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

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.

Expanding Test Clubs - Easy to Justify!

With one week end to go until the boss (!) gets home, I have made lots of progress in improving my overall group of test clubs for fitting.


This week I am about to finish seven new driver test shafts..............two at 45 inch length (about the max length that I usually fit some one in) and five at 44 inches - varied weights from 55 grams up to a steel wood shaft weighing 105 grams. Now I will able to truly test for the influence of shaft weight on club path - remembering how weight affects path due to the "nine ball flight laws."


And later this week I will finish building a set of six 85 gram graphite shafts (range of butt flexes) so will now have iron shaft weights from about 60 grams (graphite) all the way up to over 120 to 130 grams raw shaft weight (steel). SK Fiber, Aerotech, FST, Wishon, and KBS shafts.


A really neat new addition (I love to add new shafts to my test club set!) are some SK Fiber lightweight graphite test shafts in a range of flexes, with overall 6 iron test club length of a little over 40 inches. These were built to be able to fit a 6 foot 9 inch golfer. We did an initial fitting this past weekend, and we found that he needs his shafts to be just a bit softer than the test clubs I had. So I am building two additional test shafts this weekend, and am sure that these will lead to the right fit and better iron distance for this player.


Bottom line - having a full range of test shafts and test heads is the only way to really do fittings that lead to improved ball striking, distance, and confidence.


Tony

Four Videos on Clubfitting - from Wishon Golf

Tonight I want to make you aware of some new videos that Tom Wishon of Wishon Golf Technology has created on his web site.


The web link for these is:

http://www.wishongolf.com/video_wishongolf.php


Tom Wishon has been in the custom club business for more than 37 years, and is the holder of a few hundred patents related to club design. There video titles at this link are...

- Custom Fit vs Standard Off the Rack

- What Does Custom Clubfitting Actually Do for Golfers?

- The Facts of Life About the Golf Equipment Industry

- The Basic Elements of Professional Shaft Fitting


Each of the videos is 4 to 9 minutes in length. If you view these and have any questions on the contents of them, feel free to email me at tony@gameimprovementgolf.com.


Tony