Fitting Session at Conway Golf Center

[theropod]

All, Yesterday I drove down to Conway. Arkansas, about 90 miles from home, for a visit to the Conway Golf Center. What a place! My main intent was to check out the club fitting they offer. I ended up going for it, with the intent to just see what I needed. I was stunned by the technology they employ. We started with a measuring of my body to see what I really needed in club length. To my surprise I needed a +1/4 shaft, and I'd been choking down on clubs in opposition to what I should do. They tested every aspect of my swing, and I release far too much and far too early. Everything else seemed to be pretty much good to go, except for a tendency to hit a little off the toe. One thing I suspected that did turn out to be true was that I need a flexible shaft, and my Titlest driver has a very stiff one. We tried several different drivers and shafts with the computer analyzing my drives. It came down to the adjustable Callaway and an Adams Speedline Fast 12. At that point we went out to the range and hit a bucket of balls switching back and forth between the two. I haven't hit balls that far in nearly 30 years, and both clubs returned good straight drives with little effort. I settled on the Adams driver. I picked it because it just "felt" better. It fell into the "groove" on my downswing and I hit more of the balls straighter. I experimented with draw and fade with each club and the Adams seemed to be more predictable than the Callaway. One of the drives with the Adams sailed almost 280 in the air, but I really cranked it up on that one. I'm going back down there in a month or so and do some more work with my irons. It seems the carbon fiber shafted irons from a couple makers might fit me best, but we're gonna work on that selection then. The fitting can be redone and refined for a year for the $50 fee. I call that a bargain! I'm also going to set up a lesson plan, and my fitter/instructor Kyle said I only need to work on a couple of mechanical aspects, and with the right clubs he thinks I can get back to very close to where I was almost 30 years ago. He says I'm a little tall on my backswing and that toe heavy contact can be fixed. Mostly he threw me a freebie and told me that holding my release longer will get me a lot more power and control, and that simply keeping my arms straighter through impact will be a start. I can't wait to get on a course with my buds and show off my cool new driver. I suspect I won't get as much practice getting out from behind the trees as I have been. I may take me a year, but I plan on having a complete new set of clubs and some pro help to get me back to a half way respectable game. I have a great deal of respect for the CGC and the fact that they care more about improving my game than pushing me towards expensive gear. The Callaway was almost $150 more than the Adams, which was $199. Roger

[Willie Malay]

Next time I head to the Little Red to wrestle with trout I'll stop in. Thanks!!