-known piece of insight into Tiger Woods' rudimentary equipment secret. We're also bringing back the explainer this week to talk about (get your giggles out of the way now) shaft length. It is a vital and often misunderstood part of the fitting process that has an impact on pretty much everything from distance to consistency - Joe is here to explain exactly how to get it right for your game. 

Finally, this week's What's In The B...

It was a hell of a performance from our relief pitcher (and equipment expert) Sam De'Ath, but he exits stage left to a rapturous reception as Joe retakes his throne on the Kick Point set this week. Not only is he back, but he's also providing a hot take about caddies - 'Why do we have them?'. Given that a few members of the Golf Monthly team are former caddies, his answer certainly ruffled some feathers within the office...

As for the rest of the show, we have a Kick Point first - we talk about...

If you're a bit of a putter nerd or a total putter newbie, then you're in luck this week as our guru Sam De'Ath returns to give us the full lowdown on the latest craze in flatstick technology - zero torque putters! Unfortunately, that means no Joe this week. Eagle-eyed viewers will notice he had a bit of tape on the sole of his shoe all last week, and I would like to say he's sitting out this week out of embarrassment, but that would be lying...
Instead, this episode was supposed to air last week, but one...

Drumroll please…….… Joe is back! As we say here in England, super sub Sam De’Ath had great innings (Google it, Americans), but it’s time for the star of the show to return and talk golf gear. His back is better, his beard is trimmed, and his makeup is done - we couldn’t be happier to have ‘The Pro’ back. 

And it's a bumper episode to return to. Joe will give us insight into two of his favorite things - Taylormade irons and golf grips. Yes, we’re diving deep into his review of the latest P790 irons w...

Thanks for all your well wishes to the injured Joe The Pro last week! He'll be back (no pun intended) better than ever next week. So, given his stunning debut performance last week, Sam De’Ath returns to spread knowledge and wisdom about hybrids for the new golf season. We ask whether the club is falling out of fashion on Tour; why we think the average golfer should be using more of them and Sam runs through which of the latest releases are the best for you. We also get technical with wedges and answer the question - 'should pe...

We have an injured soldier this week. Despite looking like he's in his late 20s, Joe is decaying at the standard rate for someone in their early 40s, and as such suffered a back injury in the lead-up to this week's show. Luckily, we have a super sub waiting in the wings. 

So, for the first time, we welcome fellow Golf Monthly equipment tester Sam De'Ath onto the show. We've mentioned Sam in passing on many episodes as our chief fairway wood and hybrids tester amongst other things. So, with Sam on this week, we thought it m...

Get in touch with Dan and Joe and Ask The Pod via our email kickpointpodcast@futurenet.com     

We're now on YouTube! Watch full episodes at: https://www.youtube.com/@KickPointGolf       
We're also now on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kickpointgolf/?hl=en 

We're back in the studio this week with special guest Ludvig Aberg who talks us through the ins and outs of his equipment choices. The world number six joined us back in October last year to chat about his relationship with relatively new sponsor Titleist and his close relationship with Adidas golf. Before a...

It's our first every 'emergency' episode! Of course, there's no such thing as a real emergency when you're running a golf equipment podcast, but a busy week for Dan in Florida meant we had to sit down for a catch-up. Because of that, we're on our laptops today and no in the studio - so we apologise in advance for the less-than-perfect sound quality we usually pride ourselves on. 

So, coming up this week, we've got all of the down low on what it's like to be inside the TGL arena and a behind-the-scenes look at all o...

0:00 Intro waffle 
2:55 Srixon ZXi drivers: What are they all about? 
7:04 ZXi driver technology
10:22 ZXi looks
16:30 ZXi drivers summary 
17:22 Srixon ZXi drivers review
23:47 Sirxon ZXi fairways & hybrids review
26:11 Srixon ZXi utility iron review
33:26 Srixon ZXi7 iron review
38:39 Srixon ZXi5 iron review
45:06 Srixon ZXi4 iron review
49:30 Ask The Pod - Best driver set up for slower swing speed golfer...

While the Big Five have announced their driver range for 2025, there is still a big and largely underrated brand we have yet to discuss: Srixon. Its new ZXi range is...

Another big dog has entered the chat. Ping has arrived with its new G440 family of golf clubs. After a two-year wait since G430, has the brand been able to elevate what was one of the most successful and popular club families in its history? We've got our in-depth verdicts on the whole driver family, fairway woods, hybrid and new game improvement irons too. 

In a bid to include some non-new-release content, Ask The Pod is also back this week with a question from a very mysterious listener with two different aliases. They ask, why doesn't every g...

Back in the autumn, you may remember Joe saying, ' I've seen a new club coming out that I like looks of so much, it is going in my bag no matter what the performance is like.' Well, that club is here, and it's called TaylorMade Qi35. In this episode, we're bringing you our in-depth review and verdict of all five (yes, five) new driver heads, three fairways & the lone new hybrid. We'll go over all the new tech and Joe will give his thoughts on each model as it sits in the new range. Let us know...

Happy New Year! As is customary at the start of a new calendar year, new drivers are launching. The first to go in 2025 is Callaway and in this episode, we take a deep dive into the new Elyte range. You've likely already seen images of them online, and it's fair to say the new range has been taking a bit of heat for the design. But, can Elyte battle back by being one of the best-performing drivers of the year? Joe has been busy testing all three drivers and the new game improvement irons and will give his full...

We're on the road this week, bringing you a special episode from inside the Precision Golf Fitting Centre in Surrey. Joe has mentioned the studio several times in previous episodes (he used to work at Precision Golf too!) so we thought it was time we took a deep dive into what an independent fitting centre is and why Precision Golf is so revered in the fitting industry. We'll chat about how the studio works, what advantages you might get from being fitted at an independent studio, and just what makes them so different from any other fitting centres. 

It's the last Friday before Christmas and we were feeling the perfect mixture of festive and silly to bring you the first annual Pointy Awards (see what we did there?) to commemorate the year in equipment. Awards handed out include: Most Innovative/Disruptive Release, Best Equipment Change, Most Innovative Use Of A Golf-Specific Product Off The Golf Course, Best Costume Design & The Rising Star. Enjoy the episode and Merry Christmas from Dan, Joe and the whole Kick Point team! 

Get in touch with Dan and Joe and Ask The Pod via our email kickpointpodcast@futurenet.com 

We...

Cobra's newest family of drivers, fairways, hybrids and irons are here, and we're here to break down everything you need to know about DS-Adapt! From all the new tech to the results of Joe's extensive testing, it's all here this week. We've dedicated the whole episode to the new range as Dan and Joe dive into all of the technical details and their opinions on the performance of the new clubs as we herald the start of driver launch season. 

We're now on YouTube! Watch full episodes at: https://www.youtube.com/@KickPointGolf  
We're also now on...