Find by symptom
Measure before you replace.
When contact goes wrong, the cause can be your motion, your equipment, or both. For each symptom, here is one thing to check yourself first, and the articles where a gear nerd answers. Where changing clubs won't fix it, the article says so.
The ball keeps curving (slice and hook)
Check first: Does it curve the same way with other clubs? If it's the same with every club, it's your motion. If it's one club only, suspect the equipment.
Thinking of changing drivers
Check first: Measure and write down the length, total weight and loft of your current club. Before you swap, be able to say in numbers what you want to change.
Not sure the shaft fits
Check first: Even the same "S" differs a lot in weight. Before the flex label, check the weight (g) and torque.
Can't Get Your Driver in the Air?
Check first: Look at launch angle on launch monitor data. At 38 m/s head speed, the guideline is 14.5°. If you're 3° or more below, check in this order: tee height, strike location (are you hitting low on the face?), then loft.
The 3-wood or long clubs won't get up
Check first: Check your head speed and that club's loft. Before grinding at the range with a club that won't launch, rethink how you build the set.
Can't hit long irons
Check first: A "#4" has a different loft by maker. Look up the lofts of your current 5-iron and 6-iron, then decide what loft fills the gap above them.
Irons balloon and don't go forward
Check first: Hit ten 7-irons on a launch monitor and look at launch angle and spin. If launch is too high, you're scooping. If launch is low and spin is low, suspect loft, strike location or grooves.
Distance steps between clubs are uneven
Check first: Look up your PW loft. Write out the whole set and check whether the lofts are evenly spaced 4 to 6° apart.
Fat chips and can't get out of the bunker
Check first: Read the bounce angle from the stamp on the sole, and film your setup from the front with your phone. If your hands are well forward, that much bounce is gone.
- Fat chips and bounce: the further forward your hands, the less bounce there is
- PRGR R35 and R50 Wedges: Only 15° of Loft Apart
- Slide Sole Master 56° review: who is 1° of bounce for?
- 【Oct 2026 Update】How Many Wedges? Your PW Loft Decides: Set-Makeup Chart
- Vokey SM10 vs SM11: 5% more groove, 44° added
- Hi-Toe 5 vs MG5: loft, weight and price compared
- New Wedges 2026: the one a gear nerd averaging 72 picked
Putts won't go in and distance control is off
Check first: Check your putter's length, and whether the head weight is published. Is it a length that puts your eyes about directly over the ball at address?
Missing short putts (missing from one meter)
Check first: Hit 10 putts from one meter and write down which way you miss. If they lean right or left, equipment can move it. If they scatter every time, it's your motion.
Thinking of switching to a zero-torque putter
Check first: Hit 20 putts from 1.5m and count the misses as right, left, short and long. If half or more miss the same side, it's worth trying. If short and long dominate, zero-torque won't move it.
The slice (curving far right)
Check first: Hit five balls each with the driver, 7-iron and PW and count which clubs go right. If it's the driver only, check the loft and sleeve markings. If irons only, the lie angle. If every club, it's your motion.
Unsure about driver loft (9° or 10.5°)
Check first: Look at 10 shots of angle of attack and spin on a launch monitor. If the angle of attack is positive and the ball is too high, 9° is a candidate; if negative, 10.5° or more.
Standing up and missing right (hands lift)
Check first: Lightly touch your backside to a wall and take five practice swings. If your backside leaves the wall on the downswing, it's the motion or your body. If it doesn't, yet the sole mark sits toward the toe, you can suspect the lie angle.
Pull hooks (curving far left)
Check first: Hit five balls each with the driver, 7-iron and PW and count which clubs go left. If it's the driver only, the sleeve and weights. If the shorter the club the more left, the lie angle. If every club, it's your motion.
Don't know the distance left and pick the wrong club
Check first: Are you hitting by the course yardage markers alone? Measure the distance to the pin every time and write down your real distance for each club.
Legs tire late in the round and you can't swing
Check first: Check shoe weight and width. The weight of one shoe differs by 100g or more between models.
Don't know which ball to use
Check first: Settle on one type and use it for three rounds. If you change every time, you can't tell whether your clubs fit.
Problems I'll cover next
Fat and thin shots, going right with only certain clubs, losing distance, scattered contact, sore hands or elbows, when to replace grips, and used clubs that don't fit.
If your symptom isn't here, send it through Questions and requests. I'll answer in an article with how to tell the cause apart.