Why there’s no point to ranking golf clubs

You’ve heard this on this platform before, but there are no “bests” in terms of golf clubs anymore.

On this week’s episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped, co-host Johnny Wunder explained why ranking golf clubs by “what’s the best” simply isn’t useful.

“It’s a snapshot in time and it doesn’t— it’s not good for the golfers to rank golf clubs, especially these days,” Wunder said. “Now, 50 years ago, an argument would have been made, because there were bangers, there were losers, there were people that just had bad ideas.

“These days, even the bad ideas are bangers. Like, they’re all good.”

Just about every golf club on the market can help someone accomplish a specific goal with their game. Likewise, not every golf club is going to seem “good” to everyone because it might not be designed for that specific golfer or what that golfer wants to do.

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By:

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Most of these “best” lists are simply based on a few days or a week of testing with specific golfers. Not necessarily an all-encompassing sample. Even with a massive player testing effort, it’s not feasible to take into account all the possible factors that could play into whether a club works well for someone or not.

“What’s happening, though, with these hot lists is that it does give you the stigma that this one got four stars, or this one got a gold medal, or this one got this,” Wunder said. “And it’s Bob and Betsy Ross on the driving range in Arizona for two days, hitting nothing but drivers and 3-woods all day and it says nothing about them. They write on their little notes, they’ll go, this was good, this was right.

“With a different loft, with a different type of head, with a different shaft, at a different length, with a different ball. They’re not getting fit into it at all. It’s like, here’s a club, hit it, tell me what you think.”

That’s why the trick is figuring out which one is right for you and with what settings, shafts and other factors that can be determined in a fitting environment.

Here at GOLF, our goal is to help you do just that, and the best way is to get fit.

“What’s best for the golfer is more or less just encouraging them to go get fit, give them as much information as humanly possible and let them go in there,” Wunder said.

Stay tuned to GOLF’s channels in the coming months for info on 2026 gear, because we won’t be ranking anything.

For more from Wunder, co-host Jake Morrow and this week’s guest, GOLF’s Maddi MacClurg, listen to the full episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped here or watch it below.

Want to overhaul your bag in 2025? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

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