Do You Know Your Swing Speed?

Have you ever been in a golf shop, picked up a new driver and said "this is the one"? (you can just feel it) Your buddy says, that's gotta be the one that will fix your hook. So, you run the checklist in your head. How much does it cost? Can I trade in my 2003 King Cobra? Will my wife kill me? You look at the price tag, it's $499.99. And you think, hell, that's only half my house payment. So, without blinking, you walk to the counter and tell the Pro, I gotta have this. Plop down your Visa and WHAMO, you have a new driver.

The checklist you should have run: What's the flex? What's the loft? What's the bend point? What's the recommended Swing Speed? And of course, is my wife gonna kill me?

When you walked it to the counter, the Pro should have said, "This is a stiff shaft, what's your swing speed? But, in this economy, all he wants to do is sell the driver, cause his sales are down 30% and the GM is ready to fire the whole staff.

So, you walk out to your bag, take out the old Cobra and put in the new driver. Over the loud speaker, they call you to the first tee. You're pumped, new driver, beautiful day, what could possibly be wrong? You're group wants you to hit first with the new driver. So, you tee up your Pinnacle, and take 4 practice swings. Then, take a deep breath, and swing for the fences. The ball comes off the toe of the club and goes 50 yards right of the fairway into the driving range.
The guys are laughing their butts off. After everybody hits, you tee up another brand new Pinnacle and guess what? SAME RESULT. You spend the rest of the round trying to aim far enough left so that you can maybe hit a fairway. You're brand new driver cost you $499, you lost 7 new Pinnacles, and $5.10 in dime bets. You are ready to give up the game forever. Plus, when you get home, she's gonna chew you out for spending that kind of money on a stupid golf club. What a great day, huh?

It takes about an hour at a good fitting center to get properly fitted. They will check your swing speed, the flex you need, the loft that's best for you, the flex point, and almost anything else you can think of. In the end, they will recommend the best driver for YOU. Then you can make an educated selection for a new driver. Plus, if you go to an independent club fitter, he or she can probably do all this, and then build you a driver that fits you exactly. But, who wants a driver that isn't a big name? I mean if you only hit every fairway and play the best golf you have ever played, who wants that?

Get fitted, you will play better golf and isn't that the point?

New Profile Picture

I need a new profile picture for my blog. So, I have posted 4 pics above and you get to choose which one goes up. Just vote in the column on the right and I'll post the one that gets the most votes.

I Could Be Wrong

Going back to my Fantasy Golf post on Tuesday about Lefty not being ready for the tournament this week. I WAS WRONG. He shot 63 in the first round....dang, should I have picked him? We will see as the week goes along.

Win A New Swing Reminders Wide Brimmed Hat

Gene Sarazen was the first to win the four tournaments that comprise golf's grand slam in modern times. Sarazen won the U.S. Open (1922, 19__), the British Open (1932), and the PGA Championship (1922–23, 1933) and completed the grand slam with his Masters victory in 19__.

Fill in the two missing years above that Gene Sarazen won his 2nd U.S. Open and his only Masters.

E-mail the answer to scott@swingreminders.com. The first 3 people to submit the correct answers will win a new Swing Reminders Wide Brimmed Hat.

Good Luck.

Fantasy Golf 2009

Do you play fantasy golf?
I play in several fantasy leagues from NFL Football to NASCAR to golf, golf by far is the toughest one to pick on a weekly basis. I mean there are usually about 150 players in the field and you can only pick 8 players for the week and only start 4 for each round. That's like picking the right line on a down hill 25 footer with a $2 nassau and a press on the line.
I've played in the Hooked On Golf Fantasy League two seasons now and there are 100 players in the league. I have not finished as a weekly winner yet, and the way I've been picking them, it won't happen anytime soon. I set one goal for this season, to beat Tony and Scruffy. So far, they're kickin my butt. We are at week #7 and I'm way down in 66th place. Oh well, as they say "there is alot of golf to be played".
This week we have the LA Open, okay the Northern Trust Open, anyway I just looked at the expert picks and the so-called experts have picked Michelson, Harrington and Els. Are they nuts, have they seen Phil play this year? I'm gonna pick a few this week that are not your obvious choices, because in order to win, you have to take a chance or two, right?
Here are my picks this week: Kenny Perry, KJ Choi, Zach Johnson, Charlie Hoffman, Richard S. Johnson, Lucas Glover, Retief Goosen and Matt Kuchar. Now those are some pretty good golfers, but if they have one bad round and you started them, you're sunk like a topped 4 iron into the pond on #15.
We will just have to see if I can pick the right starters each round. I need a new strategy for this, maybe I'll put them in a circle and spin a golf tee.
Join or start a fantasy league with your buddies. Make it interesting and everybody throw in $20 for the season. I'm not saying golfers would ever wager on anything, but it will be alot of fun.