Do you want to see something foolish? Take a look at that photo to the left. I mean, really now. Sure, that stall is covered and heated, but are you so desperate to hit a golf ball that you’ll stand outside in freezing temps at a snow-covered range on which you’ll likely have no idea where your ball actually lands? Yeah…me too.
I’ll admit to several times being that guy. Whether it’s out of boredom, or my genuine want to improve at this game, I’ve been known to hit a driving range a few times between the months of December and February. I know I could go to an indoor range, and I will. But there’s still something about tracking the flight of the ball.
But this offseason, I think I’m going to try something different. This offseason, I think I’m going to shut golf out completely. But I have reasoning behind this, and it’s really very simple. It seems as if the more I work in the offseason, the fewer results I see – and this past season was the worst yet. Coincidentally, last offseason was the one in which I practiced the most.
Now I’m not saying I’m not going to practice at all. I will still hit the indoor range once or twice, but that’s it. You see, when I first took up this game, that’s about as often as I would work in the offseason. And guess what….I improved every year! But it seemed when I would work more in the offseason and try to focus on individual aspects of my game, other parts of my game would suffer. What this added up to was higher scores, a drop-off in improvement and more frustration once out on the course.
So this offseason I am going to try to counter that by going back to the way things used to be. No more standing out in the cold at the range. Just a trip or two to the indoor range to keep the basics of my swing in order and that’s it. I figure by not focusing on any certain aspect of my game, I won’t lose anything anywhere else. Plus, let’s face it, the practice time adds pressure to perform when you get back out on the course. You go back out there expecting to see results, and if they don’t show right away…you know what I mean. Who wants to go through that?
So over the next several months, golf will be merely a distant memory. No pressure to work on the game. No high expectations. No disappointment when the expectations don’t pan out. And hopefully, with any luck, I’ll show some improvement…just like the old days before I tried!
Swing ’til you’re happy!
Are You Jealous Of Other Golfers?
So my wife gets a call the other day from a relative out west. The only part of the conversation in which I’m involved is when when she tells said relative “Hold on, I’ll tell him now.” She then proceeds to tell me about the 74 he shot that morning. Now, am I jealous of the score? No, of course not. Well…maybe a little. But what I am jealous of is the fact that he played at all.
See, it was 47 degrees and raining here. But I ask him…”How’s the weather?” His response? “A little cool. It was only around 65 when we teed off. But it warmed up later.” It was then that I though I just might be somewhat jealous of other golfers.
Year in and year out, once the golf season winds down, I find I’m saying to myself “I wish I played more this year.” It never fails. I could have played more than I ever have, but I’ll still find myself repeating the same thing. I know it’s not just me. All my golfing buddies feel the same way. And when I look back at why I may not have played as much as I would have liked…the reasons are usually pretty legit. Many times either me or my wife have something going on in our relatively busy lives, and occasionally it gets in the way of my golf game. If I only had more time…
But here in the northeast, normally only about seven or eight months out of the year are consistently playable. Anything more is a bonus. So naturally, I’m a bit jealous of players from other areas of the country. What if I could play year-round? What if there was no off-season? What if I never had to worry about the season winding down? What if I never had to feel like I didn’t play enough?
However, is there a flip-side to that? To me, there’s something about the feeling of the season coming to a close. The little extra push you give knowing your clubs are about to go into hibernation. But even more, there’s something about the feeling of the up-coming season about to begin. A couple of trips to the indoor facility during the winter, a few stops at the range when the temps again begin to rise…it’s the anticipation really. Something to look forward to.
It would be nice to have the ability to play year round. But if I did have that opportunity, would I take advantage? I honestly don’t know if I would. I mean, in the limited time I have now, I don’t always take advantage. So what if I never had to worry about not being able to play? Would I take advantage, or would I be even more indifferent to it?
Think about anything in life really. If you never have to worry about something going away, you tend to take it for granted, right? Would I feel the same about golf? Not sure. But what if someone else was in my shoes? What if I took a Floridian and put them here in Connecticut? Then I tell them “I know you could play golf every weekend down south…but here you’ve only got the chance to play about 60% of that.” No more taking that time for granted I’m sure. So why do I do it here?
I have no answer. But the best I can figure is that I feel the break is necessary for myself and possibly most other golfers of my skill level, which just so happens to be about 95% of you. The off-season is a time for reflection on the previous season as well as a time of preparation for the next. However, it’s also a time to simply take a break from the sport as a whole. Forget about your crappy game for a while. Forget about your scores. Forget about your frustration toward your handicap which never seems to drop. Just take the time off and relax.
Now would I feel this way had my golf life begun in a place where there is no off-season? Possibly. But it didn’t. Where I live, there’s an off-season. And for the reasons I stated above, I don’t see it being better any other way. I’m not afraid of the off-season. As a matter of fact, I’ll relish it.
Bring on the winter!
Judging My Custom-Fit Clubs
Finally. For the first time since I received my new custom-fit clubs, I actually got out and played a round of 18! So now the new clubs have 27 holes, plus some range time, logged on them. I still don’t think it’s quite enough, but I’m going to try to make a fair judgement as to the added value of a custom fitting. You asked for it, so here it is.
Firstly, in fairness to my clubs, I stink at golf. I understand there are many golfers who are worse-off then me, but I’m still pretty freakin’ bad. No club is going to make a real significant impact on my game. Stinky Golfer Greg has pointed out previously that the way to get better at golf is to play…constantly. Well, I don’t have that kind of time. So I play as often as I can, which is not nearly as much as I would like, and nowhere near enough to show any real improvement. The point I’m trying to make here is, I don’t get to use the clubs as much as I should.
That being said, let’s move along to the clubs themselves. Obviously being custom-fit, the clubs are tailored around my swing. So one would have to imagine there would be immediate benefits to having a club built to strike the ball where it should be struck and hit the ground where it should be hit…And one would be correct. Thing is though, I didn’t realize how much it would affect the result of the swing. Due to the new found distance these clubs seem to provide, it looks like I’m going to need a bit more range time. After overshooting a couple of greens which I had no business overshooting, along with reaching a few traps I had no business reaching…this became quite clear.
So I need to work on my distances. But what about accuracy? Well, that’s another thing I’m going to need to get used to. I’ve spent the past twelve or so years with a swing that, I didn’t realize at the time, was compensating for my clubs. But now that the clubs are in order…my swing isn’t. I can feel when I hit the ball correctly. And when I do, the shots are great. However, right now, those don’t come as often as I would like. But once I get used to the clubs and stop swinging like it was my cheap, old, off-the-shelf set, I think I’ll be fine. But in the meantime…it looks like I’ll be spending a little while at the range working on that also.
In the end, I can tell the idea and the process of custom-fitting will be time and money well spent. Obviously I have some work to do and adjustments to make. But I know once I work out the kinks and get used to them, the new clubs will make a noticeable difference in my game – even though this past weekend produced one of the worst golf scores I have posted in my life, there were upsides and, even better…legitimate excuses!
So if you’re in the market for new clubs, I definitely recommend the custom-fitting process. I already can’t wait until next year when I can spend an entire golf season with the new sticks! If you’ve never done it before, but you’re going to spend the money on a new set, then you might as well spend the extra time (and cash if necessary) to make sure the clubs you’re getting will be of some benefit to you rather than just some shiny new showpieces. Just be prepared for the adjustments you’ll have to make.
Swing ’til you’re happy!
The Process Of My Custom Club Fitting
About two months ago I talked about getting fitted for clubs. Well, I did it. And after quite a bit of a delay from a certain club manufacturer, I received them. Further, I’ve even played with them! But one nine-hole round certainly doesn’t constitute enough playing time to make a proper judgement as far as the difference between my old “off-the-shelf’s” and the newbies. So I’ll have to get out a few more times before I can really make a fair comparison.
But in the meantime, many have asked me about the actual process of the club fitting. Was it hi-tech? Did they video your swing? Did they measure your swing speed? Did they hook you up to computers? Well, the answer to all of those questions is, simply, no.
Rather, the pro and I went outside. Can you believe that? We actually went outside…where golf is actually played! He took me over to the driving range, handed me a 6-iron and had me smack a few balls. After watching me hit a few, he threw some tape on the bottom of the club head, dropped a board on the ground and had me hit a few more off of that. After about three or four swings, he took the club and showed me the tape. Ah-ha! Now I see part of the reason I stink at this sport! I could see which part of the club-head was hitting the ground….and it was not the part that’s supposed to be hitting.
So we swapped some differently angled club heads, taped those up and hit a few more. We combined the club head swaps with some different types of shafts (steel, graphite, stiff, regular) and before you know it, I had something in my hand that felt quite comfortable.
I say “before you know it,” but that’s not how it felt at the time. This process went on for about an hour or so. After non-stop swinging (for the most part) on the range for that long…I was wiped! I mean, it felt like I took more swings on that range than I would possibly take in two rounds! But, even though I have yet to have enough time to see if it was beneficial, I feel this was well worth it.
See, I could have watched my swing on video. I could have measured my club-head speed. I could have been hooked up to a computer and I could have stayed inside and hit balls into a net eight feet in front of me like in the picture above. Thing is, I’ve done all of those things before. And other than a recent swing video analysis, which you can read about here, they’ve gotten me next to nowhere. I could have done them all again, but what would that have gotten me had I not seen the end result of my swing?
Any of us can hit a ball straight for eight feet. What does that tell me? What matters is what the ball is doing 170 yards down the fairway. And by being out on an actual range, I can see exactly what that ball is doing. After all…do you really give a crap how fast you swing? You shouldn’t. What you should care about is having the proper club for that swing and the end result. I don’t care if I swing 95 mph or 125 mph, as long as I have the right club for the job.
One of the questions I am also asked is, “How much did it cost?” Thanks to the hook-up from my wonderful wife, I didn’t pay a cent. So I have no idea what it would have cost. However, upon doing some research, I see people pay as little as $20-$30 for a fitting. For that price, it’s well worth it. But there’s always that other end of the spectrum.
As I may have mentioned before, one thing I will never understand about golfers is the amount of money many are willing to spend in order to try to make themselves better players. Doing that same research, I have seen that some are willing to fork over $400 for a club fitting! $400?! How much more are you getting than what your local pro can offer you for a small fraction of that price, if not free? Some people just take this game way too seriously. But, I guess if you have the money, then good for you.
So like I said earlier, I’m going to need a few more rounds before I can make an accurate judgement as to how beneficial a custom fitting really is. But as of now, I’m going to say I’m quite satisfied so far. My new clubs feel nice in my hands and nice during my swing. During my first time out with them, I felt like I hit the ball more solidly. My score didn’t reflect it, but it feels like I’m headed down the right path. We’ll see if that keeps up a few rounds from now.
Swing ’til you’re happy!
Remember When You Were A Golf Newbie?
There comes a point in your golfing life when you forget what it’s like to be a “newbie” at this game. Last week I received a text from a buddy whom I’ve never known to play golf. He had just come from the driving range and was asking me a few questions (I should have known right then and there he wasn’t sure what he was doing).
Anyway, he’s texting me about this terrible slice he has and proceeds to explain he hit 3 large buckets of balls but was unable to correct the problem. Suddenly I could care less about his slice. This guy – who hasn’t swung a club in who knows how long – just hit three large buckets of balls! If I hit three large buckets of range balls in one sitting, my spine would fall out.
Look, there’s only two types of people who hit that many practice balls at once: Tour Pros and Newbies. I rarely hit range balls before a round, but even if I do, it’s usually one small bucket. When I go to the range, maybe I hit one large bucket (and usually don’t finish it). But three? Newbie.
My buddy’s text conversation, coupled with Stinky Golfer Chris’ post the other day about taking his son out on the course for the first time, got me thinking about other new golfer traits. One is not using a tee on a par three. Remember doing this? The logic here is since you don’t tee-it-up when you use an iron in the fairway, why can’t you hit-it-off the deck on a par three? This is totally a newbie trait. Once you do that a few times, you’ll inevitably get paired with someone who will tell you there’s always an advantage to using a tee – so you should use one whenever you can. Even after I learned this information, it was still hard for me to start using a tee on a par 3 – it was like I felt special since I was doing something no one else did…of course, no one else did it because it’s a dumb idea.
Remember when you didn’t know what a slope rating was (if you still don’t know, click HERE)? How about a course rating? You’d see these strange numbers on the scorecard and think: A 69.7, what the hell does that mean? Is that what I’m supposed to shoot here? I’m a newbie, how can I shoot…Oh wait, there’s also a 129 listed – yeah, that’s more like it.”
How about this one; I’ve actually seen newbies tee-up their ball outside of the tee-markers…like it doesn’t matter where you put the ball, as long as it’s close to either of those big white blocks of wood. Sometimes they will put it about 4 or 5 yards in front of where the ball markers are. Funny, you’d think this would be the first thing they are taught – that your ball goes in between these markers.
OK, this may not just be a newbie trait, but what about the people that will walk into all types of thickets, thorns, poison ivy, etc., just to retrieve their ball. If you’re a newbie, not going though lengths to find a lost ball is a hard thing to deal with – after all, you know how much each of those balls costs and after only one drive, you can’t imagine parting with it. Heck, that’s why you purchased that ball retriever (which seems to find its way out of your bag more times than the 6-iron).
This is one of my personal favorites because my father (who took-up the game after I had already been playing for a few years) was guilty of this: Some newbie’s develop an affinity for certain clubs, while at the same time they begin to shy-away from other clubs. My dad loved his 8-iron. He would (and still does sometimes) hit that iron from almost anywhere within 150 yards. Contrary to the love for his 8-iron, he despised his 9-iron. I know it doesn’t make any logical sense, but I’ll be damned if every time I convinced him to hit that club, he would shank the ball into the next fairway. To this day, my dad still won’t use his nine – at this point, he should just take it out of his bag and lighten his load.
Not don’t get me wrong – I love golf newbies – they are the future of the game and as veteran players, we should be obliged to take one under our wing (even if it’s just to point out all the silly things they do on the course). In fact, I promised my three-bucket buddy I’m ready to hit the course with him ASAP (well, as soon as his blisters heal – see photo).