Changing Club Length Question

[saevel25]

Not sure if there are any club fitters on the forum, or someone who knows more about this than I do. 

If you take a club that is 38" long with a 60 deg lie angle. Lets say you chop off 1/4th of an inch. Does the golfer change his set up or does he maintain his set up and now the club is 2/3rds of a degree? 

If I go get new irons.  I am not a big fan of making them longer. So might go with getting the clubs adjusted by 1/4 or 1/2 an inch. 

 

[WUTiger]

@saevel25,

If you trim the club shaft, you will flatten the lie.

To determine what lie angle you need, a fitter would put tape on the sole of your club and have you hit shots off a lie board. For a right-handed golfer, marks toward the heel would indicate the lie is too upright. Marks toward the toe would indicate the lie is too flat.

As far as the golfer changing the set-up or hitting a shot that's 2/3° of a degree flatter, the golfer will probably end up hitting a shot with a flatter impact point. According to GolfWorks fitters, the lie angle sets in fairly quickly on golfers, and doesn't usually change. I'm an exception: about 10 years ago, I redid my swing to get away from a near-slouching to a more upright stance. I went from lie angle about 2° flat to one that's standard for Callaway and TaylorMade, and about 0.75° flat for Ping.

To get a good fit, you need to actually hit shots on a lie board. Only taking a static measure at address does not take into account how the club interacts with the turf on impact. Also, players with more clubhead speed will tend to have more toe down (shaft flexing downward and flattening the lie slightly). The Mizuno Shaft Optimizer accounts for toe down as a factor in determining your Swing DNA and short list of recommended shafts.

Caution: Wrist-to-floor and finger-to-floor measurements are only useful in getting a rough estimate of what shaft length you might need. It does not take into account your stance or spinal posture.

This link to clubfitter Brent Davis gives a good overview of what's involved.
http://brentdavisgolf.blogspot.com/2010/09/importance-of-lie-angle.html 

[saevel25]

If you trim the club shaft, you will flatten the lie.

So when they mean make it flatter is that because they are assuming the clubhead doesn't change position, but you will adjust your posture? 

If I make the pivot point the hands, meaning the golfer doesn't change his posture then the angle between the club and the ground increases.

If I make the pivot point the ground, then the golfer changes his posture and the angle of the club with the ground decreases because the handle changes. 

So, does the golf industry just assume the golfer will adjust to the club by bending over more? 

So lets say I need to make a club more upright, does that mean I take angle off or add angle to the lie? 
 

Edited October 16, 2015 by saevel25

[vangator]

I'm a club building hobbyist.  I have my woodworking shop also setup for building clubs.  With that as a prelude, cutting 1/4 inch from the club will hardly be noticeable. 

You can make your own lie board with a piece of thin plywood (luan).  Put a couple of pieces of masking tape on the bottom of your iron.  Take your normal swing striking the board.  If the mark on the tape is in the middle of the sole, your lie is good.  If it is more toward the toe or heel, you should have your lie adjusted.  This implies that your clubs are the proper length.