Why should you need or want custom fit clubs for yourself?
1) You are unique in your physiology, swing style, & sports background.
Simply stated, your body has certain strengths and weaknesses. Each muscle group has different ranges of motion and levels of flexibility. You have your unique way of swinging that is based on your aforementioned physical ability, the sports environment you have been exposed to in your life, and your expression of that a.k.a. your golf swing. Your golf swing generates a certain level of energy at the moment of impact that makes the ball do what it does after impact. Your golf clubs should allow you to swing as naturally as you know how with the least amount of physical compensations to give you the ball flight and performance you desire. In other words, if you have to make your swing or setup fit the club you are using then you are sacrificing your advancement in the game (or slowing it down tremendously).
2) Golf clubs that are pre-built (off the "rack") are generally made in an overseas assembly line by non-golfers to maximize profit.
Most golf clubs are made today the same way (and sometimes in the same assembly line as) many of the other mass produced items we consume. Each company makes its own assumptions about who the "average" golfer is and how he or she swings and builds a club according to those assumptions (Which begs the question, do you fit their assumptions?). Once the assumptions are made then clubs are built as cheaply and as quickly as they can be to maximize profits. Where can you find the least expensive assembly line labor in the world?....That is where most of the clubs are built.
3) There is NO agency or organization in the world that QUALITY tests golf equipment!
Let's say that you did happen to be lucky enough to fit to some company's golf equipment standards perfectly....the set you buy would not be matched for performance. If I had a penny for all the golfers who told me that they had a great set but could only hit certain clubs within that set....or that certain clubs performed dramatically different than others (that were supposed to be matched), I could retire today. The reality is that there are no industry standards for performance, quality or consistency and there is no regulatory testing agency to protect the consumer. Consequently dramatic inconsistencies in the performance and quality of mass assembled and even supposed "custom fit" clubs are evident even with the most expensive clubs. If you want proof of this, go out to your next demo day and hit 2 clubs from the same company that are supposed to be exactly the same....you will see what I am talking about! Talk to any old golfer who has been to company demo's and he/she will tell you that if you find a club that hits well....buy that specific club because you won't be able to get another one like it.
4) All professional golfers have custom fit / custom built golf clubs specifically for their skills and tendencies.....and they don't necessarily need them!
Tiger Woods is so good he could take any set and make them work on any golf course. He gets fit for the benefit of maybe one or two shots every other round. A set fit, built and fully matched to minimize the effects of an amatuer golfer's specific misses as they pertain to contact, face angle, head angle of approach as well as the physiological interaction with the weight and feel of a club (or clubs) can literally change that golfer's game. The difference between a well fit set and one that is not is how good the misses are for the golfer and how often they occur. Also, how many of the clubs in the set does the golfer use and is there a noticable dropoff in performance with certain clubs? The driver should have the correct combination of trajectory & spin to compliment the player's strengths based on their playing "philosophy". The long clubs (fairway woods/ metals, hybrids, and long irons should be first and foremost playable off the grass, bridge the distance gaps under the driver to the middle irons and have enough height of trajectory to be able to stop a ball when it lands. The middle irons and short irons should feel & look comfortable to the player as well as help offset any inconsistencies the player might have with regard to contact, trajectory and sidespin. Wedges should be fit to match the player's angle of approach. Wider soles with more bounce for steep swingers (diggers), narrower soles with square edges for shallow swingers (sweepers). The putter should line up where the golfer thinks it is lined up. The loft on the putter should offset the golfer's angle of impact to impart the ideal roll on the ball. Length, weight & feel should give the golfer the proper feedback, confidence and consistency.
The clubs should be made to fit the golfer. The short answer to the description from above is that the clubs should not require that the golfer make compensations in his swing just to make the clubs work.
An average amatuer golfer does not have shot consistency, either with contact or direction. Well fit clubs can soften these inconsistencies and compliment the golfer's inefficiencies as well as increase their confidence.
5) Mass produced clubs are sweat pants.....custom fit & built clubs are the taylored suit!
To sell thousands to millions of clubs worldwide, each company tries to build clubs to work pretty well to o.k. for as many people as they can. They can't build a club that fits one specific person too well because that sacrifices how well the club will fit another. The average company assumes the "average" golfer to be a male, somewhere between 25 - 65 years of age who has trouble with the driver slicing and can only hit it between 175 - 220 yards. This golfer is probably assumed to be in the 5' 10" height range and somewhere in the 210 pound weight range. My question is how many golfers fit this description? And then how many hit the ball the same way? Let's say that there are millions of golfers that fit this description....how many ways are there to slice a ball? I can tell you from my instructional experience that are many, many ways to slice a ball! A properly fit, properly built club will not only specifically fit the golfer for physiology and swing mechanics, but will offset his / her specific ball spin / trajectory / and contact tendencies.
How should your clubs be built? And how should they be built to help compensate for your errors?
That answer will follow this article.
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