Opinion & Analysis
After Professional Golf: Why I Changed the Way I Test Equipment
Even for a professional golfer, testing golf clubs can sometimes feel like a difficult task. If you keep an eye on the equipment golfers are using each week on the PGA Tour, you will notice it takes longer for certain players to switch into the newest models than others. They may put a new club in the bag for a few events, but then revert back. Think of Henrik Stenson and his seven-year-old Callaway 3 wood. New fairway woods may test better on a launch monitor, look great, and feel solid to him, but in competition it can be a different story.
I played collegiately for UCLA and then turned professional after, so I have always been lucky to have access to the latest golf equipment. Even with unlimited options, I always erred on the conservative side of switching clubs during my competitive career. Having to adjust to new courses every week, I felt like trying new equipment would overwhelm the task at hand, which was to play well. When new irons came out, I asked them to be built in the same makeup that I had before. It was the same with drivers. I would simply test the head on my gamer shaft, make sure it looked and felt great, and then I would have it built to my current specs. Years went by and I was still in the same shafts and specs even though many things had changed in the golf equipment landscape.
Most fitters and golfers agree that people can adapt to their equipment, and looking back, I can say that I did so with my clubs. I have always been a high-speed player, and I tended toward a higher ball flight with plenty of spin. As a result of that, the iron shafts I played continued to get stiffer and stiffer, and I used the stoutest driver shafts trimmed as much as 1.5 inches. I began to notice that under pressure, I struggled with two main things:
- Misses to the right with my driver.
- Partial shots with irons where I simply couldn’t feel the club load.
If I was having an off day, it was brutal to feel the club and control the face. I really had to go all out to load the club properly, and if I didn’t the club felt harsh. That harsh feeling became my norm, what I thought I liked, and what I compared things to.
Yep, I’ve hit each of these shafts on my shaft wall.
It was only after becoming a club fitter and running a club fitting and testing facility that I really started to test equipment at another level. I began personally testing all the products from golf equipment and shaft manufacturers to get a feel for what a player might sense in each product. I also want to see if the products were actually doing what the companies said they should do. That’s why when new irons are released, I will match specs across the board from all the brands so I can isolate the performance of the club heads.
In my personal testing process, I am demanding of the looks of a club, as many experienced golfers are. I really want impact to have a certain feel and for the ball flight to be precise. My miss is on the toe slightly, so when testing for myself I pay particular attention to how different heads perform on toe hits and how that changes launch, spin, and overall dispersion.
Once I start understanding how certain club heads perform, I run through a few different shaft combinations to see how things change. When I think I’ve found a winner, then I really dive into the shaft options. The variety and quality of shafts is now better than ever before, but they can by tricky to test and change because once a player finds a club that feels a certain way, they get used to it. That feel becomes the norm, and that norm is not necessarily what is best.
Since focusing on club fitting, I have also embraced modern technologies more than I did as a player. When I was competing full time, I used technology to occasionally check my ball flight metrics, but I didn’t want to overwhelm myself with numbers. I now realize how impactful and helpful technology can be in optimizing a set makeup. From Trackman to Foresight to GEARS, which I use at my facility, I believe embracing modern testing protocols and learning more about the cause and effect of ball flight can really help players. I personally saw it in my game.
There are things even the most experienced eye can sometime miss, and gathering some solid data on your game can really help you gain more confidence that your game and clubs are moving in the right direction. As a result of changing my testing protocols, I have gradually switched pretty much every specification in my set. I switched iron and wedge lofts, lie angle, and club length, as well as brand, weight and profile of all my shafts. None of it was necessarily done on purpose. It was the end result of doing more rigorous testing than ever before. I slowly started piecing together a new set makeup that not only improved my ball flight, but also improved and helped me achieve positions in my swing I always struggled to accomplish.
I also now realize that changing golf equipment is an ever-evolving process. I wouldn’t be surprised if next year I change a couple more specs in my set makeup if I am trying to achieve something different in my ball flight. Club heads and shafts are designed for different goals and made of different materials, and the launch and spin of the golf ball is ever changing. Equipment companies are constantly trying to improve performance, and I think it helps if golfers are open to the possibility of change. I never was while I was playing, and now that look back and I wish I was more open to the idea.
Gears is key to my fitting sessions, both in my personal testing and client fittings.
For golfers who like technology and equipment, it is certainly an exciting time. Gone are the club fitting days of just beating balls off mats and having someone watch the ball flight and check lie angles on a lie board. Technology should help a player understand why a certain product might produce a different ball fight. Will switching shafts change the angle of attack or loft I present at impact due to different amounts of deflection? Will changing a shaft profile alter the droop pattern and thus the lie angle and where the face points at impact? What causes certain players to experience a shaft as stout and the next player who swings slower to experience it as whippy? And does that feel make them swing a club differently?
Golf equipment innovation and our ability to more accurately measure performance will continue to improve, and this technology will only help coaches and fitters while helping golfers find more answers and improve. That’s why I believe one of the best things a golfer can do to improve their game is go put their equipment to the test. Measure your current set and its performance, and then try a few new options out there, ideally with the help of a knowledgeable and experienced fitter. It will give you a better understanding of what your patterns and tendencies are, and the end result will be more confidence. You’ll know if you have the best clubs for your game, and if you don’t, you’ll learn what your weaknesses are and what you can do to get the absolute best performance.
- LIKE492
- LEGIT72
- WOW23
- LOL11
- IDHT7
- FLOP9
- OB3
- SHANK59
The PGA TOUR heads to New Orleans to play the 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. In a welcome change from the usual stroke play, the Zurich Classic is a team event. On Thursday and Saturday, the teams play best ball, and on Friday and Sunday the teams play alternate shot.
TPC Louisiana is a par 72 that measures 7,425 yards. The course features some short par 4s and plenty of water and bunkers, which makes for a lot of exciting risk/reward scenarios for competitors. Pete Dye designed the course in 2004 specifically for the Zurich Classic, although the event didn’t make its debut until 2007 because of Hurricane Katrina.
Coming off of the Masters and a signature event in consecutive weeks, the field this week is a step down, and understandably so. Many of the world’s top players will be using this time to rest after a busy stretch.
However, there are some interesting teams this season with some stars making surprise appearances in the team event. Some notable teams include Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, Collin Morikawa and Kurt Kitayama, Will Zalatoris and Sahith Theegala as well as a few Canadian teams, Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin and Taylor Pendrith and Corey Conners.
Past Winners at TPC Louisiana
- 2023: Riley/Hardy (-30)
- 2022: Cantlay/Schauffele (-29)
- 2021: Leishman/Smith (-20)
- 2019: Palmer/Rahm (-26)
- 2018: Horschel/Piercy (-22)
- 2017: Blixt/Smith (-27)
2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans Picks
Tom Hoge/Maverick McNealy +2500 (DraftKings)
Tom Hoge is coming off of a solid T18 finish at the RBC Heritage and finished T13 at last year’s Zurich Classic alongside Harris English.
This season, Hoge is having one of his best years on Tour in terms of Strokes Gained: Approach. In his last 24 rounds, the only player to top him on the category is Scottie Scheffler. Hoge has been solid on Pete Dye designs, ranking 28th in the field over his past 36 rounds.
McNealy is also having a solid season. He’s finished T6 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and T9 at the PLAYERS Championship. He recently started working with world renowned swing coach, Butch Harmon, and its seemingly paid dividends in 2024.
Keith Mitchell/Joel Dahmen +4000 (DraftKings)
Keith Mitchell is having a fantastic season, finishing in the top-20 of five of his past seven starts on Tour. Most recently, Mitchell finished T14 at the Valero Texas Open and gained a whopping 6.0 strokes off the tee. He finished 6th at last year’s Zurich Classic.
Joel Dahmen is having a resurgent year and has been dialed in with his irons. He also has a T11 finish at the PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass which is another Pete Dye track. With Mitchell’s length and Dahmen’s ability to put it close with his short irons, the Mitchell/Dahmen combination will be dangerous this week.
Taylor Moore/Matt NeSmith +6500 (DraftKings)
Taylor Moore has quickly developed into one of the more consistent players on Tour. He’s finished in the top-20 in three of his past four starts, including a very impressive showing at The Masters, finishing T20. He’s also finished T4 at this event in consecutive seasons alongside Matt NeSmith.
NeSmith isn’t having a great 2024, but has seemed to elevate his game in this format. He finished T26 at Pete Dye’s TPC Sawgrass, which gives the 30-year-old something to build off of. NeSmith is also a great putter on Bermudagrass, which could help elevate Moore’s ball striking prowess.
- LIKE6
- LEGIT2
- WOW1
- LOL0
- IDHT0
- FLOP2
- OB1
- SHANK1
After having four of the top twelve players on the leaderboard at The Masters, LIV Golf is set for their fifth event of the season: LIV Adelaide.
For both LIV fans and golf fans in Australia, LIV Adelaide is one of the most anticipated events of the year. With 35,000 people expected to attend each day of the tournament, the Grange Golf Club will be crawling with fans who are passionate about the sport of golf. The 12th hole, better known as “the watering hole”, is sure to have the rowdiest of the fans cheering after a long day of drinking some Leishman Lager.
The Grange Golf Club is a par-72 that measures 6,946 yards. The course features minimal resistance, as golfers went extremely low last season. In 2023, Talor Gooch shot consecutive rounds of 62 on Thursday and Friday, giving himself a gigantic cushion heading into championship Sunday. Things got tight for a while, but in the end, the Oklahoma State product was able to hold off The Crushers’ Anirban Lahiri for a three-shot victory.
The Four Aces won the team competition with the Range Goats finishing second.
*All Images Courtesy of LIV Golf*
Past Winners at LIV Adelaide
- 2023: Talor Gooch (-19)
Stat Leaders Through LIV Miami
Green in Regulation
- Richard Bland
- Jon Rahm
- Paul Casey
Fairways Hit
- Abraham Ancer
- Graeme McDowell
- Henrik Stenson
Driving Distance
- Bryson DeChambeau
- Joaquin Niemann
- Dean Burmester
Putting
- Cameron Smith
- Louis Oosthuizen
- Matt Jones
2024 LIV Adelaide Picks
Cameron Smith +1400 (DraftKings)
When I pulled up the odds for LIV Adelaide, I was more than a little surprised to see multiple golfers listed ahead of Cameron Smith on the betting board. A few starts ago, Cam finished runner-up at LIV Hong Kong, which is a golf course that absolutely suits his eye. Augusta National in another course that Smith could roll out of bed and finish in the top-ten at, and he did so two weeks ago at The Masters, finishing T6.
At Augusta, he gained strokes on the field on approach, off the tee (slightly), and of course, around the green and putting. Smith able to get in the mix at a major championship despite coming into the week feeling under the weather tells me that his game is once again rounding into form.
The Grange Golf Club is another course that undoubtedly suits the Australian. Smith is obviously incredibly comfortable playing in front of the Aussie faithful and has won three Australian PGA Championship’s. The course is very short and will allow Smith to play conservative off the tee, mitigating his most glaring weakness. With birdies available all over the golf course, there’s a chance the event turns into a putting contest, and there’s no one on the planet I’d rather have in one of those than Cam Smith.
Louis Oosthuizen +2200 (DraftKings)
Louis Oosthuizen has simply been one of the best players on LIV in the 2024 seas0n. The South African has finished in the top-10 on the LIV leaderboard in three of his five starts, with his best coming in Jeddah, where he finished T2. Perhaps more impressively, Oosthuizen finished T7 at LIV Miami, which took place at Doral’s “Blue Monster”, an absolutely massive golf course. Given that Louis is on the shorter side in terms of distance off the tee, his ability to play well in Miami shows how dialed he is with the irons this season.
In addition to the LIV finishes, Oosthuizen won back-to-back starts on the DP World Tour in December at the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the Mauritus Open. He also finished runner-up at the end of February in the International Series Oman. The 41-year-old has been one of the most consistent performers of 2024, regardless of tour.
For the season, Louis ranks 4th on LIV in birdies made, T9 in fairways hit and first in putting. He ranks 32nd in driving distance, but that won’t be an issue at this short course. Last season, he finished T11 at the event, but was in decent position going into the final round but fell back after shooting 70 while the rest of the field went low. This season, Oosthuizen comes into the event in peak form, and the course should be a perfect fit for his smooth swing and hot putter this week.
- LIKE10
- LEGIT3
- WOW0
- LOL1
- IDHT0
- FLOP1
- OB1
- SHANK1
Of all the clubs in our bags, wedges are almost always the simplest in construction and, therefore, the easiest to analyze what might make one work differently from another if you know what to look for.
Wedges are a lot less mysterious than drivers, of course, as the major brands are working with a lot of “pixie dust” inside these modern marvels. That’s carrying over more to irons now, with so many new models featuring internal multi-material technologies, and almost all of them having a “badge” or insert in the back to allow more complex graphics while hiding the actual distribution of mass.
But when it comes to wedges, most on the market today are still single pieces of molded steel, either cast or forged into that shape. So, if you look closely at where the mass is distributed, it’s pretty clear how that wedge is going to perform.
To start, because of their wider soles, the majority of the mass of almost any wedge is along the bottom third of the clubhead. So, the best wedge shots are always those hit between the 2nd and 5th grooves so that more mass is directly behind that impact. Elite tour professionals practice incessantly to learn to do that consistently, wearing out a spot about the size of a penny right there. If impact moves higher than that, the face is dramatically thinner, so smash factor is compromised significantly, which reduces the overall distance the ball will fly.
Every one of us, tour players included, knows that maddening shot that we feel a bit high on the face and it doesn’t go anywhere, it’s not your fault.
If your wedges show a wear pattern the size of a silver dollar, and centered above the 3rd or 4th groove, you are not getting anywhere near the same performance from shot to shot. Robot testing proves impact even two to three grooves higher in the face can cause distance loss of up to 35 to 55 feet with modern ‘tour design’ wedges.
In addition, as impact moves above the center of mass, the golf club principle of gear effect causes the ball to fly higher with less spin. Think of modern drivers for a minute. The “holy grail” of driving is high launch and low spin, and the driver engineers are pulling out all stops to get the mass as low in the clubhead as possible to optimize this combination.
Where is all the mass in your wedges? Low. So, disregarding the higher lofts, wedges “want” to launch the ball high with low spin – exactly the opposite of what good wedge play requires penetrating ball flight with high spin.
While almost all major brand wedges have begun putting a tiny bit more thickness in the top portion of the clubhead, conventional and modern ‘tour design’ wedges perform pretty much like they always have. Elite players learn to hit those crisp, spinny penetrating wedge shots by spending lots of practice time learning to consistently make contact low in the face.
So, what about grooves and face texture?
Grooves on any club can only do so much, and no one has any material advantage here. The USGA tightly defines what we manufacturers can do with grooves and face texture, and modern manufacturing techniques allow all of us to push those limits ever closer. And we all do. End of story.
Then there’s the topic of bounce and grinds, the most complex and confusing part of the wedge formula. Many top brands offer a complex array of sole configurations, all of them admittedly specialized to a particular kind of lie or turf conditions, and/or a particular divot pattern.
But if you don’t play the same turf all the time, and make the same size divot on every swing, how would you ever figure this out?
The only way is to take any wedge you are considering and play it a few rounds, hitting all the shots you face and observing the results. There’s simply no other way.
So, hopefully this will inspire a lively conversation in our comments section, and I’ll chime in to answer any questions you might have.
And next week, I’ll dive into the rest of the wedge formula. Yes, shafts, grips and specifications are essential, too.
- LIKE32
- LEGIT7
- WOW1
- LOL1
- IDHT2
- FLOP3
- OB1
- SHANK3
Dave Portnoy places monstrous outright bet for the 2024 Masters
John Daly stuns fans into silence with brutal opening tee shot on PGA Tour Champions
Things got heated at the Houston Open between Tony Finau and Alejandro Tosti. Here’s why
Tiger Woods arrives at 2024 Masters equipped with a putter that may surprise you
‘Absolutely crazy’ – Major champ lays into Patrick Cantlay over his decision on final hole of RBC Heritage
Report: Tiger Woods has ‘eliminated sex’ in preparation for the 2024 Masters
Two star names reportedly blanked Jon Rahm all week at the Masters
2-time major champ announces shock retirement from the sport at age of 33
Report: LIV Golf identifies latest star name they hope to sign to breakaway tour
Neal Shipley presser ends in awkward fashion after reporter claims Tiger handed him note on 8th fairway
Sam Burns WITB 2024 (April)
Sam Burns’ what’s in the bag accurate as of the RBC Heritage. Driver: Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond S (9 degrees...
Will Zalatoris WITB 2024 (April)
Will Zalatoris’ what’s in the bag accurate as of the RBC Heritage. Driver: Titleist TSR2 (9 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)...
Scottie Scheffler’s winning WITB: 2024 RBC Heritage
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (8 degrees @8.25) Buy here. Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X (45 inches) 3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees) Buy...
Nelly Korda’s winning WITB: 2024 Chevron Championship
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 Max (10.5 degrees) Buy here. Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana GT 60 S 3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (15 degrees)...
-
19th Hole2 weeks agoDave Portnoy places monstrous outright bet for the 2024 Masters
-
19th Hole2 weeks agoTiger Woods arrives at 2024 Masters equipped with a putter that may surprise you
-
19th Hole24 hours ago‘Absolutely crazy’ – Major champ lays into Patrick Cantlay over his decision on final hole of RBC Heritage
-
19th Hole3 weeks agoReport: Tiger Woods has ‘eliminated sex’ in preparation for the 2024 Masters
-
19th Hole1 week agoTwo star names reportedly blanked Jon Rahm all week at the Masters
-
19th Hole1 week agoReport: LIV Golf identifies latest star name they hope to sign to breakaway tour
-
19th Hole1 week agoNeal Shipley presser ends in awkward fashion after reporter claims Tiger handed him note on 8th fairway
-
19th Hole6 days agoBrandel Chamblee has ‘no doubt’ who started the McIlroy/LIV rumor and why
Deadeye
Jul 27, 2017 at 11:15 am
The ultimate tinkerer, Arnold Palmer. I wonder if he ever got fitted? Did well though.
Bob Pegram
Jul 27, 2017 at 1:33 am
The ability to play well even when playing infrequently is a good indicator of how well your clubs fit. There shouldn’t be a need to practice uncomfortable or unnatural swing mechanics to play well.
I experimented a lot with different specs in my own clubs. Working for a clubfitter and doing some of the fittings myself helped a lot. I became a good fitter. I still fit clubs and often see immediate improvement in my students.
For my own use I finally ended up with a set WAY out of the norm – all very long and stiff. Now I play well without a lot of practice. I became more accurate and consistent. I don’t have to alter my basic swing at all to use the clubs. A little warm up and I am ready to play. They even eliminated my big miss.
Bobalu
Jul 26, 2017 at 8:26 pm
Great article- you nailed it. Keep up the good work!
Golfandpuff
Jul 26, 2017 at 11:15 am
I would certainly enjoy the chance to delve into a club fitting world. If only there were a way for me to make it affordable! I also look at guys like Langer who don’t change much year after year vs. other big names that are always looking, testing, playing, new equipment. Is Freddie still hitting that r9?
I did email a fancy place near me in Atlanta for a fitting and a few upfront questions. I never received a reply. I certainly appreciate articles like these as well as golf wrx for keeping me informed.
Peter Campbell
Jul 26, 2017 at 10:48 am
Cant’t lie…Ive been on the site quite a few times. Great content on it!
Tommy
Jul 26, 2017 at 10:47 am
Exactly…..time and money is the commodity in question here, not the endless options. Most barely have time to even play much less to spend that precious time in a fitting bay with someone who might not even know what they’re doing. If we could fly to Carlsbad, now that we know of SOMEONE who knows, and spend a couple grand for your time and upgrades, that would be great. What happens when we get home and find that we don’t feel comfortable with our new $$$$ setup? Very few swing as consistently as a former touring pro. It’s a real conundrum.
Peter Campbell
Jul 26, 2017 at 11:48 am
Thanks for the comment Tommy. It is tricky, equipment costs keep increasing every year it seems like. One company ups their price, then the rest follow suit. And there is no denying certain fitting and build shops have had a tendency to always push people into expensive aftermarket products even when not much gain is realized. Nobody wants to get fit for clubs then get a huge bill One comment i will make that you mentioned and we see almost daily is that the thought the average player isn’t consistent. We see quite the opposite a lot of the time. Even high handicap players, who have really inconsistent start lines and ball flights, have more consistent swings than they realize some of the time. Their path, aoa, impact locations, speed, while maybe not the best or desirable motion, is actually pretty consistent for many high handicap players. The one thing that isn’t, and is unfortunately the most important piece of the puzzle, is where the club face is in relation to the path. So there are many ways fitting wise to help a player achieve a more consistent face angle at impact, or at least help bias one direction. Hope that makes sense. Appreciate the read!
birdie
Jul 26, 2017 at 1:20 pm
i think a major misconception is how many amateurs think just because they don’t have a perfect repeatable swing that they don’t have repeatable features of their swing that would allow a fitter to best find equipment that suits them.
whether its tempo, transition, release, or one of the many many aspects of the swing, even if you are high handicap and not hitting center of face consistently you are in fact making a similar swing. And even as you improve, your changes are probably less drastic than you might imagine.
BigBoy
Jul 25, 2017 at 9:16 pm
It’s why i still play my 10yr old Orlimar 3 wood.
Lloyd
Jul 25, 2017 at 9:52 pm
… and I still play with my 20+ y.o. Powerbilt TPS 180cc 15º 3 wood… with a bore-thru steel shaft too.
Peter Campbell
Jul 26, 2017 at 3:51 pm
too funny you mention that. I occasionally bring in old school products to test against that brands newest release and see how they stack up. I brought in my old orlimar strong 3 wood to see how it does and will be testing it this week. I loved that thing. I personally still game a burner 2.0 driving iron i had built up years ago. A 3 iron bent really strong basically…I simply cant find anything that beats its numbers, let alone the confidence i have with it having relied on so many times in tournaments on tight tee shots.
Anthony
Jul 25, 2017 at 6:26 pm
This is exactly what I have done for the past 17 years and have constantly worked with the tech (not when I was playing, like you) and found that my entire bag make up is completely different to when I was at the top of my game!!! This is a great article and many should take note and improve their game with all the tech possible to get the greater understanding of what actually works, not what they think works….
Well done Peter.
Peter Campbell
Jul 25, 2017 at 7:57 pm
Thanks Anthony, appreciate it!
AJ
Jul 25, 2017 at 10:34 am
New equipment is fun and I know thats what WRX is all about, but I think people take their tinkering way too far. The difference between 1 product and 1000 others is so small it is actually more about how you we swinging during the test than what the clubs did. Golf is about consistency to shoot lower scores… so regularly changing variables will not improve consistentcy. Manufacturers want you to think their new products are game changers but really the only game changer is hard practice every day. You can shoot lower scores with the equipment in your bag now if you put the time into your game and take the doubt out of your “specs”. Adapt and evolve.
Someone
Jul 25, 2017 at 10:47 am
i think it’s a mix of the two. at some point you need to get fitted. and then play that equipment long enough, say at least 2-4 years before getting fitted for anything new.
Noob
Jul 25, 2017 at 11:24 am
AJ, did you not read any of the article? He said, he would build sets to the same specs all across the board (shaft, weight, flex, etc) so that the only variables would be the design-look of the head and materials used in it. Then, you know how each one performs according to how you swing, and can eliminate the head you didn’t like, etc. Yeah we can all adapt, but you can’t be adapting to every club in the club all the time and every shot, if every club in the bag were all different from each other and expecting great results. You should get dialed in to what works for your swing the best and have a whole set matched and built to that
The_Sad_Reality
Jul 25, 2017 at 6:31 pm
But the sad reality is that most of these fitters are NOT using science to fit golfers and are not truly building clubs to the same specs (as stated in the article). That’s because they are not using MOI measurements and they are not taking into account the weight distribution of the components across the build. They use trial-and-error and the resulting measurements in their fitting approach rather than hard science that eliminates the many variables that are introduced by the variation in golfers’ inconsistent swings. Today’s fitters can never be sure that they have actually fit a golfer with the most optimal setup. All they might be able to say is, of the equipment tested, that it was the build that produced the best numbers on that day. Be wary of fitters who are not versed in MOI (and MBI) and preach swingweight and use lie boards for lie angle adjustments.
Peter Campbell
Jul 25, 2017 at 8:03 pm
Hey Noob, appreciate the comment. It never hurts to test and see whats out there. So many different looks and feels, and of course Lots of marketing and hype, but it helps to truly do solid testing or fitting to see what is helping our game or not worth the time or money. Many times it may be the current set, then at least we now that!
AJ
Jul 25, 2017 at 9:10 pm
Not discounting a good fitting, He certainly does his dillegence to make testing fair. I posed the question why spend so much effort regularly testing everything when what you have can produce lower scores if you practice vs tinker. There is no holy grail of equipment and no one makes the same swing twice so what works slightly better today doesn’t tomorrow. Swings evolve so eliminate the variable of rapidly changing equipment. You are not gonna get another 50 yards or double your accuracy with a new stick. Familiarity develops feel. Same reason why gaming the same putter for a decade makes sense, the more you practice with it the more in tune you are with it.
Peter Campbell
Jul 25, 2017 at 9:39 pm
Completely agree with your point AJ. Once we know what setup works best, whether it is their current set or something different, putting time in to practice and play is crucial. Its tough to say it in an article, but i guess my point was to not be afraid to try to new things when the landscape changes. Such as just going and buying a new driver with your same specs. As the materials and golf balls change, simply staying in the same shaft or setup simply because it feels comfortable and good might not be the best idea. But i totally agree with what your saying, most players don’t need to be over thinking or over tinkering. There will always be certain players that love that aspect of the game, and thats fine, but for most players quality practice time cant be beaten to improve your scores. Thanks for the read and comments, much appreciated!
Noob
Jul 25, 2017 at 11:39 pm
But here we are, on WRX! A tinkerer’s paradise of tinkering information! So why not tinker? Tinker with it all till death. It’s never ending with so much stuff out there.
Peter Campbell
Jul 25, 2017 at 11:53 pm
haha so true! Can’t lie, since I’ve embraced it…it sure is fun!!
Josh
Jul 25, 2017 at 8:16 am
$5000/yr in new golf equipment. Easy enough.