BUYING A GOLF CLUB POLL SUMMARY

Interestingly, most of you said you were buying a new club to work the ball. I will take a liberty and include "just hit the ball straight" in this result. This is a good thing and have noticed that more players are feeling the same way. I generally play without a friend so I meet a lot of golfers and more of them are happy to hit it in the fairway with less interest in distance.

On-line and magazine reviews are used most often according to the results. The next up was Demo Days. Be sure you go to more than one, try more clubs. We (MyDivots) say that often because based on our testing, most testers will often pick a club after testing clubs that wasn't the one they thought they wanted.

The result that is most disappointing is the percentage of golfers do not have their clubs fit to them. Most golf shops will put you on a flight monitor for free, take advantage of that. You can have the best club available and if it is not fitted correctly, it won't perform at it's best somewhat negating the purchase. On the upside, those that do get fitted, use a professional fitting person or shop.

Most (58%) of you try 3 to 5 different clubs before you buy a new club, this is a good percentage but conversely, 30% try only one or two clubs. That is a pretty large percentage of golfers that may or may not to get the best club for them. Additionally, if you are one of the 30% and the club works pretty well, there still may be a better one. You might be missing some distance or consistency.

The tendency of new drivers to adjustably does not play as big of a factor as I would have expected. But the upside is that most (72%) still rely on a professional to fit the adjustable driver, a good thing.

I was a little disappointed, but do understand, why most (45%) try their clubs in a golf shop. The availability of shops with a try-out period or a grass range are very limited. I am fortunate to be close to a shop that has a 90 day, full refund policy so it is not a problem to play a round or two with most clubs except iron sets. The number of swings while trying a club is a little low for half of you. If you have to do all your testing in a golf shop, come in a hit a bunch of balls with a couple clubs then come back another day and do it again. Remember which club works the best out of each group and then try them against each other until you have found the best one for you.

Hitting drivers off mats is fine because you tee it up, but hitting off mats generally has a different result than grass. This is amplified if you tend to take divots. I used to hit almost exclusively off mats because of where I live, but have found that it does not translate well to playing on the course. I do not take divots on the course which translates into a tendancy for me to sweep the ball rather than hitting down on it. Use mats to work on your overall swing (path, rotation, etc.). Remember you are in most cases, hitting off a much harder surface.

Lessons vs. buying a new club was a little disappointing. Find yourself a good instructor, get your swing working well and then go buy that new club. Another reason for waiting until after a lesson is that PGA instructor may change a part of your swing which will impact the club that works the best for you. At very least if you have already purchased a club, you may have to go get it refitted.

Most of you rely on numerous sources to get recommendations of which club should work for you, but remember what works for testers, may not work for you. Put together a list of the top contenders and try them.