equipment - golfrepaircenter

edited by MIKE STACHURA
EQUIPMENT
Misfits
“i’m not good enough to get custom-fit” is the refrain of so many golfers who buy their irons off the rack. Convinced their swing inconsistencies
Maybe you and your override the potential benefits of clubs built just for them, these modest souls
irons just weren’t made don’t allow that sometimes the chicken came before the egg. Fitters say the
for each other reason a lot of people hit it sideways is because they haven’t been custom-fit.
Trying to figure out the swing with clubs whose length, weight, lie angle, shaft
flex or grip size don’t match the body encourages players to make unnatural
compensations that prevent them from developing proper mechanics. ➞
I L L U S T R AT I O N s B Y
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KAGAN McLEOD
september 2009
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EQUI PME N T
NEW
LOOKS
“If a shaft is too stiff
for a player, he’ll hang
back on his right side to
get the ball airborne,”
says Randy Henry,
co-founder of HenryGriffitts, a pioneer of
interchangeable headshaft fitting systems.
“And if the length and lie
angle are off, then their
posture is doomed from
the start.”
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“The higher the
handicap, the more
necessary it is for that
player to get fit,” says Bob
Van Sweden, TaylorMade’s
2009 national clubfitter
of the year.
Time and expense are
two more reasons golfers
don’t consider getting
custom-fit. Generally
a private session with
a certified clubfitter
S EP T E m b e r 2 0 0 9
takes at least an hour,
and the iron set built
for you typically costs
about $150 more than
a comparable set. (The
fee for a fitting session
is often included in the
price of the clubs.)
Of course, there are
more convenient, albeit
slightly less thorough,
alternatives. With
programs like Ping’s Web-
how to sPOT an incompetent fitter
Launch monitors are marvelous machines, but if
a fitter lacks proper knowledge of the golf swing, it’ll
be as valuable as having a chimp look at your X-rays.
Here are five hints that fitters might have been
selling sneakers two weeks ago:
● They don’t have you swing your current clubs first.
● They don’t use face impact tape to ascertain
strike-consistency patterns.
● There is very limited grip selection.
● The session takes less than 30 minutes.
● The final recommendation just happens to be
in stock and on sale.
Fit, an online order is
processed after consumers
enter basic static
measurements about
their bodies plus factors
such as swing speed
and typical trajectory.
Demo days offer golfers
the opportunity to hit
a bunch of clubs with
different specs side by
side to determine which
ones feel best. There’s
also “retro-fitting,” in
which a person gets
measured and has the old
set bent and adjusted to
fit, or even reshafted.
But only during a
complete fitting are
factors such as face angle,
launch angle, spin rate,
ball speed, attack angle
and club path scrutinized
to discover the headshaft combination that
optimizes distance and
consistency. Plus, an
experienced fitter will
likely recognize swing
flaws stemming from
ill-fitted equipment and
consider intangibles like
a player’s level of fitness
and tempo.
“Often I see golfers get
tired at the end of a fitting
and start to stand more
upright,” says Jacques
Intriere, a two-time
Professional Clubfitters’
Society regional
clubmaker of the year.
“This reflects what likely
happens on their back
nine. One solution is to
put slightly longer shafts
in their shorter irons.”
“Another of the most
overlooked problems of
buying off the rack is
set makeup,” says Fred
Glass, head professional
at Neshanic Valley Golf
Course in New Jersey.
“When I fit, I use the
launch monitor to get the
person into the mix of
irons, hybrids and fairway
woods that gives them
the exact right distance
gaps. Sometimes getting
custom-fit can be cheaper
because I won’t sell
people long irons they
don’t need.”
Many fitters believe it’s
worth measuring launch
conditions once a year,
like going to the doctor
for a checkup. You likely
won’t need new irons,
but if your swing has
evolved significantly, the
specifications might need
to be tweaked.
“At the end of the day
what a fitted set gives is
peace of mind,” says Van
Sweden. “When you hit
a bad shot, it’s nice to
know 100 percent of the
problem was the swing.”
—max adler
Q Is it better to be
fitted outside or inside?
COUNTER
POINT
POINT
You’ve got to get fit in real
conditions. That means
being outside, hitting off
real grass, viewing the entire ball flight down-range.
Even if there’s some wind,
that’s a regular part of the
game, so it’s beneficial to
see how different setups
result in certain trajectories
for a player against that
element. And though indoor
spaces are set up with
enough room to swing, a lot
of people can’t help but feel
claustrophobic with four
walls and a ceiling. If this
affects their comfort level,
it will affect their swing,
and the fitting session
won’t be as productive.
BOB VAN SWEDEN
There’s a lot of value in the
controlled environment
of an indoor studio. The
temperature is constant,
there’s zero wind and sun, and
the ground is always perfectly
level. Launch monitors are so
accurate nowadays, that as
long as you have a simulator
that shows trajectory, it’s just
as good as being outside. In
my shop, players hit into a
screen that displays virtual
holes. Because they’re hitting
shots into fairways and green
complexes, in a way it’s better
than being on a plain old
range. And for people who live
in colder parts of the country,
they can improve their gear
any time of the year.
JACQUES INTRIERE
The Golf Repair Center
Largo, Fla.
GREENWICH (Conn.) GOLF
FITTING STUDIO
IRONS
JUST LANDED
1 ADAMS IDEA A7 ($500) The
set includes three types of irons
and thinner faces than previous
models (adamsgolf.com).
2 CLEVELAND CG7 BP ($700)
Its milled “zip” grooves are
designed like the company’s
wedges (clevelandgolf.com).
3 COBRA S2 ($600) A polymer
topline and a bigger urethane sole
insert are designed to lower the
center of gravity (cobragolf.com).
4 HENRY-GRIFFITTS OS-1
($1,280) TechCentric, its
automated fitting system, debuts
in 2010 (henry-griffitts.com).
5 KZG OC-II ($550) The oversize
profile is cast from the company’s
proprietary alloy to offer the “feel
of forged” (kzggolf.com).
1
3
2
5
4
7
6
8
6 PING G15 ($800) A channel
cut above the sole is designed to
offer more consistent distance
control (pinggolf.com).
JIM HERI TY
7 SRIXON Z-TX ($900) This
forged iron features multiple facethicknesses designed to increase
the sweet spot (srixon.com).
8 WISHON 870-TiCOR ($800)
The face grows thinner from the
center to maximize ball speed
(wishongolf.com).
TIP
➞ FOR VIDEO ON THE FITTING PROCESS,
CLICK GOLFDIGEST.COM/GO/TIPSPLUS.
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Q: Are adjustable
drivers a good idea?
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An open clubface is the cause of most golfers’ misery. It’s what really produces a slice. Anything that closes the clubface, be it lessons or technology, is going to help. But masking
a flaw in the driver swing won’t prevent that same flaw from continuing to infect the other clubs in the bag. The hands control the clubface, so a player is always better off
adjusting his grip. That said, an adjustable driver is an answer for the guy who refuses to take lessons. I’d always rather fit golfers into clubs that will help them develop their
games, but I’m not above the quick, circumstantial fix, either.
—TOM NESS
No. 47 Golf Digest’s America’s
50 Greatest Teachers
The best thing about adjustable drivers is that they change attitude as quickly as they do ball flight. It’s immediate gratification. If you have a chronic slicer, just a few wrench
adjustments to close his face angle and, boom, he’s suddenly hitting it reasonably straight. The happier a student is about where the ball is going, the more freely and more
aggressively he’ll swing, which makes it easier for me as an instructor to begin implementing positive changes. Plus, in the long run, when the student gets back to needing a
neutral setting, he doesn’t have to buy another club.
—Randy Smith
No. 13 Golf Digest’s America’s 50 Greatest Teachers
COUNTER
POINT
POINT
ADJUSTABLE
>
•••
To correct a shot tendency, you can tinker with a driver’s adjustable features, then change them back if your swing changes.
The CYG hosel of NICKENT ’s 4DX Evolver ($300, nickentgolf
.com) allows for 26 settings that promote left, right or neutral ball flights. The NIKE SQ Dymo STR8-FIT ($400, nikegolf
.com) and TAYLORMADE ’s R9 460 ($300, taylormadegolf.com) have similar hosel mechanisms but only eight settings each. However, there are nonadjustable clubs designed
to fix flight. CLEVELAND ’s Launcher UltraLite ($300, clevelandgolf.com) has a lighter head and a 1-degree closed face in its only loft, 12 degrees. PING ’s i15 ($350, pinggolf.com)
hosel axis is pushed back .04-inches to encourage slight fades for better players.
NICKENT
NIKE
TAYLORMADE
CLEVELAND
PING
NONADJUSTABLE
CREDI T GOES H E R E