These equipment mistakes are hurting your score, according to our gear experts

Every week, in collaboration with our sister-company and Top 50 Clubfitter True Spec Golf, our in-house team of equipment experts host the Fully Equipped podcast. It’s where we break down the most interesting equipment news in golf, from the most authoritative voices in the game.

New in 2021, we’re going to be highlighting many of those same Fully Equipped voices on GOLF.com as part of an expanded series of articles, sharing the best equipment insight around, and helping you play better golf as a result.

This week, the question: What’s a common mistake you see your fellow golfers make with their equipment?

1. Buying straight off the rack

Jonathan Wall, Managing Equipment Editor: It’s something we constantly preach in this space: I still see far too many golfers buying pricey clubs straight off the rack. It’s ludicrous to throw a new driver or iron set in the bag without going through a proper fitting. Get fit and save yourself some headaches down the road. I promise you’ll see results.

2. Ego ahead of performance

Andrew Tursky, Senior Equipment Editor: The biggest mistake I see amateurs make is putting ego ahead of performance. Everyone seems to want to either play what the pros use, or they want to play with blade-style irons that look good in the bag but they can’t hit. Remember the goal with your equipment is to find 14 tools that you’re comfortable and confident with.

3. Not being honest with their numbers

Luke Kerr-Dineen, Director of Game Improvement Content: Granted I’m not an equipment expert like J-Wall and Tursky, but one equipment-related game improvement mistake I see golfers make all the time is under-clubbing, caused by not knowing how far you hit your clubs. . It’s partly ego — they desperately want to think they hit their driver 280 because of that drive you hit that one time — and partly just not knowing. But it’s incredibly important to get on a distance-measuring device fairly regularly to get dialed-in. I don’t care if you only carry your 7-iron 130 yards, I care that you know, because not under-clubbing might be the easiest way to lowering your score.

Want to dial-in your bag like the pros? Schedule a fitting with the experts at our sister company, True Spec Golf.

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JWall

Jonathan Wall

Golf.com Editor

Jonathan Wall is GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com’s Managing Editor for Equipment. Prior to joining the staff at the end of 2018, he spent 6 years covering equipment for the PGA Tour. He can be reached at jonathan.wall@golf.com.

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Andrew Tursky

Golf.com Editor

Andrew Tursky is the Senior Equipment Editor at GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com.

Luke Kerr-Dineen

Golf.com Contributor

Luke Kerr-Dineen is the Game Improvement Editor at GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com. In his role he oversees the brand’s game improvement content spanning instruction, equipment, health and fitness, across all of GOLF’s multimedia platforms.

An alumni of the International Junior Golf Academy and the University of South Carolina–Beaufort golf team, where he helped them to No. 1 in the national NAIA rankings, Luke moved to New York in 2012 to pursue his Masters degree in Journalism from Columbia University. His work has also appeared in USA Today, Golf Digest, Newsweek and The Daily Beast.