We know everybody has different needs as they assess their plans on what new clubs they should be adding to their bags this year. And while we would be the first to suggest that what you need probably should come about after a hard look at some in-round performance data through your teacher, or from details you might glean from GPS stat-trackers like Arccos and ShotScope, we also think that the trends about the kinds of clubs we find most compelling need to be on every golfer’s gear radar.
Here are the six clubs we think you need to dig in on this year:

Scottie Scheffler plays the TaylorMade Qi10, a forgiving driver designed for the masses.
Mike Ehrmann
Your driver might not be forgiving enough.
There’s a lot of talk about forgiveness, and a lot of talk about moment of inertia—that measurement of how stable a club is on off-center hits. But whatever way you want to measure it, drivers are more forgiving today than they were, well, not all that long ago. It goes beyond the numbers because of the way faces are designed today, with more areas rebounding closer to a center hit and certainly less instances of excessive, distance-sapping spin. Even the best players in the world have opted for more forgiving models, rather than the typical "tour" head in their driver. That’s why our advice is to think about the totality of your tee-ball experience. You might actually hit a few shots farther with a “less forgiving” model, but remember this: "Forgiveness" is more than some MOI number. We think the best driver is the one that puts your tee balls in play a high percentage of the time, even with some of your less than ideal hits. That ultimately says more about getting the specs right than focusing on some scientific formula.

Is the right bounce angle in my wedges really knowable?
Yes. But only the hard way. Wedges are more sophisticated these days, a direct result of when the USGA rolled back grooves in 2009. That equipment rule change could have made wedges worse, but instead it made them better by making them more specific to the player’s individual swing types and stroke needs. The problem has been deciphering what all those differences mean. We found a solution and it doesn't require that you intuitively know the difference between a C grind and an X grind

Luke Walker
You need a mallet putter. No, you really do.
Mallet putters have been gaining traction to supplant blade putters as the preferred model for more than a decade. The only holdup appears to be the simple fact that blade putters look so much sexier. Still the best players are often opting for mallets, with four of the top 10 players in the world using mallets, as well as top-ranked woman Nelly Korda switching to a mallet late in this year. There are a couple of things at work here, but first is that mallets can feature internal weighting that give them something of a blade-like feel with the aiming and stability benefits fo a mallet. Second, there are some mallets out there that are getting golfers to build a more reliable and easier stroke for more repeatable results. For us average golfers, who, let's face it, are much worse at putting than we think we are, there is almost no downside to the mallet’s benefits. Start the search as soon as you can.

In our Hot List test, of the players who hit higher-lofted fairway woods as far or farther than their 3-woods, most had driver swings of less than 100 miles per hour, a speed that is comfortably above average for recreational golfers. That would mean the majority of golfers ought to consider more loft on their lowest-lofted fairway wood. Photograph by Jesse Rieser
Higher-lofted fairway woods should be the new standard.
Maybe fairway woods are an afterthought in your typical clubfitting, but we think there’s real danger to your score if you just assume you need a 3-wood because that’s what you’ve always played. Our Hot List launch monitor data from player testing, tracked by the Rapsodo MLM2 Pro, reveals that very fact. And it’s even more the case that if you stop your fairway woods after the 5-wood, you might not be going far enough. Most average golfers need more loft because loft is the primary catalyst for launching the ball with the optimal angle for distance. Without high swing speed, you actually will hit a 4-wood farther than a 3-wood. And when it comes to the longer approach shots, a high-lofted fairway wood like a 7-wood or even a 9-wood gives average swing speeds better launch with a larger head that's naturally more forgiving on the toughest shots in the game.

Is it time to sing a funeral dirge for hybrids?
Relax. Just because hybrid use on tour is way down compared to the heady times of the early Hot Lists in the 2000s, doesn’t mean these clubs don’t provide benefits. Still, the number of hybrid entries for the annual Hot List has started to drop off largely because there are other interesting solutions out there, particularly higher-lofted fairway woods and the idea of a combo sets, where your longer and middle irons might be a more forgiving variety than your short irons. Still, hybrids can have a place for a player who's willing to mix several different kinds of clubs in his or her bag. With more higher-lofted hybrids (several at 8-iron loft, for example), the reach of the hybrid and its benefits are still valid, particularly as standard iron lofts get stronger and stronger. We think the best option might be a higher-lofted fairway wood in many cases, but most hybrids are still going to be easier hit for most golfers than their current 6-irons.

Gregory Shamus
How much forgiveness do you need in your irons?
Drivers, fairway woods, hybrids, even putters might be exuding forgiveness, but how much help should you be getting from your irons? Our data from Hot List player testing by the Rapsodo MLM2 Pro shows that game-improvement irons clearly produce more distance than players irons, even for better players. So does that mean even better players should recalibrate and steer clear of players irons? That’s less clear because our data didn’t show a great advantage for accuracy from the more “forgiving” game-improvement irons. While we believe the players distance category of irons offers a neat mix of the best of both worlds, we are a little concerned that all golfers could benefit from more loft, not less loft. That’s one reason fitting is going to provide some definitive answers to the get the right 14 answers for your bag.