I'm a relatively new golfer who has fallen in love with the game and am looking to get some new clunbs next season. Now I have some questions before I do though.. Everyone says get fitted for your clubs, but what exactly does that mean?
If I go into a pro shop or, gulp, a large golf-centric retailer what does being fitted actually involve?
Now take that to the next level is it worth getting a set of name-brand clubs "fitted" when I could have a set of clubs custom made for me?
So I guess what Im looking for is what happens during a fitting? To what extent are shelf clubs altered after a fitting? And are the name brand clubs technology worth going that route or are truly custom clubs the way to go?
Just a little general information dscl, most off the shelf clubs, ones bought at a big box store, are generally too long, in particular the driver and fairway woods. Club manufacturers came up with some arbitrary length for a driver, supposedly making them for some guy 6 ft whatever. I'm not sure exactly what height you have to be to have the clubs fit perfectly. SO,,,, what a lot of golfers will do, is either have the store where you bought them, or a bona fide club fitter, adjust the length of the clubs to fit you. There is a formula where they take a measurement from the floor to the bend in your wrist, standing in a typical address position, from there they will adjust the driver and all the other clubs to a preset length to fit that measurement, each iron being approximately 1/2 inch longer then your pitching wedge. Pitching wedge being the shortest, 2 iron the longest. Your 5 wood being typically 4 inches longer then the 2 iron, the 3 wood, 2 inches longer then the 5 wood, and the driver 2 inches longer then that. OK now when your purchasing your clubs, if you buy them from a recognized golf store, they may offer to do the fitting for you. If your buying from a big box store, contact your local golf course and find out who does the fitting for their course. Its usually not all that expensive to have it done, and it DEFINITELY worth the money spent because your starting off with clubs that fit you.
Well I'll respond, but granted I am still a relatively new golfer myself (less than 2 years into this foray) and was only fitted once.
At my fitting, they made sure that the club were the right length for my height/arm length. I am 6'3" tall. A standard size 7 iron is going to play like a 9 iron for me, unless I have the club shafts extended. They originally extended me to +3/4" on my shafts, but that was a little too long, so I had them take it down to half inch extensions. They also measure hand size, in case you need a larger grip. I originally had mid size grips, but went back to standard to free up my wrist speed and keep my grip looser. I am not sure if they are supposed to "fit" you for anything else, I am sure some of the more experienced guys go through a more lengthy fitting period, that probably involves adjusting the clubheads themselves. But for a slouch like me, they just gave me what the measurements called for, and I eventually had to adjust them back a little, but there is no way I should be playing standard size clubs because I would be bent over like an old guy trying to hit a PW.
Custom made clubs are VERY expensive. Unless you are a serious golfer, i'd just avoid getting them. I tend to but nothing but ping, which has a fitting system for shorter or taller golfers. I'm fairly tall (6'), so I go with green dot, as they are 1/2" longer, and 2 degrees upright. I'd imagine Taylormade must offer some clubs for people of varying heights. I think you should get a shelf club, and save yourself some bucks. I believe most standard length clubs are for people around 5'8" (For men).
Denominator mentioned something that bears repeating for the sake of illustrating the limits we have in the club/body/age relationship.
Instead of getting a longer golf club, consider getting a set of irons that are a few degrees upright. It will give you the illusion of extra length.
The problem is this... When you lengthen a club to accommodate a tall golfer, (and keep in mind I'm 6'7" tall), the swing weight goes up to the point that it can be very uncomfortable. In the case of someone young and strong, that might be a matter of practice and getting used to it, but in the case of someone like me, a 60 year old, I'm simply not strong enough to get through much of a round trying to deal with the increased weight. Eventually, you get tired and having a decent round fall apart towards the end is a frustration we don't need to add to all the frustrations golf hands us more naturally.
I don't know of any irons today that are designed to allow the swing weight to be reduced if the club is extra long. About 1/2" extra is all most people can lengthen a club without really feeling the swing weight increase to a point of the club being nearly useless. (I say nearly because you can still kill cockroaches and scratch you back with it)
Most companies these days have some sort of fitting program. I think PING is actually designed to be the most well prepared to adjust clubs due to the little notch cut out of the hosel. Everyone can ship clubs already adjusted to specs from the factory with receipt on your end within a week.
It almost makes no sense what so ever not to play with clubs adjusted to your swing. In my case, if you were wondering after noting my height, my irons are regular length and 1 degree upright.
__________________ All Titleists
907 D2 Driver, 980 3 Wood
909 Hybrid, AP2 irons
Vokey 50* AW, Vokey 56* SW
A putter that thinks it's a Scotty Cameron
Yeah - it's something like 3 or 4 swing weight points per inch of increased length. While that doesn't sound like a lot, I can tell you from experience, it feels like a lot.
You can counter balance a club with weight in the butt of the shaft, so the swing weight doesn't feel so increased, but the overall weight can still make you tired.
I started a thread some months or maybe a year ago, asking if anyone knew how to overcome the increased swing weight that came of extra length. I finally called Ralph Maltby's place in Ohio, The Golfworks, and had a really interesting conversation with one of their tech people. I understood most of what he told me, but didn't experiment on my clubs too much except to lengthen an old 1 iron from the garage.
Part of the problem was that the shaft extenders were not designed to hold the material to counterweight the butt of the shaft, only to lengthen the shaft itself. In other words, you needed to reshaft the club, leaving the shaft longer in the process and then counterweight the shaft with the plug and weights designed for that purpose.
It got to be an expensive proposition at that point when you multiplied it by 10 irons.
__________________ All Titleists
907 D2 Driver, 980 3 Wood
909 Hybrid, AP2 irons
Vokey 50* AW, Vokey 56* SW
A putter that thinks it's a Scotty Cameron
Dennis, that is a VERY good point. Age does matter when you are considering playing a full round. Another thing to consider, I'm only 47, but I have herniated discs in my lower back. Under meds I play the front 9 at about 3 or 4 over. Then the meds wear off and the clubs get heavy on the back nine. I could really fall apart if I had to deal with that extra weight of lengthened clubs. I would say for a newbie, just play clubs off the shelf for now. When you really know your swing and become consistent, then consider an upgrade.
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wish I'd seen this site sooner! as a clubfitter i can tell you that-
1. it is NOT more expensive to buy fitted clubs. we clubmakers/fitters buy components from reputable companies at low rates and then mark prices up to match the local economy and our skill level (most of us anyway!). we can custom fit anyone with clubs that match their swing and budget.
2. EVERYONE should be fitted for their clubs regardless of ability. I have reworked several sets of name brand "custom made" clubs for clients who paid big bucks only to find they didn't fit. Even the name brand clubs can be off a few degrees in loft and lie angle when sold new.
3. MOI (Moment of Inertia) matching is the way to be fitted, NOT "swingweight". I can take a 44" driver and a 44" piece of 1/2" rebar and swingweight them both to D0. Which one will be easier to swing? They're both the same swingweight so they should swing the same, right?
4. a study was done in the '70s regarding golf clubs' distances. It was determined (and physics proves this out) that if all the iron heads/shafts/grips weighed the same then having them cut to the players preference for length and maintaining the "standard" (there are no standards in golf, only averages) of 4 degrees loft difference between them would achieve the desired distance goals. Why do they not do this today? (a company called 1 Iron does this) You can't mass produce the number of sets required to fit all the various types of golfers and make a profit. KACHING!!
5. The world record long drive in a PGA tournament has stood since 1974. 64 year old Mike Austin slapped his 43 1/2", steel shafted, persimmon headed, 11* driver 515 yards (465 of that was carry). Didn't hit a sprinkler head or cart path, just the grass.
I could go on but I'll wait until someone asks.
We clubmaker/fitters are a dying breed because of apathy, mass marketing, or we just don't speak up. I can't afford the cost of a TV ad that might pay for itself so I rely on word of mouth as most of us do. We're here to help you.
Hey, glad you're here Tweaky. I'm very interested in smithing and have talked our local club smith into teaching me some of the craft. It'll be nice to have a smith here to bounce ideas off of too.
__________________ "Did you see where that went...nevermind, I'm gonna hit another one."
Club Fitting / Custom Clubs
I'm really not to fussed how far I drive the ball it's the number that I write down on my score card that matters!
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