Why are my golf clubs so inconsistent?
A club face that is overly open or closed will cause a golfer to have to make a compensation within their swing and these two wrongs that can occasionally make a right, will lead to inconsistency.
Do your golf clubs make your game worse?
Basically, though, your game is going to deteriorate long before your golf clubs do. We’ve said it hundreds of times and we’ll say it again: If you’re not sure whether your old clubs are as good as some new ones, take them in to a fitter with a launch monitor and see if the numbers tell you otherwise.
Why are golf clubs so forgiving?
There could be a couple of reasons for this. Because the club is so forgiving, the player can no longer feel when they miss the sweet spot by an inch – so their brain does not rectify the issue. A bigger headed club tells our brain that we are free to make a larger mistake.
Why are golf clubs so expensive?
Many of the most expensive golf clubs are made out of premium materials such as this and it drives the price up. Now knowing the benefits of the more expensive materials, it’s easier to now to see why some choose to go with expensive clubs. If you’re budget is tight, I would get your hands on a few clubs to test them.
Why are golf clubs so backordered?
Golf clubs and grips are in short supply due to global supply chain issues, Bloomberg reports. The shortages come at a time when golf is exploding in popularity due to the pandemic. 2020 saw the biggest net increase in golfers in 17 years, according to the National Golf Foundation.
Are 20 year old irons too old?
There is no evidence that golf clubs deteriorate over time. Well maintained clubs will last a lifetime. 10+ year old clubs should be checked for better options but clubs less than 5 years old do not need replacing except for wear and tear issues to which wedges and forged irons are most vulnerable.
Why golf clubs are so expensive?
One reason why golf clubs are so expensive is due to the technology and materials used to create them. While some materials are more expensive than others, and not all golf clubs are made the same, it's fair to say that materials like titanium, carbon fiber, and graphite will bump prices up quickly.
What is the benefit of oversized irons?
Golf irons which are oversized have a larger club head. These larger club heads provide a larger club face which provides a generous hitting area. Most oversized irons have a cavity back design, which along with the larger club face provides more forgiveness and more consistency with distance on off centre strikes.
How often should I replace my golf clubs?
Generally for club golfers changing your irons every year is going to be overkill and looking at new options every three to four years is a better time frame. The research says you can get a good 300 rounds out of irons before you need to start looking at replacements.
What is the hardest club to hit in golf?
A 1-iron is the hardest iron to hit because it is the longest and has the lowest loft of between 14° and 16°. The rise of hybrid clubs to replace long irons however means in the modern game 1-irons and 2-irons are very rare indeed resulting in 3-irons and 4-irons in reality being the most difficult irons to hit.
Why is Titleist driver so expensive?
Apparently Titleist told their engineers to push the limits of technology, design, and materials without regard to cost, which is why this club is so insanely expensive.
Do new drivers really add distance?
Year-over-year, distance increases in new equipment are generally minimal. If you bought a driver in 2019, the 2020 model may only be 1-2 yards longer. But, if you have a driver from 2004, then the 2020 model could be 20+ yards longer.
How much should I spend on golf clubs as a beginner?
Beginner golfers should spend anywhere from $350 to $1,000 on a set of golf clubs. The more money you spend, the better the technology you will get, and the easier it will be to transition into being a great player.
Are oversized irons illegal?
According to the USGA, rule 4b(ii), an oversized iron is considered illegal (non-conforming) if the distance from the heel to the toe is less than the distance from the face to the back. In other words, the oversized iron must be longer than it is wide.
Who should use oversize irons?
So for most golfers, if your handicap is 18 or above you should be considering game improvement or over-sized irons because they're probably going to help you out a little bit to keep the ball in play to give you the forgiveness that you need on off-center hits.
Are oversized irons good for beginners?
Another reason the Launcher XL Irons are great for beginners is because they have an XL head design. In fact, they are the biggest ever from Cleveland, making them the easiest to hit game improvement iron.
Why is my golf ball flying higher?
If a golfer is properly fit so his shafts are not too stiff or too flexible for his clubhead speed, transition force, downswing tempo and point of release and he truly does exhibit a higher ballooning ball flight, then the predominant reason is because of a swing error that causes the dynamic loft on the clubhead to be too high for the golfer’s club head speed and angle of attack. The only way a shaft can reduce shot height and spin is to fit the golfer into a substantially stiffer shaft or significantly more tip stiff bend profile. That only can have an effect for golfers with a later-to-very-late release and brings with it the risk of the shaft being much too stiff for the golfer, which in turn can rob the golfer of distance and cause the feeling of impact to be less solid.
Why is the clubhead speed higher when you release the club?
The reason is because for ALL golfers, the maximum clubhead speed is achieved right when they fully release the club. Hence, if you have a late release, you’ll reach your maximum clubhead speed right at impact. But if you have an early-to-midway release, the highest clubhead speed is reached before the clubhead meets the ball, leaving time for the club to begin to slow down before impact.
How to reduce spin in golf?
In reality, the most effective and sure way to reduce spin is to use a lower lofted club head. If the golfer has a launch angle that is optimal for his clubhead speed and angle of attack, and if the shaft is correctly fit for flex and bend profile to the golfer’s club head speed, transition force, downswing tempo and point of release and the ball flight is of a ballooning shape with a steep angle of descent, the spin problem most definitely is swing related.
What is a middle to high handicap golfer?
Middle-to-high-handicap golfers are an orchard with low hanging fruit to clubfitters because their lesser golf athletic ability and swing mistakes are made worse by many of the standard specifications of clubs sold off the rack: drivers and woods that are too long, lofts of low numbered woods and irons that are too low, face angle options not available to offset swing path and face delivery mistakes, totally wrong set makeups, weighting that does not match to their strength and swing tempo and grips that don’t fit and cause too much tension in the hands and arms.
What is the shaft of a golf club?
The Shaft is the Engine of the Golf Club. Actually, you the golfer are the engine, the shaft acts more like the transmission. The weight of the shaft is a key element in the fitting and performance of golf clubs for ALL golfers. The overall stiffness design (aka the flex and bend profile) is an element of golf clubs that becomes progressively more ...
How many key fittings are there for a full swing club?
With the full swing clubs, there are no less than 12 key fitting specifications that all have to be carefully and often painstakingly analyzed and matched to each golfer’s combination of size, strength, athletic ability and swing characteristics. With putters, there are six. But those six key putter fitting specs, if not well fit to the golfer, will keep him wandering around amidst the 200+ putters leaning on racks near the faux putting green in the big box store and hunting like a blind squirrel looking for that proverbial acorn.
How many things make up a golf shaft?
If “better” means better materials, better wrapping techniques, better “hoop” strength or other such modern marketing points claimed for shafts, I am here to tell you after 23 years of serious shaft fitting research and shaft design research that there are still five and only five different things that make up a shaft’s performance for any golfer: weight, overall stiffness/flex, bend profile/stiffness distribution, torsional stiffness (aka torque) and the weight distribution (aka balance point).
Who are the editors of Golf Digest?
And they are sharing their golf equipment knowledge with you. Golf Digest's equipment editors, Mike Stachura and E. Michael Johnson, have covered the golf equipment business for decades, and there are few who know the equipment industry better. We've asked them to answer your questions in a weekly equipment round-up.
What hole was Ben Hogan's 1 iron?
Ben Hogan’s famous 1-iron from that majestic 72nd hole approach shot in the 1953 U.S. Open at Merion, while practically unhittable for mere mortals, likely would respond just fine today if it was removed from its case at the USGA's Golf House. (The leather grip and shaft might not have held up so well, of course.)
What is the difference between a driver that is just barely conforming for CT and just barely nonconforming?
Certainly not with a human golfer’s swing. The difference between a driver that is slightly below the conforming limit on the CT test (239 microseconds) and just over the limit of the tolerance zone (257 microseconds) might be a couple of yards. Maybe. But the facts are that there are virtually no drivers being used by tour players that would have ever been under the CT limit to start. What we’ve been told by manufacturers many times over the years is that everybody is designing and manufacturing drivers within and to the edges of the CT test’s tolerance zone. That would mean that should a driver’s face start to creep toward a nonconforming level of flexibility through some kind of micro-fissures or metal fatigue based on repeated strikes at high speeds in the center of the face, that improved benefit of a more flexible face will be staggeringly less than a couple of yards. More like inches. And even then, there is some evidence that while that “improvement” might happen in as few as a couple thousand hits, it also might be very short-lived before that face, instead of becoming more flexible, just becomes dead or even caves in. That said, one result of the PGA Tour’s efforts to test more drivers on a random basis is to get players to test their drivers with manufacturers more often. Also, another intended result is perhaps to get manufacturers to play a little safer with regard to the rules. Of course, you could ask why a player/manufacturer would be playing with that kind of fire, but that's another issue, which only makes sense if you’re trying to convince a tour player this new driver is really hotter than his old driver.
Why are modern golf clubs so good?
Modern clubs are longer, straighter and have less of a drop off in distance on off-centre hits. More importantly, getting your clubs fit for you can be a huge benefit to you. New clubs are also more fun – it is nice hitting the ball so far and having to be less precise with our face strike in order to do so.
Why does the club not rectify the sweet spot?
Because the club is so forgiving, the player can no longer feel when they miss the sweet spot by an inch – so their brain does not rectify the issue.
What would happen if you hammered a nail with a frying pan?
As an analogy for the second point, if we told a person to hammer a nail with a very small headed hammer, they would likely constrain the action and produce a tighter spread, even if they miss the nail more often. However, give them a nail and ask them to hammer it with a frying pan, they might make a wilder, less constrained motion. They might hit the nail more often, but the centre of gravity of the nail and frying pan would have a bigger dispersion.
What happens if you strike the ground early?
However, strike the ground early and you will get grass and mud trapped between the ball and the face. This means that the COR of the clubface becomes less relevant, and the smash factor of both the old and the new club will drop down to something more similar.
How far away is the flag in golf?
The flag is 150 yards away. The player pulls out their 6 iron – the club they hit 150 if they flush it.
Can you duff a golf shot?
Sure, we can also duff it completely, but for most golfers who have been playing many years, most of their shots will fall into one of the above 3 categories.
Do golf clubs have more forgiveness?
While it is true that modern clubs have a higher resistance to twisting (moment of inertia) and larger sweet spots (resulting in more consistent distances on heel and toe hits), the clubs can’t offer any more forgiveness on a ground contact error.
Why are golfers not rational?
The reason is that the reactions of golfers are simply not rational. Getting upset about a game isn’t rational. Hating yourself for missing a shot that you’ve missed countless times in the past isn’t rational. Mood swings triggered by success and failure on a golf course don’t make sense.
Why do I feel helpless when I don't understand my psyche?
In my work as a psychotherapist, I often tell patients that if they don’t understand their psyches, then their psyches will always feel out of control . Similarly, since we can’t really let ourselves fully see and experience what’s going on in our golf swings, we will always be prone to feel helpless in relation to their outcomes.
What is Fred Shoemaker's argument?
Fred Shoemaker argues that, for the amateur golfer, most of what is actually happening in the golf swing is invisible, outside awareness. A trivial example: An amateur golfer is asked to take his club all the way back and to report how close it is to level. Every single time, the amateur’s report is incorrect.
Can't learn if you can't fail?
Sounds obvious, but this simple truth is denied every day by untold numbers of golfers who respond to mis-hits and high scores as if a jury has just returned a guilty verdict. And in a sense, they’re correct—but the jury is in their heads. For too many golfers, failure is the crime and misery the punishment.
Who said "you feel frustrated with yourself but brush it off and swing again"?
Shoemaker once said that the amateur golfer is three consecutive bad shots away from madness. “Let’s say you chunk a fairway iron and the ball scoots 25 yards,” Shoemaker said. “You feel frustrated with yourself, but brush it off and swing again. You then hit another one, equally bad.
Can the unconscious mind hold the answer?
Therefore, the conscious mind can’t hold the answer. The explanation has to lie, instead, in the unconscious mind–that part of our thinking and feeling about which we’re not aware and only catch on to after the fact. Now, as psychoanalysts, investigating the unconscious mind is our bread and butter.
Can a man play from a white tee?
So, most men, regardless of their handicap, choose to play from the white or blue tees.
Why are new golf clubs made?
New clubs are made to give golfers more precision and longer distance. Those who are golfing at a high level will appreciate every finer detail premium clubs offer.
How are golf clubs improving?
This means that the golf clubs are constantly being improved by having new design philosophies implemented and having new materials used in the creation of the clubs.
What is the engineering and design process of golf clubs?
The Engineering and Design Process. The engineering and design process of the golf clubs really does impact the overall cost of the clubs. Some golf clubs are very complicated to make and you might be surprised by just how much goes into making a good set of clubs.
How long do golf clubs last?
Golf clubs are designed to be durable. However, if you’ve golfed for any significant length of time, you’ll understand this not always reality. Over a 15 year period, you’ll certainly see some of your clubs break. Drivers and woods will be the first to go due to their 2 to 7 year life expectancy .
Why are golf clubs so expensive?
Why are golf clubs so expensive? Golf clubs are expensive due to increasing research and development (R&D) costs. Manufactures mark up the cost of clubs significantly as it’s a very competitive sector. Additionally golf companies need to spend large sums of money on marketing a new golf club.
Why do golf clubs cost more?
R&D costs, branding, and the constant need to innovate, all cause golf club prices to increase over time.
What does a golf company need to pay for?
The golf company needs to pay for the cost of research, development, marketing, and other fees. This profit that the company is making from selling the golf clubs is still significant, but a lot less than you originally thought.
Stickney: The only 2 ways to hit a golf ball farther
If I had a dollar for every time someone walked into my Academy (myself included!) and asked how to hit it farther I’d own a bank by now. Golf course agronomy has evolved and the rock-hard fairways of yesterday are gone and have been replaced by soft conditions that require more and more carry off the tee.
Stickney: The evolution of necessary technology in golf instruction
Over time technology has improved so that we (as teachers) can see and understand motion and forces in action during the swing.
The Wedge Guy: You can change your stripes
Over my 40-plus years in the golf industry and a lifetime in the game, I have had the opportunity to observe thousands of recreational golfers of all skill levels. I believe the common thread between all of us – from scratch player to high-handicapper – is that we all would like to get better.
How does a golf swing lose power?
The real power in a golf swing comes from leverage. Golfers lose this leverage when they fail to make a full shoulder turn. Commonly, they make a fake shoulder turn where they bend the left arm in an attempt to extend the backswing.
Why are equipment manufacturers blamed for golf?
Equipment manufacturers are partly to blame because much of their marketing talks about power and distance gains. On the other hand, they are simply responding to what golfers say they want.
What is timing in golf?
Other times, they take the club too far back and then with it forward, cutting off the follow through. Timing is a critical element in a productive golf swing. Timing is the art of allowing the sequence of positions to unfold naturally. A well-timed swing looks of fluid and unhurried.
What do golfers want?
Survey after survey shows that the number one thing golfers want is more distance and power. In an attempt to achieve these goals, golfers tend to swing way too hard and too fast.
Why should the club be in your fingers?
This reduces the ability of your wrists to operate freely. The club should be more in your fingers, which are the most sensitive areas of your hands. While many golfers are able to place their rear hand — the right hand for right-handed golfers — on the club, they often have trouble with the leading hand.
What does a well timed swing look like?
A well-timed swing looks of fluid and unhurried.
How to warm up before a golf round?
Before the round, work through your bag by taking smooth swings with each club, starting with the wedges and progressing to fairway metals and driver. Limber, loose, warm muscles are the key to a relaxed, powerful swing.
Why do amateur golfers slice the ball to the right?
Let’s look at an example. A golfer on the range is slicing the ball to the right due to a weak grip at set-up, causing an open face at impact.
How to improve golf swing mechanics?
Are You Ready To Improve? 1 Educating yourself on proper swing mechanics, so you are working on the right things 2 Setting up good cause-effect chains so that you don’t become a bag of compensating errors 3 Improving your ability to do/learn those correct things 4 Improving your ability to transfer this to the golf course, in playing/competitive conditions 5 Making sure that what you change relates to your impact patterns /needs
What is next level golf?
With information on swing technique, impact variables, psychology, training, strategy/course-management and much more, it’s a goldmine for golfers seeking the next level.
What does it mean to be a dedicated golfer?
If you have read all the way to the end, it’s likely you are a dedicated golfer with a passion for the game, and you really are genuine in your desire to improve.
How can I improve my golf shot quality?
As I stated in my (most popular ever) article – The Only Thing The Golf Ball Cares About – the ONLY WAY you can improve your shot quality is to improve impact or the consistency of impact.
Do golfers know how to learn?
The fact is, most golfers don’t know how to learn effectively. They don’t understand how to change a motor program – they have no process or tools with which they can make swift and lasting movement-pattern shifts. It’s one of the most frustrating things that an aspiring improving golfer experiences.
Do golfers go backwards?
All around the globe, golfers are toiling away on the driving ranges, trying to improve their games. Yet, many of these golfers will not improve – some may even go backwards. And the few who do improve might have done so at a slower rate than they could have.