Back At It - Adding New Iron Fitting Shafts

After an enjoyable but VERY hot weekend playing in our annual Member Guest tournament, I have a few iron fittings coming up in the next few weeks.


I presently have graphite and steel iron fitting shafts, in raw weights of about 60 and 70 grams in graphite, and 90 - 100 and 120 - 130 grams in steel. There is a hole between the graphite and steel shafts that I am starting to fill in this week.


I ordered six Aerotech i80 Steelfiber shafts - these combine steel and graphite fibers into one shaft - raw weights of about 85 grams. I will build these to different butt frequencies - 5 cpm apart. The Steelfiber shafts are a high quality shaft presently being used on the PGA tour by at least one prominent player. Many of my clubfitting friends strongly endorse this shaft, and I look forward to having these as a option for future club fittings.


What has pushed me to add this group of shafts is the fact that it is hard to predict what shaft weight and shaft feel will produce the best results for players. So it is important to test a number of options to be sure that all reasonable possibilities are covered to find the best fit for players. I never thought, for example, that 70 gram graphite SK Fiber shafts would be a good fit for me because I still swing the club pretty agressively - but I love the feel of these shafts and all I have to do is swing smoothly to get good results.


It is pretty difficult to have "too many" iron test fitting shafts - which is good news for customers!


Tony

Back In The SWing Of Things!

My "higher power" is out of town for a few days, which is going to give me the opportunity to get quite a lot of clubbuilding done the next week or so. Some of my tasks to complete in the evenings this week and part of next include....

- Finishing two iron builds

- Rebuilding two hybrid clubs

- Building some flex test clubs for a tall golfer

- Putting some extenders into two wedges

- Building a new set of driver fitting test shafts - varied shaft weights

- Rebuilding some of my driver test heads so that I can reduce the weight in the heads


I am starting to get very excited about improving my driver fitting test clubs. I am in the process of doing two major improvements to my driver fitting clubs.

First, installing some new FAZ FIT connectors into my test driver heads to reduce the total weight of the heads and connectors. It is easy to add weight in testing - as Dana Upshaw told me "lead tape is your friend."

Second, and I think most importantly, I am building four new test shafts using 55, 65, 75, and 85 gram Aldila NVS driver shafts. This difference of about 30 grams in shaft weight will allow me to test more effectively for the influence of shaft weight on ball flight - shaft weight has a major influence on the driver swing path for a player. I will probably also build at least one steel driver test shaft so that can go up to about 100 grams or so of shaft weight for players who might benefit from this.


While shaft flex is important for drivers, if you cannot hit the ball in the middle of the clubface you will not have the opportunity to maximize the distance of your drives. Driver shaft weight and its influence on club path is important to test for.


Tony

More Next Week.....

I have been out of town getting to play golf at Oakmont Country Club in Pittsburgh, PA for 3 days. What an Experience.....the most fun and interesting course I have ever played. Thanks LJ and CJ!


But in terms of blog post tonight.....my "higher power" is about to go out of town for 3 weeks and so I think I will let it rest for this week..............back next!


Tony

Expecting The Possible!!

This weekend I did some testing with a player who was presently playing lightweight steel iron shafts - about 95 grams raw weight - and we were looking to see if a different type of steel shaft would get better results. He had pretty high swing speed, and he has always played steel iron shafts.


At the end of the tests, we also did some tests with a few 75 gram graphite shaft types - and there was a large jump in shot distance - more than 10 yards, sometimes 15. Admittedly I did not expect that this would happen - but I was glad we did not eliminate the possibility of using lightweight graphite shafts.


These results reminded me of something that is really the difference between great club fitting and just so so fitting. Fitters all have some preliminary ideas on what shafts might work best and what flexes and weight profiles might work best. But it is better to be open to testing across a range of possibilities of types of heads, shafts, flexes, and weights and determine what is the best fit based on performance. Preconceived notions on what will work can be a starting point, but having a wide group of test clubs to work with and test can sometimes yield results that are surprising and maybe even better than expected!


Tony

Are There "Magic Clubs?"

I have been playing with 3, 4, and 5 hybrids in my bag for the past year or so. But this past week I decided I wanted to see how a 7 wood would play and if it would feel easier to hit than my 3 hybrid.


So I bought a Wishon 915 F/H 21 degree head, and built a 41 inch 7 wood to the flex and MOI values that I believe are a good fit for me. I used an SK Fiber TT 80 shaft, and tip trimmed the shaft to a PCS flex of 4.8. I matched the club to the MOI of my present fairway woods and my driver (I swing my fairway woods pretty aggressively).


Well.................I put this club in play this past Sunday, and it was absolutely amazing. I have never swung a club that was so easy to hit. Great ball flight, easy to hit strong shots out of pretty deep rough, and it feels like it swings itself! Today I ordered the 9 wood equivalent of this club and am hopeful that club will play as well as the 7 wood. Some of it might be the 919 F/H head, but I am sure that is not all if it................the club is a perfect match to how I swing.


Is every club built based on clubfitting going to be what I call a "magic club?" For some players I have built clubs for the matching of the right flex, MOI, shaft, and club length has resulted in clubs that are very easy to hit and that feel absolutely wonderful. The object of all of my fittings is to find a set of club specs that would achieve this.


I do believe, though, that the likelihood of finding clubs that truly have a magic feel to them and that produce superior results is higher when they are built on the best possible fitting for a player.


Tony

Short Game - Short Game - Short Game!

Every few weeks there is a post on the AGCP forum that just seems to get lots of attention and responses.


The latest one relates to wedge bounce and wedge sole width - how important are they to wedge play, how does one do correct wedge fittings? So far over 25 responses to the initial question on this one, and a lot of good ideas on how to do wedge fitting. Mostly I am talking about sand wedge fitting.


For me the key lessons learned from the posts are.....


1. Getting good at wedge play is well worth the effort. If you can find a good teaching pro who can teach you good wedge technique and particularly sand play technique, you can overcome many of the missed shots that are part of a normal round of golf.


2. There is no one wedge that is good for all conditions of play. Some will play well in soft sand, some in harder sand. Some in soft fairways, some in tight fairways. And some can help you if you tend to "pick" the ball, where some others can help you if you tend to hit your wedge shots fat.


3. If you can find a fitter who has a variety of wedges with different bounces and sole widths, you should consider hitting shots will these different types of wedges and see what works best for you. Experiment.............see what wedge type can work well for you and your game and course conditions.


4. Finally............and this was not in the post but is my personal view............most players are better off not attempting to use a lob wedge. You might consider, in fact, carrying two sand wedges - one with a "normal" amount of bounce and sole width, and one with a wide sole design. Then you will have the tools to hit shots from a wide variety of lies and sand types.


Tony

More on Drivers.....

I got to read the latest Golf Digest this weekend, there was a good article related to Hank Haney and his relationship with Tiger - worth reading.


The part I remembered most is that Haney said that when Tiger was hitting the ball furthest he was playing a 43 inch driver.... And that now he is playing a 44 inch driver. This info. is for sure food for thought about driver length and whether most of mortals should be playing the 45 and 46 inch drivers you can buy in stores. I have been playing a 44 inch driver for at least a year, and there is no noticeable difference in how far I hit the ball.


The other "driver" item that I have run into twice this weekend relates to face angles of 460 degree drivers. Twice this weekend I was with players who I believe are playing drivers with about 2 degree closed face angle. Both can draw the ball pretty easily - and so the closed face is exactly what they do NOT need to hit the ball well. Closed face drivers have come from the fact that 460 cc driver heads are hard to close by lots of players - so a "fix" for this in drivers in stores is to sell drivers with closed faces - for the "masses." If you are looking to buy a new driver, it might be a good idea to be careful you know what you are REALLY getting and be sure it is right for you - it is a shame to pay a lot for a driver that will not work for your swing.


Tony