Custom Clubfitters Perform Performance Evaluations with Final Test Clubs to Ensure Quality.
Custom clubfitters collect a lot of data during fittings to find that "just right" set of club specifications to achieve the best feeling, best performing irons. For many clubfitters, there is an important step between the fitting and actual building of a set of clubs – building at least one test club to the fitting specs and doing final performance evaluations with these clubs. Most times there are no surprises – but sometimes…..
Two of our clients have recently been fit for Miura irons (PP-2003 and CB-501 heads) and Aerotech iron shafts. For each of these, we created a test club to the exact specs that were identified during the custom clubfitting. We met them on the range this afternoon for final testing.
For one of the players, the club performed exactly as he hoped, and no additional mods needed to be made to it. However, for the other player the story was much different. It turned out that he was digging the toe of the club in the ground with his shots, and was not consistently hitting the kind of shots he is capable of. There were two issues that needed to be resolved: a) the lie of the test 6 iron needed to be made about 1.5 degrees more upright – this was done and his shot quality definitely improved; b) he thought he liked a more hard-surfaced grip, but when we actually tested this grip did not work well and in fact he was "adjusting" his swing to keep from hurting his hands. He in fact developed a blister from the grip – we are going to put a softer grip on the clubs and do some additional testing soon.
The Point? – there are a lot of variables – certainly the lie of the golf club but even the kind and type of grip – that can affect the quality of golf shots. Getting all of these pieces right is what leads to optimum results for golfers. No matter where you get your golf clubs from, you should insist that you get to give them a "trial run" first so that you can be sure they provide the results you expect. Final performance evaluations with built-to-spec test clubs is important to ensure optimum performance.
The Fit Is IT!!
Tony