What is Club Fitting?

Subject: Re: What is Club Fitting? Mon Mar 28, 2011 11:01 am

Hi Folks,

Paul Eales' Blog:

http://pauleales.blogspot.com/2010/04/time-for-change.html#comments

This is a good post where he compared the difference in instructions between golf and squash.

I believe that a golfer who has played the game for more than 2 years pretty much has a swing profile stamped into the subconscious already, but we are just too concerned about making it a picture perfect swing rather than ACCEPTING it and letting it give us positive results. That is why we will freeze over the ball and go through a long checklist of "must do's" before beginning the swing.

By standing away from the ball and doing all the thinking before setting up, we create an environment where we mentally create two rooms. Thinking room and Execution room. We setup in the Execution room and fire away. You want to think, step back and go into the Thinking room.

DGman, how's that for picking up on your tips.... (I also find myself quite thickskinned)

Very Happy

Subject: Re: What is Club Fitting? Mon Mar 28, 2011 11:07 am

Thanks DGman,

Yes the "no think" pre-shot routine is helping me hit the ball better. Now that I am hitting the ball so well, my left knee is injured...

Thursday: Visit the Den
Friday: am play 18 holes, pm play another 9 holes (all walking)
Saturday: am play 18 holes (walk again)
Sunday: am play 18 holes (walk again)
Monday: Nursing an injured left knee. Hai....

In the past, the weight shift must have been non-existent. Now I know that I am shifting my weight to the front leg more effectively and also more AGGRESSIVELY. Guess I have to tone down the aggressiveness. But I am driving the ball so much more in line and further! Hai....

Hall of Fame Golfer Posts : 6385 Join date : 2009-06-18

in corporate terms...we call you a goal getter....

i did not hit a ball in 2 weeks and yesterday had the best round this year. it just shows that its not about muscle memory or practice for me. so go easy on pushing yourself too hard.

DGman

Subject: Re: What is Club Fitting? Mon Mar 28, 2011 11:56 am

same here... no golf for me for the past 3 weeks.

yesterday, i had a good front nine. rhythm and tempo felt in place, for whatever reason.

back nine was abit of a disaster, as it was longer, the sun was out to play and trees were sparce as this was a newer nine.

course management took a back seat, as i was going for my approaches with hybrids/woods. i thought since i was hitting good GIR numbers on the front nine, should not be a problem to continue this.

wrong! because the minute i tried to hit more aggressively the tempo and rhythm went out the window. short game was not quite where it should be since 3 weeks did not swing any club.

anyway, had a good laugh with my kakis... #1 objective achieved

Super Active Golfer Posts : 1997 Join date : 2011-03-27

Denmeister wrote:: Thanks DGman,

Yes the "no think" pre-shot routine is helping me hit the ball better. Now that I am hitting the ball so well, my left knee is injured...

Thursday: Visit the Den
Friday: am play 18 holes, pm play another 9 holes (all walking)
Saturday: am play 18 holes (walk again)
Sunday: am play 18 holes (walk again)
Monday: Nursing an injured left knee. Hai....

In the past, the weight shift must have been non-existent. Now I know that I am shifting my weight to the front leg more effectively and also more AGGRESSIVELY. Guess I have to tone down the aggressiveness. But I am driving the ball so much more in line and further! Hai....

Friday: am play 18 holes, pm play another 9 holes (all walking) = 6 + 3 = 9 km
Saturday: am play 18 holes (walk again) = 6 km
Sunday: am play 18 holes (walk again) = 6 km
Monday: Nursing an injured left knee. Hai....

If I just walked 21 km over 3 days with a golf bag, I would be nusing an injured knee, foot, ankle, hip, shoulder.... and that's without including any weight shifting yet.

Subject: Re: What is Club Fitting? Mon Mar 28, 2011 12:20 pm

Lee36328 wrote:

Denmeister wrote:: Thanks DGman,

Yes the "no think" pre-shot routine is helping me hit the ball better. Now that I am hitting the ball so well, my left knee is injured...

Thursday: Visit the Den
Friday: am play 18 holes, pm play another 9 holes (all walking)
Saturday: am play 18 holes (walk again)
Sunday: am play 18 holes (walk again)
Monday: Nursing an injured left knee. Hai....

In the past, the weight shift must have been non-existent. Now I know that I am shifting my weight to the front leg more effectively and also more AGGRESSIVELY. Guess I have to tone down the aggressiveness. But I am driving the ball so much more in line and further! Hai....

Friday: am play 18 holes, pm play another 9 holes (all walking) = 6 + 3 = 9 km
Saturday: am play 18 holes (walk again) = 6 km
Sunday: am play 18 holes (walk again) = 6 km
Monday: Nursing an injured left knee. Hai....

If I just walked 21 km over 3 days with a golf bag, I would be nusing an injured knee, foot, ankle, hip, shoulder.... and that's without including any weight shifting yet.

Bro,
Did not carry golf bag la! Caddie carrying that. Please don't think that I am really superman. If I carry my bag for these few days at my commando course, I don't think I will be posting at all here! I should be on IV drip at the hospital already.

Subject: Re: What is Club Fitting? Mon Mar 28, 2011 1:25 pm

Denmeister wrote:: Thursday: Visit the Den
Friday: am play 18 holes, pm play another 9 holes (all walking)
Saturday: am play 18 holes (walk again)
Sunday: am play 18 holes (walk again)
Monday: Nursing an injured left knee. Hai....

Bro,

I agreed with both DGman & Lee. Please do not get too excited and stay be patiance .. I still like to play golf with you for many many years .. So take it easy bro ...

(What I say above is all BS .. I was actually jealous that you can manage to play so much Sad

Newbie Golfer Posts : 53 Join date : 2009-10-04 Age : 49

DGman wrote:: Dear Mod, if you can, please add a sticky on this thread and in this section so that our GR members can benefit from better understanding shaft fitting. Thanks.

What is Club Fitting?

Basically its like buying a ready made suit versus having a suit customised for you. But it’s a little bit more complicated than that.

Every golfers have a different competence, tempo, clubhead speed, swing path, wrist action, height, weight tolerance, fitness condition, amount of time spent practicing & playing and of course budget. With so many points of differences its not a case of what will work for your golfing kaki will work for you..

A proper club fitting session involves hitting some shorter and longer clubs to first determine if consistency throughout these clubs is achieved. If a golfer is more competent in his shorter irons but lack the confidence to use his/her longer clubs, it’s important to find out where the problem lies. This is important as it allows the golfer to extend his/her potential before committing to a change in shaft.

Note - in a typical week, we encourage at least 50% of our visitor to improve on various aspects of their swing, we also turn away at least half of those customers before we feel that it is not an objective exercise to have them change their shaft at that point.

When will fitting benefit you?

As a rule, we normally expect golfers who can hit at least 6 out of 10 shots consistently to be able to generate some form of useful statistic for us to work on, but there are exceptions.

Scenario 1 – Papa’s Dearest

Anyone has feedback on Yuji golf?

Junior (aged 10) who has inherited papa’s 65g 9.5 degrees driver cut down 4 inches. The poor kid will end up hating golf or swing like John Daly.

Solution: Get a ready kid driver or get a higher lofted driver head with the appropriate weighted and flex matched shaft. Its not surprising that with the right driver, junior can increase driving distance with an additional 30 metres.

Our View: Length, weight, flex in that order are crucial in fitting juniors, get that right and you will see positive results immediately.

Scenario 2 – The Hunk with the Limpy Shaft

Keen beginner with a 2nd hand driver. Nothing wrong with that except the shaft is too weak for the 90 mph going 100 mph swing. Most golfers can only develop a real sense of feel after a longer period (1 to 2 years) of practice and play. Most beginners cannot tell the difference and may slow down their impact to accommodate their equipment.

Solution: Meet up with your friends at the driving range and try out what they have got. You may find something that may help control your dispersion and lengthen your drives. You can bring both drivers to a club fitter who can then measure up the flex on both drivers to give you the necessary shopping checklist.

Alternatively you can go for a fitting to gain a better understanding of what you need to help you gain better foothold in that part of the game.

In this aspect, we have changed shafts for keen beginners who have shafts that way too off their tangent to help them get along. We also cautioned that this might only help them for no more than 6 months, as some of these golfers have great potential. If no immediate rectification is taken, they will compensate (slow down, change ball position, set up differently, etc) their swing to match their ill-fitting equipment and the result will be unfortunate.

Our View: Continuous good instructional input, supervised practice, and correct equipment fit will help the keen golfer move on faster and better.

Scenario 3 – The Twenty Pound Jack Hammer

We encounter golfers who use shafts that are too heavy or too stiff for their own good all the time. A lot of golfers do not realised the relevance of kick-point and how it affect the feel for flex. Most seasoned golfers will pick up a driver, wriggled it a few times and declared that it is too whippy for them. The truth is the higher the kick point of the shaft, the more it “appears to be softer“ than it really is. So what happens when the shaft is too stiff? Well, you will a pretty tight dispersion range if the torque holds up but you will not cut any slack in the distance department.

Solution: Try different shafts that you feel is a tad lighter or whippy, you may get more than you bargained for when it comes to getting the extra 20 metres.

We come across golfers who complained that their friends outdrive them without trying any harder. In most of these cases, either swing flaws or having the wrong shafts are the usual suspects.

Our View: Get a fitting to better understand your swing characteristic. You may be surprise that merely by changing to a different ball, you can squeeze an additional 10 metres off the tee.

What happens in a fitting session?

Be ready to hit balls and its good to get some warm up before hand. You will hit some shorter irons and eventually your big dog. Depending on your objective for the fitting session, you will find out what’s stopping you from hitting the big drives and low scores from an equipment perspective.

We recently had a golfer who waited 19 years to find out that he need clubs that are 3 degree more upright and almost 2 inches longer. You shouldn’t have to wait so long to find out how you can improve your swing and your game.

Most club fitter will not charge for a fitting and even if they do, you can learn a lot about your game and your equipment. Golf is a part mental and part technique. You should get all the confidence you need when you know you’re your golf clubs are fitted-to-a-tee for you.

Its also great to see that the good equipment suppliers are now actively participating in custom fitting for OEM brands. In the past most of us got to listen to constant salesman pitch about forgiveness, long, latest, straight and we almost always end up still buying the wrong clubs.

Happy Golfing....

DGman

Senior Golfer Posts : 395 Join date : 2011-08-12

Great post!! i strongly agree with DG man and i strongly encourage golfers of all handicaps to get fitted. but you have to at least have a consistent swing so that the fitter do his job.

I find local golfers have a very weird mentality. They listen to other golf kakis instead of listening to pros of professional fitters. Fitters exist for a reason. and its not to make money from selling us shafts.

i have not come across any playing pros(not talking about instructors) that uses Stock shafts. when i tell that to my frens. their replies are standard.. "i not pro mah!" but they fail to realize how important playing with the right equipment can be. it will significantly help ur game and lower one's handicap, and the game will in turn become a lot more enjoyable when u start to hit more fairways and greens.

club fitting and demo days have only recently become more popular in singapore.

like wat DGman said.. its like buying a suit off the rack, rather than getting a suit tailor made for u.

buying off the rack simply means u're buying "Standard specs". but we are all diff. wat lie angle u need, wat shaft length suits u best, wat types/brand of shafts, stiffness, etc.

you need not have to take my word for it. and if u feel that fitters are a rip off, sign up for a demo day for ur favorite brand. be it mizuno, ping, titleist, Taylormade. and try out the different specs and see if that will convince u.

cheers.

Caddy Posts : 2158 Join date : 2009-10-20

Just to add on ... one major thing about getting a set of clubs fitted to you by a good fitter, is that you know that if you hit a S**T shot, the indian is the problem, not the arrow. Hence, u know without doubt that you have to work on your swing, or mental game, instead of changing equipment ...

Subject: Re: What is Club Fitting? Tue Sep 13, 2011 8:30 pm

I agree with both abadan and derek. I definitely benefitted from getting equipment fitted. It also helps to prevent or reduce injury..

Subject: Re: What is Club Fitting? Tue Sep 13, 2011 8:35 pm

Wah! You collected your steelfibre shafts liao ah?

Subject: Re: What is Club Fitting? Tue Sep 13, 2011 8:37 pm

hehehe... i got new walking stick already.. had first game at SCC last Sat.. this Sat will have another round before Sun Moon Cake game..

This Sun will be SteelFibre vs 4Dtoto and Asahi..

Subject: Re: What is Club Fitting? Tue Sep 13, 2011 8:52 pm

Wahhhhh! Must find new WMD before Sunday.
Crying or Very sad

Subject: Re: What is Club Fitting? Tue Sep 13, 2011 9:03 pm

hahaha..

Subject: Re: What is Club Fitting? Tue Sep 13, 2011 9:35 pm

how i get fitted nowadays...

walk into BFG BM,

me "Eric, i am itchy."

Eric "Try this shaft"

me "ok"

kaching$$$

Caddy Posts : 2158 Join date : 2009-10-20

eiji wrote:: how i get fitted nowadays...

walk into BFG BM,

me "Eric, i am itchy."

Eric "Try this shaft"

me "ok"

kaching$$$

Like Duval mentioned ... part of the wonderful journey that is golf is experimenting with the wide array of equipment available

Hall of Fame Golfer Posts : 5599 Join date : 2010-01-28

Subject: Re: What is Club Fitting? Tue Sep 13, 2011 9:48 pm

not really lah. Just like car you buy sell and then buy again top up the difference hehehe.. Smile

Senior Golfer Posts : 395 Join date : 2011-08-12

Just got a new shaft for my driver. my very first aftermarket shaft after playing for more than 10 yrs on stock shafts. to think that i almost sold off my driver cus i couldn't hit it. now i'm bombing my drives with a lot more distance, consistency and alot more confidence. wild drives dun spray all over the place like b4.

Price of shaft.. $XXX
look on friend's faces.. PRICELESS!! Very Happy

Super Active Golfer Posts : 1997 Join date : 2011-03-27

abadan wrote:: Just got a new shaft for my driver. my very first aftermarket shaft after playing for more than 10 yrs on stock shafts. to think that i almost sold off my driver cus i couldn't hit it. now i'm bombing my drives with a lot more distance, consistency and alot more confidence. wild drives dun spray all over the place like b4.

Price of shaft.. $XXX
look on friend's faces.. PRICELESS!!

Wow, 10 years stock shaft? How did you tahan so long? Razz

Good to hear about your recent discovery of after-market shaft. Fitting, properly done, can yield amazing results.

Senior Golfer Posts : 395 Join date : 2011-08-12

Yup. That's why game hardly improved. Hehe. I got fitted for my irons back when I was living in e states though. That's why I know the importance of fitting. But I was just a student back then and couldn't afford aftermarket graphite shafts so had to make do with watever I had Razz

Super Active Golfer Posts : 1997 Join date : 2011-03-27

abadan wrote:: Yup. That's why game hardly improved. Hehe. I got fitted for my irons back when I was living in e states though. That's why I know the importance of fitting. But I was just a student back then and couldn't afford aftermarket graphite shafts so had to make do with watever I had

Well abadan, in 10 years, the technology has progressed a lot; you'd be amazed what the equipment can do nowadays.

Also, in 10 years, your swing has probably evolved a lot too. You might be amazed how much a fresh round of fitting can improve your irons.

It nothing else, you are probably physically different compared to 10 years ago. And likely stronger too.

Sounds like high time to go in for another iron fitting. Very Happy

Senior Golfer Posts : 395 Join date : 2011-08-12

LOL.. bro leo.. 10 yrs later.. means 10 yrs older.. how to be stronger? hehe Razz

i have only recently returned to golf after undergoing 2 shoulder operations from dislocations. so i went for a fitting to see wat iron shafts i need now cus its too tiring to hit my X-100 shafts already. i can hit la.. but losing alot of distance...which is why i recently changed my irons and bot a new shaft for my driver. will be changing my 3 wood and rescue shafts pretty soon too. Razz

Super Active Golfer Posts : 1997 Join date : 2011-03-27

abadan wrote:: LOL.. bro leo.. 10 yrs later.. means 10 yrs older.. how to be stronger? hehe

i have only recently returned to golf after undergoing 2 shoulder operations from dislocations. so i went for a fitting to see wat iron shafts i need now cus its too tiring to hit my X-100 shafts already. i can hit la.. but losing alot of distance...which is why i recently changed my irons and bot a new shaft for my driver. will be changing my 3 wood and rescue shafts pretty soon too.

How did you dislocate your shoulders?

What iron set/shaft are you changing to?

» Do you have any club fitting questions for Titleist South East Asia's Club Fitting Manager?
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