BOMB: Interesting debate at my club the other day. Two guys were debating the merits of the TaylorMade R9 and Nike SQ Dymo STR8-FIT drivers. By the way each was entrenched in their respective positions you would have thought they were sales reps for the companies. Although the conversation seemed more like two guys trying to show each other how much they knew about equipment, the guy favoring Nike said one thing that caught my ear.

“OK, so what was the last major won with a TaylorMade driver?”

Hmmmmmmm.

With the Masters coming up and with all the hype surrounding the Golfsmith/Sergio Garcia driver promotion, it seemed like a question worth answering. So after stretching the memory banks I came up with Vijay Singh in the PGA. In 2004. That said, 2004 was a very good year for TaylorMade as it had driver wins in three of the four majors.

Over the last five years the driver-wins-in-majors scorecard reveals a fairly spread-out field. Nike leads the way with seven (thank you, Mr. Woods for six of them), followed by Callaway, TaylorMade and … wait for it … Wilson (thank you, Mr., Harrington). Titleist grabbed a pair, and Cobra and Ping each had one.

Now, should Paddy win the Masters, Wilson would jump into the No. 2 spot all by themselves. Which really just proves that using major wins to determine the quality of a driver is an almost useless conversation. Those two guys would have been better off jumping on a launch monitor than on each other.

GOUGE: I know your club. I doubt a launch monitor would have solved the debate over R9 vs. Dymo STR8-FIT. Just take them both out to No. 7 and let them have a wrench-off to see which driver lets them hit the high hook around the corner of the dogleg. I bet it’s a good bar challenge, too.

Determining the best driver based on tour use is relatively ludicrous, of course. And major wins is somewhat laughable, too. But it all begs the question, of course. How does one determine the best driver?

Here’s a three-step process: 1. Find three heads you love to look at from address. 2. Take all three and after a general fitting for loft and shaft flex by a qualified expert, make 4-6 swings with each on a launch monitor, rotating to a different driver after every two hits. 3. If you see a difference on AVERAGE hits (not just your best hits), take a demo model out to the course to how it works in someplace other than Fantasyland.

Don’t have that kind of time, you say? Would rather just order something online? Don’t know where to get fit? Please. Here are ten websites to get you started on the fitting process for your new driver.

Golfsmith.com

EdwinWattsGolf.com

Golftec.com

Callawaygolf.com

Clevelandgolf.com

Cobragolf.com

Nike.com

Ping.com

Taylormadegolf.com

Fittingworks.com

Go. Now. Don’t come back until you’ve finished your assignment.

GOUGE: We have trouble brewing here at Golf Digest Equipment Central, like a hurricane warning or a tornado watch. What we have developing is an avalanche of new irons. Within reach from my desk right now are three new irons from Mizuno, two from Ping, two from TaylorMade, two from Nike, two from Bridgestone and a set from Adams. There's at least a dozen more from half a dozen other manufacturers soon to arrive. And we're not even counting new stuff from the component companies (a group that is not short on free-thinking, break-the-mold innovation, by the) or the handful of other surprise entries from what in wrestling-speak they used to refer to as "parts unknown." Irons are going to be big this year, and one of the things that's been rolling around in my head was something the great Dick Helmstetter, big thinker at Callaway Golf, once said. Helmstetter was talking about how driver design wouldn't stagnate just because there was a limit on spring-like effect. "Well," he said, "the COR of an iron hasn't changed in about a hundred years, but they sure have gotten a lot easier to hit than they used to be. You sure can do a lot more things in designing them." They may be getting easier to hit, but they're not getting easier to choose. And guess what, there's some even suggesting that in addition to easier to hit, the spring-like effect on some irons is actually changing, too. People need a gameplan for shopping for irons, and I'm here to tell you, it better be a lot more sophisticated than their approach to getting that new driver.

BOMB: Make that tons more sophisticated. The thing with irons my chopper friend is that they are far less emotional than drivers and in many ways incredibly more technical. And demoing them is way more difficult. Consider: When you test out a driver you're testing out exactly the kind of club
you're interested in. It's one club. And since you hit it off a tee, it really doesn't matter if you're banging balls off grass or mats, now does it? But with irons, you might get just a 5-iron to swing, likely not in your shaft choice and likely not with your proper lie angle. But of course you
want to buy them. Know why? Because every shot you hit off these makes you feel like you can hit more greens than this guy. Come on, people--wake up. Getting fit for irons is about the most intensive fitting you should be doing. And if you're not ready to do that, perhaps you should be reading this instead./Bomb & Gouge. But if you're willing to make the commitment, here are some
tips. First, hit off grass only when demoing. How the club interacts with the turf is critical. Next, if you're fitter isn't checking your lie angle, find another fitter. Also, if your retailer doesn't have a full set for you to hit, find another retailer or a friend who will let you try their set. After all, hitting just the 5-iron works only if you're playing this (oneclubgolf.com). Given the difference between a 4-iron, an 8-iron and a /wedge plus all the new offerings of all shapes, sizes and sweet spots and,
well, lets just say buying irons is not the time to get, in the words of the immortal Dean Wormer, "fat, drunk and stupid." It's the time to get serious.

GOUGE: It's even more complicated than that. Look at things like sole width (more if you're a chop, less if you're a player), and where you want the mass of your club to be (around the perimeter if you can't find the clubface, concentrated somewhat in the middle if your move is more consistent than not). And let's not forget that there's no law that says every iron set encompasses all things for each player in each iron slot. If you like the 3-iron on the Big Bertha iron, for instance, but aren't keen on the pitching wedge, there's no reason you can't mix up a set. And if you like to feather an 8-iron, but are just trying to keep a 4-iron on the planet, you can't expect to play with an 8-iron that's cut from the same cloth as your 4-iron. But get yourself in a situation where you're comfortable not merely looking at a certain club at address, but you're comfortable with where that club's shots end up going. What needs to be consistent is the fit in terms of lie angle, shaft flex and weight. If you want to mix in three different heads (some, like Adams Golf, already are doing that for you), so be it.

The readers of Golf Digest and Golf World seek us out on a daily basis looking for tips on the hottest trends in equipment and what club will take their games from chopperdom to the leader board. Ask, and it shall be given.

Welcome to Bomb and Gouge, GolfDigest.com's blog on all things equipment. E. Michael Johnson (from this point forward, "Bomb") is Golf World's Equipment Editor with an eye on all things tour and what it means for you. Mike Stachura (aka, "Gouge," his nickname even before this blog was created) handles the equipment chores for Golf Digest and actually knows what cis content is and how it relates to TaylorMade's new golf ball. Both are judges for Golf Digest's annual Hot List review of golf equipment.

Want to know the driver that's hot on tour that should be in your bag next month? You'll hear it here first. Want to know that driver that's hot on tour that shouldn't be in your bag next month? We'll tell you that, too. But this isn't a soapbox for us two equipment geeks. This puppy's interactive. That means you talk, too, and we'll listen. (To e-mail us, click on the "Comments" link below.) Odds are we'll both learn something. And we'll all be hitting it 20 yards farther tomorrow, too.

Now about all those hybrids on tour...