GOUGE: If we have not been helpful with the Hot List, please let us know our failings. A Bill Gritton suggests I have been too hard on Golf Digest's Hot List critics.

"Gouge I see that you are an equipment editor for Golf Digest and the Chief judge for the Hot List; this explains some of the apparent hostility that can be seen in your responses.  Frankly, I would expect better from a journalist than to see personal attacks against those who disagree with you.  Name calling doesn't make your point for you and it certainly doesn't make your readers believe your claims.  As an equipment editor I would imagine that you have access to any golf club you would like to try simply by asking a manufacturer to supply you with one.  I have to use the Hot List as a guide for what is available and how good it is.  The effort that you put into developing the Hot List would be more appreciated by your readers if the choices were defined in very definite ways rather than vauge notions that we must interpret to determine what you mean."

I apologize for having offended thee, but my argument remains unchanged. My attacks are against the logic, not the person. When you spend 90 percent of your waking hours committed to a project, you have just about zero tolerance for those whose arguments have no merit and aim to endanger the legitimate and potentially meaningful benefit of the hard work of those behind the Hot List.
The Hot List is our guide to what's most significant. It's a starting point in your search for new clubs. It is not an end in and of itself. Our message should be clear: In our opinion, these clubs merit your consideration. But the next step is yours, and that step must be an active one. I don't know your set of criteria for choosing a golf club, but I can guarantee you that if you stay within this list, and most importantly, get properly fit, you will not be disappointed and you will not have regrets. The judges cannot know the swing characteristics of every single golfer, and those swing characteristics should be the crucial final determinant of which club to put in your bag. There were more than 500 products we considered in our review. We believe we have helped narrow the field by cutting it by more than two-thirds. Our methodology is not vague to the judges: Which clubs have a presence in the marketplace Which clubs perform? Which clubs have expanded the technology universe? Which clubs resonate with the judges? Which clubs return a legitimate and measureable value based on price and features? The 140 products featured in the Hot List answer each of these questions not merely sufficiently but extraordinarily. Certainly, products score at different levels in the Hot List. Does that mean that the Callaway X Hybrid is better for you than the Titleist 585H or Tour Edge Bazooka JMax QL? Only you can answer that. We can happily guarantee that all three are exceptionally significant.