The AGCP Roundtable 5 starts on Wednesday with a Demo Day. Followed by 3 days of terrific presentations on topics like MOI matching, tips and tricks for clubbuilding, how to handle business finances, marketing, and a lot of others. More than 60 of the best clubfitters in the world will again attend, and it is my favorite time of the year. Tom Wishon will be giving the Keynote Address for the Conference on Saturday and it should be great.
I will do a couple of extra blog posts this week to note some of the highlights of the conference. Off we go!
Tony
Monday, September 27, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
"Framing" The Situation ...
Two weekends ago one of those great "Murphy's Law" events happened that can be frustrating but hopefully useful.
I had a driver/fairway wood fitting session with a client and could not get my video camera to work. I had been using an old Sony video camera to record swing sequences so that I can measure club release point - where a player breaks his wrist cock - and overall swing tempo. These are important to know to get the right "flex profile" for a driver or fairway wood shaft. I use software called V1 Home to step through video frames to collect this data.
It turned out that the firewire cable taking video from my Sony camera to my computer was broken - not sure how but it was. I ordered another cable but....
In the process of not knowing if the camera did not work or if the cable was broken, I asked my AGCP fitting friends about what cameras they are presently using, and a lot of them said I should look at the Casio EX-FM 25 camera. This camera takes still shots, but also takes video and can get to frame rates easily of 240 frames/second - about 4 times the resolution of my present Sony camera. And with good lighting I might even be able to get to higher frame rates with it. As you can guess then, I bought it and it is a terrific camera.
Two things about it should help improve my fittings. First, the greater frame rates will allow me to get more precise info. on club release point. Second, I am looking forward to setting the camera up and taking some high frame rate video of player putting strokes. I suspect that this putting data can help identify ways for players to improve their putting.
Tony
I had a driver/fairway wood fitting session with a client and could not get my video camera to work. I had been using an old Sony video camera to record swing sequences so that I can measure club release point - where a player breaks his wrist cock - and overall swing tempo. These are important to know to get the right "flex profile" for a driver or fairway wood shaft. I use software called V1 Home to step through video frames to collect this data.
It turned out that the firewire cable taking video from my Sony camera to my computer was broken - not sure how but it was. I ordered another cable but....
In the process of not knowing if the camera did not work or if the cable was broken, I asked my AGCP fitting friends about what cameras they are presently using, and a lot of them said I should look at the Casio EX-FM 25 camera. This camera takes still shots, but also takes video and can get to frame rates easily of 240 frames/second - about 4 times the resolution of my present Sony camera. And with good lighting I might even be able to get to higher frame rates with it. As you can guess then, I bought it and it is a terrific camera.
Two things about it should help improve my fittings. First, the greater frame rates will allow me to get more precise info. on club release point. Second, I am looking forward to setting the camera up and taking some high frame rate video of player putting strokes. I suspect that this putting data can help identify ways for players to improve their putting.
Tony
Monday, September 13, 2010
Quality Component Heads - The Truth
I did two fittings this weekend, and one of them was with a past customer who I built a set of irons for a month or so ago. He told me that he had never broken 90 before, but had recently shot 86 using the new irons (he also said he now hits his pitching wedge 130 yards, wow!). The fitting we did was to find him a new set of fairway woods, and we settled on a Wishon 525 GRT fairway wood head with an SK Fiber TT 80 wood shaft built to the specs that produced best test results - in particular a 42 inch length 3 wood ("standard" is 43 inches), 15 degree loft, and appropriate weighting and shaft flex. He bombed this test club when he hit it outside.
These results illustrate - as has been the case with other customers - that there are a LOT of great component golf heads out there. Not "knock off" clubs that try to imitate clubs like Callaway and others. But Wishon Golf, Infiniti Golf, Alpha Golf, and others who make heads that stack up with any of the OEM heads that can be bought.
Designers of these component heads have lots of experience with creating clubs that are easy to hit and also that produce good distance and accuracy.
The additional value of using these heads versus rebuilding OEM clubs with the right shaft and club weighting is that when you get these heads you KNOW what you are getting. This makes it much easier to do quality flex and MOI matching of clubs, and the results in terms of consistent feel and quality shots can definitely produce better golf.
This is not to say, to be fair, that rebuilding OEM clubs is not a good way to also get good results. But one should not be afraid, if they find a quality component head that you like, to play these clubs. With the proper fitting and clubs built to test specs, the results can be outstanding.
Tony
PS...........could not miss chance to talk a little about the new camera I just bought for use in fittings. A Casio EX-FH25. It will allow me to take video at 240 frames a second - about a factor of 4 higher resolution than my previous digital video movie camera could produce.
These results illustrate - as has been the case with other customers - that there are a LOT of great component golf heads out there. Not "knock off" clubs that try to imitate clubs like Callaway and others. But Wishon Golf, Infiniti Golf, Alpha Golf, and others who make heads that stack up with any of the OEM heads that can be bought.
Designers of these component heads have lots of experience with creating clubs that are easy to hit and also that produce good distance and accuracy.
The additional value of using these heads versus rebuilding OEM clubs with the right shaft and club weighting is that when you get these heads you KNOW what you are getting. This makes it much easier to do quality flex and MOI matching of clubs, and the results in terms of consistent feel and quality shots can definitely produce better golf.
This is not to say, to be fair, that rebuilding OEM clubs is not a good way to also get good results. But one should not be afraid, if they find a quality component head that you like, to play these clubs. With the proper fitting and clubs built to test specs, the results can be outstanding.
Tony
PS...........could not miss chance to talk a little about the new camera I just bought for use in fittings. A Casio EX-FH25. It will allow me to take video at 240 frames a second - about a factor of 4 higher resolution than my previous digital video movie camera could produce.
Monday, September 6, 2010
October Golf Digest - A Must Buy!!
I have to admit that while I subscribe to a few golf magazines, I do my best to not take the instruction in them too seriously.
However, I believe that the October issue of Golf Digest is a must buy because of the feature - "Why You Can't Putt." Now clearly this is a grabbing title their marketing guys got this right. But there are about 20 pages in this issue that are well worth reading.
There is great information on the mental side of putting, some good tips from Dave Stockton (right now the hottest putting instructor out there), an article on how to read putts better, and a lot of information on how to have a putter correctly fit for you.
Page 68 presents a lot of good information on the basics of good putter fitting. Certainly getting the right putter length, lie anglei, and putter face loft (for most at least 4 degrees of loft) are musts. And then - at least for me - the putter needs to look good in your hands - you must believe that the head design is made for you. There are two other items that I think are sometimes overlooked but that are important to consider......
1. Putter length is a key fitting parameter. However, if say your present putter is 36 inches and you really should be playing a 34 inch putter, simply cutting the shaft to get to 34 inches is not enough. Like any golf club, when you cut the putter 2 inches you reduce the putter swingweight by about 12 swingweight points - the equivalent of adding about 24 grams of weight to the head. Good putter swingweights are typically in the range of about C6 up to about D4 - some like lighter some heavier. Consider if you are going to have your shaft cut to a shorter length getting some weight added back to the head - either with lead tape or by adding weight down the shaft.
2. Is the putter built correctly - when you sit the head on the ground does the putter face "square up" - is it square to your chosen target line? If not, then you have to adjust your stroke to compensate for this misalignment - and compensation in putting is a clear way to more strokes on the green.
Enjoy the October Golf Digest issue!!!
Tony
However, I believe that the October issue of Golf Digest is a must buy because of the feature - "Why You Can't Putt." Now clearly this is a grabbing title their marketing guys got this right. But there are about 20 pages in this issue that are well worth reading.
There is great information on the mental side of putting, some good tips from Dave Stockton (right now the hottest putting instructor out there), an article on how to read putts better, and a lot of information on how to have a putter correctly fit for you.
Page 68 presents a lot of good information on the basics of good putter fitting. Certainly getting the right putter length, lie anglei, and putter face loft (for most at least 4 degrees of loft) are musts. And then - at least for me - the putter needs to look good in your hands - you must believe that the head design is made for you. There are two other items that I think are sometimes overlooked but that are important to consider......
1. Putter length is a key fitting parameter. However, if say your present putter is 36 inches and you really should be playing a 34 inch putter, simply cutting the shaft to get to 34 inches is not enough. Like any golf club, when you cut the putter 2 inches you reduce the putter swingweight by about 12 swingweight points - the equivalent of adding about 24 grams of weight to the head. Good putter swingweights are typically in the range of about C6 up to about D4 - some like lighter some heavier. Consider if you are going to have your shaft cut to a shorter length getting some weight added back to the head - either with lead tape or by adding weight down the shaft.
2. Is the putter built correctly - when you sit the head on the ground does the putter face "square up" - is it square to your chosen target line? If not, then you have to adjust your stroke to compensate for this misalignment - and compensation in putting is a clear way to more strokes on the green.
Enjoy the October Golf Digest issue!!!
Tony
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