From time to time when I am doing club fitting for golfers, I have experiences where I am simply amazed. These experiences continue to reinforce my belief that there are golf clubs that are JUST RIGHT for specific golfers. And when this happens I get inspired all over again about being a clubfitter.
One of the first of these experiences happened this past summer. I was doing a fitting for a golfer who had not played golf in a few years, about 70 years old. I put a 6 iron test club in his hands, very soft flex, and he IMMEDIATELY hit beautiful shots and said the feel of the club was amazing. I could tell that the connection between him and this test club was right. He continues to enjoy the irons that I built for him. There is no way that he would ever have been able to buy clubs with the specs I made for him at a golf shop.
I had a bit of a different but equally pleasant experience this past weekend. I was working with a client who wants me to build him a new set of irons, and we were discussing some of the iron head options that we will be testing soon. Near the end of our meeting, he said that sometime he also wants to have me look at his putter and putting setup, and I said why not now. He set up over the ball, and was in a great putting position.....his eyes just behind where he set the putter on the ground.
BUT I also noticed that he was toeing the putter slightly upright when he set up. I held the putter for him in this position and let him see what he was doing. We both agreed that once I bend his putter about a degree more flat he should have a perfect putting setup with the putter sitting flat on the ground at address and his eyes just behind the ball.
All well and good. But the NEXT part was the payoff. He said that he has a tendency to PUSH his putts and has some fear of three putting - he would almost prefer to miss greens and hit chips close to the hole for easy up and downs than have long putts. We agreed that the REASON he was pushing his putts was almost certainly that he was ADJUSTING for the fact that he presently putts with a putter that starts with the toe slightly up!
So what you say? Well, what this experience says to me is how much we can actually sense when our clubs do not fit us - so we adjust for the lack of correct fit, and sometimes overcompensate for say putters that are too upright, or in other cases shafts that are too stiff or too short.
One of the things that clubfitters are trained to do, as another example, is to limit the number of shots that we have players hit when we are doing things like length fitting. We do not typically allow a player to hit more than 3 shots with a given length club - and look at where the impact on the club is using impact labels. Why 3 shots - because all players will START ADJUSTING for a club does not fit them after a few shots, and so you will not get good length-fitting results if you allow more than 3 shots.
We as golfers do everything we can to try to compensate for clubs that do not work for us. Sometimes this adjusting works pretty well, and we never realize that if we had clubs that really fit us, we would get a lot more of those "a ha!" feelings on the golf course that result from playing with clubs that are a good match for our personal swings.
Once I bend this putter for my friend and he has some on the course putting results with the new setup, I will report the results back to you in this blog!
Tony
Monday, January 26, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
A Surprisingly Good Day!
My dream for this Monday was to get to play golf, which should normally be possible in East Tennessee. But a combination of snow today (maybe the only snow day this year?) and my getting a cold kept me from doing that.
SO......I decided to read one of the two golf club-related books that I purchased for myself over the holidays. I read - cover to cover, have not done that in a long time - "The Mad Science of Golf," by Philip Moore. Phil is a clubmaker, but this book is about way more than clubmaking. If you are looking to read something that truly might help you to identify strategies to help you play better golf, I am not sure you can do much better than reading this book.
I could discuss for pages the concepts that he discussed in the book but two of them stick out to me in terms of what I love about building great golf clubs for people....
MAKING SOLID BALL CONTACT. As I get older, I think I am understanding more and more how this can help me and others play our best golf. I used to be able to hit my 8 iron 150 yards, and often still think I can - but normally get much better results if I back off to a 7 iron or 6 iron for a 150 yard shot. Helping people to play clubs that they can use to Make Solid Contact is a big part of what I do when I fit people to the right club length, flex and flex profile, and club and shaft weight. One of my friends who I play with (Dr. S, you know who you are) never seems to attempt to hit the ball hard (except some drives after poor holes, but we all do that?) but always seems to make great contact. When you hit the ball solidly your confidence soars, you relax and enjoy the game more. This is a great concept to pay attention to.
HAVING THE RIGHT SET OF GOLF CLUBS. Phil Moore suggests this is the most important thing that he does when he fits players for clubs - getting them to play clubs that they can hit well. To me this includes things like playing more lofted fairway woods so you can get the ball airborne, playing hybrid clubs maybe even down to your 5 iron instead of playing irons that are harder to hit, and not carrying a lob wedge if you cannot hit that club well. Again, all of this revolves around that "confidence" word - if you hit solid shots with the clubs that you have, you are a long way toward being able to score well in golf.
In the end then the day was not so bad after all................but still hoping for good weather on Friday!
Tony
SO......I decided to read one of the two golf club-related books that I purchased for myself over the holidays. I read - cover to cover, have not done that in a long time - "The Mad Science of Golf," by Philip Moore. Phil is a clubmaker, but this book is about way more than clubmaking. If you are looking to read something that truly might help you to identify strategies to help you play better golf, I am not sure you can do much better than reading this book.
I could discuss for pages the concepts that he discussed in the book but two of them stick out to me in terms of what I love about building great golf clubs for people....
MAKING SOLID BALL CONTACT. As I get older, I think I am understanding more and more how this can help me and others play our best golf. I used to be able to hit my 8 iron 150 yards, and often still think I can - but normally get much better results if I back off to a 7 iron or 6 iron for a 150 yard shot. Helping people to play clubs that they can use to Make Solid Contact is a big part of what I do when I fit people to the right club length, flex and flex profile, and club and shaft weight. One of my friends who I play with (Dr. S, you know who you are) never seems to attempt to hit the ball hard (except some drives after poor holes, but we all do that?) but always seems to make great contact. When you hit the ball solidly your confidence soars, you relax and enjoy the game more. This is a great concept to pay attention to.
HAVING THE RIGHT SET OF GOLF CLUBS. Phil Moore suggests this is the most important thing that he does when he fits players for clubs - getting them to play clubs that they can hit well. To me this includes things like playing more lofted fairway woods so you can get the ball airborne, playing hybrid clubs maybe even down to your 5 iron instead of playing irons that are harder to hit, and not carrying a lob wedge if you cannot hit that club well. Again, all of this revolves around that "confidence" word - if you hit solid shots with the clubs that you have, you are a long way toward being able to score well in golf.
In the end then the day was not so bad after all................but still hoping for good weather on Friday!
Tony
Monday, January 12, 2009
Those Great "Year End" Specials on OEM Drivers?
I continue to find it interesting when I get emails from different suppliers of OEM golf clubs advertising their year end driver specials.
At the same time, all of us are now seeing advertisements for the new great innovations in drivers - the coming 2009 models.
I guess all of this makes me want to pose a question......if that great driver from a year ago is now marked down by $100 to $200, what does that really mean? Does it mean that driver was not really worth the $399 (and sometimes more!) that players paid for it when purchased early in 2008?
If companies have to keep coming out with the "new greatest thing since sliced bread" to justify charging $399 for a driver at the beginning of the year, maybe that driver is not all that great for every golfer. Something to consider when you make your next driver purchase!
AND.....continuing the thread that I shared a few blog posts ago, today I received my February 2009 issue of Golf Magazine, and it had club specs for Camilo Villegas. Not unlike Stuart Appleby, Camilo plays a 44 inch length driver, and he plays a 3 wood that has 15.5 degrees of loft. I will continue to keep posting this data from Golf Magazine as I receive it, but that 44 inch driver length just keeps showing up!!
Tony
At the same time, all of us are now seeing advertisements for the new great innovations in drivers - the coming 2009 models.
I guess all of this makes me want to pose a question......if that great driver from a year ago is now marked down by $100 to $200, what does that really mean? Does it mean that driver was not really worth the $399 (and sometimes more!) that players paid for it when purchased early in 2008?
If companies have to keep coming out with the "new greatest thing since sliced bread" to justify charging $399 for a driver at the beginning of the year, maybe that driver is not all that great for every golfer. Something to consider when you make your next driver purchase!
AND.....continuing the thread that I shared a few blog posts ago, today I received my February 2009 issue of Golf Magazine, and it had club specs for Camilo Villegas. Not unlike Stuart Appleby, Camilo plays a 44 inch length driver, and he plays a 3 wood that has 15.5 degrees of loft. I will continue to keep posting this data from Golf Magazine as I receive it, but that 44 inch driver length just keeps showing up!!
Tony
Monday, January 5, 2009
An Example Driver Fitting
I have promised my younger son, David, that I would do a driver fitting for him. He came home from Athens, GA this weekend (with our 1 year old grandson, Emerson!) and we finally had time to do this. It was an interesting fitting, and I thought some of you might like to hear some of the particulars about this one.
David hits the ball a mile, but not always straight. His primary interest in getting a new driver was not in obtaining more distance but in getting more consistency - hitting more fairways.
His present driver is a Cleveland Launcher 8.5 degree loft, 46 inch length. It has a Fijikura Launcher Gold 65 S flex shaft.
I first measured David's wrist to floor distance - it is 37-1/2 inches. Based on some correlations that I have from publications by Tom Wishon (33 years in the clubfitting and clubmaking business and one of the premier golf club designers) a first estimate of the correct driver length for David is 44-1/4 inches long - a lot shorter than the driver length he is presently playing.
I then made some measurements of his hand size to get an initial idea of the size of grip that would work well for him. He has the biggest hands I have yet measured in a golfer - the distance from his life line to the tip of his middle finger is about 9-3/8 inches. This is about an inch longer than the longest measurement I previously made for other golfers. My initial estimate is that he should be playing in grips that are at least 1/16 inch in diameter over the men's standard size. I asked him to grip his present driver, and it was clear that the size of this grip was approximately men's standard, much too small for him.
I then took some video of his golf swing (all of the fitting was done indoors at the Centenial Teaching/Fitting Facility). Based on looking at slow motion of his swing using his present driver, I found that his "tempo time" - from start of his swing to ball impact - was about 1 second, and that he "released" his wrist cock at about an 8 o'clock position (for comparison Tiger releases at about 6 o'clock, right at the ball location).
We then did testing to identify the driver length that David would hit most consistently in the center of the club. We did "impact label" testing with three different driver lengths - 44, 44-1/2, and 45 inch lengths - these tests were done with one driver head and three different shafts that could be attached to the head using the Club Conex "FAZ FIT" connector system. All of the test drivers had approximately the same D3 swingweight. The results were very clear - David hit EVERY shot in the middle of the clubface with the 44 inch driver, and the results with the other lengths were no where near as good as for the 44 inch length.
We then collected driver performance data using the Zelocity Launch Monitor. We did tests with David's present driver and with 5 other test drivers; all tests were done with the same test shaft and by adding weight (lead tape) to the head to make all test driver swingweights be approximately D3. David's average swing speed was about 116 mph (wow, what can I say....). The spin rate for the majority of his test shots was typically less than 3,000 rpm, a good range to be in but there is room for improvement by reducing ball spin.
The main purpose of the driver head testing was to identify if there was one head that produced significantly better performance results and that felt the best to David. One head did in fact provide better overall results - lower spin, slightly longer carry distance, and higher "power transfer ratio" - the ratio of ball speed to swing speed. However, David did not like the overall look of this driver head, and so the slightly better performance results were not as important to him.
The driver head that we finally decided on based on the performance testing was the Wishon 919 THI head. The test head that he hit was actually a bit higher in loft than the other test heads - 11 degrees compared to 9 degrees for the other heads - but overall performance results were comparable to those achieved with other test heads. And this particular head is one that has a high clubhead moment of intertia (MOI) and so is more forgiving of off center contact - again, remember David's desire to get more consistency in hitting fairways.
I then did some additional analyis of David's launch monitor test results to show him where there are some areas where he could improve his driving distance - in particular, lowering driver spin rate and increasing launch angle.
I used a shaft fitting program developed by Jerry Hoefling Sr. - a well respected AGCP clubfitter. Jerry's "BMT" software - butt, middle, tip - was used to identify the best candidate shaft for David's new driver. This software has a database of many available shafts where flex profiles have been measured to determine shaft butt, middle, and tip flexes. The program allows me to input the measured driver swing speed, swing tempo, and release point and choose a shaft that will be the best fit for David's swing. The shaft that is the best fit for him is the Aldila VS Proto "By You" shaft.
The final result of the fitting is that I will build David a Wishon 919THI 9.5 degree driver, 0 degree closed face, 44 inches long, with a Aldila VS Proto S shaft, and will build this to a final D3 swingweight. I will use an Midsize Star Grip that I will build up to slightly over 1/16 inch diameter over men's standard size.
And I hope that he does not use this new driver to beat his dear old dad in golf yet.....but if he beats his father in law, well what can I say!!
Tony
David hits the ball a mile, but not always straight. His primary interest in getting a new driver was not in obtaining more distance but in getting more consistency - hitting more fairways.
His present driver is a Cleveland Launcher 8.5 degree loft, 46 inch length. It has a Fijikura Launcher Gold 65 S flex shaft.
I first measured David's wrist to floor distance - it is 37-1/2 inches. Based on some correlations that I have from publications by Tom Wishon (33 years in the clubfitting and clubmaking business and one of the premier golf club designers) a first estimate of the correct driver length for David is 44-1/4 inches long - a lot shorter than the driver length he is presently playing.
I then made some measurements of his hand size to get an initial idea of the size of grip that would work well for him. He has the biggest hands I have yet measured in a golfer - the distance from his life line to the tip of his middle finger is about 9-3/8 inches. This is about an inch longer than the longest measurement I previously made for other golfers. My initial estimate is that he should be playing in grips that are at least 1/16 inch in diameter over the men's standard size. I asked him to grip his present driver, and it was clear that the size of this grip was approximately men's standard, much too small for him.
I then took some video of his golf swing (all of the fitting was done indoors at the Centenial Teaching/Fitting Facility). Based on looking at slow motion of his swing using his present driver, I found that his "tempo time" - from start of his swing to ball impact - was about 1 second, and that he "released" his wrist cock at about an 8 o'clock position (for comparison Tiger releases at about 6 o'clock, right at the ball location).
We then did testing to identify the driver length that David would hit most consistently in the center of the club. We did "impact label" testing with three different driver lengths - 44, 44-1/2, and 45 inch lengths - these tests were done with one driver head and three different shafts that could be attached to the head using the Club Conex "FAZ FIT" connector system. All of the test drivers had approximately the same D3 swingweight. The results were very clear - David hit EVERY shot in the middle of the clubface with the 44 inch driver, and the results with the other lengths were no where near as good as for the 44 inch length.
We then collected driver performance data using the Zelocity Launch Monitor. We did tests with David's present driver and with 5 other test drivers; all tests were done with the same test shaft and by adding weight (lead tape) to the head to make all test driver swingweights be approximately D3. David's average swing speed was about 116 mph (wow, what can I say....). The spin rate for the majority of his test shots was typically less than 3,000 rpm, a good range to be in but there is room for improvement by reducing ball spin.
The main purpose of the driver head testing was to identify if there was one head that produced significantly better performance results and that felt the best to David. One head did in fact provide better overall results - lower spin, slightly longer carry distance, and higher "power transfer ratio" - the ratio of ball speed to swing speed. However, David did not like the overall look of this driver head, and so the slightly better performance results were not as important to him.
The driver head that we finally decided on based on the performance testing was the Wishon 919 THI head. The test head that he hit was actually a bit higher in loft than the other test heads - 11 degrees compared to 9 degrees for the other heads - but overall performance results were comparable to those achieved with other test heads. And this particular head is one that has a high clubhead moment of intertia (MOI) and so is more forgiving of off center contact - again, remember David's desire to get more consistency in hitting fairways.
I then did some additional analyis of David's launch monitor test results to show him where there are some areas where he could improve his driving distance - in particular, lowering driver spin rate and increasing launch angle.
I used a shaft fitting program developed by Jerry Hoefling Sr. - a well respected AGCP clubfitter. Jerry's "BMT" software - butt, middle, tip - was used to identify the best candidate shaft for David's new driver. This software has a database of many available shafts where flex profiles have been measured to determine shaft butt, middle, and tip flexes. The program allows me to input the measured driver swing speed, swing tempo, and release point and choose a shaft that will be the best fit for David's swing. The shaft that is the best fit for him is the Aldila VS Proto "By You" shaft.
The final result of the fitting is that I will build David a Wishon 919THI 9.5 degree driver, 0 degree closed face, 44 inches long, with a Aldila VS Proto S shaft, and will build this to a final D3 swingweight. I will use an Midsize Star Grip that I will build up to slightly over 1/16 inch diameter over men's standard size.
And I hope that he does not use this new driver to beat his dear old dad in golf yet.....but if he beats his father in law, well what can I say!!
Tony
Monday, December 29, 2008
My Favorite Clubfitting Christmas Present...
My youngest son David (a bomber, about 115 mph swing speed who I am fitting for a new driver this weekend) bought me a wonderful new tool for my fitting business - a USB microscope. Many of my clubfitting friends are now using this to show their friends and customers how they can improve their wedge games by getting the right kinds of wedges in their bags.
The picture I show in this blog post is a USB microscope picture of the face of a Wishon PCF Micro wedge face. Notice how sharp the groove edges are and also notice the rough wedge face as the result of the CNC milling that has been done to the face. Wedges with these kinds of grooves and milled faces can help players to easily spin the ball and stop it quickly on short wedge shots - even from lies in the rough. One of my good friends has SMT Durometer wedges with these kinds of grooves and faces, and I have seen him stop 30 yard wedge shots from the rough with only a few feet of roll (again taking money out of my pocket by making par!).
I am looking forward to using this new tool a lot over the coming months to show golfers what some of the improvement opportunities are available for them by getting the right kinds of wedges in their bags. If you are at my Centenial golf fitting center some Saturday in the near future (or want to make an appointment) let me take a picture of your wedge faces and see if they look like the face shown above.
Happy New Year!
Tony
Monday, December 22, 2008
REMAX Long Drive - The BIG Bombers!
I look forward to Christmas each year for a lot of reasons, but one of the more fun ones is the opportunity to watch the REMAX Long Drive Championships on ESPN. This year the REMAX is on ESPN at two different times:
December 24, 3 pm Eastern on ESPN
December 25, 2 pm Eastern on ESPN
If you have never watched this show, treat yourself. These guys absolutely nuke the ball. I think the winning drive this year (actualy finals were I think sometime in September) was over 400 yards.
I enjoy playing back the video of the contestents in slow motion and watching two things in addition to the sheer power they display:
The beautiful BALANCE each of the contestants have in their swings, and
The LATE RELEASE of the wrist cock that they have which helps them to maintain their
clubhead speed. Usually very close to 6 o'clock release.
Besides the brute force and strength of the contestants, there is also a lot of technology involved in hitting the golf ball the distances these guys hit it. All of these bombers are using Launch Monitor data to help them optimize their distance - this includes working to optimize launch angle and ball spin to get best combination of carry and roll for their swing speeds. And working to find the right combination of driver head and loft and shaft to allow them to achieve these optimized conditions. In this sense, they are like all of us mere mortals who are looking to hit their drivers a little farther.
What a way to spend part of your Christmas holiday - I strongly recommend it!
Tony
December 24, 3 pm Eastern on ESPN
December 25, 2 pm Eastern on ESPN
If you have never watched this show, treat yourself. These guys absolutely nuke the ball. I think the winning drive this year (actualy finals were I think sometime in September) was over 400 yards.
I enjoy playing back the video of the contestents in slow motion and watching two things in addition to the sheer power they display:
The beautiful BALANCE each of the contestants have in their swings, and
The LATE RELEASE of the wrist cock that they have which helps them to maintain their
clubhead speed. Usually very close to 6 o'clock release.
Besides the brute force and strength of the contestants, there is also a lot of technology involved in hitting the golf ball the distances these guys hit it. All of these bombers are using Launch Monitor data to help them optimize their distance - this includes working to optimize launch angle and ball spin to get best combination of carry and roll for their swing speeds. And working to find the right combination of driver head and loft and shaft to allow them to achieve these optimized conditions. In this sense, they are like all of us mere mortals who are looking to hit their drivers a little farther.
What a way to spend part of your Christmas holiday - I strongly recommend it!
Tony
Monday, December 15, 2008
Thank you Stuart Appleby!!
I received my January 2009 issue of Golf Magazine a week or so ago, and on page 105 there was a "Here's What I Play" article on the clubs that Stuart Appleby plays. Pretty good player, no?
Well, the article says the following things....
1. Stuart plays a driver that is 44-1/4 inches long.
2. Stuart uses a 15 degree 3 wood....hits it 260 yards the article says.
The article confirms something you will see on other parts of my site....that driver lengths played by the pros are a lot shorter than the 45-1/2 to 46 inch drivers you will by at your local golf store. I am certain that he plays this length driver because it is the length that he gets the best most consistent impact with.
The other interesting fact was that he plays a 15 degree 3 wood. And he bombs it, 260 yards. We mere mortals would do well to imitate his choice of 3 wood loft. At the very least, when you purchase your next 3 wood you should ask what the loft on the club is, and think seriously of playing with a 3 wood of at least 15 degrees of loft.
I have also recently seen some pictures of Anthony Kim hitting his driver....he chokes down 2 inches from the butt of his driver, and says that he gets more consistent driver contact that way.
So I suggest that you do the following sometime this winter season....
1. Make a "wrist to floor" measurement for yourself....make this measurement by standing upright with your feet together, and measure distance - for a right handed player - from the floor to the lifeline where your wrist bends. If you do this and send a reply to this blog with the measurement, I will provide you with a first estimate of what your best driver length should be.
2. Look at the bottom of your present 3 wood and see what the loft is. And then ask yourself if believe you get the ball in the air well with this 3 wood. If the loft is 13 degrees or less, and you do not get the ball in the air, maybe you should consider treating yourself to a 3 wood that will help you achieve better results.
So thanks Stuart!
Tony Wright
Well, the article says the following things....
1. Stuart plays a driver that is 44-1/4 inches long.
2. Stuart uses a 15 degree 3 wood....hits it 260 yards the article says.
The article confirms something you will see on other parts of my site....that driver lengths played by the pros are a lot shorter than the 45-1/2 to 46 inch drivers you will by at your local golf store. I am certain that he plays this length driver because it is the length that he gets the best most consistent impact with.
The other interesting fact was that he plays a 15 degree 3 wood. And he bombs it, 260 yards. We mere mortals would do well to imitate his choice of 3 wood loft. At the very least, when you purchase your next 3 wood you should ask what the loft on the club is, and think seriously of playing with a 3 wood of at least 15 degrees of loft.
I have also recently seen some pictures of Anthony Kim hitting his driver....he chokes down 2 inches from the butt of his driver, and says that he gets more consistent driver contact that way.
So I suggest that you do the following sometime this winter season....
1. Make a "wrist to floor" measurement for yourself....make this measurement by standing upright with your feet together, and measure distance - for a right handed player - from the floor to the lifeline where your wrist bends. If you do this and send a reply to this blog with the measurement, I will provide you with a first estimate of what your best driver length should be.
2. Look at the bottom of your present 3 wood and see what the loft is. And then ask yourself if believe you get the ball in the air well with this 3 wood. If the loft is 13 degrees or less, and you do not get the ball in the air, maybe you should consider treating yourself to a 3 wood that will help you achieve better results.
So thanks Stuart!
Tony Wright
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