The Tools of the Trade

            Those of you who play golf will agree, I’m sure, that it is not the least expensive sport in the world that you can play.  Greens fees or club dues, balls, shoes, gloves, tees and, in many cases, caddie or cart fees.  But, the biggest single investment is for the clubs.

            The size of that investment depends on the quantity and quality of the set.  Golfers’ clubs range from ragtag, incomplete, unmatched collections to complete, hand-crafted sets specially tailored to a player’s individual can afford and how serious he is about his golf.

            While I am in the golf equipment business and certainly feel that the better your clubs the better you will be able to play, I am not going to tell you that you must have a top-grade set in order to play and enjoy the game.  That simply is not true.  What I intend to do is tell what is important about the make-up of clubs, balls and other equipment and let prospective purchasers determine how they can best spend what money they have available for that purpose.

            First, of course, a word about the different clubs that make up a full set of 14, the maximum permitted under the present Rules of Golf.  The bag of the regular player normally will include three woods (the drivers, three- and four-woods), 10 irons (two through nine, pitching wedge and sand wedge) and the putter.  Many of us pros and some scratch amateurs prefer to carry a one-iron instead of the four-wood.  On the other hand, many players find a five-wood more valuable that the two-iron.  If you can’t afford a full set, you should at least have a driver, another wood, a spread of four or five irons and a putter.

            Club technology has come a long way from the days of the wooden shafts, which had so much torque or rotation in that that it took a very skillful player to get the clubface back to square at the impact point.  Wood shafts also “tired” quickly.  Today’s steel and aluminum shafts have virtually eliminated both problems.

            The manufacturers also produce these shafts in a variety of flexes or whip, designated R (regular or most common), S (stiff), X (extra stiff).  The whippier R shaft helps most golfers who don’t have a great amount of strength.  By and large, the stronger pros and low-handicap amateurs get better results form the S and X shafts.  The weight distribution through the club also varies.  It is designated by a letter-number combination, which I won’t try to explain but just point out that the higher the combination the greater the swing weight.  The male golfer uses from D-1 to as high as D-6, while most women’s clubs swing from C-4 to about C-7.

How is the golfer supposed to determine which of the specifications would be best for him?  Unless he is quite an experienced player, he probably can’t do it himself.  If he plans to order a pro-line set, he should buy from the golf professional at his club or public course, who knows something about the way he plays.  If he is buying from a retail store, he may still get good advice because many stores employ persons with golf backgrounds in those departments.

            You are on your own with the putter.  More than any other club, the right putter is the one that feels right to you.  That’s why most club companies market a variety of putters.

            When he walks into a golf shop to buy balls, the golfer has a choice, not only in various brands but also in various compressions within the brands.  Usually, it ranges from a low compression around 65 or 70 to the high-compression 100s.  The ordinary golfer is best off with the lower compression balls because it takes a lot of strength to make the contact necessary to get the extra velocity that is the advantage of the high compression ball.  Besides, the average player will mis-hit more shots that the top player.  The lower compression balls have thicker covers and are less likely to be cut by misses.

            The full glove has become a standard item of equipment for golfers these days, since it does aid in gripping the club firmly and protects the hand from blistering.

            Golf shoes are vital.  Without those spikes in the ground, you can’t possibly maintain that solid base necessary for a successful swing.