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CONFUSING ADVERTISING - In A Confusing Game
Let us say that you have a physical ailment. You have watched a positive commercial that sounds as if it was the answer to your problem. You run out and make the purchase. When you get home you open up this little box and find, in addition to the medicine, a little six page book describing the medicine and the side effects.. You get your magnifying glass out and read something akin to: This will cure your neck pain, or double your money back. Possible side effects: Your feet might fall off.
I believe that most new “guaranteed to lower your score” clubs on the market today should have disclaimers printed on them. All TV viewers have seen the top golfers in the country come out of deep trouble with a “Lob Wedge.” Giving a hundred shooter a lob wedge is like giving him a pistol to play “Russian Roulette” with only one empty chamber. This club should carry a disclaimer that would read, “If you think you are in trouble now, just mis-hit me, and I will show you some real trouble.”
People will go to all extremes to hit the ball a mile, and the woods are full of their golf balls. The long shaft with its “snap the whip’ effect was the rage for a while. The shafts got longer and longer, and you had to almost stand out of the tee box in order to tee up the ball within the tee markers. The heads got bigger and bigger, and all you had to do is to swing in the general direction and you would be sure to hit something. We try to streamline everything to reduce wind resistance, and now we are putting what looks like a shoe box on the end of a reed.
Then there is the matter of spin. This was another thing that just fascinated people. They wanted to spin the ball like the pros. There is that story about this man walking up to Sam Snead and asking him to teach him how to stop the ball. Snead asked, “How far do you hit it.” The man replied, “A hundred and seventy five yards.” Snead then asked, “Why do you want it to stop.”
For a while this was the craze. Balls were made, and advertised to have more spin. The only problem there was that every ball that is hit, except a topped shot, has backspin. The more spin on the ball, the more it will hook and slice, and will not go as far. Balls were then made that would have reduced spin, which would go a lot longer, but you could not stop them in a mud puddle. Now all of the top pros have balls made just for their swings and ball flight. They do not hook and slice as much as the old balls, but still produce the amount of spin that player desires.
The grooves in the face of the clubs became an issue during the period of time that spin was a big issue. It was the battle between the square grooves and the vee grooves. It became a legal battle involving the legality of the square groove. There was a great amount of testing the two types of grooves, and I don’t know how the legal battle was settled, but what it really amounted to, was that out of wet rough, the ball, when compressed trapped water in the vee grooves. This would not let the grooves cut into the cover of the ball to produce back spin, and you would have a “flyer.” The square grooves would allow the water to escape and the grooves could bite into the cover, and therefore produce more spin.
All of these little trends were bought by the gullible golfer looking for the answer without having to work on their games. New trends will come along and golfers will buy them. A man who shoots over a hundred will still shoot over a hundred with a two hundred dollar set or a two thousand dollar set.
Right after the war I was assistant Pro at the Mill River C. C., in Stratford, Connecticut. My boss, the head pro, was Lou Galby. I had been with him at two other clubs before the war. That summer, one of his best friends, Tommy Armour spent most of his time around our club, playing golf, and Gin Rummy.. Early in that season the green were very hard and is was difficult to stop any type of shot. We had a member of the club who had a machine shop, and Galby asked him to put some “real” grooves in his wedge. The first day he used the wedge he was playing with Armour. The first hole they came to was a three shot par five. Armour was away and his wedge took one bounce and then released and went to the back of the green. Galby hit his, and it took one bounce and then came back like a yo-yo. Galby shoved the wedge back in his bag real fast. Armour went over to the bag and found the wedge. He took it out and ran the face of the club down the side of his face, and said, “Good God, Galby, you can shave with this thing.” and he threw it in the woods. .
When you watch so called “average” golfers hit these “miracle“ clubs on TV, you are not seeing men taken right off of the street and hitting a ball on live TV. They are either experienced golfers, or many shot taped until a satisfactory result was acquired. The manufacturer of those clubs are not going to spend big advertising bucks and have some golfer hit a miserable shot. They would be out of business before they would start. If all the clubs that promise to improve your game really worked, Tiger would be out of business. To improve your game, take lessons and practice, practice and practice.