Clubfitting Or Not?!

My nephew came to visit this weekend and we had a plan for me to fit him for a set of clubs. He has not played a lot of golf and I worked with him some today on his Swing Fundamentals - grip, posture, alignment, and ball position.


He was having some success hitting some short irons - but not close to this level of success with hitting a driver. And I could see he was getting frustrated.


So - should I build him a set of clubs, knowing that he was likely to still have some problems hitting woods and a driver? And he DID come to see me largely with the expectation of getting some new clubs.


I felt good about the final decision. That was - make a few clubs that are easy to hit, get him in the right length clubs, BUT also get his dad to give him a present of some lessons so that he can get started on the right foot.


Do you think if he went to a Big Box Store he would have had this kind of advice......I wonder. I felt good about the outcome for HIM.


The Fit Is IT!!

Tony Wright

A Key Element Of Successful Custom Clubfitting - YOU!!

The more I work with a variety of golfers to do custom fittings, the more I am totally convinced that there is more to True Success than the knowledge that I personally have about golf clubs and club performance.


At every point in a successful fitting, the player provides feedback and information that is critical to making the right decisions that lead to success. One of MY critical areas of expertise needs to be getting the right information from players at the right times. Some of the areas where this clearly happens include:

1. PRE FITTING INTERVIEW - obtaining data on what a player's typical misses are, where he/she wants to improve the most, what clubs work well and what clubs can provide the most game improvement for the player. Also, what physical issues the player might have - back problems, wrist problems, etc.


2. DURING THE FITTING - obtaining feedback during the entire fitting on questions like - does the club feel stiff, too long or short, too heavy or too light, can the player feel the clubhead, etc. Feel is a key element of getting the right club into a player's hands. Sometimes in fact a player will swing a club and say immediately that that club has a tremendous feel, and often the results from launch monitor measurements confirm this sense that the player has.

Another important element a player has during a fitting is to make small swing changes as a result of what the player and fitter see from video taken of the player's swing. The player being able to make these changes during a fitting can make the difference between a successful fitting and one that may not produce optimal results.


3. AFTER THE FITTING, CLUB FEEDBACK - In the best fittings the clubs perform perfectly when delivered to the golfer. But sometimes there can be a need to make some small modifications to them to get the final performance results desired. No one but the player can provide this final club evaluation, and his/her honest feedback is critical.


So - My View - There Is No True Successful Fitting Without Face To Face Player / Fitter Collaboration!!


The Fit Is IT!!

Tony

Yo Keith - A Passion for Compassion!

Keith Chatham is one of those truly great clubfitters - he does his stuff in Kerryville, Texas. He has won many honors, and when he speaks we all listen.


Recently I found a post he did on the Tom Wishon clubmaker forum that was inspiring and I think something many of us clubfitters aspire to. He talked about his Passion for clubfitting, but more about his Compassion for helping golfers to play the right golf clubs for them. Compassion for golfers who have never had the experience of playing clubs that truly fit them, compassion for disabled golfers who have in the past only been able to get off-the-rack clubs, compassion for lady golfers who have never had someone fully attend to their club needs.


His words are wonderfully inspiring, and something that I hope I get closer and closer to each day as I work to help golfers. Recently, one of my clients said that he no longer waits for golf catalogs to come to his house, because he knows that the clubs in those catalogs are not for him.


Thanks Keith.


The Fit Is IT!!

Tony

The True Custom Clubfitting EXPERIENCE - Expectations

Anyone being "fit" for a set of golf clubs should, I believe, have some expectations on what a superior clubfitting experience will include. Here are some of the things that I believe you should anticipate would happen if you are being truly fit for golf clubs....


1. The fitter will first ask you to provide some profiling information about your clubs - which clubs you hit well, which you do not, what are the areas of your game where you would hope to achieve the most improvement.

2. You will be asked if you have any physical issues - back, wrist, etc. - that could have an influence on how you swing a golf club.

3. The fitter will ask you specifically about what you hope will be accomplished during the fitting. He will tell you what his fitting process is, and what he will need you to do during the fitting.

4. The fitter will collect some data on some of your key golf clubs - particularly the ones that are not performing well for you. Length, swingweight, MOI, flex, loft and lie and face angle for wood clubs at a minimum. It is important to know where you are starting from to help you get where you want to go.

5. The fitter will know as much as possible about how golf clubs perform and how the 21 Key Variables of Club Fitting affect club performance.

6. The fitter will take video of your swing as part of the fitting process, and do a thorough review of this video as an initial part of a fitting. The fitter will have enough knowledge of the golf swing to identify any easily fixed swing issues. In some cases the fitter may even suggest that it would be better for the player to take some lessons before a truly effective fitting can be completed.

7. The fitter will have an ongoing dialogue with you during the fitting. He will let you see results of measurements made, and let you know when possible improvements are being produced with different fitting clubs. He will also listen to you A Lot during the fitting - what clubs feel good, which are too heavy or light - your input is a key part of a truly successful fitting.

8. The fitter will let you know the final specifications for the clubs that are being suggested be built. He will be sure you agree with the results from the fitting. In some cases, particularly iron fittings, it may be necessary to build one or more test clubs for you to use before the final club specs are completed.

9. When you get your golf clubs, he will ask you for feedback on the performance of the clubs. If they are not performing as you desire, he will modify them as necessary to get the results that you expect.

10. A few months after you have started playing the fitted clubs, the fitter will ask you for additional feedback on how they are performing. Again, if there are any necessary modifications to the clubs needed, he will work with you to ensure that they play to your expectations.


There is in fact a lot that goes into a True Clubfitting Experience. Throughout the entire process, you also deserve to work with someone who will be as excited about your golf improvement as you will be when you are playing clubs that really fit YOU!!


The Fit Is IT!!

Tony

Who Clones WHO?

A month or so ago Roy Nix, President of the Association of Golf Clubfitting Professionals (AGCP) published a press release that includes some interesting facts related to custom golf clubs.


Roy did this because there is often an opinion that custom clubs are "knock off" clubs and not innovative designs.


The web address for reading this press release is....


http://www.thegolfwire.com/stories/239164


This information presents a dozen instances where new golf club innovations actually came from non OEM golf companies.


Custom clubs like those from Miura Golf (played by the winner of the Player's Championship this year), Wishon Golf and Alpha Golf, and wood shafts from companies like ACCRA golf are actually often leading the development of new ideas and improvements. These and other companies provide the highest quality components for use by professional clubfitters.


The Fit Is IT!!

Tony

Sergio Must Be Wrong?

Recently I saw some information in one of the golf magazines saying that Sergio (we all know who he is without saying his last name, right?) has switched from playing a 105 gram shaft in his driver to an 85 gram shaft. The information also noted that the length of his driver is 44 inches.


So I wondered why he would do something so different than the say golf club companies seem to want us to do with our drivers. I mean, does he not know that....

1. Drivers are supposed to be at least 45 to 45-1/2 inches long and maybe longer??

2. Driver shaft weights are supposed to be 65 grams, 55 grams, even down to 45 grams??


If my granddaughter, who is 2 years old, could understand golf clubfitting, she would say to me "Silly Gramps!" She would let me know that the vast majority of PGA tour players do not play the long drivers that are sold in stores. She would let me know that for a number of players heavier shafts feel better, swing better, and produce better results.


If all of the folks on the PGA tour could play longer drivers and control them they would. But they don't. Is there not a message there that is clear?


Recently I redid a driver for a female, cut her shaft length from 45 inches to 43 inches, put in a lightweight soft flex shaft - AND she is hitting the ball 15 yards longer and with more consistent results.


Maybe she talked with Sergio before she came to see me.....


The Fit Is IT!!

Tony

The Club Fitting Details MATTER!

Last week I noted that I had done an iron fitting and was rebuilding a set of OEM irons with KBS Tour S flex taper tip shafts. The player has been VERY pleased with the way these clubs are performing for him. These clubs were "MOI Matched" - this type of weight matching would not have been done if the player had sent the clubs back to the manufacturer for reshafting.


It is interesting to contrast these results with a request I received this week. A player from out of state asked me to provide a price quote to build a set of clubs for him. He said he had a fitting done and provided me some of the specs he had from the fitting.


Perhaps some might jump at this opportunity, but my view is that this would not be the right thing to do to get optimal results for the player. Great club performance results come the total package - doing a fitting that identifies the best club performance parameters, and then building the clubs to those exact specifications. Over and over, results from my clients show that this attention to detail matters.


The Fit Is IT!

Tony

Iron Club Specs - Who Would KNOW?

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

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

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

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

What YOU Are Saying - the Best Grips

About 2 weeks ago there was a post on the Assn. of Golf Clubfitting Professionals (AGCP) forum asking for folks to identify their top 5 selling grips. Experience has shown me that decisions on grips are made on feel, looks, and often if there are some special needs related to them. There is no cookbook way to identify the best grip for a player.


That said, here is a summary of what my customers have said, by their purchases, are the top grips that they most often order:


MOST REQUESTED BY FAR - Golf Pride Tour Velvet (a good feeling, reasonably priced grip) and the Winn DSi AVS V17 Blue/Black (a midsize grip, great feel and softness).


MOST REQUESTED OVERSIZE AND/OR JUMBO GRIPS - Lamkin Crossline Tour 1/8 inch oversize, and Golf Pride Tour Velvet 1/8 inch oversize. Both have a great soft feel and are largely used by players who have some hand problems and/or just like how a larger grip feels.


THE UP AND COMERS - Golf Pride VDR (various colors) and Lamkin Perma Wrap Classic 3 Gen. A number of clients have recently bought these and they have a great feel and look. I expect more and more folks will be choosing these grips in the future.


JURY STILL OUT BUT HIGH POTENTIAL - The Winn Hero grips, which are quite a lot lighter than "standard" grips - Hero weights are about 25 grams. Particularly for players where you want to make the club as light as possible.


The Fit Is IT!!

Tony

Getting It ALL!

My wife and I have been meeting with designers because we want to get our kitchen redone. We have met with about three different designers now, and each time we learn a little more about how to get what we want.


BUT we are also learning that there are compromises that we need to make in terms of the final kitchen we will get. Where we put the refrigerator affects whether or not we will get to be able to keep an island in the kitchen for example. So there are compromises to be made in terms of what will be the final result of the design and what will be available to us in the kitchen.


Is precision clubfitting the same, do we have to compromise based on the "box" of our swing and capabilities? Well yes there are things that cannot be changed. If we swing our driver at 90 mph, the most we can expect to carry our drives would be about 235 yards for example. And we might have wrist problems that keep us from releasing the club easily, and so be prone to pushing the ball to keep our wrist from hurting.


But the good news is that is an optimum for each of us in terms of our golf clubs. The right shaft, length, swingweight, flex and flex profile can lead to great results. We do not have to give in to compromise, we can get the best results for who we are and how we swing and play golf.


Sometimes lately I am thinking fitting is easier than finding the right final kitchen design!!


The Fit Is IT!!

Tony

Miura Heads and KBS Shafts - A Great Marriage!

I am delighted that - this past week - I received approval to become a Miura Golf club head dealer. I have a number of clubfitting friends who carry Miura irons for their clients, and they all say that the feel and performance of these heads is as good as it gets. Anyone interested in seeing the obvious quality of these clubheads can look at them on this website:


http://www.miuragolf.com


At the same time, I am also carrying KBS steel shafts, which are available at various flexes and weights, both taper tip and parallel tip. KBS shafts have been the up and coming shaft on the PGA tour for quite a while. The full line of KBS shafts can be seen on this web site:


http://www.kbsshafts.com


It was PRETTY exciting this weekend to learn that the winner of the Players Championship played Miura irons and KBS shafts! Here is a press release describing the Miura clubs that were played in the Players Championship:


http://www.thegolfwire.com/stories/237316


This is a clear indication of the quality of both of these products, and I look forward to offering Miura heads combined with KBS and other quality shafts to my customers in the future. In about a week, I will have five of the available Miura heads and nearly the full line of KBS shafts available for testing in my iron fitting system.


The Fit Is IT!

Tony

Confessions of a Shaftoholic?

This week I built 7 new iron test club shafts - FST 115 gram steel shafts in half flex increments. This fills a hole in my steel test shaft group - between 90 gram KBS and FST steel shafts and 125 gram steel shafts I have available.


So when are enough test shafts enough? Truth is it is very hard to come up with a number. Seeing how a player likes the feel of different weight shafts and how they perform for him or her is a key goal of a successful fitting. And you cannot do that without having a wide choice of shafts to test with.


So.........yep, I do enjoy building new test shafts.......................hopefully to help players find the right arrows for their clubs!


The Fit Is IT!

Tony

So Why Is It That.....?

Many of you from time to time see it said that the average golfer handicap has not changed one bit over many years. Who really knows why that is - but it does seem a little strange that with all of the new technology we have, with lots of opportunities for golf instruction, with more attention to fitness, with more attention to the mental part of the game, that this seems to be the case.

For me, today marks the start of my personal efforts to really go after that statistic for the players that I get to work with. I retired from an 34-1/2 year engineering career this past Friday, with the intent of truly learning the science and art of professional clubfitting to help folks play better and get more enjoyment from golf.

I am struck with how much I have learned over the past 5 years but also how much there also is to learn to help players improve. It is very satisfying when a fitting goes very easily and the clubs immediately work well and players see immediate improvement. However, there are also times when the complex interactions between the golf clubs and the way the player swings do not provide quick fixes - and THAT is when the "art" and experience part of fitting comes into play and where perhaps even more satisfaction lies. In these cases, the ability to learn from others who have had similar experiences is invaluable.

It is going to be a great ride - striving to do all I personally can to help bring that average handicap down - one player at a time!

The Fit Is IT!

Tony

Seeing the Little (BIG!) Things

One of the valuable lessons I learned from my trip in March with Dana Upshaw was the importance of taking and analyzing swing videos during fittings. There are often some small and simple clues from video that can help make a fitting produce great results. This happened during a driver fitting this weekend, when seeing that the player was positioning the ball too far back in his stance, and then getting him to correct that, lead to - once he had the right club in his hands - substantial improvements in driver carry distance.

There is perhaps a more far reaching value from this however - and it is how important the FUNDAMENTALS of the golf swing are, and how easy it is to stray from these. I can remember reading that Jack Nicklaus would start each year by working with his teacher to almost "start over" - work on ball position, etc. as though he was just a beginner golfer. And most of us can remember seeing pictures of PGA pros warming up and putting sticks on the ground to work on alignment and other key fundamentals.

Working to engrain the most simple elements of the golf swing can pay big benefits!

The Fit Is IT!

Tony

What is the magic question for Driver Fittings?

Tonight I thought I would watch a well know golf show on a well know golf channel since there was to be a discussion on hitting drivers.

The show also included a discussion on driver fittings, and how it is now "easy" to get fit for a driver using one of the new fitting carts from an OEM company.

The first interesting thing that I heard is that the person doing the show plays a 44-1/2 inch driver - which is great, he knows that the longer drivers sold in stores fit only a small element of the golfing community.

The rest of the show consisted of lots of discussions on how things affect club performance - like shaft weight affecting ball spin (not true), and playing a larger head can be good for someone who slices the ball (not true, in fact the opposite is more likely to help). Or if you want to reduce ball spin you can play a stiffer shaft (not true in general, maybe for some - but then what does the stiffer shaft do for your overall driver performance?).

My takeaway for YOU from this show is what you should do if you consider having a driver fitting done using a fitting cart from an OEM. You need to ask the Magic Question as much as possible - and that question is WHY?

If someone tells you playing a bigger head can help you eliminate a slice, ask them to explain why. If they suggest that a heavier shaft helps you to reduce spin, ask them why. It is your money, and your golf game - you deserve to know if the person doing the fitting actually understands what the influence of things like club flex, shaft weight, clubhead size, etc.

And if they do not have good, understandable answers to your questions - well, then you need to decide if this is the right place to spend your money.

The Fit Is IT!!

Tony

PLEASE take me with you IF......

The Masters was as good as ever again this year. Tiger making some unbelievable shots on the front 9, especially the big hook on #6 to get below the pin for a birdie putt. And of course the winner making 4 birdies in a row at the end. Wonderful stuff.

My take on the key club in the bag at the Masters this year is that, probably like most years, the putter. 4 key putts at the end for birdies by the winner, and 2 key short misses by Tiger that might have made the difference. Having the right putter and a great stroke is a winning combination.

While noodling around on the Master.com web site a few days ago, I decided to sign up for Practice Round tickets for next year. And found out that for NEXT year there will be some Actual Round tickets available, and there will be a lottery for these! So if you are reading this, go ahead and log on to Masters.com and look under Tickets and see if You might get a few of these! And - if you do and you need someone to go with you - get in touch with me and I might be available (unless I also get tickets!!).

The Fit Is IT!

Tony

If you do the same thing expecting different results?

I was able this past weekend to view "from the outside" a Fitting and Demo Day offered by a local golf club distributor. All of the major clubs that these companies make, the new models, were available to hit.

The first thing that was interesting is that - even though there is a lot of new technology available to be able to test golf club performance (particularly Launch Monitors) there were no Launch Monitors being used by any of the companies showing their clubs. So, just like it has been in past years, players who hit clubs need to rely mostly on feel and some visual evidence of how the club performs.

There are, to be fair, some pretty sophisticated Fitting Carts now available from OEMs so that players can hit various shaft, length, and head options to see if any seem to play well for them.

It was also interesting to notice how enthusiastic the folks who were participating in this Demo Day were. They all wanted to test the latest equipment and see if there is anything that can help them play better.

At the end of the "Day" though - same old same old. Hit a few club and shaft options, see if any seem to work well, perhaps find something that "seems" a little better, and maybe buy some new clubs. And often find out later that these do not really fit them.

Golfers deserve better. Being fit from a fitting cart without attention to measuring results may not cost you anything, but you get what you pay for. Precision fitting does significantly more than that - it is based on real measurements of performance, and allows a player all of the key fitting parameters to find clubs that REALLY fit their games.

Some things never change!!

Tony