SirShanksAlot
Hello everyone… and thanks for dropping by! Lots and lots of email today so I’m thinking that I should probably answer some! I’ve been a slacker over the past few days and it shows…
We had a very interesting email about where to buy golf clubs. It talked about a moral dilemma that one of our readers is having. He knows what club he wants but he doesn’t know where to buy it. Does he take his business to his local pro or look online and find a much cheaper price? This question really hits home for me… having worked in a few pro shops, a few larger retailers and now being involved in a website. So what to do? We all want to save money… but we enjoy customer service… especially when spending a large amount of money! Let’s stop and look at a few questions…
– What happens if the driver breaks? Will the Ebay seller provide warranty or will you be forced to warranty it on your own? We usually ask for a reciept during a warranty and some companies will ask for one too. Having to pay for one broken shaft on your own basically eats up any discount you had from buying on Ebay.
– Are you getting exactly what you want? Are you buying from a respected dealer or some guy out of his basement? There are a ton of fakes out there and like anything else… if it is too good to be true, it probably is! You know exactly what you are getting from your pro shop.
– How great a discount are you getting? If your pro really wants to make a sale, he/she will probably be willing to drop the price or throw in some “extras”… things like range tokens, lessons, maybe a shirt…. that kinda stuff. I’ve worked in enough pro shops to know that there are always ways of lowering prices… if you know how!
At the end of the day, it’s up to you… you’re the one dropping the money for a new driver. Tell your pro about your problem and at least give him/her a chance to compete with the price. They’ll at least remember that you gave them a chance… and that can go a long way down the road. Feel free to check out my Golf Club Buying Guide entry “Let’s Go Shopping, But Where Do We Go?” too. I hope this helps a bit. Let us know what you end up doing and I will gladly post it for all of our readers. Thanks for the email!
Let’s talk about how to achieve a lower ball flight. Many better players like hitting the ball slightly lower because it is a bit easier to control. The majority of the drivers on the market today are designed to hit the ball high… because 95% of golfers need more height (even if they think that they don’t). Lowering the loft of a driver can be a double edged sword… it will lower the ball flight but it can also cause a lot of spin problems. A few easy ways to lower ball flight…
– Look for a driver with a higher center of gravity – Titleist makes a good one here. They gear their product towards the better player and most of their drivers are designed to hit the ball a bit lower. The TaylorMade R7 TP is a good one too because it comes with more weights so you can tweak the center of gravity.
– Look for a shaft with a high kickpoint – A high kickpoint means a low ball flight (yes.. I know it is reversed). Every shaft company has something to offer here… my favorite is the Aldila NV. A word of warning though… if you don’t have a fast swing… a shaft like this won’t work. You’re wasting your money here!
– Look at your swing – Why are you hitting a high ball? Talk to a pro and get them to take a quick look at your swing. I see lots of golfers finish their swings with the majority of their weight on their back foot. This will help hit the ball high but can probably be corrected with a lesson or two!
My advice is to go to a demo day and fool around with some different shaft/head combinations. Browse through different shaft company websites and get an idea of what they offer. Remember to look for “high kick” or “low ball flight”! Let me know what you come up with!
A few quick Cleveland questions from a reader. First off… why wasn’t the Cleveland HALO in many of the golf magazines and their “Hot Lists”? The HALO came out a bit late and missed most of the magazine hype. This club is awesome… and it will be one of the clubs reviewed during “SirShanksAlot’s 24 in 24″ later this month. The second question is about the RTG wedges. As far as I know… the RTG’s were discontinued. We haven’t had any all year and none of our books don’t show them anymore. Too bad… they were nice. Try the GunMetal if you liked the RTG… most of my customers do.
Well that’s it for right now… I have a sporting event to attend to. I might update when I get home… we’ll see how I’m feeling! Thanks for all the email and we will keep plugging away to keep you informed!