Kick Point: The Golf Gear Show

Massive thanks to Titleist and the new Vokey Design SM11 wedge for sponsoring this week's episode!

Happy Friday, folks! We're still in the thick of launch season, and this week our focus turns to Cobra. With its new Optm woods and Tec MD mini driver now out in the world, can the brand that had a less-than-sparkling 2025 find some life again with its 2026 range of clubs? Elsewhere, Joe's gone big early in his declarations this year with his iron testing, but which brand has created what he has dubbed 'the best iron of 2026'?

It's not all about new launches, however, as we've also got a stack of your brilliant questions to get through. This week, we've got tips on picking a putter if you're a higher handicapper (spoiler: mallets), driver adapter tips and tricks and debate why and when Ludvig Aberg might finally switch out of his Anser-style putter. 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
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It's been a busy week as KPHQ has been based out in Orlando at the PGA Show. To that effect, I'm writing this podcast description at 2:26 am in bed, so it's going to be a short one. This week, Joe reviews the new Takomo irons. With private equity now on board and the 'new kid on the block' bounce now over, is the second generation of Takomo irons a step forward or backwards? We also review the Ping G440 Max K driver, showcase the new retro clubs we've purchased online, and answer some of your always brilliant Ask The Pods questions, this week discussing the actual difference between graphite and steel irons' shafts. 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.

We have a very special episode of Tour Issue for you this week, as Joe sits down with Marco Penge to discuss everything behind his recent high-profile switch to PXG. We've got details on the new clubs he'll be playing in 2026 and all the behind the scenes detials on what goes on during the testing and fitting process of a top 30 player in the world. Marco also offers us some insight into how the process works and which of his old equipment might stay in the bag as he slowly beds in with PXG.

Massive thanks to Marco for taking some time out of his hectic schedule to chat with us and offer such great insights, as well as to the folks at PXG and Marco's management for putting us in touch. We'll be back on Friday!
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.

We're practising gratitude this week at KPHQ, so thank you for downloading this week's episode amidst the glut of golf content that exists in the world. With Tour golf back and equipment season in full swing, it feels like golf has woken up again after a quiet few weeks over Christmas and New Year. With that in mind (and the fact we only filmed this episode on Wednesday), we thought a mini Tour Issue would be in order. We've got our reactions to Marco Penge's switch from Mizuno to PXG, the news that Rory McIlroy is no longer a blade man, the Ping prototype mini driver and Erling Haaland's bizarre golf vlog he put on his YouTube channel.

After that, it's the next big release of the year: Callaway Quantum. Joe has hit all four of the new models and is very impressed with what he's seen so far. We put his favourite model of the Quantum range up against his favourite driver of the year (so far), Qi4D core, to see how the data stacks up. We've also got some of your brilliant Ask The Pods this week, including one enraged listener who is fed up with golf equipment marketing and another listener seeking some mini driver advice. 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.

It's all go here at KPHQ to start 2026, and our first big driver release of the season is upon us. While we feel like we've already given plenty of airtime to TaylorMade's Qi4D since we first saw it in November, we can now talk about it without the shackles of woke embargoes limiting Joe from going into full flow. And that's exactly what he does this week with his full verdict on the full family of drivers, fairway woods, hybrids, Qi Max irons and the new technologies that aim to make Qi35 a distant 12-month memory.

But we're not just focusing on this major release this week. We've got a huge backlog of Ask The Pods to work through, and the three this week cover wedge issues for higher handicap golfers, the actual reason why Bryson DeChambeau uses such unique equipment and why old driver models on Tour (like Aaron Rai's M6) have yet to be caught out for creeping. 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.