BOMB: I've been waiting for nearly two weeks to say this, pardsy: It's over. GOUGE: You know as well as I do, it's about as close to being over as I am to teeing it up on the PGA Tour. There was an awful lot of hard work these last two weeks by as impressive a team of editors and contributors and consultants as our annual Hot List has ever assembled. The mission has been clear, and it will continue to be our primary motivation: To serve as an informed starting point for the golf consumer. We could just simply regurgitate the advertising claims, print out a rehashed catalogue listing of all the new equipment and move on our happy way, but that's shirking our responsibility. We're trying to get at the equipment that matters, and that's why we've spent the last two weeks away from home and family (to say nothing of the dozens of trips we've made this year). They don't like it and it's not fair or fun, but, bottom line, it's absolutely necessary. The challenge is to look at every piece of equipment in more than the obvious ways. It's asking everyone from retailers to scientists to everyday golfers the extra questions, and the aim is to understand things in the most complete way before we make our annual recommendations. The challenge is to go beyond the obvious, and that's why our spreadsheets contain formulas that look like this:

=180/PI()*(ATAN(N13/(D13*3))+ATAN(O13/(C13*3)))

I don't know what that means at all, but when a scientist whose done work for Space Shuttle missions says that's a good way of analyzing some of our data, I happily defer to his judgment. Do we know what all the answers to our Hot List deliberations are yet? Not entirely. What we do know is when the project is finally completed in the next five weeks the golfer will be served. And I'm betting he'll be surprised on more than one occasion.

BOMB: When it comes to brainpower in a room, me and the Gouge-inator add little when it comes time to sit down with our academic panel who, combined, probably have more advanced degrees than Tiger Woods has majors. In short, there are no quick answers with this group. Every question, no matter how obvious on the surface, goes through a steady procession of thought—the end result being that our process is made better.

There was lots of evidence of that today. We started the discussion with what seemed like an innocent enough query, showing our "eggheads" data on drivers from testing we had done at the industry-standard, Golf Laboratories, and how we planned to use the data to form a ranking on performance to see if our formula made sense. Three hours later, well, let's just say the formula we are using is much different now.

Interestingly, it is in some ways simpler. Our basic problem, our geniuses said, was that we were trying to use too much of the information in our interpretation of it. Narrow the focus to what is truly important to the golfer in the choosing of a driver and go from there. A little while later after we had our formula and standard deviations in order, we felt more comfortable in the data we had at our disposal.

Then came lunch, which effectively turned into a working lunch on measuring the "dangle angle" of each driver. Yes, our scientists said, a larger dangle angle is generally better. But, warned Martin Brouillette, a professor in the department of engineering at the University of Sherbrooke in Canada (who brought a specially made tool to measure all our drivers), you have to take into account what the driver is intended to do. For example, although the Titleist 907 D2 had one of the smaller dangle angles, that should be considered a plus for that driver since it was designed for better players.

As we’ve said all along, we’re not experts in all areas of golf equipment. But we have access to people who are. And we use them freely throughout the year, not just at Hot List time. Today we may not have been the smartest guys in the room, but bringing these guys along proves we're no dummies, either.

GOUGE: That's right. We won't pretend to be experts in polymer chemistry or carbon composite structures, but, well, given the crowd we assemble on these last two days of the Hot List Summit, we know a guy. In the case of the Hot List Summit, the guys we know have worked for decades at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, currently serve as professors at the top-rated engineering schools in the U.S. and Canada, and as somebody once said in a movie, crap smarter than we'll ever be.

What did all that assembled intellectual horsepower provide us with? A reality check. Instead of wandering around in micro-tedious areas like spin consistency and ballspeed falloff (we were literally analyzing every driver in 11 different aspects), the panel of wizards suggested why not look at what we want drivers to do: hit it far and hit it straight.

The February issue will provide plenty of specifics, but to give you an idea of the difficulty facing us and our group of experts, the differences in driver performance are subtle at best. Among the top 35 drivers that have reached our final round, overall ball speed (an indicator of spring-like effect all over the face) might vary by only as much as three miles per hour on a 95 mile per hour swing speed. Certainly, that’s a difference you can measure. Is it 20 yards from worst to first? Hardly. Tomorrow, we’ll find out just how significant that difference is.

BOMB: Day two with our retailer panel was barely five minutes old when an answer came that woke me up faster than a cup of Starbucks coffee (assuming I still drank coffee). The response was to the first question posed which was this: Is the traditional iron set of 3-PW on life support or is it already dead? Tom Morton of Haggin Oaks Golf Complex in Sacramento didn't mince words. "Ninety percent of our iron sets are special orders of less than eight clubs." Ninety percent. Nine. Zero.

For years I have been on a crusade to get people to ditch their long irons for hybrids and it finally seems to be coming to fruition. And why not? At last week's Fry’s Electonic’s Open in Scottsdale, 42 players started their iron set at the 4-iron, six at the 5-iron and one, Chris Riley, began his at the 6-iron, opting to use, bless his little heart, four hybrids. That’s more than one-third of the field with no 3-iron in the bag. So when virtually all of our retailers agreed that more than 50 percent of iron sales in 2008 would start at the 5-iron, I tend to believe them.

Of course, this evolving change brings with it questions. Chiefly, what is the definition of an iron set going forward? It is a question consumers, retailers and manufacturers are all going to have to answer. But one this is for sure. Although I stung a 3-iron onto the green on the 11th hole at Wolf Creek GC this afternoon, it was purely for product-testing purposes. The 3-iron is on death row. And not even a call from the governor can save it.

GOUGE: OK, I've got one question, aside from why my golf swing displays the efficiency and fluidity of Stephen Hawking performing in Cirque de Soleil: Why are equipment manufacturers continuing to make clubs that golfers should not ever buy? Do they not want people to play better? Do they not care that the game is still inherently difficult/impossible? Do they only want to make money, regardless of the spiritual damage it might inflict? By my quick calculations, more than 75 percent of the sets we’re considering for this year’s Hot List will still offer a 3-iron. Only 7 of the three dozen sets we’re looking at include hybrids  as standard. Less than five out of that group have forgone the 4-iron completely. What is up with this tired old infatuation with the idea that a set of irons need be 3-iron through pitching wedge? Can't we just declare 3-irons as dead, dump the body in a mass grave out by the tee box of the par-3 15th hole and move on? We give great applause to Callaway for launching a new set of super game improvement irons that will start with the 4-iron and will start with long irons that are for all intents and purposes hybrids? They are displaying the wisdom of the long iron replacement belief, even if they are simply following what Adams Golf has done better than anyone else for a half-dozen years. With its a3, a3 OS and Tech OS sets, Adams has produced traditional 8-iron sets, enhanced by long-iron replacement hybrids in the 3-, 4- and 5-iron slots. The fact is the only people who should have a 3-iron in their rotation are those who get all their clubs for free. BUT, and this is an intriguing BUT, Callaway's most consistently appealing super game improvement offering and the traditional leader in this field is the Big Bertha iron, and the set will come with a 3-iron with a unique sole and cavity that can be used to scoop a ball off the green. This pseudo hybrid iron set is intriguing to me. Why not simply stop selling the 3-iron, and use the available R&D manpower at your disposal to create the perfect hybrid line? But NOOOO! The 3-iron continues to resonate with manufacturers eager to sell something that is useless the moment it’s unwrapped. As one retailer put it, any club that comes with a 3-iron standard and an eight-piece set as standard is swimming against a riptide. Maybe it’s not that overwhelming, but to me wouldn’t all that time spent designing a 3-iron be better used on designing a better, more user-friendly hybrid. Why approximate a hybrid design, when consumers have clearly voiced their preference? But no, the making of ultimately useless things continues.Full marks, by the way, to the engineers at Golfsmith, led by R&D wizard Jeff Sheets. Couldn’t you simply figure a way to make sets stop after the 5-iron and then fit the hybrids in so your loft gtaps still are meaningful. Of the literally dozens of iron models Golfsmith produces for its many brands, only one or two come with an iron in the 3-iron slot. Speaking of which, let me leave you with a number of the day: 11. No, not the 11 I made on No. 12 today. No, “eleven” is the number of current sets in the running for the 2008 Hot List that still include a 2-iron. Eleven and the numeral "2."  Maybe that's what my game needs about now. A 2-iron. I can use it as a walking stick and leave the rest of the bag at home.

GOUGE: We've chewed on this subject before, but the fact is weird-shaped drivers haven't gone away. Today's session at the Hot List Summit was Day One of our two-day discussion with some of the leading retailers in the country. The mission today was to get a sense of the marketplace, and the big question of the day was where the market will go when it comes to driver shapes. The simple answer? The consumer will buy what works, regardless of shape. Tom Morton of Haggin Oaks Golf Complex in Sacramento says the omnipresence of the launch monitor has made it easier for consumers to consider new shapes. "People are attracted to the visible differences," he said. "And with the launch monitor you get real numbers so that the shape doesn't matter anymore." Does it mean that the traditional pear shape is dead? It's simpler than that. What's dead is buying on faith. Weird will work only as long as you can prove it.

BOMB: That seemed to be the theme of the day. Leigh Bader of Joe & Leigh's Golf Shop at Pine Oaks GC in South Easton, Mass. (and 3balls.com), said, "Players will not be attracted to shape for the sake of shape. They are attracted to shape because they have a perception of improvement with that shape."

In other words, people are strolling into shops, looking the salesperson in the eye and saying, "Prove it to me."

Along with that, it's gotten harder to distinguish what is a geometry driver and what is not. Morton said, "Technology has to be visible, but not necessarily tarted up." And one of the more interesting exercises was when we took some 25 drivers and split them into rows of geometry drivers and, for lack of a better term, traditional drivers. On the "traditional" side were the TaylorMade Burner and Cobra L4V. A year ago it was simple--square was nearly the only story out there. But now there are several that neatly bridge the gap between conventional and downright creepy. 

Finally, we asked the question on how much consumers would be willing to pay for a modest improvement. Specifically, would a consumer pay an extra $100 for a driver in exchange for a 2-yard gain in distance? The answer: about 40 percent would. True? We're not so sure. Let us know if you would open the wallet for just a couple of extra yards.

But while all the talk was useful and informative, our co-judge in this process, John Strege, heard from his wife that she and their daughter had to evacuate their home in California due to the fires that have spread there. And when I got back to my room and opened my e-mail, there was a note from another person in the golf industry informing me they had to bolt town, too. At last report, all were safe and hopefully it stays that way. But it also serves as a not-so-gentle reminder that while we take this Hot List process very seriously, at the end of the day folks, it's still just golf.   

BOMB: If Sunday is the day of rest, then Sunday after a week at the Hot List Summit is a day of pseudo-rest. On the plus side, it was the first day since we got here that I didn't have to set the alarm for 5 a.m. It also was a day I wouldn't have to write down anything other than a number on a scorecard. And after three days of taking notes from our player panels, writer's cramp was starting to set in.

No, today was the day for the annual Judges Cup--an unofficial event in which yours truly and Stina Sternberg take on Chief Justice Mike (Gouge) Stachura and John Strege for bragging rights. The venue was Coral Canyon GC in Utah, about a 40-minute drive from Mesquite. And with the wind blowing a steady 25 mph with gusts to 40, Gouge's high-launch, high spin shot had no chance. The good guys won, pocketing $10 American in the process. But the real winner was the drive up I-15 through some of the most spectacular mountains you'd ever want to see. 

Not that the Hot List Summit ever offers a full day off. The ride up and back was spent calculating scores for some of our five criteria. And when we arrived back after golf, the four of us repaired to the local laundromat where somewhere between the clean and rinse cycle, we hashed out some more figures. After dinner we learned the Red Sox won and the Steelers lost (a split for Gouge's rooting interests). We also saw an older couple at the slot machines wearing his-and-her Tony Romo jerseys. The problem being that I also saw this couple when I came down for breakfast, when I returned from golf and when I went to the laundromat. We may have had a bit of a break today, but this pair clearly was still hard at work.

GOUGE: Here's what's really troubling: They hand out brochures for those with the early warning signs of gambling addiction right here in the casino next to the ATM machines and the one-armed bandits. The brochure is titled, "When the fun stops." Listen, if you need a brochure to tell you the fun has stopped, I'm thinking it's too late. And if you're grinding away at an Excel spreadsheet studying more than 30 sets of launch conditions late on a Sunday afternoon in a combination laundromat/car wash on the outskirts of a stateline casino town, not only has the fun stopped, you could argue that your fun-meter is clearly in the same neighborhood as the guy next to the Romo jersey twins who had one tether to his slot machine and the other tether to his oxygen tank. But the truth of the whole excursion to the red rocks of St. George and all the number-crunching (aside from the fact that I haven't broken 200 for my last two rounds) is that new technology cannot overcome golf in the elements. It’s why the scores in the Fry’s Electronics Open went from the mid- and low 60s to a scoring average of nearly 73 today when the winds got rough. It's why most par 5s into the wind from the friendly member tees at Coral Canyon were four-shot holes for us average hackers. The game always finds a way to win. But consider this: without today's drivers, you couldn't play a 6,500 yard course in 25 mile per hour winds. Somewhere it all equals out. But it really doesn't ever get easy. All those ready to sign up for a rollback ball on a 40-mile-per-hour gusty day, please step forward. I thought so.   

GOUGE: I am continually amazed at what happens at our annual Hot List Summit. There are new revelations every day. The order of the universe changes and inverts itself seemingly dozens of times over the course of our 16-hour days. But few things are this surprising (except for just how much pig products you ingest for breakfast each day): Our Hot List Summit experience at the Casablanca Resort in Mesquite, Nev., involves days of product evaluation, but perhaps the most challenging is the time our player panels spend mulling the differences in golf balls. It is thin-slicing at its finest, highlighting the slightest differences in experience. But sometimes those differences can only be appreciated and understood when we take our players outside their comfort zones.

That's why today's proceedings included a session where some of our best players were asked to try some of the mid-level price point golf balls that attempt to straddle the line between the expensive tour style balls and the bargain balls. This middle ground might be the most fertile, at least that's what our top players found. Moreover, what they often experienced is exactly the same sorts of things our testing with the TrackMan ballflight monitoring device showed earlier in the week. The overall testing is a little bit complicated, but I think I can break it down with two sets, of numbers: First, there was 212, 210, 213, 224. That's how far me--the weakling 94 mile per hour, early release swinger--carried, respectively, the Titleist Pro V1x, the Bridgestone e6, the Titleist DT SoLo and the Pinnacle Gold. Now, there's only one of those balls I'd never play golf with, and it happens to be the longest. So what's my point? Just like how you shouldn't decide how good a restaurant is just by the hours it stays open, the driver shouldn't be the decider when you’re trying to find a new golf ball.

BOMB: Sure, make fun of my dining habits. What can I say, when pig product is presented for breakfast, I'm all in. Go enjoy your oatmeal. When I get up at 5 am every day I need some comfort food.

No comforting, however, is needed when selecting golf balls. Just patience. The balls we have seen in the $21 to $30 price range have been nothing short of impressive, from Titleist's upgraded NXT line to Bridgestone's tweaked e5+ and e6+ to Callaway's aptly named HX Hot Bite, this is a ton of bang for the buck. How much bang? Consider this: two of our better players (with a combined handicap of ZERO) are likely changing to one of those four balls. How did they come to this conclusion? By spending more time around the green and less time off the tee working with these spheres. These balls are like the old Virginia Slims cigarette commercial--you've come a long way, baby.

Off to sleep. Not to dream about my win with New Mexico State minus 9 points (hey, if you're at a casino for two weeks you have to lay SOME money down), but about our first free time in a week--golf over the state line at Coral Canyon Golf Club in Utah where we'll put some of those balls to the test even more. Can't wait.

BOMB: Today was hump day at the Hot List--not only because it's the halfway point in the two-week Summit meeting, but because it’s the most arduous day our testers face all week--forming opinions on golf balls, drivers, blade putters and wedges. All on a day in the high 80s with no breeze. A round of applause to our panelists, all who held up well. And to the massage therapist we brought to the range to make sure backs, necks and shoulders stayed in working order.

The day, however, got off to a rocky start, didn't it pardsy? As we left the hotel at 6 a.m. to head to the golf course for setup, we encountered a driver who decided a little road rage was the way to work off his all-night bender, gambling losses or likely both. Thankfully, we didn't get a Jack Nicholson 9-iron to the hood of our car, but instead received a non-deserved middle finger. The luck with cars did not get better when Ian Fettinger, one of our invaluable support staffers, got into a fender-bender while transporting one of our panelists to the course.

On the range, difficulty also arose--as in the degree of difficulty deciphering drivers. Bags were stuffed with 238 drivers when all lofts and shaft options were taken into account. But it wasn't the sheer numbers that had our panelists grinding over every tee ball. It was the fact that virtually every driver had something to offer. "I honestly don't know how you’re going to do it," said Donnie Luper, one of our player panelists and one of only two that have been on our panel all four years. "It used to be that you could discount at least five to eight drivers after hitting them. This year, they're all good."

Yes they are. It's why they're here. But while our job may be harder in terms of deciding what clubs get on the Hot List, it's also why it is more imperative than ever that we discover those shades of excellence and provide our readers with a list of the most significant products available. And here's a hint: Not all may come from the biggest names in golf equipment.

GOUGE: Don't worry about the lunatic in the yellow Escort this morning. I'm pretty sure you could have taken him. Pretty sure. And I've got your back. But really, what's that worth? Right. Not much. Still, like the unexpected highway dust-ups, today was a lot more of (cue the Jack Buck Kirk Gibson highlight voice), "I can't believe what I just saw." It happens every autumn at the Hot List Summit. The players here certainly saw a lot of the familiar, like the old standbys of Titleist Vokey and Cleveland wedges, a 24-pack of Anser-like putters and the usual full-throttle assortment of TaylorMade and Callaway drivers (we had seven drivers from these two companies reach us here in this, our so-called money round). But it's the unexpected pleasures that gave our players (and let's face it, us judges, too) much to ponder. Smallish companies like Bobby Jones, Hippo and Snake Eyes showed that a quality driver need not be restricted to the handful of usual subjects. And few of our players had heard of Zen Tour RDE or David Whitlam putters before today. They know them now. And in the wedge category, why wouldn't you take a second look at the samurai precision of a Miura forged wedge? Who knows if any or all of these unknown products will end up on our final list, but there are plenty of party crashers at this year's Hot List Summit.

BOMB: So, what did we learn today from our panels of better players, teachers and and geeks, or "ball busters," as they prefer to be called? (I mean, other than the fact that the games of chance in this casino town include the buffet)? I’ll tell you what: The green is no longer the place to say supersize me. That’s right folks, mega-mallet putters are no longer all the rage.

Today's session showed in many instances the preference was for manageable over sizable. And companies have responded with many offerings that no longer draw comparisons to potato mashers or branding irons. Not one putter that made the money round here in Mesquite was equivalent in size to Ping's beefy Doc 17 or the startling in size Odyssey Tri-Ball SRT. Sure, in may cases the large heads provide a lot of benefit in terms of stability, but if a guy can’t pull the trigger on a three-footer when he looks down at it, it simply doesn't matter.

In short, wedge grooves might not be the only thing being rolled back. Manufacturers seem to have downsized the putter of their own accord as well. After all, there is such a thing as taking things too far. Speaking of which, what time are we meeting at the buffet in the morning?

GOUGE: You're not bashful when it comes to the all-you-can eat mandate, so we'll line up at the trough at 7 a.m. But I get what you're saying. While drivers are still trending toward the Hoover upright, circa 1967 look, putters are getting smarter without getting bigger.

The shapes are still intriguing, like the weirdly successful Odyssey White Hot XG #7 (the one with the fangs), which will get an upgrade in '08 with a milled, tungsten-weighted version as part of the Black Series i line (there's a new White Hot Tour insert on these models). But the pie plate sized putter has dropped off the radar and no one seems interested in locating the black box. Stability, or what the eggheads call moment of inertia, is not all that great if you don't feel like taking the club back. That's what Ping engineers discovered, and it's why they'll have two versions of the nifty but relatively unobtrusive Craz-E putter upcoming in the next month or so, one that's part of the I-Series and a steel-faced version under the Karsten Series moniker. Even the more wild shapes (look for something called the Spider in the TaylorMade Rossa AGSI line) fit in a more compact frame these days. The challenge is to make the space more efficient, and that includes making the golfer want to use it to roll putts. That's why it's not necessarily the size of Nike's new oversized mallet (the IC 2020) that's most interesting, it's how the use of colors could improve the golfer's focus. The goal is to get the golfer honed in on the target, sort of like the effect that tub of cheesy eggs has on you every morning.

GOUGE: The most important thing we learned today at our annual Hot List Summit has to be that men and women really aren't that different. In fact, when it comes to golf equipment, both the boys and the girls seem to be frighteningly the same. Today's mission in Mesquite was a full sampling of the latest and greatest in women's golf equipment, all part of the research for an upcoming story on new equipment in Golf for Women by Stina Sternberg.

Our smart, smooth swinging group of women spent a good six hours on the driving range and putting green, and while what they learned about new golf technology was substantial, it may not have been as vital as what they learned about themselves and their golf experience. Bottom line: They learned that what they thought they knew was wrong. They learned that a 16-degree driver (like the TourEdge GeoMax) is not such a bad idea. They learned that a tiny fairway wood with a 7-iron loft (like in Mizuno's new Sora set) is worth a try. They learned that an unusual shape (like the TaylorMade r7 CGB Max driver) shouldn't be a deterrent to experimentation.

Technology in golf equipment, as we've often said here, is moving at a staggeringly rapid pace, dizzying to those who don't have to follow it for a living. The upshot is they don't end up trusting their instincts in looking for new technology. Newer can be better, certainly, but what's clear is that they haven't given themselves a chance to see how better some of today's designs are for weaker golfers. I watched a lovely woman named Charlie who's been playing for the last 15 years hit a tee shot like she had never imagined before, just because she was using a driver with the proper loft for her swing. "Oh, I'm in love," she said often during the day's proceedings. At one point she even explained that she had been trying her husband's new driver a little bit to see if she liked it. That's not going to work. Funny how when she tried that same driver in a women's flex and a higher loft, she liked it so much more. It's why everyone needs to go through some kind of fitting. Our women found out today that the companies who are really committed to understanding women golfers are producing products that can change women's games. But you won't know that until you try it.

BOMB: I have to say, I was impressed by the commitment and stamina of our group today. It also was interesting to see the reactions to several products. In short, these women didn't pussyfoot around. If they didn't like something they let you know in no uncertain terms. "Holy hell—what is this? " one of our panelists blurted out after one putt with a flat stick. "This is just too ugly to do. I want to divorce this one!" Another gem: "This thing looks like it has eyes bugging out and looking at me. I'm laughing too hard to swing. " But the bottom line was this: The bug-eyed driver got the last laugh, getting high marks for performance if not prettiness.

That comment came courtesy of one of my pair of single-digit players, Mary and Jodi, whose attitude toward the process was terrific. "Do I really need to go have my picture taken?" Mary asked, preferring to keep hitting balls rather than submit to the request of the photographer who was, to put it bluntly, a pain in the ass. It was representative of the function over form attitude that prevailed throughout the day. Clubs they felt they hit well got high marks. Those that didn't perform up to snuff, well, not so much. Just as it ought to be.

Partner, I know you're wondering why these women don't all have the new stuff in their bags. But I don't think it's them. I think it's the service given to them. Stina wrote a great piece recently about how women are treated in a golf shop or store. These women we had out there today were highly interested in bettering their games. This was an opportunity to do that by hitting a wide variety of clubs. And any retailer that wants to expand their women's business simply needs to provide as many demo clubs as possible along with some knowledgeable, helpful sales staff and watch the registers start ringing. What do women want? The same as us: Good product, good selection and good service. And a little respect wouldn't hurt either.

BOMB: Well, for those of you that may have wondered what happened to us, the answer is simple: We’ve spent the last couple of weeks gearing up for our annual Hot List summit meeting which, as I write this, has us in Mesquite, Nevada at the Casablanca Resort. At least we don't have to worry about the weather like at the inaugural summit in 2003 when we spent one day dodging snowflakes.

The summit is, by far, the most extensive, expensive and exhausting undertaking done by Golf Digest all year. It involves more than 40 outside panelists and more than a dozen editorial and support staffers. But the Summit is merely the culmination of a year-long effort to provide the most comprehensive, helpful equipment coverage anywhere. Lord knows we’re certainly not here for the $6.99 buffet. And not everything that goes on here, will stay here, either. We’ll update our blog every day until the meeting breaks up on October 26th. Tomorrow we welcome a dozen women who will be testing product for Golf For Women magazine, so you'll want to check that out. But for now I'll let my partner fill you folks in on what happened today. That is if the chocolate cake he had for dessert didn't send him into sugar shock. Jeez, Gouge, that thing was so thick it looked like you needed a steak knife to cut through it. Or one of your swings with a wedge on the range this afternoon.

GOUGE: Seriously, is there any better test for a wedge's worthiness than it helping me get a ball in the air? Good thing the folks here in Mesquite have done a great job preparing the turf for our equipment evaluations. We’re not bruising the freshly overseeded grounds; we’re darn near deflowering it. The challenge the last few days has been putting some ideas to the test with the use of the best analytical tools in the business. The importance of loft on your driver and the importance of one shaft vs. another are two ideas we put under the microscope, among a handful of others (one of the others involves playing taps for your 3-iron). The results of those tests will be part of the next few issues of Golf Digest. And it’s a powerful microscope we have at our disposal. Trackman, the revolutionary ballflight monitoring device that literally sees and measures thousands of points during the flight of any shot from driver to wedge, reveals with alarming specificity what certain clubs and balls can do that others can’t, or in some cases, what they’re all pretty good at doing. Thanks to this device, we're not guessing here; we've got facts.

What's also a fact is how big this process has come in just four short years. The numbers of this year's Hot List enterprise are almost as great as the challenge of assessing quality in the golf equipment business. There are 240 products that have reached this final stage of evaluation, and perhaps fewer than half will be honored on the 2008 Hot List, which will be featured in the upcoming February issue of Golf Digest. In all, more than a ton-and-a-half of clubs and balls (yes, literally) have been shipped to Mesquite. (Friends, that's a lot of shrinkwrap and conservatively, well over a quarter of a million dollars worth of new product, much of which has yet to come to market.) Each driver has been tested on a swing robot by the experts at Golf Laboratories, and those results will be analyzed by the four editors responsible for equipment coverage in the family of Golf Digest publications, including Golf Digest, Golf World and Golf for Women. It is a massive commitment. It's not an idle few days on the range. As we've said before about the Hot List, it's a lot like what Vince Lombardi used to say about winning: It's not a some time thing, it's an all-the-time thing. Every trip we've made, every round we've played, every phone call we've made has been geared to the idea of better understanding the new technology in the game so that the average golfer can make sense of all that will be presented to him in the next six months.

There's no question the Hot List has become an enormous undertaking that goes beyond the intense two weeks of club and ball evaluations that occur every October. But it is enormous because the responsibility is enormous. The difficulty the average golf consumer faces today is almost uncomfortably unmanageable. Technology is bringing new and measurable complexity to the simple act of choosing the next tool you’re going to use to shank a golf ball off a tee marker. Our job is to make sure all that technology is understandable and meaningful. It is an exercise in delineating shades of excellence. Kind of like me and chocolate cake, and if you must know, Sunday night's was just one layer of icing better than Tuesday night's. Still, like the new Hyper X driver from Callaway and the r7 CGB Max driver from TaylorMade, there’s always something new with potential coming soon. What's that? You haven't seen those yet? You will shortly. Speaking of which, where's dessert tomorrow night?