The Personal Touch with the flashing blade!

I’ve been having a lot of fun this winter with an extremely powerful chopsaw and getting very messy with grip solvent, glue, lead weight, tungsten and dangerous butane flames while adjusting a plethora of putters for my customers.

What I’ve learned over the years is that a huge percentage of putters are bought straight off the rack as “standard” and to be honest, there’s little chance of them actually fitting the player. How can you standardise a putter when you can’t standardise a human being?

Most customers will buy on looks, price and name brand recognition after a few strokes on the pro shop carpet. And much as I think Scotty Cameron’s are fabulous pieces of art and the man really does know how to forge a piece of 303 stainless steel into a timeless piece of art with tremendous feel, but they’re not necessarily the best out there when it comes to scrutinising them under the microscope of a high speed camera, or a SAM putt lab.

I’m not going to dwell on Mr Cameron’s creations too much, but I will say one thing, there is a tendency for most of his putters to have too much loft on them. It’s the same with other brands, too.

With the advent of VT – or visual technology – on the telly, companies like Odyssey, Never Compromise, Yes, etc got in on the act of making their putters rather apparent and once a Tour player has it in the bag, lots of people want one.

This is all well and good, but the Tour guys have their preferred brand fitted absolutely perfectly, to the enth degree so that it’ll hole more putts, feel better in the hands and earn a few more pension dollars! Look at the variety of different putters on Tour.

 

How many of your customers, or yourselves have actually been fitted properly for a putter – one that will suit their stroke, feel, body shape, height, arm length, hand size, putting technique and of course…budget?

When I first started learning about putter fittings, I remembered a day where I was lucky enough to be guided around the PING factory and I saw how they made their world beating PING putters.

At the time, I didn’t really notice that every shaft that went in the head made the putter 35-inches long, until the chap told me that he simply stole the shafts from the “sand wedge bin” and fixed them to the head with a ball-bearing rammed down the shaft to hold it in place – hence why PING used to have a standard of 35-inches. There was no specific shaft for a putter!

As leaders in the putter market for so long, thanks to Karsten Solheim and his magnificent invention which was drawn on the back of an LP cover, PING Ansers were copied relentlessly – Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery – and the reason why they were so popular was the Anser was the first perimeter weighted putter invented, which made it much more forgiving on off centre strikes, which the old Wilson 8802 style blade putters, were completely hopeless at if you missed the middle.

But the 35-inches was still regarded as standard length for so many years and thankfully, things have changed where most manufacturers have a variety of lengths now, ranging from 33-36-inches, depending on who you buy from.

The driver and the putter are changed more often than any other clubs. Drivers are bought, reshafted, shortened, lengthened, lead taped then sold or traded for another driver that is….Reshafted, shortened, lengthened, lead taped which in turn is sold or traded etc!  Want proof? Check Ebay.

Putters are normally purchased after a few strokes on an artificial surface that doesn’t match the player’s greens, it is placed in the bag and used. Rarely are they fitted for loft, length, weight, lie or grip size. So why is it that the club that requires the most feel is rarely tinkered with or properly custom fitted?

It’s madness, isn’t it? If putting accounts for 43% of the game, according to rocket scientist Dave, then really we should be spending a hell of a lot of time having the “slashing blade” fitted to us correctly. The putter should fit the player, not the other way around.

There are only six variables that need to be addressed when custom fitting the putter. They are as follows:

LENGTH, LOFT, LIE, TOTAL WEIGHT, GRIP, HEAD DESIGN

Fitting for the correct Length
The length of the putter determines the posture the golf adopts when putting, if the putter is too long the golfer creates more angles in the wrists and elbows which is not conducive to a good putting action.

The problem has been created by the OEM companies setting the standard putter length at 35” as I have stated before.

It is rare I’ll ever fit a putter to 35” long – I’m 6’4” tall and my personal putter is fitted at 34.25”.

According to research done by the guys at Yes putters and GolfSmith, 35” was only suitable to around 15% of golfers. Fitting the correct length doesn’t require expensive state of the art equipment; an uncut, ungripped putter and a mirror is all that is required.

It also helps that the customer, or student has a fundamental understanding of which putting stroke suits them best. Simply put, the more a player likes to stand up, the shoulders are on a slight incline, which, on a shoulder controlled motion, will promote a curvature in the stroke. Stan Utley likes his student’s putters to be longer, around 69 degree of lie angle (3-4 degrees flat), which promotes this arc.

My own take on this is that it’s very difficult to consistently square a rotating blade. Ball position has to be critical each time in order for the face to return square to the target line every time.

The more a players shoulders are vertical over a putt, the easier it is to perform a more straight back and through action. Paul Hurrion, in his research advocates that the hands on the grip should be positioned such that they are directly under the 7^th cervical in the upper spinal area, leaving the shoulders at a more horizontal plane, encouraging a straighter path back and through.

In my experience with SAM lab, even the most technically proficient putters have a very slight curvature in the swing on longer putts. On shorter putts, the trace patterns show a squarer path through impact with a much slower rate of face closure, if we take the Hurrion system…my own preference to teach.

Given those two differences, this is how I would fit a putter.

Get the student to set up to say a 5-10 foot putt in a comfortable address position whereby they have good balance and the arms are hanging naturally.

Using the “fitting” putter, mark the shaft 1” above the top hand. This works with all techniques, left hand low, conventional and also the Two-Thumb method.

This is the length of club the golfer should be using, rarely is it 35”. If you use a putter with a grip on it, the customer will adapt their posture to fit the putter and not fit the putter to their posture.

Lie angles.

The Lie of the putter is determined by the correct length and also eye positioning. One of the tests I do when I fit for a putter is check the students perception to reality by lining up some golf balls with a laser so they are perfectly straight in a ten foot line. I ask the player to take their posture with the eyes directly over a line in a mirror and look down the line. If they see a straight line, the eye position would be correct. But many see a slight curvature, either left or right. By adjusting eye position so we can see a straight line when we look left, we can then fine tune the length and lie of the putter.

Lie angle is not critical with putters, but I do like the putters to sit flush with the floor as much as possible. It is not as important as the correct lie angle for irons. This is purely down to the lack of loft on a putter which renders face angle tilt to the left or right mostly irrelevant. Robot testing shows on putts from 5 feet to 25 feet are not affected by different lie angles, even when extreme. Once you bear this in mind, you’ll understand why some of the old school putting styles worked – Seve the magician, Billy Casper and Isao Aoki etc.

The correct lie angle will help with creating a repetitious putting stroke and is crucial for mid length and long putters as the wrong lie can cause turf scraping.

Fitting for Loft

As putting surfaces have become better, so loft on the putter has been reduced. In the past putters have needed more loft to get the ball rolling better on longer, more uneven greens. The average loft of a putter is 3.5 degrees, but this does not necessarily equate to a 3.5 degrees launch angle. The initial launch of a putt depends on the golfers putting action which varies in ball position, angle of attack and forward press, etc. Loft is needed to reduce the skid zone on a putt which is the transition stage from back to top spin and is the most unstable period of the putt.

Using SAM Putt Lab and the Casio EX F1 on a 1200fps setting, you can clearly see the effect each player will get when they hit medium length putts. Ideally, we want “true roll” to start as soon as the putter strikes the ball, on the upswing.

The rule of thumb here is that the rise angle during the swing of the putter should be more than the dynamic loft at impact – SAM is really the TrackMan of putting in this respect. But if you really want to go one stage further and check this, use either a Casio EXF1, or equivalent, on hi-speed (with lots of light!) or get Paul Hurrion’s Quintic Ball Roll software – expensive, but brilliant.

I have adjusted lofts on putters both ways, stronger and weaker to fine tune the dynamic launch angle and given proof with use of the camera. My own putter went from 4 degrees down to 1.5 and sometimes, I have gone the other way from 4 up to 7 degrees to help rectify the DLA due to the player’s huge forward press. Negative loft is to be avoided, but for some people, it works. If you have a dynamic negative loft, you’re striking the ball into the ground. Newton’s third law…anyone?

 

Grooves

The modern trend is to have grooves on putter faces now. Yes putters were the first to capitalise on this technology with the C-Groove. The technology has now been pilfered by many other brands such as the Snake Eyes ARC, the GEL Putters and a host of others – strangely not Scotty Cameron, PING or Odyssey! Bizzare.

I don’t have any doubts that the grooves work. I’ve tried a fair few on indoor greens, outdoor greens and I can say from my own personal experience, they do work, which is why I would have no hesitation to recommend them. If the grooves get the ball rolling sooner, with little or no skid, jumping or bouncing, then surely the ball will hold the intended line better? Aimpointers out there – please feel free to expand on that.

Fitting for Total Weight

Unfortunately, most putter heads are designed and weighted for a “standard” 35” length, and when cut to a more playable length the putter loses total weight, balance and feel. Swingweight is not important to a putter it is the total weight that gives balance and feel. There are many ways to replace that lost weight including, heavy shafts, weights that fit in the grip and weights that inside the shaft. Experimentation is the best method, but I always make a note of the putter’s total weight before adjusting the length.

One of the brands that surprised me most is Heavy Putter. Basically, they are funky new designs with a simple philosophy – get the putter’s centre of gravity (COG) closer to the COG of the player, approximately two inches behind the navel and just in front of the spinal column. This will allow more core muscles to control the stroke, rather than those pesky fingers!

By adjusting the COG of the putter in that extreme, there is a hell of a lot of back weighting going on. Try a 300gram lead weight under the grip. The total weight is double of a standard type putter, making it…you guessed it…Heavy!

Some people might not like it that extreme, but even a 30gram weight can make a huge difference to feel – it all depends on how sensitive we are!

It takes a bit of getting used to, but as this club is very individual for every player, there needs to be a lot of “customising” for every player.

If you’ve not tried it, consider it. A lot of my customers love it. I inserted 300grams under the grip of a face-balanced Scotty Cameron Newport 2 Long Neck that I love – and now I love it more! The putter now is both face-balance and in true BMW fashion, has 50-50 weight distribution for “better handling”!

It really does calm the hands down and takes those twitch muscles out of play. Feels solid at impact, too and rolls the ball nicely as I’ve only got 1.5 degrees loft.

You can’t beat a bit of trial and error and I know it’s sacrilege to do that to a collectors edition Newport 2…but if I make more putts, roll the ball better and still retain great feel – that’ll ding dang do for me.

Fitting the Grip

The main function of the grip is comfort, but also can control the wrist action during the putting stroke. Larger grips “quieten” the hands and encourage use of the larger, more stable muscles when putting. It is worth having a selection of grip sizes and styles for your customers to choose from. The biggest sellers for me personally are the Two-Thumb grip from Phillip Gazeley’s idea box and the massively oversized Winn Jumbo’s and Giants. They are versatile and can be used with several grip techniques. Of course, I have plenty of slimmer grips which can be fattened out using extra layers of tape and a selection of different textures. Rubber, synthetic, leather etc.

On and extreme note – one of my elite players, who was really a poor technician with a putter before, has opted for left below right, totally different posture with a Two-Thumb grip placed at 90-degrees to the norm. His handicap dropped from 3.4 to now 0.6 – he’s lethal with that thing! Sometimes a change should be extreme.

Fitting for Head Design

The shape and style of a putter is extremely personal, and the golfer will feel more comfortable and confident if the putter looks good to them when set up behind the ball. However, it is worth noting that head design can be influential, depending on the putting action, for example face balanced putters are best for golfers who take the putter straight back and through but not so good for a golfer who has an arcing putting action when a heel shafted putter head would be more suitable.

The differences tend to be cosmetic, too. Traditional Anser/Newport type putters tend to look neater, slimmer, but have up to ¼ or ½ toe hang in most cases. While the mallet type Odyssey etc are cumbersome, even ugly to look at – but, if fitted properly to your stroke and it works…pretty is what pretty does, Forrest!

When making changes to a golfers putter it is best to make those changes drastic, as putting is so much about confidence and sometimes a complete change works best. Trial and error is a great thing with putters and there is no right and wrong.

I’ve built putters this year of 28-inches long with a huge grip and weighing 750grams total weight! I’ve also built them with ultra light grips and masses of weight in the head. My favourites to work with are the Scotty Cameron’s and PINGs. Among my players, they refer to them as chipsticks as they just have a bit too much loft for my liking! Being so soft, the Scotty’s are totally malleable. Great for customising.

As a fitter, there are several tools to have. A putter loft/lie machine. A fitting putter, SAM lab, or TOMI, a good High-Speed camera and a large selection of heads to choose from.

I also have a fitting system like the wedges with several heads, shafts and grip types connected to each other via Faz-Fit connectors – excellent for trial and error.

I order all of my putters in uncut and ungripped so I can do the work myself. Only Titleist/Cameron refuse to do this for me. All other companies I work with will listen to what I and my customers demand.

And for the professionals out there…of course, this takes some time and knowledge to build or customise the most important club in the bag. Fear not for charging for your time here. After all, you are really giving a top service to your customers.

Get more wedge for your money

I had a conversation in recent weeks on Twitter about fitting wedges and what was the best way to go about it. I’ve written below the method I use in fitting and building wedges and as you’ll see, the options are extensive and cover pretty much every type of player.

I am assuming that you professionals agree with me that correctly fitted clubs will improve a golfer’s game. I know this to be true, but one area I believe is often overlooked when fitting is the short game. Wedges and putters.

If we are to believe the statistics, it is estimated that around 60% of the game is played from within a hundred yards. Therefore, is it not logical that if we can improve a player’s ability from this distance then we can significantly improve their score?

While there has been significant leaps in technology in regards to drivers and irons, many manufacturers pay mere lipservice to the most important clubs in the bag. Most wedges are very similar in design to those that have been around for the last fifty years or so, in that they are a classic blade style because peripheral weight design doesn’t really help with the wedges.

The problem as I see it is there is no truly defined way to fit the short game. A good club maker or fitter can accurately fit a golfer for their woods and irons using the time proven methods involving lie boards, impact stickers, swing speed meters, launch monitors etc, but because the short game has been coined a “game within a game” the same principles don’t apply.

It is my opinion that in the short game, feel is a major consideration which means trial and error is probably the best way to fit. However, the problem with fitting by trial and error is that it can prove to be expensive if you are to offer a really comprehensive service, this is where the new Faz-Fit system from Club Conex comes into its own.

I’ll cover putters in another blog, but first, let’s take a look at the wedges and the various specifications that should be taken into account.

Length

Just because a golfer needs, let’s say 1/2″ longer than standard irons, it does not follow that the same lengths will be best for the wedges. In my own personal fitting system, I use four lengths of shaft, standard, plus 1/2″, plus 1″ and 1/2″ shorter than standard.

 

Loft

As some of you may have read in an earlier blog, I discussed what Tom Wishon described as the “Vanishing Loft Disease.” Over the last 20 years or so, the golf industry has been guilty of strengthening lofts in the pursuit of distance. Whilst this may be ok in the mid irons, it has two detrimental effects on the set of clubs. It makes the long irons so straight faced that they become unhittable for the average golfer, and secondly, the gap between pitching wedge and sand wedge becomes unacceptable. The modern 47 degree PW and 55 degree SW simply does not work, and so gap wedges, etc have become part of the modern set of clubs. You can see why sales have gone up on equipment – The customer is actually being conned.

Recently I saw the lofts for the latest model from a major manufacturer, and the PW is 43 degrees! This is equivalent to an 8 iron from the 1980′s. No wonder we are hitting the ball further nowadays. By dropping the obsolete long irons, we have the opportunity to carry more wedges to solve these yardage problems.

Working on the well documented Dave Pelz theory that a golfer has four lengths of swing, full, three quarter, half and quarter (and Im not advocating this is the way to teach!) with one loft they have four yardages, by carrying four lofts these yardages are multiplied by four giving sixteen shots from within 100 yards. Logically, this MUST help improve scoring.

My own fitting system includes six lofts, 48, 52, 54, 56, 58 and 60 degrees. I also have a few varieties of bounce and sole grind. Just to be pernickety!

 Flex

Again, this is a very personal specification with the options of matching flex with the rest of the irons, going stiffer for more control or even softer for more feel. It is worth offering R, S and A flex options. I even have some XX flex for those who like a low flying spinner, which at some courses, is called for.My own specs for most good players is that the only thing that changes is the loft/bounce between wedges. The lengths, frequency or swing weights remain the same throughout – a real matching set of wedges. Lie angles will be checked and perfected individually. It’s rare I’ll need to make any more adjustments once that lot is covered. You can see by the CPM picture, you have a choice in frequency matching on the slope – keep it the same, softer for more feel or stiffer for more control. I like to make wedges as stiff as possible as it’s direction we’re looking for, not length.

  

 

Lie Angles

Golfers tend to use a slightly different swing when pitching or chipping and so the lie of the wedges should be fitted separately, also due to the shorter swing and so slower clubhead speed the shaft droop between wedges and irons is invariably different. Three different lie options should cover most requirements, standard, 2 degrees up and 2 degrees flat. The important thing as a fitter is that when doing a dynamic lie angle, you have that clubface bang on square at impact, so the sticker has a mark in the very middle. You can also use lie angle tape to determine which bounce may suit.

Swingweight

It is worth considering different swingweight, or balance point to the wedges as some golfers prefer a heavier head weight whilst some want to match the wedges into the set. I do both, offer a standard weight and an option of a head with 10 extra grams added. Some elite players have demanded more – even swing weights of up to E4 – that’s heavy.

Grip

Whilst it is the norm to fit the wedges with the same grip as the rest of the set, sometimes there can be the situation where a thicker, thinner or even different style of grip can help. My own preference is to have a much thicker grip with the wedges, which assists in taking the hands out of play. Those twitch muscles can be a real pain. If Pelz and others are advocating “dead hands”, a thicker grip will certainly help out. Even adding layers of tape under the lower hand to reduce the taper of the grip is something that many players prefer once they’ve been introduced to it. You can perhaps see the amount of options available.

Bounce

Sole bounce is dependent on the technique used and the course conditions. Inland, parkland courses tend to have lusher fairways than those at seaside courses and so wedges need more bounce. Hard sand in bunkers would mean less bounce on sand wedges and the opposite for courses with soft sand. For the serious golfer who plays at a variety of courses it is well worth considering owning a variety of wedges both in loft and bounce. I have three sets of wedges in play. All play to the same weights, length etc with the only difference between the wedges being the bounce angles.

Another word on bounce. The reason to have more bounce on lush fairways is to help flatten the grass immediately prior to impact, giving a cleaner entry to the ball, hence better spin control. I have this on very good authority from one of Europe’s finest club makers and I see the logic in it. However, I would really love to see some video evidence.

Too much bounce on hardpan lies or links type fairways causes that fabulous shot – the thin. It’s simple to understand, if you catch the ball ever so slighty heavy, the leading edge catches the ball above the ground, not quite the equator, but enough to give very little spin/control.

Sole width

Sole width is often overlooked when looking at wedge fitting, the width of the sole can be as important as bounce as it adds to the clubs effectiveness in sand and also ball striking on different types of fairways. My preference in fitting higher handicap players is to give them a wider sole to help out on most of these shots. Conversely, a better ball striker will want a thinner sole, perhaps a different grind, enabling some serious shot making capabilities from around the greens. There are far too many grind to mention, but one of the most common I do for my players at this seaside type venue, is the C-Grind where I’ll grind off the bottom edge and a lot of the heel so it’s easier to lay way open – It takes some confidence to do that…not only playing that shot, but also grinding someone’s precious Miura wedge! Little by little is the key and the player should be there with you to find tune the grind. And of course, if you’re grinding weight away, it should be replaced to match up the frequency or balance point. Lead tape is ugly…I prefer to use tungsten power or plug wates down the shaft in the hosel.

Head Finish

In today’s market most manufacturers offer both a chrome finish and a dark finish. This tends to be a personal choice as some golfers feel the dark head frames the ball better and can act as an anti glare option when playing in bright, sunny conditions (even in the UK!). The rusty type wedge is also very popular for this, Titeist Oil Cans, Snake Eyes Black Oxide wedges or Cleveland RTG’s etc. But they DO NOT add more spin – that’s just bollocks! The grooves do that.

Grooves

Face grooves are the latest hot topic, given that we are now changing rules to make the game a lot more difficult out of the rough – yeah right!

The difference in performance between square, U or V grooves, probably is not big enough to worry about. But what I can tell you from experience is that the shaper the groove, the better spin you’ll get…obviously. New wedges actually wear out a lot faster than people think. Especially if you’re hitting loads from hard mats, sandy lies or bunkers.

I know that one Major Champion who before the new ruling come into place, had his grooves laser cut – meaning they are ridiculously sharp. The player had to see the tournament director at every three events to have his wedges checked for sharpness…using a “fingernail” test – and if the TD wasn’t happy, the player went off to the sand for an hour and came back – the wedges then passed the same test! This is true, I’ve seen it with my own eyes!

That player went through 20-30 wedges a season! While that’s a touch extreme, I’d recommend elite players to change their wedge heads at least twice a season. Especially if they practice a lot.

 

Shafts

This is another recent development and it’s good to see manufacturers paying attention to specific wedge shafts. There are a few good ones out there and I’ve tried them all. While feel is major factor, there are some shafts which will flight the ball higher or lower, as you prefer. One of my favourites right now is the Nippon WV wedge shaft, which does limit the ballooning effect when playing into the wind. Of course, that is down to technique, too. If you’re a slider, not a digger, I’d go for a Dynamic Gold Wedge shaft, which has recently been released and gives a medium flight. But for diggers, the Nippon WV and Rifle Spinner seem to produce slightly flatter flights in my opinion. Again, course type should be taken into consideration. For the higher handicap players, the True Temper Release shaft was always a winner. Great feel, higher ball flight, but useless in the hands with anyone who had some speed through impact.

Back to fitting and what you can do for your customer and really personalise their experience – If you offer a wedge fitting service that includes:

• 4 Lengths
• 6 Lofts
• 3 Flexes
• 2 Colour Finishes
• 3 Lies
• 2 Head Weights

This will offer are 668 fitting options which obviously isn’t financially viable using built clubs. However, using the new Faz-Fit connectors the clubmaker or serious professional can offer this comprehensive fitting service for a modest investment. Wedges don’t change style that much either, so if a new model comes out, you’ll be pretty sure you’ll have something that matches it within your fitting set.

You don’t need talent to become an expert.

What does it take to become an expert in any particular field of choice? Sports, music, entertainment, medicine, science, arts and of course, golf.

I have been researching what it takes to make expert level at a subject of my own choice, golf and golf coaching. What I have found in many excellent books is that there is a common theme running through all of them.

But first of all, who do we regard as an expert? The research has common findings that an expert is someone who simply excels and outperforms others in a particular field.

While I believe that every individual has unlimited potential, I don’t subscribe to the theory that people are born with “talent”. There’s certainly no evidence I can find to support this. According to Daniel Coyle the award winning author of ‘The Talent Code’, greatness isn’t born, it’s grown.

Coyle has highlighted the development of research of a protein in our brain called Myelin and how humans learn and then develop that skill through repeated firing of the neural circuits in our brain to coat it with this magnificent substance, which has been described as “broadband for the mind”.

Becoming an expert in anything, especially golf and golf coaching is a result of two factors and both are very much under our control: Knowledge and practice.

First we accumulate the knowledge. Secondly we make sure we practice what we have learned and get those new skills automated in our white matter.

Show me an expert in any area and you’ll find someone with a passionate, almost nerdy understanding of their own specialist area. Experts know more about their field than virtually anyone. And they love to talk about it, too. But how that expert comes to learn this knowledge is of great interest.

Dr Paul Schempp in his book “Performance Matters” highlights where this knowledge tree can be found.

1. Information Sources. Experts rely upon a great many sources for Information. Peers, books, formal education, experiences, conferences, clients, seminars, newspapers, and

any other source of credible information sources. Picasso once said that good artists copy – great artists steal. If it’s public information it’s fine to procure it…if it helps you become an expert.

2. Asking Questions. Experts tend to ask more questions of their colleagues, clients, employees and even those outside their domain. In this way, experts locate information and perspectives that broaden their understanding, offer new insights, and provide alternatives–all of which allow them to make more informed decisions. Experts are also willing to question the status quo in an effort to find better solutions for recurring problems.

3. Listening. Stand in a room full of people, and look for those who talk less and listen more. These are the individuals who will walk out of the room with greater knowledge. Experts listen. They listen because they believe that they have much to learn.

Research has found that those with less talent, believed they pretty much know all they need to know to perform well. With this belief, one seeks little, if any, new information.

If you’re a golf coach or a player with a thirst for improvement, you should recognise there is a vast body of knowledge out there waiting to be exploited. If you want to learn more, you need to reach out more. How many new areas can be found to research and learn new information and hear and debate new theories/opinions/developments?

The best I’ve found recently has to be Twitter, Facebook and the various golf blogs out there written by an erudite bunch of professionals from all around the world.

One coach hit the nail on the head in answer to the age old question of who was the best golf coach in the world. His answer was…”Combined, it’s hard to beat the twitter golf pros!” I think he may have a point. The knowledge bank there is incredible and information is shared daily.

What about the fear of failure? When you try a new skill and it does not work, is it failure? Not according to Schempp, or Daniel Coyle. Coyle states that it is essential that you make mistakes to help ‘myelinate’ the correct signals from the neurons. Repeated firing of the circuits is paramount to improved performance. Of course, it’s tricky learning anything new at first, but after continued practice through many frustrations, there is often a payoff at the end.

Myelin, according to Coyle’s research is universal and it doesn’t know if you’re using it to practice golf, or practice hitting the Eadd9 chord on a guitar. It is meritocratic. Circuits that get fired get insulated with myelin and the signal from brain to the muscles becomes stronger. The good news is that it works as a one way system. Once that skill you have learned becomes insulated, they become habits, which we all know, are hard to break!

“We are what we repeatedly do…Excellence therefore is not an act, but a habit” Aristotle.

It also helps with age. In children, myelin develops rapidly as the brain is extraordinarily receptive to learning new skills. In fact, we are all receptive to learning new skills well up to around our 50s. It’s only late in life it becomes more difficult or time consuming, yet it is still possible with what Dr. Anders Ericsson, author of a fabulous book called ‘The Road to Excellence’, describes as deep practice, real practice and wide practice.

Schemp also stated; “An expert is constantly looking for improvement and new things to discover, failures and successes are scrutinised to discover the lessons they hold. What went wrong so we can make it right…and what went right so we can build on that in the future.”

These are the reactions experts hold to failure and success, respectively.

“Knowledge is experience…the rest is just information” – Albert Einstein.

And of course, you can’t beat experience, can you?  Sir Francis Bacon, the famous English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer and author said “By far the best proof is experience.” Experience has no substitute for instructing because nothing is as meaningful to us as our own experience.

Experts are masters at extracting information from their experiences. By being objectively self-critical, and monitoring closely their performances, experts identify facets of their performance done well, and facets left wanting.

You can apply this to your golf students by measuring and monitoring their performances by what Lynn Marriot and Pia Nilsson of Vision54 and their book ‘The Game before the Game’ call ‘Maintenance Practice’ to automate existing skills and by ‘Preparation Practice’ to get you ready for what you may encounter.

In sports such as football and American Football, this is exactly what they do. They prepare for future encounters by gathering as much information they can and repeating a technique, set piece or playing pattern so that it becomes second nature. They call it Scrimmaging. Golfers need to do more of this instead of the classic range act of ‘scrape and hit’.

I recently took a Vision54 Coach course with Pia and Lynn, the phrase that stuck in my head was this:

“Practice the game before the game and practice the game in ALL of its conditions”.

Pia also made a point – several times – that “What you practice, you get good at!”

Much of their research is developed from these books. As great teachers, they have tapped into the knowledge banks of experts in different areas and applied it to golf instruction, making it holistic in its approach…leaving no stone unturned.

Pia and Lynn often quote the research of Dr. Anders Ericsson, a leading author in the development of expertise. Ericsson found that it takes at least 10 years of intense preparation and deliberate practice to acquire the skills, knowledge and perspectives of an expert. It doesn’t matter if its golf, music, arts, science, physics, chemistry or learning to ski.

Ericsson also writes that three factors must be present for an experience to constitute purposeful practice.

1. Critical Skills. Performance level in golf depends largely upon the individual’s ability to perform essential skills in a graceful, competent, and effective manner. A coach’s knowledge helps them identify the skills needed to get results. And once identified, these skills are relentlessly and purposefully practiced. Real Practice, Deep Practice, Wide Practice.

2. Informative Feedback. This is the job of the coach. Without informative feedback, purposeful practice would soon take on the appearance of mere experience on the driving range. That practice needs automated…myelinated. Great word, isn’t it? Does your professional offer a supervised practice option on his teaching list? This for me would be part of shift in the way students learn golf and also how coaches teach it.

Informative feedback comes in two forms, and both are essential for improving skills:

a)    Feedback on technique.

The job of coach is not only to teach your student the ‘how to’, but also give positive and constructive feedback on the learned technique to provide information on the correctness of the skill performed. If the student is going in the right direction, they have had a good lesson. 

b)   Feedback on performance.

Feedback on performance provides information on the level of success achieved when

performing the skill. What I tend to do is set a skills test to my students in various areas. At times, I do this in areas to identify a weakness, then we remedy the issue with some instruction…giving good feedback when things go well. And when they do go well, we set up a test to confirm what they have learned is showing an improvement.

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”

3. Repeat and Refine. The improvement of any skill is largely dependent upon the opportunity to repeatedly practice and refine. Improvement in skills is gradual, taking time to refine and ingrain the appropriate procedures until they become automatic. No one learns an effective golf technique in a single practice session. Repeated efforts, combined with informed feedback aimed at improved performance over a sustained period of time are what take one from beginner to winner.

Daniel Coyle likes to call it myelination. He also concurs with Ericsson’s theory.

The best way to ensure a new skill is automated is to have targeted, mistake focussed practice. Fire the circuit, attend to errors, fire it again, over and over. You’re supposed to find it difficult or frustrating…it’s a biological requirement in learning anything new.

Coyle adds that passion and persistence are key ingredients of talent growth.

“Wrapping myelin around a big circuit requires immense energy and time. If you don’t love it, you’ll never work hard enough to be great,” he says.

In our ‘one shot wonder’ society and desire for a quick fix or hot tip, we often overlook this.

Becoming expert is not a birthright or destination. Becoming expert is a journey. Experts see themselves as a work in progress. With knowledge and practice becoming expert is within you.

However, the journey might be a little dull and mundane at times. Daniel Chambliss, author of a paper entitled “The Mundanity of Excellence” makes a powerful case that experts are so because they do all the ordinary things brilliantly. They make each practice session count, each repetition is detailed and they make small steps each day on the journey to the top. Those actions become automated over time becoming habitual, constant, second nature, or as Coyle puts it – Myelinated.

As Olympic gold-medalist swimmer Mary T. Meagher puts it, “People don’t know how ordinary success is.”

Curling up with a good book or two

If you’re anywhere near northern Europe, or the northern part of the northern hemisphere, there’s a good chance you’re now knee deep in northern snow, wearing far too much northern clothing and unable to get out even to the practice range. Golf in this weather is about as enjoyable as being stabbed!

Fear not, there’s more ways of improving your outlook and technique for the coming season, whether you’re a player, or a golf coach.

If you’re a regular follower of the “World’s best combined golf coaching team” on Twitter and Facebook, you’ll probably be up to date on what’s hot, what’s not and who is promoting what, instructing this, that and the next thing. We’re all different, we all have our own ways and beliefs and much like the golf swing itself, you can’t standardise instruction, the same way you can’t standardise a human being…so there’s something for everyone out there.

If you’re not into social media, you really are missing out on a plethora of information from some excellent and well versed golf teachers, professional players and amateur enthusiasts. It’s a veritable gold mine of information. Most of it very good, although I wasn’t entirely sure about the chap who claimed he found that elusive secret of the game for which we have all been searching nearly 500 years. He suggested we should all get “locked in” or something like that! I think that most of us agreed he needs locked up!

Back on topic – Books – which ones are worth reading while we dream of a distant spring and summer 2011 and which ones will help us play better, are easy to digest and follow and/or are of significant learning value for both the player and the coach?

I’ve listed a few here and I’d like to hear from others which books they would recommend for further study. I’ll give you a little rundown on each one and why I think it’s worth reading. As you’ll probably know, there’s quite a lot of crap out there, so to help you sift the wheat from the chaff on Amazon.com here’s a few favourites of mine:

Every Shot Must Have a Purpose – Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriot

Pia and Lynn have teamed up with legendary golf writer Ron Sirak to produce the first of their series of (soon to be three) books on a powerful new approach which is proven on Tour by many, including the finest female golfer ever…Annika Sorenstam. The revolutionary “Think-Box, Play-Box” pre-shot routine and the belief that anything is possible makes this book a must read for everyone. The Vision54 concept offers a paradigm shift into what has traditionally been done and is the starting point for any good performance coach, or player who wishes to bring some new life to their game. It’s a 10/10 for me.

The Game before the Game – Nilsson/Marriot.

In their second book, Pia, Lynn and Ron team up again to add more feathers to your cap in the performance coaching manual. These three are a great team and after reading this book several times, it’s easy to become inspired by their belief in possibilities. “Practice the game before the game and practice the game in ALL of it’s conditions” is the tenet to this book and finally, here we have a “what to coach” book and how to do it, too! Brilliant reading.

The Talent Code – Daniel Coyle

This book is now taking on legendary status in the golf teaching world and Coyle brings us a book with an explanation as to why we get good at what we practice and what happens in our development. He also encourages us to make failures in order to develop this fabulous substance called Myelin. I won’t give the plot away, but it’s an absolute must read for all coaches so they can explain to their students that it’s a biological requirement for improvement that they fail during the process. Nobody is born with talent, it is grown.

Golf in the Kingdom – Michael Murphy

This is the apparently true story of Shivas Irons and Michael Murphy’s bizarre encounter with him at the Crail Golfing Society in the 70s. It is a fabulous tome of one man’s encounter with an all seeing oracle golf teacher who brought new things to Murphy’s repertoire in golf and inspired him to research more into the belief that the mind can control our golfing destiny on each and every shot. You’ll encounter strange things such as Seamus MacDuff’s baffing spoon and Lucifer’s Rug, the notorious 12^th hole at Crail, upon which it is based. I read this book in one sitting – it had me at the first chapter…Brilliant. Inspiring.

The follow up book, the Kingdom of Shivas Irons, is also a great read and you really need to buy both to fully understand its implications on modern day golf. I’m not sure how much of it is true and how much is fiction, but to be honest, I didn’t care. It inspired me so much, I headed to Scotland and looked up all the facts of the book, played the course several times and even discovered Seamus MacDuff’s famous cave! This was the first book that really highlighted the importance of what we believe can actually happen in golf. It’s the first “Performance Coaching” manual in golf.

Moving on from Murphy’s books, it’s also essential to read the books of Fred and Pete Shoemaker – Extraordinary Golf and Extraordinary Putting follow on where Murphy left off. While Murphy introduced us to a new version of the game, Fred and Pete Shoemaker explain how we play that game. It’ll help you control your worries and judgements about your swing and like Murphy and Nilsson/Marriot, it’ll steer you into thinking about what is actually “possible”, rather than not. It’s a totally positive book and you can’t help but improve if you follow its principles.

There are many others in this genre worth reading such as Timothy Galwey’s The Inner Game of Golf and of course, Karl Morris’ The Mind Factor and Bob Rotella is also a great read. Golf is not a game of perfect is the best way to start with his work.

The Golfing Machine – in 1969, Homer Kelley first published this book, which is undeniably difficult to read, deep in its explanations of the facts surrounding the movement of the golf swing. It is based purely on Scientific principles covering physics and geometry concerned with the golf swing and has no method but is a manner of proceeding.

It is a “My Way” book rather than “The Way” and often this is where people first become confused. The book has developed a cult like following among golf professionals and amateurs alike and much of what you hear or read in today’s golf instruction will probably have a root in this book.
I’m not saying this is an essential read as some people simply won’t get it. It’s a tough one. However, if you can find someone who can translate the meanings inside, it’ll become clearer the more you work through it.

TGM defines the golf swing as – “A hinge action of angular momentum occurring on an inclined plane.” Monitoring three imperatives with three functions through three stations. (The Star System Triad)
Mr Kelly emphasises the importance of the three imperatives:
1) a flat left wrist
2) clubhead lag pressure point
3) a straight plane line. 

Each one of these controls a Function 
1)clubface
2)clubhead
3)clubshaft
Respectively 

These imperatives & functions can be monitored through the three stations, address, the top of the swing and the finish. This is called the STAR System Triad. 

Mr Kelley broke the swing down into 24 basic components and there are between 3 and 15 variations on each one! I’m not that great at math but that equates to around 446,512,500,000,000,000 combinations available for a successful golf swing! All with a flat left wrist, club head lag and a straight plane line!

You’ll also discover the meaning of G.O.L.F – or Geometrically Oriented Linear Force and what its principles are…I hope I haven’t lost you already!

“Demanding that golf instruction be kept simple does not make it simple, only incomplete and ineffective” is one of the great quotes from this book.

It isn’t easy, it wasn’t written that way – but there is some fabulous stuff to be gleaned from this book, so much so I will be enrolling in a course to discover more…when I can find the time! I would like to thank James Skelton (@golfmachineguru) for his help and inspiration in getting me to actually read the thing properly! I’m still a beginner at it, though.

If you understand it, you’ll know exactly what your pro means the next time he tells you that the secret of golf is sustaining the line of compression. (I’m now off to make a cup of tea!)

All in all – great book…just needs a lot of patience and some help from an Authorised Instructor.

See and Feel the Inside Move the Outside – Michael Hebron.

One of the world’s top coaches put me onto this book and to keep it totally simple, he said if you like The Golfing Machine, you’ll love this as it’s eminently readable. And he was right. Hebron has this knack of making things very easy to digest and this book is one of his first, and best.

The LAW’s of the golf swing – Jim Suttie, TJ Tomasi and Mike Adams.

This is a rare find and a fabulous book to read, no matter who you are or what your standard of golf is. The main subject of the book is about somatotypes, or body type and the analysis of how different body types require different swing shapes. A way a golfer is built will determine the strengths and natural tendencies. LAW is an acronym for Leverage, Arc and Width and the book contains several tests to determine which type of body you have, Endomorph, Mesomorph and Ectomorph and how find yourself in the LAW’s model.

The LAW’s model, once understood, allows each golfer, regardless of build to develop a swing which satisfies the three controlling factors in golf, the laws of physics, the rules of golf and your physical make up. For the coaches, the main principle to learn is that you “teach the body standing in front of you” and make coaching much more individual and have the student as the centrepiece of the framework.

Talking of Laws – Nick Bradley’s 7 Laws of the Golf swing is one of the most powerful visual books available today. The graphics in the book are worth a million words alone. The book is compulsory reading for the Danish PGA students and they must learn it verbatim for their exams. It is held in high esteem in Scandinavia. A former understudy of David Leadbetter, Bradley is an erudite and often outspoken coach who has condensed knowledge of his 20-years of golf teaching into a fabulous book. Definitely worth a read.

The Physics of Golf – Theo P. Jorgensen

On the scientific side of things, this book is a fabulous read, and as John Graham (www.johngrahamgolf.com) advises, skip past the math and read what’s important! He’s right. There are more formulas here than a Grand Prix weekend at Silverstone. However, when you do sift through the unnecessary, you’ll find some absolute pearls in here such as JG’s favourite subject, the D-Plane – essential knowledge if you really want to understand why the ball flies the way it does.

There’s some great stuff on Newtonian dynamics and a good explanation of what they all are – in language most competent people can understand. Read it and become erudite in the ways of angular momentum, linear and rotational motion, angular velocity, centrifugal and centripetal force, moment of inertia and all those other really funky sayings that you really wished you knew what they were! I loved it, it explained much. It may help reading this before trying The Golfing Machine.

The Stack and Tilt Swing – Mike Bennett and Andy Plummer

This book has caused more controversy than any other golf book that I can think of…Why? Well, to be honest, I think it had a bad press at the start of its life and certainly some of the established golf magazines didn’t get the point and failed to explain its principles effectively enough to warrant serious consideration by the establishment.

People fear what they don’t know and this book caused many a professional teacher and commentator to spit out their gin and tonics and mock it. I’m not a lover of methods as I believe they are limited in their applications to every golfer. I believe that there is more than one way to get people to perform better on the course. However, there are some useful techniques in stack and tilt, many of which have evolved from TGM.

I’m not in agreement with the book that the “traditional” swing encourages people to hit the ground first all the time and certainly, what is written in the book about the traditional swing, I don’t know any serious coach who teaches those movements. It is heavily biased towards this new technique – which is the point of the book – however, I don’t think this is a fad, or a trend. It does have merit, especially where I believe it helps most for me as a teacher, in the short game, chipping and pitching. I’m sure the SnT gurus will tell me that it’s so much more, too.

I’m not going to cause an argument and say that it’s a bad thing, because it’s obviously not, given the fact many players and teachers are getting good results from it. However, it is a way to do things differently, not THE way.  As for biomechanics, some people say the swing is safe for the back, some others totally disagree with it. More importantly, I believe that before you rubbish anything about this method, it’s a good idea to get some reading done and begin to understand it. At least if you do that, you can make your own mind up.

Take what you can use from it and leave the rest on the cutting room floor.

I could go on and on – my own golfing library runs into the hundreds of books and I’d like to thank Rhod McEwan for supplying most of them – if you don’t know who he is, look him up on Google – he’s the doyen of booksellers – if it was printed, at anytime, he’ll have it.

Observe, Think, Choose, Deliver.

Learn from the top coaches in the world on how to see things that others miss and improve your coaching by using better observation and decision making skills. 

Great golf teachers are passionate students of golf swing techniques and in applying the solutions to students, they never rush into a decision on technique changes when giving a lesson. 

They use their powers of observation and experience to diagnose the root cause of any issue. Coaches who fail to ascertain the root cause of the issue cannot hope to deliver the correct solutions.

The metaphor I like to use is that it’s like putting a sticking plaster on an injury which might require stitching, or major surgery!

If you give a student a ‘quick-fix’, or a sticking plaster, to see him through a problematic stage in their game, it may well work…for a while. Students and teachers alike love quick fixes! However, when that same student returns a week or so later with the same issue, it might not be that the student is incapable of doing what you asked of them.

The problem will perhaps lie in your diagnosis, which may lie in treating the effect rather than the cause.

Good coaching means you get to the root of the issue and deliver a result which can be measured as an improvement on performance.

I have recently had the pleasure of learning from the two top female golf teachers on the planet, Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriot, who are founders of the Vision54 Coach concept.

Much of what I learned with Pia and Lynn can be applied to the golf teacher, as well as the student.

They believe the game is a blend of many things such as the Physical, Technical, Mental, Emotional, Social and Spiritual, and allying that to a number of essential playing skills to improve performance. We as coaches should consider this as I firmly believe there needs to be a paradigm shift in the way coaching golf is given.

The average handicap worldwide hasn’t dropped in the last 30-odd years, even though we have more scientific information and technology available and that just as many people leave the game each year as those who begin.

We have a responsibility as coaches to improve performance. If someone plays poorly enough for long enough, they’ll quit. That is no recipe for a successful business.

One of the cornerstones of Vision54 is the ‘Think-Box, Play-Box’ concept of the shot routine. Simply put, the player takes in as much relevant information about a shot in the area behind the ball we call the ‘Think-Box’. Once this information has been disseminated, they need to make a decision and commit to it. Before they walk into the ‘Play-Box’, the player must cross the ‘Decision line’ and with full commitment, they do nothing more in the ‘Play-Box’ than play the shot.

This can also be developed for the coach to have their own ‘Think-Box-Teaching-Box’ to concentrate on the most relevant issue with a student.

Improve your observation skills in your coaching ‘Think-Box’ and you can get to the nub of the issue much easier, diagnose and choose (the decision line) more accurately the correct drills for skills in the ‘Teaching Box’.

What expert coaches see that other coaches miss is the key to improving your own coaching to deliver improved lessons. It is a skill – like any other skill – which can be learned.

Great teachers observe events unfold and find the essential issues to help provide the insight for logical and intuitive decisions. By adhering to four simple points, you can learn to see things that others miss.

Focus on what is relevant.  A major difference between great golf teachers and the ‘Quick-fixers’ resides in the great teachers’ targeted focus on events and information relevant to the decision making.

Great teachers monitor the processes most critical to outcome. They get to the root of the problem. Lesser teachers will observe the same series of events but they do not realise the significance of what they are seeing. With limited knowledge, they are unable to respond with a drill or coaching technique which will lead to superior ball striking or performance.

Research by top performance coaches and scientists has proven that experts in any area of learning and development tend to be more focused and see significantly greater detail. The perception of experts is sharply focused on the relevant performance details, and any unnecessary information is ‘left on the cutting room floor’.

Great teachers focus on specific causal events that will impact performance, and can be influenced by their decisions and actions.

Get the clues from your observations.

Once they have made observations, (Think Box) the expert coach can visualise and anticipate the future. Detailed observations allow experts to anticipate what will happen. From these observations, an expert coach will weigh up the probability of future events and can begin to decide on actions they need to take to improve the student. (Decision line).

Lack of experience and knowledge restricts those with less expertise from completely understanding what may or may not happen. In short, what seems like a crystal ball for predicting the future is actually the experts’ ability to recognise the cause and effect of the performance issue.

Be aware of the unusual.  It is spotting the unusual in a golf swing that triggers the accurate thinking of a great coach. Using all the experience and knowledge from an erudite coach, brings with it a comfortable familiarity within the coaching setting. They find the unusual events commonplace.

Great coaches have a set of well rehearsed routines and anything out of the ordinary becomes blatantly obvious. While a less erudite observer sees the same activity, not knowing it was unusual, they simply overlook its significance.

Teachers with less expertise normally need to consciously monitor an event closely to pick up clues for making decisions. The great coaches spend far less energy monitoring a teaching situation progressing ‘normally’ because they are intimately familiar with the environment.  

If you’ve ever seen a great coach in action whose observations and monitoring appear nonchalant or cavalier at times, it is usually far from the case because those great coaches know the situation is playing out as they anticipated. They are fully prepared for the unusual to occur.

When the unusual occurs, great coaches immediately detect it, quickly make sense of the situation and respond instinctively. In contrast, inexperienced coaches with their limited knowledge, skills and ability often fail to understand the implications of the unusual.

Deep, real and wide analysis.  In order to get to the very root of the problem, experts critically analyse current performance levels as well as the quality of the motions that influence outcomes.

This can take form in many ways. For example, if one of your students is trying to improve short game performance, you can encourage them to take a short game test whereby each area can be measured. You can also observe technique, equipment and other variable such as the mental game, how they control emotions or if they have any physical restrictions. In short, whatever the subject the student wishes to improve, it requires deep, real and wide analysis. If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.

Our most important challenge as a golf coach should be improving performance – Experts observe what we call KPI’s – key performance indicators (e.g. quality of ball striking, efficiency of motor skill, good balance, better test scoring etc) and draw from their knowledge and experience to critically assess what they see.

The great coaches quickly diagnose events with precision and accuracy then construct and implement solutions for improvement. Simply put, they observe, think, choose and deliver a solution. The rest is up to the student to put into action what you have suggested.

To improve any skill, one must continually practice. It is no different in learning to observe like an expert. Understanding how experts see, and then practicing those skills is your key to seeing like an expert and delivering better performance. 

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The Vanishing loft syndrome. ..a great con.

Over the last few years, manufacturers have played about with extending lengths of shafts and strengthening lofts in order to show that the newer model of irons hits it further than their old design. However, while that may appear true, that new 6-iron is actually much the same specifications as a 5 iron in the previous set with a number 6 stamped on it! Remember, distance sells.

The great Tom Wishon, master club maker and god to all of us who ply our trade in the club making segment, calls it the “Vanishing loft syndrome”.

By doing this, and keeping the correct loft angles between irons, the loft is so strong on those 3, 4 and 5 irons, it is difficult to get the ball airborne. Have you noticed you always hit a 6-iron in the fitting set and not a 3, 4 or 5? You are fitted for a six iron and the salesperson takes the measurements and assumes you can hit a 3-iron, orders it in the relative fitting specifications and you pay good money for it. It’s wrong. In fact, it’s unprofessional to sell something that most half decent monkeys will know the customer can’t hit!

Now, we know you can now hit your new custom fitted 6, 7, 8 and 9 iron really well and longer, too.

But your pitching wedge has dropped from what used to be a standard 50 degrees and is now around 46 degrees…more like a 9 iron of old. So…that 3-PW set you’ve been “custom fitted” for includes three long irons you can’t hit and a PW that is actually a 9-iron. You need a sand iron because there’s sand on the golf course and that’s normally 56degrees. So now you have 10 degrees between two scoring clubs! So, in order to make sure you have all distances covered, you have to buy some hybrids and a gap wedge! Someone, somewhere is being ripped off! Let’s hope it’s not you!

It is always best to consult a qualified GCA or PCS club maker in partnership with your local golf professional, not the sales assistant in the discount golf shop who probably knows as much about club fitting as I do about the relationship between thermonuclear physics and cold fusion!

Set make up is vital in buying equipment. So while you’re getting new kit, make sure you’re buying what you need, not what you don’t.

Fitting Hybrids

You have obviously heard of being fitted for a driver, or even a set of irons…and now, putter fittings are finally becoming more popular…but what about Hybrids? The problem here is that few professionals have the correct data from which to work. Also, the challenge with hybrids is that a good clubmaker can get them to play in a variety of different ways, according to the customers wishes or needs.

There isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ standard here. Each golfer has their own swing speed, swing characteristics, launch angles and spin rates, smash factors etc, through the set.

You can, of course simply replace the loft of your irons with a hybrid equivalent. 5-iron is usually around 26-27 degrees, 4-irons (22-23 degrees) and 3irons (19-21 degrees) depending on manufacturers. Look for the equivalent numbers on the hybrid.

However, just swapping the iron out of the bag and replacing it with the manufacturers’ equivalent hybrid won’t guarantee a perfect gap between clubs. Although some manufacturers have designed their hybrids so they compliment the irons accurately.

You need to take advantage of the Doppler radar based fitting systems to get a true readout of distance differences. It will help if you have the ball you normally use as a test example, too. Outdoors is ideal. Indoors is still good, but not as accurate as with the radar systems. A Vector Launch monitor provides good results indoors.

By analysing your swing with these, a top quality custom fitting expert can see at which loft, shaft length and point in your set of irons you are more likely to do your scorecard damage on the longer clubs and he can see where the gap needs plugged.

Depending on your swing speed and other factors, in my experience it’s usually around 5 or 6 iron and that’s when we need to look at equipment with a lower centre of gravity (COG), a wider sole to make it easier to get the ball airborne and carry the correct distance. i.e. around 10 metres further than your most controllable iron.

 Fairway woods, being longer in the shaft length and flatter lie angle are also difficult to manage so a hybrid is the natural choice to make.

If you don’t like the look of hybrids, you can always opt for a larger iron heads. But we still need to look at a low and rearward COG, high MOI (Moment of Inertia…or resistance to twisting on off centre strikes).

The shaft also plays a key part here in helping the ball rise quickly and have a flatter arc at the top of its ball flight, which extends the flight time and therefore, distance, yet still maintain the drop and stop style of a hybrid ball flight. The Nippon 999GH, the Rifle Project X Flighted, TrueTemperGS95 and Grafalloy ProLaunch Blue shafts are good for these builds.

Bear this in mind while your custom fitter is designing your set. You should be able to hit consistently each iron or hybrid around 10 metres further than the previous loft. Distance needs to go hand in hand with accuracy.

The sole design and leading edge of a Hybrid makes it the perfect ‘go-to’ club when faced with longer shots from the fairway or light rough. Don’t forget, it’s a great club for chipping out of fringe grass and also for the bump and run on hard baked surfaces in mid-summer or in windy conditions

For the good players

Many a professional on Tour has given up with the blade long iron. In fact, it’s probably only his Royal Tiger-ness who uses it to decent effect…that “stinger” shot he plays is right out of Old School…but how many pros can teach that? And how many of you really good players can pull that one out on demand? Under pressure…narrow fairway…hard wind in your face…Miss the middle of the clubface on that butter knife and you’ll look a fool as your ProV1 carries 35 metres and rolls 35 more!

Good players often find they hit lofted hybrids too high. Put a low launch, low torque, very stiff flex shaft weighing anything between 85 and 110grams in the club head and you can alter playing characteristics quite a bit. Steel shafts are actually a superb option and Nippon Shafts have just introduced a fabulous lightweight steel shaft for hybrids.

The top guys have embraced the hybrid to such an extent that nearly every player has at least one in the bag, or an alternative for different conditions. Take Padraig Harrington as an example. He used the Wilson FyBrid to win The Open at Royal Birkdale in 2008, but he has two or three hybrids to choose from depending on conditions. Shafts, lofts and heads are all different.

There are so many ways of designing and building a hybrid, such as changing weights of shafts to add or decrease ball spin. But loft on the clubface is the fastest way to control ball flight with a hybrid. But some of the top players want some fine tuning, which is why club makers can play around with weights, flexes, lofts and even SST PURE’ing each shaft so it plays exactly how it was intended. A good club maker can find you exactly what you’re looking for and advise you on what purchase will suit your own game and plug those gaps on the long shots.

Depending on what you want from a Hybrid would depend on how it is built. There is no standard way to build it. Add a heavier, stiffer shaft and you’ll lower the spin and launch angle and those shots into the wind become more penetrating and don’t balloon in the air. If you really need height, there is nothing wrong with adding a lighter shaft, say 65grms which will lighten the swing weight and has a tendency to add backspin and height. Ideal for players with slower swing speeds.