Clubfitting
Clubfitting
How many times have you tried to fix your swing, only to fall back into the old habits that have driven you crazy! Your efforts might be all for nothing if your clubs do not fit you correctly. Ill-fitted golf clubs will always cause you to swing to the characteristic of the club, not you. To get the most out of the technology built in your new set of clubs, it is imperative that the clubs fit you, your abilities, and your swing characteristics. No matter how good the instructor, no matter how athletically gifted you might be, a set of ill-fitted clubs will always negate great instruction and practice. As part of your overall golf improvement plan, you MUST consider a complete clubfitting session before investing in a new set of clubs.
Just like you would have a finely made suit tailored to fit you perfectly, or a great dinner dress altered to perfection, your golf clubs should fit your swing in the same manner. No two people swing the club the same. You are not going to swing your friend’s clubs as well as he does. Nor will you hit the ball as far using your playing partner’s driver as she does, if that driver is not suited to your game. Eliminating variables on the course that can contribute to ill-fated shots is something you do all the time. So why not do that with your golf clubs? By eliminating the possibility that your clubs do not fit, you can now concentrate on hitting good shots, not having to wonder if it is you or the club you have in your hand making the mistake.
The past few years has seen significant improvements, by all club manufacturers, in their ability to offer state-of-the-art technologically for clubfitting while advancing the capabilities of the golf clubs they produce to provide you the opportunity to play your best.
Just as club building has evolved, so has clubfitting into a pure science. No longer is clubfitting a tinkering by the garage hobbyist. To make the best of your clubfitting experience, we would like to offer you several ideas and thoughts to follow that will maximize your time and effort, and insure that your clubfitting session is a success.
- Consider participating in at least 2 clubfitting sessions prior to purchasing a new club(s). You may be having a bad day the first session, or the circumstances surrounding the first session may not have been optimal to properly fit you for clubs. When you do this, be sure to use the same clubfitter, as going to someone else for a second opinion almost always leads to a second set of data that could conflict with the first fitting.
- Find a “factory certified clubfitter” to help you with the process. You might pay the person upwards of $150.00 for the session, but it is well worth the cost. Factory trained clubfitters are your best bet, because each manufacturer stakes their reputation on their product being fitted correctly the first time. Certified clubfitters receive extensive upfront training and fantastic continued education from the manufacturers to insure they are up-to-date on the latest offerings as well as the benefits of each offering. Most of the time, the clubfitters who are recognized by a manufacturer are easily found on the company’s website. If you can not find a factory trained fitter, the equivalent will be a member of one of several organizations who certify their members as “Master Club Fitters.”
- The technology used during a clubfitting session is only as good as it is applied. 3D Radar Ball Flight Monitor systems are now the imperative norm for the best clubfitting experts to own. The numbers these devices produce can be confusing and overwhelming to the average player, yet provide the best clubfitters empirical data to put absolute best fitted equipment in your hands. There are a lot of people today who have 3D Doppler Radar Ball Flight monitors, simulators, and other gadgets to help them in the fitting process. But do they have the training to understand the data these machines produce? Be sure the clubfitter is a certified user of the equipment they have in use while providing you a clubfitting session.
- Make sure the person who is fitting you does this as a focus of his or her business. A person who has other responsibilities such as tournament preparation or shirt folding probably does not have enough experience to work through a sticky situation of your fitting, if one should arise.
- Be sure to experience a “dynamic” fitting, preferably outdoors. “Static” fittings encompass stand still measurements of your body and set-up positions only. They do not include you hitting balls to test the equipment, or to see how the ball flies. Hitting balls into a simulator using computer analysis software, ball flight monitors, and other instruments are now much better at predicatively providing data they can use to craft your club set. But nothing replaces the visual confirmation you receive outdoors by seeing the improvement of your ball flight caused by better-fitted golf clubs. A computer might tell you that you have reached “optimum” ball flight characteristics. However, if you are accustom to seeing a fade and desire to continue to play a fade, yet the “optimum” characteristic produces a draw, is the computer really doing you justice? Once you and your clubfitter determine a good club for you, be sure to see how that club produces a ball flight you desire, outdoors, so you feel confirmed in the process and the choice of club specifications.
- Ask questions of your clubfitter if you are confused or not comfortable with how the process is going. Be willing to learn terms like “lie angle,” “shaft flex,” “Smash Factor” and others will make you a more informed golfer that in turn should help you improve . If you do not know what your clubfitter is talking about, ask. After all, it is your clubfitting session. Gaining knowledge about your golf clubs and howthey work can only improve your abilities on the practice range, as well as on and off the golf course.
- Ask the clubfitter if the cost of the Clubfitting session can be applied to the purchase price of a new set of clubs. Most are more than happy to do so.
- Before purchasing any set of golf clubs resulting from a clubfitting session, be sure to receive two things; a guarantee that the clubs will fit and a follow-up clubfitting session once the clubs arrive. If your clubfitter is competent, these two items should be no problem obtaining. Most manufacturers stand behind all their certified clubfitters and will reconcile mistakes made on your clubfitter’s behalf at nos cost to you. A follow-up clubfitting session allows you and the clubfitter the opportunity to witness the result of both your efforts. Hitting each club a few times with the clubfitter, as well as double checking special order items is to your benefit.
Golf clubs are far superior and more expensive then ever before. Golf clubs have become an investment. If you follow the steps we offer, as well as consider your goals, just as you would when investing your money, you will be sure to reap the rewards of today’s technologically advanced golf clubs, as well as justifying the effort you made to experience the best clubfitting session possible.
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