Should Your Club Be Customized to Fit You?
Callaway Golf Custom Fitting for Clubs, image: callawaygolf.com
Walk down the line at the driving range of a PGA tournament some time. There’s Dustin Johnson. He’s 6 feet, 4 inches tall and would not look out of place in an NBA backcourt. There’s Justin Thomas. He’s 5 feet, 10 inches tall, weighs 155 pounds and would not look out of place in the local high school production of The Music Man. If you are at a European Tour event, you would see Jbé Kruger who uses every bit of the yardstick to stand 5 feet, 5 1/3 inches tall. You could see Andrew Johnston. He’s so big they just call him “Beef.”
It is obvious that you can be any size or shape and play great golf. Of course, average everyday golfers come in all sizes and shapes too. Yet golf clubs are all sold in standard sizes and weights as if one size should fit all.
Imagine that you took a rental car to that professional tournament. What if the seats did not adjust and you had to drive the vehicle from only one position? You could still drive the car, but if you are taller or shorter than the average person, it is unlikely that you will be able to control the vehicle as well as if your feet could comfortably reach the pedals. Golf clubs work the same way. The game can still be played by anyone with standardized clubs built for everyone, but once you progress in the sport enough to consider yourself as having “game,” you should consider having your clubs custom fitted.
What Does a Club Fitter Do?
The task of an expert club fitter is to identify and provide the proper equipment for your golf swing. A session with a club fitter is not the time to work on swing technique, but a consultation with a fitter on your swing flaws can suggest a change in equipment. For example, do you find your iron shots hanging out to the right even on clean hits? The problem may be that your shafts are too stiff to allow the club face to square itself at impact. Are you hitting too many snap hooks? Your clubs may be too light to swing with the proper tempo, and you are swinging too fast without realizing it.
A club fitter will suggest clubs that match your body type. Simply using clubs that are an inch longer than standard can address the problem of having your hands too low at address. Your body type will determine such club factors as lie and loft to return the club to the proper hitting position at the bottom of the swing.
Club Fitting at Titleist Test Facility, image: pga.com
Club manufacturers are aware of the primal importance of swingweight and club loft which is why golf clubs are now available with adjustable lofts and weights that can be swapped in and out of club heads. Why leave those calculations to chance? An expert club fitter using a launch monitor can prescribe exactly the right clubs for your game before you buy. A session with an experienced fitter, such as the staff at the Golfballs.com Retail Center, takes less than an hour and you will walk out knowing the exact shaft flex, swingweight, and length of clubs you should be using.
You may be among the golfers who don’t believe your golf game is good enough to bother with custom fitting your sticks. Consider whether it is those sticks that are causing the poor scores? What came first, the bad game or the bad equipment? It only takes an hour to find out, and you could walk away a totally new golfer.
