Winning Your Way

The phrase “winning on your own terms” is generally used in a positive way.  It can describe achieving success without compromising your values or priorities.  In this lesson, I’ll explain why trying to win on your terms in golf may be a fool’s errand.

This Lesson Is For You If:

You’re trying to shoot lower scores but aren’t making progress

A Prefatory Analogy

I coach my daughters’ basketball teams.  Every kid on the teams says they want to win.  But when some are assigned positions where they’re more likely to set screens than shoot, they pout.  On the court, they’ll sabotage the team by doing what they want rather than what the team needs them to do.  These players don’t want to win – they want to win on their own terms.

Winning at Golf on Your Terms

In golf, this negative version of winning on your own terms can take many forms.

For the purposes of this lesson, let’s understand “winning” to only mean shooting lower scores.

The Clubs You Play

Many players are trying to win on their own terms before they even get to the course.  We all know players like this.

“I couldn’t possibly put (club that might help my game) in my bag.”

There’s also the failure to get fit, the refusal to play the appropriate shaft flex or weight, and playing eight different types of golf balls per round.

Whether your objections are aesthetic, financial, or something else entirely, you’re welcome to play clubs that don’t fit your game, body, or swing.  You can insist on playing the same shafts at 65 that you did at 24.  Just know that you’re making winning a lot harder than it needs to be.

Club Selection

The most cliched version of this disease is taking too little club.

“I want to hit that green, but only if I can do it with a club that has the same number on the sole as the one Fred used.”

If you’re a regular reader, you already know that the number on the sole is virtually meaningless.  There are no standards – OEMs can put a “7” on a club with 20 degrees of loft if they want to [more on irons lofts HERE].

This can also happen on the tee.  While the math supports hitting driver as often as possible, there are players who should stop hitting driver until they fix their 40 yard slice.  On the other hand, there are players consistently hitting less than driver because they’re convinced it’s the smart play and won’t be told otherwise by silly contrivances like statistics.

You can hit whatever club you want off the tee.  You can hit 8I into a 197 yard par 3.  Just don’t tell me you care about winning.

Putting

This one is going to ruffle some feathers: on the green, roughly half your misses should be short of the hole.

“I want to make putts, but I’m more afraid of people making jokes if I leave it short.”

Much like the guy who can’t tolerate hitting a 6I when Fred hit a 7I, this player is busy tending to their ego rather than their scorecard.  If you’re smashing every putt, refusing to ever leave one short, you’re wasting strokes.  But, in reality, you’re probably also scooping up that six footer, so you’re not actually playing to win anyway.

Shaping Shots

Every high level swing coach and golf strategist that I’m aware of preaches the virtue of choosing a single shot and playing it over and over.  Yet the game is full of delusional mid and low handicap players – and some truly delulu high handicappers – who think they need to work the ball in every direction to score well.

I’m not suggesting that the skilled ball striker shouldn’t occasionally flight the ball down.  I’m saying that the overwhelming majority of the time, you should play your stock shot.  And when you’re not going to play your stock shot, the one you choose better pass the 80% Test [more on that HERE].

If you want to play “all the shots” because Tiger does, feel free.  But you’re not Tiger Woods, and that strategy is not going to lead to winning.

Ignoring the Conditions

If you’ve ever felt the wind in your face and said, “It’s ok, I’ll just hit this harder,” you’re trying to win on your own terms.

Playing to win requires a lot of different things.  First, you need the mental discipline to be aware of the conditions on every shot.  Is it windy?  Is the turf hard or soft?  Are you dealing with elevation changes?  Second, you need the emotional maturity to take more club or play the conservative shot when it’s called for.  Finally, you need the social fortitude to ignore the eye rolls when you go back for a different club.  Just like leaving putts short may result in taunts, taking the time to get the right club and commit to the shot* may get you roasted by your friends.  But if the score is what you’re after, it’s what you need to do.

*This is not an endorsement of slow play.  If you’re consistently changing clubs, the conditions aren’t the problem, you are.

Practice Habits

If you’ve spent any amount of time on this site, you know about good practice.  You’ve probably read about tracking your practice [HERE], practicing with purpose [HERE], finding The Goldilocks Zone [HERE], and worrying about the things that really matter [HERE].  Also, being a smarter-than-average golfer, you know that you need to work on all aspects of your game if you’re going to score well.

If, in spite of all that, your practice routine consists of smashing the extra large bucket, primarily with your driver, at no particular target, you’re trying to win on your own terms.  Practicing putting and bunker shots may not be as much fun as hitting driver, but it’s what winners do.

Not Shot Tracking

If you’re not shot tracking, you don’t actually care about your score.

“I know my game.”

Do you know your game better than a PGA Tour player?  No.  And many of them, perhaps most, employ statisticians and coaches who pick apart their shot tracking data to find ways to improve.

“Well, I’m not a PGA Tour player.”

Does it hurt your back to move the goalposts like that?  We know you’re not a Tour player.  But you asserted that you’re playing to win, just like they do.  If you mean it, you need to start shot tracking.  You are going to find weaknesses – and possibly strengths – that you were not aware of.  This gives you places where you can make quick, easy progress toward a lower handicap, and parts of your game you can lean on when things go sideways.

Two Roads to Success

I wrote this lesson with the hope of helping golfers.  I envision readers falling into one of three camps:

The first group is truly committed to better scores, and this helps them to see their blind spots.  After reading this, they understand that they can’t beat golf on their own terms, so they need to adjust something in their approach.

Another group will realize that they actually don’t care about their score that much.  This is a huge step forward for your enjoyment!  Now you’re free to play golf for whatever reason you choose: hitting the longest driver, playing the prettiest clubs, talking the most creative s*** to your friends.  To those that would rather play on their own terms than “win,” welcome to the club.

The third group thinks this doesn’t apply to them.  They’re smarter than me and math and everyone else who’s trying to help them.  By including this, am I trying to chide them into joining one of the other groups?  Absolutely.  Do I think it will work?  Probably not.  They’re too smart for that.

Regardless of which of those groups you fall into, I want to sincerely thank you for reading.

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Red vs. Blue, Forever

The internet is a great place if you hate nuance.  It seems that no matter the topic, when we’re hiding behind our computer screen, all we want to do is join a team and tell anyone who might disagree with us that they’re wrong.

We see this in golf in dozens of different ways – from fanboys of different OEMs to LIV vs. the PGA Tour – but nowhere is it as infuriating as in the equipment vs. golf swing “debate.”

In this lesson, I hope to show you that there’s a middle ground, that two things can be true, that we don’t need to run to the comment section with quite so much anger.

This Article Is For You If:

You’re chasing improvement only through better equipment

You haven’t been fit because your swing “isn’t ready”

You’ve ever blamed your clubs for a bad shot or round

You’ve ever chided someone (yourself included) for wanting better gear

Truth #1 – Good Golf Equipment Helps

Club fitting can help you play better golf.

Every fitter has stories of helping a player gain 15 or more yards off the tee, dramatically shrinking their iron dispersion, or putting the feel back into someone’s putting.  The same is true on the other side: I can easily put together a club that you’ll hit substantially worse than what you’re gaming now.

If these endless stories don’t move you, look to the professional ranks.  Do any of the best players in the world play stock clubs?  Absolutely not.  They tailor every club to fit their body and their swing.  And many of them are ceaselessly testing the latest gear in an effort to find even better performance.

There are almost limitless analogies that elucidate the importance of club fitting.  I like comparing it to a tailored suit.  No matter how good or bad you look, you’ll look better in perfectly fit clothes.  Athletic shoes serve as an equally good comparison: Usain Bolt would run circles around me in penny loafers, but he’s faster in spikes.

Truth #2 – You’re Responsible for Your Game

Regardless of your clubs, you are responsible for the shots that you hit.

The importance of accepting this was driven home to me recently by talking to Andy Hayes about his experience playing hickory clubs [read more about that HERE].  He told me that part of the appeal of hickories is feeling more responsible for each shot rather than trying to rely on the clubs.  His best shots were of his own creation.  The mishits were on him, too.

For all their virtues, modern clubs can separate us from the reality of our game.  Forgiving clubs don’t sting your hands on a thin strike the way an old blade would.  More importantly, they produce beautiful shots – long, high, and straight – on strikes that are less than excellent.  We no longer receive the loud and clear signal that most of our swings are not A+.

I think that this lack of feedback, awareness, and responsibility strips away some of the beauty and enjoyment from golf.  Do you enjoy a great result as much if you know it wasn’t of your own creation?

And on the other hand, a lack of accountability can leave us pointing the finger instead of the thumb when things go poorly.  When our club forgives two misses but fails to compensate for the third, we slam it into the ground rather than recognizing that we haven’t practiced in a month.

The Takeaway

I did not write this to convince you to play blades or hickory clubs.  I didn’t write this to convince you to get fit into the latest and greatest.

If there was a purpose in writing this, it would be to get you to slow down.  Don’t be so fast to leave a negative comment.*  Take a beat before criticizing someone for choosing a path that’s different from the one you’re on.  In golf – and in most of life – two things can be true.

*You should still leave a comment, though.  It helps the site.

The post Two Golf Truths appeared first on Plugged In Golf.

Andy Hayes is a golf coach and scratch golfer.  He played hickory clubs for 99% of his rounds in the 2023 season.  Why?  How did it work out?  He uses the classic Hero’s Journey template developed by Joseph Campbell to tell the story.

Hear more about Andy’s hickory golf adventure on the podcast HERE

Part 1: Call To Adventure

“If Bobby Jones can play well with these clubs, why can’t I?”

It all started on an ordinary December day when I got a call from a man named Tim.  He had an Australian accent and described himself as “A strange golfer.”  He shared that he was interested in hickory golf and was wondering if I was willing to take him on as a student.  It sounded like a fun project, so I was in. He said “If Bobby Jones can play well with these clubs, why can’t I? 

He made a good point.  Usually when students talk about equipment, they discuss how something new might help their distance, accuracy, scoring, and overall happiness.  Tim’s outlook on golf and equipment was different.  He was taking complete ownership of his game.  It wasn’t about having the right technology.  It was about improving his game in spite of the technology, not because of it.  This is a refreshing and inspiring perspective.

Part 2: Initiation

“The clubs feel alive”

Tim had a set of restored hickories.  These are clubs 100 years old.  The shafts have been refurbished, the heads have been reset, lofts bent weaker to add more bounce, and new grips have been applied. 

To my surprise, Tim’s “Mashie” was going about the same distance as his modern 8 iron which had the same loft. He was swinging them with speed, and the ball was flying off the face.  After testing them for myself, I knew I needed a set.  I ordered 9 clubs from Tad Moore, a golf industry legend, who now makes new hickory clubs modeled after classic sets.

The first few rounds I played with the hickories were some of the most life-giving rounds of golf I’ve played.  The shafts are heavier and flex in a way where timing is key.  To hit the hickories well I had to focus on lightness and rhythm.  The clubs require you to have relaxed arms, shoulders, and grip.  I found it helpful to have a general feeling of lightness in your body. 

Good rhythm, particularly in transition is the other swing key.  Last year, with my modern clubs, I had been plagued by swing thoughts, thinking too much about the wrong things.  With the hickories, if you rush too much in transition, or try to overpower the club, it is going to be a poor shot.  It’s like the clubs teach you how to hit them, and in this way, the clubs feel alive.  It was extremely freeing to step up to each shot placing my entire concentration on feeling and being as light as possible.

Part 3: Transformation

“2 under par with hickories.”

With the hickories, everything is exaggerated. Out of the rough, flyer lies actually fly – sometimes 20 yards farther.  In general, the ball doesn’t spin as much, so you have to plan for carry  and roll into the greens.  Off the tee, a toe ball will really hook, and a shot off the heel is going way right.  Overall there is more variance to the game.  You’re faced with new situations, and are hitting recovery shots more often, which I enjoy.  The biggest difference between the hickories and modern clubs is definitely the driver.  Overall, the hickory driver goes much shorter, and mishits are punished more severely. 

Throughout the summer I enjoyed many rounds with friends and new acquaintances who also were interested in hickory golf.  My best rounds for scoring and enjoyment were with a full group of hickory players.  A handful of times I tried my luck and brought along my hickories when the other members of my group were playing modern clubs.  My worst round of the year was like this, playing at Midlothian Country Club.  My host and playing partners were all using modern equipment, but Francis Ouimet won the 1917 Western Amateur there, so I had to play hickories.  We played from 6,500 yards, which is long for hickories. I went out in 38 thanks to some nice putting, but on the back 9 shot a 45. I had trouble staying within myself and playing my own game.  It was tempting to swing hard and try to keep up with the others in my group, and this did not lead to success. 

In September I had the opportunity to play Bryn Mawr Country Club in Chicago.  I was happy to be there, and had no expectations going into the round.  I started off with a bogey, then made a few pars. I then had a stretch of birdie-birdie-eagle, and I knew this would be the day.  I wasn’t scared, and had a deep feeling of peace and trust.  I knew if I kept swinging with lightness I would reach my goal. I bogeyed the final two holes and shot 2 under par.  With hickories.  

Part 4: Return

“Hickory and modern working together”

In Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey,” the journey doesn’t end with the hero reaching their goal, it ends with the hero returning home after their transformation to share with others. 

One October day, I had the urge to pull the modern clubs back out and hit some long drives.  In the past I would have gone through a checklist of swing keys, pulled up a few key numbers on TrackMan and got to work.  But this time I picked up the club and focused on feeling its weight and how it flexed throughout the swing.  I noticed I was more aware of my body and my tendency to pull the club back too quickly in my takeaway.  After a bad shot I focused more on feeling lightness on my next shot rather than diagnosing a swing flaw to explain the result.  As I worked through the bag, I felt in control of my swing, and an ownership over my entire game.  

I’m not ditching the hickories and going back to modern.  After this year, I believe the hickory and modern clubs  work together to help me learn about golf and myself.  The hickories have helped me better learn my tendencies.  They’ve made me more aware of my tension and rhythm when I hit a good or bad shot.  Overall, playing golf feels less daunting.  After all, I’ve shot great rounds with hickory clubs, so what could I possibly be afraid of with my modern set?

Hear more about Andy’s hickory golf adventure on the podcast HERE

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“What Is a Wedge?”  

At first blush, that may seem like a silly question.  However, as you try to work toward a definition of a wedge, you realize it’s not so simple. That made it a perfect jumping off point for an in-depth discussion with one of golf’s greatest wedge experts, Terry Koehler, founder of Edison Wedges. 

Matt Saternus: We’re trying to answer the question, “What is a wedge?”  I’m going to suggest a few definitions, and I’d like you to tell me what you think is good about them and where you think they fall short.  Attempt #1: A wedge is a high-lofted golf club.

Terry Koehler: Well, Matt, how are we going to define “high-lofted”?  The iron models on the market today feature “P-clubs” as low as 42 degrees of loft.  It wasn’t all that long ago, that a 42 degree club would have had an “8” on the bottom, so just calling that a “wedge” certainly doesn’t make it one. 

Matt: If we picked a particular loft, would that make this a better definition?  For example, any club with a loft greater than 40 degrees?  45?  50?  

Terry: Well, I think this just moves the conversation to the other possible questions about what defines a wedge.  But I’ve seen a couple of “all fairway wood” set of clubs that go all the way to the “25 wood” with traditional sand wedge loft of 55 to 56 degrees?  Are those still “wedges”?

Matt: Attempt #2: A wedge is a club you use when you’re close to the green.

Terry:  Usually . . . maybe . . .  but many times, around the green you find yourself chipping with a 7-iron or 8-iron, depending on the shot at hand and how much you want it to roll out after it lands.  And chipping with your hybrid or 4-wood adds another shot to your arsenal.  That certainly doesn’t make it a wedge.

Matt: Attempt #3: A wedge is a club with bounce on the sole or certain types of sole grinds.

Terry: I think this is getting closer to defining what a “wedge” really is.  I often have tried to explain to beginners to think of the “wedge” as exactly that – you are trying to “wedge” the club between the earth and the ball, so that the loft makes the ball go up and the bounce keeps the club from digging . . . if you do it right, that is.

Matt: If we were to use this definition, where would we draw the line?  Because the vast majority of irons have some amount of bounce and are intended for use with a slightly descending strike.

Terry: Therein lies the challenge with this definition . . .

Matt: Attempt #4: A wedge is a club that looks like a wedge.  We know what that means – a skinny top of the blade, no cavity back, heavy sole, your traditional TItleist or Cleveland wedge.

Terry: So that would mean that any high-lofted club that doesn’t look like that really isn’t a “wedge”?  What about these so-called “game improvement” specialty wedges with a big sole and deep cavity?.  Or those clubs of lofts higher than the 9-iron that match the other irons?  Does that mean neither of these are really “wedges”?

Matt: Attempt #5: A wedge is a club with aggressive grooves cut into the face to provide more spin and more consistent spin, even in the rough or in wet conditions.

Terry:  The USGA regulates the groove geometry very tightly and most irons will push those groove limits throughout the set.  While I do believe you should modify the groove pattern a bit into the higher lofts, those grooves are really not any more “aggressive” than any other iron.

And it is widely believed that the grooves are what imparts the spin, but I’ve seen robotic testing prove that – on a dry ball and clubface – the total absence of grooves only reduces spin by 15-20 percent.  The “spin formula” is very complex and includes clubhead speed, angle of attack and impact conditions, i.e. cleanliness of the ball/club contact.  But modern ‘tour design’ wedges and those claiming to be “game improvement” all have the majority of the clubhead mass at the very bottom, which actually is not an efficient placement of mass to optimize spin. 

What I did with the EDISON 2.0 wedges – as I have throughout my wedge design career of 30-plus years – is to position much more as much mass as possible above the likely point of impact to optimize gear effect to enhance spin.  Essentially the opposite of what is going on in irons, hybrids, fairways and drivers, where the “holy grail” is high launch and low spin.  They get that by concentrating mass as low in the club as possible . . . which is where the mass is concentrated in most wedges.

Matt:  So none of the five criteria alone make a good definition; do we need to layer them?  How would you use what we’ve discussed so far – or anything else you have in mind – to define a wedge? 

Terry: That is really a tough question for sure, as this dialogue is proving.  Maybe what defines a “wedge” is some combination of these definitions . . .

“A wedge is a higher lofted club, say i.e. 45-48 degrees or more, which has a sole with a definite measured ‘bounce’ angle that reduces the club’s tendency to dig, but rather to ‘reject’ from the turf to some degree, and which club allows a wide measure of shotmaking versatility when the golfer finds himself/herself within prime scoring range, i.e. less than a full swing 9-iron shot.”

To that definition, “wedges” on the market today can be found in three basic configurations:

• “Tour Design” – The traditional shaping of a ‘wedge’ that puts the majority of mass along the bottom of the clubhead, and relative thin cross-sectional thickness in the upper 2/3 of the clubhead.  Usually a single piece forging or casting, but might feature some multi-material construction to help manage CG location.

• “Game Improvement” – Can have a reasonably traditional face profile and offset, but generally a much wider sole and thinner face to compensate, with some measure of perimeter weighting.

• “Set Match” – Those higher lofted clubs that are designed to closely match the technology and cosmetics of the lower-lofted irons of the same make/model.

Matt: Those three categories of wedges launch us into a new direction.  What do you see as the primary advantages and disadvantages of each of those categories, with respect to the recreational golfer?

Terry: Now, we’re getting to the meat of the matter.  Each of those categories has its strengths and weaknesses . . . 

• “Tour design” wedges have dominated the marketplace for years, because that’s about all there were to choose from.  And the store shelves are still loaded with them.  The problem is that these clubs are designed around the exquisite skills and talents of the game’s elite players.  And they spend thousands of hours with them to learn hundreds of different shots.  These players cannot afford for their wedge performance dynamics to change from year to year, as they cannot afford to keep learning scoring skills over and over and over again.  So, while 98% of golfers will not try to game the same tour blade irons the pros use, but they are trying to play the same wedges.  What they don’t know is that ‘tour design’ wedges are less forgiving than even tour blade irons.

• There is a category of wedges now that feature very wide soles and big, deep cavities in the back, and they are sold as “game improvement” designs.  But to me, they are really ‘one trick ponies”, designed to help you get out of the bunker.  Period.  Those big soles do not allow optimum playability from tighter lies, and the thin faces cause a very sporadic smash factor as impact is made around the face.

• I am a firm believer that extending the matching set of irons through the traditional wedge lofts is a bad idea, because what works great at 27-29 degrees of loft (the 6- or 7-iron) doesn’t produce desirable shot dynamics at higher lofts, no more than it can produce proper dynamics at lower lofts.  People don’t realize stop to think that their 6-iron is as far in loft from their “P-club” than it is from their driver.  I’m pretty sure no one ever has said, “I hit my 6-iron great; can you make me a driver that looks just like it?”

I guess that brings us to shameless self-promotion, but what I’ve been pursuing for over thirty years is to cast aside pre-conceived notions of what a “wedge” is, start with a clean slate and design a range of high-lofted scoring clubs that combine versatility to a variety of turf conditions and consistency of impact dynamics across a wider area of the face than can be achieved with any of those three approaches to “wedges”.  Maybe it’s time to create a new word . . . like we did with “hybrids”?

What I’ve learned from hundreds of robot tests of all kinds of wedges and thousands of golfer interactions over those three decades is that it requires face thickness directly behind the point of impact to deliver that consistency.  I began to move weight up in the clubhead as far back as the early 1990s with my Reid Lockhart wedges.  I continued to move more and more mass up in the clubhead through the EIDOLON wedges of the early 2000s and then added progressive weighting to optimize mass distribution through the range of lofts with my SCOR designs and the Ben Hogan TK15 wedges.  All of those concepts have been copied by the major brands.

With the EDISON 2.0 [review HERE], I’ve pushed all those design goals to a new height and believe I’m very close to perfection for high-loft scoring clubs . . . wedges.  What you want from your higher lofted scoring clubs is consistent trajectory, spin and carry distance through a wide range of clubhead speeds, from greenside chip of only a few miles per hour to full swing shots – regardless of what that range is for you.  That consistency of impact dynamics is essential for you to refine your shotmaking.  If the wedge has hot spots and dead spots – which all conventional almost all golf clubs do have – that becomes an impossible task.

You’ve been testing wedges for as long time, Matt, and you’re seeing this.  All the  major wedge brands are now putting a bit more mass in the top of the club. They all know that it works, but none exhibit a face thickness above the 5th or 6th groove that is anywhere close to the EDISON 2.0 wedges. In fact, none are even as thick as my Reid Lockhart wedges were in the 1990s.  I believe it’s because they are held back by their Tour professionals, who don’t want big changes in their wedge dynamics, because they cannot afford to constantly re-learn their short-range shotmaking skills.

Matt: Admittedly we’re talking about a small portion of the golfing population, but where does that leave the low handicap player who has a well-established short game?  Do they benefit from the high CG wedge also, or are they better off sticking with the Tour-style wedges they’ve built their game around?

Terry: I can’t imagine a player of any skill level who wouldn’t like to tighten their distance dispersion in their wedge game.  And that’s what the EDISON 2.0 wedges do.  The more refined your short game skills, the longer adjustment period you might have, but you’ve seen this yourself – the technology just works better.

Matt: Given everything we’ve discussed here, what is your advice for recreational golfers when they’re building their set, particularly the high lofted clubs?  

Terry: I call it golf “by the numbers”.  We all have a strength profile that determines how far we can hit our longest approach club reliably, whether that is a fairway wood or hybrid or long iron.  Ideally, you will build your set to give you incremental distance differentials from that club down to your highest lofted wedge.  And I think that club is a personal choice.  Mine is a 57, some like to have that club be as high lofted as 62 to 64 degrees.

But ideally, you want tighter distance differences between clubs as you get closer to the flag.  After all, a five-iron shot that is 30-40 feet long or short isn’t that bad [Matt’s note: a 200 yard approach hit to 30 feet would make you #3 on the PGA Tour], but a wedge shot that is that far long or short is a lost opportunity to score.

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An Age-Old Theory

When I decided that I wanted to take up golf, my dad bought an old set of forged Titleist blades for me (with persimmon woods, to boot).  This was around 2003.  Forgiving clubs existed, but he was convinced that playing blades would make me a better golfer.

This idea is not unique to my dad.  Tiger has made similar comments about the clubs that he’s provided for his son, Charlie.  It’s a theory you can find being espoused in every golf forum, club house, and driving range in the world…but is it true?

Yes, Blades Will Make You a Better Ball Striker

First, blades provide better feedback than game improvement (GI) or super game improvement (SGI) irons.  There are two elements of this.  One is the feedback you get through your hands.  On the whole, blades will more clearly communicate where the ball met the face compared to forgiving irons.  There are many GI irons which have good feedback, but some will try to convince you that you’ve flushed every shot.

The more important form of feedback is the result of the shot.  The entire purpose of GI and SGI irons is to take poor strikes and create playable results.  With a blade, you typically get the result that you deserve.  On a thin strike, for instance, a blade will fire off a knee-high shot where a GI iron with a low center of gravity will lift the ball onto a more normal trajectory.

Through both the sensation in your hands and the result of the shot, blades give golfers a clearer, more honest picture of their ball striking.  This is critical if you want to get better.  If you are being told that every swing you make is Tour quality, there’s no impetus to change anything.  When your hands are stinging and your shots are low, short, and crooked, there’s more motivation to get to work.

Another way that blades can improve your ball striking relates to turf interaction.  Blades traditionally have thin soles with limited bounce.  GI and SGI irons have wider soles with more bounce to avoid digging.  With a blade, you won’t be able to get away with slightly fat shots the way you can with larger irons.

There is also a psychological element to playing blades that can’t be ignored.  When I look down at a paper-thin top line, I know I need to focus to get a good result.  Looking down at an iron the size of a Honda can cause me to relax knowing that any strike will produce a decent result.  In addition to demanding more focus, blades can imbue a player with pride and confidence.  This won’t be the case for every golfer, but many players will stand a little taller because they’re playing “real players clubs.”

Finally, blades make it easier to manipulate ball flight.  This can unlock more creativity and learning about shotmaking.  To be clear, every iron is capable of shot shaping, but, as a general rule, it’s easier to control trajectory and shot shape with a blade than a large SGI iron.

No, Blades Won’t Make You a Better Ball Striker

Feedback is a wonderful thing, but it doesn’t mean anything without the work, or perhaps more correctly, the will and desire to work.  If I am unhappy with my weight, knowing exactly how many pounds I am does nothing to change it.  If I am unhappy that I am weak, knowing that I can only bench press 50 pounds does nothing to move me toward 300.  What makes me better is the work I put into getting better.

Additionally, the feedback that blades deliver requires interpretation.  If you give a blade to a new – or even a seasoned – golfer, they may not be able to tell you where the ball met the face.  They may not understand that a low shot is the result of hitting the bottom groove.  Perhaps they will learn in time, but that knowledge is not magically imbued to them when they put their hands on the blades.

Furthermore, the blade does not tell the golfer what they should be doing with their body or their swing.  While I’m no fan of internal cues, I do recognize that they can be important to some golfers, particularly beginners.  If a player is consistently hitting the heel of the club, what does that mean?  What if they are consistently missing but not in any consistent way?

Similarly, while blades allow players more freedom to shape their ball flight, playing blades does not give them the knowledge they need to control it.  A golfer needs a sound understanding of the ball flight laws [you can learn them HERE] if they’re going to become a shot maker.  Putting a player behind the wheel of an F1 car does not make them a racer.  Handing someone a Stratocaster does not make them Stevie Ray Vaughan.

While blades can have a positive psychological effect, the effects can be negative, too.  Some players find blades intimidating.  While blades demand more focus, focusing is a skill that is not granted simply because one is playing blades.  Additionally, the consistent negative feedback of bad shots may lead some players to practice less or quit altogether.

So the Short Answer Is…

Yes, blades will make you a better ball striker – with a few big ifs.  If you are willing to put a lot of effort into practice.  If you understand the feedback that they’re giving you.  If you understand the ball flight laws and how they allow you to manipulate trajectory and shot shape.

Give It a Try

If you’re interested in using blades as an avenue to better ball striking but don’t want to see your handicap skyrocket, I have a plan.  Head to your local golf shop or secondhand sporting goods store and find some old blades.  You can buy a set, a half set, or just a single iron.  Regardless, the cost should be quite low.  If you don’t have a local shop, use eBay.  I found dozens of good candidates under $100 with my first search.

Step two is getting the shaft aligned with your own.  This will cost a little bit of money, but it will be worth it.  Your old blade probably has an old, heavy, stiff steel shaft.  Get a club builder to install the same shaft you use in your irons and the same grip.

You can also cut out a step by ordering a single modern blade built to your spec.  Depending on your shaft and choice of OEM, this could cost from $100 to $200.

Now take that iron to the range and get to work.  You can experience all the unfiltered feedback that you can stand while still enjoying your modern clubs on the course.

The post Do Blades Make You a Better Ball Striker? appeared first on Plugged In Golf.

The One Thing You Must Get Right

If you only had control over one component in your entire golf bag, what would you pick?  Which is the most important single piece to get right?  In this lesson, I reveal the answer to that question, and explain why it’s critical that you get this one piece of equipment fit to your swing.

Get this lesson in podcast form HERE

This Lesson Is For You If:

You want to get maximum ROI on your next club purchase or fitting

Third Place: Putter Head

Putting is a big part of your score, and it all relies on one club.  And while the putter shaft has gotten more attention in the last couple years, it pales in comparison to the importance of the putter head.  The putter head (which includes the neck and hosel) determines the toe hang, drives swing weight, and, of course, has a look which can help or hurt your putting.

The reason that the putter head doesn’t rank higher is that there’s a practical limit to how badly you can putt.  Even with a putter that had the wrong weight, wrong toe hang, and a look you despised, you could get the ball in the hole eventually.  You’d never putt it off the green or incur penalty strokes because you have the wrong putter.

Additionally, putting’s impact on your score is dependent on the other parts of your game.  If you miss a lot of greens and chip well, there aren’t going to be a lot of opportunities to save strokes with putting.  Similarly, if you hit a bunch of approach shots to thirty feet, you’re going to two-putt almost all of them no matter how good a putter you are.

Finally, switching to the best putter can help your putting…for a while.  But ultimately your putting will regress toward the mean because there’s a practical limit on how well you can putt, too.  So while it’s extremely important, the putter head is not the most important component.

Second Place: Driver Head

The driver is more important than the putter.  If you don’t understand this yet, please go read Every Shot Counts or Lowest Score Wins and come back when you’re done.  There is a much greater gap between the best and worst driving than the best and worst putting.  The advantage you can gain (or hole you can dig) off the tee is unsurpassed by any other shot.  So the driver is the king club, but the head is only second most important.

What makes the driver head so important?  First, it can unlock huge distance gains.  Getting into the right launch and spin ranges is a big part of optimizing your distance.  Especially for high speed players, the right combination of launch and spin can add 20 yards or more.

Additionally, modern drivers can do a lot to improve dispersion.  For a slicer, getting into a draw biased driver can keep them out of the trees and lakes.  Players that use the entire face can find help in drivers with huge MOI.

Now, why isn’t the head number one?  First, every modern driver head is really good, objectively speaking.  Yes, some are better, but we’re talking about the difference between Olympic sprinters.  One is the fastest, but they’re all really fast.  Similarly, while there are differences in forgiveness, any modern head is world’s better than what golfers used a decade ago.

The second reason why the head isn’t number one is that it’s consistent.  If I gave a draw-biased head to a player who hooks it, they would be unhappy, but they could figure it out.  They’d learn to make a cut swing and maybe hit it off the heel.  But at least the problem would be the same every time.

Finally, almost every modern driver head is adjustable.  I haven’t reviewed a driver this year that doesn’t have an adjustable hosel.  At least half offer some kind of weight adjustments.  These can be used to make an imperfect fit much better for any given player.

The Winner: Driver Shaft

While I stop well short of joining the, “The shaft is the only thing that matters” clan, I do believe it’s the most important component in your golf bag.  The driver is the most important club, and the shaft is the engine.  Without one that you can rely on, you’re going nowhere.

One reason why the shaft trumps the head is that there’s more variety in driver shafts.  Starting with weight, you can play a shaft that’s under 40 grams or over 80 grams.  Next there are flexes – everything from senior or ladies to Tour X.  Finally, you get into the worlds of torque and bend profile.  Because of these factors, two shafts with the same weight and flex can feel nothing alike.

Next, many people will point to the impact of the shaft on launch and spin.  This is undeniable.  If you want to get your numbers into the optimal ranges, you need the right shaft.

While dialing in numbers is important, it’s nothing compared to the shaft’s ability to improve your quality of contact.  If you’re regularly hitting the sweet spot, you’re going to be both longer and straighter off the tee.  You’ll have fewer of those tops, dropkicks, or snap hooks that lead to automatic bogey or worse.

Finally, the single biggest reason why the shaft is #1 on this list is consistency.  With a well-fit shaft, you’ll know what you’re going to get off the tee.  You’ll be able to feel the club head during the swing.  With a bad fit, neither of those things is true.  The only consistency is that you’ll be consistently uncomfortable.  Whether it’s too light, heavy, stiff, or soft, the wrong shaft will make you miserable on the tee.

For all these reasons, it’s critically important for you to get fit for the right driver shaft if you want to play to your potential.  And for those that aren’t score-obsessed, know that your tee shots are the biggest determinant of your enjoyment.  I’ve never seen a golfer who’s happy to be searching in the trees for their golf ball.

The post The Most Important Component In Your Golf Bag appeared first on Plugged In Golf.

What is “Better”?

When golfers buy new clubs, they expect to play better.  Why?  Because all the marketing around new clubs promises more distance, superior forgiveness, and improved accuracy.  But – prepare yourself – the marketing may be oversimplifying things.  Rather than buying new clubs with the idea that they will be “better,” let’s think about whether we’re trying to raise the floor or the ceiling.

Check out this lesson as a podcast HERE

This Lesson Is For You If:

You’re thinking about buying new clubs

You’re going to get fit for new clubs

You want new golf clubs to improve your game

Defining Your Floor and Ceiling

Let’s start with some definitions.  When I say that a club will raise your ceiling, I’m talking about how it performs on your best swings and on days when you have your A game.  This higher ceiling could mean more distance, it might be a better ball flight, or it might mean the ability to control trajectory, shot shape, and hold a green.

On the other hand, raising the floor is all about what happens when you don’t have your best stuff.  If off-center contacts fly farther, that’s raising the floor.  The same can be said for shrinking your dispersion or keeping mishits closer to the target line.

What’s More Important?

The question of whether it’s more important to raise your ceiling or your floor varies from person to person and from club to club.  If you rarely mishit your driver, it’s probably more important to raise your ceiling than your floor.  However, if you routinely blade or chunk your wedge shots, raising the ceiling doesn’t mean much compared to improving your worst shots.

Before you go for a fitting, spend some time thinking about the club(s) you’re going to replace and what you want from a replacement.  This process will be even better if you have shot tracking data to refer to.  Are you losing shots because of a huge dispersion pattern?  Let’s raise the floor.  Is this club a consistent performer that could just stand to be longer or more versatile?  Let’s raise the ceiling.

Drivers & Tee Shot Clubs

When we get fit for a new driver, fairway wood, or hybrid, it’s easy to be transfixed by the club that produces the longest shot.  We tell ourselves that we’re going to practice more, learn that club, and produce that monstrous result more regularly.  But the longest club isn’t always the best.

After you’ve had a chance to hit multiple options, look at what you’re gaining with each club vs. what you’re giving up.  If one club is five yards longer, that’s great, but what’s the downside?  Are the mishits much shorter or further offline?  Is it worth getting five more yards on your best swings if you’re in the trees twice a round?  Alternately, it’s possible that there isn’t much of a tradeoff.  The more consistent club might provide only a small improvement in dispersion while being ten yards shorter.

Irons & Approach Clubs

Whether you’re looking at fairway woods, hybrids, or irons for your approach shots, there are numerous things to take into account.  At the top of the list are distance, dispersion (left-to-right and short-to-long), and landing angle.

How far you hit your irons does matter, but it shouldn’t be the only factor.  In fact, I view being overly focused on iron distance as a red flag in a club fitter.  However, the priorities are ultimately set by you, the golfer.  If you want to play the iron with the highest distance potential, that’s your choice.  It makes the fitting process pretty easy, though I wouldn’t want you on my team if we’re playing for money.  In my opinion, you also need to look at how far a club goes on mishits.  Depending on your handicap, you might trade some top end distance (ceiling) for more distance on mishits (floor).

Your approach shot clubs should also produce an acceptable dispersion pattern.  Again, there’s a question of ceiling and floor.  Is it more important that you best swings produce laser straight shots or that the bad swings stay out of the woods?

Unless you play on asphalt greens, your landing angle just needs to be steep enough – typically 45 degrees.  I wouldn’t get overly concerned about the difference between a set that lands at 47 degrees vs. another at 45.5.

Once you get past those major considerations, stronger players may want to consider factors like shot shaping, turf interaction, and trajectory control.  This is one of those areas where you may have a clear floor vs. ceiling choice to make.  A less forgiving club may offer you more shot control, which you will value on your best days.  On the other hand, those clubs might make your bad days feel a little longer.

Wedges

The emergence of cavity back wedges gives players the ability to consider floor vs. ceiling in their short game, too.  The choice here is straightforward, if not simple.  With a cavity back wedge, you’re going to get better performance on mishits.  It’s not going to be a ten yards difference like with a driver, but in the short game every foot counts.

When opting for a cavity back wedge, you give up some choices, primarily in the sole.  While there are exceptions (the PING Glide 4.0, review HERE), cavity back wedges typically only come with one sole option.  Tour or blade wedges usually have loads of options.

My suggestion is to ask yourself two questions.  First, how strong is your wedge play?  If you’re a really good wedge player, it might be worth giving up forgiveness for more versatility or soles designed for your swing and course conditions.  Second, how much do you gain from “non-stock” sole options?  If you play exclusively on very tight, firm turf, you may genuinely need lower bounce or a thinner sole.  Similarly, if you’re very skilled and you hit tons of open face shots, you may really benefit from a versatile sole grind.  However, if neither of these apply to your short game, I’d probably opt for added forgiveness.

Putters

Putters are the one category of club that doesn’t fit as neatly into this floor/ceiling concept.  In addition to putting being very mental, players can have varying levels of comfort at different distances.

As an example, I’ve always used an Anser-style putter.  I know that switching to a mallet would give me superior forgiveness on mishits.  I’ve also tested zero torque/lie angle balanced putters and had tremendous results [check that out HERE].  However, especially on short putts, I’m more confident with my blade because I have so much experience with it.

When trying new putters, test them at different distances, then ask yourself some questions.  Is it better to be confident over four-footers or get some needed forgiveness on longer putts?  Am I willing to put the practice time in to get comfortable with this different style of putter?  Questions like this will lead you to finding a putter that gives you strong performance across the range of putts.

The post Will New Golf Clubs Raise Your Floor or Ceiling? appeared first on Plugged In Golf.

Making New Gear Fun & Free

It’s the end of February and almost every major OEM has filled your local golf store with new clubs.  For the gear-obsessed golfers, this is the best and worst time of the year.  The excitement is enjoyable, but the inability to try everything and test every bold promise can be maddening.

In this lesson, I’m going to try to tilt that balance toward fun.  I’m going to give you four ways to scratch your equipment itches and try loads of new gear, all without breaking the bank.  If you prefer listening to reading, this lesson exists as a podcast HERE.

This Lesson Is For You If:

You want to try a lot of new clubs

You don’t want to spend a ton of money

#1 – Visit Your Local Golf Store

The place to start scratching those equipment itches is in your local golf store.  In 2023, there’s almost no way that your shop doesn’t have a hitting bay with a launch monitor.  This is perfect place to bring your current gear and test it against the latest and greatest.  If you have a good shop, this alone should give you access to most of the major OEM releases.

As a veteran of golf retail, I can tell you that the employees (in the main) have no issue with you using the hitting bays.  That is what they are there for.  The only thing that’s expected is that you act like a human.  Don’t take over the bay for huge stretches of time, particularly if there are other people waiting.  Don’t make a mess.  Ask for help if you need it.

I’ll add that if you’re going to use the store’s resources, you should support the store.  If you test new drivers, and you find one that you want to buy, purchase it there.  Don’t use the store, then go online to save $10.  If you don’t buy a club this year, go to the store to buy some gloves or balls.  Don’t be a leech.  If everyone uses the store’s hitting bays then buys online, there won’t be a store for very long.

#2 – Use (Don’t Abuse) Money Back Guarantees

There are numerous smaller brands that you can’t find at your local big box.  That’s where step two comes in.  Many newer or smaller companies offer the ability to buy their clubs online with a money back guarantee.  Edison Golf, for example, gives you 30 days to try their wedges on your home course before deciding if they’re for you.  Take them up on that offer.

Once again, the key to doing this correctly is not abusing the system.  If you have no intention of keeping new wedges, don’t order new wedges.  Don’t order things you can’t afford to keep.  If you order a new club, it performs as promised, and you still send it back, you’re abusing the system, hurting the company, and potentially ruining the opportunity for other golfers.  Don’t do that.

#3 – Get a Fitting

If your tastes run toward high end clubs, these last two options are for you.  First is getting a high quality fitting.  This will cost money, but it’s easily the best value when it comes to trying new, high end gear.

For the player that’s interested in boutique irons, a visit to Club Champion can scratch nearly every itch.  In one visit, you can try Epon, Miura, PXG, and more.  That iron fitting will cost $175.  Compare that to $1,500 or more for each model you would have to buy to test.  Even if you resold those sets, you’re guaranteed to lose much more than $175 on each transaction.  The value is undeniable.

The math is similar if you’re interested in high end shafts.  You can test Fujikura, Mitsubishi, Oban…the list goes on.  Again, the cost of a driver fitting is $175.  You’ll lose at least that on each shaft that you buy to try.  Moreover, in a fitting, you can test the shafts head to head.  In the buy to try scenario, you only get to hit one at a time, unless you have the cash to buy multiple shafts at once.

Finally, it shouldn’t be overlooked that there’s value in spending time with a fitter.  I’ve been fitting and writing about equipment for over a decade, but I still learn something new every time I get fit.

#4 – Create a Co-op

Finally, we get to the hard-to-find, boutique gear – the stuff you won’t see at a big box or a club fitter.  To try these brands without emptying your wallet, I suggest you form an equipment cooperative.  This will take work, but it’s going to be worth it on multiple levels.

First, seek out other gear-obsessed golfers in your area.  You’re already reading a golf equipment website, so use your computer skills to find these like-minded folk.  Get a group of four or five together and make the pitch: let’s work together to try some cool gear.

If, for example, the group decides to demo a Swag putter, here’s how it could work.  Take the cost of the putter and divide it equally among the group.  One person orders it and takes their turn testing it.  Then it gets passed to the next guy until everyone has had their turn.  If you want to be more social, get together on a putting green and roll it.  After everyone has tried it, the group can sell it to recoup their costs.  Alternately, if one member loves it, they can buy it from the group.  Either way, dividing the cost of buy-to-try lessens the financial sting and makes it possible to try more gear.

Bonus: you’ve just made some golf friends who you can talk gear with!

A Final Word

To paraphrase something I recently heard about life in general: you can’t opt out of being in the golf community, you can only choose to be a sh*tty member of the golf community.  Choose to be a good member.

The post Scratching the New Golf Club Itch appeared first on Plugged In Golf.

Is Newer Always Better?

With the annual flood of new club releases and reviews, I’ve seen one question more than any other.  It boils down to, “Is (newest version of a club) better/longer/more forgiving than (previous version).”  In this lesson, I’m going to give the long form answer to that question, as well as discussing what you should expect when you buy new clubs or get fit.

Check out this lesson in podcast form HERE.

This Lesson Is For You If:

You’re considering new clubs

You’re buying or have bought new clubs

You have bought new clubs recently but your eyes are wandering

Evolution, Not Revolution

If I had a nickel for every time an OEM used words like “revolutionary” or “game changing,” I would have a lot of nickels.  Unfortunately, such words seldom apply to the actual performance gains when we’re comparing a new club to the one that preceded it.

Before explaining that further, I want to be clear that the major OEMs work incredibly hard to make great clubs.  They consistently use new materials, designs, and manufacturing techniques to squeeze out more performance within the rules of golf.  They employ loads of smart people.

Unfortunately, those smart people also designed the last generation of clubs and the one before that.  There is simply limited room to improve within the rules, budgets, and tastes of golf consumers.  When an OEM does find a 3% improvement, that is a big deal, but you still may not see a major change on the course.

The Tradeoff With New Technology

There is nothing OEMs love touting more than “new technology.”  That’s often a new material, but it could be a new manufacturing technique like 3D printing.  Either way, it fills up exciting marketing copy and gets golfers hyped because new is always better, right?

Unfortunately, no.  One thing that a lot of golfers miss when they think about “new technology” is that the “old” technology has been honed to a fine edge.  Consider the first drivers that used carbon fiber.  While they had a new, buzzy story, they weren’t leaps and bounds better than their competitors.  You’re comparing the first iteration of a technology that might be better with the nth iteration of a proven technology.  When a new technology is introduced, it’s exciting.  However, only time will tell if it holds up and delivers meaningfully better results.

TLDR

I’m about to go category by category to discuss the changes I’ve seen in equipment in the last few years.  If you don’t want to dig in that deeply, here’s the short version.  Across categories, the newest version is probably slightly more consistent in terms of ball speed, launch angle, and spin rate than the last one.  The sweet spot is probably a little bigger.

Those are very good changes, but they may not be noticeable or obvious, especially on the course.  Where you really benefit from technology is on mishits.  For a variety of reasons, most related to psychology and ego, that can be harder to appreciate, even if it is very beneficial to your score.

Driver Evolution

Let’s get into the specifics about what you can expect from a new driver versus one from last year.  We’ll start with this critical fact: drivers cannot be any faster on center.  It’s been many years since OEMs reached the USGA limit for ball speed on the center of the face.

What OEMs are chasing now is expanding that maximum ball speed area across the face.  The goal is to give a shot that’s above, below, right, or left of the sweet spot the same amount of speed as one that’s pured.  This is one of those evolutionary, incremental improvements.  A shot 1/2″ toward the toe may have achieved 1.44 smash factor last year, but now it’s 1.45.  Is that an improvement?  Of course.  Is it noticeable on the course?  Not a chance.

OEMs are also aiming to raise MOI (stability) and to make their spin and launch more robust.  Optimizing a driver’s performance is great, but it doesn’t mean much if mishits turn your long, nasty bombs into duds.  Again, this process is iterative, though we have seen bigger jumps back and forth from year to year.  Sometimes an OEM will sacrifice some forgiveness for, say, lower spin, but then revert back to a forgiveness focus the following year.

The areas where you may see significant changes from one year to the next are in launch and spin.  Every OEM is constantly testing their equipment and getting feedback from players of all levels.  If they get the sense that players found Driver Y too spinny, you can bet that Driver Z is going to be lower spin.  Whether or not this benefits you will depend on your swing, which is why we always emphasize fitting.  It’s also why we stress that any given characteristic – high spin, low spin, etc – is not objectively good or bad; it’s comes down to fit.

Finally, OEMs do make noticeable changes to the look, sound, and feel of their drivers from year to year.  Generally speaking, they continue to get better at making “traditional” looking drivers more forgiving.  That said, we’ll still see some exotic shapes here and there.  These subjective characteristics can (and likely do) impact the way that you’ll swing the club, plus they can affect your enjoyment.

Fairway Wood & Hybrid Evolution

Much of what I just said about drivers applies to fairway woods and hybrids, but these clubs still deserve some individual attention.  Generally, the ideas of making clubs hotter across the face and more stable holds true in these categories.  Those elements of performance get measurably better year over year, but the differences may not be noticeable on course.

What’s different about these clubs is that they generally have not been maxed out for ball speed on center.  In that regard, they do continue to improve iteratively, though it’s unlikely we’ll see hybrids at the USGA limit.

The other thing that needs to be noted about fairway woods and hybrids is that, unlike drivers, they have many jobs.  There are players who don’t want maximum distance from a hybrid.  There are players who want to use a FW as a scoring club, not a bomber.  Because of this, we see OEMs offer an array of products in these categories.  Any given club may be intentionally shorter and less forgiving because of the player it’s designed for.  This isn’t a lack of evolution or a failure of design, it’s a matter of fit.

Iron Evolution

The iron category may be too broad to be useful for this discussion, so I’ll break it down.  I’ll start with Super Game Improvement, Game Improvement, and distance irons, and then move to players irons.

In the SGI/GI/distance categories, we’ve seen unbelievably change in the last decade.  Hollow body irons are now common, and many OEMs are using multi-material designs.  This allows for a wide range of performance possibilities.  Specifically, we’re seeing irons create faster ball speed (on center and off), launch higher, and generate less spin.  Yes, some of this is the product of lofts [I discuss that HERE].  As with the other clubs, these improvements are small from year to year.  If an OEM can squeeze out 1 more MPH on a center strike, that’s a big engineering achievement…that you won’t notice on course.  These larger heads also give designers more room to boost MOI.  By planting some tungsten in the corners of a big iron, they can make that toe strike feel a lot more stable.  

Something I’ve noticed in the last year or two is that some OEMs are turning away (somewhat) from the distance chase in favor of playability.  Even in their distance irons, they’re adding a little more spin so that approach shots can hold the green.  If you currently have a very low-spinning iron set, you may find that the new sets are actually shorter.  That doesn’t mean the new sets aren’t good (or maybe better) – it’s a question of priorities.

Turning to the players irons, the differences you’ll see from one product cycle to the next are even smaller.  Over the last several years, better players have benefitted tremendously from the introduction of tungsten into players irons.  This has given smaller club heads the forgiveness of larger ones.  If you’re trying a multi-material head for the first time, you might be blown away, but if you are trading in your 2020 clubs for in 2023, the gap is likely to be small.  The one area where I am seeing notable improvement is in launch and spin consistency.  OEMs seem to be dialing in CGs more precisely than ever before.  The result is launch and spin that don’t change much on mishits.

Wedge Evolution

Let’s start with a quick dose of reality: if your current wedge shots don’t stop in or near their own ball mark, a new wedge is not going to help you “pull the string.”  Wedges have changed, but the difference is not night and day.

Over the last few seasons, we’ve seen three major trends in wedge design.  First, we’re seeing a move toward higher centers of gravity [more on that HERE].  Second, we’re seeing OEMs use a variety of techniques to make their spin more consistent.  Finally, we’ve seen the widespread acceptance of cavity back wedges.

If you’re switching from a traditional wedge to a cavity back wedge, you can expect to see a noticeable difference in performance.  These CB designs do a better job preserving ball speed and distance on mishits – something you will notice on the course.

For players who are staying in the same type of wedge, the realistic best case scenario is an improvement that you don’t really notice.  The consistency-boosting technologies will remove some of your fliers, but that can be harder to appreciate on the course.  It’s easier to notice when your ceiling goes up than when equipment raises the floor.

Putter Evolution

The putter category is even more diverse than irons.  There are companies making putters that haven’t changed meaningfully in almost 60 years.  These sit alongside flat sticks that utilize multi-material 3D printing and spaceship shapes.

Additionally, the putter space sees a lot of novelty and one-off designs.  Zero torque designs like those from LAB Golf [reviews HERE] don’t fit into our concept of evolution because they’re so far outside the norm.  We could say the same of arm lock putters like the BioMech Acculock [review HERE] or stand-alones like the Bloodline T8 [review HERE].

All that said, what we’re seeing in the putter category at large is enhanced stability.  Just like with irons, this is largely driven by the use of tungsten in both traditional and modern designs.  We’re also seeing more weight adjustability both in the head and grip.  However, as putting is dominated by the mind, I’d advise against thinking technology can make up for a bad fit or a club that you don’t have confidence in.

Manage Your Expectations

Buying a new club is exciting, but it can be fraught.  While the clever part of our brain may know that a new piece of gear is unlikely to give our game a makeover, something in the back of our head is always holding out hope.  As I’ve just explained in excruciating detail, the chances of buying a better game are very slim unless your clubs are quite old or you’ve never been fit.  The improvements from year to year are there, but they’re unlikely to drive huge changes in the way you score.

The post What to Expect from New Golf Clubs appeared first on Plugged In Golf.

Are Your Clubs PURE?

Despite being used by countless Tour pros and loads of custom club builders – including the world’s largest – SST PURE remains an unknown to many golfers.  That’s a shame, because it can make your clubs perform and feel better.  In this article, we’ll bring you the facts about this process so you can start PUREing your clubs and your shots.

Find out what shafts need SST PURE the most HERE

“What is SST PURE?”

SST PURE is a process through which a club builder finds a shaft’s most stable bending plane or Neutral-Axis.  Said more plainly, it finds the correct way to install a shaft so that it bends in a stable, repeatable way.

Every shaft has imperfections.  Modern shafts are very good, but they will never be perfect.  As such, they are going to be stronger in certain spots, weaker in others.  SST PURE minimizes the effects of these imperfections by finding the best, most stable orientation.

“What are the benefits of SST PURE?”

Longer, straighter golf shots.  In a Golf Myths Unplugged test [read it HERE], we found a PURE’d shaft produced 7 yards more distance with a six iron as well as hitting shots 2.2 yards closer to the target line.

Additionally, PUREing helps you to swing the club faster and more consistently.  When the shaft is moving off-plane (not in the directions you intend), your body has to adjust and “fight” the shaft.  When the shaft is PUREd, moving only the intended directions, it speeds up and improves your swing.

PUREing also makes your clubs feel better.  In the aforementioned test, 6 out of 7 golfers were able to feel the difference between a PURE and un-PURE shaft.

“Is SST PURE only for driver shafts?”

No, every shaft can be PUREd – steel and graphite, driver through putter.  While some would argue that it makes the biggest difference in a driver shaft, an argument can be made for almost any club.  PUREing a putter shaft won’t drastically change your dispersion, but putting is a game of inches, and a perfectly installed shaft can make a measurable difference.

“Can you PURE an old (used) shaft?”

Yes, you can PURE any shaft.  If you’re using a shaft that you like, but want to get more out of it, a club builder with an SST PURE machine can remove the shaft, PURE it, and then re-install it in the correct orientation.

“What equipment is required for SST PURE?”

An SST PURE machine is required to perform SST PUREing.  There is no substitute.

“How is SST PURE different than spining or FLOing a shaft?”

SST Pure, spining, and FLOing all have the same goal – finding the best orientation of the golf shaft.  SST PUREing is simply a much more scientific, accurate way of achieving that goal.  It’s a bit like asking how is a Formula 1 race car different than a tricycle.  Both are ways to go from here to there, but one does the job on a very different level.

“How do you install an SST PURE’d shaft?”

When a shaft comes out of the SST PURE machine, it has a line on it (see the line on the tape above).  This line is installed straight up (think “logo up”) to orient the “strong” side toward the target.

There is an alternative called “Soft Side PUREing” where the strong side faces away from the target.  The benefits can be a softer feel and higher launch, but this method is the exception, not the rule.

“How does SST PURE work with adjustable hosels?”

The answer to this question varies based on which adjustable hosel system you use.

If your adjustable hosel system does not change the shaft’s orientation, there’s no issue at all.  You can install the shaft as you normally would, make adjustments, and the shaft will remain in the PURE position.

If your adjustable hosel system changes the orientation of the shaft, you will need to re-install your shaft if you decide on a new setting.  This is why it’s important in your fitting to nail down not only the right shaft and head but also the correct hosel setting.

Visit SST PURE HERE

Visit Club Champion HERE

Watch Nick Sherburne Explain SST PURE HERE

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