A lot of technology has gone into golf equipment, and considering it actually
is rocket science (or at least derived from it), you may need some help to
get the most out of your next purchase, whether it¹s a driver, hybrid, putter
or even a sleeve of balls. I've been designing and fitting clubs for decades,
and from my experience of helping golfers find the best clubs for them, I've
picked up some information that you can use the next time you walk into a
shop.I highly recommend working with a professional clubfitter, but
following these 10 tips could be the next best thing.
1. When buying a
driver, shorter is better than longer, closed is better than neutral. Many
of today¹s drivers are sold with shafts 45 inches or longer; the average
driver on the PGA Tour is 44.5 inches. What do the pros know that you don¹t?
The longer the club, the harder it is to hit squarely.
Anyway you slice it,
shorter is better with woods. Speaking of slicing, a fault likely caused by
an open clubface at impact, getting fitted for a driver with a closed face
angle will help.
2. Consider making your 3-wood your "driver." Do you hit
your 3-wood as far as your driver? Then you don¹t have enough loft on
your driver. For most golfers, even 11 degrees of loft isn¹t enough, so why
not buy a 3-, 5-, 7-wood combination instead of the traditional driver,
3-, 5-wood configuration and put three clubs in the bag that will actually
help you? Most golfers could drop five strokes with just that simple
change.
3. Don't even think about including a 3-, 4- and possibly even a
5-iron in your next set. Over the past 25 years, manufacturers have been
gradually and silently lowering the loft on their irons in order to say their
products "hit it farther." As a result, the 3- and 4-irons have so little
loft that they are virtually unhittable for the average golfer. The
solution? Hybrids. Which leads us to...
4. The trick to buying
hybrids is to match them exactly to the irons they are replacing. The
idea here is to replace your long irons with easier-to-hit hybrids that go
the same distance—not longer or shorter. Make sure to replace your long
irons with hybrids of the same length and loft to avoid distance
gaps.
5. Don't confuse hybrids with fairway woods. They are separate
animals. To me, hybrids should be iron replacements, but there are hybrids
out there that have the same lofts and lengths as fairway woods, which can be
confusing. After all, fairway woods are just as easy to hit as hybrids, so
what's the point?
But here's a rule of thumb: If you sweep shots cleanly off
the turf, fairway woods are for you. If you have a steeper swing (you tend to
take divots), you'll be better off with hybrids.
