Last weekend Jeni and I went to the new Academy Sports store in Greenville. They were still having their Grand Opening sale and lots going on to attract customers, from a giant pond outside with hundreds of pounds of catfish for people to catch, mini-golf course, the Clemson fishing team, Reebok, Bridgestone, etc, all on site.
In the golf section, I had a little explaining to do to Jeni for what I got done, as it sounds a little perverted. I got ball fitted. That's right, ball fitted. And it has nothing to do with what size jock strap one needs. It's very similar to being club fitted, except with golf balls instead of clubs. They have all this high tech machinary that takes several pictures as the ball leaves the tee and measures launch angle, back spin, side spin, etc. So, you pick out a club that's similar to yours and take a few swings. He asked me about the shaft on my current driver. In honesty, I won't shell out the dough for a flexible graphite composite whatever shaft, so instead of saying that, I just said that it was stiff. Hey, for my price range, stiff is all they make. So, I had to make do with a Callaway driver that sells for around $300, about what my entire set, plus bag and everything is worth. You first hit with a ball similar to one that you currently use and get measured and then since this was put on by Bridgestone, they pick out a Bridgestone ball that best fits your game, or in my case, lack therefore of. At one point he asked, "Have you had a chance to play much golf this year?" So, after I'd hit a few with the Top Flight, he suggested that I give up golf and try baseball. He hadn't seen me in the batting cages recently. The ball moves in baseball, I need a sport where the ball sits still for me to hit it. So after he picked out a ball for me to use that was 10 inches in diameter.... No, kidding, actually, he picked out a Bridgestone e6+ for me. It is designed to reduce side spin and back spin (both of which I'm really high on) because of it's anti spin inner cover. Surpringinsly, not the most expensive ball they make. After taking some swings with that, it reduced my backspin by 1300 rpm changed my side spin by a factor of 500 rpms. Anyway, golf is just a time killer til football season, which as of today, is only 22 days away and the season tickets came in the mail yesterday. Anyway, I highly recommend Academy Sports, it's like Sports Authority meets Bass Pro Shop and if you get a chance, you should get ball fitted. Just try not to laugh when they ask you how you like your shaft, stiff or flexible.