GolfNewsRI

I’m going to take you down a rabbit hole, a golf journey if you will. As golfers, I’m pretty sure we all start out the same way. Maybe you get an invite to play golf in your teens and you go to the club archives in a relative’s garage or basement to cobble together a set. Maybe it is later in life where you find your friends golfing and you want to jump on the bandwagon. Whatever the reason, I believe the vast majority of us start out the wrong way.

For me, I was 16 years old and got the invite to play at the old Seaview Golf Club (now Harbor Lights) in Warwick, RI. I borrowed (commandeered really) a set of Northwestern blades from my grandfather’s basement and out I went.

As a baseball player, I was always told a golf swing was nothing like a baseball swing but was never really given the differences. Out I went to Seaview (where I’m pretty sure many get their start), sliced my way around the course, probably went through a box of balls, and generously shot in the 60’s for 9-holes.

And on it went for many years. The irons definitely improved over time but the youthful desire to crush drives along with an arms-y swing made life difficult getting off the tee. I tried different things, received tips from many different golf partners, and sometimes things would seem to click only to find the solution fleeting.

As the years went on, if I kept it under 100 playing 18 and eventually, if I broke 90, I’d be happy. But just as Frank Costanza was raining down blows fighting for a doll, I thought, there had to be a better way. And while I didn’t invent Festivus, I finally discovered a path to consistency.

Act 1. The Start of the Journey.

During the tail end of COVID when ball washers were still in the witness protection program, my friends and I finished playing a round at Harbor Lights when I noticed they had a “Help Wanted” sign in the window. My friend went to return the cart and I decided to ride up with him to inquire about what they were looking for. Sunday mornings and a couple of nights during the week collecting greens fees.

Right away, I said sign me up. Free golf, free range balls. What’s not to like. This allowed me to get chummy with the pro’s, Al and Tony. During the summer, some technical help was needed transferring contacts from Tony’s old phone to a new one. After a successful operation, a barter offer was given for a few lessons. I said let’s get through the summer and start in the fall.

Act 2. The Lessons

Fall came and Tony and I went out to the range. He had seen my swing before but in a more formal setting, his first words were “Your swing is sh*t”, which was code for all arms, no hip turn, early extension. So on we went for 3 lessons and things started to change.

I felt I was getting better contact with the irons when on the range. But on the course, you start concentrating on other things and reversion starts creeping in. Now you’re in between swings and frustration sets in. It took me a good two years with a few tune ups to get my swing where I want it (most of the time), and instead of hoping to break 90, I’m happy with scores in the low 80’s and overjoyed breaking the 80 barrier.

Before we get to Act 3, a bit of foreshadowing: fittings are worth it.

Act 3. Fit to be Tied

In January 2023, I was playing with Callaway Mavrik Max irons. Golf Galaxy had vendor fittings coming up and I decided to sign up for the Callaway fitting, opting to try the newly released Paradyms. I thought it would be a rep from Callaway doing the fittings, but it was a Golf Galaxy employee. So we did the fitting and we discovered something that was true, and something that wasn’t true.

First, I definitely needed a lie adjustment. He put a sticker on the bottom of my club and only my toe was hitting the piece of plastic that makes a mark on the sticker. In switching different shafts, for whatever reason, my best dispersion on the monitor was with a stiff shaft. This turned out to be false. I ended up buying a set of irons with the lie adjusted and stiff shafts, but discovered the clubs never felt right. It got to the point where I went back to the Mavriks and I started playing like my normal self again.

Bye bye Paradyms. I should also note that the distances I was getting on the monitor at Golf Galaxy didn’t reflect the real life distances I was getting on the course. And I don’t want this to seem like a rag session on GG, I’m just telling you my side of the story.

Act 4. Putter There Pal

I don’t quite remember how the notion got stuck in my head, but last summer I decided to get a putter fitting at Spargo Golf. I went on the web site, scheduled the time, and the day of the fitting, headed over to Button Hole where they recently moved to. I met Steven Coletta, who is their putter guru.

I brought in the Ping mallet putter that was currently in my bag. He put the sensor on it, I took 10 putts and discovered my mallet head was taking an awful turn just after striking the ball. No bueno. He indicated I’d probably be better suited to a blade putter. Prior to the mallet, I was using my father’s old Ping blade that might have been crafted out of aluminum with helium on the inside. Very light. I liked the heft of the mallet putter, but clearly it didn’t suit my stroke.

Out came a Scotty Cameron blade and started putting with that. We tried other putters as well, but it always came back to the Scotty. We then spent the next 30 minutes futzing around with the weights in the putter head as well as the counter-weight in the handle. At the end, we felt we had the right combination and the computer seemed to agree.

It wasn’t cheap, but I have to say after getting used to the putter for a few weeks, my putting improved dramatically. I felt more comfortable over putts, especially the shorter ones.

Act 5. Ironing it Out

Still glowing from the success of the putter fitting, I decided to book an iron fitting in November. Back to Spargo Golf and this time met Jon Pannone. We went back to the hitting area, he opened the garage door, and out I hit into the Button Hole range. First with the Mavriks I was currently using, then with heads from all different manufacturers. If there was a head that felt good, maybe change the shaft. Rinse, repeat.

Then came the Mizuno JPX923 forged irons. Mizuno was not on my radar at all, but when I hit that first 7i, it felt like butter, as well as the next 7-10 balls I hit. And the dispersion was tight. I think we tried one more head after that, but nothing felt as good as the Mizuno. We then tried a couple different shafts and settled on Dynamic Golds. Finally, we tried a mid-size grip. My hand size was just on the cusp between regular and mid-size. And mid-size it was. I ordered 6i-PW and they arrived just in time for Christmas.

I feel like the Mizunos have a better feel than the Mavriks I was using, especially on 3/4 and 1/2 shots. They just seem more precise to me. They are definitely not the magic bullet and as you might have read in my Pinehurst review, I still struggle sometimes depending on the day. But I think that is more related to other things like nerves and over swinging. And they were lie adjusted like the Paradyms.

Act 6. Driving for Show Costs a Lot of Dough

Let’s begin with a story. Two years ago, a bunch of us went up to the Owl’s Nest in NH for some golf. Two of us got there early enough on Friday to play 9. On the eight hole, I hit a drive with a draw but something felt really odd on the finish, especially since my driver head was hanging by a graphite thread from the shaft. Oh snap! We finished the round, went into the pro shop and I asked if they re-shafted clubs. They did not and the closest place was probably Nashua. Luckily, they had the new Callaway Rogues, they were selling them at retail price and NH doesn’t have sales tax. I loved the driver right away and have been using it happily ever after.

With this year’s generation of drivers, many crafted by “A.I”., there are claims floating around that they will add yards to your drives over the current driver you’re using. This piqued my interest and I was also curious if there was a better shaft I might be using. I scheduled a driver fitting at Spargo and went this past Saturday. Jon took me down to the garage/shed next to the Button Hole stalls where we discussed why I was there. I mentioned the claim above and he laughed asking where I heard that. We proceeded to hit the new Ping, Titleist and TaylorMade drivers, then switching back to my Rogue driver periodically as a control in this scientific experiment. The TaylorMade QI10 LS seemed to be agreeing with me more than the others.

This being the low spin model, it brought down my spin rates by about 500 rpm compared to my Rogue. In the end, with the Rogue being 2 generations behind and all the other metrics being similar, we both agreed it probably wasn’t enough to push me to throw $700 at a new driver. Jon did spec out the QI10 for me just in case. I bade him farewell and told him I appreciated his honesty. My takeaway: a good independent fitter won’t sell you something you don’t need.

Act 7. Epilogue

I decided to write about my journey because I was one of the people who used to think a) eh, lessons, probably expensive and my swing is OK and b) yeah right, it’s the equipment. I am here to tell you I have seen the light. Amen! Praise the golf gods! If you are just starting out with golf, go take a few lessons before everyone starts whispering in your ear, do this, do that, off your back foot, off your front foot, turn! and you’re so discombobulated, you don’t know what’s what anymore.

Or if you have been golfing for a while, but aren’t progressing like you want to, find a pro that will work with your swing or if, you are brave enough, totally change it. And it doesn’t have to be someone with a Trackman and 7 TV’s in the bay to show you every angle and data point of your swing. Simplicity is better.

Save the attack angle and smash factor chasing when you are vying to make the Korn Ferry tour. And if you do take lessons, PRACTICE! The lessons won’t take unless you do your homework (welcome back to high school, want a ticket to the pool on the roof?). And I know a couple of guys who are really good pros and won’t fleece you.

Then, once your swing is established, get a fitting and don’t be predisposed to a particular manufacturer. I had no idea I needed a lie adjustment nor that mid-sized grips felt a whole lot better than regular. And I can’t recommend this enough, go to an independent fitter like Spargo (and there are others in RI) who doesn’t have an agenda in selling you a specific manufacturer (or maybe they did? Dun dun duh).

And this concludes my story of the quest, which will always be ongoing. But for now, I definitely have better consistency and definitely better scores with some ugly reversions from time to time. But as they say, that’s golf.