By JEFF KEATING
STEPPING onto the course, my sister and I surveyed the terrain. It was dense — a thicket to our left, traps and distractions ahead and to the right. Taking deep breaths, we got ready to play.
"Man, there's a lot to choose from here," I said, looking around while plucking a 56-degree sand wedge from its resting place.
I got a good grip, set my feet, went into an abbreviated version of my backswing — this was not a distance shot — then brought the club down and through, making sure I kept my left shoulder stiff and that I thwacked the surface as I followed through.
Had I been hitting a ball, it likely would have rocketed off a display of golf gloves and towels, careened into several shelves of balls, then bounded along the tiled floor, eventually rolling into women's workout clothes, or maybe the hiking gear.
A sporting goods store at The Promenade at Westfield Santa Anita isn't the best place to practice one's wedge shots, after all.
But there we were on a recent Saturday afternoon, scoping out irons at Sport Chalet and generally marveling at the plethora of golf products available, especially to the uninitiated.
My sister — who plays golf about as often as Greg Norman finds himself in contention these days — for some reason thinks she needs a new sand wedge.
I don't know what's wrong with the one she has. It's got less wear and tear than the Spears' family church pew. Should be lots of good shots left in it.
But she wants a new one, so I spent a little bit of time gently talking her out of simply grabbing the most expensive one she could find, thinking it was the best.
"You shouldn't pay more than maybe 50 bucks for a sand wedge," I told her as she eyed a $120 (!) version of that very thing. Sure, it was a nice club — good weight, easy to swing, pretty as all get out — but for $120, it also needed to be able to drive the cart and pour a cold beverage. I didn't see those options on the handle, so I steered her toward the $40-$60 models.
"That's more your speed. Consider how often you use that club. Couple of times a round, maybe? Don't want a real high per-swing price tag there, right?" Erin's certainly not alone in being drawn to the same nice, shiny — and often expensive — golf equipment that we all think will make us better players.
But let's face it: Unless you're a premier golfer, or at least a pretty good one, the difference between a $175 5-iron and one that costs $100 is lost on you.
That's not to say you shouldn't buy beautiful, expensive equipment if you want it and can afford it. But will it help your game? Not as much as practice and a lot of live rounds will.
This lesson was driven home for me with one of the essentials: balls. Sure, I've paid $26 for a box of 12 Titleists. I've done it exactly once. Turns out Titleists soar just as beautifully into the trees, mud, water and underbrush as my usual $15-for-15 balls (on sale).
So I play Top Flites, which for a golfer of my skills are more than adequate.
Again, if you want to play Titleists and can afford them, quality of your game notwithstanding, go for it. You're in excellent company, and they make a great ball. But its finer qualities — better spin, or distance, or loft — are kind of lost on me unless and until I improve my game.
(The downside to this philosophy is that I've gotten boxes of balls — notably some top-level Nikes and Titleists — as gifts of one kind or another over the years, and am invariably afraid to use them for fear of losing them. In my mind it'd be like using a mint-condition Eisenhower dollar to play a slot machine. Too much of a gamble.)
On balance, I go for the middle when it comes to buying equipment — not the most expensive ball, glove, club or bag, but not the cheapest, either. (Same with shirts, shorts, hats, etc.) I'm not a great golfer, but I'm not a first-time hacker, either. I need equipment that will hold up for awhile and perform competently, but without bankrupting me at the outset.
The big exception, at least for me? Putters. My first putter, a dozen years ago, was a $20 special I picked up from Target as I was first learning the game. I quickly realized that putting was more personal than just about anything else one does while golfing. You've got to feel very comfortable when you address the ball, including having a putter that feels right in your hands and has the right "touch" for you.
This isn't easy to come by, can require a lot of auditions at golf shop putting greens, and probably won't be cheap.
I ditched my Target putter pretty quickly, then went through a series of increasingly more expensive — and not quite right — clubs before I got lucky: My wife took a chance on an Odyssey White Hot as a Christmas gift, and it was perfect for me. It also was about $120, but was worth it for the comfort and security it gives me on the greens.
So think twice when you're hovering over that bright, shiny rack of irons, wedges, drivers and putters. Be honest about the quality of your game, and whether spending more will help you do better on the course, or just look pretty in your bag.
- Jeff Keating is executive director of public affairs at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona.
