The Hot List favorites of a 60-year-old middle handicapper—in his own words

Tom Allen is one of our longest-tenured Hot List testers. Having just turned 60, Allen is a 5-foot-10 six-handicapper with a self-described “dad bod” and declining clubhead speed (96 to 98 miles per hour with the driver, down from a high of 107 mph). An attoney, Allen finds the time to play a bountiful amount of golf and is also a Golf Digest course rating panelist. He brings the same level of rigor to assessing clubs as he does golf courses. Here are Allen’s Hot List favorites, just as he told us.

Driver: Titleist TSR2
"The best feel of the bunch. Soft, sweet, quiet and yet extremely powerful. It had great control with the highest ball speeds. That's a fantastic combination. I really just felt confident it would not get squirrely, and I got more distance, too. That's rare."

Fairway wood: Ping G430 LST
"If you hit it off toe, it still had enough spin to keep the ball going forward with medium-low flight. I was a little concerned about using the low-spin version, as I’m not necessarily a high-swing-speed player, but this club didn't care. It hit the longest shots yet. They were high and ruler-straight. On a tracer, it would be a single line that happened over and over and over again. I would absolutely use this on any tight par 4."

Hybrid: Ping G430
"Very long. A great combo of length and forgiveness. You didn't have super turf interaction but enough. It was very easy to hit laser-straight right down the middle. This was one to notice."

Players irons: Mizuno Mizuno Pro 243
"An absolute homing pigeon. You could throw a small blanket over every pitching wedge shot. Great window, super forgiving. Hitting on all cylinders. When I got to the 7- and 5-irons, I still found them very forgiving and extremely workable. It gave me oodles of confidence after each shot. Just effortless."

Players-Distance irons: Mizuno Mizuno Pro 245
"I know I just met these clubs, but I want to marry them. From first to last hit, did everything perfectly. You can't expect anything else out of a club than what they did in my hands. Great turf interaction. Slid through the grass like on greased rails. I'm not going to return the club to the sweet spot every time, but these made me feel like I did. You could go at whatever target you wanted. If shots deviated, it'd be by a few feet, not 10 to 20 yards. A grand slam."

Game-Improvement irons: Titleist T350
"Very much a traditional-looking iron. If there's any game-improvement tech, it’s extremely well hidden. Much more a profile of a player's iron. The interaction with the turf was perfect. The divot was not deep at all, almost like a silver dollar. A very high, straight ball flight and always unerringly at the target. Touched all the bases."

Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM10
"An absolute surgical instrument. It makes mere amateurs like me look like a pro. I don't get bunker shots close, let alone five out of five close. It makes you so much better. It put a ton of spin on flop shots, and every one was high, soft and spinny. The club never even thought about digging. The best wedge I ever tested."

Blade putter: Piretti Elite
"I tried the Potenza 2 WB. A beautiful-looking putter that is clearly professionally done. A high-end feel and look. The performance was commensurate with that. Very accurate, good speed control while feeling like a piece of art in your hand. Skidding was a little more than I would like but that would be my only concern with it."

Mallet putter: Ping PLD Milled DS 72
"I’ll play off the old joke that it works 100 percent of the time every time. It made everything from everywhere. I want to steal it, but I prefer not going to jail. It's that good. It compensated for everything. I like the dark shaft as well. The alignment aid is the right proportion. A beautiful roll and distance control was spot on. It was like a mind reader and knew where the hole was."