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

Squaring Putter Grips - The Next "Level!"

When I was with Dana Upshaw a few weeks ago, I got to see his setup for putting on putter grips perfectly square - making the flat portion of the grip perpendicular to the face of the putter. When grips are not square, you are "adjusting" your hands to make the face look square to your line, and this kind of adjustment is likely to make it more difficult to putt to your capabilities.

This evening I returned from our annual golf trip to Florida, with 14 of the best golf buddies a person can have. Before going on the trip, I took a closer look at my putter grip, and realized that it was not "quite" square and so I installed a new grip. I used an electronic leveling device to help me square the grip, and am sure it is much better than it was. I could feel it being easier to square the face when I placed the putter on the ground.

While on the trip, I looked at a few of my friend's putter grips, and all were not on square. This is probably more prevalent that most people think, it is not a trivial matter to get a grip on square. One is not likely to be able to do this by eyeballing the grip installation.

When I returned home this evening, a package from Golfsmith was here and it had the Putter Alignment Jig that they sell. Pretty slick, based on using a laser that projects a vertical line and you put the jig on the putter flat surface and work the grip until it is square. Dana did some additional mods to this to make it work even better, and I plan to do so sometime soon.

Getting your putter grip checked for alignment is well worth the time!!

Tony