Custom Golf Clubs: How To
Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Every golfer’s physical capability and swing is distinctive. Many of today’s best golf clubs can be custom fit for lie angle, shaft type and length, grip type and size. Getting golf clubs custom fitted is easy, involving a few physical measurements and some knowledge of your game. This custom golf club has become more than a fad that even not so professional golfers test its waters. You might think that going out and buying some new, fancy, hybrid golf clubs will fix your game, but that won’t help as much as having your clubs custom fitted.
The purpose of a custom golf club us is to make sure that the club is nice and square when you strike the ball, given a proper swing.
To custom fit your golf club sets, you need to know: your gender (male or female); your height in your stockings or socks; the distance from your wrist (where it bends) to the floor with your shoes off; your age; your handicap or skill level; how fast you swing a golf club; what club you use at the 150 yard marker.
Gender is used to put you into the correct fitting scale for custom golf clubs. The golf industry uses different definitions of “standard length” for men and women.
Your height and the distance in inches from your wrist to the floor are used together to determine the length of a custom golf club that is appropriate for you. Clubs can range from -3 inch to plus 1 inch. A tall person with long arms can very easily require shorter clubs than an average height person with short arms. About 80 percent of golfers are standard length.
Your age, handicap (if you happen to have one), self-assessed skill level, estimated golf swing speed and club you use at the 150 yard marker are all combined to determined the custom golf club’s shaft flex that is appropriate for you.
Custom fitting can fix your slice. If you slice the ball it means that the toe of the club is leading into the ball which opens the face of the club. That may be down to a swing problem, but another possible cause is that the club flatter than it should be. So as part of the custom fitting process you can make the custom golf club more upright to help with this. This will mean that the toe of the club will be slightly off the ground at address to compensate.
There are different methods of fitting according to custom golf club manufacturers but ultimately they are all trying to improve your game. To begin with simple measurements such as wrist-to-floor, height and hand size are taken and will point you to the right size club and at what angle it should be to the ground. Then you will take a club and hit some balls. One method is to place impact tape on the bottom of the custom golf club and an impact board on the floor.
As you hit the ball the board will leave a mark on the tape showing whether the heel or the toe of the custom golf club is striking the floor first. The resulting mark will show whether the club face needs to be flatter or more upright. After this, things get trickier. Analysis equipment can measure everything from your club speed to the side spin of the ball so that you can get maximum distance from your shot. You can also measure the launch angle of the ball, how much backspin you generate and impact efficiency – all which affect distance. The angle in which the custom golf club approaches the ball and the sidespin of it can help fix your game too.
Rather than bringing down your old clubs, it might be better to start from scratch. It is a huge mistake to think that custom fit clubs are only for those special, good golfers. Anyone can benefit. That said, if you plan to upgrade a new set of clubs with the same manufacturer they may be able to adjust your old set to become custom golf clubs.
Lastly, custom fitting is often free of charge. But it is usually on the condition that you buy some clubs once you’ve been fitted. So it really depends on what your budget is. If you’re prepared to buy a new set of clubs it’s definitely worth getting fitted.
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