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 at JFK airport in New York getting ready to wing out west to CordeValle Resort in San Martin, Ca. 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 30 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. As such, we will update our blog every day until the meeting breaks up on October 25th. We won't give away the results (except for our annual golf match that we'll squeeze in on the lone half-day off we have), but we will give you a feel of what it is like to be at the Summit, including some comments from our panelists.
GOUGE: I thought we were going to keep the results of our annual Hot List match a secret, too. I don't need any more public embarrassment. But you are right about how extensive this annual trek through the industry's best equipment has become. This isn't about a couple of editors in a room throwing darts. This is an editor working with a pair of panelists every day, every hour, every swing to get a sense of their assessment of our key criterion PERFORMANCE and (a new critierion this year) LOOK/SOUND/FEEL. This is our entire Hot List editorial team locked in a conference room full of Ph.Ds in physics and engineering trying to understand what might be the most significant technological developments in the game, all in an effort to best judge another Hot List criterion, INNOVATION. This is hours of consultation with the top retailers in the country to determine where products stand in the marketplace for the criterion of DEMAND. What it is is a whole lotta long days and short nights trying to help the golf consumer figure out which way to turn. And in the end it's not anything like a vacation. But it is pretty cool. And I know you all are just a little bit jealous. Don't worry. We'll show you some pictures, too.
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