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If you’re buying golf clubs as a Christmas gift, consider a gift certificate to a clubfitter’s shop instead. All players benefit from fitted clubs, although may be not to the same degree. Unfortunately, the players who benefit the most from fitted clubs—those sporting high golf handicaps, golf lessons notwithstanding—are the least likely to buy them.
Buyers have four options when it comes to buying fitted clubs. They can see a PGA professional, club manufacturer, golf shop, like Golfer’s Warehouse, or custom golf fitting studio. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, and each provides its own benefits. Before choosing one, buyers ought to consider several factors that can help them find the right fitter.
Find A Fitter With A Launch Monitor
Not long ago clubfitting was tedious, expensive, and inexact. But the advent of computers changed that. Clubfitting is now fast, accurate, and affordable. Instead of being based on experience and educated guesswork, clubfitting is founded on precise information, thanks to digital equipment like computerized launch monitors. Using high-speed digital cameras, launch monitors record a shot through impact and display it on a computer screen.
Computerized launch monitors measure what happens before and at impact. They provide information like launch angle, ball seed, spin rate, clubhead speed, angle of attack, and swing path. The monitor’s computer then determines carry and roll. It also determines the exact distance left or right of target. In other words, it tells you if you’re hitting the ball on the sweet spot and how often. And the numbers don’t lie. They also improve the chances of fitting clubs exactly to your swing.
Expect A Precise Process
Expect a precise process at the clubfitters. Once a clubfitter determines your specs, she needs find the right clubs. With some clubfitters, the process is trial and error. With others, it’s more exact. In either case, the clubfitter takes a step-by-step approach finding the right clubs for you by examining one variable at a time. For example, the clubfitter has you hit a few balls to determine loft. Then he has you hit a few balls t to determine club length. And so on.
The step-by-step process enables the clubfitter to see the impact that changing one club variable makes on your swing. If he changes more than one—like loft and ball flight—at simultaneously, he won’t know which variable caused a change in ball flight. That approach is confusing and disconcerting. The goal with the step-by-step process is to tweak everything until the clubfitter gets it right. It’s the same process that tour players use to fit themselves.
Other golf tips found by our research:
* Think of labels as guides only. Specs from club manufacturers differ. They all have their own measurement systems. Plus, there’s no industry standard. Don’t anything about transferring specs.
* Check the clubfitter’s qualifications. Go to the Professional Clubmakers Society or the Golf Clubmakers Association to check on a clubfitter’s qualifications.
* Pare down the options. Pare down club options as quickly as possible. If you go to a clubmaker that offers many lines of equipment, the process usually goes a lot faster and quicker.
* Go inside or outside. It doesn’t matter if you hit balls inside or outside. You might even do both. The goal is narrowing down the choices and determining the your specs.
* Make sure all gear fits.Don’t stop at buying fitted clubs. The right shafts, balls, and grips are critical as well. Get fitted for those, too.
Buying a set of custom-made clubs isn’t tedious and laborious anymore. With help from digital cameras and high-speed computers, clubfitting is much faster nowadays. A clubfitting session usually takes about an hour. If you work with an accredited and experienced clubfitter carrying many lines of equipment, the session will probably take less.
Fitted clubs benefit all players, but especially those with high golf handicaps. So if you’re buying new clubs for someone during Christmas, consider a gift certificate for a clubfitting session. It’s as much an investment as a gift.
To improve iron play fast—and chop strokes off your golf handicap—look to your hands. It’s hard to hit quality shots if you don’t use your hands correctly. As a serious golfer looking to improve, you must learn what role your hands play in hitting iron shots. If you do, you’ll boost your game to a new level and you’ll whittle strokes from your golf handicap as well.
Many weekend golfers learn to hold a club either by taking golf lessons or reading golf tips in magazines or books. What they may not learn from this golf instruction is that the way you hold the club impacts on how you cock your wrists at the top of the swing. That in turn determines clubface position at impact. If your clubface isn’t square at impact, you’ll slice or pull your irons.
Weak Grip/Flat Wrist
If you’re right-handed, a weak grip encourages a cocking mechanism that produces a flat left wrist at the top of the swing. A weak grip for a right-handed golfer features the back of the left-hand pointing to the target and the “V” formed by your thumb and forefinger pointing toward your left ear. With a weak grip, you must keep your left wrist from cupping to maintain the clubface on line during the swing.
If your left wrist cups, you’re asking for trouble. You’ll rotate the clubface too far open on the backswing and throw the clubface off the correct delivery path. Only players blessed with ultra-fast hand speed, like Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson can square up the clubface at impact from this position. Making adjustments like this for usually spells trouble for players of all golf handicaps.
Strong Grip/Cupped Wrist
If you’re a right-handed player, a stronger grip accommodates more of a left wrist cup at the top. A stronger grip for a right handed golfer is one in which the back of the left hand for a right handed player points more toward the sky, and the target and the “V” formed by the thumb and forefinger points toward your shoulder. With this grip you must avoid flattening the left wrist too much as you hinge the iron to the top.
A stronger grip plus a flat left wrist at the top usually results in a laying off of the club or swinging too far inside. Either way, you must make adjustments to get the club back on plane and on the correct delivery path. If you don’t, your clubface won’t be square at impact. Again, making adjustments during your swing spells trouble for players of all golf handicaps, unless you have super fast hands.
Golf Instructors Favor Stronger Grip
Many golf instructors favor a stronger grip for weekend golfers. It’s a little harder to learn to control, but when paired with a slight left wrist cup, it provides for better overall club control and allows for more hinge. That in turn creates more lag in the backswing to downswing transition, generating more clubhead speed and increasing power.
For even more power, grip the club with a slightly stronger grip. To do that, make the “V” created by the left thumb and foreigner point toward the right shoulder, with the palm of the right hand facing the target. Be careful though. Too strong a grip results in a hook.
Your grip is personal. You should adopt one that feels comfortable to you. There have been as many great players with weak grips as there have been with strong grips. The key is to match the right grip with the correct type of wrist cocking mechanism, making it easier to return the clubface to the ball square. Do that and you’ll not only hit more solid irons, you’ll do it more consistently and you’ll chop strokes off your golf handicap.
If you carefully scrutinize a good player’s swing—a player whose golf handicap is in the single digits—you’ll notice something odd. There’s a flat spot at the bottom of the swing arc, just as the club strikes the ball. This flatness isn’t an optical illusion. It’s real. And it’s significant. Launch angle is critical to generating power and accuracy from the tee box. It also fosters solid contact . Every tee shot has an optimum launch angle off the tee—no matter what the club. This angle depends almost entirely on clubhead speed at impact. Driving the ball off the tee with the right clubhead speed and launch angle produces a ball flight that helps golfers gain distance and achieve accuracy. Unfortunately, players with high golf handicaps don’t always understand the relationship between clubhead speed and launch angle.
Defining Launch Angle
Launch angle, as I’ve explained in many golf tips, is the angle at which a ball leaves the clubface. Launch angle results primarily from two factors: ball speed and ball spin. Correctly adjusting one or both increases driving distance and accuracy. That in turn helps cut some strokes from your scores and your golf handicap. In other words, if you really want to bomb one down the fairway, you must hit the ball at the perfect launch angle. Below are some keys to doing so:
1. Check Your Grip For Square Contact
To drive your ball straight and far, you must make square contact with the ball. To do that, you need the right grip—one allowing you to return the clubhead to the ball squarely time after time after time. The best grip for that is a neutral one. A weak grip turns the hands too far to the left (right, for a left-hander) producing a slice. A strong grip turns the hands too far to the right (left, for a left-hander), generating a hook. But a neutral grip aligns the hands with the club head, increasing your chances of making solid contact at the optimum launch angle.
2. Get A Feel For Impact
In addition to a neutral grip, develop a feel for impact. Here’s a good drill for that:
Set up a chair in front of you. Position the back of the chair so that it’s aligned where you would position the ball on the tee, with the back facing forward. Assume your address position. Turn away from the chair just as you would on your backswing. Swing down, hitting the back of the chair squarely with the palm of your right hand (left for lefties).
This drill ingrains the feel of impact and develops a good turn away from the ball—just like they teach in golf lessons.
3. Balance Address To Predetermine Launch Angle
Your address position predetermines your position at impact. It’s critical you have a balanced address. If your weight is too far forward, you increase your chances of hitting the ball with an upward, glancing blow. If your weight is set too far back, you’ll hit down on the ball, popping it up. Distribute your weight evenly and you’ll hit the ball squarely.
4. Ease Into Swing
Staying on the correct swing plane is essential to hitting longer, more accurate drives. To determine if you’re on the proper swing plane, hold the club in front of you, chest high, with your arms fully extended. Lazily, begin swinging the club back and forth. Lower the club until it starts swishing the ground. That’s the proper swing plane for that club. It’s also a good tempo to play at and swing at.
These four tips won’t turn you into Phil Mickelson. Nor will they eliminate the need for some people to take golf lessons. But they will help you gain additional yardage off the tee and achieve pinpoint accuracy consistently. If you’re serious about lowering your golf handicap, gaining extra yardage is something worth attaining.
Accuracy dramatically lowers golf handicaps. Hitting a ball where you want when you want time and time again chops strokes off your scores and golf handicap. To help golfers improve, golf lessons on accuracy usually focus on swing mechanics. That’s a great place to start. The better a golfer’s mechanics, the better are her chances of hitting the ball exactly where she wants.
But perfecting swing mechanics is only half the battle. The other half is mastering the non-mechanical fundamentals, for lack of a better term, that also help determine accuracy. Golfers don’t always work as hard on these fundamentals as they do on grooving the right swing mechanics. But make no mistake about it. They’re as important to accuracy as having the right grip or swinging on plane.
Start Off In Balance
A good golf tip on achieving accuracy is to focus on balance. Balance is among the most overlooked of all swing fundamentals. Every big name swing teacher agrees that it’s critical to maintain balance throughout the swing. The best way of doing that is to start out in balance. A balanced starting form sets the tone for a good swing. It also promotes feelings of simplicity, freedom, and confidence.
Determine The Shot’s Key Factors
Another good golf tip is to always determine a shot’s direction before hitting it. Too often golfers address the ball without determining direction. In addition, determine other key factors like distance, trajectory, and curvature. All these factors must be considered to hit a target. Determining a shot’s purpose, also essential to accuracy, greatly influences those other factors.
Visualize Ball Flight
Once purpose and direction are determined, golfers must visualize the ball’s flight path. They need a mental picture of how the ball will reach the target. Once they have that, they can let their subconscious take over. Visualizing ball flight includes drawing a target line mentally. Focus on starting the ball on the target line and getting the ball to do what you want it to. Use any visualization technique that works.
Focus On Striking The Ball
A fourth golf tip for achieving accuracy is to focus on striking the ball. That’s especially true when it comes to driving. Once a golfer picks out a target and determines the ball’s flight path, he or she needs to focus on striking the ball. Too often a golfer tenses up in an effort to blast a 300-yard drive only to lose focus on hitting the ball. That usually results in a flubbed or an off-target shot.
Maintain Target Awareness
Target awareness is probably an important factor in accuracy. Some consider it even more important than confidence or good swing mechanics. While that’s debatable, there’s no doubt that it’s among the top keys to accuracy. But choosing a target doesn’t mean picking out a spot “somewhere out there.” It means picking out a very specific target and aiming for it.
One day when Ben Hogan was practicing on the range, a colleague challenged him to hit a ball into a clump of trees. Hitting it into the trees wasn’t specific enough for Hogan. He asked the colleague which tree he wanted him to hit. While no one expects you to be as accurate as the legendary Hogan, the story is a great example of what picking out a target means.
These five golf tips help improve swing accuracy. When combined with the proper mechanics, they help golfers pinpoint their shots with consistency. Practice also helps. Hitting a shot exactly where a golfer wants to—over and over again—not only grooves mechanics, but also builds confidence. Together, confidence and accuracy shave strokes off your golf handicap.
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