How Home Caddie recommends

Build My Setup turns five answers into a practice setup: a small set of equipment, each piece with a job to do, that fits your space and your budget together. This page explains how it decides.

We have not physically tested these products

No product on Home Caddie has been physically tested by us. Our recommendations are based on published information: manufacturers' specifications and independent reviews. Every product shows this, and we will say so plainly if that ever changes.

The five questions

• Where you practise: indoors, in a garage, in a garden, or a mix.
• What you want to improve: putting, ball striking, short game, swing, or everything.
• Your biggest problem: one main problem and, if you like, a second. We only show the problems that match what you want to improve.
• How much space you have: from very limited up to a dedicated golf space. This is separate from where you practise, because a garage can be cramped and a room can be large.
• Your budget: under £100, £100 to £250, £250 to £500, £500 to £1,000, or over £1,000.

How we split your budget

First we choose the kinds of equipment your setup needs, based on your goals, where you practise and your space. Then we share your budget across them, so that the whole setup lands in your band. We do not pick the best product under your budget and leave you to add the rest. If there is not enough budget for every piece, we put the most useful first (putting, if you chose everything) and tell you what we left out and why.

How we score products

For each piece of equipment, we only consider products that:

• fit the space you have and suit where you practise
• fit that piece's share of your budget
• are currently available from a retailer we can link to

We then score each one on:

• how well it addresses your main problem, with your second problem used to break close calls
• how well it suits the way you practise
• its Home Caddie score (below)
• how comfortably it fits your space
• how well it matches its share of your budget, marking down both overspending and underspending

The rules also allow a bonus for products we have physically tested. We have tested none, so no product receives it.

The highest score becomes the main pick. Where they genuinely exist, we also show a cheaper value option and a higher-quality upgrade. If no product honestly fits a role, we leave that option out rather than fill it with a poor match.

The Home Caddie score

Each product has a quality score, a value score and a beginner-friendliness score, each with a written reason. The Home Caddie score combines them: 50% quality, 30% value and 20% beginner-friendliness. This weighting is our current judgement, not a measured result. It is version 1, and if we change it, the version number changes too.

What does not affect recommendations

Commission rates are not an input to the rules. The same answers always produce the same setup, and no AI model is involved in choosing products. We show budget bands rather than prices, because prices change too often to show accurately.