The 12 Myths (club fitting) That Could Wreck Your Game.

[Midpack]

I'm sure some of you have seen this, it may have already appeared here, but I didn't find it using search. The full PDF is 36 pages. You may disagree, so FWIW.

http://wishongolf.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/New-12Myths-PDF-2014.pdf

The 12 Myths

1. Modern Golf Clubs Hit the Ball Farther
2. The Lower the Loft on Your Driver, The Farther the Ball will Go
3. You Can’t Go Wrong if you Stick with Well Known Brand Name Clubs
4. Your New Driver has a Larger Sweet Spot
5. When I Buy a Club with an S-Flex Shaft I Know I am Getting a Stiff Flex
6. The Faster You Swing, The Stiffer Your Shaft Should Be
7. The Longer the Length of the Driver, The Farther You’ll Hit the Ball
8. My Clubs are Just Like the Ones the Pros Use
9. Women’s Clubs are Designed for Women Golfers
10. I am not a Good Enough Golfer for Custom Fit Clubs to Matter
11. I’ll Just Cut Down Some Clubs for my Kid; That’s Good Enough
12. I was Custom Fit at the Big Golf Store (or Pro Shop or Online)

[ERLoft]

I just started to check this out and have to say I'm skeptical about this guy partway through Myth #1.  He doesn't take into account dynamic loft, redistributed weight and club forgiveness when he claims that today's 7 iron is the same as a 4 or 5 iron from 30-50 years ago.  Today's game improvement 7 irons certain do go farther - on a par with two clubs more from a couple of decades back, sure.  However, the flight apex, decent angle and spin rate of today's 7 iron is vastly different than the 5 iron from that era.  Given the author's obvious knowledge of the game and it's equipment, neglecting to mention those indicates a willful bias on his part to me.

That being said, he's spot on for Myth #2... except that he fails to mention how much driver spin affects carry and distance, which again is a major factor overall.

I'm going to read through the whole thing, but I'm definitely bringing along a lot of grains of salt for the read.

[Midpack]

I honestly appreciate the insight, on other threads too. Wishon sounded very factual to me, but that may be due to unfounded biases from my 15+ year absence from golf. What's changed has been surprising to me. Thanks...

[Hacker James]

There may be some bias in some of Tom's thinking, but only due to his years of experience and to some extent his preponderance to "fly in the face" of some of the big manufactures and some of their claims that have proven to be questionable. His articles on adjustable drivers back up fairly conclusively his reasonings. It is obvious that he favors bonded heads over the adjustables, but he also has produced them and from what he said, he was one of the pioneers in the technology. Bottom line,they are his opinions and he is convinced they are valid. His biggest thing is to Get Fitted.

[Shindig]

5 hours ago, Midpack said:

I honestly appreciate the insight, on other threads too. Wishon sounded very factual to me, but that may be due to unfounded biases from my 15+ year absence from golf. What's changed has been surprising to me. Thanks...

Have you read Ralph Maltby on fitting topics?

[Midpack]

10 minutes ago, Shindig said:

Have you read Ralph Maltby on fitting topics?

No, but I'll look for it. I found a book, is that what you're referring to? Thanks!

Edited June 13, 2017 by Midpack

[Shindig]

On 6/13/2017 at 3:25 PM, Midpack said:

No, but I'll look for it. I found a book, is that what you're referring to? Thanks!

There are books and also http://ralphmaltby.com/ has articles.  GolfWorks.com has some of his articles / MPF postings too.

[Buckeyebowman]

Well, when you design an iron that is basically the same length and loft of an old, "back in the day" 5 iron, and stick a 7 on it what would you expect the marketing mavens to say? But of course it wasn't that sudden, it was incremental. First the 6 iron crept into 5 iron territory. Then, as lengths increased and loft decreased, along came the 7. The modern day 7 iron plays about what an old, "back in the day" 5 1/2 iron would.

The question Wishon asks that is thought provoking is why is it, with all the "game improvement" features built into clubs these days, why have handicaps indices not declined significantly?!

And why are there hybrids and gap wedges now? The hybrids came first because long irons became impossible to hit for most golfers. I finally dumped my 2 iron when it basically became a "Driving Iron" or a 0 iron! I don't carry an iron club lower in number than a 6 any more!

And gap wedges? Where did the gap come from? It came from the PW following the 9 iron in stronger loft. But, they couldn't do that with the SW or you couldn't get out of the sand with it! So, there was suddenly a 10 degree "gap" between the PW and SW! Thus, the gap wedge.