Last Updated on August 3, 2024 by Shawn Olizarowicz
Golfers are constantly being marketed to. Whether it’s while watching golf, or heading to the golf course, you’ll have golf products coming your way at all times. However, some of these products are not worth the money. As a golf professional who has spent more than 30 years in the game, these are the foolish purchases I have seen golfers make.
Golf Iron Covers
I know those golf irons were expensive and looked shiny, but golf iron covers are more trouble than they are worth. The way I look at it, golf irons are meant to be hit. We bought them so that we could use them to hit a golf ball as far as we possibly could, not so that they could look shiny.
Golf iron covers will get lost, take your time to put back on your club, and are a bit inconvenient overall.
In the end, the iron covers don’t provide much benefit for the annoyance they will cause.
Get a good golf bag where the irons have some separation, and then keep your clubs clean to avoid additional damage.
Illegal Golf Driver or Ball
The illegal golf products sound like a great idea, don’t they?
You won’t play in tournaments or events, so why does it matter if your equipment is legal?
First of all, let’s consider the fact that illegal golf equipment is not always better. In my experience, almost all of the illegal equipment I have tried has never had good feel or consistent performance.
Can we just trust that between the big golf brands, we have the best of the best technology?
These non-conforming clubs and balls might offer a temporary performance boost, but there is plenty of benefit in the legal equipment. The club can’t always swing itself for you.
New Club Without Trying It
Buying golf equipment is a big investment. Therefore, purchasing a golf club before you even get a chance to try it may be a mistake. I know that certain manufacturers like to hype up their new releases. They even let you pre-order the club.
My question is, why are you preordering something you don’t even know will work for your game?
Buying a club without testing can lead to disappointment, issues with your golf swing, and a lot of regret.
This is one of the more costly foolish purchases, and it’s not hard to avoid by simply buying something after you test it! Chances are your game can wait a few weeks or months to give you a chance to test.
Golf Launch Monitors
Listen carefully to this one. Not all golf launch monitors are foolish purchases. The problem is that some golfers have no idea how to interpret data from them. If you don’t know what spin rates you should have or how the launch angle impacts your ball flight, it may not be worth the money to invest in a launch monitor.
Launch monitors can be really interesting, but if you are purchasing an accurate one, they are expensive, too.
Save your money, and get a few lessons.
When you feel like you have a better handle on what will benefit your golf game, go ahead and make the investment into the launch monitor.