I’m a man; I can change; if I have to

[mercerquietman]

{Warning, the second paragraph is long winded and boring and if you are not a golfer difficult to comprehend.}

It’s funny how we sometimes resist something instinctively and perhaps irrationally. We get something in our head and we don’t budge. It can be something simple like eating a certain food. My grandpa always refused to eat bacon. He was not Jewish, he just thought pigs were dirty animals and should be avoided and tasted terrible. Yet he loved grandma’s fried potatoes. She hid the secret that she fried them in bacon grease till he died. Once, she didn’t have any bacon grease and fried them in oil. He remarked they did not taste as good! Had he known grandma usually fried them in bacon grease he would have refused to eat them. My brother refused to ever board a plane until a year ago or so when his little niece moved to Las Vegas and he missed her too much and decided to fly out for a visit. Now he is actually open to flying. I have one involving merchandise marketed to women. I’m not just talking about obvious things like bras and stockings. I’m talking about anything that is made for women. Often, the merchandise is pink in color. Things like tools, tablets, autos, cell phones and even firearms. It’s amazing how many gender targeted items there are out there, like dainty (again, usually pink) pens, deodorant, yogurt etc. While I’m not particularly fond of pink, I admit to be bothered more by the fact that the item is a woman’s item. I know a cell phone identical to my own but only in pink works just like mine. It’s irrational. I’ve already been looking at sweatshirts in a display and found one I like that would appear to fit me only to put it back because the tag denotes it as a women’s size. I mean really, if it fits, why should I care what the stupid tag says, right? But I do. It just feels effeminate to use something “made” for a woman. Well, that whole notion of mine underwent a serious challenge a few weeks ago, hence the title of this post.

I was browsing in the golf section at Dunham's sporting goods store about three or four weeks ago and came across some discontinued, but new, Nike Sasquatch Drivers. I like Nike Drivers, and really don’t need a new one, but these were clearance priced at $100, really cheap for Drivers of that quality. Out of idle curiosity I pulled some out and addressed an imaginary ball; just playing around mostly. Then I noticed some clubs were a little shorter than others and thought that may be just what I need. I inspected the club head and noticed there was a “W” in a spot that normally contains an “L” or “R” denoting a left or right handed club (like they really need to do that). I stood there for a second trying to figure out what “W” was, then realized I was looking at a women’s driver. I instinctively put it back. It may have looked just like the men’s club, it was not even pink, but there was that “W”. I left the store without purchasing anything but I thought about it for a couple days. I have always struggled with the driver more than any other club despite the fact that its head is the biggest. The reason of course is that it is the longest club. I struggle to make solid contact with the ball with a longer club standing further away from the ball. I have a much bigger margin of error on a driver compared to say a five iron. I have a tendency to hit the ball off the toe (the front portion of the head of the club) sending the shot right. I’ve often thought that standard off-the-rack clubs may be a tad too long for me as I am only 5’7”, under average height for a male. I realized my reaction to not wanting to use a women’s club was just dumb. I thought I’d give up a testicle to drive the ball like the women pros do so why am I avoiding equipment targeted to women? I did a little research on eBay and learned that in addition to a women’s driver being a tad shorter, they typically have a higher loft to help women get the shot airborne as they tend to generate less club head speed than men. While I don’t have that problem I will from time to time hit it hard but only about four feet off the ground. Gravity takes over and a promising 220 yard drive dies at about 160. In those cases a tad more loft might be a good thing. So, I returned to the store to look more seriously at this. I grabbed two Nike drivers, a women’s and a men’s and placed a box of spikes I was purchasing on the floor as my “target”. I started with the men’s club and lined myself up with the club head against the box as I would to hit a drive. I then put down the men’s driver and picked up the women’s driver while keeping my feet right where they were. When I went into position with the women’s driver, I noticed I had to move about an inch and a half to two inches closer to the target. It doesn’t sound like much, but I thought if that distance allowed me to reduce my margin of error by half an inch or so, this would be well worth the investment. I bought it and went to the range with my old driver (a men’s Nike) and the new one. After warming up with irons, I grabbed the old one and hit about a dozen shots with fairly typical results. I tend to hit drives a little better on the range as I’m doing one after another. I hit a couple really nice, another three or four were decent shots that were fairly straight and around 180 yards, the other half were toe shots, some going badly right or really low drives. I then grabbed the new driver. The first half dozen shots were all straight as an arrow and all around 200 yards. I was stunned at the difference. I was hitting far more consistently. I continued this experiment and found that my best drive with my old club was better than my best drive with the new one. While it does not happen often, my limit is about 280 yards. Try as I might, I could not get that distance with the new driver. It may be a combination of its slightly shorter shaft and more lofted head. But on average, I hit the new one much farther and (more importantly) straighter because I hit the ball closer to the sweet spot. I’m guessing about five percent of the time I’d get better results with my old driver, 20 percent of the time the results are pretty much comparable and the remaining 75 percent of the time I get better results with the women’s driver, sometimes significantly better. I have used it on the course and the difference is not as noticeable as it is on the range, but I do have a lot more confidence with it and find myself using it on holes I normally would not. Now I just have to hide the “W” when I go golfing with the guys. :-) Actually, I went golfing with my brother and a friend and told them this story, but waited until I outdrove them on a few holes. That kind of prevented them from making wise cracks.

What’s next? Buying women sweatshirts!

[Mickchick]

Good for you, MQM! 

[Karin M Fichtner]

I have worn men's clothing before.....sweatshirts, tee shirts, jackets......and I didn't feel uncomfortable wearing them.  I'm still a gal.  I don't need to wear a woman's shirt to feel like one.  And I hate Pink!! 

As a matter of fact, I've worn a few shirts and tees around the house.......only......nothing else.  It always worked for me.  I never had the owner complain. ;-) 

If it feels good.....do it! 

[Suthinsoul]

I'm the same way, Karin.  I love wearing men's t-shirts.  They are bigger and more comfortable .  I never had the owner complain either, in fact, they seemed to enjoy seeing me in their shirt.  I guess I just wear it well....hehe.

[oldmike]

LOL I guess it's okay for women to start a sentence with "I love wearing men's..." but if a man said "I love wearing women's..." he'd never hear the end of it! LOL

[Suthinsoul]

That is so true Mike.  Lots of double standards.  I also like 4 wheeling, shooting guns and chevy pickups but if a woman  says that then we MUST be lesbians.  But you can see, I'm ALL woman!

[oldmike]

So ya got a girl's driver, eh?!!!

The margin of error in golf is directly related to the level of confidence in the club that one is using, and not necessarily the club itself. A club that feels right, hits better.

So, go ahead, put on your pink panties and golf with your girl's club, whatever works for you! LOL

[mercerquietman]

I know what you are saying, but I'm convinced standing closer to that ball at impact is enabling me to hit it closer to the center of the club head. Knowing that indeed gives me more confidence. One of my favorite golf quotes:

 

Golf is a game that is played on a five-inch course - the distance between your ears.  ~Bobby Jones

[oldmike]

So true!

I'm sure understand that I was just teasing you?

[Johnnieboy]

Golf can certainly be a maddening game. As soon  as you get so frustrated you want to just quit you nail a perfect drive, or knock an iron two feet from the cup, or hole out from a bunker, or sink a thirty footer with four foot of break. Why the heck can't we do that all the time??

[dwalt]

First off, why should you have to change? I guess I am used to men being "men", that's what I like about them. I also don't think the color "pink" is a mans color. That's why most men don't wear or like that color. As far as the golf club, who's going to notice? Granted, I know nothing about golf (and I live behing a golf course) but what  people don't know won't hurt them. You just do what feels right for you and don't change for others.