A Surprisingly Good Day!

My dream for this Monday was to get to play golf, which should normally be possible in East Tennessee. But a combination of snow today (maybe the only snow day this year?) and my getting a cold kept me from doing that.

SO……I decided to read one of the two golf club-related books that I purchased for myself over the holidays. I read – cover to cover, have not done that in a long time – “The Mad Science of Golf,” by Philip Moore. Phil is a clubmaker, but this book is about way more than clubmaking. If you are looking to read something that truly might help you to identify strategies to help you play better golf, I am not sure you can do much better than reading this book.

I could discuss for pages the concepts that he discussed in the book but two of them stick out to me in terms of what I love about building great golf clubs for people….

MAKING SOLID BALL CONTACT. As I get older, I think I am understanding more and more how this can help me and others play our best golf. I used to be able to hit my 8 iron 150 yards, and often still think I can – but normally get much better results if I back off to a 7 iron or 6 iron for a 150 yard shot. Helping people to play clubs that they can use to Make Solid Contact is a big part of what I do when I fit people to the right club length, flex and flex profile, and club and shaft weight. One of my friends who I play with (Dr. S, you know who you are) never seems to attempt to hit the ball hard (except some drives after poor holes, but we all do that?) but always seems to make great contact. When you hit the ball solidly your confidence soars, you relax and enjoy the game more. This is a great concept to pay attention to.

HAVING THE RIGHT SET OF GOLF CLUBS. Phil Moore suggests this is the most important thing that he does when he fits players for clubs – getting them to play clubs that they can hit well. To me this includes things like playing more lofted fairway woods so you can get the ball airborne, playing hybrid clubs maybe even down to your 5 iron instead of playing irons that are harder to hit, and not carrying a lob wedge if you cannot hit that club well. Again, all of this revolves around that “confidence” word – if you hit solid shots with the clubs that you have, you are a long way toward being able to score well in golf.

In the end then the day was not so bad after all…………….but still hoping for good weather on Friday!

Tony