BOMB (pictured above): One of our main tenets of the Hot List always has been this: That if you're not at least investigating new products and new technologies, or finding ways to make your clubs be a better fit for your game, then you really don't want to get better. The same holds true for us. Even though it's our job to look at, hit and decipher every piece of equipment imaginable, we also, like you, want to play better (and losing to Gouge and his partner, Jerry Tarde, in our inter-office team competition only makes me more determined to do that). In some ways, the Hot List offers that opportunity. And today I think I found something I never dreamed I would have.
As an amateur player, when I swing I'm hauling the mail, clocking in with somewhere between a 104 and 106 mile per hour swing speed. So like most players, I make the assumption that I need a stiff shaft in the driver, right? But I'm also a low launch, high spin player -- which makes driver fitting a bit of a problem. More loft adds launch, but also adds spin. But one of our tests today had us trying to figure out if loft or shaft flex mattered more. I hit a 10.5-degree driver with a stiff shaft and then a 9-degree regular flex driver. Guess what boys and girls? Me, the self-proclaimed "Bomb," had a better launch condition and hit the ball farther with the regular shaft driver. Moral of the story being to check your ego -- and your assumptions -- at the door.
GOUGE: I think your case points to the challenge that consumers face when it comes to equipment. The only way new equipment can't help you is if you assume you understand it completely. It's unfortunate, however, because you can't understand equipment completely unless it's your full-time job and no one has that kind of time. The answer? Challenge your assumptions. Don't think a new driver makes a difference? Get on a launch monitor with your current driver and get educated. Think your 3-year-old wedge is just fine? Borrow a new wedge and hit one 20-yard chip shot and see if you see a difference. Or maybe just trust that it matters so much that the USGA is progressively outlawing those aggressive wedge grooves starting in just 14 months. And, like we investigated today, if all you have is a pitching wedge and a sand wedge, and you might have as much as a 30-yard gap in your bag.
And when it comes to shafts? We've both seen plenty of research that "shows" how crucial they are to ballflight, and we've seen research that suggests they might not affect ballflight in any way at all, and even more research that indicates shafts are only reliable when oriented in a certain way. Truly, I don't think anybody can say anything with certainty about some universally constant effect of a shaft. But I do think you can't know anything for certain about what's right for you without a thorough investigation. And that means challenging your assumptions. So tomorrow we'll try some Senior Flex shafts for you.
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