Depending on your current attitude toward money, the clubs on this year’s Hot List might seem expensive. Four of the 10 winning drivers have a retail price of $600 or more, and that’s before a custom-fit shaft could easily bump your total to over a grand. A gold-medal super-game-improvement iron that received five stars in each of our rating criteria costs $450 per iron.

This hasn’t always been the case. The recent spike in prices is caused by a variety of factors, not simply pandemic-related inflation. Our Editorial Director Max Adler breaks down the more subtle forces that have pushed club prices to all-time highs and poses a golfer’s unique cost-benefit analysis: What would you pay for five more yards?