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New Book from Tom Wishon: The Right Sticks: Equipment Myths That Could
Wreck Your Golf Game is available at every major brick/mortar and online
bookstore.
MYTH #22:
THE CLUBS SOLD IN THE PROSHOPS AND BIG GOLF STORES ARE GOOD
ENOUGH FOR MY GAME.
As a golf club designer who has designed hundreds of different models
during the 30+ years I have been in the golf business, I can tell you that the
quality of the clubheads, shafts and grips created by the big, heavily marketed
golf companies is actually very good. They might not be usable in the hands of
the average golfer, but their technical quality is outstanding.
The reason they might not be usable in your hands, however, is because
these companies ruin all their hard design work by selling their clubs under a
single set of “average” specifications. Unfortunately, the specifications they
choose might allow (maybe) 10% of all golfers to play to the best of their
abilities. As for the rest of you... Hey, these are just like the clubs the pros use!
Why don’t these golf companies do what the bat and racket makers do and
build their clubs to a variety of specifications, so golfers of all different sizes,
strengths, athletic ability and swing characteristics can buy the right clubs off-
the-rack and head out to the course to play?
They can’t, because if they did, they would go out of business. They would
have to manage thousands of product options instead of ten or twenty. And,
even if the golf companies could somehow manage their inventory, the
retailers who sell the clubs to the golfers would never, ever, agree to stock all
those different combinations or else they would go bankrupt.
I’m sure at one point or another you’ve been in a big box retail golf store; but
for a moment, I’d like you to think about what you saw. My guess is that you
saw eight to ten brands of golf clubs, with each brand having two to four
different models. The only “fitting option” you might have seen among those
brands and models are a handful of driver lofts and maybe two or three shaft
flexes. Never mind that the driver lofts are not right for most golfers, and no
standard exists for what constitutes any given shaft flex.
If you know anything about the retail business, you know that stocking eight
brands times two models each, times a minimum of eight different fitting
options, times each fitting option having three to six required variations, is
nearly impossible. It would require stocking a minimum of over 700 unique
sets in each store! Your accountant and banker would quickly tell you not to
touch that deal with a ten-foot pole, or else you’ll be headed for Chapter 11. In
a nutshell, even if a golf company wanted to offer a wide variety of custom
fitting options to be sold off-the-rack, they simply can’t!
As a result, as the golf industry has grown over the years, they have resorted to
offering golf clubs which are made to one standard length, loft, lie, face angle,
shaft weight, swingweight, and grip size. In each model of each brand, you will
see only a handful of driver lofts, and a choice of two or three shaft flexes (of
which neither you nor the golf sales people have any idea how stiff they really
are).
Don’t you think it’s a little weird that almost no one asks, “if bats and rackets
are commonly stocked and sold in all their necessary fitting options, why aren’
t golf clubs?” The few people who might have thought about it enough to ask
are typically told: “Custom fitting is only for good golfers,” or “Custom fitting?
Sure we do that. Here, hit a few balls at our indoor net and tell me which club
you like,” or, “Golf is a hard game and someday when you improve your swing,
you’ll hit these clubs better.” It’s like it is somehow your fault that you don’t see
lower scores, after buying a set of clubs that were never designed for your use
in the first place.
So exactly what is it about standard off-the-rack clubs that keeps you from
playing your best? That’s a good question and one that you need to know
since gazillions of golfers having been buying these clubs for decades,
thinking everything’s fine:
• Drivers and Fairway Wood lengths are too long for at least 80% of all golfers,
which prevents them from hitting as far or as accurately as they could.
• 3-woods are made with too little loft for the vast majority of golfers to hit high
enough reach their maximum potential distance.
• Few off-the-rack drivers are made with the face angle options necessary to
allow golfers who slice or hook the ball to reduce their problem.
• Few companies offer their drivers with the loft options necessary to allow
golfers with an average to lower than average swing speed to maximize their
distance.
• To keep their inventory units manageable, almost every big golf company
gives golfers only one model of shaft. This, in turn, makes it almost
impossible for the golfer to match the total weight and shaft stiffness to their
strength and swing tempo.
• With no standards for flex in the industry, it is impossible for golfers to know
whether the clubs they buy off-the-rack will have the right flex for their swing
speed.
• Off-the-rack clubs are offered in one—and only one—lie angle, yet the
differences in golfer height, arm length, stance posture and position at impact
are vast.
• No attention is paid to set make-up. Handing you a set composed of 1, 3, 5-
woods and 3 through pitching wedge, with maybe a sand wedge thrown in, is
much easier. It also prevents the retailers from having to deal with “broken up
sets.”
This off-the-rack mentality winds-up extending to other areas as well. For
example, how many golfers are even asked about the size of their hands, so
that at least the right size grips could be applied? Changing grips is simple,
fast, cheap, and any store could do it, but when do you see even that fitted to
the individual golfer?
Granted, there are more earth-shaking problems in the world; but within this
great game—a game that is enjoyed by millions upon millions of people
around the world—you’re definitely not being treated the way you should.
But like I said, and I do mean it, the standard made clubheads, shafts and
grips are very well engineered and made. You just don’t want to actually use
them in their off-the-rack form.
Wreck Your Golf Game is available at every major brick/mortar and online
bookstore.
MYTH #22:
THE CLUBS SOLD IN THE PROSHOPS AND BIG GOLF STORES ARE GOOD
ENOUGH FOR MY GAME.
As a golf club designer who has designed hundreds of different models
during the 30+ years I have been in the golf business, I can tell you that the
quality of the clubheads, shafts and grips created by the big, heavily marketed
golf companies is actually very good. They might not be usable in the hands of
the average golfer, but their technical quality is outstanding.
The reason they might not be usable in your hands, however, is because
these companies ruin all their hard design work by selling their clubs under a
single set of “average” specifications. Unfortunately, the specifications they
choose might allow (maybe) 10% of all golfers to play to the best of their
abilities. As for the rest of you... Hey, these are just like the clubs the pros use!
Why don’t these golf companies do what the bat and racket makers do and
build their clubs to a variety of specifications, so golfers of all different sizes,
strengths, athletic ability and swing characteristics can buy the right clubs off-
the-rack and head out to the course to play?
They can’t, because if they did, they would go out of business. They would
have to manage thousands of product options instead of ten or twenty. And,
even if the golf companies could somehow manage their inventory, the
retailers who sell the clubs to the golfers would never, ever, agree to stock all
those different combinations or else they would go bankrupt.
I’m sure at one point or another you’ve been in a big box retail golf store; but
for a moment, I’d like you to think about what you saw. My guess is that you
saw eight to ten brands of golf clubs, with each brand having two to four
different models. The only “fitting option” you might have seen among those
brands and models are a handful of driver lofts and maybe two or three shaft
flexes. Never mind that the driver lofts are not right for most golfers, and no
standard exists for what constitutes any given shaft flex.
If you know anything about the retail business, you know that stocking eight
brands times two models each, times a minimum of eight different fitting
options, times each fitting option having three to six required variations, is
nearly impossible. It would require stocking a minimum of over 700 unique
sets in each store! Your accountant and banker would quickly tell you not to
touch that deal with a ten-foot pole, or else you’ll be headed for Chapter 11. In
a nutshell, even if a golf company wanted to offer a wide variety of custom
fitting options to be sold off-the-rack, they simply can’t!
As a result, as the golf industry has grown over the years, they have resorted to
offering golf clubs which are made to one standard length, loft, lie, face angle,
shaft weight, swingweight, and grip size. In each model of each brand, you will
see only a handful of driver lofts, and a choice of two or three shaft flexes (of
which neither you nor the golf sales people have any idea how stiff they really
are).
Don’t you think it’s a little weird that almost no one asks, “if bats and rackets
are commonly stocked and sold in all their necessary fitting options, why aren’
t golf clubs?” The few people who might have thought about it enough to ask
are typically told: “Custom fitting is only for good golfers,” or “Custom fitting?
Sure we do that. Here, hit a few balls at our indoor net and tell me which club
you like,” or, “Golf is a hard game and someday when you improve your swing,
you’ll hit these clubs better.” It’s like it is somehow your fault that you don’t see
lower scores, after buying a set of clubs that were never designed for your use
in the first place.
So exactly what is it about standard off-the-rack clubs that keeps you from
playing your best? That’s a good question and one that you need to know
since gazillions of golfers having been buying these clubs for decades,
thinking everything’s fine:
• Drivers and Fairway Wood lengths are too long for at least 80% of all golfers,
which prevents them from hitting as far or as accurately as they could.
• 3-woods are made with too little loft for the vast majority of golfers to hit high
enough reach their maximum potential distance.
• Few off-the-rack drivers are made with the face angle options necessary to
allow golfers who slice or hook the ball to reduce their problem.
• Few companies offer their drivers with the loft options necessary to allow
golfers with an average to lower than average swing speed to maximize their
distance.
• To keep their inventory units manageable, almost every big golf company
gives golfers only one model of shaft. This, in turn, makes it almost
impossible for the golfer to match the total weight and shaft stiffness to their
strength and swing tempo.
• With no standards for flex in the industry, it is impossible for golfers to know
whether the clubs they buy off-the-rack will have the right flex for their swing
speed.
• Off-the-rack clubs are offered in one—and only one—lie angle, yet the
differences in golfer height, arm length, stance posture and position at impact
are vast.
• No attention is paid to set make-up. Handing you a set composed of 1, 3, 5-
woods and 3 through pitching wedge, with maybe a sand wedge thrown in, is
much easier. It also prevents the retailers from having to deal with “broken up
sets.”
This off-the-rack mentality winds-up extending to other areas as well. For
example, how many golfers are even asked about the size of their hands, so
that at least the right size grips could be applied? Changing grips is simple,
fast, cheap, and any store could do it, but when do you see even that fitted to
the individual golfer?
Granted, there are more earth-shaking problems in the world; but within this
great game—a game that is enjoyed by millions upon millions of people
around the world—you’re definitely not being treated the way you should.
But like I said, and I do mean it, the standard made clubheads, shafts and
grips are very well engineered and made. You just don’t want to actually use
them in their off-the-rack form.
| Off-The-Rack Golf Clubs are a lot like Hot Dogs: You'd never buy one if you knew how they were assembled. |