Club Fitting
Crossroad
There are times in life where you come to a cross road and you are not sure which path to take. They can either all look good and you don't know which is the best or they all look bad and you try not to get the poorest one. They may entice you to come sail this way but sometimes what you think is good may not be really good.
You can be deciding which course to pursue in school, which university to go to, what budget you have, which career to pursue, which join to take or whether you need a switch, emigrate or take that overseas offer, etc. Close that business deal or wait. Get married or stay single. Which one to select as your life partner. Decisions like these that can change the course of your life and plans. You can shoot like a star or fall a like meteor. Decisions that can impact you greatly and have far-reaching consequences as a result. During the journey, you can make plans to do something in advance or wait to come to the bridge then cross it. Maybe you needed a five-year plan? That is like a cross road.
Golf is the same as in life. Where are you now? Do you train? Are you passionate or crazy? Are you playing fabulously or on the verge of going berserk? What's your handicap now and where do you see yourself at the end of the year, next, next next? Are you so good that you now need sharper equipment like what the pros use? Maybe age has caught up a bit and those stiff shafts ain't working too good for those old joints. Your swing has deserted you? Questions and more questions? They say that if you keep on doing the same things, you will only get the same results. Most of us think that we are more clever and more talented than we really care to admit.
This can be evident on the golf course just by looking at the equipment of some golfers. Some may keep changing clubs with genuine hope of getting better but do not know exactly why or how. Have you been too aggressive without friendlier clubs or are you too nice that people take advantage of you like laying up your shots using less forgiving clubs? Are you going places in life as in your game? Then as Obama said it is time for change.
Training
Let's face it. Practice makes better. I won't use the word perfect. There is no substitute. Talent can fall by the wayside. It is hard work that often pays off. Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. But then in life and golf, it can be difficult to find time or create more time and the golf swing comes from muscle memory that is why even the pros train regularly so that they can more or less regulate their tempo on tap. Single digit players play 2 or 3 times a week and squeeze in training at the range 2-3 times. Some folks even have the luxury of golfing everyday. What if you do not have this capacity?
Club Review
Club Review
Take a look at your bag and review each type of clubs. I have always been playing with American specs "Regular" shaft from Drivers, to hybrids and irons. If they were Japanese specs, I would get a "Stiff" shaft. It seems to work well for me and I like that because of "feel" but most other folks would normally play with Japanese "Regular" shaft. The fact is that usually American shafts are heavier than the JV (Japan Version) and even the American "R" is stiffer or as stiff as the JV "S" shaft. Japanese specs are also commonly known as "Asian" Specs. Well, looking at the American size and height tells us a bit. Some of their arms are bigger than our legs.
Heavier shaft translates to heavier overall club weight and during play fatigued can set in and in such local conditions of severe heat and humidity getting drained can affect your swing and play. If you play clubs that are above your specification such as weight, shaft stiffness and worse if you are using them with less forgiving club heads then we could end up playing poor lay up shots let alone a more difficult attacking shot. The game today is heading strongly towards lighter shaft and overall club weight and more forgiving club heads than ever before. If your clubs are very forgiving, you don't need to get too conservative and perhaps you gives you the confidence to go for it every time. It can be as much as playing your five-iron like a seven. However, there are good news and bad. Which one first?
The bad one first and the bad news is that friendly, forgiving irons are usually harder to look at because not only does it come with more offset, they will have thicker top lines and more chunky soles but they give you confidence. Which would you choose, better scores or sharper looking clubs? Do a review. Are you drivers too long, club heads too small or shaft too stiff? Are you too tall and have to lower yourself too much to take a shot? Lie angle too upright or too flat which makes the balls fly left or right except straight? Can you really handle a no.3 fairway wood? If so, what's your percentage? How about adding a hybrid. Get sharper wedges or a better putter?
Heavier shaft translates to heavier overall club weight and during play fatigued can set in and in such local conditions of severe heat and humidity getting drained can affect your swing and play. If you play clubs that are above your specification such as weight, shaft stiffness and worse if you are using them with less forgiving club heads then we could end up playing poor lay up shots let alone a more difficult attacking shot. The game today is heading strongly towards lighter shaft and overall club weight and more forgiving club heads than ever before. If your clubs are very forgiving, you don't need to get too conservative and perhaps you gives you the confidence to go for it every time. It can be as much as playing your five-iron like a seven. However, there are good news and bad. Which one first?
The bad one first and the bad news is that friendly, forgiving irons are usually harder to look at because not only does it come with more offset, they will have thicker top lines and more chunky soles but they give you confidence. Which would you choose, better scores or sharper looking clubs? Do a review. Are you drivers too long, club heads too small or shaft too stiff? Are you too tall and have to lower yourself too much to take a shot? Lie angle too upright or too flat which makes the balls fly left or right except straight? Can you really handle a no.3 fairway wood? If so, what's your percentage? How about adding a hybrid. Get sharper wedges or a better putter?
Club-Fitting
When you are buying a $500 or $1,000 jacket or suit, do you at least do a fitting? Or do you just grab and go to later find out it doesn't fit you too well? Get fitted and get fit. Get a good club-fitter at a golf lab and get clubs specially tailored just for "your"game. In the USA where club-fitting is so widely available and yet only about 50% or less got fitted. If you won't plonk down lots of money for that suit why would you do so for you golf clubs? You have to try them for size and fit isn't it? Every golfer comes in different size, height, shape and types of golf swing.
Custom fitting will specifically address these areas of height, strength, club head speed and your particular swing characteristics. Those we grab from the shelf ready-made are one-size-fits-all where even basic lie angles of how the club head rest on the ground is affected. Any golf pro or pro shop can do club-fitting but it is important I think that the one selected should be a specialist. It will only take maybe from half an hour to an hour unless in depth analysis is needed then it may take a couple of hours and if you are hunting for a new set of irons, some brands offer free fitting as long you are purchasing it from them. The clubs should therefore fit you the golfer and not golfers fitting ourselves to the clubs and altering our swing to fit them. Don't you think?
Custom fitting will specifically address these areas of height, strength, club head speed and your particular swing characteristics. Those we grab from the shelf ready-made are one-size-fits-all where even basic lie angles of how the club head rest on the ground is affected. Any golf pro or pro shop can do club-fitting but it is important I think that the one selected should be a specialist. It will only take maybe from half an hour to an hour unless in depth analysis is needed then it may take a couple of hours and if you are hunting for a new set of irons, some brands offer free fitting as long you are purchasing it from them. The clubs should therefore fit you the golfer and not golfers fitting ourselves to the clubs and altering our swing to fit them. Don't you think?
How They Fit You
During a fitting session, the fitter will get the golfer to hit many different variations with the same club. Better to find one that is very well-equipped and they will usually get you to hit with a 6-iron (in Ping's case) and they may have dozens or hundreds of clubs, shafts, grips to get you fitted. You will get to try different 6-irons with different shafts and lie angle (unless you are getting fit for a specific brand and model you already knew and have in mind).This is so that they could find what is the best combination of shaft suited to you (the length, flex and even kick point), loft and lie angle (upright or flat), grip size and swing weight plus other factors like launch angle.
By checking trajectory and ball flight, draw, straight or fade and also reviewing ball marks left on adhesive strips attached to the club face and sole, the professional club-fitter can easily narrow down the search in order to lead you to a best fit. Technically, fitting can be done for every club in the bag but among them, iron fittings are the most common followed by drivers. Ping and Titleist offers fitting for customers and it does not cost more to have a custom-fit so if you are looking at these I don't see why not. Some will even have you tested through some computerised programmes to measure your launch angle, swing speed, etc.
By checking trajectory and ball flight, draw, straight or fade and also reviewing ball marks left on adhesive strips attached to the club face and sole, the professional club-fitter can easily narrow down the search in order to lead you to a best fit. Technically, fitting can be done for every club in the bag but among them, iron fittings are the most common followed by drivers. Ping and Titleist offers fitting for customers and it does not cost more to have a custom-fit so if you are looking at these I don't see why not. Some will even have you tested through some computerised programmes to measure your launch angle, swing speed, etc.
Benefits of Club-Fitting
A bad workman quarrels with his tools. There will be all kinds of excuses for hitting poor shots but the worst kind is to blame your clubs but yet it is the most common. After bad shot, it is common to see folks staring at their club. Some are known to have banished their clubs to the store room for a period of time as punishment for bad behaviour. Could it be that the bad shot was not a result of a poorer swing? There are critical elements in your swing that comes into play to compensate and make up for a wrong lie angle? Picture yourself with a poor set up which resulted in a poor shot direction-wise. It is quite often simple case of your body and muscles aligning your swing back to plane to compensate. When Phil Mickelson won the 2006 Masters, he didn't try to change his swing at all. What he did was to carry and use two different drivers he brought - one to play a draw and the other a fade.
You will never find two golfers with the same swing so how will everyone play a standard set and thinks he can play well with it? You could currently be playing with equipment built for someone else. You could be sacrificing your own swing by compensating it in a natural effort to make things work and you do so by fighting with your clubs. Golf is tough enough without fighting your clubs so you would want them to be friendly and forgiving. Paying good money for it, your equipment should rightfully complement you and your type of swing and not the other around. The other advantage is that once fitted, you will know that any impurities or problems with your shots they can be quickly and easily identified as physical issues and get fixed. If your lie angle is out by a few degrees, your shots can land 30 to 40 yards from where you aim.
You will never find two golfers with the same swing so how will everyone play a standard set and thinks he can play well with it? You could currently be playing with equipment built for someone else. You could be sacrificing your own swing by compensating it in a natural effort to make things work and you do so by fighting with your clubs. Golf is tough enough without fighting your clubs so you would want them to be friendly and forgiving. Paying good money for it, your equipment should rightfully complement you and your type of swing and not the other around. The other advantage is that once fitted, you will know that any impurities or problems with your shots they can be quickly and easily identified as physical issues and get fixed. If your lie angle is out by a few degrees, your shots can land 30 to 40 yards from where you aim.
Ping
Ping is a very important golf brand if you follow the origin and history. Karsten Solheim was not pleased with how he was able to hit a ball so he started experimenting and that's when he started to design his own putter so that he could play better. His experiment resulted in him putting up his putter on the market which at the time nobody wanted because it didn't look the part and he was an unknown. The name "Ping" was derived from the sound that his putter made when it came into contact with the ball. He wanted the model to be the answer to putting woes and but the word answer could not fit into the corner of the putter so his wife suggested to him to drop the "w" so that it could fit in and still sounded the same in pronunciation so the Ping "Anser" was born and today every major putter brand has an "Anser' design in their range.
More than just giving the world an excellent putter, Karsten Solheim and Ping actually gave the world of golf "perimeter weighting" which is to locate more weight to the back of a putter and eventually to their irons, drivers, fairway woods and hybrids. Ping clubs are manufactured in Phoenix, Arizona where they also own a foundry. Heel-toe perimeter weighting revolutionised the entire golf industry. Their investment-cast iron production is one of the best in the world. The processes provides precise detail and consistency to all parts and they have patented insertions to weed out unwanted frequencies and vibrations that can harm or affect muscles and bones and less vibrations also mean greater feel with each shot. Ping irons are noted for a soft, buttery feel when it connects with the ball. Ping clubs are innovative, reliable, of high quality and they make things that work. All their clubs are often featured and recommended by top golf magazines like Golf Digest rated among the best or the best.
If you break a club or lose one, no worry. You will be custom fitted and your details sent to Ping before they assemble it for your new set. They keep a serial number so that you can easily make reference if you need a replacement. These numbers can be found on the club. They have your exact specs to build and match for you. Best of all you do not need to buy an entire set that included 3 and 4 irons which you don't even use. You can just have 5-9 and PW. Now I wish to show you how golf clubs are made in this case from the master inventor Ping, courtesy of golftipsmag.
More than just giving the world an excellent putter, Karsten Solheim and Ping actually gave the world of golf "perimeter weighting" which is to locate more weight to the back of a putter and eventually to their irons, drivers, fairway woods and hybrids. Ping clubs are manufactured in Phoenix, Arizona where they also own a foundry. Heel-toe perimeter weighting revolutionised the entire golf industry. Their investment-cast iron production is one of the best in the world. The processes provides precise detail and consistency to all parts and they have patented insertions to weed out unwanted frequencies and vibrations that can harm or affect muscles and bones and less vibrations also mean greater feel with each shot. Ping irons are noted for a soft, buttery feel when it connects with the ball. Ping clubs are innovative, reliable, of high quality and they make things that work. All their clubs are often featured and recommended by top golf magazines like Golf Digest rated among the best or the best.
If you break a club or lose one, no worry. You will be custom fitted and your details sent to Ping before they assemble it for your new set. They keep a serial number so that you can easily make reference if you need a replacement. These numbers can be found on the club. They have your exact specs to build and match for you. Best of all you do not need to buy an entire set that included 3 and 4 irons which you don't even use. You can just have 5-9 and PW. Now I wish to show you how golf clubs are made in this case from the master inventor Ping, courtesy of golftipsmag.
Better fit for a better game anyone? This could be your redemption. High handicappers and mid-handicappers can discover that they could get their game to another level. So too low handicappers but lower handicappers have very low margin for error and they will benefit too. If nothing else, you will get to enjoy your game more, lessen the frustrations, spot your swing problems and errors quicker since you can't quarrel with your tools no more.
Club-Fitter
There are various types of club-fitters around. All pro shops have people who can change your grip - a simple task. Ping club-fitters have to be trained and certified by Ping. Some use brands that are not main line brands from the big names of golf. You can get fitted by many in the USA but here in Singapore only Mizuno (Japanese), Ping and Titleist provide fitting. One of the best if not the best club-fitter in Singapore is Jef Goh of Golf House based at Suntec City and/or Marina Square. He is a certified Class A fitter and certified by both Ping and Mizuno and also authorised by Titleist and they carry a wide range of brands, clubs and shafts/grips, etc. He has also been the official club-fitter for all the PGA pros when they play in tournaments here. I should consider a future meeting with him.
Shaft Optimizer
Mizuno created a device that with as few swings can help golfers identify the best two or three shafts that are most suited to them. This development seems to be a critical element that can further enhance club fitting dynamics. This is called the "Shaft Optimizer" which also provide swing data otherwise it may be more time consuming to diagnose as it is difficult to analyse. The Shaft Optimizer basically determines what happens to the shaft when it it bending through the swing. It is a simple LCD gauage that is attached to say a 6-iron and it analyse your tempo, shaft bend and club head speed. It can also calculate other factors like whether the shaft is released early or late. Such information helps in indentifying shaft stiffness.
They will then use these data collected and do a match on available shafts in the system. You can then test the recommended options so as to finally make a choice. This is an amazing development because it takes away some guess work especially on gender or age bias. I believe because it works, some club fitters are actually using it to fit other clubs as well not just Mizuno. This needs to be check out! Finally consider this - a bladed iron with very little offset and a thin top line and slim sole has a sweet spot perhaps equivalent to a 20 cent coin, game improvement or super game improvement irons with medium offset, top line and sole width has a sweet spot of a 50 cent coin while those with more offset, thicker top line and wider sole has one that is much bigger than your 50 cent coin and spread larger across almost an entire club face so that off centre hits towards the toe and heel will not loose too much direction and distance wise and eventually gives you lots more confidence and lower scores. WHat would you choose?
They will then use these data collected and do a match on available shafts in the system. You can then test the recommended options so as to finally make a choice. This is an amazing development because it takes away some guess work especially on gender or age bias. I believe because it works, some club fitters are actually using it to fit other clubs as well not just Mizuno. This needs to be check out! Finally consider this - a bladed iron with very little offset and a thin top line and slim sole has a sweet spot perhaps equivalent to a 20 cent coin, game improvement or super game improvement irons with medium offset, top line and sole width has a sweet spot of a 50 cent coin while those with more offset, thicker top line and wider sole has one that is much bigger than your 50 cent coin and spread larger across almost an entire club face so that off centre hits towards the toe and heel will not loose too much direction and distance wise and eventually gives you lots more confidence and lower scores. WHat would you choose?
Golf as in life, play as it lies.
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