More than one blogger on these pages has pointed out that the equipment tests published in major golf magazines like Golf Digest and Golf Magazine are crowded year after year with big names that happen also to be big advertisers.

Where are the smaller equipment companies?

One blogger mentioned to me off the record how the president of one small company known for Long Drive contest winners reported that the drivers he sent for testing came back in their original boxes, unopened. When questioned, the editor of the major golf magazine doing the purported testing said only that they made “initial cuts” before actual testing.

I have suggested that a less cynical view of these tests – a prevalence of what psychologists call confirmatory bias – might be responsible for the obvious pattern. But whatever the case, there is no question that smaller-name companies get screwed by these magazine tests.

Golf Test USA is an independent testing company, not beholden to equipment advertisers. Their newest rounds of testing are complete, and it is interesting that Golf Test USA includes a number of clubs that golfers who only read major magazines would never even know existed.

For example, on the driver page, you’ll find names like Amur, Upswing, Innovex, Infinity, Founders Club, Feel, and Alpha.

And one company that rarely makes the big-name magazine lists, KZG, finds their Gemini II driver tied for the best score in accuracy, forgiveness, and overall average.

Hmmm. I guess Golf Digest missed that one.

We didn’t, though. Keep an eye open for a feature review of the Gemini II by yours truly on these pages very soon.

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