Buying Clubs - Choosing The Right Ones
We are basically fumblers. We fumble our way into the world, fumble through school, through work, through friends, through marriage and then in between all these as if the tortures were not enough, we suddenly think that we could also fumble through golf. When we could not even throw or kick a ball decently and I am talking about a fairly huge ball here, we thought we could manage one that is unnecessarily small, could easily get lost in the woods or waters and have to move so many body parts and yet can't move so many body parts hitting them with up to 14 clubs of different shapes, lengths and sizes? So instead of the "Fearsome Foursome" we were suitably reduced to the "Fumbling Foursome" At least we'll have more in numbers than the "Three Stooges". See Moe, Curly and Larry (posted by gonzolane) to reminisce.
Some of you may be thinking of picking up golf, upgrading or simply buying a new set to reward yourself for surviving the financial tsuanmi. Here's how and what to look out for:
The Golf Set
Golf clubs come with various numbers on them and the number indicates the loft of a club. As a rule of thumb, the lower the number, the lower the loft and the longer the club will be. The lower loft and longer club gives greater distance but with less accuracy which means lower numbered clubs are more difficult to hit due to the lower loft and longer shaft. The rules of golf restricted a golf set to no more than 14 clubs that you can carry at any one time. What makes up a set depends on your preferences, but generally include the following: Irons: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, PW, Woods: 1, 3, 5and a putter.
That was the original and old standard. This does not mean that you have to carry all of these clubs. Beginners and novice players should consider removing the 2 and 3 irons from their set by replacing those hard to hit irons with a 5, 7 or 9 wood. An alternative replacement that is gaining huge popularity are hybrid clubs, which are a combination of both wood and iron designs into a single club. This combo has resulted in some of the most forgiving and easiest clubs to hit to date. It's a direct replacement meaning 3 hybrid for 3 iron and so on. Truth be told, my observation is that most golfers may be proficient up to the 6 iron only, many even up to the 7 or 8 irons only. I'm not talking about an occasional good shot but one achieved with consistency.
The Correct Lie
Lie is the angle that the hosel of the makes with the rest of the club head. Generally, each club has a hosel - the part where the club head connects with the shaft - that projects out from the clubhead at standard lie. By adjusting the hosel the lie of the club or the angle that the hosel forms with the rest of the head can be altered to fit a player's physical characteristics. Lie has a great influence on the direction of the shot. The shorter the iron, the more pronounce the effect. Hitting the ball with an iron that is too upright (contact of club head with the ground on the heel area) will then to send the ball to the left of the target if you are a right handed golfer and vice versa for the left handed golfer.
A lie angle that is too flat will have the opposite effect on direction. If you stand at address with a club and look at how the bottom of the clubhead is touching the ground you will know how your lie should be adjusted. If the middle bottom of the clubhead is on the ground then the lie of the club is perfect. If the toe of the club is pointing up in the air and the heel of the club is on the ground then this means that your current lie is too upright and needs to be made flatter. If the heel of the club is in the air and the toe is on the ground then the club is too flat and needs to be made more upright. Shorter players generally prefer a flatter lie (the hosel bent down) to adjust for the fact that their arms are closer to the ground. Taller players generally prefer a more upright lie (the hosel bent up) to help them adjust for their arms and torso being higher up.
Choosing The Correct Loft
Loft is the angle formed by the centre of the shaft and the clubface and it has the most effect on the launch angle of the ball flight thus having the greatest influence on the trajectory of the ball. The slower speed swingers (ladies, seniors and some regular flex players) need higher lofted driving clubs. Increased loft will allow a better launch angle, higher trajectory, greater carry, thus more distance! This may be a surprise to a lot of players who have always thought less loft, more distance. Many regular and senior flex players have fallen prey to the hype and purchased expensive drivers at 10 or less degrees, only to find they were hard to get airborn and produced low drives. On the other hand, faster speed swingers do require less loft to obtain maximum distance.
Choosing The Correct Shaft
One of the more important parts of the golf club is the shaft and one of the most important aspects of the shaft is the flex. Flex refers to the stiffness of the shaft. If you are in a golf shop and waggle various golf clubs you will feel that some shafts are stiffer than others. The stronger a player is, the stiffer the shaft that he or she wants. The stronger a shaft the less flexible it is. When a player swings a club the clubhead acts as a weight at the end of the club and causes the shaft to bend. On the downswing the player causes the shaft to bend as he or she throws the clubhead at the ball. If a shaft is too flexible and is bending too much then it becomes impossible for the player to control where the ball is going. The bend in the shaft is where much of the power is generated in the shot.
If the shaft doesn't flex enough then the shot loses power and accuracy is affected. Taken together you want to pick a shaft that gives you the right amount of flex. In general the stiffer the flex of a shaft the more accurate the shot, but the less far it goes. As a beginner you should also keep in mind that a shaft that is too stiff can result in injury. Different shaft manufacturers have differences in their specifications of flex. One manufacturer’s Stiff Flex might be another’s Regular Flex. Generally, the flex are measured as (L) for ladies flex, (A) for Senior flex, (R) for regular flex, (S) for stiff flex and (XS) for extra stiff. When in doubt, take the one that has more flex.
Correct Shaft Length
Most golfers can use standard length clubs unless they particularly short or tall. Standard length clubs allow players to hit the ball on center a higher percentage of the time, thus increasing distance and accuracy. In recent years, light weight Titanium driver heads and Ultralight graphite shafts have extended driver playing lengths from a standard 43-431/2" to 46". There are good and bad news. The good news is, when you increase length, you will increase distance. The longer the club, the more club head speed generated, thus more distance.
The bad news is, the longer the club the more difficult it is to control, thus you will lose much accuracy. To put this into perspective you may want to consider the following: A driver hit on center at 43" = 250 yds. 43 1/2"= 262 yds. 44" = 270 yds. 44 1/2" = 275 yds. 45" = 275-280 yds. As you can see a significant increase in distance is achieved up to 44". After 44", distance increases only a minimal amount. Conclusion - It is not worth sacrificing accuracy for the minimal amount of distance gained past 44". Keep driver playing lengths to 44" or less. PGA pros' average driver length is only 44.5 inches. Manufacturers are selling you a long game.
Get Fitted
If you want to be absolutely sure of right fit for your clubs especially irons, get fitted. Get your correct grip size, length, lie angle and shaft flex measured. In fact all clubs can be fitted. Unfortunately, local retailers mostly offer one size fits all clubs especially drivers much to our disdain and that reason alone showed us why ever so often, golfers are changing clubs especially for drivers. The right approach is for fittiing to be done for all clubs, yes that includes your putter. More than that, the process should be appropriately done using a computerised monitor to assess your launch angle, check on spin rate, ball speed, etc. There are a few shops who offer that and among the big names, Ping has an outstanding club-fitting programme.
To give you the full perspective, I have gathered important information on golf clubs, technicalities involved, the engineering process through my own research and practical experience of going through the grind in exploring all the major issues and experiement with clubs in my previous articles which you can find below for reference.
Brands
Brands are not as important as suitability and is associated more with quality and reputation. The characteristics of the brands that attract golfers are down to several things like looks, price, how they sound and feel in your hands. But some brands have distinctive history, innovations or have been continuously pushing the envelope of technology. It is downright personal in terms of choice just like why some drink Coca-Cola while others prefer Pepsi. Several brands and their models can be equally good then it is down to what is most preferred by you. It could be a little more consistency or it look/sound/feel better. It is also very common for people to be offering the wrong advice and thus those receiving them may end up with the wrong impressions. I welcome your discussions and arguments so that I can set you straight. If Tiger Woods gave up golf for good and after a long time as the name fades into oblivion, someone may mention that "Tiger Woods" is very good and a new golfer may say: "Oh really, how much does it costs and can you help me get a Tiger number 5 wood then?" For those of you who missed out on my earlier postings, here goes:
http://gforce-guru.blogspot.com/2009/05/best-driver-in-world.html
http://gforce-guru.blogspot.com/2009/07/why-hybrids.html
http://gforce-guru.blogspot.com/2009/07/strike-while-irons-are-hot.html
http://gforce-guru.blogspot.com/2009/07/wedges-your-magic-wand.html
http://gforce-guru.blogspot.com/2009/09/shafts-engine-of-club.html
http://gforce-guru.blogspot.com/2009/07/which-putter.html
http://gforce-guru.blogspot.com/2009/07/scotty-cameron-newport-2-greatest.html
Wrapping up the year, I wish all friends, readers and your family Good Health, a Happy & Prosperous New Year, a great soccer World Cup fiesta and awesome golf in 2010!
Wrapping up the year, I wish all friends, readers and your family Good Health, a Happy & Prosperous New Year, a great soccer World Cup fiesta and awesome golf in 2010!
Golf as in life, play as it lies!
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