Familiar Territory

Hello once again. Sorry for the recent lapse in my blog posting. It's not for my lack of enthusiasm for stats or sports, but rather the incredible amount of time and energy that is spent on other aspects of my life. After looking at the recent stats on my blog I couldn't believe the response I was getting from my posts. It stated that I had nearly 40 views for all of my posts and that helps to motivate me to continue to produce posts.

Anyways, back to posting. A little background information into my current job will help bring prospective to why this post is relevant. I currently work for a Golf Retailer in the Northern Virginia area.

The main thing that a lot of people have heard or read about in the golf world is custom fitting. Believe it or not, you can actually get anything from your clubs to the golf ball you play can be custom fit to help improve your game. With the help of golf simulators and retailers around the world, anyone and everyone who is looking to make a difference in their game should consider a custom fitting.

As in everything that is in the world, there are positives and negatives that come along with custom fitting. The myth that a lot of people think is going to occur when they visit a shop is that a custom fitting will determine what clubs he or she needs. Unfortunately, the fact is that a custom fitting will help to determine the characteristics of a club that one would need, but not the exact set of clubs.

For instance, a fitting could help with determining a proper length club for a player; however, a fitting would not tell you that the new Taylormade Burner 2.0 irons would benefit your game more than the Callaway X-24 or Ping G15 irons. See the difference?

To give you a glimpse into what I think is the most important fitting, I will give an overview of a custom iron fitting. Lets say a customer came into the store tomorrow, this would be the exact way I would provide service to the customer. First, I would need the customer to either already have a set of irons or have a new set of clubs in mind that they would like to purchase and have custom fitted.

Don't get me wrong, buying golf clubs is an important investment that no one should take lightly and I strongly encourage any golfer to try the clubs before they buy them. Every manufacturer makes a great set of clubs. That is the truth.

What if the customer has no clue what they need, or they have had the same clubs for 20 years and are in need of an upgrade? I am able to determine what would be the best option to improve their game. A couple of basic questions I ask to find out which way we should go are:
- What do you generally shoot for 9 holes or 18?
- Do you carry a handicap?
- What kind of clubs do you have now?

These questions help to give me an idea of the skill level that you have and what kind of set would be the most beneficial to you. Every manufacturer has generally 3 skill levels for its players.

1. A high handicap set (ultra game improvement) for the player that shoots in the 90s and higher. I would say that 60 percent of all golfers will fit into this group.

2. A mid handicap set (game improvement) for the player that shoots in the 80s and 90s. About 30 percent of all players.

3. A low handicap set (game enhancement) for the player that shoots in the 80s and lower. 10 percent of all players.

An example would be:
Callaway
- Diablo Edge is ultra game improvement
- X Series is game improvement
- X Forged is game enhancement

Taylormade
- Burner Superlaunch is ultra game improvement
- Burner 2.0 is game improvement
- R9 is game enhancement

To give you an idea, 90 percent of all golfers cannot break 90. I currently carry a 4.2 handicap and have been playing since I was 7 years old, I am now 24. It took me about 10 years just to break 100. I would say 5 years to constantly shoot in the 80s and for the past 2 years I have been able to shoot in the 70s. I say this in respect to finding the right set of clubs for any customer. The worst thing that can happen is a customer is not upfront with their ability and I recommend the wrong set of clubs. I am not here to judge you and your ability, just to help improve your game.


To help find the best particular set of clubs for you, you should do a couple of things first before making a decision.

1- Take time to do some research. Look at the different websites or go into a store that has a wide selection of clubs that you can swing and look at to find the one that best suits your eye.


2- Narrow your search down. The one thing that I do not like to do is to take every single club available in a particular handicap and have them hit 50 balls. By the time you get to the fifth club will be asking more questions than you will have answered. If you can trim it down to 2 or 3 sets (maybe by price, look, anything) the decision will be easier, I promise.


3- Ask for help. Any employee that works in the golf industry loves their job. They get to talk about golf all day and what's not to love about that. If I had to guess I would say 90 percent of golf employees play golf and have more in common with you then you might expect.

Above is the hardest part in the fitting process and if you have noticed I have not even mentioned anything about a custom fitting. The actual fitting process should only take a maximum of 20 minutes, if it's done properly. I look for 4 things when I do a fitting.

1. Type of shaft. Depending on swing speed and other characteristics I can determine if graphite or steel would be better and what flex would be best. This is the easiest part of the fitting because Mizuno has come up with a Shaft Optimizer that will calculate all of these variables from a couple of swings by the golfer.

2. Length. A shocking fact that a lot of people are not aware of is that the only difference between a ladies set of clubs and a men's set in length is 1/2 inch. Yes, the weight is different, but length is only 1/2 inch. The men's standard length is 5'6 to 6'1. A pretty wide range and the reason being that manufacturers want the average joe to be able to purchase a set of clubs without having to wait a month to receive them. Ladies' length in contrast is  5'0 to 5'6. It's not surprising for a lady to be fitted into men's clubs because of their height.

A fitting however is not solely based on height. It is also determined by where the golfer is hitting the golf ball on the club face. For instance, if golfer is hitting the majority of their shots to the inside of the face they probably have a club that is too long for them. In contrast, if they hit on the outside of the face (also known as the toe) then the club is too short. However, the way a golfer hits the ball can either be caused by height or a swing flaw. A fitter would be able to provide assistance into what would be the best course of action.

3. Lie Angle. The length is based on where you are hitting on the club face; however, the lie angle refers to where the bottom of the club (sole) strikes the ground. To determine if a lie ajustment is needed I only need a couple more swings from the player. If the player strikes the ground with the toe of the club then a more upright club is needed. This is correct for 80 percent of golfers (80 percent of golfers slice for this very reason). The other 20 percent hit the ball towards the heel of the club and a flatter lie angle would be recommended. How much of a adjustment? Well, that depends on the severity of where the club hits the ground. Usually, the most a club can be bent is 4 degrees (1 degree is the equivalent of 2 dollar bills put together). So, when we are talking about 4 degrees it is not a lot.

4. Grip Size. The last thing that I take in account in a fitting for irons is grip size. I tell golfers that this test has to deal primarily with the feel of the club. If a grip feels too big then it probably is, and same way for being too small. There are different size grips out there from ladies to men's standard to oversize and the fitting will help to determine which would be best for you.

I apologize for the length of this post. If you have read the full post then either you are a golf fanatic like myself and are intrigued by the four letter word we call "golf" or needed to past time while waiting for your metro stop on your way to work. Either way, I am glad I was able to help.