"Off the rack" will kill you (your game, that is)

Ok, right off the bat, we need to talk about "off the rack" golf clubs. Great, great stuff at Golf Mart and Golfsmith. No doubt about it. The company's on display such as Callaway and Taylormade have terrific R&D and quality control procedures. What they have too is a need to build clubs only a few ways to satisfy another need that is controlling production costs. They are your typical OEM, with global distribution, and hence, need to produce quickly and cheaply. That said, "standards" come into play, which leads us to what you have access to and what you need to regard as you shop the "marts".

Let's jump right into specifics and talk Drivers. First and foremost, mass market drivers are way, way too long for 99% of the population. Good luck hitting the center of the face a decent percent of the time, unless of course, you're 6'4" or something similar. Why are drivers getting longer and longer? Simple: heads are lighter with lighter materials, as are shafts, and that means longer shafts to maintain "standard" swingweights (which is subjective anyway and for another blog). Also, distance is king in the marketing realm and that one center strike for Joe Golfer is what he remembers, and not the 14 other duck hook drives he hit into Mr. O'Leary's swimming pool off the 15th tee.

To hit smooth, long drives requires club control. I'm 6'2" and use a 44" driver because I can't hit a 45" driver on the center spot a high enough percentage. That's the bottom line. I assure you that PGA pros can't either which is why the average length on tour is 44.5". So there it is.

What to do? You want that Taylormade Burner but know it's 46" and you're 5'8". A butt trim is the answer. Taking an inch or two, or three, off the butt with a rod saw blade will get you to a manageable length. It'll also move the kickpoint up 1", or so, which is negligible to performance, but more importantly, lessen the swingweight 6 points/inch. This can be offset with lead tape (4.5" of 1/2" tape, for 2g or 1 swingweight point), to get the club to a desired swingweight, but play around here. You'll be surprised as to what a different than stock swingweight will feel like. Check center hits though for what's effective for you in the long run. And, a butt trim with tape on the head will do nothing for direction, but will soften the flex a bit and help add a bit of lag to the swing, which equates to additional power. It's all good, so butt trim it and get control of your tee game.