{"id":48,"date":"2010-08-05T13:40:17","date_gmt":"2010-08-05T13:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/teemoore.com\/?p=48"},"modified":"2011-05-16T13:18:34","modified_gmt":"2011-05-16T13:18:34","slug":"a-review-of-just-hit-it-by-frank-thomas-with-jeff-neuman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/golf\/equipment\/48\/a-review-of-just-hit-it-by-frank-thomas-with-jeff-neuman","title":{"rendered":"A review of \u201cJust Hit It\u201d by Frank Thomas with Jeff Neuman"},"content":{"rendered":"

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To a reviewer, the mark of a good golf book is a mark. Lots of them. By that I mean, if after reading a book you page back through it and realized you\u2019ve marked it up to note key passages and insightful observations well that\u2019s a good book. That\u2019s the case with \u201cJust Hit It,\u201d by Frank Thomas with the assistance of professional writer Jeff Neuman. An engineering graduate from Western Michigan University, Thomas is best known as the long-time Technical Director of the USGA where he ruled the roost for determining \u201cconforming equipment\u201d for 26 years. Today, he\u2019s the chief technical advisor for the Golf Channel<\/em> and Golf Digest<\/em> while also being the principal owner of Frankly Golf, a golf consulting firm that also sells his patented Frog putter.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust Hit It\u201d can be relished on several different levels. First, it\u2019s a cogent and deft meditation on the game itself and how in many ways it has gone astray due to the modern age\u2019s excessively designed, too penal, and overbuilt courses; to greedy golf manufacturers pushing expensive and marketing-obsessed equipment; and timid rule-making bodies (i.e. USGA and R & A) not doing their jobs of protecting the traditions and customs of the game because of lawsuit worries.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Second, the book provides a concise history of club-making and golf innovations such as the gutta percha ball, the track iron, the center-shafted Schenectady putter, graphite shafts (which Thomas helped to introduce to golf), Ping\u2019s putter and perimeter-weighted irons, TaylorMade metalwoods, titanium-headed drivers, and multi-layered balls. Along the way, Thomas drops a number of interesting chestnuts: Bobby Jones\u2019s famed Calamity Jane putter had eight degrees of loft to help on the bumpy greens which probably stimped at four; Grand Rapids and longtime Blythefield club pro John Barnum was the first tournament winner with a Ping putter; and the $300 million lawsuit between Ping and the USGA (when Thomas was technical director) was \u201call about the width of a human hair\u201d on the contested Ping irons\u2019 grooves.<\/p>\n

I also liked how Thomas serves up a host of practical advice and counsel on equipment decisions for the everyday golfer. For example, Thomas recommends no more than a 44 inch length driver for men of average height. \u201cA shorter shaft will almost always lead to more hits on the sweet spot,\u201d states Thomas. He also urges consumers to pay close attention to shaft flex and lie angle before buying equipment which agrees nicely with the positive trend for personal club-fitting. Heck, Thomas even answers the question about how good are those unused golf balls one may rediscovered in the basement? Balls kept in a dry place \u201cfor four or five years will see no measurable decrease in distance,\u201d promises Thomas. Yet for all of his acclaimed technical skills and equipment knowledge, Thomas is refreshingly candid and frank <\/em>in advocating \u201c<\/strong>work on improving you<\/em>, instead of your clubs.\u201d Please consult your local PGA teaching professionals and tell \u2018em Frank sent you.<\/p>\n

The only section I found somewhat tedious was an early chapter, offered up as an allegory of sorts, about a fictionalized game of obstak and how its simple roots and appeal had been corrupted and hijacked by commercial and marketing forces. \u201cThe game of obstak is in the hands of those who profit from it instead of those who played and loved it.\u201d It\u2019s ably written and nicely argued but too much time and attention are lent there.<\/p>\n

However, I was favorably struck by some of the astute research and studies cited by Thomas and how they should serve as another (how many does it need?) wake-up call for the beleaguered industry. To wit, \u201cthe two greatest deterrents to developing an addiction to golf are time and cost.\u201d The book ends on a particularly robust note with eight steps for saving the game and as building blocks for its future. Those eight steps are\u2026hey, wait a minute. Just read it!<\/p>\n

To order \u201cJust Hit It\u201d visit www.franklygolf.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 To a reviewer, the mark of a good golf book is a mark. Lots… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":49,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6127,6569,6570,9,4007,4907,1695,5048,5975,3],"tags":[2868,6156,1298,2869,2870,2871,499,83,2832],"class_list":["post-48","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-so-cal-golf-assoc","category-azga","category-conn-golf-assoc","category-golf","category-robert-trent-jones-ii","category-oregon-golf-assoc","category-travel-oregon","category-alternative-golf-assoc","category-long-island-golf-assoc","category-equipment","tag-frank-thomas","tag-western-michigan-university","tag-golf-books","tag-just-hit-it","tag-jeff-neuman","tag-frankly-golf","tag-ping","tag-usga","tag-terry-moore"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2010\/08\/JustHitit.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":418,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions\/418"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}