- 11 hours ago
In this video, Golf Monthly's Neil Tappin runs through 5 gear checks every golfer needs to make. These range from checking your yardages to making sure your grips are in a good state ready for a powerful, athletic golf swing. If you are looking to play better golf, then keeping an eye on your gear is a must - here's how to do it!
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00:00Hello everyone, Neil Tappan here from Golf Monthly and welcome to the London Club and
00:03this video on the five golf gear checks that every golfer needs to make. Now obviously
00:08you've got 14 clubs that you can carry with you plus a whole host of different accessories
00:13and golf balls as well so it pays to make sure that what you're carrying with you is
00:17set up exactly right for you so that there aren't any silly mistakes that could end up
00:21costing you shots. And now if you're new to the Golf Monthly channel please do hit the
00:24subscribe button to make sure you don't miss any of our videos but let's get started looking
00:28at the first on our list of five golf gear checks. Now the first check to make is to
00:33ensure that each of the clubs in your bag goes the distance that you think it goes
00:37and this is something worth doing maybe once or twice during a season. I would
00:42pick a driving range with good quality golf balls, well-defined targets and if
00:47possible ball tracking technology that will give you an idea about how far each
00:52of the clubs in your bag carries. Now it's the carry distance that you're after not
00:56the total distance, the total distance will depend on ground conditions, the carry distance
01:00will give you an idea when you're out on the golf course what hazards you can fly over,
01:05where you need to pitch the ball in order to get the ball close to the flag. So it's carry
01:09distances that you're after. Now ideally you will be able to get those reliable carry distances
01:14that we're talking about for every club in your bag but I appreciate this may or may not
01:18be possible depending on the access you have to things like good quality golf balls at the
01:22driving range and the technology to track the shots. If you're struggling on that front,
01:27one thing you can still do is you can still check to see that the gaps between your clubs
01:33are even. This can be really helpful. Now it might well be that over the course of the season
01:37the loft of one of your irons has changed a little bit and actually has made it a little bit
01:40stronger
01:41or a little bit weaker. If you go through this process you might well be able to identify anything
01:45that really stands out in the data as being wrong and likewise it could be that either you're getting
01:52a little bit older or maybe not swinging the club as fast as you used to and perhaps your five
01:57iron
01:57doesn't go as far or is going the same distance as your six iron in which case you're carrying a
02:02club
02:02that you don't need to carry and there will be an equipment solution out there for you.
02:06This is just good housekeeping, good to make sure that each of the clubs that you're carrying
02:10is going as far as you think it will so that when you get to the course you've got confidence
02:14in
02:15the numbers that you're able to carry the ball but also that you're not carrying anything that isn't
02:19doing exactly what you want it to. Now the next check to make is your grips on your clubs. Now
02:25your grips are your only point of contact with the golf club so making sure they offer plenty of
02:29traction for as much control as possible while you're making a full and athletic swing is absolutely
02:34essential and here I've got an older golf club with an old grip on it and this is what you're
02:39looking
02:40out for so this grip has a bit of a I'd say a bit of a sheen to it which
02:44which you can
02:45tell isn't offering as much grip as you'd want it to. Now if this was in my bag which it
02:49isn't but
02:50if this was in my bag I'd give this a good clean I'd give it a scrub with some hot
02:53soapy water to
02:54see if I was able to resurrect this grip because I think over time grips get dirty if you've been
03:00out on the course on a really sunny day where you've had sun cream in your hands they can get
03:05that that sort of grease sort of baked into them slightly that causes you to have less traction than you
03:10would hope so I would give that a clean and see if I was able to recover it if not
03:15then obviously
03:15I think I'd probably look to invest in a new grip for this golf club. Now in my hands here
03:21I've got
03:21two clubs that I am currently carrying in my bag and this shows you why you need to make a
03:26check
03:26about your grips because in my right hand here is my 50 degree wedge this grip is in a great
03:30state
03:31you can see it's really clean offering plenty of traction that's fine no need to clean no need to
03:35replace but in my right left hand here I've got my three wood and obviously when you make a swing
03:41with a three wood you want to be as athletic and powerful as possible and you want as much grip
03:45as
03:45possible but as you can see when especially when you compare the two this grip is in need of a
03:51bit
03:51of care and attention again I'd give this a clean and if it still wasn't offering as much traction as
03:56I want then I would replace it and these are the sorts of checks that are worth making probably
04:00with your grips again maybe once maybe twice a year make sure they're in as good a state as possible
04:05because as I said if you're looking to make full athletic powerful swings you want as good a
04:10control of the club as you can possibly get. Okay so the next one on my list is about golf
04:15balls and
04:16actually this is less about the state of the golf balls that you carry because I don't know about
04:20you but I tend to lose balls before I retire them it's actually more about the sheer number of makes
04:26and models of golf balls that you're carrying around the course with you so during the course of a
04:31normal season you'll probably spend enough time searching for golf balls whether it's
04:35your own or your playing partners that you will pick up quite a few different makes and models so
04:39if I were you I'd go and have a look at your golf bag and have a look at the
04:42sheer number of
04:43different makes and models take out anything that you can't imagine yourself actually playing with
04:48because otherwise you're just adding weight to your golf bag for no reason once you've done that
04:52then maybe identify the one make and model that you really like the one that offers you
04:58what you feel like is the best performance and then maybe invest in a few more of those
05:02golf balls so that you have one ball in your bag that is your kind of favoured option because if
05:08over time you get used to the way in which that golf ball performs particularly in the short game
05:13then understanding exactly what to expect could make a big difference okay so the next one on my list
05:19relates to wedges and in particular the state of the face of your wedges now it's a natural thing about
05:24golf that over the course of a period of time you will not get as much spin with your wedges
05:29as you did when
05:30they were brand new of course you won't most golfers know that but there's an important
05:34distinction to make here between the wedges that you carry in particular if you're somebody that
05:39uses the same wedge for all of your short game shots and you practice with it a lot and in
05:43particular you hit a lot of bunker shots with it that wedge will probably need to be upgraded
05:48on a slightly more regular basis than the other wedges in your bag if you think about a bunker shot
05:53it's a bit like sand blasting the face of your wedge it's going to really dampen down those grooves and
05:58it's not going to just affect the amount of spin you're able to generate but it will also change
06:02the ball flight that you create with your short game so it's something to think about this wedge
06:07that i'm carrying here this is an old favorite i absolutely love this wedge but there's no two
06:10ways about it it's coming towards the end of its lifespan i'm not able to generate anywhere near as
06:15much spin with this wedge as i was when i first got it and if i compare it to a
06:19newer wedge the face of
06:20which i can actually see the difference in the grooves so i think that's a kind of a warning sign
06:25that you
06:25think to yourself actually a new wedge fresh grooves might allow me to be a little bit more
06:31aggressive with my short game shots which could actually really help okay so the next check to
06:36make is about your golf gloves and if you're anything like me you'll have quite a few different
06:40golf gloves in your bag and it's worth taking a look at them all to figure out which stage of
06:44their
06:44lifespan they're at now there might well be a few in your bag that have got wet and then dried
06:49and
06:49as a result become quite hard and it may be cracking alternatively they've got really significant
06:54wear marks on them in which case i would just get rid of those golf gloves now you're also likely
06:59to
06:59have a few gloves like i've got in my hand here this glove is pretty old as you can see
07:04it's pretty
07:04dirty and there are some wear marks on the thumb but when i put it on it still feels really
07:08good it's
07:09still nice and soft now i would continue to carry this glove but i'd probably only use it to practice
07:14with and by doing that i know that i'm extending the lifespan of the good gloves that i have in
07:19my bag
07:20and another tip that will help you do that is to carry some wet weather gloves so wet weather gloves
07:26come in a pair and they're really good when the weather's bad they'll offer you excellent traction
07:30but crucially by carrying some wet weather gloves in your bag you know that you'll be able to extend
07:34the lifespan of your good gloves again so that you're not wearing them in really bad weather conditions
07:39which can accelerate the degradation of those gloves so by just doing those couple of simple things
07:44i think you'll find that you'll have a better quality of golf club in your bag waiting to be
07:48used in competition play okay so that's my list of five golf gear checks that every golfer should
07:55make and please do leave some comments below is there anything you think i've missed it's always
07:59worth sharing ideas around there might be some other people there that can really benefit from
08:03any ideas that you have about how to keep your clubs in as good a condition as possible because i
08:08think
08:08by doing these checks and doing them on a fairly regular basis you'll be ensuring that you're not
08:12making any of those silly mistakes that we can all make from time to time and ensuring that the clubs
08:16that you carry are really doing the business for you out on the golf course uh thanks for watching
08:20that's all for now from the london club we'll see you next time
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