Alpha Golf

Keeping your clubs in top shape is easy if you apply a little discipline and create a routine during and after you play a round of golf.  The golf club has three main components; the clubhead, the shaft, and the grip.  Each requires a small amount of care to be maintained in top condition which will provide you the best performance.

CLUB HEAD/FACE

The face of a clubhead has grooves on it, and they are there for a purpose.  They create the spin on the ball when you hit it.  Without spin you could not get the ball airborne leave alone hit a draw, a fade, or stop it on the green.  Keep your grooves clean throughout the round.  Always have a towel attached to your bag for this purpose, and before the round get one end of the towel wet.  (Do not dip your towel into a water hazard to wet, as you could be penalized for testing the condition of a hazard)  After you hit each shot wipe the face of the club with the wet end of the towel and all the grass and mud will easily come out of the grooves.  Then dry the face with the other end of the towel.  If you do this after each shot  your clubface will always be ready to hit the next shot.  You do not need to delay play when you do this, you can easily clean your club as you walk from one shot to the next.  If you delay cleaning the face the mud and grass will dry and become stuck to the face making it much more difficult to clean.

After you have completed your round you should again clean the faces of each club and at this time it is useful to use a soft bristled brush to make sure they are perfect.

SHAFTS

The shafts of your clubs do not require much maintenance whether they are steel or graphite.  After the completion of each round as you are cleaning the grooves on your clubfaces, just wipe the shaft down to remove any debris that may have attached itself.  However if you are caught in the rain on the course and your clubs become wet with water dripping down the shafts inside the golf bag, be sure to remove them all from the bag, dry them off, and leave them out while the inside of the bag dries overnight.  Leaving them wet, or putting them back into a wet golf bag could cause corrosion which would weaken the shaft and diminish its performance.

GRIPS

Modern clubs have rubber or composite grips that will last about 100 rounds of golf (depending on how many times you hit it each round).  But dirt and perspiration will build up on the grips and cause them to get slick.  About every ten rounds or so  you should clean them.  In a sink run the grip under a light steam of water.  Put one drop of dish washing soap on the grip and brush them with a soft bristle brush.  Rinse the soap off and dry with a towel.  Then leave them out of your bag for a few hours to air dry.  You will be amazed at how tacky they will get – almost like new.  After about 100 rounds though they will be worn down and at that time they should be replaced with new grips.  Regripping is not too difficult and you may learn to do it yourself, but it is not very expensive to have a golf shop do it for you and assure a neat professional job.

There are a lot of misconceptions about golf club fitting and how it can help your game.  Most people are concerned about what length their golf clubs should be.  They may be taller than the average person and think that perhaps they need longer than standard clubs, or if they are short they think they need shorter clubs.  This is not generally the case, nor is it the goal of proper club fitting.

Tall people generally also have long arms (in proportion to their body), thus the distance between their hands and the golf ball when they address it for a shot is the same as a shorter person whose arms are also in proportion to their body.  Now if you are tall and have short arms, you may in fact need longer clubs to set up to the ball properly and comfortably.  But most of us have arms in proportion to the rest of our body and club length is not a huge issue.  Beware of any club fitter that just takes a tape measure to your wrist and the ground – they are doing you a disservice.

What club fitting is really all about is loft and lie of the club to fit your swing.  There are two types of golfers that are coming in to be fitted.  The first is a novice golfer and their swing might not be very effective.  This person is more in need of instruction on how to hit the ball than they are of club fitting.  An expert fitter can fit them with a good loft and lie for the swing they have today.  But will they have that swing tomorrow?  And will they have it next season, or after they have taken 10 lessons from their professional?  Probably not.  Before getting clubs fitted to your swing you should be pretty sure that the swing you have is the one you’re going to continue using in spite of any limitations that it might have.

This second type of golfer is the one who will benefit the most from a good fitting of loft and lie.  Loft is generally a matter of preference as some people wish to hit the ball higher with the thought that it will carry farther and stop quicker upon landing.  Others may wish to hit the ball lower and have it run out more.  But if your swing plane is very steep (and you do not wish to change it) and the ball goes very high robbing your of distance, then a stronger loft (less loft) can help.  The same is true for someone who has a flat swing plane and wants to get the ball up more, higher loft adjustment can help them as well.

Lie angle is the most critical area in club fitting, as it will effect how solidly you hit the ball on the sweet spot, and it will improve your directional control.  If your clubs are too upright for your swing plane you will tend to hit the ball to the left (for a right handed golfer) and vice versa.  You can easily demonstrate why this occurs to yourself.

Take out your nine iron and aim it at a target using your normal set-up.  The sweet spot on the clubface is aimed at your target.  Now lower the shaft of the club down to the ground.  Look where the face is pointing.  It is about 40 degrees left of your target.  This is due to the geometry and loft of the club.  If you do the same thing with a 3 iron, the amount of “left” will be less, but only because the club has less loft.  So if your clubs are too upright for your set-up and swing plane, you have effectively lowered the club at the handle when you set-up and closed the club face.  But if you have the lie angle adjusted to fit your set-up and swing plane, then the club face will remain pointed at the target and you will find you hit it straighter with the same or even less effort than ever before.

There are many other aspects to club fitting relating to the swing weight of the club, the proper grip size, the flexibility of the shaft as well as its kick point, and torque.  All of these things will affect the trajectory and shape of your shots.  Every golfer has a different body, different strength, different timing and hand eye coordination and a proper fitting of your clubs can go a long way toward increasing your enjoyment of the game, and lower your scores.