Scott Orban, PGA Executive Golf Professional
It’s time to get ready for the golf season. Here are some short tips to get you ready for your best year ever!
Driver – Get professionally fit if you are curious about the new tech out there. Fitters can build you a club to the head design, the loft, the shaft and the lie to maximize your distance and dispersion. Insist on hitting your own driver at the fitting so you can measure the results against the fitter’s recommendation. If you are going to get a new shiny toy, why not make it one that performs like a Ferrari, not a Lada.
Irons – Have the lie angles of your irons checked to see if they fit your swing. The lie angle can be altered on your present irons (with high-end clubs). If you are buying new clubs make this a priority. A properly fitted lie will allow you to have more consistent contact and improved direction. How? Here is an example:
If you are a right-handed golfer and you make a perfect swing but your lie angle is too flat, your ball will fly right of the target line. Moreover, the amount it flies off-line increases as the loft increases in your clubs. It’s physics. Ask PING Golf… this is how they became the industry club fitting leader in the ’70s and now all major manufacturers offer this option.
Golf Simulators – The games make it more fun, giving us more focus and keeping golfers engaged in the winter. However, temper your expectations when you move outside to the range and to the real deal. The simulator offers a perfect lie for your ball and for your stance. The screen offers a perfectly flat surface to align yourself to, and to aim at. It may take a bit for the data points outside to mesh with your indoor swing. Be patient; if you have improved your swing this winter trust that it will pay off; don’t go searching for a new swing thought too quickly.
The Swing Machine – Get yourself physically ready to make a better golf swing. Your muscles and joints need to get ready for this unique motion. Get a few lessons before the season to work on the skillful motion and positions your body needs to achieve. If your body isn’t conditioned to move to these positions, then it won’t.
Chipping – I chip with a 56-degree sand wedge in my living room. Great incentive not to top a ball into the cabinet in front of me. I hit shots to a foam roller upright about six to eight feet in front of me. This really helps me with my alignment and learning to keep my hands and wrists very quiet during the swing. If I can’t hit the target from six feet, why should I expect to hit from farther away?
