August 2009 TW Standard E-Tech Report

In the August issue of the TW Standard eTECHreport:

NOTE: the complete August TW Standard eTECHreport pdf version is available by clicking here - 3MB (requires Adobe Acrobat 5 or newer )

 

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TWGT Micro-Groove Scorelines Determined to be Conforming to New USGA Scoreline Requirements

Like the other companies who take their clubhead design seriously, TWGT has been at work for several months developing prototype clubheads with scorelines designed to subscribe to the upcoming new USGA groove requirements. We’ve begun to do this well in advance of the actual date for implementation of the dictates of the new rule so that when the time comes, the clubheads in our design line of 25° loft and higher will all carry scorelines which are acceptable under the new rule.

During the process of sending prototype samples to the USGA, we decided to submit one of our clubhead designs which are created with TWGT’s Micro-Groove scorelines to obtain feedback from the USGA to know if we needed to make any adjustments to the unique Micro-Groove grooves.

Good news! The USGA returned a verdict of “OK as they are”, stating that TWGT’s Micro-Groove scorelines do pass both the groove area and top edge radius changes in the new rule. Currently, the Micro Grooves are a primary design element of the PCF Tour Micro, and PCF Wide Sole wedges. In addition, Micro Grooves are designed on the #7 through wedges in the model 705W2 irons and for all grooves on the 585HF hybrid clubheads.

Golfers using TWGT designs with the Micro-Groove scorelines in 2010 in competitions that require grooves that conform to the new USGA scoreline rule will be glad to know the grooves are already OK under the guidelines of the rule.

What’s interesting to TWGT is the fact that every form of controlled hit testing done with clubheads that are designed with the Micro-Groove scorelines has shown that TWGT’s unique groove design does increase backspin over conventional, presently conforming U-grooves. For golfers looking for every edge in the game, isn’t it interesting to know that TWGT has developed a scoreline design that not only is OK under the new scoreline rule, but which can deliver more backspin than the type of scoreline the USGA is trying to get rid of in their effort to make elite players use clubs which spin the ball less.

 

 

 

 

 

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Selling Custom Fit over Standard Brand Names Off the Rack

 

There is no question a professionally custom fit set of golf clubs will out perform a standard made set of clubs bought off the rack for the vast majority of golfers. Golfers do not know this because the huge marketing campaigns of the large golf companies are all aimed at promoting the brand image of the companies to the golfers.
To be able to close the sale of custom fit clubs to consumer golfers, you have to do two things; first, you have to convince the golfers that professionally custom fit clubs are going to allow the golfers to play better than ever before, and second, you have to convince the golfers that the brand name clubs are never going to allow this to happen because they are nothing more than clubs which are mass produced and made to one series of standard, one size fits all specifications.

• Sell the FIT FIRST and FOREMOST

• Convince the golfer the big brand name clubs are not even close to being custom fit to the golfer’s needs

The reason many clubmakers are unsuccessful in winning the sale over a set of standard made brand name clubs is because they do not promote the value of custom fitting first and foremost to the golfer. Golfers are brainwashed to look at clubs by their brand name or model name. Golfers do not understand the importance of being custom fit because no one has told them how important custom fitting is. YOU have to do that.

If you allow the conversation between you and the golfer to gravitate to brands and models, you cannot be successful in selling custom fit clubs. When the golfer wants to talk about brands or models, you have to re-direct the conversation to the subject of custom fitting.

1. Give every golfer a copy of the booklet, 12 Myths That Could Wreck Your Golf Game. Attach your business card and do whatever you can to get them to read it.

2. Do everything you can to get the golfer to view the short videos we have created that deliver the facts of life about the mainstream golf equipment business and explains the importance of professional custom fitting. Links to these videos:

On wishongolf.com
http://www.wishongolf.com/video_wishongolf.php

On twgolftech.com
http://twgolftech.com/videos_twgt.php

On You Tube - “Custom Fit vs. Standard”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbIRBJ2Seds

“What does Custom Fitting do for Golfers?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-yEfb9iDNw

“The Facts of Life about the Golf Equipment Industry”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seZJUO4ZQ_s

Basic Shaft Fitting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec95TZSPnoQ

 

3. Focus first on golfers of average ability because they are far easier to fit with clubs that will show improvement over what they have. If you are competent to even a medium level in your fitting knowledge, offer to custom fit the average golfers for a new driver, or new hybrid club and back it with a guarantee that if they do not hit the custom fit club better than their present club, there would be no charge.

4. Keep a list of the golfers for whom you have delivered custom fit clubs that have demonstrated shot improvement for new, potential customers to contact as a testimonial of your fitting skills. Urge the new customers to contact your fitting successes.

Golfers know little to nothing about professional custom fitting. Golfers only know brand names and models so YOU are going to have to take the initiative to educate them about the real benefits of professional custom fitting. It can be done. There are clubmakers who are growing their business in custom fitting by using these 4 simple tips above. If you want to grow your business in custom fitting, find the energy and courage to use these tips and you will be successful.

 

 

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The Most Important Common Sense Elements of Clubhead Design for Fitting

 

The more that we at TWGT continue our research in clubfitting, the more we learn to be able to share with clubmakers to help improve the overall fitting experience they offer to golfers. Some of the things we pick up from our ongoing R&D work reside in the area of clear specifics. A couple of examples of a clear specific discovered in our past research would be the fact that no golfer with an early wrist-cock release can gain clubhead speed from longer lengths nor can a golfer with an early release see a launch angle difference from different shaft flexes or shaft bend profile designs.

On the other hand, some of the things we continue to learn from our work can best be described as enhancing “the big picture” of the many elements of clubfitting combined together.

One of the areas in which we have been able to expand our general, all encompassing fitting knowledge has to do with the role of the clubhead design in the full fitting process and its contribution to the full game improvement possible from a full, complete fitting recommendation
for golfers.

What do we mean by using such a “general” comment? Quite simply we believe that determining the golfer’s best length, loft, lie, face angle, shaft, total weight, swingweight and grip size are collectively more important for the final fitting success than is the clubhead design.

We are NOT saying the clubhead design is not important. Without question there are very definite and specific design features in clubheads which ARE very important to the success of the fitting. What we are saying is that some of the technical design features of clubheads offer the same results for all golfers, while other technical design features of heads simply do not do what the marketing says they do for certain golfers.

Perhaps the best way we can express this is to offer our guidelines for how you should help a golfer choose the best clubhead for his or her game.

 

Step 1: Find a clubhead model that possesses the shape, style and visual features that the golfer finds most appealing and with which the golfer will have the most pre-shot confidence. (Note: Some golfers don't care at all about looks and only about performance.)

Let’s face it. What serious or avid golfer can possibly hit the ball well with a clubhead model that does not satisfy the golfer’s unique, individual tastes? How many times have you picked up a club, set it down in the playing position and either uttered a “yuck, that looks awful”, or
a “Oooh, that’s nice”?

Point one – the clubhead has to LOOK good behind the ball to the golfer or they won’t possibly be able to hit the ball to the best of their ability, no matter how accurate all of the other fitting specifications have been fit to the golfer. By looks, we’re talking about all of the features on a clubhead that may or may not be related to its design technology, but which most definitely have a bearing on how the clubhead looks to each individual golfer.

We’re talking about clubhead features like

• Head Shape and Size

- Some players like larger, some smaller, some in between when it comes to the size of the head. Some like pear shaped woods, some like round profile woods, some like square shaped woods. This is a very important feature for most golfers.

• Amount of Offset or Onset

- Some golfers cannot possibly look at a head with more than a slight amount of offset, while others like the leading edge well behind the hosel in a condition of heavy offset. Others prefer something in between. This too is a big one for most golfers.

• Topline Thickness

- Some golfers prefer irons with a thicker topline, some with a razor thin topline and some in between. This feature is not as important for most golfers but will be for a few.

• Face Height

- Most players simply cannot get the ball airborne consistently with fairway woods and hybrid heads which have a face height they visually deem as being too tall. This feature is a very large one for most golfers in their head selection.

• Leading Edge Shape/Radius

- Some players like the look of a straight leading edge at the bottom of the face of an iron, while others prefer to see some rounding of the leading edge to help them align the face to the target.

• Sole Width/ Sole Radius

- While a feature that cannot be seen when the clubhead is set in the playing position, some golfers gain confidence from knowing the iron has a wide sole while others lose confidence from a wide sole design.

• Color or Surface Finish

- Likes and dislikes run the gamut among golfers when it comes to the paint colors and surface polish condition of clubheads.

 

Force a golfer to use a clubhead model that has one of these features falling into their personal area of “yuck, that looks awful” and you are facing a real struggle to complete the fitting successfully, no matter how good of a job you do in selecting the right length, loft, lie, face angle, shaft, total weight, swingweight (MOI) and grip.

 

 

 

Step 2: Decide on the off center hit improvement desired or needed by the golfer to deliver noticeable game improvement, and select the clubhead models with the appropriate MOI and/or face design that also possess the preferred shape and style features for each golfer.

We feel from our experience that the number one most important technical design feature for performance in a clubhead is the off center hit performance. Logically, because no golfer hits 100% of their shots on center, we believe all golfers should play with clubheads that offer the highest level of off center hit performance.

The off center hit performance of a clubhead with a much higher MOI or more forgiving face design than what the golfer has been playing is a technical design feature that will be experienced by all golfers. This isn’t the case with other clubhead technical design features such as different center of gravity locations in clubheads in which the swing speed, angle of attack and wrist-cock release dictate what ball flight differences may be seen from a different CG position. Therefore, we strongly believe all golfers should play clubheads with the best off center hit performance.

Where a fitting conundrum can occur is when the higher MOI head designs or variable thickness face head designs which deliver the highest level of off center hit performance happen to possess shape and style features which are disliked by the golfer. In such cases you may have to play the role of advisor to counsel the golfer to relax some of his/her less significant shape and style demands to enable the real performance improvement of the higher MOI or more forgiving face design to reveal themselves to the golfer. Situations like this are almost always resolved if the golfer is able to actually test hit such a clubhead and experience the level of improvement offered by the higher MOI and/or more forgiving face design.

 

Step 3: If the golfer desires a change in launch angle and trajectory either higher or lower, look for clubheads that possess the preferred shape/style and off center hit requirements for the golfer which have a center of gravity position commensurate with the desired trajectory change – but don’t expect too much.

Yes, we’ve heard it all before as well. Clubheads with a lower or more rear located CG hit the ball higher and head models with a higher or more forward located CG hit the ball lower. Unfortunately it doesn’t always work this way for many golfers. The reason is because the effect of CG on trajectory is dependent on a few of the golfer’s swing characteristics. But you can still try.

For example, let’s say the golfer needs help hitting the ball higher. You certainly can select a head with a lower CG, but if the golfer has a steeper, downward angle of attack, the low CG is just not going to deliver a visibly higher trajectory. The reason is because when a golfer has a downward A of A, the clubhead arrives at impact with less loft which in turn will counteract the higher flight effect of the lower CG.

Similarly for a golfer in search of a higher ball flight, you can advise a clubhead with a more rear located CG, but here again, if the golfer has an early release, the rear CG is just not going to result in a higher flight pattern. On the other hand, the early release golfer looking for higher ball-flight is a little more rare because the majority of golfers with an earlier release typically hit the ball higher in the first place. This is because early release move generally results in more dynamic loft at impact.

Looking at the opposite fitting requirement, in which the golfer hits the ball too high and wishes to lower the flight of the ball, a clubhead design with a higher and/or more forward CG is rarely going to result in any real decrease in shot height. This is because most golfers who hit the ball too high do so because of an early wrist cock release which in turn delivers the head to impact with a greater dynamic loft.

However, simply because it is best to do everything possible to help the golfers achieve the shot height change and because there are always degrees of difference in the golfers’ delivery of the clubhead to impact, there is nothing wrong with following the old advice to point golfers with a desire to lower ball flight into heads with a lower and/or rear CG position and vice versa for those golfers trying to lower the flight of the ball. Just don’t sacrifice the highest level of off center hit performance in a desire to find a clubhead with the appropriate CG position.

 

Step 4: Consider the specific clubhead design features which can offer possible differences in performance for backspin, sole to turf contact and more distance within the clubheads that possess the preferred shape/style, off center hit and CG requirements of the golfer.

There are individual clubhead design elements which can offer specific game improvement in areas of backspin increase, better movement of the sole through the turf and more distance. When a golfer identifies a desire for improvement in any of these performance areas, clubmakers should always search for clubhead models which possess the preferred shape/style, off center hit and CG requirements and which can also address the spin increase, sole design and distance improvement desired by the golfer.

For example, it is well documented through testing that TWGT’s Micro-Groove scorelines do enhance any golfer’s ability to generate more backspin. In addition, clubheads which have any element intended to increase friction between the clubface and the ball will typically do the same thing. Such friction enhancements would typically be a rougher face blasting finish and/or face milling.

When it comes to sole design, we’re of the opinion that regardless of the player’s ball striking ability, a sole with more face to back radius is always going to travel through longer grass and Bermuda type grasses with less chance of being “hung up” than a sole design that is flat from face to back. In addition, golfers who play on Bermuda type grasses should always have some degree of bounce sole angle on their irons to also reduce the chance of such creeping types of grass “grabbing” the sole during a shot.

Finally, it is also proven that a well designed thin face construction can increase the COR of the clubhead and offer any golfer more distance than will a clubhead with a conventional thicker face. Obviously, we’re talking more about fairway woods and irons than drivers for the reason that every company has driver models which approach the USGA’s maximum limit for COR/CT spring face effect.

Please don’t get fooled by claims from companies that their driver offers more distance from this or that new face material or this or that type of head/face construction. The COR/CT controls every aspect of the ball speed so as long as a driver head has a COR/CT that is right at the limit, there is nothing more than can be done in the design of the driver head to increase ball speed for a golfer.

Not so with fairway woods and irons. The vast majority of fairway wood and iron heads are designed with conventional thick face construction. On the other hand, there are fairway woodheads and ironheads which are designed with higher COR/CT faces. When a golfer has been playing with conventional investment cast fairway woods and irons and desires more distance, without question it is wise to determine if a higher COR fairway wood and/or iron can also meet the shape and style preferences of the golfer.

 

 

 

A Final Word on Clubhead Fitting

Once more we’re going to ask you to not jump to conclusions from this article and infer that TWGT does not think the clubhead design is a very important element in the overall fitting process. Without question we do or else we wouldn’t offer this advice, nor would be spend the time, energy and resources to design as complete of a line of different original clubhead models for clubmakers to use in their clubfitting work.

What we do want to get across to clubmakers are the cold, hard, common sense facts of what the clubhead can truly offer for golfers in the full fitting process and what priorities should be taken in the clubhead selection process to ensure each golfer ends up with the best possible set of custom fit clubs for the highest level of game improvement.

Follow these procedures and use TWGT clubhead designs and when the rest of the fitting elements are all matched correctly to the golfer, there is then no question the golfer will walk away with the very best set of golf clubs they will have ever played.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Answers to FAQ’s from Golfers About Professional Clubfitting

 

There is no question that knowledge and experience in the actual custom fitting of real golfers is the secret to delivering custom fit clubs which do perform better for golfers. But the real secret to having a successful business in clubfitting and getting to the point where you could put your fitting skills to work for golfers depends on how well the Clubmaker can erase the myths in golfers’ minds that come from the big golf companies’ marketing campaigns to convince the golfer that custom fit is far superior in every way to buying standard made clubs off the rack.

Convincing golfers that what they think about golf clubs is not correct is not easy to do. Far too many golfers associate expertise in golf equipment either with a well known brand name or believe that only a scratch player could tell them something about golf clubs they did not previously know. Because we know you encounter golfers whose minds are already made up before you get a chance to set them straight with the facts, this month TWGT wanted to pose a number of FAQs that clubmakers can study and use to be able to re-educate golfers and convince them that what you can do for them is far better for their game.

"I’m not good enough for custom fitting to matter. Maybe when I work on my swing and get a little better I might think about custom fit clubs."

This is the complete opposite of the truth about custom fitting. It’s easy to think this way because you only hear about the pros being custom fit while almost all golfers just buy their clubs off the rack in a pro shop or retail golf store or over the internet. It is an absolute fact that average golfers will benefit from custom fitting and experience more in the way of visible improvements in their ball striking than will low single digit handicap golfers.

The reason is because we average golfers all make mistakes in our swing that accurate custom fitting can reduce or offset. Custom fitting is never going to put you on the first tee of the US Open next Summer, but it darn well can probably add 10 to 15 yards to your tee shots, allow you to hit two to five more fairways and/or greens per round, allow you to get the ball up and down two or three more times in a round, and even get you around with 3 to 6 fewer putts per round. Add that all up and you’re a visibly better golfer who enjoys the game a little more than before – all because of being correctly custom fit for your clubs.

Let me give you an example. Let’s say 50% of the time you hit the driver with some amount of slice that tends to get you in trouble and start losing you shots. That happens because for some reason in your swing, you leave the face of the driver open at impact in varying amounts. I can build you a driver that is a little shorter and with a little more loft and with what we call a more closed face angle that will work to reduce the amount you leave the face open at impact. You’ll see that slice reduced, you’ll be in play more often with more open shots to the green with a little less club into the green all because of the custom fitting changes over the standard made club you bought.

 

"How do I know these clubs you make are any good? I mean, I’ve never heard of this Wishon Golf before. If they’re so good, why haven’t I heard of them and why aren’t the pros playing with them like they are the other clubs in the pro shop?"

The very most important goal I have in working with golfers is to be sure they are individually custom fit for each and every one of the important fitting specifications of each golf club. If you buy a heavily marketed brand club off the rack in a pro shop or golf store, all you are getting is a mass produced club made to one series of standard, average specifications.

No matter how well you know the club brand and model sitting there on the rack, it is nothing more than a standard, one size fits all club. Now if all golfers were the same size, had the same strength, the same athletic ability and had the same swings, that would be OK. But we all know that golfers are anything but standard – they’re short, medium and tall; they range tremendously in strength and athletic ability, and you know for sure the differences in swing characteristics among golfers are huge.

How can all these golfers possibly hope to play to the best of their individual combinations of abilities if they buy clubs which are mass produced, standard made to one set of average specifications? They can’t. And that is why professional custom fitting as I offer is really the only way all golfers should be thinking about buying their clubs.

I can’t do professional fitting to allow you to play to the best of your ability with the brands of clubs you see on the rack in the pro shop or golf store because none of these companies offer the range in all the important fitting specifications in their clubs that I need to be able to correctly custom fit the clubs exactly to your size, your strength, your athletic ability and your swing characteristics.

To do that, I need to work with a company that is extremely good in their design engineering so they can offer me the clubheads, the shafts and the grips in all of the fitting options that I can select to be able to custom build every one of the important fitting specifications into your golf clubs. Wishon Golf is simply the very best there is in the game in engineering all of the different fitting options into their designs.

Tom Wishon has designed clubs that have been used to win on the PGA Tour, Champions Tour and in Ryder Cup competition. He's written 9 books and over 200 technical articles on golf clubs for just about every golf magazine both in the US and Europe. Since the 1980s he has contributed more than 50 different design firsts to the club industry – many which you think were created by one of the big companies but were actually designed first by Wishon Golf. In addition, Tom Wishon has been chosen by several of the European PGA organizations to be the only teacher of custom fitting technology for the pros in Europe. That pretty well says they know what they’re doing.

Please take the time to visit their web site at www.twgolftech.com and you’ll see they know more about golf clubs than anyone in the industry. Wishon Golf works only in the custom fitting side of the industry and not in the standard club side of the golf business, so that’s why you haven’t heard of them. But people who really know golf clubs know Wishon Golf because they are so good at what they do.

 

"I’ve seen that some of the big golf companies are offering custom fit clubs these days so why shouldn’t I just go get those clubs to be custom fit?"

The adjustable type clubs you have seen in ads or in golf shops are to professional custom fitting like the top of an iceberg above the surface of the water is to its full size – it’s not even 10% of what custom fitting really is and what custom fitting can really do to allow you to play to the best of your ability.

What you are seeing is a very narrow range in fitting for only two of the twelve important fitting factors and for only one of the fourteen clubs in your bag. So that type of custom fitting only offers about 2/168ths of what I can offer you in a full fitting analysis.

The current adjustable clubs being offered for sale are only done in some companies’ drivers and only allow you to narrowly adjust the lie and face angles in the driver. To play to the best of your ability, you need to be individually fit for the right length, loft, face angle, lie, shaft flex, shaft weight, shaft bend profile, clubhead design, total weight, swingweight, grip type and grip size – and for each of the clubs in your set, not just for two of these limited specifications for only the driver.

Another way to put it is that you are buying a suit and the store can only adjust the pant length in one inch shorter or longer – while leaving the waist, seat, coat, sleeves, and everything else as standard. They call this custom fitting but in no way is it even close to what custom fitting should be about or what custom fitting can really do to help you play to the best of your ability.

Here, let me show you what I can do for you and how I can help.

 

The above three questions and answers are offered by TWGT to help you learn how to talk to golfers to be able to overcome their pre-conceived notions about golf clubs which are planted in their heads by the huge marketing campaigns of the companies that simply offer mass produced, standard made clubs. If you have heard other questions from golfers that you find difficult to answer in a compelling manner, please send us those questions and we will be glad to respond with a scripted answer like these so you can learn how to convince your golfers that professionally custom fit clubs are far superior to standard made clubs bought off the rack.

 

 

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Bend Profile Software Update #2 for 2009 Due in August

We know. We said in previous ETECHreports that we would be working to get the second update for the Bend Profile software finished in July. As the saying goes, “the best laid plans can go awry,” and in the midst of all the projects and things on the company “to-do” list, we finished the second update a little later than we had originally planned.

But to use another old saying, “better late than never.” And along that line, we have completed the data inputs for the second upgrade to the TWGT Shaft Bend Profile software. With final tweaks and technical work being done now, owners of TWGT’s very informative and valuable software program for identifying and comparing the relative stiffness of shafts will be seeing an email containing the link for the latest upgrade very soon.

The second 2009 upgrade will include a large assortment of shafts from Accra, FST, and Aerotech with will swell the total number of different shafts in the software data base to more than 1400 – representing by far the largest single collection of shaft data available anywhere in the entire golf industry for clubmakers to use to help do a better job in shaft fitting for golfers.

 

 

 

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The “How-To” of Professional Clubfitting – First in a Series – Club Length

Over the past several weeks and months, through the TWGT Clubmaker Forum and individual emails, numerous clubmakers have asked us exactly what the procedures are and HOW we make the decisions for what the actual fitting specifications should be. We felt the main benefits of beginning such a series of articles in the ETECHreport would be to not only improve many clubmakers’ fitting process, but to give a dose of confidence to the clubmakers who are on the right track but still may be a little unsure of whether they’re doing things correctly.

This series will run in successive ETECHreport e-newsletters and will cover the subject by fitting parameter. We hope you get a lot from this series that will help you become more accurate and more confident in your fitting process.

 

The How-To of Fitting Club Length

Before getting into the actual procedures and decision making for recommending the best club length for golfers, it is important to start with a number of points related to club length which are important to keep in mind when the time comes to pinpoint each golfer’s actual club lengths:

 

Key Points for Fitting Club Length

• The Longer the Length, the More Difficult the Club will be to Control and the Higher the Off-Center Hit Percentage Will Be.
• Only Golfers with a Later to Very Late Wrist-Cock Release Gain Clubhead Speed from
  Longer Lengths
• An Outside-In Swing Path is the #1 Killer for Recommending Longer Lengths - No Golfer with a Moderate to Significant Outside-In Swing Path Should Ever Play Lengths that are Longer than the Lengths indicated by the Wrist-to-Floor Measurement.
• A Very Aggressive Transition and Tempo is the #2 Killer for Recommending Longer Lengths
• Be VERY Stingy About Fitting Men’s Drivers >44”; Women’s >43”. Make the Golfer EARN a Longer Length Before You Recommend It
  • Smooth Transition, Smooth Tempo, Inside-Out to Square Swing Path, Later Wrist-Cock Release, Better Golf Athletic Ability – If the Golfer Has an Inside-Out to Square Swing Path and any Two of the Others, OK for Longer Length.
    Otherwise, NO.
• Wood Length is FAR More Sensitive to Problems with Longer Lengths Than is Iron Length.
• There are no Rules Which Say the Club to Club Length Increment Has to be 1” for Woods and ½” Between Irons. Higher Loft Clubs Which End Up Longer Are Always Easier to Hit than Lower Loft Clubs at Longer Lengths.

 

Length Fitting Procedures

Obtain the Following Information/Analysis Points About The Golfer

a. Wrist to Floor Measurement

i. Golfer standing comfortably erect in sneakers or flat sole shoes on a hard surface floor, shoulders perfectly level, arms hanging relaxed at the sides.

ii. Measurement taken from the major wrist crease at the base of the left hand for RH playing golfers or the right hand for LH players. Measurement done in inches + any fraction.

iii. Use the Wrist to Floor chart to determine the initial starting length for the driver and 5-iron.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

b. Handicap Index as Indication of Golf Athletic Ability of the Golfer

c. Evaluation of the Golfer’s Downswing Transition as Forceful/Aggressive, Average, or
Smooth/Passive.

d. Evaluation of the Golfer’s Swing Tempo as Quick/Fast, Average, Slow/Smooth

e. Evaluation of the Golfer’s Wrist-Cock Release as Early, Midway, or Late

f. Evaluation of the Golfer’s Swing Path as Outside-In, Square, or Inside-Out

g. Evaluation of the Golfer’s Game Improvement Goal(s)

i. More Distance, Better Accuracy, Better Shot Consistency

 

Length Fitting Logic to Use when Combining all of the Measurements and Swing Evaluation to Determine Length Recommendations:

The better the golfer’s athletic ability and golf athletic ability, the smoother the transition and tempo, the more square to inside-out the swing path, and the more the golfer desires more distance, the longer the length could be without fear of fitting failure. (But not necessarily should be!)

The worse the golfer’s athletic ability and golf athletic ability, the more aggressive, forceful and quick the transition and tempo, the more outside-in the swing path, and the more the golfer desires better accuracy, the more the length should never be longer than the lengths indicated by the Wrist-to-Floor measurement chart to ensure fitting success.

Following is a chart showing the adjustments in length to be made to the initial starting lengths which come from the Wrist-to-Floor measurement chart. The idea is to start with the lengths offered by the Wrist-to-Floor measurement, then look at each golfer and golf swing evaluation factor and combine all of the adjustment amounts per each evaluation factor to come up with the best final length recommendation for the golfer.

Example Golfer #1

• Wrist-to-Floor starting length

– Driver 43.5”

– 5-Iron 38”

• Athletic Ability – Average

• Handicap Index – 14

• Downswing Transition – Average to Slightly Forceful/Aggressive

• Swing Tempo – Average to Slightly Quick/Fast

• Wrist-Cock Release – Midway

• Swing Path – Slightly Outside In (<5°)

• Game Improvement Goal – More Distance with Better Accuracy

 

Final Common Sense Comments on Length Fitting

 

Let’s put one thing to rest right now about clubfitting. There is no such thing as one and only one exact length for any golfer. The same thing is true about many of the other fitting specifications for golf clubs. Not all though – for example, iron/wedge lie is a specification that once you find the exact lie angle that allows the very center of the sole to be the point of contact with the ground at impact, you will want to make the club to have that exact lie angle.

At the same time, please understand we are not talking about picking any specification out of thin air and expecting it to help the golfer. We’re talking about small differences one way or the other from the one specification you do arrive on for many of the fitting specifications for each golfer, not big differences. During this series on the How-To of fitting, we will inform you which fitting specs have to be set with no deviation and which ones have slight tolerances each way that won’t affect the final game improvement outcome for the golfer.

If you use this method here explained for arriving on a final length recommendation, it has to be looked upon with a level of plus or minus tolerance along with an overall sense of common sense judgment. In other words, in our example above, the final length recommendation ended up to be 43.5” for this sample golfer – or ½” less than the initial length indicated by the wrist to floor measurement because there were more “minus” evaluation factors for the golfer than there were “plus” factors.

To have ended up choosing 44” for the golfer would not be enough of a length increase over the calculations from the adjustment factors to cause the golfer any real problems because in this case, this golfer did show he had at least average to slightly better than average abilities from his 14 handicap, and only slight outside in swing path. On the other hand, to allow that final length to go to 44.5” perhaps could get to the point that the golfer ends up with less than the best game improvement for their abilities and swing characteristics. Or, if the golfer had been a 20+ handicap with more than a 5* outside in path, in that case the lack of ability would indicate 43.5” should not be exceeded for the driver length.

In addition, it is VERY IMPORTANT in any aspect of clubfitting to note what the fitting specification was in the golfer’s current or previous club(s). Noting previous specifications the golfer was using helps you determine how much different the new fitting recommendation for the specification will be. It will also tell you if and how much the new fitting specification may be able to improve performance for the golfer AND, it can be used to note if the new fitting specification may have the chance of “going too far” and causing some other shotmaking problems for the golfer.

Using this golfer as an example once more, we did not state the length of the golfer’s previous clubs, but we did state the golfer wanted to increase distance at the same time he wanted to improve accuracy. (Not uncommon for all golfers to want both!) With a midway release, the golfer may start to see a slight drop in clubhead speed if the new recommended driver length were 2”+ less than the length of the previous driver. For golfers with a midway release, some do start to see their clubhead speed change when the length difference gets to be more than 1 inch.

On the other hand, midway release golfers tend not to see such swing speed changes be very much at all, and the resulting accuracy and on center hit improvement that can and typically will come from going as much as 2” shorter in driver length will outweigh the slight loss in distance from the shorter length’s effect on the clubhead speed. And in addition, there are other fitting factors such as loft, shaft, total weight and swingweight (or MOI of he full club) which can and will have their own chance to increase the
golfer’s distance.

Let’s say we did measure this example golfer’s previous driver length and found it to be 46.5”. In that case we might keep the new driver length at 44” and not 43.5”. The reason is because a reduction of 2” to 2.5” in driver length for most golfers, and especially most AVERAGE to LESS SKILLED golfers, is very definitely going to bring about a marked improvement in accuracy and on center shot consistency. Such average to less skilled golfers will typically see real control improvement come when the new length is 1.5” shorter than the former length.

So please, as we offer these segments on the How-To of fitting, please understand that we are going to do our best to always include sections like this in each installment so you will have the chance to learn a little more about the “conditions” or rather, “the exceptions” that have to be kept in mind while coming up with the final fitting specifications.

As always, we welcome your questions by email or phone, or through the TWGT Clubmaker Forum.

 

 

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