Evaluate your Equipment this off Season

November 15, 2007
By: Butch Bundy

I can’t tell you how many lessons that I give to people who have clubs that they either can’t hit or shouldn’t be hitting. It ranges from guys that are 6’5", playing with standard length clubs or ladies playing with their husbands hand me down driver that has 9 degrees of loft and a stiff flex shaft. In fact, 90% of my students even have putters that are not the right length. In short, if you take a lesson from me we won’t change your golf swing until you have the right equipment. What I will normally do is put the student in the right set up or have them make the right swing to show them just how poorly suited their clubs are for them.
The one thing I have learned during my career in teaching lessons and fitting golf clubs is that the two are extremely intertwined. If you have golf clubs that are the wrong length, the wrong weight and flex or in a driver’s case the wrong loft, your chances of being able to repeat any sort of consistently good golf swing pretty much goes out the window. The first thing that I look at when seeing a student for the first time is what clubs they have in their bag. I won’t bore you with the details but, it would amaze you what sort of compensations you make if you have the wrong golf clubs. You spend more time trying to make your swing fit the clubs than you do making a golf swing to hit the proper shot. It doesn’t always mean that you need new golf clubs. Sometimes it can be as simple as changing shafts, changing length or even changing grips. As the holiday season rolls around and we start taking orders from our favorite golfers about what new toys they want, do them a favor and either talk to their teaching professional or get them set up for a fitting for their new clubs. Going to the store and buying them a club that isn’t right for them is like giving them a lump of coal in their stocking, as they will end up with a nice club that they can’t hit. Golf clubs are too expensive to not get the right ones.