I was watching The Golf Channel and I saw a commercial featuring PGA Tour Caddy, Lance Ten Broeck. Lance cadies full time for Jesper Parnevik in his second life on the PGA Tour. In his first life he played the PGA Tour and played rather successfully, making the cut in 159 tournaments and is exempt from qualifying.
This past year at the 2009 Valero Texas Open, he entered the tournament and when enough players withdrew before round 1, he got a spot in the field. Still having to caddy for Parvevik, he lucked out as the player he replaced was in the opposite tee time wave. Parnevik was early morning on the first round so Lance caddied all 18 and was done in time to tee off that afternoon. Playing with borrowed clubs he shot 71 the first day with his son carrying the bag. He followed with a 70 for 141 and missed the cut by 2 shots. He did beat his boss Parnevik who shot 144. Jesper was all in favor of Lance's marathon caddy and playing, which gained national attention and made Lance the hero in the caddy shack.
I have a personal relationship with Lance Ten Broeck. Lance caddied for me in my one time qualifying try for the Champions Senior Tour. I played OK, finished descent, but at my site there we only 8 spots to move onto the finals for over 90 players.
So, I am watching TGC and Lance pops up in a commercial, speaking as a caddy/former player pitching the benefits of clean clubs. He was the endorser/spokesperson for the Frogger Golf cleaning products. This link http://froggergolf.com/ will take you to their web site. They even have the TV commercial video of Lance swinging and then giving the sales pitch.
Lance was endorsing the Frogger 'BrushPro' club cleaner. It was the winner of 'The Best New Product' Award at the 2008 PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando. Upon opening the site the promo video pops on beginning the message. 'There is a plague infecting golfers everywhere. Dirty clubs, filthy clubs and dirty grooves are killing scores, but now there is an answer.' Then Lance comes on saying 'If you want to hit consistently strong and accurate shots, you gotta keep your clubs clean.' Lance is spot on correct in that you have to keep your clubs spot off clean.
Written promotions say that the 'Frogger BrushPro' increases distance, backspin and accuracy with clean clubs. It removes stubborn debris from clubs and groves. Frogger also introduced at the 2009 PGA Merchandise show their 'Amphibian Towel' and again won the award for best new product. This towel is different in that it looks like a taco shell. You wet the inside and it stays wet to clean the clubs while the outside stays dry.
Clean clubs are a 'MUST' to play better golf and shoot lower scores as the promotion states. This is why, on Tour, you see caddies wipe the clubs clean as soon as the player gives it back to them. Clean club faces and grooves are as important as having a clean ball to putt.
Clean club faces and grooves are a must for hitting good shots. Dirt on the face and in the groves will affect the spin and fight of the ball, mostly in a bad way. Debris on a clubface and in the grooves is the same as debris on a road. Road debris reduces the ability of the tire to grip the road for control and torque. Golf is just like driving a car where we must stay on the road. The best way to hit fairways and greens is to control the ball.
The big club story this year is all about the fact that the USGA banned the use of U groves with sharp edges. The contention is that the wider U and sharper edged grooves, as compared to narrower V grooves, grips the ball too much. This extra grip puts too much spin on the ball to bite and hold the greens, even out of the rough. So this year on the PGA Tour, and most pro tours and top USGA pro and amateur tournaments, the U grooves are banned from play.
This issue of the U grooves causing too much spin would not be an issue if golfers and caddies did not keep their club faces and grooves cleaned. The point is that not only must the face be clean, but the grooves as well. Many times on the PGA tour, when players are held up waiting to hit a shot, you see the player scratching the face of his club. He is using a tee or his ball mark tool to scrape every groove spic and span clean. Extra special digging out the dirt is applied to the grooves from the middle to bottom of the face where the ball is struck.
Every lesson I give, one of the first things I always do is check out the students clubs as to the makeup of the set. I also am checking the club faces for dirt. I can't tell you how many times I have found clubs, including the fairway woods and even drivers, filthy dirty, even with caked on dried up dirt. That student's first instruction is me showing them my spic and span clean clubs and getting told the importance of clean club faces and grooves for ball control.
I don't think we'll see 'Frogger BrushPro' club cleaners or 'Amphibian Towels' hanging from the side of PGA Tour Players bags except for maybe Jesper Parnevik's bag. I will bet that the caddies will stick with tradition and keep the towels with one end soaked and one dry to clean their player's golf ball and clubs. For them, it is keeping the club faces and grooves clean or be fired. It is that simple and important.
For the rest of us, keeping our club faces and grooves should have the same importance and be done with the same diligence. After all, the only golf shots hit better and lower scores shot will be your own.
Think of it like this. 'A clean club is a happy club and happy clubs hit better shots.'
The Surge!