Hot List 2009: Performance Category Leaders: Golf Digest

Print
E-Mail
Feeds

Hot List: golfdigest.com

Hot List Category Leaders: Performance

Performance factor (40%): Based on interviews with our player panelists, robot testing and other sources, the judges assessed the utility of each product. In other words, this is a grade of what happens to the ball when it's struck by the club.

Other Hot List Slideshows: Performance | Innovation | Look/Sound/Feel | Demand

Play Slideshow

Pause

View All Thumbnails

1 of 10

DRIVER: TAYLORMADE BURNER ('09)

STREET PRICE: $300
WEBSITE: taylormadegolf.com
LOFTS: 9.5, 10.5, HT

TECH TALK: The 49-gram, 46¼-inch shaft promotes speed, as does the deep face enhanced by the company's inverted-cone technology. The gently triangular dual crown positions the CG lower than the previous Burner.

PLAYER COMMENTS: (M) "Foolproof. A straight ball on every swing. The club feels good through the whole swing."... (M) "Great, consistent, solid feel and sound. It goes far, and the ball has a nice, boring trajectory." ... (M) "Long, forgiving, accurate." ... (L) "Longest club to date. Put a star next to this one."

HOT: Anybody can stick a 46¼-inch shaft on a driver and pretend it'll increase distance. Only the exceptional can figure out how to make a better, hotter driver and stick a genuinely faster 46¼-inch shaft on it to impressively feed our need for speed.

NOT: Average shaft length, PGA Tour 45 inches.