Myth: I’m Not Good Enough To Benefit from Custom Clubfitting
Yeowch, if I had a dollar for every time I have heard this statement from a golfer, I might not be able to retire to St. Andrews, but I darn well could pay for a lot of great dinners with a great bottle of accompanying wine!
Without question, this is THE BIGGEST MYTH that surrounds professional custom clubfitting. And please, I am not saying this in any self serving, shameless commercial capacity. The truth is that professional custom clubfitting can help average to less skilled golfers gain immediate shot improvement more than it will golfers who play off a low single digit handicap.
At times I have joked around with clubmakers and told them if I were to open up a custom clubfitting shop to offer custom fitting to golfers, I would hang up a shingle outside my shop that said, “Tom’s Custom Clubfitting – Golfers Between 12 and 25 Handicap Only”.
Why would I only offer to fit golfers who shoot somewhere between the low-80s and 100? Because in 30 plus years of doing more clubfitting research than I can shake a stick at, I have learned these are the golfers who most definitely EXPERIENCE THE MOST SHOT IMPROVEMENT and are the EASIEST TO PROPERLY FIT than any other segment of golfers. The reason is because custom fitting, when done right, reduces the poor shot effect of swing errors. And who makes more swing errors? Yes, the golfers who shoot between the low-80s and 100.
Why not for the golfers who shoot under 80? Don’t get me wrong, proper fitting can help better players as well by getting the golfer into clubs that bring about better shot consistency, a more preferable shot trajectory, a more preferred club feel, and sometimes even a little more distance. But low handicap golfers are the way they are because they have the golf athletic ability to adjust to a very wide range of clubs that might not be the most perfect fit for their swing.
Average golfers do not. And that right there is why professional clubfitting can and will help average golfers gain immediate shot improvement overnight – because accurately fit clubs offset, reduce and sometimes even erase certain aspects of poor shotmaking caused by less than stellar swing characteristics. And the more less than stellar swings, the more chance for shot and score improvement from professional full specs clubfitting.
Tom
Tom,
I am absolutely horrific at golf but playing with an old box set that cost me $100. In the article you mention 100’s, what about 115-120 haha. I want to buy new clubs but would it be beneficial for me to spend the little extra on a quality club with fitting or just a whole lot of lessons?
JOE Thanks so much for taking the time to ask for some help. I’m always happy to provide some assistance to you for sure. The biggest clubfitting areas right now in your game you can benefit from are 1) Driver length, loft and face angle: 2) Set Makeup – or rather to not have any of the lower loft irons or low loft fairway woods in your set because they’re too hard to get airborne; 3) making sure the weighting of the clubs is not too heavy nor too light for you and your strength and beginning swing force; 4)… Read more »
Well, I just had my irons/hybrid fitting this afternoon. Honestly still not sure how I feel about the whole process… He focused a lot on the shaft fitting and little (actually none) on the clubheads. Many shafts were tried, all on the same mizuno head. Once the right shaft was determined, I was basically asked if there was any particular brand of heads I wanted. Based on my internet research, I chose Wishon. We then looked through the catalog and at some of the samples he had. The only determining factor he used was making sure I had enough offset.… Read more »
Jeff First off, who was the fitter. We try to keep track on the level of knowledge and experience of the clubmakers who do business with us because there is and will be a variation in fitter knowledge and experience. There is no model called the 771CFE – we used to have a high COR iron model called the 770CFE, but two years ago we discontinued the 770CFE when I designed the new high COR iron model we call the 771CSI. There have been no 770CFE irons here to offer to clubmakers for more than a year, so the only… Read more »
I finally bit the bullet and scheduled a fitting with a local club maker. I started with off-the-shelf clubs like most people, and it wasn’t long before I wanted an “upgrade”. I did a lot of research, convinced myself that I not only couldn’t I afford them, but that my swing wasn’t ready for a custom fitting (I owe you a dollar, Tom). So I bought into some of the hype, and purchased a set of single length clubs. I’ve struggled for years to improve with them. Even though I feel like my swing has gotten much better, my scores… Read more »
Jeff Good to hear and thanks for sharing your experiences with us and everyone here. The single length concept is not bad for a reasonably large segment of golfers, but today’s single length clubs offered fall short of how the concept needs to be done to fully capitalize on the fact that single length clubs would all swing with exactly the same feel and effort to then breed a higher level of shot consistency. Current single length clubs are too long and the head designs are not created to offer the consistent distance gaps between each iron as well as… Read more »
Tom, Is it true the shafts on the “Off The Rack” clubs not really what they say they are? That a real Diamana shaft would cost $300-400 itself.
Joe Rarely do you find that the “name” shaft in the off the rack clubs is really the same exact name brand shaft that you would buy from an after market shaft seller. It has become more common for the shaft companies to license their brand and high end shaft model name to a big golf club company so they can put a lower cost shaft in their clubs to draw more people to buy it. Probably the most obvious proof of this is the simple task of comparing the retail price of the club with the so called big… Read more »
Thanks for ur input Tom. You learn something new every day. I for one,went and got fitted for my clubs. What a difference. Thanks
Tom,
As ever thanks for such an informative and honest reply. I find it amazing in the contradiction of the so-called big budget marketed brands that they provide both off the rack clubs, and an increasing number of performance or fitting centres.This confounds me that they will take your money for offt the rack gear knowing full well they can offer a better way themselves,and that’s before we bring a proper cubmaker into the equation who is not pushing one brand.I find their hypocrisy incredible.
DAREN: You do bring up an interesting observation, one which I wonder whether very many other golfers have thought about. Not long ago I was having a discussion about clubfitting with a member of the golf media who asked me if I felt the OEM companies’ adjustable clubs would be followed by a much more extensive offer of their clubs through a wider, more extensive custom fitting service. I asked him, “so how do you think they would market that in the face of them making the vast majority of their sales and revenue from selling standard made, mass produced,… Read more »
Tom in your books, i read with great interest how you worked on the irons of the late,great Payne Stewart. I was wondering how this process works with tour players with their drivers,fairway woods and hybrids? The big golf companies love to show off pictures of their respective pros at the finish of their swing,underside of the club exposed to show off their latest model.Clearly a ploy to make you want that club, because your favourite tour pro has one in the bag. I know you have praised the head designs of the big brands, only to take issue with… Read more »
DAREN: Understand that when any company designs a new driver, they usually are designing several different options of the same driver head shape/model – different lofts and different face angles within some of the different loft models. So with the driver, some of the time a tour pro can find one of the models designed for making the stock off the rack drivers for the company that can suit his needs – but of course with his shaft, his grip, and all the other custom fitting features tailored for each pro. And then again, sometimes not – sometimes the pros… Read more »
Thanks Tom,
I will make a phone call & see for myself as 1 of your builders is about a 2 hour drive from this small town where I live.
How much should a fitting & custom clubs cost?
I ask because I am just an old man who likes to play & have spent a lot of money on clubs that just don’t get it done.
Would this really help?
Thanks,
Louis
Louis Superb question, because the whole connotation of custom fitting can make one think it could be very expensive. Fact is, in most cases, a set fully custom fit for every one of the key fitting specifications to a golfer ends up not costing any more than what golfers would pay for a quality set bought off the rack in standard form at any big box golf store or pro shop. Such professional custom fitting is the exclusive domain of the independent custom clubmakers – since they are independent each clubmaker does establish their own retail pricing based on their… Read more »