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In this video Neil Tappin and Joel Tadman offer some pointers about your equipment choices. Many golfers have ideas about what might be best for them but sometimes these can be based on pre-conceptions that are wrong. Of course, this can lead to you spending money on golf gear that isn't quite right for you. In this video they look at what the 10 biggest golf gear myths are.
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00:04Hello everyone, Neil Tappan and Joel Turnman here from Golf Monthly and welcome along to
00:08West Hill where we'll be talking you through the 10 Golf Gear myths that can have a really
00:13negative impact on your game. Yeah, I think these are all theories that people have about
00:17why certain equipment might be right for them, but actually those theories are based on misconceptions
00:21that sometimes are wrong and they can sometimes lead to you buying things that aren't quite right
00:26for you. Guys, if you're new to the Golf Monthly channel, please do hit the subscribe button
00:30to make sure that you don't miss any of our videos. But let's take a look now at the 10
00:34biggest golf gear myths.
00:40OK, so the first myth we are going to look at is that higher handicappers should always
00:44go for more forgiving golf clubs. Now, there are lots of different reasons why you might
00:49play off the handicap you play off. It might be that you're a higher handicapper not because
00:52your ball striking isn't consistent, but actually because your short game is letting you down.
00:56It might well be that you're a higher handicapper looking for a new set of irons. If you automatically
01:01go for irons that are aimed at higher handicappers, those irons might well have offset built into
01:06them. But if your consistent miss is left, that actually, that offset isn't going to
01:10do you any favours. So it's just about nuance. There's a bit more to it than just thinking
01:14that just because you're a higher handicapper, you should go for a certain set of golf clubs.
01:17Think about your own game. Think about where you're throwing away shots. That's more helpful
01:21than just thinking, I pay off a certain handicap, therefore I should go for a certain set of
01:24golf clubs.
01:30Now, the second golf gear myth is that everyone needs a lower spinning driver. While some golfers
01:35out there will definitely benefit from lowering their spin to maximise carry distance, actually,
01:40it's more about optimising the spin that you generate and how you combine that with the launch
01:44angle and the ball speed that you bring to the table. It's all about bringing those factors
01:48together to maximise carry distance. So if you are quite a high launching player, then yes,
01:54potentially knocking some spin off could maximise distance. But there will be situations where
01:59taking spin off your drives actually will be a detrimental effect to the distance and the
02:04performance of your drive. So it's just something to bear in mind. Be careful.
02:07Knocking spin off doesn't always lead to more distance.
02:15The next myth is, and it's something that we get a lot of comments about on our videos,
02:19is that the shaft is the most important part of the club. Now, of course, it really is very
02:23important, but it's just one piece of the jigsaw. So take a driver fitting, for example,
02:28the fitter will have a whole host of different options available to them so that different shafts,
02:33of course, but then you've got lie angles, you've got lofts, you've got different weight settings
02:37in the head, and they all make a difference to the performance of the driver. So just
02:41laying it all on the door of the shaft and saying that it's really important to get the right shaft
02:45for you. Yes, it is, but you also need to get all the factors right in the heads to make
02:49sure that
02:49you walk away with the clubs that are right for you.
02:56Now, the next golf gear myth is that some golfers think they're not good enough to generate spin
03:01around the greens, and as a result, they choose a golf ball that's orientated more towards distance,
03:05because that's where they feel like there are more kind of bigger, more significant performance
03:09gains to be had. But actually, if you're hitting chip shots around the greens, as long as the lie
03:14is clean and you're striking the ball relatively well, you've got fresh grooves, you've got clean
03:18club faces, you will be generating a decent amount of backspin. And actually, if you switch into a premium
03:23urethane-covered ball, you will see the amount of control that you generate increase. And that gives
03:28you more options around the greens. It should help you get up and down more often. So just because maybe
03:33your short game is a weakness, you're a bad chipper, or maybe you're a high handicapper,
03:38it doesn't mean that you can't benefit from the performance and the field benefits that a premium
03:43golf ball offers.
03:49The next one on our list is that draw bias drivers are for higher handicappers. Now, that's not the case.
03:55Instead, draw bias drivers are for those players that tend to hit a consistent fade and want a little bit
04:00more distance, want a slightly straighter ball flight, or for those players that hit quite a big slice
04:04and are looking for something that's going to guard against their bad shot. Now, draw bias drivers can
04:09be used by players of all handicap abilities. So just because you're a higher handicapper, don't
04:14automatically assume that a draw bias driver is right for you. It's based less on your handicap
04:19ability and much more on your ball flight.
04:27So the next golf gear myth on our list is that every golfer needs a gap wedge. And actually,
04:32in truth, every golfer needs even loft gaps between each of their wedges. And a lot of it comes down
04:38to what loft your pitching wedge is. You can find it out online. If your pitching wedge is quite strong
04:43in loft, the chances are you probably will need a gap wedge to plug that gap in between your pitching
04:47wedge
04:47and your sand wedge. And it also comes down to how many wedges you want to carry. And that will
04:53depend,
04:54in turn, on what clubs feature in the top end of your bag. So if you have quite a lot
04:58of clubs in the top
04:59end of your bag, maybe you've got an extra hybrid in there or a utility iron, you'll have to make
05:03sacrifices elsewhere in your bag to hit that 14 club limit. And therefore, you might need to opt for a
05:08three wedge makeup rather than a four wedge makeup. I use four wedges. I prefer the options around the greens
05:15and also I play quite a short golf course, so I have quite a lot of wedge shots into green.
05:20So I
05:20want to have more loft gaps covered off, more distances covered off with those different wedges.
05:25But if that's something that's not applicable to your course, if you feel like you get more
05:29performance benefits from having more clubs in the top end of your bag, then maybe you won't need
05:33a gap wedge. You can go from a pitching wedge to a sand wedge and then a lob wedge. As
05:37long as the loft
05:38gaps are relatively even, then it should be quite easy to control the distances on those shorter shots.
05:48The next myth is that some golfers think they're not good enough to get custom fitted. And there's
05:53a couple of elements to this. The first is that any fitting involves a series of static measurements.
05:58So those things that are going to enable you to find the right shaft lengths, the right lie angles
06:02for your game and the right thickness of grips, they will all make a difference and they will help
06:06you find the middle of the club face that little bit more often. And then on top of that, a
06:11key part
06:11of any fitting is to help a player guard against their bad shot. So it might well be that your
06:16bad
06:17shot tends to leak out to the right or that you tend to hit it low and left sometimes and
06:21that's
06:22your bad shot. The fitters can do things when they're setting the golf clubs up for you that
06:25will help guard against those shots that are really costing you out on the golf course.
06:35Now the next golf gear myth on our list is that graphite shafted irons are only for slower swingers
06:40and I would 100% argue that case because I've done some testing here at West Hill with Yonex testing
06:45their new irons with graphite shafts and I was actually blown away by the performance was on offer.
06:50Yes, it does feel a bit lighter and it takes some getting used to and yes, they do launch the
06:53ball a
06:54little bit higher than steel but the dispersion was really tight. It didn't feel whippy at all and if you
06:59get
06:59the right spec for you in terms of that flex profile, I think you'd actually really benefit
07:04from or really enjoy the feel of the performance on offer and the fact that they are a lot lighter
07:08means less effort is required, they feel a lot smoother and you might even be able to practice
07:13for a little bit more. So if you're a bit of a range rat, you like to hit a lot
07:16of balls,
07:17potentially graphite shafts could unlock a little bit of extra time for you to do that
07:20and from what I've seen there really isn't a sacrifice in performance if you go for a custom
07:25fitting. So definitely don't discount graphite if you're looking to upgrade your irons.
07:34Finding the right putter is all about feel. Now there's actually a lot more to it than that.
07:38The first thing I'll say is that when it comes to the mainstream manufacturers,
07:42all of their putter ranges offer a really good feel. There are some slight differences but they
07:45all offer a good feel. So actually finding the right putter is more about finding something that's
07:49the right length for you so that you can stand more consistently and in a better way over the ball
07:54so that your eyes are in the right position over the ball and also so that you can find a
07:58putter that
07:58complements your stroke. Some players will have more of a straight back and through stroke,
08:02some players will have a stronger arc. Whatever it is, you need to try and marry up the putter
08:06with your stroke. If you can do that then you should find a putter that's right for you.
08:15So the final Golf Gear myth is that Tour Pros are using completely different equipment to what us
08:21amateurs are using and actually in reality the equipment that both of us are using is very similar.
08:27Of course Tour Pros have access to the Tour Trucks with some specialist technicians that are able to
08:31make some very specific changes to the head whether it's hot melting in drivers to position weight
08:36exactly where they want it or special grinds for different course conditions on their wedges which
08:41allows the wedge to interact with the ground in a slightly different way depending on the the grass
08:45they're playing and things like that but generally speaking the heads that you can buy are the same
08:49as what the Tour Pros are using so don't go thinking that they're playing a completely different
08:53game to us. It's very similar equipment unfortunately they're just using it a lot better than us.
08:59So there you have it that's our list of 10 Golf Gear myths. Guys before you go please do hit
09:03the
09:03pause button and let us know if you think we've missed anything there's quite a lot of misconceptions
09:07that people have about golf equipment and finding the right equipment for them if you think we've
09:11missed anything let us know. Yeah and thanks for watching if you like what you're watching make
09:15sure you click the like button and do subscribe to the Golf Month YouTube channel if you haven't
09:19already so make sure you don't miss any of our equipment videos but that's all from us from West Hill
09:23Golf Club it's good bye
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