It's The Equipment Stupid!

The first Truism of amateur golf is all bad shots can be blamed on the equipment. The second Truism is the fastest way to improve your game is to buy new equipment.

Can you remember the last technological breakthrough that greatly enhanced the performance of say, a basketball? How about a baseball glove? A football? Hockey stick?

I just received my Golfsmith catalog and the cover screams "New For '09". That's not really true. What it should say is "New for February 19, 2008 at 2:34 PM (PST)" because next month's magazine is going to scream about more new stuff.

All the manufacturers understand the first two Truisms of golf and they've created the equivalent of a golf arms race. Your opponent buys a Cobra S9-1 driver and you have to counter by buying a S9-1 pro D. They even sound like missile names.

If these new clubs really are better, why didn't they just take a little time to develop the new technology and incorporate the improvements into the original model? Why not come out with the ultimate line of clubs once a year like the auto companies?

What a stupid question. Cobra, Taylormade, Cleveland, all of them know that golfers, particularly bad golfers, will pay to "improve" their game. The only real question is how they grab that golfer's money away from the competition. The answer is they make up secret code that nobody understands but that sounds impressive.

From Cobra:
Enhanced internal frequency tuning; and Adjustable Flight Technology. (look out Russia)
From Ping:
Plasma-welded faces for increased ball speeds and distance. (take that America)
From Lynx:
Dynamically Optimized CT. WTF is that!

And on and on. My advice is to spend the money on lessons!