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Ed. note: GOLF senior writer Alan Shipnuck is counting down the six most impactful and enduring stories from a golf year that was at once weird and wonderful, unnerving and uplifting. This is the final installment in the series.

Previously: The PGA Tour plays on | The young’uns are coming | Popov’s improbable rise | Dustin Johnson, superhero | The Bryson Effect

***

The coronavirus pandemic decimated numerous industries in 2020 but among the few that have benefited: golf. Turns out our favorite game is the perfect leisure activity for these unprecedented times. Social distancing is a breeze, and the fresh air, sunshine and companionship a needed tonic for many who are otherwise sheltered in place.

Beginning in the spring, courses embraced little changes to make the experience even safer: flagsticks stayed in holes so they don’t need to be touched; cups were raised and bunker rakes, ball-washers and benches removed; caddies avoided touching their players’ gear; carts took a back seat to walking. Taken as a whole, the golf experience offers a peace-of-mind that is otherwise nearly impossible to find once you venture out of your home. The game’s benefits have never been more apparent, and its surge in popularity has parallels to another unlikely boom time, during World War II.

Days after Pearl Harbor, John Kelly, the newly created Golf Deputy within the Office of Civilian Defense, sent a letter to state and national golf associations laying out the benefits of the game which still rings true today: ”This is the time when golf really must score for the physical and mental conditioning of American citizens under wartime pressure. Golf’s strong attraction as a sport in which our citizens exercise regularly in the open-air qualifies the game for national service of a vital character. Therefore we are urging the golf clubs and organizations of America to exert themselves to meet the requirements of individual and collective physical fitness.”

Now, we are battling a different kind of enemy, and golf’s popularity has reached historic proportions because of it. The National Golf Foundation reported that in August 2020 rounds-played in the United States were up 20.6 percent, the largest year-over-year increase since the numbers began being tabulated a quarter-century ago. Then September smashed the record by increasing 26 percent year-over-year, representing about 12 million more rounds. 

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The hits just keep coming: In November monthly rounds were up a whopping 57 percent over the same period last year. The equipment industry has seen a corresponding spike. According to Golf Datatech, an independent market research firm, July sales of golf gear eclipsed $388 million, the highest monthly total since the company started tracking data in 1997. The cash registers have continued to ring as the third quarter sales totaled more than $1 billion.

“Some of the regular weekdays have felt like a Black Friday,” says Derek Westover, the assistant manager at Golf Mart in Seaside, Calif., a house of worship for Monterey Peninsula golfers. “We had lines of people outside just waiting to get in.”

Westover noticed a particular enthusiasm as far back as April, when the federal government’s $1,200 stimulus checks were received. “A lot of cash started coming over the counter,” he says. “I think guys didn’t want a paper trail so wifey wouldn’t know what they were spending the checks on.”

Jitters about the supply chain led to a run on golf balls at Golf Mart. The past as always is prologue: On Dec. 17, 1941, the federal Office of Price Administrations announced a rationing plan for civilian use of rubber products and the next morning the Abercrombie & Fitch store in New York City was cleaned out of 24,000 balls, its entire inventory. Factory-refurbished used balls became such a thing that Gene Sarazen used one in the second round of the 1942 Masters, prefiguring Americans who would turn t-shirts into face masks to thwart the coronavirus.

Golf-club fittings have also surged in 2020. At True Spec Golf, which is owned by GOLF.com’s parent company, 8AM Golf, fittings from June through December outperformed company forecasts by 150 percent, according to Ryan Richardson, True Spec’s president and COO. 

“Historically, the average handicap of our clientele has been around a 10,” Richardson said. “Over the last half of this year, this number has grown to a 13, which tells me that far more novice golfers are taking the game more seriously and making sure they have the proper equipment in their bags.”

Why has golf become such a popular pastime in the Covid era? “Let’s face it, the locals don’t have many other options for entertainment,” says Pat Jones, general manager of Bayonet-Black Horse, a bustling 36-hole public facility in Seaside, Calif. “There are no Giants games to go to, no movie theaters, no concerts. The gyms aren’t the same. I guess the big question is how many of these golfers we’ll keep in the long run. But we’re certainly happy they’re here now.” Jones says he has noticed among new or returning golfers more groups playing scrambles and other non-traditional forms of the game to keep up their pace of play and have a little more fun on the two demanding golf courses.

A crucial demographic for growing the game is juniors, and, from a golf perspective, that is some of the best news to come out of this unusual year. NGF research shows the number of golfers ages 6 to 17 has risen by as much as 20 percent, and the increase is even more dramatic at Bayonet-Black Horse, where juniors who are members of the Youth On Course initiative can play for only $5. “On summer weekends in the past, we might have 10 kids come out,” Jones says. “Now, with no soccer or Little League or any kind of camps, we were getting 40 or more.”

That didn’t change with the end of summer. Kids doing at-home learning still need to get outdoors, and with organized sports largely shut down, golf remains an attractive option for family fun. Case in point is Kevin Price, one of the Monterey Peninsula’s most ardent golfers; he is the 2019 club champion at Bayonet and a part-time caddie at Pebble Beach when he’s not running his financial services company.

“Holy cow, it’s been hard to get a tee time around here,” Price says, “but it’s pretty cool to see new people experiencing the joys and benefits of the game.”

Price can often be found on the links with his adorable 4-year-old daughter Claire. She totes her own clubs and putter and will hit a shot or putt when the mood strikes. “The pandemic has been tough on all of us,” Price says. “When the golf courses reopened in early May, taking Claire out was a real morale boost with legitimate mental-health benefits. Schools were closed, playgrounds were closed, the beach was closed at times — the golf course became our sanctuary. It has gotten me away from doomscrolling on my phone, from the grind of day-to-day life.” Speaking for many, Price adds, “I honestly cannot imagine pandemic life without golf.”

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The post Why custom-built clubs will help you unleash your potential, according to an expert appeared first on Golf.

The post Why custom-built clubs will help you unleash your potential, according to an expert appeared first on Golf.

Nothing compares to that giddy Christmas-morning feeling when a new custom club or, even better, set of custom clubs arrives perfectly wrapped at your door. But while you’re likely to have spent some face-to-face time with your club-fitter, the folks who build these world-class weapons generally remain under the radar. To shed light on their contributions and why custom-building is more than worth the investment, we spoke to David McKee, build shop manager for leading custom-club builder Fairway Jockey.

Q: How did you reach your current position with Fairway Jockey?

David McKee: I graduated Arizona State University’s Professional Golf Management Program in 2008. I was a Class A PGA of America pro for a while, then took a job at a local custom clubmaker, where I worked for eight years before coming on board with Fairway Jockey when it moved operations to Scottsdale in 2017.

Q: You’re a builder, not a sales guy, but give us the elevator pitch for why serious players should be going to a custom builder such as Fairway Jockey for their next club or set of clubs.

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Why it pays to have Fairway Jockey assemble your custom clubs

DM: I like to compare the custom-club business to customizing a car. Sure, you can buy a car at the dealership, and they can do a few things to make it nicer. But if you want top-end performance and true customization, you have to go to a place geared for that — one that can add computer chips and superchargers and all that.

Q: You oversee Fairway Jockey’s team of club builders. What do you look for when you’re hiring someone new?

DM: One of my favorite interview questions is, “If I give you this desk from Ikea, can you put it together?” Guys that are hesitant probably don’t have the manual dexterity or the skill set. Someone who never built a golf club but has been a carpenter or a mechanic, he’s got the skills within his hands. Still, there’s always a training process. I don’t let any new guys touch customers’ equipment until I’ve seen them fall and get back up and figure it out. Training can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to three months depending on their knowledge and skills. It takes time to learn our processes and systems, as well as OEM specs.

Q: What’s among the more difficult tasks that club builders face?

DM: Marrying up different companies’ specs. If we’re building a full set of Callaways, that’s pretty standard. But if I have, say, Callaway irons and Titleist wedges — a brand-agnostic set — their builds are different. Marrying up head weights and specs can be tricky. If we have a clubhead that’s too heavy, we might have to drill some weight out of the hosel. If we have a head that’s too light, we may need to reach out to the manufacturer to send us a different head. There’s a lot of give and take when you’re building a brand-agnostic set, because in the end it still needs to feel and perform like a unified set.

Q: What else can be challenging?

DM: OEMs are starting to play with the lengths throughout a set geared to higher handicappers. Years ago, you’d always have a ½-inch difference between clubs no matter what. They started to realize that using a little extra length in the longer irons might give those players more of a benefit. Player-development clubs these days have greater gapping in the longer irons, which flows back down to a ½-inch in the shorter irons. So, if you’re trying to make a blended set or a combo set, that can get tricky in terms of lofts, swingweights and various other things.

Gear

In the market for custom-built clubs? Fairway Jockey provides a professional — and personal — touch

Q: You’ve built clubs for many Tour pros — are they your finickiest customers?

DM: Over the years, I’ve worked with several Tour players who are very specific as to feel. There was an LPGA pro who, when I handed her the club, she didn’t even have both hands on the grip before she said, “Nope, the grip’s too small.” I went back and added two wraps of tape. “Nope, grip’s too big.” There was an older pro who asked me to tip a shaft an eighth of an inch. I said, “You know, you’re probably not going to feel a difference with that.” He said, “Oh, I’ll feel it, trust me.” There are players who have that incredible level of feel.

Q: Amateurs must bring their own challenges.

DM: Nothing really surprises me anymore. Or maybe I should say that I’m not surprised that I get surprised every day. Some of the things people ask you to do, some of the garage stuff I’ve had to fix! One guy used to put yarn inside his driver to increase head weight. Another would put sand in the shaft to increase swingweight. All the guys who want to build a 50-inch driver, never mind that 48 inches is the maximum allowed. I could go on for days.

Then you have the guys who say, “If it’s not played on Tour, I’m not going to play it.” But after they go through a fitting and end up having something built that isn’t necessarily played on Tour, suddenly they’re playing the best golf of their lives. They open their mind and take advantage of our expertise.

Q: In the end, that expertise is one of Fairway Jockey’s strongest selling points, right?

DM: Yes, and also that you’re not limiting your possibilities. If I want to play my best, and I’m spending a fair amount of money to do so, why limit myself and what I’m able to achieve, or the things I have at my disposal? So, it’s also the variety of shafts and heads, the whole bespoke aspect of what we do.

Click or tap here to learn more about Fairway Jockey.

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The post In the market for custom-built clubs? Fairway Jockey provides a professional — and personal — touch appeared first on Golf.

The post In the market for custom-built clubs? Fairway Jockey provides a professional — and personal — touch appeared first on Golf.

There are a thousand variations of “two-kinds-of-people-in-the-world” expressions.

For golfers, one of the most common is “those who buy clubs off-the-rack, and those who get custom-tailored.” Plenty of players are content with stock, standard clubs, but more serious sticks demand, well, serious sticks that are truly made-to-measure.

Increasingly, that latter group is turning to Fairway Jockey, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based online boutique retailer of custom-club builds as well as aftermarket shafts and components. The company’s momentum in the past year has seen traffic to its site soar by 800 percent. Much of this growth can be attributed to the fact that Fairway Jockey, founded in 2017, is the only outfit of its kind where consumers can consult with a club-fitter before ordering, with all equipment still offered at MAP (minimum advertised pricing ) — that, and the fact that Fairway Jockey employs only master builders to piece together its bespoke clubs.

Fairway Jockey’s builders undergo rigorous training before they earn their wings and start work in the company’s state-of-the-art 20,000-square-foot shop. Before being hired, they’ve met equipment companies’ manifold qualifications; they have built, and continue to build, clubs for elite Tour pros. Custom-building is their full-time job, not a side hustle.

The awareness of custom-fitting’s benefits has been on the rise for some time, as have sales of custom-fit clubs; lately, however, there has been a trend toward getting fit and then heading elsewhere to have the clubs actually built. This can be a wise move — after all, a racecar driver rarely makes the best mechanic, right? Just because someone can determine the specs for the perfect set doesn’t mean he or she is equipped to build them perfectly, too.

So, where to turn? Definitely not to tiny outfits that implore you to “CALL FOR PRICING!” These gray-market operators try to compete on cost by finagling discounts on services that aren’t up to snuff (or aren’t even performed despite their promises) done by underqualified builders and lacking rigorous quality control. Going to the manufacturers themselves to fulfill an order is an option but still carries potential pitfalls, never mind that, unlike Fairway Jockey, they generally stock only a limited variety of custom aftermarket shafts.

There’s a difference between assembly-line and personalized-craftsmanship business models. An OEM might build upward of a thousand sets a day, while Fairway Jockey might build 10. Instead of clubs being passed through many sets of hands, at Fairway Jockey there’s one person following your clubs throughout the day or several days of the process, from grip to clubhead.

As a result, in a Fairway Jockey build nothing ever gets lost in translation, nothing is assumed to have been done that maybe wasn’t, no technical specs fall through the cracks during a handoff from one task to the next. Impeccable attention to detail means super-tight tolerances, with precise swingweights, lofts and lies, so every club performs exactly as it was intended to.

That’s something every kind of golfer wants, and deserves.

Click or tap here to learn more about Fairway Jockey.

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The post Money Game: Inside the expensive world of custom clubs appeared first on Golf.

The post Money Game: Inside the expensive world of custom clubs appeared first on Golf.

For the better part of 20 years, I’ve been locked in a low-stakes, high-bragging match against Peter Grossman, whose desire to beat me knows no bounds.

We call it the Grossman-Sullivan Open, or G.S.O. for short, and as long as we’ve played it we’ve talked about creating a trophy. During the stay-at-home pandemic, with Peter and me isolated in different parts of Delray Beach, Fla., I dropped off a blade-style putter with “GSO Champion” lasered into the insert and our initials on each bumper.

Like our match, the putter is one of a kind. I had it made by National Custom Works, which uses 3D printing to create one-off putters: Every aspect of the G.S.O. putter was customized for Peter (even though I plan to win it back soon). 

The trend toward customized wedges, putters, even irons and woods has been growing for years. TaylorMade and Callaway have created custom shops to personalize and modify their clubs, while smaller producers have leveraged social media to become the golf equivalent of boutique winemakers: expensive, sought-after and elusive. 

Enthusiasm drives a business where price is no object. “In the last two years, our custom business has just about doubled,” says Brian Bazzel, VP of global product creation at TaylorMade. Its most popular customization is the Spider X putter, with billions of combinations of shaft, lie and color. It costs about 20 percent more than the off-the-rack version. 

Alas, customization takes as many forms as a golfer’s imagination and budget allow. These days, every serious player gets fit for clubs, but the truly obsessed pony up for sticks made by legendary craftsmen Don White, who built Jack Nicklaus’ irons at MacGregor, or Mike Taylor, who created Tiger Woods’ sticks at Nike.

White’s irons start at $400 a head and go up to $650 for muscleback blades that require him to grind a single head for seven hours. But that price is just for the head — not for the shaft, ferrule, grip or someone to build the club. 

“Right now, we make about 150 heads a month, at the most,” says Patrick Boyd, who cofounded National Custom Works with White. “It takes time.” 

Boyd says many aficionados start with “short sets” — five or six irons that can be gapped to cover different distances. 

Barry Doyle, who lives outside Denver, has several short sets gapped at 6 degrees, but also a four-club set at 10 degrees — 24, 34, 44, 54. His desire to play with fewer clubs arose out of a four-club match he played at Ballyneal years ago. “It dawned on me how creative you can be,” he says. “I could have 14 clubs or 4 clubs, and I’m going to shoot 81.”

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Jeff Halverson, a scratch golfer who owns an architectural consultancy in Flagstaff, Ariz., describes himself as “a degenerate golf junkie.” He has irons crafted by Don White, but he also has a rare set of blades made by Mike Taylor, the Tiger Woods whisperer whose new company, Artisan, is based in Fort Worth, Texas. After letting that slip, Halverson won’t say more. “The first rule of Fight Club is you don’t talk about Fight Club,” he jokes.

Taylor is more nonchalant about it. “I’ve made some irons for customers I have relationships with,” he says from his shop. “I’ve just asked people, Let’s not go post these things up there on the internet, because I’ll get 14 million emails that I don’t have a response for.”

Taylor’s wedges — which Patrick Reed used to win the Masters in 2018 — are not the subject of such secrecy. At $300 each (with the cost occasionally topping $400 for stamp-happy wedge geeks), they’re reasonably priced — at least given how much custom work goes into them. 

“We have golfers at our facility for two to three hours,” Taylor says of a typical wedge fitting. “We look at a lot of approach-shot scenarios. We’ve changed people’s games.”

Another niche of the wedge game is one-of-a-kind models. Anthony Taranto, one of Callaway’s master craftsmen, creates wildly designed wedges that get auctioned for charity. Some sets have fetched $5,000, says Dave Neville, senior director of brand management. “You’d be surprised how many people say, ‘I can’t wait to put them in play.’ ”

Putters are another obsession altogether. 

Halverson has an affinity for longneck putters, and has dozens of them. Al Vikmanis, the putter maker at National Custom Works, says that with 3D printing he was able to make Halverson the longest longneck in his collection and still keep the center of gravity where it should be. Vikmanis’s putters have gone for as much as $2,500, depending on their complexity.

Somewhat easier on the wallet are the sticks made in Callaway’s Odyssey division, which has a custom putter shop where players can tweak Sean Toulon’s designs. The cost is between $400 and $650. “These are for hardcore putter collectors who want something no one else has,” Neville says. 

Perhaps the most sought-after putter-maker since Scotty Cameron is Tyson Lamb, a 31-year-old scratch golfer from Plano, Texas, who is building a workshop in Plano that will double as a hangout. His handiwork collects anywhere from about $1,400 up to $5,000.

For a Lamb putter, everyone waits — even Wayne Gretzy, whose “Allendale flowneck” model took six months to build. 

The clubs are cool, but what’s especially priceless for custom-club aficionados is the access. “You’re one D.M. away from the person building the clubs,” says Halverson. “To listen to Mike Taylor talk about working with Tiger — it’s fun to be able to share in those stories.”

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The post 10 essential rules for getting a competitive junior golfer fit for clubs appeared first on Golf.

The post 10 essential rules for getting a competitive junior golfer fit for clubs appeared first on Golf.

Young players can benefit from a clubfitting every bit as much as fully-grown golfers, perhaps even more so. But you’ll get way more out of the fitting if you know what factors to take into consideration. We asked Tim Briand, director of fitting and sales of True Spec (which, like GOLF.com, is operated by 8AM Golf), for his advice on how your up-and-comer can get the most out of his or her fitting.

1. GO THE WHOLE NINE YARDS TO START…

“The first time you get fit, you should get fitted for everything. The difference between a full-bag fitting and just an iron fitting is $150. For a junior, it can be less. There’s not a huge disparity between looking at everything in the bag and certain categories.”

2. …WHICH DOESN’T MEAN YOU’LL END UP WITH 14 NEW CLUBS

“A qualified, professional clubfitter is going to be honest with the client. If he believes everything needs to be replaced, that there are huge gains to be made in each category, he’ll tell you so. But if I only found a kid three yards of distance in irons and the consistency pattern wasn’t considerably tighter, I’d say, ‘I get it, these irons don’t fit that well, but even the best-fitting irons don’t move the needle that much. So, let’s focus on a different aspect of the bag.’”

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When's the right time to replace your high-level junior golfer's hand-me-down clubs?

By: Evan Rothman

3. TAKE THE COACH’S WORD AT FACE VALUE, AND THE KID’S WITH A GRAIN OF SALT

“A competitive junior may have a miss tendency, but it doesn’t tend to imprint on them psychologically. To kids, embarrassment is a huge deal. One specific, embarrassing shot can shade their perceptions. When I ask, ‘Is there a problem shot?’, kids will skew to something in competition with their peers that caused them embarrassment. That may be disconnected from their real patterns. Their coach knows the real patterns and issues.”

4. SIGNS IT’S TIME FOR A CLUB CHECK-UP

“I’d recommend that every growth spurt, have them come back in. Also, if a junior’s shots are getting wilder — if their dispersion pattern is growing — in conjunction with hitting the ball higher with more spin, that indicates the shaft flex is getting too weak. If they’re hitting lots of shots thin and hardly any fat, and mostly down toward the toe, that means the clubs are getting too short. Remember, as they’re getting better, they should be hitting it better. If their skill set is improving but their performance isn’t, it’s probably because their equipment doesn’t match their skill set. Let performance, and the ball flight, dictate when it’s time to revisit things, and the priorities.”

5. SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF…

“Be careful of colored grips — they look cool but they use paint. That makes them heavier, which in turn makes the club’s swingweight lighter — too light.”

6. …BUT NOT THE EGO STUFF

“Everyone knows that there’s a 14-club limit, but not everyone requires 14 clubs. The speed you create correlates to the number of clubs needed. There’s no reason to spend money just to lose another headcover, right?”

7. GO WITH AN ADJUSTABLE DRIVER

“Yes, adjustable drivers are a little more money than bonded ones, but it’s a way smarter purchase for a kid. You can re-shaft a bonded driver, but as the swing is evolving, you can’t adjust loft, face angle, anything. An adjustable driver has so much value to a junior, because it allows the instructor to tweak the club as swing changes are being made.”

8. TREAD LIGHTLY AROUND MUSCLEBACK BLADES

“As they reach high-school age, I’ve seen a lot of accomplished junior golfers gravitate toward more difficult-to-hit products, with the idea that it’s going to train them to be more precise. I’d shy away from stuff that’s very penalizing. As adults, we’re far more consistent on a day-to-day basis than kids. Their physical capabilities change so much in terms of growth, rest, stress, stuff that’s going on academically. Having something with at least a little bit of perimeter weighting is a good idea.”

9. PUTTER-FITTING IS CRUCIAL, SHORT-TERM

“The most effective club in the bag to fit is always the putter, because we’re going to use that around 30 times per round, while the next-most-used club is the driver at 14. It has the most bearing on the score, and we don’t have to consider nearly as many things on a putter as on a full-length club. Are we going to have to worry about the shaft flex changing on a putter? No. Length? Maybe, but that’s easy. Yes, putters have lots of design elements to consider, but it’s not like we have to worry about the player getting too strong for the club. Why juniors don’t get fitted for the putter is beyond me.”

10. PUTTER-FITTING IS CRUCIAL, LONG-TERM

“I work with Tour players and other elite players. I’ll ask them, ‘What’s the favorite putter you’ve ever owned?’ Almost always, they’ll go back to a putter they used as a junior. Then I put them on all this fancy equipment and start to evaluate things from a fitting standpoint, going through all the options. We end up finding a club that clearly performs best. When you look at its design elements, 90 percent of the time those elements mirror the one that they used as a kid. Why? With putting, even more than the full swing, we groove mechanical patterns to compensate for whatever club we’re using. So, if you used a specific putter as a junior for a long time, you’re engraining movement patterns, and when you switch that movement out to another one, those movement patterns no longer reconcile.”

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The post Tiger Woods says he grinds his own wedges in home workshop appeared first on Golf.

The post Tiger Woods says he grinds his own wedges in home workshop appeared first on Golf.

We know that Tiger Woods is particular about his golf equipment — but who knew he actually grinds his own wedges?

Throughout his golf career, Woods has used prototype golf clubs that have been custom designed for his game. His irons, for example, have always had traditional lofts, long heel-to-toe lengths, reduced offset, thin toplines, high centers of gravity (CG) and additional camber on the soles.

When it comes to wedges, he’s also used very specific designs dating all the way back to his amateur days. He started off his professional career using Cleveland 588 RTG wedges, then, as Titleist staffer, he switched to Titleist Vokey 200-Series wedges that were based on the Cleveland designs. Then, after switching to Nike equipment, he worked closely with legendary craftsman Mike Taylor on his wedges. Now, he uses TaylorMade’s Milled Grind 2 wedges that are machine-milled (with no need for hand grinding).

Woods’ wedges have always been special because they have a dual-sole configuration that has leading edge and trailing edge relief, and added heel relief for versatility.

“My bounce generally has been towards the leading edge,” Woods told GOLF.com in 2017. “I have a relief right next to the leading edge so I’m able to hit it on hard‑packed ground, able to get the leading edge down. But I also have enough relief on the back so I can slide it underneath on the heel side.

“But, you know, traditionally my soles have been pretty much standard in width, a little more rounded than some guys, just because I like to use different parts of the bounce, depending on what shot I’m going to use. But it really hasn’t changed that much in like 15 years or so. It’s been pretty much the same.”

As revealed in a recent GolfTV video inside Woods’ home workshop, Woods actually does some wedge grinding of his own. In the video, Woods says his favorite piece of workshop equipment is the “grinder,” which is a machine that helps grind down the metal of a wedge in order to dial in the right sole design.

Grinding your own wedges can be dangerous for two main reasons: 1) Since the belt sander runs at high speeds, it’s physically dangerous for your fingers and hands, and 2) It’s easy to take too much metal off the wedge and completely ruin it.

“The problem is once you shave down the club, there’s no coming back,” Woods told GolfTV. “And so, it’s taking it little by little … take too much off, now I have to try a whole new wedge.”

For those reasons, most golfers trust professional club builders and master craftsmen to grind their wedges.

It’s unclear from the video whether Woods actually grinds the wedges he uses in competition himself, or whether he’s just messing around in his workshop. Being that Woods worked closely with Taylor – one of the most highly respected wedge grinders in golf – it’s likely that Taylor was grinding Woods’ competition sets. But clearly Woods isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty and grind wedges himself.

“I sit here and just kind of grind whatever wedge configuration I’ve wanted,” Woods said. “This is like my third belt I’ve used here.”

For do-it-yourself golfers who enjoy tinkering with their own equipment, just know that Tiger Woods is right there with you in a workshop grinding away, too.

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The post Cobra launches limited-edition ‘Pars & Stripes’ SpeedZone drivers appeared first on Golf.

The post Cobra launches limited-edition ‘Pars & Stripes’ SpeedZone drivers appeared first on Golf.

To celebrate Independence Day, Cobra is releasing limited-edition Cobra SpeedZone and SpeedZone Xtreme drivers that have a patriotic color scheme. Creatively named “Pars & Stripes” — a play on the “Stars and Stripes” of the American flag — the drivers feature white crowns, hints of red and blue on the sole, and a blue PVD face.

The driver heads themselves are equipped with all of the same technologies as the original retail models. That includes the CNC Milled faces that maximize ball speed, low CGs (center of gravity) for high launch and low spin, and aerodynamic shaping to reduce drag. They also have 360 Carbon Wrap crowns that helped Cobra reposition weight low, back and around the perimeter to help with speed and forgiveness.

Interested in a purchase but not sure which model suits you best? The SpeedZone driver has a lower spin profile that allows for front-to-back weight adjustability in the sole to manipulate spin and launch. The SpeedZone Extreme driver, on the other hand, focuses on maximum forgiveness for golfers who don’t always strike the center; it has a larger shape, more perimeter weighting, and a 17-gram tungsten weight in the rearward portion of the head.

The SpeedZone Pars & Stripes driver will come in a 9-degree model (adjustable from 7.5-10.5 degrees), and the SpeedZone Xtreme driver will come in a 10.5-degree head (adjustable from 9-12 degrees). Each option comes equipped with a Fujikura Ventus Blue shaft, and Cobra Connect powered by Arccos in the Lamkin red-white-and-blue grips.

Cobra’s limited-edition, USA-inspired drivers will sell for $549 each (right hand only; stiff and regular shafts, with X-flex available on custom orders), and they begin selling on Friday on the company’s website. You can pick one up here.

For all your other golf-shopping needs, check out our new Pro Shop.

To hear more gear insights from Jonathan Wall and True Spec’s Tim Briand, subscribe and listen each week to GOLF’s Fully Equipped podcast: iTunes | SoundCloud | Spotify | Stitcher

The post Cobra launches limited-edition ‘Pars & Stripes’ SpeedZone drivers appeared first on Golf.

The post 6 mistakes that DIY club builders make when building golf clubs appeared first on Golf.

The post 6 mistakes that DIY club builders make when building golf clubs appeared first on Golf.

When building a set of golf clubs, there’s a lot more that goes into it than simply assembling parts. To build up your new desk from IKEA, you’re basically just following rigid step-by-step instructions. Building a golf club, however, takes a combination of art, science and experience, with many minute details effecting how the club looks and performs.

A small mistake in the club-building department can completely ruin a golf club. Fail to connect the shaft properly to a driver, and it could disconnect mid-swing, sending the club head flying down range. Fail to understand cause and effect of certain club adjustments, and you can unknowingly have the club setup for a fade when you want a draw. Overlook certain precautions, and you’re stuck rebuilding the club from scratch.

The point is, there’s a lot that can go wrong in the club building process. Most golfers, even most pros — although there are some exceptions on Tour — leave the build to the experts. Others want to be more hands-on.

For this article, I wanted to provide assistance to those who are either new to golf club building, or have done it for a while and may be overlooking a few key elements.

Since I’m by no means an expert club builder myself, I enlisted help from David McKee, the production manager at GOLF.com’s sister company True Spec Golf. Unlike myself, he is an expert in club building and has spent his career building clubs for all types of golfers, including Tour players and major winners. With his insight, I’ve crafted the top-6 mistakes that do-it-yourself (DIY) club builders make when assembling/repairing/adjusting golf clubs.

I hope this helps!

1) Not properly understanding cause and effect

It’s easy to forget that changing one component of the golf club has an effect on the overall club build. So, when you’re adjusting one particular element of the golf club, remember to think about how it’s effecting the other aspects.

For example, say the grip you have on your current club is too light and thin, so you want to build it up with a few wraps and maybe some lead tape underneath. This will affect the swing weight of the club in general and how the shaft performs throughout the swing. In this case, it’s likely that you’ll have to add weight to the club head to counteract the added weight to the grip-end of the club. Additionally, where exactly you add weight in the head can affect center of gravity.

Remember, when you’re changing one variable of the club, have an idea of exactly what you want, why you want it, and how that will change the club overall in terms of build and performance.

2) Misunderstanding terminology

As with the sport of golf, club building has its own language. It’s crucial to have an understanding of the basic terminology, or things can go haywire. Imagine having the terms “slice” and “hook” mixed up when trying to fix your golf swing? It would get very confusing very quickly.

The same goes for club building. For example, as McKee explains, some club builders confuse the terms “hard-stepping” and “soft-stepping.” Soft-stepping is when you use a 5-iron shaft in a 6-iron, a 6-iron shaft in a 7-iron and so on. Hard stepping, obviously, would be the opposite of that. The benefit of soft-stepping a shaft is to get more flex, raise launch and spin, whereas hard-stepping makes the shaft firmer, and lowers ball flight and spin.

Confusing soft-stepping and hard-stepping, as you can see, can exacerbate the problem you’re trying to fix. So, get to know essential club building terms by reading up in books, magazines or on the internet. Another option is to consult a local expert if you have any confusion at all.

“No question is a stupid question when it comes to club building,” McKee says. “Don’t hesitate to reach out to a club building expert. I know I’m happy to help anyone get their equipment right.”

3) Taking improper measurements

Just the other day, McKee said he had a client bring in a driver that measured 48.5 inches when the client thought it measured 47 inches. How does this happen?

In this example, measuring the length of a golf club isn’t as simple as laying it flat and stretching a tape measure out the way you’d measure dimensions of a floor, for instance. There are certain measuring devices specific to golf clubs that the USGA and golf industry at large use.

Unfortunately, ignorance isn’t an acceptable excuse when it comes to equipment rules. “I used the wrong measuring device” won’t fly when the USGA deems your club illegal for competition and slaps you with penalities.

Legality aside, using improper measuring devices can drastically impact how the club feels and performs versus how you want it to. If you’re baking a pie and measure out a “tablespoon” of flour by using a teaspoon, you can see how things can go awry (not the best example, but you get the picture).

It should also be mentioned that some companies may use slightly different measurement tools. Therefore, there are variations in the way a club can measure dependent on the method and tool that is used.

4) Veering too far away from OEM specs

Golf club manufacturers that build the parts of golf clubs build them a certain way for a reason. Going too far off course from the club design can be problematic to the integrity of the club and how it performs.

For example, say a shaft manufacturer builds a shaft that only has 2 inches of parallel section before tapering. In the specs of that shaft, a company will probably recommend maximum tipping of maximum 1.5 inches. Therefore, if you decide to tip the shaft 2.5 inches, this can cause all sorts of problems when trying to connect the shaft to the club head.

Another example would be bending lofts of irons or wedges too much. Each iron and wedge are designed with a specific bounce. For every degree of loft changed, you’re essentially changing that bounce angle by a degree, as well. So, if you’re looking to lower the ball flight of your 7 iron and want to lower loft by 3 degrees (!), remember that you’re significantly effecting the bounce of that club head. In this example, you would be eliminating 3 degrees of bounce, which may cause too large of a divot and effect impact conditions.

The best solution for these issues is to consult with the OEM on the original specs of the club head before veering too far off course and ruining the head or shaft.

5) Focusing too much, or not enough, on swing weight

Matching the swing weights of your golf clubs throughout the set can be an important and helpful aspect of club building; but, swing weight isn’t everything.

Let’s say your driver measures C8 and you want it to be D2. If you simply add four swing weight points worth of weight to the club head, you can run the risk of making the overall weight of the club significantly too heavy.

On the flipside, you can focus too little on swing weight. Say you’re looking to add fade-bias to your driver head to keep the ball from flying left, so you add a bunch of lead tape into the toe section. All of that lead tape, depending on how much you use, can have a dramatic impact on swing weight and radically change the feel.

McKee recommends investing in a swing weight scale to keep a close eye on how your adjustments are impacting the measurement. But don’t sacrifice feel and common sense just to hit a specific swing weight.

6) Turning down ferrules

We’ll eventually take a deeper dive on ferrules, but for this article, it’s worth at least a brief overview.

Ferrules are the little plastic objects that sit between a club head and the shaft; they make the transition from head to shaft look smoother. As McKee explains, ferrules are purely aesthetic these days, but they’re important component of how the club looks. Ferrules are also an easy thing to mess up.

Since the outer diameter of ferrules typically measure wider than the club’s hosel, the ferrules need to be “turned down” in size. There’s many different ways of doing this, and lots of home club builders have their own tricks. McKee, however, recommends using a felt strip on a sand belt to marry the ferrule to the hosel and shaft. Using sand paper, he warns, puts the club head in danger of getting scratched and ruining the finish.

A butchered ferrule is a tell-tale sign of an inexperienced DIY club builder.

Closing Thoughts

Despite the doom-and-gloom tone of this article, building your own golf clubs can be fun, rewarding, and informative. At the very least, it’s great to have an understanding of how golf clubs are made and how golf clubs truly effect shots on the course.

If you’re interested in getting started, McKee recommends this starter pack.

When you’re first starting out, no matter how much you read and how many tutorials you watch, you’re going to mess up a few clubs. That’s why it’s best to learn the ropes on old equipment that you won’t actually play with. Learn how to bend loft and lie. Learn how to regrip a club. Learn how to take a club apart and put it back together. Then, when you get to know the process and have experience, you’ll be ready to work on your gamer set.

Have fun, but also be careful! You don’t want to harm yourself or your golf clubs in the process.

To hear more gear insights from Jonathan Wall and True Spec’s Tim Briand, subscribe and listen each week to GOLF’s Fully Equipped podcast: iTunes | SoundCloud | Spotify | Stitcher

The post 6 mistakes that DIY club builders make when building golf clubs appeared first on Golf.

The post 7 awesome photos of Michael Jordan’s custom golf gear appeared first on Golf.

The post 7 awesome photos of Michael Jordan’s custom golf gear appeared first on Golf.

NBA legend Michael Jordan, most notably of the Chicago Bulls, is arguably the greatest basketball player of all time (quiet down Lebron James fans, this is a golf article). Jordan is also an obsessive golfer, known for his legendary on-course gambling and questionable golf attire.

During the first installment of “The Last Dance,” which is a 10-part documentary series highlighting Jordan’s sixth and final NBA Championship-winning season, I noticed that Jordan was using a Ping Anser putter in a golf montage. That got me wondering; what other golf clubs has Jordan used throughout his storied golf career?

So, I took to Getty Images and went through years-worth of photos. I noticed that Jordan has played a number of different brands during his golf career, including Wilson, Ping, TaylorMade, Callaway, Nike, Bettinardi, Scotty Cameron, Odyssey and surely more.

I also noticed that Jordan has played some of the coolest custom clubs, and has used breathtakingly awesome golf bags. Below are 7 gear highlights from among the thousands of great Jordan golf photos.

1. Chicago Bulls red driver

Obviously, Jordan is a big fan of red, the same color as the jerseys that the Chicago Bulls wore during away games. In the photo above, he’s using what looks to be an ultra-custom TaylorMade R1 driver painted completely red.

2. Wilson-Jordan staff bag

One of Jordan’s many lucrative endorsement deals includes Wilson, which makes golf gear as well as basketballs. This Wilson-made, Chicago Bulls/Michael Jordan staff bag is one of the coolest staff bags I’ve ever seen. I say that, of course, with the utmost respect for the classic Tiger Woods-Buick collaboration bag.

3. All gold everything

Jordan has a lot of gold in his life. He has six NBA Finals MVP trophies, which are gold, six NBA Championship trophies, which are also gold, and this custom golf driver that’s dripping in gold. When you have as many trophies as Jordan does, you can pull this off.

4. A custom Scotty Cameron

Judging from the golf photos of Jordan, he’s not afraid to switch putters often. This custom Scotty Cameron Bulls Eye blade putter is one of the standouts, being that it has his initials “M.J.” stamped on the toe portion of the face.

5. The shoe bag

Jordan shoe collectors may actually lose their minds over this one. This red-and-black Jordan staff bag has numerous Jordan sneaker models stitched into it. As you can also see, Jordan was bagging a set of Ping S58 irons at this time.

6. Tar-Heel blue driver

Jordan is a proud former North Carolina Tar Heels basketball standout, and this Tar-Heel-blue “23” TaylorMade Burner driver is the ultimate custom Carolina design.

7. Enormous grips

Obviously, Jordan has huge hands, evidenced by the ease of which he palms an NBA-sized basketball. As such, he has huge grips… HUGE grips. What are there, like 23 wraps under those things?

To hear more gear insights from Jonathan Wall and True Spec’s Tim Briand, subscribe and listen each week to GOLF’s Fully Equipped podcast: iTunes | SoundCloud | Spotify | Stitcher

The post 7 awesome photos of Michael Jordan’s custom golf gear appeared first on Golf.