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How a 'Demo Days' visit can help improve your golf game

If you are considering an equipment change for this upcoming season, now is probably the best time to check out the options and see what's best for you and your game.

Many public golf courses, as well as private facilities, offer "Demo Days" in the spring that highlight the latest advances in equipment.

Here at Ivanhoe Club, we schedule six separate demo days for our members and those events feature the top equipment companies such as Titleist, TaylorMade, Callaway and others. Each demo day generally lasts 4 to 5 hours, and they are primarily conducted on the weekends, although Friday is also a popular day.

Here is what you can expect when you attend a typical demo day:

Year in and year out, our most popular one at Ivanhoe Club is with Titleist. Our local Titleist representative and a Titleist equipment technician set up shop at our practice facility, where their expertise is invaluable. They literally offer every club in the line for our members to test.

In the testing process, which includes Trackman (radar technology), our members can try all the different products that Titleist has to offer. Shafts can be switched out, lofts can be changed on drivers, fairway metals and hybrids, and weights can be adjusted to promote either a fade or a draw. The possibilities are numerous.

In addition, our PGA assistant professionals and I are available during the demo days to help with the selection of equipment, and to assist members with their swings.

As you'll often hear me state, ask your PGA professional for advice and recommendations when selecting new equipment for they truly are the experts in this game.

<h3 class="leadin">Ask the Pro:</h3>

If you have a golf question, please submit it to golftips@ivanhoeclub.com for future consideration. While I can't answer every question, I'll include ones of general interest in future columns.

• Jim Sobb is the PGA director of golf at Ivanhoe Club in Ivanhoe, IL. A member of the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame, Sobb is a three-time winner of the Illinois PGA Championship, with eight major championships in Illinois PGA events overall, and is a two-time Illinois PGA Golf Professional of the Year. For more on Jim and Ivanhoe Club, the home of the 2017 Rust-Oleum Championship (June 5-11), visit ivanhoeclub.com.

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