Last week we talked about when to teach vs. fit. This week, let’s take that a step further. What happens when a player needs a quick tip to get him hitting it better, and he progresses but hits a few bad shots. How do you handle that?

First, I tell many players that the equipment today is significantly better than the equipment of yesteryear. Sometimes, on good one vs. good one, the differences are not that big, but on bad ones… The differences can be massive. Golf is a game of misses. How bad are the results from your mistakes? This is where your strokes add up. If we can minimize the damage from the bad ones, we CAN help a player shoot lower scores. 

When we are fitting a player of any level, there will be mis-hit shots. THOSE are the shots that I want to focus on. Of course the good ones are important. Good shots tell us the players potential. Good shots tell us the ballpark of the results from the bad ones. Wait, what does that mean?? It’s simple. Suppose a player hits a shot with a 7 iron that is solid and flush. Say your smash factor was 1.35. Ideal!! In real world numbers, let’s assume a club head speed of 80 MPH. This would mean a ball speed of 108 MPH. If we assume a square face and good spin, this will be roughly 150 yards of carry, and should rollout to about 160. Let’s say the next shot is thin and the resulting smash is 1.29. We lost a little distance, didn’t we? Perhaps. at the same swing speed, a 1.29 smash will produce a ball speed of 103.2 MPH. If we lose 2.5 yards per MPH of ball speed, that is 12 yards of carry. This will also have less spin (because it was hit thin), so it won’t climb as high, which will make it roll out a little further. The resulting shot will not be as pretty as the high flying, well struck shot, but, if the face is square, it will be a very playable miss.

“Hold on, JY… You always say carry is king. Golf is a game of hang time.” That is all true. And that is what we strive for, BUT… when we make mistakes, pretty is out the window, and it’s all about damage control. Golf is an easy game when all your shots are good ones. When you hit bad ones, it’s all about minimizing the damage. When we fit, I learn plenty from the bad ones, and those are the shots I want to see the data on. If a bad one (1.29 smash vs. a 1.35 smash on a prefect one) goes straight and only loses 12 yards of carry, you CAN play good golf with that shot on most holes. The trouble will be if you are playing some of the holes we saw last weekend at Oak Hill (long rough guarding the front of the green). If you can run it up, you’ll be fine. 

Here is a real world example for you – I went out to play a few holes Sunday night. I was trying a new set of irons. I had a middle pin and an open area leading up to the green, although there is a penalty area to the right and left that both pinch in the runway to the green. My tee shot rolled into the rough. The lie looked decent, but I couldn’t tell how deep the ball was. I got my yardage, pulled a club and hit it right on the forehead. The face was square and the ball never got above the tree line. It landed 25 yards short of the green and rolled to the front fringe. I dropped another ball and hit it solid and it landed just short of the pin and rolled to 10 feet. I had a 35 footer for birdie on an awful shot and a 10 footer for birdie on a really nice one. I missed both putts and walked away with 2 pars. As they say, there are no pictures on the scorecard. At the end of the day, they only ask you “How many?”. 

The moral of the story is that there is plenty to learn from bad shots – much of it can be positive. When we fit a player for clubs, it’s easy to dismiss a bad shot. We can say “I know that wasn’t your best one, but look at this. Your ball speed with a good one is 108 MPH, and you got 103+ MPH on that one. You lost about 35 yards of carry, but it only ended up 10 yards short of a good one and it was right on line. You cam still play golf with that shot!! When a player sees acceptable results with a bad one, a feeling of confidence will come over him. Help him to see how better bad ones = better scores. Better good ones may look better, but may not change his scores much – only better good ones more often will do that. If you can combine better good ones more often with better bad ones, you’re really doing your job and helping the player. 

I hope you can see how using the players current club as a starting point is vitally important. We absolutely, positively NEED the data from his current clubs to know what his current bench marks are. What is his potential with a good one? How bad are his bad ones? NOTE THIS DATA and use it for reference vs. the new clubs you are fitting him for. WHY?? How many times does a player say I want to hit it further, or straighter, or further AND straighter?? Always, right?? Does anyone every say “I want my topped shots to go almost as far as my good ones.”? Of course not. So what is going to happen when you fit a player and he swings his current 7 iron 80 MPH and gets a ball speed of 108 MPH (same 1.35 Smash Factor from above)? How are you going to improve for this player? You’re not if all you’re trying to do is help him hit it further. Instead, don’t be afraid to look at his bad ones and see if you can improve those. If he half tops one, look at the data and say “do you want to see something? take a look at this. Your ball speed on that shot was 106 MPH. It went 148 yards. Your best ones with your current club were 107-108 MPH and go that same distance. This one was almost topped and it went straight. You can get away with a shot like that on the golf course. Imagine if that shot was hit with your current club.”

If we can minimize the impact of the bad ones, the player will shoot better scores. Helping a player here is where you earn your stripes as a fitter. When you can turn a negative shot into a positive result, you are quickly advancing from a club fitter to a Master club fitter. 

I hope this helps!! Happy Fitting.