Kick Point: The Golf Gear Show

Massive thanks to this week's sponsor, Reebok Golf. Reebok Golf is back, bringing its iconic sporting heritage to the course with a fresh range of apparel. Available now, exclusively online & instore at American Golf - the UK's number one golf retailer.

What are the best of the best golf equipment releases in 2026? We aimed to answer this by building our dream bag with one caveat: a brand can only be used once. Which brands did we opt for in each segment of the bag? Also, this week, more golf ball roll back debate: why isn't this being tested in full view of the public? Why is there so little specialist junior equipment, and more arguments for and against banning alignment on golf balls? Enjoy!

Chapters:
0:00:00 Coming up this week...
0:02:34 Why are there so few specialist junior golf equipment?
0:13:26 Why aren't we testing the new 'rolled back' golf balls?
0:25:15 Building the best bag of golf equipment from the 2026 releases
0:45:13 Ask The Pod - your recent comments and questions
0:51:13 Arguments for and against banning alignment on golf balls
0:54:27 Should we talk more about RRP when reviewing golf clubs?
1:01:10 Is this combo set of irons completely mad?
Watch us in FULL on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@KickPointGolf
Get in touch with Dan and Joe and 'Ask The Pod' via our email: [email protected]
Sign up for the weekly Kick Point newsletter, released every Friday: https://www.golfmonthly.com/newsletter
Get three issues of the Golf Monthly magazine delivered to your door for just £5 at https://www.magazinesdirect.com/kickpoint
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Massive thanks to this week's sponsor, Reebok Golf. Reebok Golf is back, bringing its iconic sporting heritage to the course with a fresh range of apparel. Available now, exclusively online & instore at American Golf - the UK's number one golf retailer.

We've got carried away again on this week's bumper episode, so much so that I'm simply going to list the cacophony of upcoming content in bullet point form:
We've got merch (sort of)
Joe's been playing golf with clubs from the dump
McLaren Golf is here! How much are they charging us, and is the product actually any good?
Joe delves into his favourite 'maintenance' training aids, the sort of devices that keep your game in check over the season
Ask The Pod - all your comments and questions
Freddy Schott joins us for a detailed What's In The Bag chat
Phew. Don't say we don't churn it out here at Kick Point: The Golf Gear Show. You might want to enjoy this episode in multiple sittings. Bon apetit!
Watch us in FULL on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@KickPointGolf
Get in touch with Dan and Joe and 'Ask The Pod' via our email: [email protected]
Sign up for the weekly Kick Point newsletter, released every Friday: https://www.golfmonthly.com/newsletter
Get three issues of the Golf Monthly magazine delivered to your door for just £5 at https://www.magazinesdirect.com/kickpoint
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Massive thanks to Under Armour for sponsoring this week's episode. The new Drive Pro Clone and Drive Pro Clone SL golf shoes are on sale now.

Joe's away this week, so what better time than to welcome back Sam De'Ath (a.k.a Sweaty Sam) to chew the fat on all the equipment he's been busy testing over the last six months. Sam looks after the putter, golf ball and fairway wood categories for Golf Monthly, and it is the putter where we spend most of our time this week.

To assess whether the zero-torque putter trend is just getting going or starting to fade away, Sam has brought in some of the finest examples of this subcategory into the studio with him. From the new, more affordable options from Wilson to the new Asner-style option from L.A.B. Golf, can the zero torque putter be a catch-all putter for the average golfer? If zero torque isn't your thing, don't worry, Sam has his analysis on the latest Sausage putter, something new (and confusing) from TaylorMade, as well as Odyssey's latest lineup.

We also have some of your excellent Ask The Pod questions surrounding Sam's other area of expertise, fairway woods. With so many lofts now available, how many fairway woods is too many fairway woods for the average golfer?
Watch us in FULL on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@KickPointGolf
Get in touch with Dan and Joe and 'Ask The Pod' via our email: [email protected]
Sign up for the weekly Kick Point newsletter, released every Friday: https://www.golfmonthly.com/newsletter
Get three issues of the Golf Monthly magazine delivered to your door for just £5 at https://www.magazinesdirect.com/kickpoint
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thank you again to our sponsors, Fujikura. After the Masters last Sunday, that is now 5 major wins in a row for Fujikura! Fujikura's streak of major championship winners trusting a VENTUS shaft in their driver continues. All 4 major champions last year won with a Fujikura VENTUS shaft in their driver - the first time ANY company has done this. Today, is the first day the completely new VENTUS TR shaft collection is available (in Red, Blue and Black profiles) - and we have already seen the new TR Blue and Black on tour with a handful of players making an immediate switch. The new VENTUS TR collection has been upgraded with VeloCore+ technology, offering enhanced feel and stability. Now there are even more options to get the perfect with the tour- trusted VENTUS shafts. Head over to fujikuragolf.com to find a fitting location near you to try the new TR VENTUS collection and most trusted driver and wood shaft on tour for yourself.

In this week's episode, Dan and Baz discuss Matt Fitzpatrick's impressive RBC Heritage playoff victory over Scottie Scheffler, the 'sneaky' form of Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland's turbulence, the state of play with LIV Golf and look ahead towards the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

This episode will be the last Tour Issue hosted on the Kick Point show, with an exciting rebrand coming from Monday 27th March with the launch of Golf Monthly Tour Issue. Don't worry though, it's not all change. Baz will be co-hosting the new show in partnership with our incredibly knowledgable news team - discussing everything you need to know about professional golf with Elliott Heath, Jonny Leighfield or Matt Cradock every single Monday.

For those of you who love tour golf, have opinions on the happenings each weekend and want to hear the thoughts of an expert panel on the best bets for any given week - head over to Golf Monthly Tour Issue... Baz will see you there!

Watch us in FULL on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@KickPointGolf
Get in touch with Dan and Joe and 'Ask The Pod' via our email: [email protected]
Sign up for the weekly Kick Point newsletter, released every Friday: https://www.golfmonthly.com/newsletter
Get three issues of the Golf Monthly magazine delivered to your door for just £5 at https://www.magazinesdirect.com/kickpoint
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Big thanks to our friends at GolfClubs4Cash for sponsoring this week's episode. You can visit them in store now at its locations in Edinburgh, Warrington, Milton Keynes and Southampton or head to www.golfclubs4cash.co.uk to browse the more than 50,000 items in stock.

Welcome back to regularly scheduled programming! We hope you enjoyed the Masters and our Tour Issue specials, but we're back onto our bread and butter topic this week: equipment. For the bulk of this week's episode, we wanted to answer one simple questions, are direct to conusmer blades the best value golf clubs on the market? Often priced at less than 50% of the bigger brands' rival blades, do they offer the same performance? To see whether the blade irons offered by direct-to-consumer brands really are the best value to performance golf clubs on the market, we put the best three head-to-head. Which of the Vice, Ben Hogan Ft Worth MB and Takomo 301MB is the best of the best in the DTC space? Also, this week, we debate whether blending a mix of graphite and steel shafts through irons and wedges is a good idea, and get a sneak peek behind some of the Tour pros who love shopping in the second-hand market. All of that, plus your questions and comments in Ask The Pod - enjoy!
Watch us in FULL on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@KickPointGolf
Get in touch with Dan and Joe and 'Ask The Pod' via our email: [email protected]
Sign up for the weekly Kick Point newsletter, released every Friday: https://www.golfmonthly.com/newsletter
Get three issues of the Golf Monthly magazine delivered to your door for just £5 at https://www.magazinesdirect.com/kickpoint
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.