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This is the "Bert's Babblin' on Stuff" page (otherwise known as the good ol' Gooder FLOG) - like it or not, it's just my babbln' on the way I see things related to golf clubs, social networking, advertising, and whatever else might come to mind over time.  Keep checking back, 'cuz this page will get updated every time I feel like FLOGGIN' on a topic of interest.

So ya wanna play better golf eh?  You still searching for that elusive secret to better golf?  Psssssssssssssst ...... I'll let you in on a li'l  secret - THERE IS NO SECRET.  If you're truly serious about improving your game of golf you must consider two main elements;

    (1) The tools you use [your golf clubs] MUST be fit (by a competent and QUALIFIED club fitter) to you and all elements of your golf swing - this is where I can help.  Keep in mind that there is SOOOO much more to it than just "cut and glue".

    (2) Your golf swing - you need to build a solid, reliable, consistent, and repeatable golf swing.  This can mean something as simple as a bit of fine tuning, or could also mean a complete teardown and rebuild of your golf swing.  This step can be addressed either through lessons from the right qualified teaching professional, or if you're very good at figuring things out yourself - through regular purposeful practice.  As Ben Hogan said "The answer is in the dirt".  The use of full length mirrors (if you have access to one or more), and a video camera (to record your swings for playback/analyzing) can also help a great deal.  One thing I'll mention with regards to video analysis - what you "think" your body is doing during the swing, and what you're actually doing are VERY different - I learned that first hand.  Lastly - DO NOT forget about your short game - your scoring potential/ability is directly related to the state of your short game.

Another quick point to keep in mind.  I do not sell miracle clubs - you will not be able to purchase a custom made set of clubs from me and overnight go from shooting 120's to 70's - stuff like that just doesn't happen.  Don't forget, your swing has a lot to do with how and why the ball goes where it does.  Yes, I can build clubs that will be easier to hit, more consistent, and more forgiving on mis-hits, however don't forget to pay attention to your swing.  Get plenty of purposeful practice in, and if your swing is really ailing - take some lessons from a certified instructor.  The legendary Ben Hogan once said "Every day you miss practice, means one more day it will take until you become good".

Practice with purpose, learn from your sessions at the driving range, and don't be afraid to take a lesson or two.  The last thing I am going to say on this topic is when you practice, make sure you spend 60-70% of your practice time working on your short (100 yards and closer) game - because 60-70% of your shots in a round of golf will happen from 100 yards or closer - and nearly half of those shots will occur with a putter in your hand (how often do you practice putting???).  Hmmmm 60-70% of your shots in a round should deserve 60-70% of your practice time - don't ya think???  Next time you're at the range, take a couple of minutes to study how others practice - 80% of them will hit 4 or 5 wedge shots, a couple of iron shots, followed by 2 buckets with the driver.  Are they really improving, or just practicing their mistakes?  What did they learn?????  Prolly nothin'.  'Nuff said.  By the way........ some food for thought - how many wedges do you carry in your bag?  How many wedges should you carry in your golf bag?  Believe it or not, there is a correct answer for this question - a number that can be proven scientifically too!

So ya wanna play better golf (don't we all)?  Not only can I relate to you, but I respect and admire the fact that if you've gotten this far you are at least reading up a bit on how to improve (ya gotta start somewhere).  If you are serious about playing better and having the right equipment - YAY to you!!!  Here's the kicker....... I don't care about your money, or even if you purchase your clubs from me.  Here's the best advice I can give you with regards to getting the right equipment in your golf bag - GET YOURSELF FITTED BY A CERTIFIED AND QUALIFIED CLUBFITTER!  It doesn't have to be me, just be certain that your clubfitter has the necessary education, tooling, and experience to get it right!  Make sure they have all the necessary gear to measure and fit you properly, make sure they really want to fit/build the best possible equipment for you - hopefully they can prove it too, and that it's just not about the money.  There is A LOT more to this fitting stuff than most people think there is.  Also keep in mind that a real fitting is gonna take more than 20 minutes - my typical iron fitting is between 2.5 - 4 hours long.  Don't tell me that you spent 15 minutes with some salesman in the retail sporting goods store and were "fit"...... that's not clubfitting, you didn't even scratch the surface.  Be smart, educate yourself, and don't believe the guy who tells you what you wanna hear just to make the sale.  If you're going to be spending your hard-earned money on a really good set of clubs, just make sure you spend it wisely and properly - make sure you are buying the right stuff, and make sure you get your money's worth!  The newest "bling-bling" golf club technology advertised on TV doesn't necessarily mean that it's (1) good, (2) good for YOU, or (3) will help YOUR game.  Hopefully you can tell the difference between someone who is just trying to sell something to you, and someone who is really concerned about getting the right golf gear into your hands.

Some common sense video information about custom clubs.

I strongly urge you to take a few minutes of your time to click on the video links below - each video will open in a new window.  Tom Wishon (one of the world's most gifted minds in custom clubmaking and club design) shares some common sense insight on golf clubs, and why it is so important to get fitted for your clubs.  Each video is approximately 4-5 minutes long, and I'm sure you'll find each one VERY informative - well worth the price of admission (it's FREE) - all you have to invest is a few minutes of your time to hear some good ol' fashioned common sense talk about golf clubs.

“Custom Fit vs. Standard”
Click here to watch this video - will open in a new window.

“What does Custom Fitting do for Golfers?”
Click here to watch this video - it will open in a new window.

“The Facts of Life about the Golf Equipment Industry”
Click here to watch this video - it will open in a new window.

“The Basic Elements of Professional Shaft Fitting”
Click here to watch this video - it will open in a new window.

These short videos are brilliant (my humble opinion of course - hey, I'm a clubfitter, call me biased).  Mr. Wishon presents some common sense facts about the way it is with golf clubs.  Are custom fitted clubs really necessary?  Kinda gets ya thinkin' don't it????

What's in my bag???

I get numerous emails here in Gooder-Ville.  Besides the many questions I receive about customer's clubs and what might be correct for them, one of the most often asked questions I receive are "How's your game?", and "What's in your bag"?  For "how's my game", my handicap floats around 8-10 (career low round is 74).  In my bag(s) I have four playing sets of irons/wedges, numerous drivers (last count was 8), numerous fairway woods (a couple sets 3 & 5, and a few sets of 3, 5 & 7) , numerous hybrids, and currently about 7 or 8 putters.  Pretty much all of these clubs get played throughout the year.  And yes, I golf left-handed.  My low round to date has been a 74 (yes, that was for 18 holes, and not 9.... hahaha), and I've been able to shoot in the 70's with all of these sets.

Iron Set #1:

• Swing Science S-800 irons (cast) 4-PW bent to achieve 4° split between each club, lie angles bent flat to my specs
• Swing Science "T" wedges (52°, 56°, 60°)
• Swing Science 200-Series 24° hybrid club
• The above irons and hybrid are shafted with KBS Tour shafts "X" flex, tipped to attain a 6.5 PCS frequency flex
• The three wedges above are shafted with FST stepless steel rifle shafts
• My clubs are longer than standard length (my specs about + 3/4")
• This set is MOI matched to my "magic number"

Iron Set #2:

• Wishon 770CFE 4-PW irons, bent to achieve 4° split between each club, lie angles bent flat to my specs
• PPS CNC Milled wedges (52°, 56°, 60°)
• SLR 24° hybrid club
• All clubs in the above set shafted with FST stepless steel rifle shafts
• Same length as the above set
• This set is MOI matched to my "magic number"

Iron Set #3:

• Miura LH Cavity (4-PW), bent to achieve 4° loft differential between each club, bent flat to my specs
• Miura 52°, 56°, and 60° wedges
• All clubs shafted with KBS Tour shafts tipped to attain MY flex requirement
• Built to MY length (+ 3/4")
• This set is MOI matched to my "magic number"

Iron Set #4:

• Alpha RX-1 (4-PW), bent to achieve 4° loft differential between each club, lie angles bent flat to my specs
• Alpha PF-2C wedges (52°, 56°, 60°)
• All clubs in this set shafted with FST 115 steel shafts, frequency matched to my specs
• + 1" longer
• This set is MOI matched to my "magic number"

Drivers:

• Wishon 919THI 11° driver, 44.25" long, Wishon InterFlexx "X" 77g shaft (slightly modified to attain 7.2 PCS flex)
•  This has been my primary driver for 4 (count 'em four) whole seasons now - if you knew me a few years ago, I was a "club 'ho" to say the least, now for me to stick with a driver for that long, you know there's gotta be a reason for it
• Swing Science S-200 10.5° driver, 44.5" long, Swing Science HEX360-75g shaft (modified to attain 7.3 PCS flex)
• Block Head square driver 10.5°, 44.5" long, shafted with UST "Launch" 80g shaft (modified to attain 7.1 PCS flex)
• Alpha C830.4LX 10.5° (hand picked to 11°), 44.25" long, shafted with Swing Science HEX360-75g shaft to my required flex
• Alpha C830.2 10.5° (hand picked to 11°), 44.25" long, shafted with Accra 75g M5 shaft
• SLR cup-face 460 driver 12.0°, 44.5" long, shafted with Aldila NVS-X 75g shaft (modified to attain 7.2 PCS flex)
• and (ahem) a few more...... 'nuff said 
• Soon to add ??????????????   (Pssssssssst, don't tell my wife OK)

FW Woods:

• Wishon 515 15° and 18.5°, shafted with UST "Launch" shafts
• Alpha C830.2 Plasma 15° and 19°, shafted with Swing Science HEX360-FW shafts
• SLR 15°, 18°, 21°, shafted with FST Steel stepless shafts
• Inspire 15°, 19°, 23°, shafted with UST "Launch" shafts
• Prodigy 15°, 18°, 21°, shafted with UST "Launch" shafts
• A couple more sets of 15°, 18°, 21° FW woods
• As a side-note of interest.... I carry a 7-wood for EVERY round of golf I play

Putters:

• I have numerous putters, but play most of my rounds with either my Wishon S2R-1 (blade), Alpha Zeta (blade), or my YETI (mallet).

Grips:

• All of my personal clubs are gripped with either Star grips or Pure Grips

Golf Ball:

Nearly all of my rounds are played with either;

• Hogan "Tour Deep" (my all time favorite, but very hard to find now)
• Titleist Pro V1 (not the "X", just the regular Pro V1)

There ya have it, that's what the "Gooder Golf" guy carries in his golf bag(s).

Some Straight talk about bendin' sticks:

Soooooooooo, you think that understanding how a golf shaft bends (shaft stiffness and bend profile) during a swing doesn't matter???  Using the wrong shaft for your swing doesn't matter either?????  Have a peek at the picture below of Jamie Sadlowski (2008 RE/MAX World Long Drive Champion).  The shaft does a teeny bit more than you think it does during the swing.  How important do you think it is to have the right shaft for your swing?  Ask Jamie, I'm sure he will give you 400++ (yards) reasons why.

(Picture from the January 2009 edition of Golf Digest - www.golfdigest.com)

While we're on the subject of Jamie Sadlowski - If you've got it stuck in your head that the clublength of your driver absolutely NEEDS to to be excessively long - just listen to Jamie's comments in the video while he is warming up that the shorter driver is the straighter one.  Heck, just for giggles in this video, he even hits a 29" long driver 405 yards!!!!!  Have a peek at;

.........while you're at it, have a think about the length of your driver.  Would you like to hit more fairways?

Online Social Networking Babble (or lack of)

I was recently asked about my pages on Facebook and Twitter and the like - a friend said he looked for a while and couldn't find me.  I told him to stop looking, 'cuz he won't find me.  Well, for a very very brief moment in time I actually considered joining up with Facebook..... BUT, while researching to learn more about it I found some rather disturbing quotes from the Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about privacy and such.  While referring to privacy and people who are part of his online community, Zuckerberg's comment was something like "They trust me — dumb fu*ks"!!!  That did it for me, my research on social networking came to a screeching halt..... along with any consideration I may have had for joining up on any social networking sites.  I will not "Like" or "Dislike" anything related to Facebook, nor will I "Tweet", and I don't really care to be notified that one of my "friends" bought a new bike for his/her daughter.  I will however keep babblin' here on my FLOG, and plan to be fitting and building some real kick-ass golf clubs for many years to come.   You'll find me here online in the Gooder-Ville FLOG.  That's all I have to say about that.

Obsession With Distance...Grrrrrr:

Nearly every golfer I know wants to get more distance out of each club in their bag (with the exception of the putter).  This obsession seems to be most prevalent with the driver.  I think one of the contributing factors of this obsession can be attributed to the effective marketing of the big OEM golf companies.  Another factor could be the "ribbing" you take from your buddies when they out-drive you.  In many of the golf commercials I've seen, they project the image that you're a sissy unless you can smash a 300 yard drive on every hole.  If you buy "this" driver or "that" ball, the ground will shake when you hit the ball, car alarms will be going off miles away, the ball will never land, and every drive will go more than 300 yards..... c'mon, give us a break.  Don't get caught up in all the snake-oil marketing hype.  Only 1% (yes, count 'em one single percent, that's ONE, un, uno, eins, ) of all golfers will ever hit a drive that goes 300 or more yards.

Instead of getting caught up in the hype, why don't you try to get fit for a driver (the one fit and built to match you and your swing) that will allow you to hit the ball straighter, on-center, and on the fairway a higher percentage of the time - one that will make the ball travel the maximum potential distance for YOUR swing speed.  Face the facts, if your swing speed is 85 MPH with the driver, the likelihood of you hitting a 300 yard drive with no external factors affecting the ball flight (elevated tee box, tail wind, etc.) are pretty much none.  An 85 MPH driver swing speed has the potential to carry the ball approximately 212.5 yards - depending on the loft of the driver, angle of attack, launch angle, and a few other factors, you might get another 21 or so yards roll = total drive length of 233.5 yards (give or take a few of yards)........ that's it!  Don't get sucked into the hype that everyone and his dog can hit a 300 yard drive with a new swanky "brand-X" driver.  So why not get a driver fit and built to your swing specifications that will enable you to hit your drives 233-ish yards a higher percentage of the time?  Face the facts, if your swing speed is maxed out at 85 MPH, it is what it is - accept it and try to hit every one of your 235 yard drives on the fairway and quit worrying about nailing it farther than your physical limitations will allow.  If you can hit the ball on the fairway your potential distance a high percentage of the time, you're miles ahead of the guy that can poke the odd one 300+ yards with no control ('cuz more than half of the time his second shot will be a drop from an O.B. ball that went into the forest.  The game of golf is about SCORING as low as you can.  Do you remember who hit the longest drive at the 2003 Masters tournament?  Me neither.  However, if you follow the sport of golf there's a good chance you know who is wearing the green jacket from that tournament.  The game of golf is not a game of who can hit the ball the farthest, it's a game of who can score the lowest.

Just for the record - if you want to know what goes into an actual 300 yard drive (carry and roll).... you will require a driver swing speed of 109-110 MPH (minimum - a little more if a club parameter or two isn't right for your swing), you will need the right clubhead loft for your angle of attack and hand position at impact, the right shaft weight, the right shaft flex, the right length, you will need to catch the ball on-center, plus a few other factors - this should produce an approximate 273 yard carry and should roll out to about 300 yards (give or take a few).  If you want to carry the ball 300 yards, it will require an approximate 122+ MPH driver swing speed, perfect conditions previously mentioned, and perfect ball contact.  Of all the golfers I've worked with, there have only been two (count 'em two) whose driver swing speed surpassed 120 MPH.

Approximately 90% of golfers are using a driver that; (1) clublength is too long, (2) not enough loft, (3) shaft is too stiff.

The same swing speed to distance ratio applies to the irons as well.  The OEM's and their "vanishing loft disease" (see my babble in the next topic below for this) have people believing that this clubhead made with their new "Mega-Glitzer-Bling-Flingy" technology,  out of this special material bla bla bla makes you hit the ball farther.  That is a load of hooey!  Distance with a given iron, or rather I should say a given LOFT can be calculated - it is a factor of mainly swing speed, mass, and loft.  For a given swing speed and a given loft (at a certain mass), you have a maximum potential carry distance the ball will fly.  An example of this is a 6-iron with 32° of loft, swinging at 80 MPH - the maximum potential carry distance for this combination is approximately 164 yards.  If you're only hitting your 32° 6-iron 148 yards on the fly with an 80 MPH swing, we have some work to do - perhaps you are using a clubhead design that is not suited to your style of swing, perhaps the shaft is too stiff for your swing (very very common these days), perhaps the shaft is too soft for your swing, swingweight or MOI is incorrect... etc etc etc.  We can help you get the correct clubhead design into your hands, with the correct shaft, swingweight/MOI, etc. to help you reach your maximum potential carry distance with a given club in your hands.

Now, if you only pay attention to the number stamped on the bottom of the club (like 5, 6, or 7) instead of the loft of the iron, you'll never know how far you should be hitting the club.  If you have a brand-new latest model OEM set of irons (that have been victims of vanishing loft), your 6-iron is only going to have about 26° of loft.  Of course you'll hit it farther than your old 6-iron - because your old 6-iron has 32° of loft.  That doesn't make the new 6-iron better or farther really - 'cuz you're actually hitting your old 4 or 5 iron - look at the lofts.  The new OEM 6-irons are a whopping club and a half stronger than the 6-irons of only a few years ago..... although their aggressive marketing may try to convince you that it's because of their "technological" break-through (Mega-Glitzer-Bling-Flingy...... AKA HOOEY).  And that's all I have to say about that!

Vanishing Loft Disease:

"These newer clubs MUST be better, I hit the new 5-iron as far as I used to hit my old 4-iron - isn't this new technology great!!!".  The main reason you hit the new 5-iron as far as your old 4-iron is because in reality you ARE hitting your old 4-iron.  Have a peek at the two charts below - the first one is the posted lofts of two major (and heavily marketed) golf companies.  The second is the lofts of the set I currently have in my golf bag (my clubs are only two years old).

Lofts of the "New and longer" irons