Heartbreaking Golf Club Stories

Golfers often do not know how poorly their golf clubs fit their games.

by Paul Stuart Iddon under CC BY  with WPSEOPix

 

 

This blog post could not wait until Monday, my usual time for writing posts.  There are two golfers I am working with who have some challenges with their present golf clubs.  Here are the two stories:

• The first golfer has an older set of clubs that he has played with a long time.  They are the heaviest irons – in terms of swingweight and MOI – that I have ever measured.  He has a good swing and is fairly strong.  He has problems hitting the ball to the right – no surprise since the clubs are so heavy. They are probably also about 1-1/2 inches too long for him.  In his case, he definitely wants to move forward and find a new set of irons that can work for him.  He sent me 2 of his present irons, and I cut them down by 1-1/2 inches back to standard length.  He will practice with these on the range for a few days – because they will feel hugely different to him than his present clubs.  "Someone" built these irons for him and did him no favors.  

• The second golfer was a player I worked with this morning.  He just bought a beautiful new set of OEM irons, was "fitted" for them at a golf store.  He said that he was told that he had an 87 mph 6 iron swing speed, and that S300 flex iron shafts would be good for him.  The irons were bent upright by 2 degrees as a result of the "fitting."  He said he was having problems hitting shots left so we did some additional lie testing.  It turned out the lie angles on the clubs are pretty good for him.  He noted that when he hits less than full shots he does not hit the ball left, it is only when he hits full shots that he tends to hit shots to the left.  My assessment is that the shafts are too stiff for him and so he is "leaning" on his shots to get the distances he used to get with his older clubs.  He spent about $1,000 for the new irons, probably more than he has ever paid for a set of clubs.  I do not know if he will come back to work with me on getting his clubs to work for him – but I hope he does.

At one level it tears me up inside when I work with folks like these two.  Because they love golf, want to play well, but have not been getting the right information and help.  At another level, though, I have great respect for them taking the leap to find out what can be done to get clubs in their hands that truly fit them.  I am rooting for both of them – they deserve to play the golf they dream they can play!

The Fit Is IT!!

Tony