GolfNewsRI

There are endless options in the equipment space, manufacturers, models, shafts, grips, balls, it is truly overwhelming.

With a new set of clubs costing you countless thousands of dollars, I am sure buyers across the board will do a fair bit of research prior to investing into their golf bags.

A major wrench thrown into the mix last year was the USGA and R&A announcing the distance roll back, with plans to limit distance beginning in 2028.

This has become a universally hot topic with the booming participation in golf and the potential harm this may cause new and tenured golfers alike. 

As a Head Professional at my club, I quite often converse with the members about golf equipment, answering questions and providing suggestions to help them with their game. I tend to have the same conversation with the same members, one in particular comes to mind, let’s call him Steve. 

Steve will often come into the golf shop and ask me if I have heard about the new golf balls Callaway is coming out with, or the new TaylorMade driver that is being released that is marketed to give you a guaranteed 20 yards off the tee and more forgiveness than Mother Mary. 

It is the same conversation time and time again. 

We will chat at the club, he will go home and spend hours on the computer researching the new state of the art technology from all the major manufacturers making wild claims with complicated sounding features, vowed to improve your game. 

Steve also takes plenty of lessons from me, we do a mix of on course playing lessons, and focused swing lessons. I will joke with him constantly. We will be on the ninth hole at Louisquisset and he will hit a heel cut into the middle of the overhanging trees on the corner of the dog leg.

I’ll make a smart ass comment like, “I thought TaylorMade’s Twist Face gaaaaarunteed to straighten you out? Or you could just set up correctly and not hit it off the shaft.” I have known Steve since I was a teenager, and believe me, he gives it right back.

A few things come to mind when discussing golf clubs and what they can potentially do for your game. Help you hit the ball straighter, further, more often.

You can be consumed by Taylormade’s third generation 60X Carbon Twist Face guaranteed to maximize energy transfer to increase your ball speed. Or better yet, Callaway’s AI Smoke line of clubs made by analyzing over 1.4 million data points on the club face, over fifty thousand iterations, and eighty thousand lines of code that all together give you the golfer more distance than you have ever had, and more fairways than you have ever been in.

Here’s what all the major golf club manufacturers don’t want you to know, there are rules and regulations governing how these clubs are made ensuring that they cannot essentially hit the ball for you. 

Let’s start with forgiveness. In the USGA Equipment Rule Guide, in Part 2 under Conformance of Clubs, Moment of Inertia (forgiveness) the clubhead’s center of gravity must not exceed a certain threshold in order to be deemed a conforming club. 

And now, the one thing we all want, more distance. I will not bore you with the lengthy testing regulations of club heads and balls that limit the maximum speed a ball can jump off the club face. You only need to concern yourself with one thing, prior to release, clubs are deconstructed, inspected and tested to certify that they cannot alter ball flight and speed past a threshold. Simply put, golf clubs cannot show a transfer of energy creating a ball speed that is one and a half times club head speed. Ex. 100 MPH Club Speed, 150 MPH Ball Speed.

Now I know what you’re thinking, “I went to Golfer’s Warehouse and hit both drivers and one was consistently straighter and further than the others, it has to be the technology in the club.”

I can assure you that is far from the case, you the golfer have pretty damn close to one hundred percent agency as to how the ball flies through the air following contact.

One of my favorite quotes from someone on my Mount Rushmore of golf Claude Harmon Sr., PGA, “That ball and club don’t know your name, and there’s no room for a resume.”

The only thing that the ball knows is how fast the club was moving, where you made contact on the face, from what club path you deliver, from what angle you deliver it at. That’s it. 

I don’t care what club you give me, with any shaft, any grip, any loft. If I make my driver swing that has a club path of six from in to out and the clubface closed to the path and I hit it off the toe, that ball is going to hook. End of story.

Shoot the alligator closest to the boat, keep the main thing the main thing. This is what I preach to my members. Delivering the club on a good path, with a square club face, hitting the ball in the center of the face. That is the only thing that you should concern yourself with. 20 handicap, 10 handicap, scratch player. 

Now, equipment can assist you with performance. But I will say it again, keep the main thing the main thing. You can spend all day in the fitting booth trying every company and every model head and every shaft. Or, you can concern yourself with the basics, club length, shaft flex, lie angle, and loft. 

If there are levers to pull on your game in your golf bag, the above options will overwhelmingly be the most dramatic.

We are all different heights, weights, wingspans, ages you name it, we are all different. Your height will have a direct consequence to the length and lie angle of your clubs. Your swing dynamics and delivery will have direct effects as to the shaft flex and loft you need for your clubs. 

You can find any golf clubs that will be functional for you from all manufacturers. Keep the main thing the main thing. If you want to wrap yourself up in technology knock yourself out, but if you are truly trying to optimize performance, keep the main thing the main thing.

Anthony Loiselle, PGA is the Head Golf Pro at Louisquisset Country Club in North Providence, Rhode Island. He previously served as an Assistant Pro at Fall River Country Club and John’s Island Club down in Florida. He played college golf at Rhode Island College.