Just Hit It

Just Hit It by Frank Thomas. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780615181097.

Frank Thomas is the worlds leading expert on golf equipment. As a design engineer at Shakespeare Sporting Goods in the 1960s and 70s, he invented the graphite shaft, a piece of technology found in the bag of nearly every golfer today. As Technical Director of the United States Golf Association, he issued thousands upon thousands of rulings on equipment, literally writing the rules that govern the implements of the game. In Just Hit It, Thomas shares his knowledge with every golfer. In clear and concise language, he separates the blather of advertising claims from the nuggets of truth, explaining how golf equipment works, describing which features matter and which ones don t, providing the most thoughtful overview of the subject ever written. He debunks common misperceptions, and demonstrates that what s newest and latest may not be any better than what you already own. But Just Hit It isn t just an equipment guide. It also examines the marketing culture that threatens to separate the game from its core values. Thomas understands the golfer s desire to find the magic club that will change his game and wipe away his flaws, but he also recognizes the way this belief in magic can be exploited by others for profit. Further, he explores how this selling climate eats away at the fundamental reasons we play the game, whether we realize it or not: the desire to test ourselves against an objective standard while overcoming the obstacles set in our path. He describes how the rules of the game can best serve our purpose, and proposes steps that can be taken by golfers, course designers, developers, and governing bodies to reconnect the game with what it ought to be. Practical, philosophical, and historical all at once, Just Hit It is a unique contribution to the literature of golf.