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Texas Indoor - Having a Fit | |
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Texasoutside.com - August 2006 From the Golf Club Laboratory – “Having a Fit” It was a sunny Tuesday morning and I was playing at one of the more popular public golf courses in the Metroplex. A friend of mine had just recently decided to take up the game of golf again and invited me to play in his foursome. He had a set of clubs that he purchased about 10 years ago. Due to a very successful career he really did not have the time to play as much golf as he would have preferred. Now that his business was established and the kids were a little older, he decided it was time to get back into the game. As we made our way through the first few holes, we came up to a par three. It was a 168 yard shot to a narrow green guarded by a creek on the left, bunkers in front and a large pond on the right. My friend turned to me and said, “What club do I need here?” I asked, “How far do you hit your six iron?” He replied, “I think about 160 yards.” Gathering the conditions in my head I said, “I recommend a four iron.” But then I reached into my bag and handed him my new 24 degree hybrid. “Try this,” I said. “It’s a little up hill.” My friend took the club and hit his shot just short of the green and watched the ball roll up about 16 feet from the hole. “Man, that felt good!” he exclaimed. “Can I keep this club?” I grinned and said, “I’ll think about it.” Through the rest of the round he kept quizzing me on what club he should hit, what clubs should he buy and so on. My advice was that before he even considered buying a new set of clubs he should take two very critical steps. First, I recommended that he visit with a PGA professional for some swing “tune-up” instruction to help him develop a more consistent, comfortable and predictable swing. Then—once he and his instructor were satisfied with his progress—I suggested that he consult with a professional club fitter to determine what clubs were best suited for his game. “Why not just buy clubs right off the rack at the store or get a set of those hot new sticks that everyone is talking about?” he asked. “Why bother to be fitted? And besides, won’t I have to pay a lot more for custom clubs?” My reply was that statistics show that more than 90% of golfers play with clubs that do not fit their swings. And no, I said; in many cases you may even pay less for clubs that will fit you and your game far better than the latest and greatest “hot club”. In some cases, the club fitter may even tell you that your club heads are fine but your club shafts are wrong or could be better. Any golfer who takes his game seriously should visit a qualified club specialist to determine which equipment is best suited for his game and level of play. But, before attempting to select the right new clubs or modify his existing clubs, it is critical to have the basic elements of the golf swing down. Once a golfer can produce a reasonably repeatable swing, club fitting can then provide the information required to help him purchase the correct equipment. That’s why the first step in club fitting should always be to have a PGA professional instructor take a look at your swing and work with you to develop it to an acceptable level. Whether custom-fitted or not, new clubs will never come close to making the difference in your game that the advice of a PGA professional can produce! OK. So you’ve visited with your favorite pro, knocked the rust off your swing, and you’re ready to buy that new set of sticks. You start reading about all the new equipment, talking to your buddies, and checking out clubs on the shelves of your local golf shop. You’re suddenly confronted with a mind-numbing array of terms like blade, cavity back, muscle back, flex point, spinning, torque, kick point, steel and graphite, just to name a few. It seems that every ad, every golfer you talk to, and everything you read in the golf magazines says something different. How do you sort through all the confusing hype and hoopla being tossed around for every new club hitting the market these days? How do you avoid throwing your money away on a set of clubs that although shiny, new and “hot” are totally wrong for your game? That’s where a professional club fitter is so important. Like fingerprints, every player’s “swingprint” is unique. What works for Tiger will usually not work for Joe. That’s why it’s so important that any player wanting to improve his game have his swing analyzed and get fitted properly. Being fitted for clubs is both interesting and fun, and the confidence gained in knowing you are using the right equipment often produces some amazing positive changes in your game. It is the goal of any proficient club fitter to select the best set of golf clubs for your unique swingprint. Technology has radically revolutionized club fitting from a seat-of-the-pants, “here, now try this” approach to a much more advanced methodology. Your club specialist can utilize this technology to make very fine and detailed comparisons between various combinations of clubs and shafts, helping him to craft exactly the right clubs for you. So what all is involved in a club-fitting experience? A proficient club specialist will use the best possible technology, tools and knowledge to help you. To do that, he first needs to gather a great deal of information, and will probably begin your visit by asking you a few basic questions:
After this brief interview process, he will then want to watch you take a few swings. Many technologically advanced club fitters will then begin to use equipment that enables them to capture a great deal of technical data about your individual swingprint:
In addition to the above data, some of the most up-to-date professionals will also incorporate video swing analysis into their club-fitting process. High-speed video analysis can reveal several important factors in club fitting as well, and can be extremely helpful in fine-tuning or “tweaking” the final performance results of your clubs, especially for the low-to-mid handicapper. There are a number of different factors that your club fitter will consider that will affect that flight pattern of your shots and the performance of your clubs. How carefully he analyzes your swing and how precisely he crafts your clubs for you may have dramatic effects on your score and your ultimate enjoyment of the game. The smallest “tweaking” can sometimes make a huge difference in the following:
The professional club fitter will take into consideration all these elements and how they affect ball flight pattern and performance of the club. For some players, it may even be valuable to conduct a “ball-fitting” session, since different golf balls are better suited for varying types of swings, clubs and conditions. In partnership with your PGA professional, your club specialist can help educate and inform you about your game and your equipment. In doing so, they will increase your enjoyment of the game. The bottom line is…see your PGA professional and a professional club fitter – your shoes and glove shouldn’t be the only equipment you have that fits. Then have fun playing a great game! Brandon Foster |
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