To many people the idea of custom fitting a golf club is the solution to all golfing problems. Straighten slices and hooks, flatten high balls and generally get more distance from straighter and more accurate balls. Is this really the case?

The basic idea of custom fitting a golf ball is incredibly simple, thanks to equally incredibly complicated hardware. The golf stands in a golf bay and strikes the ball as normal. The technology comes in by either sensors behind the mat you are aiming the ball at if you are playing in an artifcial simulator, or by cameras and / or radar if you are out on the range.

The computers digest the spin, speed and flight of the ball and can map from this information your ball flight path on the screen. This is then compared to the ideal or perfect flight path expected of the type of club used. By altering the club used you bring the golfer closer to the ideal flight path.

For example, the computer might reveal that a particular player’s strength and swing speed means that either a stiff or flexible shaft is best for their style of play. Weighting in the head of the club, which may be moveable, can adjust the angle of take-off of the ball and reduce the tendancy to spin in a certain way, reducing the effects of hooks and slices.

It all sounds good! But wait a moment before you rush out for your own custom fitting for a new club and spend a few hundred on a club to cure your problems.

I was talking about the custom fitting services of a local shop to my friendly pro when he warned me of a story about someone he had taught on and off for the last few decades. This student had recently been custom fitted and sold a very expensive club. Then he decided to have a few more lessons, not having had any for many months.

The custom fitting had indeed corrected a lot of the problems in his swing. The ball now went a lot straighter off the tee in the direction of where he was aiming, thanks to a lot of correction. But during the course of the lesson a problem with his grip that had crept in over time was sorted. This was great. Fixing the problem sorted out a lot of the iron shots. He was getting up to an extra 20 yards per shot and the accuracy was much improved.

Then it came to time to try the corrected grip with the brand new driver.The fantastic driver that cured the faults in his swing. The faults caused by the now corrected grip. The problem was that now the grip was sorted the error in his shots was not as great as it had been and the club was now over correcting. Instead of flying right, the ball went left. What should he do? Revert to the poor grip and not not benefit from the improved length? Or throw away a brand new club?

Custom fitting does have its place, I won’t argue with that. But, and this is the big but, take care just how fitted you go. Getting a club that best suits your general swing is good, but correcting faults that could be corrected by a few lessons might be a step to far.

Keith Lunt

Is golf the ultimate competitive sport for people of all abilities? Take any two people and put them on the course together and they should be able to enjoy the game.

Golf, it is often said to me, is the ultimate game for two people to compete against each other. It does not matter what level of player either competitor is, they can both enjoy a fair game on a level playing field, with each having a chance to win.

In golf, you do not compete against each other directly. The competition is far more complicated than that, with the end result that the game is fairer. Instead of direct competition score for score, you compete against each other by determining who is playing to the best of their ability on that course. If one player really excels at the particular course you are playing at whilst the other struggles because they are always in the hazards, the one with the better day should always win.

Contrast this to any other sport. Take a premiership football team and pit them against a Saturday league team. The result is probably going to be written in stone before the kick off and neither team is really going to enjoy the actual sporting experience. Likewise, pit two runners or swimmers against each other and the better performer will vanish into the distance whilst the weaker one struggles at the back.

For most sports, there is no reason for people of different levels to try to compete. But look at your local golf club’s competition and you will see players of all abilities playing each other, all of whom have a genuine chance of winning.

This balancing act, although sounding complicated, is brought about by golf’s handicap system. Through examining the best of your last few games your handicap is adjusted to show how many over par you could possibly play, if you played to the best of your golfing potential.

Apply this delicate balancing act across all people and players and you have a system whereby the weaker players get a few extra stokes, to put them on a level playing field with the rest of the competition. And it is not just in your club competitions that this is useful. If a regular playing partnership both have their correct handicaps, say husband and wife, then they can go out playing together and both stand a reasonable chance of being a victor on the day.

Obviously, there is a lot to say for the system calculating the handicap correctly, which includes honest on the parts of the players. But the way that golf works, it is an honour to be able to say a lower handicap. Therefore, players want to earn and show off a lower handicap, rather than maintaining an artificially higher handicap that could benefit them in competitions.

There is no other sport that I know like it, where a couple can head out and start off on an equal footing. Both have to then try their best to achieve a good score, for the potential of a win on the day.

Whether you agree or not that the handicap system is fair, getting an online golf handicap can be a solution if you do not belong to a recognised golf club. It certainly is a way of avoiding the high fees involved in joining and maintaining membership.

Written by Keith Lunt, for eighteen-holes.co.uk. Call in for more golf chat on our blog, about anything from handicaps to gear to courses.

If you are venturing to the Merseyside area for the Ricoh Women’s Open Golf competition later this year, you might also be considering a game or two yourself at one of the many golf courses that fill the area. The Royal Birkdale course itself is neighboured by Hillside and Southport and Ainsdale golf clubs and within a few miles you have two more Southport clubs, four courses at two clubs in nearby Formby, a couple of clubs in Ormskirk and that is without looking further away to Preston, Kirkby, Crosby and so on.

But if you maybe do not want to venture to one of these main high class clubs, what are the pay and play options on offer? We will look at a few of the options here!

Not too far away from Birkdale, easily accessible by car, is the famous Aintree race course. Within the ‘country’ half of the course as it is known (that is the area over the Melling Road furthest away from the grandstands) lies a motor racing track and within that a truly excellent 9-hole golf course. It is a course I have played several times and am hoping to play again in the next couple of weeks. Turn up and play or if you are travelling, check their website for the telephone number and book in advance, just in case they are closed due to a horse or motor racing event!

The course, when first built, held the record for the longest holes in a 9-hole course in the UK. No one seems to known whether this is still the case, but at around 550 yards plus, the first and the ninth holes are long and excellent fun! Not all of the holes are this long and there are a few par three holes to ease the game.

But out of the memorable holes, this course has a few, but what could be more so than playing the ninth hole towards the grandstands of the race course? An excellent distraction as you are playing.

Nearer to the action in Royal Birkdale is the Southport Links, which is the Southport municipal course. Do not be put off by the municipal tag, it is an excellent course, in good standing and a trial to play with the third hole another long Merseyside hole of longer than 550 yards. The blind shot over the bunker on the fourth hole is a challenge and a half, you will see what I mean when you approach a bunker that must be 20 feet high! The rest of the first 9 are interesting holes, although the back 9 are a little up and down in places, over some very long par 4s.

For the not so serious there are a few other courses that are par 3s in the area, including Tarleton and the Formby Driving Centre, as well as a pitch and putt at Ocean Plaza in Southport. If you feel like hitting a ball or two, there are plenty of option.

If you need to know more about golfing equipment, golf talk or are trying to find hotels for the Ricoh Open Golf, then do pop along to the site for some unbiased views on what is on hand in Southport and the general area.

By Keith Lunt, for eighteen-holes.co.uk, where you will discover a wealth of information about golf, golf equipment and a whole lot more!

Buying the right golf clothing can be expensive. Is it really worth the outlay, or should you just use every day clothes?

With golf you can be heading out onto the golf course for a few hours at a time, with just the clothes on your back and a few spares in the bag to keep you comfortable. In my opinion, it is absolutely vital to be wearing the right mixture of clothing.

Start with the base layers. With most base layers you benefit from long sleeves to keep you warm and probably a polo neck. But what is the point of buying the proper golf base layers? As with distance running these provide a few different functions all in one go. They not only protect you from the chill of the air by covering your body, they also keep you warm by wicking sweat. By utilising special fabrics they pull sweat away from your skin. This reduces the chilling effect of the sweating after you have had a slight extra effort. This sweat wicking effect will also keep you more comfortable as the sweat is not left on your body plus it prevents a degree of chaffing.

You might also notice that the professional golfers also wear many layers. Small layers piled on top of the other. This means that it is easy to peel off a layer as you get too warm and want to cool down and add a layer as you get colder. But the fit and shape of golf clothing is also designed to help you swing properly. The best clothing will be shaped with extra baggy sections to allow for movement, or close fiting so that it holds to your shape.

It is important that the layers dry quickly if you are caught out in the rain and by having a few light layers, as the weather changes you can add and remove layers to suit.

Of course, jackets, jumpers and base layers are not the only specialist golf clothing available. You would not turn up in an average glove in place of a golf glove. You accept that when you buy a new golf glove you will buy the proper equipment and dutifully go to the golf shop and buy the right gear. So why not make sure that the rest of the layers are also the proper equipment?

Finally, your footwear should also be the proper items. Obviously, many clubs and courses are particular about what you wear on your feet so you need the proper golf shoes. But with these, the spikes provide extra traction with the ground, keeping you steadier during the swing, especially on wet grass. Proper golf shoes, when correctly fitted, will also be comfortable and keep your feet happy during the duration of a full round.

Add to all of this a lightweight but waterproof jacket and the obligatory golfer’s cap and you have you golfing gear set-up ready to go. By buying the correct gearyou should be more comfortable whatever the weather, and hopefully play better.

And do not forget that there are a load more hints, tips and useful information that you can gather for free over on our golfing equipment blog. Pop over now to see what our latest articles are helping you with.

Keith Lunt owns and writes for eighteen-holes.co.uk. He enjoys playing golf and distance running, both sports that need a lot of weather protection.

I’ve spent many hours sitting in my favourite cafe watching people teeing off from various greens on the course it serves. There is a good view of people driving off up the first and an even better view of the drive from the 8th tee, which includes the view right down to the green. It is an excellent way to spend a lazy lunchtime, watching other people playing the game I wish I could dedicate more time to.

Now I am not going to claim to have the best or purest swing out there. It certainly has room for improvement and needs a lot more consistency. But watching others take their tee shot, I can certainly spot the good swing from the bad swing before the ball is struck. Usually the practise swings will show what sort of swing is coming up. Sometimes, just the backswing will show the faults.

The thing is, I know if I could stand 20 feet away from myself and watch my swing I would be able to point out corrections. Now, this might not be possible, but down on the driving range it is possible to get my wife to video my swing on the camera video phone. The very first time she did that for me I instantly corrected my swing and lost the worst of my slice in an instant. My swing, like many of the people I watch down in the cafe, was far too flat. By bringing the top of the backswing higher the path to the ball was corrected, the spin was lessened and the ball flew straighter.

Why is getting the basic swing correct so important? Golf is a difficult game at the best of times. Sticking at a static ball leaves fear in most people’s hearts. It should be easy, but look at the distance a goal keep kicks a spot ball against the distance of a dropped ball. We, as humans, find a moving ball easier to strike.

So when it comes to the time to hit the 1.68 inch golf ball with a rapidly moving club head at the far end of a golf club, held at arm’s lenth, the odds are drastically against us. How often when you were beginning did you top and even just take a fresh air shot? Probably more than you care to admit?

By reproducing an ‘authentic’ golf swing, one that is the accepted shape, we are benefitting from the many years of playing experience of those who have gone before us have put into finding the perfect swing. The ideal swing shape puts the clubhead on the straightest line for the longest length of time, which in actually fact is a mere fraction of a second.

For this brief moment in time, for that split second just before the club strikes the ball to the fraction of a second later when the ball has left the tee, the clubhead is travelling straight towards the target and at a level height.

Getting the perfect swing is not easy. But we can try!

Keith Lunt

You know who you are - the crowd of ladies that always play Friday mornings and wanted a bit more information about progesterone cream.

WHAT IS PROGESTERONE?
Similar to estrogen, which receives a good deal more public interest, progesterone is a female sex hormone. Women generate it in the ovaries and adrenal glands, and for the duration of pregnancy in the placenta. Along with all the discussion with reference to estrogen, progesterone is at times left behind as the forgotten female hormone.

WHAT ARE HORMONES AND HOW DO THEY WORK?
Hormones are our bodies’ chemical messengers. They move in the bloodstream to initiate specified actions or changes in the body. Hormones work by fastening to dedicated areas of cells identified as receptor sites. There they commence a succession of actions in individual cells or organs. For example, progesterone has been accepted to commence a soothing effect in the brain, dropping anxiety.

WHAT DOES PROGESTERONE DO?
For the duration of the reproductive years, progesterone prepares the uterine lining (or womb) for pregnancy. All month, progesterone levels rise following ovulation. Unless you become pregnant, the progesterone levels drop and trigger a monthly menstrual period. Progesterone can also play an important role in balancing out the effects of estrogen and other hormones. If you have too much estrogen and not enough progesterone, your body may be thrown out of balance. During menopause you might choose to use progesterone cream to correct a hormone imbalance, which otherwise can lead to symptoms such as hot flushes, night sweats, insomnia or irritability. During the reproductive years, hormone imbalance may produce premenstrual complaints such as water retention.

Thanks to today’s sponsor for the info about progesterone cream.