Is Your Golf Equipment Allowing
the Most Out of Your Golf Lessons?
by Trevor Gliwski
A
common cliché in golf is that it’s not
the arrow — it’s the archer. The truth
is equipment is much more important
than people think. Through advancements
in launch monitor technology,
we can now quantify how the characteristics
of a golf club affect a player’s
performance and consistency.Tour
players with the best swings in the game have very
particular
specs on their golf clubs. If it’s that important
for tour players, it’s
even more important for the average player. I see students
every
day who play golf with equipment that does not allow
them to take
advantage of their golf lessons, and ultimately their
best abilities.
On
the flip side, I have students who have gone through
an advanced
dynamic club fitting and then made great strides on the
lesson tee.
One student named John, had trouble hitting solid iron
shots,
direction problems, and shots that were high and weak.
He hit his
9-degree driver fairly well. From a technique standpoint,
he had a
weak grip, which caused an open clubface at the top of
his swing,
resulting in a break down at impact. Additionally, his
shaft would
lean back at impact, adding loft to the club.
We strengthened his grip, got the face more square, and
worked
on better impact. His irons were crisper and the trajectory
came
down. But another problem occurred – he started hitting
his driver
poorly.
His
ball flight was low and inconsistent, so we put John
on a
launch monitor and took him through an advanced dynamic
fitting.
The fitting determined John’s slower swing speed
and launch
conditions optimally called for a 12-degree driver.
He immediately
started hitting the ball higher, further, and with
a more penetrating
ball flight. On video, his impact was also much better.
John took his new 12-degree driver and went home
for the
summer. The first few months were great, but once
again he started
hitting his driver poorly off the tee, with high
and weak shots.
Attempting to play better, he returned to his old
9-degree driver and immediately started driving the
ball well again. Problem — he was
band aiding and masking the fact that he was reverting
to his old
swing flaws. When I saw him again in the winter,
he was back to his
weak grip, open face, and scoopy impact. We made
changes to get
John back to a better technique and re-visited the
launch monitor
reconfirming what we found earlier in the year.
The moral of the story is that John hadn’t
perfected the new
techniques we worked on, and without supervision
slipped back
into old habits. His mistake was changing drivers
back to a club that
encouraged more of the swing flaws he was trying
to eliminate, which
trickled down to his irons. The 12-degree driver
forced John to get the
shaft leaning more forward to achieve greater distance
and a more
desirable ball flight.
This story illustrates how equipment makes or breaks
a golfer’s
growth and success. If you’re considering a
club fitting, make sure it’s
on a launch monitor, and ensure swing technique
is one of the fitting
factors being considered. A golf club should encourage
and enhance
a better technique, not lock you into a bad one.
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