Issue 01 · September 3, 2026
What's in the bag
Rounds and context
This is the first issue, so it is not a five-round flash test of one new club. It is the bag I actually carry as a 4.2 who plays two to three times a week. Everything that shows up in later issues gets compared to this.
Not a wish list. Not a sponsored setup. I bought every piece here with my own money. Some slots are still blank because I am mid-testing and I am not going to fill them with something I do not actually trust yet. If you want the method behind any of this, read how I test golf gear.
The bag, as reviews
Irons
Titleist 620 MB
A full set of forged muscle-back blades. 4 through pitching wedge. No cavity, no perimeter weighting, no help.
I play them for feedback. When I catch one out of the middle it feels like nothing at all, and when I miss it by a groove I know instantly and exactly where. That information makes me a better ball striker. I also flight them lower and work them both ways more easily than anything cavity-backed I have tried.
Four seasons. Regripped twice. Never thought about replacing them.
Who it's for: You hit the middle of the face most of the time, your miss is small, and you actually want to feel the bad ones.
Who should skip: If you are above about a 10 handicap these will punish you on every strike that is not centered, and you will lose real distance on the toe. Almost everyone else scores better with a players cavity or a game-improvement iron and should feel zero shame about it. Ego costs strokes.
Golf ball
Titleist Pro V1
The urethane-covered tour ball that everything else gets compared to.
I play it for wedge spin and predictability. I know what a half wedge does when it lands and I know what it does into wind. With blades I need that consistency more than I need a couple of extra yards off the tee.
Roughly ten years, with a few detours to try other tour balls. I always come back.
Who it's for: You have a short game that can use the spin, and you do not lose a sleeve a round.
Who should skip: This is the most overbought ball in golf. If your swing speed is modest or you lose more than a sleeve a round, you are paying premium money for spin you cannot generate and then hitting it into a pond. A soft two-piece ball at a third of the price is 90 percent as good for a lot of golfers.
GPS watch
Garmin Approach S70
A full-color AMOLED golf GPS watch with hole maps, hazard distances, and virtual caddie yardages.
Glanceable numbers with no fiddling. Front, middle, back before I get to the ball, so I am already thinking about the shot instead of hunting for a sprinkler head. It also happens to be the watch I wear every single day, golf or not, because it does sleep, steps, and workouts well enough that I never take it off.
About a year and a half. Battery still comfortably clears a weekend of golf.
Who it's for: You play a lot and you want one watch that does golf and the rest of the week.
Who should skip: It is expensive, and a cheaper Garmin gives you the same yardages on a duller screen. The premium here is the display and the everyday-watch part. If you only want golf numbers and you already wear a watch you like, save a couple hundred and buy down the range. I am paying for the double duty.
Rangefinder
Bushnell Pro X3+
Bushnell's flagship laser. Fast pin lock with vibration, a slope switch you can flip off for tournaments, and very good glass.
It locks the flag first time, every time, including into trees and in poor light. That sounds small until you use a laser that does not. The slope switch means the same unit works for a Saturday game and a club competition.
Two seasons. It has been rained on plenty and dropped on a cart path once. Fine.
Who it's for: You play a lot and you hate second-guessing a number.
Who should skip: This is more laser than most golfers need. A good mid-priced unit with pin vibration and a slope switch does 90 percent of this job for less than half the money. I own the X3+ because I use it constantly for testing and I want the reference standard.
Training aid
SuperSpeed Golf Sticks
A three-club set of weighted and underweighted training sticks for overspeed swing training. You swing the light one fast to teach your body a new top speed.
It is the only training aid I own that produced a number I could measure. Three sessions a week, roughly fifteen minutes each, and my driver speed is up meaningfully from where it sat two years ago. It also doubles as a warmup before a round.
Two and a half years. Three times a week most weeks.
Who it's for: You will actually do the protocol, and your contact is already good enough that extra speed is useful.
Who should skip: Most people buy these, use them for three weeks, and let them live in the garage. If you know you will not stick to a schedule, you are buying an expensive coat rack. Speed without contact is worthless, so this is not a fix for a 20 handicap who is topping it.
Training aid
Orange Whip Trainer
A flexible shaft with a weighted orange ball on the end. Swing it and it forces you into sequence, because a bad transition makes it flop around embarrassingly.
Tempo. When my swing gets quick from the top, this is the fastest reset I have found. Twenty swings in the garden and the rhythm comes back. It is also the best pre-round warmup in my bag when there is no range.
Six years. Same one. It has taken a beating and still works.
Who it's for: Your transition gets quick and you need a feel for a smooth change of direction.
Who should skip: This will not fix your slice and it will not add distance on its own. What it does is teach you what a smooth transition feels like, which is worth a lot to some golfers and nothing to golfers who already swing in rhythm. Try someone else's before you buy one.
Slots I have not filled in yet
Driver, fairway woods and hybrids, wedges, and putter. I am mid-testing on all of them and I do not have a verdict I would stand behind yet. I could list whatever is in the bag today and collect. I am not doing that. When a club has cleared five rounds and I actually believe in it, it gets its own issue with the same detail as everything above.
Who this bag is for
A single-digit who already hits it reasonably well and wants information more than help. You like a compact head, a quiet sound, and a soft feel. You will practice. You will not blame the equipment for a two-way miss.
Who should skip it
If you need forgiveness, this is the wrong shopping list. Copying a 4.2's blades and a tour ball because they look serious is a fast way to add strokes. Play the cavity. Play the two-piece ball. Get fit for the driver when you are ready. The recommendation is the same either way.
Every item on this page is gear I bought and use. Nothing here was sent to me free. I buy my own gear. No paid links.