Does Chapstick on your Driver Actually Help You Hit it Straight?

[@melborrego6370]

Next video How do you remove chapstick from your new simulator screen?

[@ejstewart3098]

That was what I was thinking? Lol!

[@obwls9495]

This absolutely works and I used it for a long time when my game was pretty bad. Made my rounds a thousand times more enjoyable and kept me in the game long enough for me to improve to where I don’t need it anymore. If you’re just playing to have fun and aren’t playing money games with friends why not do it?

[@imdjaymac8399]

I am doing the exact thing. I don't have time or the money to spend hitting the range enough to really fix my slice. My buddy and I go out once a week or every couple weeks and just have fun. We aren't joining the tour so who really cares. If there's money or in a tournament I can totally see people being pissed but that ain't me.

[@nicholasfitchett7278]

Exactly. It's like mulligans or using a tee from the fairway or rough. If money or prestige isn't on the line, who cares?

[@Ky_Mycology]

I'm guilty of this lol. Was having a really tough day keeping my drive in play, so I gave this a try. Let me tell you, it works!!!!

[@sabinodelrosario188]

🤣🤣🤦‍♂️me too 🏌️‍♂️🏌️‍♂️,it works for the money 🤦‍♂️🤫🤑

[@hellowrld6120]

I tried it once on the course but my drives were knuckle balls that just fell out of the sky in a hurry

[@jsb3286]

Lmao this comment! Atleast you admit it

[@jaisway]

Yes it works... I did this for my son one day at the range. I put on vaseline and told him to hit it hard. After watching him spray driver shots it went consistently more straight. The flight is that of a knuckle ball right down the middle. He was having the time of his life blasting straight drives!

[@jfeisel]

Lesson in Southern Grammar: 1= You, 2-4= Y'all, 5+= All Y'all

[@DHall24]

Went and tried this today for fun and let me tell you it works. Found fairways when I tried to slice the ball. Even on bad swings it would somehow stay straight with hardly any curve

[@FLYBOY123456789]

can't afford chapstick, all my money went to new shafts...just kidding...if my friend wants to use chapstick, vaseline, grease or wd 40 on his club, I really don't care...having a four hour conversation with friends is priceless regardless of what he shoots...however, if we're playing for money, no stick 'um on the face. good video...u 'all.

[@jaywalk4446]

Rick shiels did this with vaseline (so probably had much more on the club face than from a lip balm) and his spin dropped so low that the ball just fell out of the air about half distance. Irrespective of the rules i wouldnt want to introduce anything so unpredictable to my game. I can mess it up on my own thank you very much, i dont need help!

[@kourt2469]

yeah and if you still had it on your ball when you had to go hit your wedge shot with lip balm still on the ball would not be worth it.

[@thomasmacgruber6701]

Just tried this today, I have had a nasty slice since 1994 and it was amazing. Straight knuckle balls 240 down the middle all day. Will be applying it to my driver for the foreseeable future.

[@caintiger]

I did try this.. as long as u put a decent swing on the ball in general it does help. If you come over the top and swipe it will slice if you come hard and don't rotate properly you will hook. But I did "not" get more backspin. If anything it rolled out more

[@DoAnythingNew]

Maybe I’m missing something. Everyone of these videos attempting to prove or disprove whether petroleum jelly works on preventing slice, are being done by golfers who nine times out of ten can drive a ball perfectly down the fairway without it. Why not bring in someone who’s a novice and has slicing issues? Have them attempt the shots? Wouldn’t that really provide a more realistic result as to whether it works or not?

[@LSchnott]

"I'm not dumb, but I'm not a rocket scientist either" Next video: Mark Rober collab

[@chrischurchill3545]

Should have named the video “Fact or Friction”

[@rodrig13]

The increased spin is the “reverse flier” effect. In a slick flier lie, lower lofted clubs actually go shorter and have more spin. This is because the ball is in contact with the face for more time than shorter irons. The ball begins to slide up the face and then suddenly catches and this wrenches the ball hard backwards. Of course the reverse is true on high lofted clubs. The ball makes contact for less time and the wet flier lie keeps the groves from contacting grabbing the face at all, resulting in no wrench effect and less spin giving more carry. The tighter dispersion is likely a result of the increased spin. More spin is always a straighter shot. This is one of the reasons why we see tighter dispersions in our higher lofted irons. I would suspect you’d see a straighter dispersion simply by lofting the driver up a bit for increased spin. TXG did a good flier lie video showing this.

[@gavinpickin157]

Exactly!

[@bruce3412]

so would this also work on short irons to get more spin and stick it on the greens?

[@rodrig13]

Bruce you mean putting chap stick on them? No. The slick face on shorter irons reduces spin. On longer clubs it increases spin. Adding sand paper would work on the short sticks tho lol.

[@JohnnyBfromOKC]

It's like hitting a knuckle ball except the loft will still add backspin a make it float a bit

[@markpersico1011]

Going golfing for the first time in over ten years and with clubs from the 90s and I'm gonna do this tomorrow! Not cheating when I'm still gonna shoot 100 in 9 holes haha

[@vtcrafter6626]

Great timing on the video, lol. I played my local course 2 da ago and saw a chapstick laying in the second fairway. Was like hmm that’s odd then I see this video. Makes perfect sense now. I slice but I choose to close the club face and try to just make good contact instead of cheating. One day my slice will be gone forever

[@bryanl8761]

Matt. I think the reason the backspin is more while the side spin is less. Is due to the horizontal groves on the driver face, that groves will grip the ball irrespective of lube being added. Thus the backspin is less/not affected. Now since there are no or very few vertical groves on the driver face thus, side spin is affected by the lube (there are no groves to grab the ball). I think as well, with less side spin (due to chapstick) the backspin is more pure (less side spin to degrade the back spin)...just a theory

[@yardsalecrap]

I agree.

[@markp7799]

I'd be curious to see how other materials affect performance. For example, plain water on the club face vs dry.......or mud, grass clippings, or whatever you can think of.

[@JCChavz]

Or gasoline…maybe bleach, or paint thinner. Yeah.

[@dylanschlette2148]

I can tell you with certainty that water affects distance. Atleast it did me assuming i got a good shot like i had been all day. We got poured on and continued to play lol

[@tylerskjonsby3263]

@@dylanschlette2148I find I always lose about 70-95 yards when I’m hitting out of water

[@dylanschlette2148]

@@tylerskjonsby3263 Absolutely agree! Over the last year ive played in more conditions and water Absolutely destroys distance!

[@flex_flex6988]

This chitttt really does work… I slice the ball all the damn time… and when I add this on my driver I honestly can say I don’t slice the ball.. it either gos Stright or does a light draw

[@glennwisse6271]

Ping has been using textured face technology on their recent drivers. A rougher face grabs the ball and helps lower spin because the ball slides up the face less. When Trevino was playing for money, his own money, he said a lot of guys would grease em. Especially when you need a straight shot. Interesting stuff. I hope you didn’t get grease on your new screen. Cheers. 👍👍

[@Willy-the-Fire-Putter-Outter]

Maybe you could try using varying amounts of chapstick to see what kind of effects that have. I can see how your explanation would make sense with more chapstick, but would it remain true with just a thin layer of chapstick? I think that is where the difference may lie. Not positive though but definitely worth testing it out

[@bobjoswick6075]

I saw an ad for increasing distance. The pro sold a spray to use on club face for added distance.

[@dennispombier3701]

Very interesting! Might see some guys at the US Open doing this to avoid the giant rough at Winged Foot!!! lol

[@jpgolf9729]

Dennis Pombier Patrick Reed is probably gonna use the lip balm😂

[@ambsquared]

Might be that the coefficient of friction with the lip balm is higher. Not sure why it would reduce side spin while increasing backspin. It also might keep the ball in contact with the face for a few more microseconds. If you want to really make the face slick, maybe try a dry lube like used on door locks. It sprays on wet, but will dry very quickly leaving a slick film on the surface. It will stay on the surface for a while too, so might need to figure out best way to clean it off.

[@lancelafont4430]

Heading to Carlsbad in October. Who has the best overall fitting experience? The Kingdom or Titleist TPI?

[@golf007sd2]

You should consider a brand agnostic fitting center...unless you know which manufacturer you listed above.

[@leonardpugh7086]

Compare the accent angle and decent angles. Thinking with balm, accent would be higher, decent steeper ( thus no roll out) I too aren't a sceintece. LP

[@OhYee24]

Tried this at the range... wow.... it works

[@svenhallauer3229]

LOL - there is no side-spin, there is only spin-axis. When the spin-axis is anything other than 0 degrees it means that the club-face and club-path at the moment of impact were not 100% aligned in the same direction. This is what shapes the ball flight, and as Bubba Watson says, the hardest shot to hit is a straight one. Because spin-axis is a hard concept for most people to wrap their heads around companies like TrackMan decided to invent the term side-spin to make it easier to grasp the concept. But at the end of the day side-spin is 100% the player unless in your experiment you applied the lip-balm unevenly on the face and managed to hit the ball just so that one side of the ball mostly impacted the side were the balm layer was thinker - kind of like having mud on your ball.

[@codylongfellow5050]

Hey I know I’m late but welcome to GA! You should check out Echelon if you haven’t yet. Also once you get settled into a course, you need to have a scramble for your viewers.

[@peterkassey7618]

Matt, great videos!! Welcome to Georgia.

[@migelh]

I dont think a ball actually gets side to side spin as you put it. However spin is just backspin with a different axis that makes it fly right to left or left to right.

[@goonsquadgolf]

Exactly

[@thetowndrunk988]

It definitely works. I tried it awhile back, and the most beautiful, straight ball you’ve ever seen, dead left into the trees…… At least it wasn’t the typical snap hook left

[@20ftCloserOutdoors]

Next video, show you playing some courses on the simulator!

[@paulg7002]

Back in the day when I was a young man, my friend and I would do it on the last hole of our course, a par 5 18th. With a wood driver with an insert and screws like my old Cleveland classic it did work. As you said, the club face needs to be pointing at the desired point at impact. Nowadays it is more psychological. Why? Driver faces are much faster and the ball is going off the face hotter. After watching the video I tried it outside with my Radspeed driver. Results can be negative. I hit a few drives where the ball launched, and I could see that the spin rate was non existent and the ball just dropped from the sky at the apex. It reminded me of those baseball pitches when the ball was Vaselined and it just dropped at home plate. In the video you made I would have liked to see the data on the actual side spin numbers with and without and to see it done with someone hitting the ball with too high a side spin. I imagine your side spin is sub 500 so the differences could be helpful because you are basically on target and reduces a little. For someone swinging out to in they may see more benefit in terms of accuracy.

[@thomasmacgruber6701]

No, 1000% not purely psychological, tried it today with my M2 and I went from a 30 yard slice drive of about 170 to over 220 muddle middle, straight knuckleballs.

[@flyzone7441]

Poly Max Extremes works the best. Professional Golfers use them during practice.

[@danfishhound857]

I think the ball rides up the face instead of compressing and launching. So the side spin decreases due to the ball going up the face and back spin is added. Just a theory here too.

[@dylanschlette2148]

Kinda like a baseball being hit off a bat

[@shankgolfer7951]

I use the chapstick cap as my ball marker on the green so it's impossible for me to keep 'trace amounts' of lip balm from accidentally finding it's way to my driver.....

[@kirkmichael5468]

For me with spin rates around 3600. Vaseline helped it keep straight and little longer. If your spin rate is already in the mid 2000s it will make it drop out of the air and lose distances. That’s what I’ve experienced

[@biagiocozza8875]

Great video Matt. Love your videos man, you have great golf tips, Awesome 🤩

[@thomasgiaimo4366]

Such a great video! Always love watching your golf vids! Are you going ok project on to that screen you hit into?

[@MrShortGame]

Yes looking into the right projector

[@izzydavis4188]

I tried this the other day with fairway finder for fun and they’re all dead staight

[@zacharydevan4107]

You put too much on. A tiny amount should reduce spin and add distance.

[@brianstehno4776]

150K subscribers. Congrats man 👍

[@ericvacanti4293]

This 1,000,000% works! Adds yards and reduces side to side spin.

[@jamesricci9560]

Matt, you never fail to entertain. All the comments about your new screen? Folks must not see the cover you are using. Love the channel

[@stephenc9358]

I would say that this little hack is going to more effect the weekend warrior/hack, then it is going to effect somebody who plays regularly and plays well.

[@frankhernandez6883]

Mr.SG, what would happen if i taped a thin piece of rubber onto my driver face? thanks, Curious

[@Rich--J]

A history fun fact....Y'all is NOT an original saying for/from the South. It is a shortened and combined word from the Scottish-Irish saying of you and all. Great video like always Matt!!!

[@straightshotz5368]

What about corkin' my driver? Great video!

[@jlouw888]

How do you play the next shot with all the grass and sand sticking to the ball?

[@thomasmacgruber6701]

Are you ok? That might be the dumbest question ever.

[@bobbyedwards9936]

If you're going to live in the south you gotta know the language. Welcome and another great video

[@nat1jtb]

Next up: KY lube, astro glide, liquid silk, KY natural, Woo coconut oil and Trojan personal!

[@pipeline3212]

🤣

[@jaekim7395]

That's interesting I just saw same thing but on a machine and it was opposite. It had less spin and more over all distance carry and total. I would personally not use it but some of my biddies that's a different story I hope they didn't see the video lol.

[@fink4569]

Great video. Are you not doing the podcast anymore?

[@fabianmmendoza5611]

Nice test! But I think it’s for the guys that hit down on the ball... with the FIX it knuckles and goes farther and straighter

[@JamesChickos]

You'll learn to love y'all...when you start using "all y'all" that's taking it to another level!!!

[@dinocesario480]

This is nuts thanks for the tip

[@halfkraazy]

Petroleum jelly on a brand new impact screen😵😱

[@ianmcgaughey1]

Dude went from a D5 to an F1 swing weight with all that chapstick

[@rockyhoughtaling2007]

Great vid! We love the science side of things

[@jeantrudeau8100]

Iwant to use it.

[@morrisamiller]

How about changing out wedges because of worn grooves every 6 months? 1 year? vs. sharpening your grooves with a tool?

[@lipshaha7411]

Korean golf KZbin ‘Simzzang’ proved this. "Less friction, more distance." He has experimented rubricating material on the driver face with a real swing robot.

[@TheGeohart]

grits and you'all, life in ol' Dixie!

[@jeffnossan1083]

Do one using hersheys chocolate syrup. What happens if you rub peanut butter all over your Spalding ball? Same effect?

[@shross99]

Can confirm, it works

[@lexxs21]

Plz on subtitles

[@michealhudson4515]

It really works. Knocks spin right off ball

[@leidecker1278]

Looking into getting my first set of clubs? Any recommendations on sites

[@johnmb731]

My god.. get too it already

[@danielcohen3159]

This was a fun video, Matt! Don't worry about the "y'all." A non-Southerner saying "y'all" sounds, to our ears, like an American saying "bloody" sounds to UK ears. For instance, I cringe whenever Mark Crossfield says "yow." I'm not ripping on Mark, mind you. Well, I am...but I still like his channel a lot.

[@maurymccoy8532]

Makes sense

[@ralpho58]

Hey Mr SG, You May not be a rocket scientist but you got the increased spin question right. The chapstick actually increases the friction on the surface. Congrats!

[@W0lfley]

2:12 he is finally explainig what is going on

[@markgrimse2375]

What if you tested this for poor strikers? For example, just put the chapstick on the toe and heel to compensate for mishits.

[@bigj247733]

Yep you will pick up on our southern speech in no time! Welcome to Georgia you'll love it here

[@slinkyandtheshovelheads3103]

A soaking wet golf ball and a wet face on your driver accomplishes the same. I used to play with a group early morning on tight driving holes I would rub my driver face on tall grass to get some dew on it. Always did hit it straight when it was raining or got caught out in a shower and played through.

[@Britton0932]

My guess: the lip balm causes the ball to “stick” to the face just that tiny tiny tiny bit longer and the forward momentum doesn’t change and much as the “side to side” motion that causes the lateral spin. But who knows, if you put something on your club face you have dishonored the sport and the golf gods should curse you with the yips. I never cheat because I ask the golf gold for a lot of help, and they see all!

[@dzetwo1]

Carmex is the one to use . Noticeable difference

[@macsloan58]

Cherry flavored chapstick is the best for your golf game. Guaranteed. Try it. It’s stickier.

[@josephlortie8504]

Hey Matt. Love the videos dude! Keep up the good work!

[@wrj888]

Is it against the golf rules

[@jeffreyyoungblood7438]

Of course it's against the rules.

[@blackceeser]

Great video. but I think you used too much chapstick.. if someone tries and cheats they won't apply it the way you did. try light coat

[@bjoh2860]

Agreed. Light coating only will take spin off. Less spin more distance. Just ask the golf ball manufacturers. Getting the right ball for your swing speed is a better idea and perfectly legal.

[@bradpowell5649]

welcome to GA Mr. SG

[@spencejc613]

Why would you waste Burt's like that?????

[@rockyhoughtaling2007]

What people are gonna say is "why didn't you do multiple rounds with both chapstick on and chapstick off." Perhaps you hit the ones with the chapstick longer and straighter because you were warmed up for the second ten shots. You may have warmed up first but that's the BS people notice

[@thomasmacgruber6701]

Nope, it works. Try leaving the basement once in a while.

[@danlong6162]

Matt - why did you move to Georgia?

[@mr.walker8700]

He produced a video on the topic.

[@Cmorep3]

I moved from out west to Ohio and now i say y’all. You can even speak to text in there I’ll spell it out for you.

[@nickcelano6715]

My “science experiment” drinking lots of beer on the course does NOT result in straighter longer drives. I encourage ya’ll to test out this theory on your own.

[@kcd2630]

You are correct.... That's when I hit the Driver the best

[@MrChip8970]

You are trying to use a swing that is more of a professional swing. Find you an average golfer that has a huge slice and you would find he will begin to hit it alot straighter with the same over the top swing. Also I have tried using the lip balm. That is the least effective. Vaseline works better than lip balm. And believe it or not plain old spit out of your mouth works the best!!! try all three and see the difference

[@zealforscripture1248]

I only use chapstick on my upper lip not my golf clubs. Haha Took my metal camping cup outside and laid it on its side and hit about 7 in from a distance. Perhaps that's not that great for as many as I hit but not terrible for being in the rough and for having poor eyesight. I know I know excuses excuses. Hahaha ⛳️🏑

[@SpitSharp]

If you want to drive the ball straight hit it square on the club face.

[@michaelhowell4680]

Could try waxing driver face and also spray waxing golf balls...… that would be an intriguing comparison test to conduct.

[@erichoward1731]

It works good distance too simple as that

[@pokeboi984]

I'm not gonna do this because I don't wanna cheat, but that's pretty slick not gonna lie

[@e.epstein]

Shud make a vid comparing this to an oiled club face and see how that works out...?

[@mikeg.5233]

I get my girl friend to put lipstick on my club. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@nickc2124]

Sorry, this analysis is wrong. The issue is relying on your shot simulator to determine spin when there is something on the face of the club. It does not have the capability to measure the spin of the ball when there is lip balm on the face of the driver. The simulator can only determine ball spin using normal (unmodified) clubs as a control. It simply uses lasers to measure predetermined variables (such as the swing path, launch angle, club speed, velocity, etc.) to calculate the ball spin. For example, If your swing path, launch angle, ball speed, swing speed, etc. were all identical, the ball spin would also be identical according to the simulator no matter what was on the face. But in reality, putting lip balm or Vaseline on the face would 100% absolutely slow ball spin. In some cases the spin would be so low, the ball will actually knuckle, like throwing a knuckle ball in baseball. My buddies and I have tested this at driving ranges. Don't believe me, just try it for your self. It would be simple to do. If in fact when we put a lot of lip balm on the face, we couldn't make it slice or hook no matter how hard we came across or from the inside. The only thing that would matter is where the club face was pointing at impact. It will go straight in that direction. So in summation, it's impossible to get an accurate ball spin (with lip balm on the face) using a shot simulator. In order to see the actual results you either have to try it at real distance, or have a slow motion camera. I would be willing to bet you could actually see a difference in ball spin with just a newer slow motion phone camera. That's how low the lip balm/Vaseline drops the ball spin. I'm sure of it.

[@Celo92k]

Isn’t that gonna mark your screen?