These overlooked gear components can improve your game in a hurry

In the constant chase for a better golf game, players tend to focus on lessons, new clubs or the newest swing thought making the rounds online. Yet some of the most impactful performance upgrades are already built into the gear they own—hidden in adjustability features, overlooked specs and smarter club alternatives that rarely get the attention they deserve.

Today’s equipment isn’t just designed for forgiveness; it’s engineered for customization. And those customizable elements can deliver immediate gains when players understand how to use them.

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On a recent episode of Golf Digest’s Golf IQ equipment podcast, Jonathan Wall (Golf Digest managing equipment editor), Gene Parente (Golf Laboratories co-founder) and Chris Marchini (Golf Galaxy’s director of golf performance and innovation) offered up several overlooked components that don’t get nearly the respect they deserve.

Jonathan Wall (Driver adjustability): For as much money as people spend on a driver, I rarely see them use the wrench that’s provided to make incremental adjustments.

Maybe the weights are where they need to be for optimal carry, but in most cases, the driver is still in the off-the-rack settings. It’s a free correction, you don’t have to get a lesson, so long as you know what you’re doing—and a lot of these adjustable settings are becoming more intuitive. I would say that the loft sleeve is the one thing that gets overlooked that could improve your game instantly.

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For example, some people are hitting the ball really high, and they think that’s great, because tour players hit the ball really high. But they don’t realize that they’re launching it at about 12 or 13 degrees and spinning it at about 3,400 (RPMs) to hit it high, and they actually need to hit it lower, or vice versa. In that case, simply moving the weights forward and turning down the loft can help you gain yards with the same swing.

Chris Marchini (Loft Sleeve): I couldn’t agree with you more. It’s dumbfounded me for years after a fitting where someone would go, now set that up to what I fit to, because I’m never going to touch it.

I’m like, “wait a minute, you’re not gonna feel the same every single day when you walk on the golf course.” If you’re on the range, and you got a little squeeze fade going on for some reason, take it to an upright setting.

The adjustable sleeve is there for a reason. It’s there to optimize performance, and sometimes your performance needs to be optimized day-to-day.

Marchini (Wedge bounce): It shocks me how many don’t pay attention to wedge bounce. They simply fixate on the loft they need. I know I need roughly four-degree increments in between.

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I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve had dialogue with somebody, watched how they delivered it, watched their angle of attack, put a different bounce in their hands, and they turn around and go, “Oh my god, that feels so different.” And it’s the same wedge loft, just at a different bounce.

Gene Parente (Long-iron alternatives): I don’t think enough players study their longer irons. And when I say longer irons, it’s all a function of velocity. For some people, a longer iron might be a 6-iron or even a 7-iron, depending on how fast they swing.

More specifically: Are you getting the ball in the air? Players get used to this kind of line drive, bump-and-run style and don’t realize that 7- and 9-woods, 3- and 5-hybrids, because of their center of gravity, create a launch and spin window that gives you the distance that you need.

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We hammered on landing angle efficiency in a previous pod, and it’s so important if you want to hit those key yardages near the top of the bag. I don’t expect the average player to understand it, but if you understand the concepts, then you can go in to someone like Chris, get fit and understand what’s going on.

Once you get your window, then you can adjust accordingly, and if you’re hitting the ball too high or too low out of that window, that’s where things like the loft sleeve come into effect.