PAR-FECT

1-}5

The latest
equipment and the
best holes for
local golfers.

R ho tog rap h by Bren da n Ma t t is l',

■ BY STEVE WHITELEY

I-2 STYLE

hether a seasoned
linkster or a divot-
driving hack, if you
want to improve your
golf game the two most important
areas to concentrate on are choice of
equipment and practice, probably in
that order.
There are subtle differences in the
current tools of the golfing trade.
Among the high-tech golf equipment
now on the market is the graphite
club. Graphite makes the instrument
lighter, allowing more head speed
and thus more distance when used
properly. But it may not be for
everyone.
Graphite clubs are 25 to 40 percent
more expensive than their steel
counterparts. Made popular by
professional golfers on the senior
tour, graphite clubs may provide the
most benefit to women and senior
golfers. But the pros are selective, for
the most part, and may have only one
or two specialized graphite clubs in
their arsenals.
When purchasing a club, it is
important to realize that there are two
distinct parts to the instrument — the
shaft and the head.
Heads come in graphite, copper
and beryllium, as well as other
material, but none has proved
superior to the others under
laboratory testing conditions.
Features to consider are the angle of
the head's face, the size of the face,
and the shape of the head.
When deciding on a shaft design,
consider the amount of club flex,
shaft length, grip design, weight, etc.
Each should be fitted to the indi-
vidual's ability and style of play.
A fairly new innovation is the long
putter. Especially popular in the
seniors' market, the long club allows
players to use the bigger, steadier
muscles of the shoulders when
playing the short game, rather than
the smaller muscles of the forearms
and wrists.
Another new product is the trouble
wood, used mostly for playing out of
the deep grass in the rough. "They
are easy to hit with," says Mike
Lundgren, a manager of Carl's
Golfland. He notes that people who
have trouble with low numbered
irons, use these successfully.
New, specialized wedges with
varying degrees of loft (face angle) are