WITB: It Don’t Mean A Thing (If You Ain’t Got That Swing)

Every week it’s the same article on every golf publication’s website or social feed: here’s what’s in the bag of (insert the name of the tour player who’s 1 million times better than me) that he or she used to win an obscene amount of dough at the (sponsor mention) Open.

I’ve railed on what to me are useless articles before but just today I was Facebook greeted with a different version of the same nonsense, this time with a litany of click bait regalia by our friends at USA Today’s Golfweek:

https://golfweek.usatoday.com/2020/03/03/irons-used-by-pga-tour-players-ranked-in-the-top-10-in-strokes-gained-approach-the-green/2/

So it’s not just the sticks of one player who would kick my ass 64 ways to Sunday, but the WITB for the top 10 best at iron play across the PGA Tour. 

First, good for them. These guys aren’t the problem at all. They’d kick my ass and yours too because they’re that good, the cream of the crop, the best in the world. They deserve the accolades, endorsements, free gear, you name it.

What gets to me is these articles because they are SO off base, and as Ella Fitzgerald sang, “It don’t mean a thing, if you ain’t got that swing.”

If your irons swing sucks then whipping out $1,500 to $2,000 on new custom-fit forged beauties is not going to give you the same results that it will for JT, Rory, Webb, Boo, or Hideki. (Yeah, I said Boo, as Boo Weekley made the list of the 10 best iron players in 2020…who’da thunk it?)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The only thing plopping down that much coin on new blades will get you is a custom fit set of shank slappers that might go a little straighter and further. Take that money and spend it on lessons and clinics to better tune up your irons play.

Example: My irons game was buried about 50-feet below zero on the suck meter in 2020. But I also knew the set of Cobra irons I was building from new heads purchased through a golf clearance company for dirt cheap wasn’t going to be my savior. I needed lessons or to have that a-ha moment.

Just before the Pennsylvania weather got too cold to play outside is when I had the a-ha and I feel a little better about where my game can go. One simple shoulders adjustment and reset before taking a swing, along with shortening the backswing, has me swinging on a much better plane with simplicity at the core of it all. Plus, I just installed a swing net and will be buying a simulator soon to really dial in before spring comes around. I still may even find a swing coach if I continue to flail. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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But that’s smart investing two ways: putting money into working on my swing, I’ll get more lessons if I still suck, and also getting clubs that would’ve cost me $1,000 and building them for about $250. I’ll probably save $500 or more in a blink this way and be better, and you can too.

The whole what’s in the pro tour winner’s bag thing is great and all, but it does nothing for us. Buying their clubs don’t mean a thing for your game if you ain’t got that swing.

So before you shell out, shell out, shell out much moolah for more sticks, put your game into the shop and let a pro who you could work well with give it the tune up it needs. You can then forward all the money you saved to me in appreciation.

Cover Image via Instagram