A Publication of Tom Wishon Golf Technology   •   November 2006

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November 2006 TW eTECHreport

 

An item of note before we get down to business...

• The International Network of Golf has announced The Search for the Perfect Golf Club is the winner of their 2005-2006 Book of the Year.
  
  The ING Book Media Award rewards excellence in authoring a book based upon any aspect of golf. Entries are judged on a variety of criteria such as content and originality, style, readability, mechanics, technical quality, composition and production values.
  
  The International Network of Golf (ING) is a media-based, non-profit association formed in 1990 to enhance and promote communication and education in the golf industry.
  
  When asked to comment on the award, TWGT founder and Search book author Tom Wishon said, “We’re a lot more than thrilled that ING chose the Search book as their Book of the Year. Since the book was released, we knew that we had created something that truly was a win-win situation both for golfers and for custom clubmaking. Golfers finally have a source for truthful answers to their questions about golf clubs, and custom clubmakers finally have a vehicle which conveys to golfers that their game will benefit much more from going through a real custom fitting session with a skilled custom clubmaker than to simply buy standard made clubs off the rack.”
  
  The Search for the Perfect Golf Club is available at all major bookstores and internet bookselling sites.


• Logging in to the TWForum vs the TWGT Store
  Admittedly this is a bit confusing, but essentially the Forum runs on a different database than the Wishon Golf Shopping site, and requires a separate registration. We have to keep them separate for many reasons, but there's nothing stopping you from using the same login and password -- though we recommend not doing this. In fact, it's recommended to use a login and password for less sensitive web activities (like web forums) that is distinctly different from a more secure login/password for other web-based conveniences like shopping and banking. For example, an easy (non-critical) password might be "mypassword", but a more complex and secure version would be "MyP4$$w0rd".

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Shaft Swing Speed Ratings – Why the Range and How to Use Them in Fitting

One of the most helpful points in a shaft fitting is the common use of swing speed ratings for the many different shaft models and flexes which are available to Clubmakers today. In a golf industry consisting of literally thousands of different shafts, the swing speed rating (if accurate) is the first means of narrowing the selection process.

Ever since swing speed ratings were first introduced to the golf industry in the 1991 book, The Modern Guide to Shaft Fitting, Clubmakers will note that the swing speed rating for shafts is most typically offered in a 10mph range, while sometimes in a 15mph range, for each flex within each shaft model. Why the 10-15mph range in swing speed for shafts?

Primarily, when a swing speed rating is established for a shaft, basic assumptions are made that the golfer with a swing speed within the range will generate the primary bending force on the shaft at the beginning of the downswing to match well with the stiffness design of the shaft. Of course there are exceptions between golfers with the same swing speed in their ability to exert a typical bending force on a shaft. This is one of the reasons that shaft swing speed ratings are most typically created in a 10mph swing speed range.

Following are the basic rules of thumb when comparing the golfer’s swing speed to the swing speed range of shafts for initial selection:

1. If the golfer has a strong transition move to start the downswing, choose shafts for which the golfer’s swing speed is at the LOWER end of the swing speed range. For example, if the golfer has a driver swing speed of 90mph and has a strong, forceful transition move to start the downswing, the golfer actually needs a little stiffer shaft than what the swing speed indicates. Therefore looking among the shafts that are rated 90-100mph will ensure the shaft is a little more stiff and can thus match better with the greater initial bending force a strong transition move exerts on the shaft.
2. If the golfer has a smooth or much less forceful transition move to start the downswing, choose shafts for which the golfer’s swing speed is at the HIGHER end of the swing speed range. For example, if the golfer has a driver swing speed of 90mph and has a smooth, easy and gradual transition move to start the downswing, the golfer actually needs a little more flexible shaft than what the swing speed indicates. Therefore looking among the shafts that are rated 80-90mph will ensure the shaft is a little more flexible and can thus match better with the greater initial bending force a strong transition move exerts on the shaft.
3. If the golfer is "in between" smooth and forceful to start the downswing transition, it is best to choose shafts for which the golfer’s swing speed lies in the middle of the range.

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Shot Trajectory – What You Can and Cannot Control Through Fitting

Claims for different clubhead and shaft designs to create a visible change in shot trajectory are well known. . . "lower center of gravity to hit the ball higher", "tip flexible bend profile to hit the ball higher," "more rear Cg location to result in a higher trajectory," are all examples of claims made on behalf of specific head and shaft models to allow golfers to change the height of their shots.

More than any golf club design feature, the golf swing is the chief determinant of how high or low any golfer hits the ball through the differences from one golfer to the next in their angle of attack. If the golfer has an upward angle of attack through impact, the result will be a higher than normal flight. Conversely if the clubhead is traveling on a downward angle of attack to the ball, the player’s shot trajectory will be lower than average.

What causes an upward or downward angle of attack in the swing?

• Upward Angle of Attack
  • Ball position too far forward in the stance
  • Wrists flex forward allowing the clubhead to pass in front of the hands before impact
  • Body spine angle is tilted backward, away from the target during impact
• Downward Angle of Attack
  • Ball position too far back in the stance
  • Wrists remain slightly unhinged through impact
  • Body spine angle is tilted forward, toward the target during impact

Of all the golf club specifications, clubhead loft is the number one factor that can change the trajectory of the shot. Decreasing the loft for a golfer with an upward angle of attack will visibly lower the height of the shot, while increasing the loft for a golfer with a downward angle of attack will increase shot trajectory. However, it is not that uncommon for a golfer to have such an extreme upward angle of attack that a major decrease in loft will not have an appreciable effect on the height of the shot. This is most commonly seen in golfers who unhinge the wrist-cock angle early to midway in the downswing and allow the clubhead to pass the hands at impact, resulting in an impact position with the wrists flexed forward.

If you are fitting a golfer who complains of hitting the ball too high, or if you fit with a launch monitor/TWGT launch mat and see the launch angle is >3° higher than the loft of the driver used to hit the shot, it’s wise to suspect that a case of "wrists flexing forward" at impact is the reason for the high shots. Unfortunately, when the clubhead is traveling this much upward at the moment of impact, there is not a lot that can be done to markedly lower the ball flight other than a series of lessons to address the poor impact position with the hands. Yes, there is no question a significant decrease in the driver loft is the only remedy for such a high shot problem, but given the fact that drivers with less than 8° loft are pretty rare, the amount of help a lower loft can offer to a golfer like this is limited.

Trajectory affecting factors such as vertical Center of Gravity position in the clubhead and tip firm/tip flexible shaft designs are only going to offer subtle changes in the height of the shot, and typically only for golfers with better than average swing fundamentals. One exception to this that we are looking forward to studying in much greater depth is the high trajectory flight of TWGT’s model 770CFE irons. There is no question the 770s do hit the ball visibly higher for any given loft than any other iron model in our design line. If you have a golfer who definitely needs to hit the irons higher to benefit his game, the 770s will perform in that manner.

But the bottom line is that when you encounter a golfer who hits the ball too high, take a look at the golfer’s swing to determine if the reason is related to an early release and a flexing forward of the wrists before impact. If this is the cause, a loft change may help slightly, but you do need to make the golfer aware that significant improvement in lowering the flight of the ball is not likely to happen until they work on their impact position.

 

The Fitting Session in a Nutshell

Over the past few years, a number of Clubmakers have asked me how I personally conduct a fitting session. After this many years in the business of custom clubmaking and product design, when I hear this question I usually smile and respond, "with my eyes and my brain!"

Thanks to the success of the book, The Search for the Perfect Golf Club, TWGT was contacted by the producers of the ‘Golf Today’ show for Fox Sports Midwest for the purpose of shooting a 30 minute segment on TWGT and custom fitting. The Golf Today film crew flew to Durango the week of October 16-20 to shoot the show on the scenic Dalton Ranch GC layout as well as in TWGT’s new R & D facility, located on the driving range at Dalton Ranch.

All kidding aside, the fitting session is an event that quite often will be different with different Clubmakers. In my opinion, one can approach the fitting session with the thought to directly address the game improvement needs of the golfer, or to go into the fitting with the idea that you don’t really need to know the specific areas of improvement if you elect to analyze the golfer and simply offer a recommendation for the best overall specifications that match to the golfer’s size, strength, athletic ability and swing characteristics.

If you choose to find which of the game improvement areas outlined in the book, Common Sense Clubfitting, of more distance, better accuracy, more consistency, the right trajectory and the best feel that the golfer wishes to achieve, it is always easy to consult the poster that comes with each copy of the book to look for the "A" Effect specifications which will address the desired game improvement area.

On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with simply taking the approach to fit the golfer to the custom specifications which will bring about the best of all five of the game improvement factors. Unless the golfer specifically tells me there is one game improvement area he/she wishes to singly address, I tend to take the other approach and shoot for the fitting recommendations that will work on all five of the game improvement factors.

In a nutshell, here is how I perform a fitting session for a golfer.

1. Ask the player to fill out the fitting questionnaire I have created (see pdf file). Because this is an extensive form with a lot of questions, it may be advisable to let the golfer have a day or more to take the time to sit down and complete the entries.

2. Next I check a few of the specifications of the golfer’s current set. . .

A. Set makeup
B. Driver loft, length, face angle, swingweight, total weight
C. 5 or 6-iron loft, length, face angle, swingweight, total weight
D. All wedges’ loft, sole angle, sole width, swingweight, length

Note: I do not need to measure the lie angles because I will dynamically fit the lie of the irons and statically fit the lie of the wedges and putter exactly to the golfer.

3. Obtain the following measurements from the golfer. . .

A. Swing speed with the driver or 3-wood and the 5 or 6-iron, whichever the golfer is more comfortable in hitting

B. Wrist to Floor dimension

C. Hand and Finger measurements (as described in Common Sense Clubfitting book)

4. Either while the golfer is hitting shots for me to obtain the swing speeds, or from separate swings, I observe and analyze the golfer’s swing for the following characteristics:

A. Swing plane – flat, normal or upright
B. Swing path – outside/in, inside/out or square
C. Transition – forceful, average or smooth and easy
D. Tempo – quick, average or slow
E. Release – early, midway or late
F. Launch Angle or Trajectory – I have a launch monitor. Many Clubmakers do not. If you do, have the golfer hit shots with a driver of KNOWN LOFT, chart the point of impact on the face with impact labels, and note the most consistent or typical launch angle. Mentally calculate the angle of attack by comparing the launch angle to the driver loft. If you do not have a launch monitor then shame on you then for not using our TWGT Launch Mat to obtain the launch angle. For less than $100, it will accurately indicate the golfer’s launch angle with any club. If you don’t have a launch monitor or our Launch mat, you have to watch the golfer’s trajectory and judge if the flight is higher than average, about average or lower than average compared to your experience in seeing a lot of golfers hit shots.

5. Consult the responses in the fitting information form the golfer filled out and start thinking of "symptom vs prescription" relationships between specific problem areas and "A" effect fitting changes as described on the chart that comes with the Common Sense Fitting book.

A. Slicer or Hooker – face angle, length, swingweight/totalweight thinking
B. Wants more Distance – loft, length, swingweight, total weight thinking
C. More Consistency – set makeup, length, swingweight, total weight thinking

Note: I don’t waste time thinking about the trajectory or the feel because when I make all of the fitting recommendations for Distance, Accuracy and Consistency, matters of the right trajectory and best feel for the golfer will be taken care of automatically. Exception? Really good ball strikers or very anal/picky golfers – here I will ask specific questions about the type of feel they like/dislike and then think about the shaft, swingweight, total weight, clubhead model recommendations that may best deliver the specific feel desired.

6. Compile the Fitting Recommendation

A. First comes the FULL set makeup. This is without question, one of the if not THE most powerful of all the fitting recommendations you’ll make. Let me put it this way – if the golfer walks in with a standard OEM set of 1, 3, 5, woods + 3-PW,SW irons and is a double digit handicapper or higher, the effect of the set makeup change alone will make the golfer as pleased as punch on its own. Err on the side of no 3-wood, more high loft woods or hybrids, fewer conventional irons and the best wedge and putter fitting changes you can offer with the vast majority of the golfers you service and you will be even more of a hero.

B. Driver specifications

• Length – wrist to floor rules as the final length unless the golfer has a smooth, rhythmic tempo, smooth to avg. transition, has a flat to normal swing plane, has an inside/out or square swing path, or, is a very good ball striker – in those cases you can go longer with the woods, but I see no reason to increase the length of irons over the wrist to floor recommendation.
• Loft –plug the loft, angle of attack, swing speed and basic inputs of 206g headweight, 1° shaft bend angle, 0.825 COR plus the appropriate weather/climate details in the TWGT Trajectory Profiler software. Change lofts while leaving everything else the same to find the loft that generates just short of the maximum carry distance. Why just short? To get a flatter angle of descent for more roll on the ground to accumulate total distance. If you don’t have the angle of attack and can only ID that the golfer hits the ball higher, normal or lower than most, input +2° for higher, 0 for normal and -2 for lower than most into the angle of attack box.
  • What?? You don’t have the Trajectory Profiler software? Tsk, Tsk. Here is another product that costs less than $100 that really will take the guesswork out of fitting the golfer for their maximum distance.
• Face Angle –Simple for two reasons. One, choosing a more hook face angle than what they have for the slicer, square for the straighter hitter, or open face angle for the hooker are obvious points. Two, how much of a hook or open face angle you can buy from the various head suppliers will be somewhat limited. 1° hook? 2° hook°? Maybe 3° hook are all possible, but open? Not many of those in product lines.
  • Oh gee – I almost forgot!! Ask for TWGT’s Hand Select service to find the face angle you want, within the limits of our +/- tolerances and the model’s design face angle spec.
  • How much face angle change? My rule of thumb is 1° for each 5-7 yds of "sideways" correction the golfer needs.
• Swingweight/Total Weight/MOI –Simple logic rules here too
  • Physically larger, stronger, more forceful transition, quicker tempo = higher total weight and higher swingweight. The opposite of that in a golfer is the opposite of that in total weight and swingweight.
  • OK, an actual decision to be made for a specific shaft weight and swingweight. Here’s the best way I can describe the judgment process.
    • Physically stronger and larger = heavier shaft. Meaning >80g graphite wood shafts and >120g steel iron shafts. Could such a golfer need graphite shafts in the irons? Joint pain, professes a preference for graphite. Add to that a forceful transition and quick tempo and the swingweight should be no lower than D4. OK, there’s your high end of the spectrum for total weight + swingweight. As the golfer does not fit the bill for any of these factors of strong, forceful transition and fast tempo, drop the swingweight in accordance. Not physically strong and you can drop the shaft weight too.
• Shaft – it’s all in the catalog for how to combine the swing speed, transition, tempo, and release to find the swing speed range of the shaft, the overall flex and the bend profile design. In the chart of each TWGT shaft design, we tell you the transition, tempo and release requirements of each model to match to each golfer swing type.

C. Fairway Wood Specifications

• Set makeup
  • Think more fairway woods and fewer or no hybrids if the golfer releases the wrist cock angle very early, sweeps the ball with a more passive/less aggressive downswing, does not suffer from a mis-direction problem
  • Think more hybrids and fewer fairway woods if the golfer has a downward angle of attack, a normal to faster acceleration on the downswing, suffers from mis-direction tendencies with the woods, hits irons with an average to larger size divot.
  • No 3-wood (or wood with loft of 15° or less) if the golfer is not proficient in getting his present 3-wood up high in the air off the ground, if the golfer’s driver swing speed is <90mph
  • Keep the degree spacing between fairway woods to be no less than 3° for golfers with a >95mph swing speed, no less than 4° for 80-95mph swing speeds, and no less than 5-6° for those with a swing speed under 80mph.
  • Keep the degree spacing between fairway woods to be no less than 3° for golfers with a >95mph swing speed, no less than 4° for 80-95mph swing speeds, and no less than 5-6° for those with a swing speed under 80mph.
  • Choose the first fairway wood, aka the "second longest hitting wood" first on the basis of their ability to hit high flying fairway woods, second on the basis of swing speed.
    • Most golfers with >10 hdcp should not use less than 16° loft
    • Most golfers who can’t hit a normal 3-wood very high should not use less than 18° loft
    • Ability to hit a normal 3-wood previously means 14° and 15° are open for consideration
    • Less than 14° loft only OK if the golfer is a VERY good ball striker, OR, has several holes on the courses he plays where he needs to hit a more controlled tee shot.
• Length
  • Good ball striker, less than 12 hdcp, avg to smooth transition and tempo, inside/out or square swing path = second longest wood to be 1" shorter than driver length
  • Avg to less skilled ball striker and/or >12 hdcp = 2nd longest wood to be 1.5" shorter than driver length.
  • For all of the other fairway woods, keep a 1 inch difference in length between them – no more and no less.
• Loft
  • Fairway wood loft is fit more in the set makeup thinking of this part of the fitting. If you read that part again, you’ll get the loft selection thinking down pretty well.
• Face Angle
  • Go back to the Driver Face Angle logic but remember, most golfers do not slice the fairway woods as much as the driver because of the increased head loft. But the rule of thumb is still 1° face angle change in the opposite direction to the mis-direction tendency for each 4-6 yds of sideways movement you want to reduce.
• Swingweight/Total Weight
  • Again, the same logic used in the Driver fitting applies to the fairway wood fitting.
• Shaft
  • Ditto with the Driver shaft fitting logic. One exception can be the golfer who’s pretty strong and fairly forceful with the transition move – he’s a candidate for the fairway wood shafts to be a little (+10g) heavier than the driver shaft.

D. Irons and Hybrid Specifications

• Set Makeup
  • Providing the golfer has been evaluated to be better off with hybrids vs more fairway woods to cover the need for easy to hit replacements for the low lofted irons, the big question here is how many hybrids and how many irons. I always err on the side of more hybrids when there is any shred of doubt in the golfer’s ability to hit a conventional iron solid and well up in the air the majority of the time. Remember, 5-irons today are 24° to 27° in loft, and for so many golfers, that still is not enough loft to make the club easy to hit solid and high the majority of the time. In other words, the golfer is going to have to be a pretty decent ball striker before I am going to keep a conventional 5-iron in the set makeup.
• Length
  • Wrist to floor rules for length for my recommendations for irons and hybrids. Even if the golfer measures to be +1/2" for their W to F. unless they are a good ball striker, I still probe the possibility of not adding that length unless he/she really has to crouch and bend more with the shorter length. Half-inch increments are also the rule of the day unless the golfer has a longer wrist to floor measurement and is also not very good. In these cases, I keep the longest hybrid/iron as short as their comfort says is OK, but move into either 3/8" or even sometimes 1/4" increments between culbs so the shorter clubs are more comfortable in their set up.
• Loft
  • Unlike the driver and many times the "second longest hitting wood" where there most definitely ARE optimum lofts for each golfer, there are no optimum iron lofts for golfers. Loft only functions in the irons to allow for each different numbered hybrid and iron to hit the ball a different specific distance for each golfer, with consistent yardage spacing in between. The REAL goal in iron set loft recommendation is to find what iron loft is the lowest one that the golfer can hit consistently solid and high, and start the first hybrid 3-4° lower than that. Aside from that, the other goal in iron set loft fitting is to make the club to club loft spacing match well with the golfer’s swing speed so they don’t have adjacent irons creating less than a 10 yd spacing. Remember, the slower the swing speed, the closer together a typical 4° loft separation becomes in terms of real distance for solid hits. And the third is to make sure in the journey from lowest lofted hybrid to the SW or LW that there is never more than 4-6° loft separation, again of course depending on the swing speed of the golfer. Higher speeds = 3-4° spacing, Lower speeds – 5-6° spacing.
• Lie
  • Lies will all be done when the irons are built through dynamic lie fitting so no more need be said.
• Swingweight/Total Weight
  • Same rule of thumb applies here as discussed in the thinking process for these specs for the woods. Yes, there will likely be more times than not where the golfer could benefit from and should be using all graphite shafts for their effect on lowering the total weight of the set of irons. But as you all know, that decision is made these days more from a “can you afford it” standpoint than from a fitting performance point of view.
• Shaft
  • Once the golfer’s need and ability to afford are ID’d for the shaft weight as the major contributor to the iron/hybrid total weight, their transition/tempo/release moves in their swing really, I mean REALLY come into play for the flex/bend profile selection part of the shaft. I believe strongly that most average golfers (as well as those with an avg/smooth transition/tempo) need to be fit into an iron flex that is one flex lower than in their woods. Only with the better ball strikers who also are a little more aggressive in the transition and tempo will I think of the iron shaft in terms of the same flex as their woods.
    Why? Because iron shafts are shorter and a lot more stiff than wood shafts of the same letter flex. They’re shorter and they have a larger tip section diameter than wood shafts and can’t even come close to being bent as much in the swing as the golfer’s properly fit wood shaft flex/bend profile.
    Once I think about the way this philosophy plays out in the relationship between the golfer’s iron swing speed and the swing speed rating of the iron shaft, I then think in terms of how the transition, tempo and release have to be matched to the bend profile of the iron shaft. Strong transition + faster tempo = more butt firm profile, smooth, less aggressive transition/tempo = butt medium to flexible profile. Early to midway release = tip flexible to medium profile, late release = more tip firm profile. Simple.

E. Wedge Specifications

• Set Makeup
  • Thinking about the set makeup of the wedges begins with the loft of the 9-iron in the iron model being recommended to the golfer. +4° more comes the PW, 55-56° becomes the SW unless specific discussions with the golfer or inputs from the fitting questionnaire tell me otherwise. So if that puts the loft difference between the PW and SW at 4-5°, there will be no AW or gap wedge, but if that spacing is 6-8°, there will. And if the AW has to be bent to be dead between the PW and SW, so be it.
    The question of a LW or not is answered by the golfer’s inputs from the fitting questionnaire that pertain to the golfer’s need to be able to hit much higher, softer landing short approach/pitch shots, and usually is dictated by the golf course’s green designs. It is also answered by my evaluation of the golfer’s ability to swing a high lofted wedge properly – aka how well they can control the clubhead at slow speeds to slide under the ball consistently. No ability to control the swing/hands to hit a soft, cut type shot = no LW in the bag.
• Length
  • Only if I have read specific inputs in the fitting questionnaire or know the player to be very "into" their clubs will I consider making the lengths of the wedges to be other than PW=#9, AW=PW minus 1/". SW=AW. LW=SW. Little "tweaks" like a 1/4" off here or there are imperceptible to the vast, vast majority of golfers.
• Loft
  • See wedge Set Makeup first. Second, see the fitting questionnaire to note any inputs to guide this. Third, if you do not know the green design of the course the golfer plays most frequently, ask him/her. Previous E-TECH articles have discussed this, as does the Common Sense fitting book, for its importance in loft selection of wedges. Too long to write out here, but common sense rules for sure in this. Raised, small, firm greens = more loft on the wedges. Lack of ability of the golfer to hit short wedge shots very high does too.
• Sole Angle/Sole Width
  • It's a must to combine these two specs in any wedge fitting because they overlap each other in their performance effect. Greater bounce with narrow sole = the same performance effect as wider sole with less bounce. It's also important to know when the golfer gets "too steep" on the downswing such that NO increase in bounce or sole width will keep him from digging too deep and leaving the ball in the sand.
    In general, if the fitting questionnaire says things like, "leaves ball in sand", "course has fluffy/deep sand", and I see the golfer has an over the top, outside/in swing path, I go wider sole first and keep the bounce no less than 10-12°. Only "dirt" in the traps instead of sand or very shallow sand will I go less than 10-12° for the avg golfer. Better players, of course, are where I think more narrow sole before I start reducing bounce much. Raised, small greens mean the LW gets enough bounce to use as a sand club.
    There are 60 pages in the Common Sense Clubmaking book about wedge fitting because there are so many little nuances to consider for all the different golfer types AND different course design types with them.
• Swingweight/Total Weight
  • Total weight means thinking first about typically using the same shaft/shaft weight in the wedges that you selected for the irons. Rarely will I choose a different shaft weight in the wedges than what was used in the irons.
    Swingweight of the wedges is all done in relation to the swingweight chosen for the irons. PW and AW = +2 over the #9. SW = +4 to 6 over the #9, depending on how much the golfer uses the SW for FULL swing shots. SW used for a lot of full swings and I go +4 over the #9. Used mostly for short swing shots, I go +6 over the #9 as the starting point. LW’s same thing with a little extra thinking done for whether the LW is to be an additional sand club (higher swt) or not.

Conclusion

Almost all the time I will build a test wood and test iron with all the fitting recommendations built in for the golfer to hit for 3-4 ball striking/playing sessions on his/her own. I ask them to note the pluses and minuses from their experience and come back in for a final consultation. At that time I will know if the initial recommendations were right on, or need to be tweaked in any manner. If I have to "eat" a shaft or grip from the test clubs due to a different/better one being identified after the input session, so be it. That’s all part of GOOD service in clubfitting and should easily be covered by the final retail price charged to the golfer for the custom fit/built clubs.

Iron and hybrid lie angles will be dynamically fit when the golfer comes in to pick up the final clubs as the last exercise between me and the golfer in the fitting session.

Grips will have been fit separately from a combination of the hand/finger measurement with input from the golfer during a "here, grip this and tell me if you like it" part of the fitting session.

I spoke about swingweight fitting in this session instead of MOI matching only because I fully realize that so many Clubmakers and golfers are so ingrained with the 80 yrs of swingweight being the industry’s accepted method of club to club swing feel matching. Of course we believe in the swing feel matching superiority of MOI matching all clubs. When that is done as a replacement for swingweight matching, we use the test clubs along with the basic thought process for swingweight recommendation to come up with a starting MOI for the test clubs. During a hitting session with the golfer, we add lead tape to the head and look for impact label feedback as well as golfer feel feedback to determine the final MOI for all the woods and then all the irons.

Next month, I will be happy to share my thinking process for the actual clubhead model recommendation process in a typical fitting.

Last point – All I wanted to do in this discussion was let you know a little bit about how I go through the motions and how much I am processing information against my fitting knowledge and experience to hunt for the right specifications for the golfer. Other Clubmakers may do it differently, that’s fine, but the bottom line is to use the principles of Common Sense Clubmaking which identify what club specs have the biggest effect on building a set which offers the best combination of Distance, Accuracy, Consistency, Trajectory and Feel to each individual golfer.

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New wishongolf.com Web Site Coming Soon!

In case you’re not aware, TWGT hosts two very different web sites. www.wishongolf.com is the web site we have created for custom Clubmakers, what we call our "trade web site." This is where our e-commerce shopping site is located with information is more tailored for the Clubmakers. We created www.twgolftech.com as the "pro-custom fitting" web site for consumer golfers, non-clubmakers who need to know why seeing you to be custom fit will ensure a much better playing set than buying their clubs in standard form, off the rack. twgolftech.com is also where our Clubmaker Locator pages are housed, so consumer golfers who realize that custom fit is better than standard off the rack can find a good clubmaker to meet their custom fitting needs.

A few months ago, the twgolftech.com consumer web site underwent a full re-design to make the site and its information a lot more user-friendly to consumers. Sometime before Christmas, wishongolf.com will unveil its new design as well. So sorry that we let YOUR web site’s re-design come second to that of our consumer site. I think you’ll understand when we say that getting the message about what you do and how well you can do it for all golfers is an important priority for TWGT!!

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The Search Continues

Early reports from the major bookstore chains and web site booksellers are saying that golfing readers are buying the latest release in the Search saga, The Search for the Perfect Driver. The follow up to the best selling and award winning Search for the Perfect Club, Search Driver is devoted to educating golfers about their custom fitting needs with the ego club in their bag, the Driver. With the major holiday gift buying time still ahead, all of the book retailers are confident that Search Driver will be a popular selection as a gift for the golfer in the family or the friend who is a golfer. And once again, as more Search Driver books are sold and read, Clubmakers will have yet another bit of help in the campaign to drive golfers to be custom fit.

You can do your part too in this crusade to elevate both the image and the business of custom clubmaking. Any golfer who is on your holiday gift list should be a slam dunk for you to pick up and give a copy of Search Driver or The Search for the Perfect Golf Club. At 144 pgs and written in dialog form about the oh so important Driver, the book makes an easy read for the golfer who has not sat down to read a book since the internet took over squatter’s rights in their house!

Use these books to get the word out in your area about the relationship between custom fitting and better golf and you will see an increase in your fitting business.

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2007 Right Around the Corner

TWGT is happy to tell you that we are a little more ahead of the curve than last year! IN real terms that means our new catalog is 99% finished and on track for an earlier release in 2007 than in previous years. Coupled with that, we are completely finished with all of the new clubhead, shaft and grip models for 2007. Well, there are a couple of later developments that Tom thought of later in the development season which you will see in the spring of 2007! But the core of the new models and products are finished and not only that, are in production as you read this so they can be here by the end of January.

We know you want to know what TWGT has in store for Clubmakers in 2007, so we thought we would give you a little sneak peek in this month’s E-TECHreport. Have fun with this and for the whole scoop on the latest in original, innovative custom design, watch for your new catalog in late January and presentation of the new models on our web sites as soon as we get the catalog in the mail!

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Reminder on Address Change for Mailing List

DON’T MISS OUT ON OUR 2007 CATALOG!!!!

Please verify your BILLING/mailing address on your account to insure that we have your current BILLING/mailing address (shipping addresses are ‘not’ used for mailing catalogs). Simply go to www.wishongolf.com. These following steps will help guide you.

1. Click on the ONLINE STORE

2. LOGIN (input your account number and password). If you can’t remember your password, click on "Click here if you have forgotten your password" at the bottom of the LOGIN box. Please remember, your password can only be sent to the email address that is listed in your account. Please always keep us up-to-date with your current email address.

3. Then click on ACCOUNT INFO at the top of the page.

4. VERIFY that your BILLING ADDRESS is correct – please also check that your day time phone number, email, etc are all current.

5. DO NOTHING,If the BILLING ADDRESS is correct. Your 2007 catalog will be mailed in January to that address.

6. IF A CHANGE is needed in your billing/mailing address, click on EDIT to the right of "Your Billing Address".

7. MAKE THE NECESSARY CHANGES in your address – then be sure to click UPDATEUPDATE at the bottom of this page. (Please be sure to include your COMPLETE address including any information such as AVE, ST, E, SW, Apt, Unit, etc. If you are unsure of your complete address, i.e., do you live on Maple AVE or Maple ST East, go to www.usps.com, click on FIND A ZIP CODE, fill in your street and city/state information, and submit it. The next page will show your FULL ADDRESS IN STANDARD FORMAT – this is the USPS preferred format for mailing. Please also note if you do not choose "UPDATE" at the bottom of this page, your old address will remain in your account and our 2007 catalog may not be delivered to you.)

8. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS with any of the above, please send us an email (mew@wishongolf.com) stating your account number along with your ‘old’ and NEW contact information (including day phone/email etc) and we will be happy to update your account. Please have any address changes in your account no later than January 1, 2007.

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TWGT Winter Savings Specials!

Give away pricing on great performing designs!

We’ve got just a handful of the models that are being retired and we want to clear out the warehouse before the end of the year. Call in or log in to the shop site and see pricing so low that you’ll think is a mistake. It’s not. Quantities are very limited.

Login to the shopping site now.

Or Call: 800-470-0072 today for more information.

 

TWGT General Advertising and Sales Policy

For all advertisements and promotions of TWGT designs and products (TV, radio, print, internet) a "Call/Contact for Pricing" policy is in effect.

TWGT designs and products are not to be sold or advertised on auction sites (eg. Ebay, Yahoo).

All and any use of Tom Wishon Golf Technology logos, trademarks and/or images shall be used in a manner consistent as outlined in the style guide Marketing CD.

If you have any questions please contact us at 800-470-0072 or 970-375-0411.

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*SPECIALS -- Please call for details: 1-800-470-0072
All advertised specials are only offered for a limited time; prices are subject to change without notice and do not include shipping or taxes (where applicable). Offers are subject to availability, and cannot be combined with any other offer.

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TW is the trademark of Tom Wishon Golf Technology, LLC. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.

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