Nicklaus was terrific, staying for every minute of the dinner, posing for as many photographs as the winners and their parents wanted, and movingly congratulating the group from the podium. Jack only did the right thing; he seemed to be enjoying it as well.
It's an annual dinner that makes one proud to be a golfer and proud that Golf Digest supports RBS in its recognition of these kids.
At our table sat Tyler Clem, from the First Tee of Fort Smith, Arkansas, a soft-spoken 17-year-old, who has overcome abuse and depression and fallen in love--with golf. He plays for his high school golf team and wants to play in college. Years ago, I think Tyler would have asked only about tour pros or teachers or great courses we'd seen. But Tyler wanted to talk equipment. And he knew a lot about it. He'd recently changed the shaft in his driver and the ball he was playing "because the spin rate off the driver was 5,000" and he knew that it should be somewhere between 2-and 3,000. He knew he needed a low kick point on his driver. He demonstrated why. He took me through his bag and some specs on his irons, mentioned that he had changed them recently (from one forged brand to another) to get more control and a slightly lower trajectory.
A few years ago, I would have said that Tyler was precocious in his knowledge of equipment, a special case. But not now. Your letters, our web traffic and the kinds of questions we get from readers--the kind that Tyler asked me--are more and more about equipment--and more and more sophisticated. Online, the most popular topic on our web site is golf equipment. Our Hot List and other equipment stories, more detailed information from manufacturers, as well as the swing trackers and launch monitors that are now standard at golf shops and ranges, have made you, our readers, much smarter about the kinds of equipment you play and how--whether--it fits your game.
At one table the other night was the champion who had won 18 majors, mostly with a ball, the Tourney, that by all accounts was inconsistent from one to the next. And here was Tyler talking about spin rates and kick points like a club fitter.
The moral: Juniors experience golf far differently today than the way Jack did growing up, not only in the way the swing (and fitness) is taught, but in the way they see equipment as part of the game-improvement package. Credit the Big Bertha, the Ping Eye-2 or the invention of Surlyn, but kids are more gear-oriented than we ever were. These kinds of advancements, along with much more sophisticated testing and tracking, have raised the "equipment IQ" of the whole sport, especially among kids, I think. Today's young golfers, Tyler among them, look to their equipment as much as to their golf lessons as the path to a better game.
--Bob Carney
Rating
Comments
Post A Comment