What is up with my golf game?!

So, I've been golfing on and off since I was a kid. When I picked my game back up a few years ago and made the conscious decision to stick with it, I knew it would be an uphill battle trying to get back to how I used to play. After all, I took about 10 years off from the game of golf. One of the first things I did was to buy a new set of clubs. I tried a few different types before I decided that Mizuno irons were the way to go for me. Previously, I was using Ping, then Taylor Made irons, and Mizuno's had the best feel I've ever experienced with with any irons - hands down.

Next it was onto a woods, wedges, and a putter. I won't bore you with the details, but I bought and sold several drivers, 3-woods, wedges, and putters and here's what I finally ended up with in my bag:

Mizuno MX-23 Irons - S300 DG Steel, Standard Lie, Standard Loft
Ping G5 Driver - Aldila NV-65 stiff shaft
Ping G2 3-wood - Aldila NV-65 stiff shaft
Cleveland CG10 wedges - 52, 56, 60
Odyssey Black Series putter - Orange Gripmaster Tour Laced grip

What a great set! Over the past few years, my game has improved significantly. I dropped my handicap from 30+ to 14.6. This set gave me confidence.

Last year, I decided to take some lessons from Gary Knapp out at Lake Las Vegas, I took a couple lessons from him, then my work schedule got really crazy, and the rest of my lessons expired. :( But, from these couple lessons, I learned how to fix a couple of bad habits I had developed.

Anyway, in the past few months, my game has turned south. I've been really inconsistent. My best 9-holes was +1 at Mountain Falls Golf Club in Pahrump and my worst was +18 (ouch!) at Reflection Bay Golf Club at Lake Las Vegas. Unfortunatly, in the past few weeks, my score has been going up and not down. Some days my ball contact was great, other days... not so much. But, on all days, I haven't been scoring well. After this past weekend, I decided that I needed help, and I needed it bad. After all, I'm the self-proclaimed Chief Golf Officer at Zappos and I had better play like one, otherwise I'm going to have to strip the title from myself.

First things first... I needed to find a coach. I thought about going to my old coach Gary, but with all the problems that Lake Las Vegas has been experiencing, I wasn't sure how stable they would be if I bought a lesson package. Then I decided I would talk to Greg Stafford at Siena Golf Club. I've seen his results with a fellow Zapponian and it was impressive.

Second thing... I wanted to make sure that the equipment that I thought was so great for me was really right for me. I've been doing a lot of research online about custom fitting and everyone recommends getting custom fitted regardless of their skill level. I've always kinda been against this as I felt that one should change their swing to hit a standard set-up of clubs (more on this in a future post). But, I gave in and decided that I would head over to Golf Galaxy here in town to get my clubs looked at. You know... when things aren't going well, I begin to question everything and my clubs were no exception. Was I using the right shaft? Should I be swinging a regular shaft vs a stiff shaft? Is my grip too small for my hands? Should I use a shaft that has more/less torque? Are my clubs too long/short?

On my way to Golf Galaxy, I passed by a GolfTEC. I had heard of these guys before while reading various forums online, but didn't really know much about them. I decided to stop in.

It turns out that GolfTEC is actually a learning facility with a variety of services (including golf club sales). I was greeted by Tim Sam who is their Director of Instruction. After a few minutes of chatting, I decided to take him up on his offer for club fitting.

GolfTEC is pretty cool. During my club fitting, Tim had me put on these harnesses around my shoulders and around my waist. These harnesses had sensors that could monitor and report back various settings - i.e. shoulder turn, hip turn, shoulder angle, etc... These harnesses plus the 2 video angles are recorded so you can see your swing immediately. Additionally, they show your swing compared to a variety of PGA pros, which is really cool. After an hour, Tim tells me my results. From my swing speed, I'm actually between a regular shaft and a stiff shaft. The length of my clubs were right for me, but I did need to get my lie bent 2 degrees upright because the toe of my club was hitting the ground first prior to ball contact. Tim recommended that I get my clubs bent and that I stick with the stiff shaft and work on my swing (which needed help) to increase my swing speed.

Overall, GolfTEC club fitting was a very cool experience and I would recommend it to any golfer who hasn't been fitted yet. Tim, from GolfTEC, is really cool and seems to genuinely want to help me with my game. He gave me some information about getting instruction from GolfTEC and their rates. At first glance, I went "Ouch!" inside. It was not cheap at all. I decided to head home and think about it. However, I did decide to schedule an initial evaluation session to get a better feel of GolfTEC.