Jonathan Wall

I'll be the first to admit this is a long time coming: @GolfDigest's gear podcast finally has a new name and dedicated feed. Welcome to Club Lab 🧪 Same data-driven discussions on the latest gear, tour trends, and interviews with the people who matter most in the industry.

You'll understand why I'm showing carry soon enough. Something interesting is going on...

Shifting gears to 2026 iron analysis next week. New wrinkle: we're going from three to six impact locations with robotic testing. Here's a peek at carry numbers for the category. Full players report (and pod) will drop in two weeks.

@Libbymygolden Stated lofts on the head obviously aren’t exact, so that certainly plays a role in the testing. Some OEMs will go weaker or stronger depending on the cycle.

@jonathanrwall Thanks for your response, but i dont see how these results are possible unless the lofts of the drivers were not as stated, meaning the 8* was not really 8*. Where did the 8* core head gain 4 yds of carry from when peak height remained the same? Peak height remaining the same

Yesterday's 3-year robotic analysis on TaylorMade's drivers highlighted Qi4D's eye-catching low launch, low spin metrics. It led us to wonder if optimal carry and peak height could be recaptured with the turn of a wrench. This article has the answer... ⬇️

@nickstec We simply ran the test for golfers who might simply want to play the newest head but might need to make modifications to make it work. The head is too low launch and low spin at 95 if you’re neutral AoA. But there are ways to make the heads work.

@jonathanrwall If you need to add 2° loft just to ‘recapture’ playable launch conditions, that’s not proof the sleeve solved the issue, it’s evidence the head is fundamentally too low-spin/low-launch for the tested delivery no?

@Libbymygolden I realize it may look that way, but we’ve seen outliers across nearly every test. And we sanity check the data with additional testing if something seems off. This is the main reason why we conduct robotic testing in the first place.

@jonathanrwall So an 8* core head on std setting has a higher peak height and longer carry than the 9* core head? Something is off.

@scrivener_paul @GolfDigest Huh? Not sure I follow what you're saying.

@jonathanrwall @GolfDigest But were these in common use at the same time as the heads being tested? Also did everything match to the average golfer with a 95 mph swing speed?

Our swing robot tested TaylorMade's last three years of drivers, and the most compelling results came from the newest edition. 👀 Read more: glfdig.st/gZHv50Z1NJq

Good morning, Damon. I talked with Gary Player this past week at Aronimink about being 90, about Ozempic, about Winston Churchill, about socialism, about the future of LIV and what it was like to fly with Arnie. “I’d be on the floor about to crap myself!” thefriedegg.com/articles/gary-…

And here's the Club Lab pod conversation on the TaylorMade Qi4D peak height/loft sleeve test: Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/0qfFa2… Pocket Casts: pocketcasts.com/podcast/club-l…

@scrivener_paul @GolfDigest Fuji Ventus Blue and V1x. We use the same shaft and ball for each club.

@GolfDigest Interesting read. However, no mention of what balls were used in the testing of the clubs. I would have thought that data would have been shown using the ball(s) of the day. Club head design changes as often as ball design. Also, what shafts were used?

@VictorWembanyaa @SleeperRangers It’s not common, but we’ve seen it before with pitchers who are coming back from injury (Drew Rasmussen) and guys who are making the transition from the pen to a starter role (Chase Dollander).

@SleeperRangers This is normal? I was so confused when I woke up today

Skip Schumaker on putting in an opener before Kumar Rocker, per Kennedi Landry “I said before, I’m not going to stand still and just watch the same thing happen over and over again. So you try different things and see if they work. Maybe this is something that worked.” Love it

@golfer_mitch Yes, Qi10 was a noticeable upgrade. Remember running testing when Stealth was still in the 3-year snapshot.

@jonathanrwall I’m still having a love hate relationship with my original Stealth driver 😂. Would the Qi10 be a likely upgrade if I went that route? The newer versions don’t seem that compelling compared!

What 3 years of TaylorMade robotic driver testing reveals about Qi4D's two-sided trade-off. If you're looking for a thorough, honest analysis and detailed data graphics—this is for you. Enjoy, gear nerds. ⬇️

@Jonatha32131191 Just waiting on all product to arrive for testing

@jonathanrwall please tell Uncle Gene to get the GTS vs GT vs TSR 2/3/4 comparison test done…!

95 is right around the average speed. We do it to capture the widest group of golfers. I had this same conversation last week. Unfortunately, the testing takes time to do and analyze, and we have a bunch of other categories to cover. Will see what we can do for the next cycle. We did release 105 last week.

@jonathanrwall Tests need done at a higher swing speed.

@buzzhum_10 Great question. I'm not entirely sure. We saw how strong Qi35 was last year, but Qi10 performed exceptionally well. I've seen brands (Cobra) produce great products and not get a lot of play on tour. It happens.

@jonathanrwall Jonathan - appears on the surface that the Qi35 is significantly better than the Qi10 and also edges the Qi4D in many places. Why then did adoption among pros at least on the surface appear to be the lowest with the Qi35?

@teeithighandfly We're always trying to evolve. Getting better with churning out the data analysis and graphics, so my hope is we can do a 115 next cycle. Maybe later this year with so many brands no doing two-year releases. The testing is extensive so it takes time to add another speed.

@jonathanrwall Jwall these are great, but can you guys do some testing for the longer hitters like 110-120mph club head speed with x flex shafts?

@_GorillaGolf 95

@jonathanrwall Swing speed for this test?