I started rebuilding a set of OEM irons today, will use KBS Tour S taper tip shafts. The player (who told me I am a "well kept secret" - hum.....) hit a test club with his head and this shaft in it VERY well last week......
So, today started to pull all of the old shafts from the heads, and did a few specs on the clubs before taking them apart. Some unexpected results, and maybe some clues for areas where he is not presently hitting the ball well....
1. A little as expected, 6 iron loft was 27 degrees, like the "standard" loft of a 5 iron from the past.
2. The big unexpected result relates to club lengths. 4, 5, and 6 irons were 1/2 inches apart in length, but then the 7 iron was 3/4 inches less than the 6 - then back to 1/2 inch lengths between clubs. Hard to understand if this would be intentional, but not really good for the player to have clubs that are not consistent between them.
3. Then found that the pitch and gap wedges were lighter than the other clubs. This might explain why the player told me that he almost always pulls his wedges when he hits full shots with them.
Players deserve better. When they spend good money to get golf clubs that they are hoping will assist them in playing better, they deserve to get what they expect. Luckily this is something discovered rather than the player using these clubs for years and thinking they are really matched well.
The final set of clubs will be MOI matched instead of swingweight matched, which should make them play even more consistently throughout the set.
We all deserve the best "arrows" available to play our best golf!
The Fit Is IT!!
Tony
Monday, June 27, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
Boomers - Margin for Error?
I have not had the opportunity to work with a lot of what I will call "boomers" - players who reside in the 115 mph or higher driver swing speed. Today though had a conversation with one of these folks that caused me to think that they provide some unique challenges in terms of getting the right driver fitting parameters.
The player I talked with is having lots of problems keeping the ball in play. He can hit a nice draw with the driver he has when he hits the ball well. But then sometimes the draw goes to a pull hook, then to a push in an attempt to correct for the hook, and then it becomes an issue of confidence in terms of hitting the driver.
On thinking of this, it seems to me that the right fitting for the driver becomes a huge issue because the Margin For Error with high swing speeds becomes a lot less. Some of the potential fitting areas that can help to iron out a big dispersion of shots, which start with a pull hook, are these......
1. Driver too long, so not in a good athletic position when making a swing.
2. Shaft flex profile that fits the players swing speed and where he releases the club.
3. Face Angle. This may be bigger issue than one might think. I already know for this particular driver that it has a very closed face angle, about 2.5 degrees. For a strong swinger, particularly with a little over the top swing, it can be easy to produce a pull hook since the face is likely to be pointing left at the start (unless the player manipulates the face to make the club "look square" at address.
4. Shaft weight. Another likely biggie for a boomer. The shaft in question is a 60 gram shaft, and a very strong player is more likely to help produce an inside swing path and allow the player to not have to guard against a pull hook. Probably at least a 75 gram shaft, maybe heavier.
5. Swingweight / club MOI. Greater headweight can help a player "feel" the clubhead more and be less likely to close the clubface too much at impact.
These are all considerations for all golfers to some extent. However, for folks blessed with being able to bomb the ball, getting the right club parameters is probably even important. Ah, to hit a 300 yard drive down the middle!
The Fit Is IT!!
Tony
The player I talked with is having lots of problems keeping the ball in play. He can hit a nice draw with the driver he has when he hits the ball well. But then sometimes the draw goes to a pull hook, then to a push in an attempt to correct for the hook, and then it becomes an issue of confidence in terms of hitting the driver.
On thinking of this, it seems to me that the right fitting for the driver becomes a huge issue because the Margin For Error with high swing speeds becomes a lot less. Some of the potential fitting areas that can help to iron out a big dispersion of shots, which start with a pull hook, are these......
1. Driver too long, so not in a good athletic position when making a swing.
2. Shaft flex profile that fits the players swing speed and where he releases the club.
3. Face Angle. This may be bigger issue than one might think. I already know for this particular driver that it has a very closed face angle, about 2.5 degrees. For a strong swinger, particularly with a little over the top swing, it can be easy to produce a pull hook since the face is likely to be pointing left at the start (unless the player manipulates the face to make the club "look square" at address.
4. Shaft weight. Another likely biggie for a boomer. The shaft in question is a 60 gram shaft, and a very strong player is more likely to help produce an inside swing path and allow the player to not have to guard against a pull hook. Probably at least a 75 gram shaft, maybe heavier.
5. Swingweight / club MOI. Greater headweight can help a player "feel" the clubhead more and be less likely to close the clubface too much at impact.
These are all considerations for all golfers to some extent. However, for folks blessed with being able to bomb the ball, getting the right club parameters is probably even important. Ah, to hit a 300 yard drive down the middle!
The Fit Is IT!!
Tony
Monday, June 13, 2011
Being A Little "Selfish!" - On Purpose....
This week's post is being written as I attend a U.S. Golf Teaching Federation (USGTF) certification class being held in Ft. Pierce, Florida. Tomorrow is the last day and it has been a great experience. My purpose (more on that word later) in attending is to learn more about the golf swing to help support my custom fitting efforts for players. There have been a lot of times in fittings where suggesting some small modifications - for example, moving the ball more forward in a player's stance - can help the player hit the ball better and improve the total quality of the fitting. It is also important to know when it is not appropriate to do a fitting and to refer a player to my partner Des Mahoney for some lessons before an effective fitting can be done.
One of the pleasures of attending this training is that there are a number of good players in the class. One in fact - when we were all asked what is the lowest score we have ever had (mine is 71....) said 58. I thought ARE YOU KIDDING ME! The 58 was not from the back tees, but 58 is 58!!!!!
It has been a pleasure to watch him swing the golf club but also watch his golf practice ethic during the certification class (he had dropped out of playing golf for a few years but is now back playing). It gave me a better sense of what the really great players have to do to make it to the top, how very difficult that is.
At about the same time this week, I read a blog post from John Graham Golf (post actually by Andy Morrison), related to that Purpose word again, the link to it is below....
http://johngrahamgolf.com/blog/time-play-golf-purpose-2/
One of the points of the post is to suggest that we - if we want to truly improve playing golf - truly go after those areas where we do not do well. For me that is easy - the sand game and 15 to 30 yard pitch shots to the green.
We have had the opportunity to play 18 holes of golf each day while here - but for me, taking two of these days to work on my sand and short pitch game has been something that has been well worth the effort. My short game has improved more this week than at any time I can remember in the past.
So why not ensure that you are playing golf clubs that really fit your game, why not get the right instruction to help you swing the golf club in a consistent manner, why not get maximum enjoyment out of every round of golf you play? On purpose....
The Fit Is IT!!
Tony
One of the pleasures of attending this training is that there are a number of good players in the class. One in fact - when we were all asked what is the lowest score we have ever had (mine is 71....) said 58. I thought ARE YOU KIDDING ME! The 58 was not from the back tees, but 58 is 58!!!!!
It has been a pleasure to watch him swing the golf club but also watch his golf practice ethic during the certification class (he had dropped out of playing golf for a few years but is now back playing). It gave me a better sense of what the really great players have to do to make it to the top, how very difficult that is.
At about the same time this week, I read a blog post from John Graham Golf (post actually by Andy Morrison), related to that Purpose word again, the link to it is below....
http://johngrahamgolf.com/blog/time-play-golf-purpose-2/
One of the points of the post is to suggest that we - if we want to truly improve playing golf - truly go after those areas where we do not do well. For me that is easy - the sand game and 15 to 30 yard pitch shots to the green.
We have had the opportunity to play 18 holes of golf each day while here - but for me, taking two of these days to work on my sand and short pitch game has been something that has been well worth the effort. My short game has improved more this week than at any time I can remember in the past.
So why not ensure that you are playing golf clubs that really fit your game, why not get the right instruction to help you swing the golf club in a consistent manner, why not get maximum enjoyment out of every round of golf you play? On purpose....
The Fit Is IT!!
Tony
Monday, June 6, 2011
Wedge Fitting - Great Article from "Park Golf Academy"
I had the opportunity to read an article this week that was so good that I just had to provide you folks the link to it. Here you go...
http://parkgolfacademy.wordpress.com/2011/02/03/get-more-wedge-for-your-money/
The author is Martin Park of the Park Golf Academy in Denmark (yep, the world is global).
Wedge fitting is fascinating because to me players can improve significantly their games by having the right wedges and putters in their bags. But it seems like the design of wedges has - for the most part - not changed significantly from the original Sarazen design from about 50 years ago.
Martin Park discusses the following key elements related to picking the right wedges for you.....
LENGTH
LOFT
FLEX
LIE ANGLE
SWINGWEIGHT
GRIP
BOUNCE
SOLE WIDTH
HEAD FINISH
GROOVES
SHAFTS
Lots of possible ways to find clubs that can really help you!
You may also want to read some of his other articles....they are excellent!
The Fit Is IT!!
Tony
http://parkgolfacademy.wordpress.com/2011/02/03/get-more-wedge-for-your-money/
The author is Martin Park of the Park Golf Academy in Denmark (yep, the world is global).
Wedge fitting is fascinating because to me players can improve significantly their games by having the right wedges and putters in their bags. But it seems like the design of wedges has - for the most part - not changed significantly from the original Sarazen design from about 50 years ago.
Martin Park discusses the following key elements related to picking the right wedges for you.....
LENGTH
LOFT
FLEX
LIE ANGLE
SWINGWEIGHT
GRIP
BOUNCE
SOLE WIDTH
HEAD FINISH
GROOVES
SHAFTS
Lots of possible ways to find clubs that can really help you!
You may also want to read some of his other articles....they are excellent!
The Fit Is IT!!
Tony
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