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
01:51you're getting a little bit older or maybe not swinging the club as fast as you used to
01:55and perhaps your five iron doesn't go as far or is going the same distance as your six iron
02:00in which case you're carrying a club that you don't need to carry and there will be an equipment
02:04solution out there for you. This is just good housekeeping, good to make sure that each of the clubs
02:09that you're carrying is going as far as you think it will so that when you get to the course
02:14you've got confidence in the numbers that you're able to carry the ball but also that you're not
02:18carrying anything that isn't doing exactly what you want it to. Now the next check to make is your
02:23grips on your clubs. Now your grips are your only point of contact with the golf club so making
02:28sure they offer plenty of traction for as much control as possible while you're making a full
02:32and athletic swing is absolutely essential and here I've got an older golf club with an old grip on
02:38it and this is what you're looking out for so this grip has a bit of a I'd say a
02:42bit of a
02:43sheen to it which you can tell isn't offering as much grip as you'd want it to. Now if this
02:48was in
02:49my bag which it isn't but if this was in my bag I'd give this a good clean I'd give
02:52it a scrub with
02:53some hot soapy water to see if I was able to resurrect this grip because I think over time
02:59grips get dirty if you've been out on the course on a really sunny day where you've had sun cream
03:03in
03:03your hands they can get that sort of grease sort of baked into them slightly that causes you to have
03:09less traction than you would hope so I would give that a clean and see if I was able to
03:13recover it
03:14if not then obviously I think I'd probably look to invest in a new grip for this golf club.
03:20Now in my hands here I've got two clubs that I am currently carrying in my bag and this shows
03:24you
03:24why you need to make a check about your grips because in my right hand here is my 50 degree
03:29wedge
03:29this grip is in a great state you can see it's really clean offering plenty of traction that's fine
03:34no need to clean no need to replace but in my right left hand here I've got my three wood
03:40and
03:40obviously when you make a swing with a three wood you want to be as athletic and powerful as possible
03:44and you want as much grip as possible but as you can see when especially when you compare the two
03:49this grip is in need of a bit of care and attention again I'd give this a clean and if
03:54it
03:54still wasn't offering as much traction as I want then I would replace it and these are the sorts of
03:58checks that are worth making probably with your grips again maybe once maybe twice a year make sure
04:04they're in as good a state as possible because as I said if you're looking to make full athletic
04:08powerful swings you want as good a control of the club as you can possibly get. Okay so the next
04:13one
04:13on my list is about golf balls and actually this is less about the state of the golf balls that
04:19you
04:19carry because I don't know about you but I tend to lose balls before I retire them it's actually more
04:25about the sheer number of makes and models of golf balls that you're carrying around the course with
04:29you so during the the course of a normal season you'll probably spend enough time searching for
04:34golf balls whether it's your own or your playing partners that you will pick up quite a few different
04:38makes and models so if I were you I'd go and have a look at your golf bag and have
04:42a look at the sheer
04:42number of different makes and models take out anything that you can't imagine yourself actually
04:47playing with because otherwise you're just adding weight to your golf bag for no reason once you've done
04:52that then 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 golf balls
05:02that you have one ball in your bag that is your kind of favored option because if over time you
05:09get
05:09used to the way in which that golf ball performs particularly in the short game then understanding
05:14exactly what to expect could make a big difference. Okay so the next one on my list relates to wedges
05:19and in particular the state of the face of your wedges. Now it's a natural thing about golf that
05:25over the course of a period of time you will not get as much spin with your wedges as you
05:30did when
05:30they were brand new of course you won't most golfers know that but there's an important distinction to
05:34make here between the wedges that you carry in particular if you're somebody that uses the same
05:39wedge for all of your short game shots and you practice with it a lot and in particular you hit
05:44a lot
05:44of bunker shots with it that wedge will probably need to be upgraded on a slightly more regular basis
05:50than the other wedges in your bag. If you think about a bunker shot it's a bit like sandblasting
05:54the face of your wedge it's going to really dampen down those grooves and it's not going to
05:58just affect the amount of spin you're able to generate but it will also change the ball flight
06:03that you create with your short game so it's something to think about. This wedge that I'm
06:07carrying here this is an old favorite I absolutely love this wedge but there's no two ways about it it's
06:11coming towards the end of its lifespan I'm not able to generate anywhere near as much spin with this wedge
06:16as I was when I first got it and if I compare it to a newer wedge the face of
06:20which I can actually
06:21see the difference in the grooves so I think that's a kind of a warning sign that you might think
06:26to
06:26yourself actually a new wedge fresh grooves might allow me to be a little bit more aggressive with my
06:32short game shots which could actually really help. Okay so the next check to make is about your golf gloves
06:38and if you're anything like me you'll have quite a few different golf gloves in your bag and it's worth
06:42taking a look at them all to figure out which stage of their lifespan they're at. Now there might well
06:46be a few in your bag that have got wet and then dried and as a result become quite hard
06:51and it may
06:51be cracking or alternatively they've got really significant wear marks on them in which case I
06:56would just get rid of those golf gloves. Now you're also likely to have a few gloves like I've got
07:01in my
07:01hand here this glove is pretty old as you can see it's pretty dirty and there are some wear marks
07:06on
07:06the thumb but when I put it on it still feels really good it's still nice and soft. Now I
07:10would continue to
07:11carry this glove but I'd probably only use it to practice with and by doing that I know that I'm
07:16extending the lifespan of the good gloves that I have in my bag and another tip that will help you
07:22do that is to carry some wet weather gloves. So wet weather gloves come in a pair and they're really
07:28good when the weather's bad they'll offer you excellent traction but crucially by carrying some
07:32wet weather gloves in your bag you know that you'll be able to extend the lifespan of your good gloves
07:37again so that you're not wearing them in really bad weather conditions which can accelerate
07:40the degradation of those gloves so by just doing those couple of simple things I think you'll find
07:45that you'll have a better quality of golf club in your bag waiting to be used in competition play.
07:50Okay so that's my list of five golf gear checks that every golfer should make and please do leave
07:56some comments below is there anything you think I've missed it's always worth sharing ideas around
08:00there might be some other people there that can really benefit from any ideas that you have about
08:04how to keep your clubs in as good a condition as possible because I think by doing these checks
08:09and doing them on a fairly regular basis you'll be ensuring that you're not making any of those
08:13silly mistakes that we can all make from time to time and ensuring that the clubs that you carry
08:17are really doing the business for you out on the golf course.
08:19Thanks for watching that's all for now from the London club we'll see you next time.
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