For many golfers, the start of the year brings the urge to upgrade their golf equipment—whether necessary or not. Golf manufacturers are in full flow with their latest product launches,...
For many golfers, the start of the year brings the urge to upgrade their golf equipment—whether necessary or not.
Golf manufacturers are in full flow with their latest product launches, promising us more of everything and making it tempting to give the credit card one final hurrah to add a new driver or irons to the golf bag.
The rush of new releases doesn’t move other golfers. They know this happens every year, and they don’t see the point. They are happy with the clubs in their bags that are more than a few years old. They still rely on these golf clubs, and they know what the good shots can do as well as the bad ones.
Should you stick or twist? Do you buy new and hope that you find something in your golf game because you have bought the latest and greatest, or do you just stick with what you have and accept your lot?
The answer is that neither school of thought is correct.
However, they are two of many common golf equipment mistakes that can easily be made, leading us nicely to our main topic, namely, what are the biggest equipment mistakes amateur golfers make? We’ll split this into two segments:
Let’s be honest. Everybody who has played the game for many years has made mistakes when it comes to purchasing golf equipment in the past. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. It happens. We are all searching for answers to improve our golf game, and we have all fallen for making some strange decisions when it comes to equipment purchases.
Common golf equipment mistakes, apart from the obvious necessity that a new purchase has to improve our game, can stem from making a change for change’s sake, we want to freshen up what’s in our golf bag, or we can get ideas above our playing ability, and look to purchase golf equipment that prove that point.
Getting ideas above playing ability can be things like a 20-handicapper looking to purchase a set of blades or the 9-handicap who is convinced they need a low-spinning 8-degree driver with an extra-stiff shaft to help them hit bombs. Sure, these golf clubs will look cool in the golf bag, but that’s all they offer you.
Freshening things in the bag might lead you to purchase a driving iron because you fancy the idea of firing 250-yard, fairway-finding stingers off the tee. The problem is you’ve got no idea if purchasing the driving iron throws out the distance gapping between your longest iron and lofted fairway wood or hybrid. The purchase might not seem wise if your golf is mainly played on soft parkland-style courses.
Many of us aren’t patient. Improving golf swing consistency can take too long through a series of golf lessons, so we opt to buy golf clubs off the shelf from a favoured retailer to deliver a quick fix.
The club looks great in the shop, the “waggle test” confirms the club feels good in our hands, we can picture ourselves hitting career shots with the club or clubs, so it’s off to the counter with credit card in hand. We can’t help but feel the adrenaline rush that comes from driving away from the retailer with something new and shiny in the boot of the car.
The reality is that the chances of our new purchase making profound positive changes to our golf game are very small. The reason for that falls into three brackets:
When looking at clubs like the driver, a common mistake is getting the wrong loft. It can be easy to think that opting for a lower-lofted driver will unlock more distance. The problem is that if you don’t generate enough clubhead speed, you won’t be able to impart the correct launch and spin on the ball to maximise carry potential.
Optimising launch and spin numbers is critical to hitting the golf ball far with the driver. We all deliver the clubhead differently into the ball, meaning that opting for a lower-lofted driver won’t work for every golfer.
If you want proof, you only have to look at two former world number-one players. Rory McIlroy gets the most out of his driver, with the loft set at 8.25 degrees, whereas Dustin Johnson got his optimal numbers from an 11-degree driver.
Lofting mistakes are common, not just in the driver. We can also select the wrong lofts for our wedge choices and the bracket between the 3-wood and longest iron. The problem with incorrect lofting is that it leads to compromised shot-making, where you have to force the shorter club or ease off too much on a longer club to cover the necessary distance.
Having the wrong golf shafts in your clubs can be disastrous for your golf game.
Playing the wrong shaft leads to inconsistent ball striking, translating into inconsistent spin and launch rates. Shot dispersion will also be a problem as you struggle to control the clubface during your swing.
It’s important to remember that playing the wrong shafts doesn’t just come down to using the wrong shaft flex. You could be playing with the wrong shaft weight and wrong length.
A strong argument for why off-the-shelf golf clubs don’t work is that we all aren’t the same height. A mix of short and tall golfers automatically means that a standard golf club will be problematic.
Golf club fitting errors aren't sometimes helped by the manufacturers, who have differing ideas on what standard is. Callaway’s Elyte driver range and TaylorMade’s Qi35 drivers default at 45.75 inches. In contrast, Ping’s G440 drivers come in at 46 inches, and Cobra’s DS-Adapt range is 45.5 inches.
If you are a shorter golfer, you will most commonly be fitted for clubs that lie flatter than standard to ensure the club's sole lies flat at address. If you are taller, you’ll likely need more upright clubs. Your height is where we come back to the idea of whether or not the shaft length you ideally need is longer or shorter than standard.
We’ve covered the pitfalls associated with purchasing new golf clubs, but mistakes can still be made even if you have played with clubs that were custom-fitted for your golf game.
These faults tend to fall more under general maintenance issues, such as ignoring the need to change grips, especially if you played an extensive amount of golf the previous season.
If you are good enough to get the most out of blades, the buttery soft forgings can lead to lofts being affected over continuous use. Pay close attention to the irons you practice the most with, and have their lofts checked to ensure they are where they should be.
Now that we understand some of the key equipment mistakes that can be made, it’s time to investigate how the custom-fitting process can prevent them.
The importance of custom golf clubs is the fact that they are tailored specifically for your golfing ability.
Custom golf clubs improve your game in three key aspects:
Starting with the driver, we need to understand where we are starting from if we are looking for more distance.
A custom fitting session begins with establishing the baseline figures with your existing driver. How much clubhead speed do you generate and your angle of attack into the ball will help uncover the launch and spin numbers. From there, carry distance, trajectory, and shot dispersion are tracked.
All this information is captured through a launch monitor, and an experienced fitter can interpret the data and establish where improvements can be made.
Selecting the correct driver and shaft combination will maximise launch and spin numbers to improve carry distance. The correct head and shaft combination can also help add more clubhead speed, helping add those precious yards to your drives.
Adding distance shouldn’t mean sacrificing accuracy. The fitter will want to ensure that the ideal driver head and shaft combination can improve shot dispersion.
We are seeing the continued rise of combo sets when it comes to irons. Combo sets provide the opportunity to hit long irons high to improve stopping distance and provide more forgiveness on off-centre hits. The shorter irons can feature a model that prioritises feel and feedback to maximise the potential to attack accessible pins.
Creating the ideal combo set is achieved through custom fitting. Understanding where the switch from one model to another comes down to maintaining consistent spin and carry distances. There’s no point in using a 5-iron from one set that can fly 200 yards if the 6-iron only goes 165 yards.
Analysing the figures from the launch monitor will ensure the gapping is consistent throughout the iron set.
Distance gapping is also crucial for creating consistent distance gapping in your wedges and the clubs between your driver and longest iron. Custom-fitting will ensure you game clubs that provide the ideal trajectory, spin and launch rates to ensure you have a club for every shot you encounter on the course.
A good independent fitter will also have access to a strong selection of graphite and steel shafts. As we have discovered, using the correct shaft isn’t purely dependent on playing the right flex. Using the correct weight of shaft will ensure the shaft can effectively transfer all its energy to the golf ball based on how you deliver the clubface into the ball.
The fitter can also analyse whether or not your shots could become more consistent by opting for longer or shorter shaft lengths in your clubs.
The best golf clubs for amateur players are built specifically for their golf games.
At Nine By Nine Golf, we provide a tour-level custom-fitting process to help every level of golfer. Our experienced fitters use the latest launch monitor technology to accurately highlight areas of your game we can improve.
By honing in on the correct head and shaft combinations, we can take you on the journey of witnessing where improvements are made, which underlines the importance of custom golf clubs.
Nine By Nine Golf is an independent professional clubfitter, which allows us to stock what we feel are the best components in the marketplace that will work for every level of golfer.
If you are ready to improve your game, book your custom fitting session today and discover how the right equipment can transform it. Visit Nine by Nine Golf to get started.
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