The Golf Club Loft / Lie Gauge – A Golfer’s Best Friend!!
Measurements with a golf club loft / lie gauge can help golfers shoot lower scores!
One of the very first purchases I made for my golf club shop was a Golfworks Loft / Lie measurement gauge. At the time, I expected I would only use this for measuring the specs of irons and putters.
But boy, was I not aware of the many valuable uses for this gauge. It is one of the most important tools in my club fitting and club making shop. Here are all of the uses that I have found for this gauge – most of which can directly provide information to help golfers improve their games!
1. The most basic use of the gauge is to measure the lofts and lie angles of irons. At the first level this is important to learn if there are any issues with lofts and lies – for example, iron lofts might need to be adjusted to get the correct distance gaps between clubs, and lie angles may need to be adjusted based on dynamic lie angle testing with golfers.
The next level of importance for irons is to be sure that component iron heads are at the loft and lie angles expected. And, when bending irons to get to proper lofts and lies, measuring the final values to be sure the clubs are set up right for golfers.
2. Next is measuring the lofts and face angles of drivers. This is something that is important for almost every golfer I see. Many play with drivers that do not have the "advertised" loft, and often the face angles of drivers are way more open than the golfer needs. Measuring driver loft and face angle has become the first measurement I make when a golfer does a driver fitting with me.
3. Measuring putter loft and lie angle – and adjusting these as necessary – is also very important to help golfers putt as well as possible. Many times – without a golfer knowing about it – a putter has too much loft, and so when the golfer putts the ball will not roll with topspin as it should. Most golfers need putters with a loft of about 2 degrees – I often see putters with 4 degrees of loft, and have seen one that had 7 degrees of loft!
4. Measuring putter loft and lie is also critically important so that I can make putting stroke measurements with the SAM PuttLab. Loft and lie are inputs to the SAM system, and getting these right is important to getting the best results from SAM PuttLab measurements.
5. Finally, I can actually use the loft / lie gauge to assemble a putter with a double-bend putter shaft correctly. These shafts are a little tricky to get oriented correctly in putters, but setting up the putter and shaft in this gauge makes this a snap to get right.
Just about every day I use my loft / lie gauge to make measurements to help golfers play their best golf. How good is that!
The Fit Is IT!!
Tony
