Selecting the right clubs Archives — The ramblings of a Golf, Fishing, Gaming, and Fantasy Sports Fanatic.

Even the truth can be misleading

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After three Canadian Seasons of playing golf, I’ve learned a few things. Not everything the major manufacturers say necessarily applies to the Beginner Golfer. The looks, and feel of Golf clubs are given far too much credit when rated by trusted reviewers online. These things have factored in to some of the poor equipment choices Beginners can make. In this article I’m going to explain how to better understand as a Beginner what information actually applies to you.

Looks, feel, and demand

I watched a Video on YouTube recently where the reviewer was testing five different Irons from five manufacturers. He based his final score for each club on a number of factors including shot consistency, distance, appearance, and cost. The club that actually performed the best overall finished second because the reviewer didn’t like the looks of the Iron. He suggested that we should actually purchase the inferior product because it looks better in the bag. He’s not alone in his thinking. I’ve seen, and read many reviews of excellent products that get dismissed because they don’t have a classic look. Golf Digest routinely gives out it’s Gold star ratings for a number of Golf products from balls to Drivers. Be careful how much credit you give their ratings though. They make a point of factoring in Product demand when considering their final rankings. That’s right it’s also a popularity contest. Two clubs could perform equally as well, but if one is from a major manufacturer with a team of tour Pros, and marketing. Well that’s the club that’s going to get the Gold star because lots of people like it. Beginners shouldn’t concern themselves with customer demand, or how pretty a club looks in the bag. All they should be concerned about is how a new piece of equipment will improve their game. I understand the motivation that a lot of these online reviewers have. Make the Big Golf Manufacturers happy, and there could be some free swag, or marketing dollars coming your way. Qualitative categories like looks, or feel, and skewed categories like demand allow reviewers to consistently keep whichever Big brand product they like near, or at the top of their rankings. Nobody can argue about Feel, because what feels right to each person is unique. In some cases Feel is more about the Shaft of a club. If you are getting professionally fit. What a reviewer says about Feel isn’t valid at all. Looks are really about what makes you confident, and comfortable over the ball. Read any of the reviews you can find online about my Adams Yes Milly Putter. All of them will make a point of telling you how ugly it is. I can admit that the Black and Yellow colour scheme is a bit garish. It makes lining up the ball an absolute breeze through.

The majority of reviewers will highlight all the technology that went into the Putter. The C-Groove milled face, true alignment sole, heel and toe tungsten weighting, and high contrast alignment were all considered top of the line tech. Unfortunately for Adams though the Looks category kept the overall ratings down. I easily tested 20 different Putters before selecting the Yes Milly. I only based my final selection on two factors, price and performance. Price always plays a role, but not as much when it comes to Putters. I know that I’ll keep the right Putter for years. I might go through three sets of Irons before I change my Putter. For that reason I’m willing to spend more. Fortunately for me, all of the technology crammed into the Yes Milly Putter came relatively cheap. Adams was bought by Taylormade, and the Yes Putter division was dropped reducing Demand. The many reviews proclaiming how ugly it was didn’t help it’s market value so it went on clearance relatively quickly. In the end I had narrowed it down to the Odyssey White Hot 2.0 vs the Yes Milly. The Milly won because I was able to consistently lag long Putts closer to the hole. Like I said, Performance always wins.

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