Time to consider a better brands?

Many golfers new to the sport will probably be playing with clubs that were part of a packaged set or look similar to brand leading products – not necessarily clones but products that appear to offer similar technology – but do they?

Package sets, which include woods, irons, a putter and a bag, tend to be built down to an attractive price point with the result their manufacturers usually have to cut some corners. Possibly one of the weakest points in their specification may be found in the quality of their shafts. Now to a beginner one shaft looks very much like another, so do they matter? The answer is very much yes, they do! The shaft connects the club to the golfer and transmits the power generated through the club face to the ball. Now shafts bend or flex in a variety of ways during the swing so it’s important to have one that is ideal for a beginner. The better they are the more expensive they become, so unfortunately they are less likely to be in a budget set.

Heads too can look very similar but the devil is in the detail. Most of us only view a club from their outside appearance, particularly their graphics, but today with the use of computer aided design, the inside becomes equally important. Small amounts of material can be taken away from one part of the head to another, where they will be more effective in helping the beginner or higher handicap golfer to avoid a slice – when the ball, for a right handed golfer, veers off to the right probable landing in the rough, worst still in a hedge or out of bounds!

So you decided to take up the sport, you are enjoying the fresh air, exercise and company but you would like to improve your performance and lower your handicap. Possibly this is the time to evaluate your golf irons to see if an upgrade would add to your enjoyment of the sport.

The time has possibly come to consider buying clubs from a well known manufacturer. Their brand names are important to them and so the good ones are not going to cut corners. Their products have been developed over a number of years using the best in computer aided design and while you may not be able to see the differences trust the name: Callaway, Ping and TalorMade for example.

Ping‘s G15 are great examples of what you should be looking for. They have been designed with high launch angles and maximum forgiveness sought after by the majority of golfers. The stainless steel heads feature a new Custom Tuning Port (CTP) design that saves 7 grams which has been moved to the perimeter further enhancing the MOI. The heads also feature thinner club faces that release weight to be re-positioned at the toe - a great benefit on miss hit shots. Finally the wider sole moves weight further away from the face helping to create higher flying, longer launch shots.