Gear Smart – Details, episodes & analysis

Ryan dives into Tommy Fleetwood's breakthrough PGA TOUR win at the TOUR Championship before being joined by Callaway's Zack Oakley to discuss iron and wedge development, the trend of high-lofted fairway woods and more.

Ryan Barath dives into Cameron Young's Wyndham Championship victory using a prototype Titleist ball before chatting with Matt Bovee, TaylorMade's Global Category Director of Irons, to discuss his role, the new MG5 wedges, forged vs. cast, groove design, testing with players and more.

Ryan chats with Titleist golf ball R&D expert Courtney Engle and Golf Ball R&D Project Manager Doug Jones about ball flight, testing, spin axis, materials and more.

Welcome to the inaugural episode of Skratch's Gear Smart, a golf gear and equipment-focused podcast intended to help make you smarter about your equipment to help you make informed decisions on the golf course, in your next fitting, or when you're looking to fill that next spot in your bag.
To kick off this new series, host Ryan Barath - Skratch's Gear Editor offers up some background on himself and what the show is all about and answers a couple of listener-submitted questions.

Ryan sits down with Titleist Director of Iron Development Marni Ines to talk about the new T-Series line, creating irons that merge technology and aesthetics, the challenges of making great clubs better, how he got into the golf industry after an engineering career, and watching Cam Davis hit a 3-iron 172 feet high in the air.

Ryan breaks down his two weeks across the pond, including his golf trip in Scotland and the Open Championship before chatting with TaylorMade Director of Product Creation, Andrew Oldknow, about the company's innovation, the Spider putter, their Grand Slam winning fairway wood and more.

Callaway Golf Global Director Brand and Product Management of Golf Balls and Packaged Sets Jason Finley joins this week's episode to chat with Ryan about golf ball development over the years, increases in visual technology in balls and more.

Golf broadcaster, podcaster, and author Shane Bacon joins this week's episode of Gear Smart to chat about being a lefty, playing baseball as a righty, caddying at the Old Course for a summer after college, tinkering with clubs, old school drivers, the first big club purchase he made and more.

This week Ryan opens the show discussing the many new releases from this week in gear, including Cobra's Chipotle Collab, new Wilson Wedges, and more. Then its a deep dive on questions sent in from listeners.

Ryan breaks down Bryson's unique irons used during the PGA Championship, dives into Titleist's sneak peek of their latest T-series irons debuting on tour this week, and chats with Callaway Tour Content Manager Johnny Thompson on all things gear.