GolfPass Gear Report: October 2024

The end of the golf season doesn't mean the end of golf shopping season. Frankly, that season is starting to heat up.

When golfers aren't looking to buy something they need, they're looking to buy something they want. Fall can mean good deals or surprise product releases that take advantage of the holiday shopping season.

In this month's GolfPass Gear Report, we review some scary cool golf balls, new clubs from a brand many golfers don't know much about, new rain gear for drizzly days, fall fashions and even an indoor simulator bundle to keep you swinging all year long. Golf season never ends in your house, right?

Trick or treat yourself this year with the limited-edition Chrome Tour Halloween golf balls from Callaway. The designs feature four haunting symbols of Halloween. Scare your playing partners with your new-found length an accuracy off the tee. From core to cover, every detail has been optimized on the new Chrome Tour for the better player seeking distance and feel. Price: $54.99

Want an indoor simulator to keep you dialed in and entertained all winter long? PGA TOUR Superstore has done the research, so you don't have to. Golf Simulators that used to be a $50,000 minimum investment can now be achieved for less than $10,000. PGA TOUR Superstore staff has spent thousands of hours testing SkyTrak, Bushnell, Uneekor, Voice Caddie, Rapsodo, Garmin and more to put together the top golf simulator package just for you, including this Rapsodo bundle for less than $2,000.

Now that those who came of age at the time are starting to have some disposable income, nostalgia for the 1990s is creeping into golf fashion, allbeit with a bit less bagginess in the shirts and pants (unless you're the streetwear-oriented designers at Malbon). Ashworth was one of the preeminent brands of that era, with Fred Couples serving as its main ambassador. Recently, Ashworth has returned under new ownership but a similar aesthetic sensibility, as demonstrated by its Fall '24/Winter '25 release. I really like the look of this Quad Polo ($98), with a subtle pattern and solid navy placket that reminds of a beloved UConn basketball shirt I have from the era around their first National Championship in 1999. Their Clubhouse Short ($98) is lightweight, stretchy and, therefore, very comfortable as well - perfect for a winter golf trip to a warm locale. Finally, the Stormy 1/4-Zip sweater ($198) has a touch of cashmere to give a luxurious feel. - Tim Gavrich

New driver heads get the majority of the media and everyday-golfer attention when they come out, but having the right shaft is every bit as important if you want to truly maximize performance. The shaft dictates a great deal of feel throughout the swing, and because the bend profile of shafts can be very different, there are right and wrong choices for the way you swing the golf club.

I was sent a driver shaft for my PING G425 LST by Newton, a company based out of St. Joseph, Missouri that manufactures its Motion shafts there. In addition to their homegrown manufacturing, Newton's philosophy revolves around an "elongated" bend profile in their shafts, which means there isn't one specific "kick point" from which much of the shaft's flexion comes during the swint. The longer bend, Newton claims, rewards smooth-tempo swings with more distance and greater consistency. A handful of PGA Tour Champions players are gaming the shaft in their drivers.

Newton sent me two different flexes, which are represented by ascending numbers of dots (the higher, the stiffer and heavier). Of those two, the 6-dot (X-Flex), 70-gram shaft performed and felt better for me. My existing gamer shaft was an aftermarket KBS Tour TD Category 4 (also X-Flex) with a kick point closer to the grip and a stiff tip for high launch and low spin, weighing 62 grams.

While I hit several good drives with the Newton Motion driver shaft over the course of multiple range sessions and several rounds, I think my quicker-tempo swing might be a better match for my KBS (even though it is slightly lighter), with which I have developed a strong sense of familiarity and comfort over the past two and a half years. Some of my best swings with the Newton shaft produced a slightly higher-launch and higher-spin ball flight that left me feeling as though I might have left a couple of yards on the table. And the more fluid bend of the Newton didn't compensate for my tendency to rush my transition as well as the KBS can.

This is not to say the Newton Motion shaft didn't impress me, though. I think a lot of golfers with a bit more languid swing tempo will find a great deal to like about it, provided they find the right flex profile for them. Especially for lower swing speeds and softer flexes, I think there is an argument that, at $275, the Newton Motion driver shaft could be an exciting alternative to the extreme-high-end $800 Autoflex shaft out of Korea that has captivated thousands of country club golfers.

Honma Golf has launched its Tour World 767 family of new equipment consisting of three drivers, a fairway woods collection, hybrids and four sets of irons. Honma says its three drivers - all with different shapes for different skill levels - deliver the brand's largest MOI to date. For example, the TW767 Max driver ($650) features a larger head and draw bias as a a game-improvement weapon for middle to higher handicaps. The fairway woods ($350) use a shallow footprint and the hybrids ($325) a larger head to maximize solid strikes from all sorts of lies. Every iron set was built to provide a soft feel and pleasing look, while delivering playability and consistency. Prices range from $850 to $1,050, depending on the number of irons included. - Jason Scott Deegan

More and more golfers are participating in the game for the adventure of it. Who doesn't love traveling to play a new course. Author Binod 'Ben' Thapa captures the joy of it all in his new book, My Golf Journey, detailing the logistics and the life-long relationships he's made while playing golf in the capital of every U.S. state, in 31 countries and on all seven continents. For all those golf wanderers and daydreamers, this is a shot of adrenaline straight into your golfing soul. Price: $23.69 - JSD

Flexibility and strength are two keys to keeping your body in golf shape, year-round. Some of us like to go to the gym, while others get their fitness fix at home. WearBands cater to the at-home crowd with a unique system of stretchable workout bands that attach to your body. Instead of worrying about weights or pulling on exercise bands latched onto the wall or door, you can connect this system of bands from gloves on your hands and feet to a belt, delivering the extra resistance necessary to get stronger and healthier. WearBands come in two different sets, a $99.95 system with 3 for the lower body and 2 for the upper body that's recommended for everyone, and a $119.95 system of 5 lower body and 2 upper body bands recommended for athletes. Since the belt and bands can feel like a jumbled mess of bungee cords when they arrive, it's wise to watch a YouTube video to learn how to use them for the first time. We can't promise 10 extra yards off the tee, but Wearbands are great for taking on the road and using in a hotel room to stay loose or stretch after a long day of traveling or sitting in meetings. - JSD