subject: Golf equipment and custom fitting [print this page] Golf equipment and custom fitting Golf equipment and custom fitting
Club fitting has been around for many years. I believe it was instigated by PING back in the 1970's.
When PING introduced their colour coding fitting service they were light years ahead of the competition. Since then all of the other manufacturers have followed suit. They all have similar club fitting codes and criteria, all based upon following PING's lead.
Over the years I have taught thousands of golfers, most of which have sought my advice regarding the correct custom fitting and colour coding that will suit them best. That question has now become a very awkward one to answer. I believe one hundred percent in supplying each and every customer with the right and proper information. However, I am beginning to doubt the advice I too have been following for most of my golfing life.
My findings were brought about a few years ago, when my assistant was doing a club fitting for one of our members. This member was about six foot six inches tall and my assistant had advised (based on the fitting manual from the company) that the member should have 2.5 inches added in length and four degrees upright. Fine, the clubs arrived and the member duly paid for his new equipment. It was a few weeks later that my assistant showed concern about his inability to coach the member and improve his swing. This is when I took over the members coaching plan and to my surprise I too found I was struggling to coach him in the manner I was accustomed. It was then I started to realise that something didn't look right about his equipment. Although my assistant had done nothing wrong something just didn't look right. This guy was standing far too close to the ball and I simply couldn't get him to turn properly in the backswing, all because his clubs had been fitted incorrectly. I informed the member of my conclusion and he was somewhat surprised because he too believed from what he had read, that his clubs were fitted correctly. Anyway, after a coffee and a chat he agreed to have a new fitting based on my theory. After which I was then able to implement the correct pieces to his swing and he's benefited hugely ever since.
At this stage I was still not entirely sure about my theory and found it veryirratating. I didn't want to shout it from the rooftops in case I made a fool of myself. SoI started thinking about it more and more. At first I started to doubt and question my own conclusions. It seemed I was the onlyperson on the planetwho thought about club fitting in this way. Then Iconsidered a shorter golfer who was maybe only five feet four inches tall, he or she would have their clubs flatter, soa tall golfer must surely require more uprightclubs. But this is where it suddenly dawned on me. A shorter golfer should have their clubs made shorter! In order for the lie angle to fit properly into their set up. Now, that would mean less distance which is unacceptable. So, in effect, a shorter golfermusthavetheir clubs flatter because they are too long to begin with.But when a tall player has longer clubs he is told to have them more upright. It just doesn't make any sense or logic to me.
Lets take it a stage further. Imagine for a moment you take the golfer who is apparently standard in his fitting dimensions, you ask him to adopt his normal address position and then (by magic) you enlarge him, the club and the ball by 25%. Making him into a giant golfer. If you then look at the shaft angle it will not have changed, the club lie will have remained the same. So if you are a taller person why should you need more upright clubs? Yes a taller person will definitely need longer clubs, but not a change in lie angle. In fact if they did need a change in lie angle then I believe it would need to be flatter. When companies manufacture their clubs, the longer clubs become flatter. For instance, a five iron will be flatter than a six iron and a four iron will be flatter than a five iron and so on.So whyshould acustom fitting scenario be to the contrary?What aboutthe nine iron, it gets shorter and becomes more upright. These are the questions that need answering sogolfers can be custom fit in the right way.Once a golfer has the correct custom fitting they can also benefit from the correct coaching. It's so frustrating whenI teach someone who has had a custom fitting,because I can see straight away that I'm not going to be able to teach them properly.
Youcould go into any golfshop around the world right now and you will be told the same, if your tall you'll need longer clubs and an upright lie. It isn't their fault, they are doing what I used to do for years, simply preaching what the companies had told us because we believed them. For a golfer who is short or standard then there is no cause for concern. It is the tall or very tall who are suffering from this situation.
At this stageI haven't got a brand new colour coding system for my theory. But I'm willing to talk to the companies about developing one andI hopewehaveanswers regarding this matter as soon as possible.
Obviously, I feel very alone regarding this, but I can't turn my back on the logicand sense behind it all and nor can I turn my back on you, the golfer, I have a duty to do what's right and I shall continue to do so.
Tell me what you think. You can leave feedback about this subject at the bottom of the page.
