Equipment - Whats new from the OEM's for 2012

Christmas is upon us that means everything we buy from now until the new year is at a premium and come January will be out of date and old models thus a reduction in price less than 7days after purchase.

So a look forward to 2012 whats new, shiney, worth a look at and worth avoiding.

Hopefully everyone can post someting new coming out as we all hear and know different things.

So to kick off what I know is new:

Taylormade brought us whiteheads(thought these were just things kids who work in McDonalds had), they have now done what they always do after a year made their current range redundant.

The R11 has been given an upgrade to the R11S (how original) apparently has more adjustable options to confuse the average hack into thinking they can drive like Dustin Johnson.

They are retiring the burner range and replacing it with the RBZ or its full name RocketBallz! What a stupidname for a product.

You guessed it though TM are advertising this lot as their longest clubs yet (De Ja Vu heard that somewhere before) and have an RBZ iron range to accompany the woods.

Nike are superceding the VR range with the VRS range, designed to help increase clubhead speed (thus more distance) and a slight change to the look of the sole plate of the drivers.

Cobra Are going for a total revamp this term, the ZL Driver is being replaced with the ZL Encore,which comes in an all white version or standard black and yellow. This range of Drivers though does appear to be the only ones this year hitting themarket claiming a larger sweetspot for improved accuracy on off centre hits.

They are releasing the"Long Tom" almost as stupid a name as the TM RocketBallz. Long Tom is meant to be the longset driver ever made, even do a calculation on their site to tell you on average how much further you will hit it, supposedly I can gain an extra 26yards. The issue here though is how the distance is generated and thats with a 48inch shaft (bloody ridiculous) good luck controlling shot dispertion.

The other big focal point for Cobra this year is the launch of their Rusty Wedge range, designed to rust and give softer feel and more control.. Not sure I like clubs that have to rust to get better... One thing they have done though is create an oversized version to aid golfers who are less comfortable with the wedges.

Adams Releasing a new driver and 3 wood the speedline UL(Ultra Light) you guessed it lighter to make you longer..

They are also going Mass production on the Idea MB2 Irons, not only do these look superb they perform that way too,having trialled them I loved them the only thing that put me off was like the Cobra Wedges they are designed to rust!

Bridgestone Not sure if there is a plan for new products but it's rumoured Woods is switching to them from Nike... One things for sure they make quality gear and i'd like to try some of their offerings if I could find a stockist....

What isn't surprising and is becoming ever more tedious is manufacturers constantly banging the same drum of looking to make the ball go even further. Only Cobra have bothered to look at the idea of bigger sweetspot for improved accuracy, but that said they've also got on the band wagon with the Long Toms 48inch shaft which will be murder for controlling shot dispertion.

So thats me starting this off.... What new gear for 2012 are you aware of and what do you think of what i've already mentioned....

I'm not one for buying clubs for the sake of it...i'm quite happy with my current 2009 Titleist set. Even if I wanted new clubs I couldn't afford them anyway, the joys of being a student

You can get a good squint at a lot of new stuff coming out on Golfspy.

Quite a funny article about the new TM stuff, basically slagging it off for making preposterous claims

I tried the latest TM stuff last week SR, and have to say it wasn't nice. The fitter tried different shafts other than the stock shafts, and tried different adjustment tweaks, but no way could I increase clubhead speed or ball speed, and TM actually gave me worse spin results. So didn't like them at all, and they actually were over 20-yards behind other stuff.I finished up opting for the Cleveland.

It makes you wonder how the big OEM's can be allowed to state things like 'longest driver ever' etc. isn't it about time they should be told to back it up or shut up

It's a bit like the claims car makers make on MPG, rather misleading.