Although the conversation is about squash, not golf, the concept is transferrable: In Betrayal, the Harold Pinter play, one of the characters is asked why it takes three hours to play a one-hour match. “First you have to play the match,” he explains, “then you have to talk about squash.” Golf is often the same way.
Like certain neighborhoods that attract particular immigrant nationalities, some towns become golf towns. Obviously, a raft of good courses helps, as does a resident population of tour professionals. But quality courses and pros are everywhere. Greater golfcentricity is reserved for places like Orlando. And Scottsdale.
One telltale sign is the existence of satellite businesses like Cool Clubs, which we visited after a morning round. It’s a clubfitting service of the sort that ought to interest any golfer regardless of current equipment needs. I’m able to say that because of all golf’s aspects of interest – people, places, courses – equipment has always been, for me, the least alluring.
Led by Bronx refugee Vito Berlingeri, Cool Club’s customer relations / marketing director, the unabashedly club-geek staff makes the subject fun. You need not be an equipment nut to be impressed by the technology available and the information unfailingly will tell you something about your game, for example how asymmetrical is your putting stroke.
Checking out only the putter and driver mechanics for research purposes, I wasn’t the ideal prospective purchaser anyway. But the analyses by my clubfitter, Jason, indicated that the blade putter and TaylorMade driver in my bag were in fact suitable equipment choices for my mechanics. Options for even marginal improvement in driving distance were limited to the purchase of expensive shafts.
And yes, since you ask, Trackman did indicate that I don’t drive the ball as far as I thought, no doubt the ongoing source of levity among the Cool Clubs crew.
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