American Golf Custom Fitting Problem

LionForest · August 16, 2015

My brother and I bought a set of Ping G25 from American Golf plus extras coming to £1000. Before we bought them we had a guy take us to the range to try them out. His method of custom fitting analysis was to put tape on the head and check where the bottom was hitting the ground, likewise where the ball was hitting the face. It came up pretty level and accurate. So he convinced us both that custom fitting wasnt necessary. I am 6'2 and my brother is 5'8 and I know I have very long limbs. Now, with my 20+ years experience in Ice Hockey I fully understand the science between hand position and the lie of the blade/head. Anyone is able to place their hands on a club in a position to make the club head flush to the floor. This is obviously what my brother and I did when first using these clubs and therefore hit the balls nicely. My question is, is this guy from American Golf talking nonsense and trying to convince us that these clubs are either one size fits all or we are a very rare case of picking up a set of professional clubs and they coincidently fit perfectly? I did return six weeks later to ask him about is theory as to why we shouldn't have them fitted and he just fobbed me off saying about the tape test and that the lie is fine.

**TimS65** · August 16, 2015

Depends on your swings. If you were swinging with your normal swings then what he did was about right. If you "adjusted" your swing yourself to take account of the lie then he didn't. Theoretically your dynamic swing should be more accurate as there will be a tendency for you to create your own dynamic swing plane during the swing. But if you are just starting out then your swing may be too changeable to give an accurate lie.

The problem with big box companies like AG is some stores have good fitters and some don't - its a bit pot luck, and difficult for us high handicappers to identify.

**SavvySwede** · August 16, 2015

That is a pretty standard lie angle test, sounds like your lie angles should be pretty good. Though he should have done the same test on your old clubs and compared the specs to make sure. Swing speed measurement should have been done as well.

**newtogolf** · August 16, 2015

My brother and I bought a set of Ping G25 from American Golf plus extras coming to £1000.

Before we bought them we had a guy take us to the range to try them out. His method of custom fitting analysis was to put tape on the head and check where the bottom was hitting the ground, likewise where the ball was hitting the face. It came up pretty level and accurate. So he convinced us both that custom fitting wasnt necessary.

I am 6'2 and my brother is 5'8 and I know I have very long limbs. Now, with my 20+ years experience in Ice Hockey I fully understand the science between hand position and the lie of the blade/head. Anyone is able to place their hands on a club in a position to make the club head flush to the floor. This is obviously what my brother and I did when first using these clubs and therefore hit the balls nicely.

My question is, is this guy from American Golf talking nonsense and trying to convince us that these clubs are either one size fits all or we are a very rare case of picking up a set of professional clubs and they coincidently fit perfectly?

I did return six weeks later to ask him about is theory as to why we shouldn't have them fitted and he just fobbed me off saying about the tape test and that the lie is fine.

If you and your brother adjusted your stance to ensure the club head was flush to the floor you masked any possible results from the lie board test.

Were you both standing at your normal height when addressing the ball? Were your arms hanging down perpendicular to the ground? It's like holding in your stomach in while they measure your waist when getting fit for pants and then being surprised the pants fit a bit snug.

LionForest · August 16, 2015

I think we have similar stances and therefore have different hands placements. I thought custom fitting was supposed to adjust the shaft length in order for me to have a consistent hand placement across the irons. Maybe I am fitted to the clubs however surely someone 4 inches smaller than me would compensate by having extra shaft handle above their placed hands. If we both held the club in the same places then either the lie would be wrong or one of us would be standing in an unorthodox stance. (Too upright/downright) Surely there is a standard hand placement on a club taking into account types of shots i.e. Further down the shaft for tiny chips onto greens.

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American Golf Custom Fitting Problem

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