Custom fit clubs |
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The basic club fitting rules are to make sure the club is the correct length, the correct lie of the club head when it strikes the ball, the correct thickness of grip, and the correct flex of the shaft. Many companies have their own custom fit methods but the best ones that I believe have stood the test of time is Karsten’s who manufacture the “Ping” golf clubs and the method that we used at Adams Golf.Both these methods are simple and easy for the purchaser to understand.
Basically it begins with the taking of static measurements, such as finger tip to floor distance, which determines the length of club and hand size, to determine grip thickness, once this has been done the player is then given a small selection of clubs at the correct length to try, and as this is done more information is compiled which will eventually determine the most suitable shaft flex, and club head lie & loft. There are two don’ts when custom fitting a player, never assume and never guess. Just because a player is 6’5” and built like a boxer doesn’t mean he needs stiff shafts, and just because the player is 5’6” doesn’t mean they need shorter clubs. Once all the relevant information is collated at the end of a club fitting session then you will see why. Seeing the flight of the ball during club fitting is incredibly important and should never be underestimated. This is where sadly the high street golf stores will have you believe anything. Hitting balls into nets about 5 feet in front of you and having some magical machine telling you that you are hitting the ball high, straight and long with fantastic club head speed is really not the way to custom fit. These machines need to be calibrated regularly and really are not a substitute for seeing ball flight. Do you think Tiger Woods or Sergio Garcia would have their clubs fitted from a net? I don’t think so! Hitting balls on a driving range or practice area (with quality balls preferably) will give you a much better idea of how the ball will fly, how far it is going and in what shape. We did many custom fittings at Adams Golf on various golf club practice areas and golf centre driving ranges and once the player could see how the ball was flying this really made him/her interested in purchasing a new set of irons. I could go on and on about this subject as I see many players waste money on a custom set of golf clubs, as eventually after a few games they realise that they are hitting the ball worse than with their original set. In fact I have had to alter so called sets of custom fit clubs for players that I know, and have found that they don’t have the correct loft and lie on the heads that was promised and even the grips aren’t on straight, in fact some of these had been made by someone, I won’t name names, who advertises in a particular magazine and would have you believe that he is the worlds best custom club fitter, I’m glad to say he is not a fellow PGA Golf Professional. I do still carry out golf club repairs and alterations from time to time, and although you do not require a vast amount of expensive equipment it is important that the basic tools are at your disposal, just like Tom Morris and James Braid had all those years ago. I have a loft & lie machine in my workshop which cost me around $1600 so if some says they will set the lofts & lies on your custom set with a silly little bench measuring machine and a mallet, make sure you go else where to buy your custom built set of golf clubs. Here are some do’s & don’ts when looking to buy a set of custom fit clubs; DO Go to a reputable custom fitter, if you don’t know one speak to a PGA member, or give me a call at Tee Times. Have a set built by a golf club manufacturer, they don’t charge the earth and you always have a guarantee. Stick to your budget; don’t get lead to believe that a more expensive set is necessarily better. Although I would recommend that you have a set built from a recognised golf club manufacturer as apposed to some no name club head brand which has no resale value once you’ve played a few games with them. Check all the information with a third party if possible to verify the information that has been collated properly during your fitting session. Have a lesson after you have bought them from a PGA professional. DON’T Have a fitting in a net in a high street store, the information can be misleading and you’ll have trouble getting your money back. Go to a club fitter that no one has heard of. Hang onto badly fitted custom clubs and keep trying to persevere with them hoping it will be alright. It won’t and you’ll probably wreck your swing. Get bogged down with all the technical jargon, a simple club fitting session is the best. Remember if some machine information says you can hit the ball 300 yards with this head or this shaft it’s probably not true. These are just a few pointers regarding custom club fitting, if you would like to know more then please feel free to contact me at Tee Times and I will be happy to give you some advice phil@teetimesgolfagencyuk.com |
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