The Loop

Starting Hot (List)

January 18, 2011

The Hot List is the most intensive and most important piece of service journalism any golf publication attempts. When the Hot List first debuted in 2004, it began because readers had been asking what clubs they should buy since the day our magazine started publishing in 1950. We embarked on a comprehensive program to evaluate the most significant new products in the game, and the result is the list that's published every February in the pages of Golf Digest.

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But our knowledge and expertise with what's new in golf equipment doesn't begin and end with one issue. This blog will pick up where our February issue leaves off, it will expand and reexamine and reinvestigate the game's new products, all in an effort to help you understand what's out there and how it can help you play better.

If there's a mission statement for the Hot List 365, it's as simple as this: to make the Hot List more meaningful, dynamic and relevant on a daily basis. But mission statements are for people who do nothing all day other than sit around on their, well, mission statements. Hot List 365 is your interactive resource for discussion on the most significant new products in the game. Interactive means we'll want to hear from you a lot more than you hear from us.

For our part, here's what you can expect to find at Hot List 365. We'll get you daily news about how certain Hot List clubs and balls are performing on tour and in stores, including the latest notes from tour player interviews and even their latest equipment-related Tweets. And every week we'll show you what the winners were using.

We'll drill deeper into the Hot List to give you more ways of compartmentalizing Hot List clubs by our Hot List criteria. (Example: Which four drivers on the 2011 Hot List scored the highest in Innovation, and why? Stay tuned.) We'll update you on our search for new products that could be part of a future Hot List. We'll discuss how we evaluate Hot Lists in other categories like bags and junior clubs and rainsuits, as well as the Hot List in golf balls, which is scheduled for our upcoming May issue. And we'll solicit your advice, too. We'll talk about statistics on the PGA Tour and utilize our access to the latest ShotLink data. There will be equipment advice from our database of the best clubfitters in America. And don't forget interviews with the people in the game who are plugged into equipment, from USGA Senior Technical Director Dick Rugge to Bubba Watson. We'll explain why what they're saying, thinking and doing could change your game.

But again, it only works with your help. We'll answer your questions, and ideally, we'll raise a few more, too. Plug in here and let us know what's on your mind.

*-- Mike Stachura

Do you have questions or comments? Enter them in the comments section below, and be sure to follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/mikestachura and twitter.com/emichaelgw.