09.27.06 6:00 AM CDT
• After After Hours
• Josh Robertson
I am a golfer of much more enthusiasm than skill. I don’t get to play very often. When I do, I slice.
This was my story when I visited the Callaway Performance Center in Carlsbad, California, two months ago. I was going there to be fitted for a set of clubs that would correct the flaws in my game. I spent an afternoon hitting balls at a screen while cameras and computers tracked my performance. It wasn’t pretty. The computer showed that, with a driver, I have such a consistent slice that my game would probably improve if (like Jackie Mason at the end of Caddyshack 2) I simply turned 45 degrees to my left and aimed for the trees every time I went to tee off.
Callaway’s solution is different: Make me a set of clubs with heads weighted to cause a natural draw. At first, I worried that this might not be a good idea. Wouldn’t such clubs be encouraging the flaws in my swing? Shouldn’t I strive to perfect my swing instead of buying my way to straightness?
Not necessarily. I play three to six times a year—it might be unrealistic to think that I will actually change my swing much when I am going weeks or months between golf outings. Any adjustments I make, on friendly advice from fellow players, are likely to evaporate over the weeks I don’t play, and when I do get back to the course I’ll be starting, to a certain extent, from scratch.
Yeah, yeah—so Callaway made me these clubs, and on Friday I finally got to play an actual round of golf with them, and damned if I wasn’t hitting it straighter. The driver, always a fickle tool for me, was suddenly my favorite club in the bag. There’s no worse feeling for a novice golfer than jacking a drive way the hell out there, envisioning, as the ball continues to float upwards, a par or perhaps birdie, only to see it swerve violently into the bulrushes as it descends. But my new Callaway woods greatly improved my chances of hitting the fairway.
This is not to say that I didn’t still slice a couple drives. And I was hitting my irons about the same. And I haven’t figured out the hybrids yet. But overall, I think these clubs will improve my play. I recommend them if you’re a casual golfer who’d just like to hit it straighter.
You can learn more about custom fitting, including locations that will fit you, here.
This was my story when I visited the Callaway Performance Center in Carlsbad, California, two months ago. I was going there to be fitted for a set of clubs that would correct the flaws in my game. I spent an afternoon hitting balls at a screen while cameras and computers tracked my performance. It wasn’t pretty. The computer showed that, with a driver, I have such a consistent slice that my game would probably improve if (like Jackie Mason at the end of Caddyshack 2) I simply turned 45 degrees to my left and aimed for the trees every time I went to tee off.
Callaway’s solution is different: Make me a set of clubs with heads weighted to cause a natural draw. At first, I worried that this might not be a good idea. Wouldn’t such clubs be encouraging the flaws in my swing? Shouldn’t I strive to perfect my swing instead of buying my way to straightness? Not necessarily. I play three to six times a year—it might be unrealistic to think that I will actually change my swing much when I am going weeks or months between golf outings. Any adjustments I make, on friendly advice from fellow players, are likely to evaporate over the weeks I don’t play, and when I do get back to the course I’ll be starting, to a certain extent, from scratch.
Yeah, yeah—so Callaway made me these clubs, and on Friday I finally got to play an actual round of golf with them, and damned if I wasn’t hitting it straighter. The driver, always a fickle tool for me, was suddenly my favorite club in the bag. There’s no worse feeling for a novice golfer than jacking a drive way the hell out there, envisioning, as the ball continues to float upwards, a par or perhaps birdie, only to see it swerve violently into the bulrushes as it descends. But my new Callaway woods greatly improved my chances of hitting the fairway.
This is not to say that I didn’t still slice a couple drives. And I was hitting my irons about the same. And I haven’t figured out the hybrids yet. But overall, I think these clubs will improve my play. I recommend them if you’re a casual golfer who’d just like to hit it straighter.
You can learn more about custom fitting, including locations that will fit you, here.
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Comments on this entry:
There's a reason Callaway is made fun of on and off the links, and that's because they take the game away from the player. You ultimately are the tool, and the club plays the game for you.