In this video, Golf Monthly's Neil Tappin runs through 5 gear checks every golfer needs to make. These range from checking your yardages to making sure your grips are in a good state ready for a powerful, athletic golf swing. If you are looking to play better golf, then keeping an eye on your gear is a must - here's how to do it!
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00:00Hello everyone, Neil Tappan here from Golf Monthly and welcome to the London Club and
00:03this video on the five golf gear checks that every golfer needs to make. Now obviously
00:08you've got 14 clubs that you can carry with you plus a whole host of different accessories
00:13and golf balls as well so it pays to make sure that what you're carrying with you is
00:17set up exactly right for you so that there aren't any silly mistakes that could end up
00:21costing you shots. And now if you're new to the Golf Monthly channel please do hit the
00:24subscribe button to make sure you don't miss any of our videos but let's get started looking
00:28at the first on our list of five golf gear checks. Now the first check to make is to ensure
00:34that each of the clubs in your bag goes the distance that you think it goes and this is
00:39something worth doing maybe once or twice during a season. I would pick a driving range with good
00:44quality golf balls, well-defined targets and if possible ball tracking technology that will give
00:49you an idea about how far each of the clubs in your bag carries. Now it's the carry distance that
00:55you're after, not the total distance, the total distance will depend on ground conditions,
00:59the carry distance will give you an idea when you're out on the golf course what hazards you
01:03can fly over, where you need to pitch the ball in order to get the ball close to the flag. So it's
01:09carry distances that you're after. Now ideally you will be able to get those reliable carry distances
01:14that we're talking about for every club in your bag but I appreciate this may or may not be possible
01:19depending on the access you have to things like good quality golf balls at the driving range and the
01:23technology to track the shots. If you're struggling on that front one thing you can still do is you can
01:29still check to see that the gaps between your clubs are even. This can be really helpful. Now it might
01:35well be that over the course of the season the loft of one of your irons has changed a little bit and
01:39actually has made it a little bit stronger or a little bit weaker. If you go through this process
01:43you might well be able to identify anything that really stands out in the data as being wrong and
01:49likewise it could be that either you're getting a little bit older or maybe not swinging the club
01:54as fast as you used to and perhaps your five iron doesn't go as far or is going the same distance
02:00as your six iron in which case you're carrying a club that you don't need to carry and there will
02:03be an equipment solution out there for you. This is just good housekeeping. Good to make sure that each
02:09of the clubs that you're carrying is going as far as you think it will so that when you get to the
02:13course you've got confidence in the numbers that you're able to carry the ball but also that you're not
02:18carrying anything that isn't doing exactly what you want it to. Now the next check to make is your
02:23grips on your clubs. Now your grips are your only point of contact with the golf club so making sure
02:28they offer plenty of traction for as much control as possible while you're making a full and athletic
02:33swing is absolutely essential and here I've got an older golf club with an old grip on it and this is
02:39what you're looking out for. So this grip has a bit of a I'd say a bit of a sheen to it which
02:44which you can tell isn't offering as much grip as you'd want it to. Now if this was in my bag which
02:49it isn't but if this was in my bag I'd give this a good clean I'd give it a scrub with some hot soapy
02:54water to see if I was able to resurrect this grip because I think over time grips get dirty if you've
03:00been out on the course on a really sunny day where you've had sun cream in your hands they can get that
03:05that sort of grease sort of baked into them slightly that causes you to have less traction than you would
03:10hope. So I would give that a clean and see if I was able to recover it if not then obviously I think
03:16I'd probably look to invest in a new grip for this golf club. Now in my hands here I've got two clubs
03:22that I am currently carrying in my bag and this shows you why you need to make a check about your
03:27grips because in my right hand here is my 50 degree wedge this grip is in a great state you can see it's
03:31really clean offering plenty of traction that's fine no need to clean no need to replace but in my right
03:37left hand here I've got my three wood and obviously when you make a swing with a three wood you want to
03:42be as athletic and powerful as possible and you want as much grip as possible but as you can see
03:46when especially when you compare the two this grip is in need of a bit of care and attention again
03:52I'd give this a clean and if it still wasn't offering as much traction as I want then I would
03:56replace it and these are the sorts of checks that are worth making probably with your grips again maybe
04:02once maybe twice a year make sure they're in as good a state as possible because as I said if you're
04:07looking to make full athletic powerful swings you want as good a control of the club as you can
04:11possibly get. Okay so the next one on my list is about golf balls and actually this is less about
04:17the state of the golf balls that you carry because I don't know about you but I tend to lose balls
04:22before I retire them it's actually more about the sheer number of makes and models of golf balls that
04:28you're carrying around the course with you so during the course of a normal season you'll probably spend
04:33enough time searching for golf balls whether it's your own or your playing partners that you will pick
04:37up quite a few different makes and models so if I were you I'd go and have a look at your golf bag
04:41and have a look at the sheer number of different makes and models take out anything that you can't
04:46imagine yourself actually playing with because otherwise you're just adding weight to your golf bag
04:50for no reason once you've done that then maybe identify the one make and model that you really like
04:57the one that offers you what you feel like is the best performance and then maybe invest in a few more of
05:02those golf balls so that you have one ball in your bag that is your kind of favoured option because
05:08if over time you get used to the way in which that golf ball performs particularly in the short game
05:13then understanding exactly what to expect could make a big difference. Okay so the next one on my list
05:19relates to wedges and in particular the state of the face of your wedges. Now it's a natural thing about
05:24golf that over the course of a period of time you will not get as much spin with your wedges as you did when
05:30they were brand new of course you won't most golfers know that but there's an important distinction to
05:35make here between the wedges that you carry in particular if you're somebody that uses the same
05:39wedge for all of your short game shots and you practice with it a lot and in particular you hit a
05:44lot of bunker shots with it that wedge will probably need to be upgraded on a slightly more regular basis
05:49than the other wedges in your bag. If you think about a bunker shot it's a bit like sandblasting
05:54the face of your wedge it's going to really dampen down those grooves and it's not going to
05:58just affect the amount of spin you're able to generate but it will also change the ball flight
06:03that you create with your short game so it's something to think about. This wedge that I'm
06:07carrying here this is an old favourite I absolutely love this wedge but there's no two ways about it
06:11it's coming towards the end of its lifespan I'm not able to generate anywhere near as much spin with
06:15this wedge as I was when I first got it and if I compare it to a newer wedge the face of which I can
06:21actually see the difference in the grooves so I think that's a kind of a warning sign that you might think
06:26yourself actually a new wedge fresh grooves might allow me to be a little bit more aggressive with
06:31my short game shots which could actually really help. Okay so the next check to make is about your
06:37golf gloves and if you're anything like me you'll have quite a few different golf gloves in your bag
06:41and it's worth taking a look at them all to figure out which stage of their lifespan they're at. Now there
06:46might well be a few in your bag that have got wet and then dried and as a result become quite hard
06:51and I may be cracking or alternatively they've got really significant wear marks on them in which case
06:56I would just get rid of those golf gloves. Now you're also likely to have a few gloves like I've
07:00got in my hand here. This glove is pretty old as you can see it's pretty dirty and there are some
07:05wear marks on the thumb but when I put it on it still feels really good it's still nice and soft.
07:10Now I would continue to carry this glove but I'd probably only use it to practice with and by doing
07:15that I know that I'm extending the lifespan of the good gloves that I have in my bag and another tip
07:21that will help you do that is to carry some wet weather gloves. So wet weather gloves come in a
07:26pair and they're really good when the weather's bad they'll offer you excellent traction but
07:30crucially by carrying some wet weather gloves in your bag you know that you'll be able to extend
07:34the lifespan of your good gloves again so that you're not wearing them in really bad weather
07:39conditions which can accelerate the degradation of those gloves. So by just doing those couple of
07:43simple things I think you'll find that you'll have a better quality of golf club in your bag
07:48waiting to be used in competition play. Okay so that's my list of five golf gear checks that every
07:53golfer should make. Please do leave some comments below is there anything you think I've missed?
07:58It's always worth sharing ideas around there might be some other people there that can really benefit
08:02from any ideas that you have about how to keep your clubs in as good a condition as possible
08:07because I think by doing these checks and doing them on a fairly regular basis you'll be ensuring that
08:12you're not making any of those silly mistakes that we can all make from time to time and ensuring that
08:16the clubs that you carry are really doing the business for you out on the golf course.
08:19Thanks for watching that's all for now from the London club we'll see you next time.