What does the GD HOT LIST score mean?

Performance: (50 percent)

Based on interviews with our player panelists, robot testing and other sources, the judges assess the utility of each club. In other words, this is a grade of what happens to the ball when it's struck by the club. (Note: launch monitors are used at every hitting station, and fitters ensure that a player is using the specs for each club that are most ideal for him or her.)

Look/Sound/Feel: (20 percent)

Using input from the panelists, our judges evaluate the relative excellence of the visual, auditory and tactile experience of using a particular club. The more the club resonates with our understanding of what a golf club should be, the higher the grade it receives. In short, this is a grade of what the player experiences when viewing, holding, swinging and hitting the club.

Innovation: (30 percent)

In consultation with our technical panel and based on company interviews and our review of company technical documents, this grade reflects how a particular technology advances the category in all aspects, to what degree the commitment to fitting the vast majority of golfers is executed, and how that technology is explained to the public and to our editors. (Note: In addition to meetings to present new products and their technologies to editors, we strongly encourage manufacturers to file documents in the Hot List web portal in support of what makes a product a distinct and meaningful advancement. These documents are held confidential.)

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTERS

The Golf Digest Hot List is the golf industry’s leading annual equipment review—and the people behind it some of the hardest-working, most passionate professionals in the game. Presented by Golf Galaxy.

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About the Hot List

Our search for the best golf clubs that began in 2003 is not a task we approach lightly. The passion, intensity and commitment haven’t changed, but our process has evolved to keep up with the equipment industry. Today, every full swing of our 32 player-testers is recorded by a launch monitor. We evaluate irons in four categories. The titanium drivers of two decades ago are now made of lightweight carbon composite and other materials. Most drivers, fairway woods and hybrids come in multiple versions with lofts that reach 30 degrees. This is why our commitment to the Hot List is a year-round enterprise designed to educate our editors so that they can help you. This year, for the first time, we include ratings of every model under every driver, fairway wood and hybrid family. With our player-tester panel double what it was a year ago, we can dial in how different player types respond to clubs so that you can narrow your search. Our annual Hot List Summit ran three weeks in 2023, a far cry from the three days we set aside in 2003. Identifying the best golf clubs has not gotten easier since then, but our efforts to make it more manageable for you have only intensified. This year the Hot List features a record 144 clubs, and we’ve made sure you understand how each one is distinct and worthy of being called the best of the best.