Who needs club fitting?

[amishboy51]

This may seem kinda silly, but I was wondering whether a high handicapper is likely to benefit from club fitting. It just seems like a high handicapper's swing must have some pretty big flaws, so is club fitting going to do much? Or should said hi handicapper focus more on improving his swing first?

[asking for a friend ]

[Vinsk]

Tell your friend that club fitting involves some aspects that won’t change, like your height/wrist to floor measurement. And for awhile your strength/flexibility (do you swing hard, what’s your tempo.) it’s not like you’re gonna vastly change your swing in a week. Fitters (good ones) can get an overall idea how you swing. And with today’s technology you can test so many different shafts, lies, you can at least know you’re swinging a club that’s right for you right now. Except for cost, there’s really nothing detrimental in getting fit. Tell you friend to do it before grabbing a set off the shelf.

Edited September 29, 2017 by Vinsk

[WUTiger]

57 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

Tell your friend that club fitting involves some aspects that won’t change, like your height/wrist to floor measurement.

Caution your friend that wrist-floor measurements are only a starting point for estimating best shaft length and lie angle. You have to hit some balls to  find out the ideal combination.

Some things are stabilize quickly for a golfer, such as lie angle. Also, a fitting can give you an idea of what flex shaft you need, how thick a grip, and other things.

As Vinsk says, a good fitter can tell a lot about your swing, and offer you lots of options.

[Joeyvee]

Absolutely it's worthwhile. You try on rental ice skates before you ice skate right? I could use the analogy with all sorts of sports. Why not pay to find out what clubs work for you now? And I hate to break it to you, but your swing is not going to change radically in the next few weeks, months, years, decades. What you end up with will probably work for a long time. 

[Midpack]

You can have a basic fitting for free at many stores. While you'll get a better fit once your swing stabilizes, there's a lot you can determine even while your swing is evolving. You can check your own wrist to floor measurement, and find height/WTF tables online that'll give you a good idea if your outside standard shaft lengths. You can also measure the size of your hands to see if you might need non standard grips, just search for tables. Every Dick's or Golf Galaxy I've been in had a launch monitor, so you can check your clubhead speed which may not change much, though note which clubs your hitting as your speed for a driver should be noticeably higher than a middle iron for example (8-10mph in my case). Only if you're clubspeed is close the threshold between regular and stiff (or senior, X stiff) will you likely need to wait on choosing shaft flex. If you're comfortably in the range of womens, senior, regular, stiff or X stiff you can probably choose shafts. Those are three key variables that you can very easily gauge yourself to give you an idea how much benefit a fitting may provide. That said, you should still get fit IF you plan to buy any clubs IMO.

There are other shaft variables, like kick point, you can't estimate for yourself. And I'd be very cautious about having lie angle modified while your swing is evolving, that can change as your swing develops.

And no club or fitting will fix your bad swings. Even a super game improvement set can't fix many swing defects, though they will help with some off center hits. As some say, for most mid to high handicappers when you have a mishit, it's the Indian at fault more often than the arrow.

Edited September 29, 2017 by Midpack

[amishboy51]

23 hours ago, Vinsk said:

Tell your friend that club fitting involves some aspects that won’t change, like your height/wrist to floor measurement. And for awhile your strength/flexibility (do you swing hard, what’s your tempo.) it’s not like you’re gonna vastly change your swing in a week. Fitters (good ones) can get an overall idea how you swing. And with today’s technology you can test so many different shafts, lies, you can at least know you’re swinging a club that’s right for you right now. Except for cost, there’s really nothing detrimental in getting fit. Tell you friend to do it before grabbing a set off the shelf.

Thanks for the words of wisdom, although I (sorry, my friend ) have been playing for many years, on at least my fourth set of clubs.

22 hours ago, WUTiger said:

Caution your friend that wrist-floor measurements are only a starting point for estimating best shaft length and lie angle. You have to hit some balls to  find out the ideal combination.

Some things are stabilize quickly for a golfer, such as lie angle. Also, a fitting can give you an idea of what flex shaft you need, how thick a grip, and other things.

As Vinsk says, a good fitter can tell a lot about your swing, and offer you lots of options.

Thanks; I guess I just wasn't sure whether a better swing was gonna change my measurements much, but doesn't sound like it (assuming, ever optimistically, that I could learn that better swing ).

8 hours ago, Joeyvee said:

And I hate to break it to you, but your swing is not going to change radically in the next few weeks, months, years, decades. 

Thanks; that's EXACTLY what I was afraid of, but good to know anyway.

[amishboy51]

7 hours ago, Midpack said:

And no club or fitting will fix your bad swings. Even a super game improvement set can't fix many swing defects, though they will help with some off center hits. As some say, for most mid to high handicappers when you have a mishit, it's the Indian at fault more often than the arrow.

Jeez, can't a guy hope for a miracle cure?! 

Thanks.

[WUTiger]

12 hours ago, amishboy51 said:

Thanks; I guess I just wasn't sure whether a better swing was gonna change my measurements much, but doesn't sound  like it (assuming, ever optimistically, that I could learn that better swing ).

Things such as lie angle remain fairly constant once a golfer starts playing regularly. Other things may change as you improve: as your swing muscles develop, you might move from R- to Stiff-flex shafts, or a lower-torque shaft depending on how you come into the ball.

As a higher HDCP player your goal should be: Get clubs that won't hurt your game. This may sound like a negative, but you want clubs that will work for you right now. Shafts not too stiff, not too whippy; driver and FWs with enough loft to get the ball airborne for you, etc. This basic stuff from early fittings makes sure you get some clubs you can actually hit. After that, you have to play and practice to get better.

[chilepepper]

12 hours ago, amishboy51 said:

Jeez, can't a guy hope for a miracle cure?! 

Thanks.

Many have searched for the grail......only the truly worthy will find it

[Jack Watson]

Just get some used clubs that have not been modified or fit to strange specs and it's fine.

no x shafts 

 

 

 

Edited September 30, 2017 by Jack Watson

[amishboy51]

4 hours ago, WUTiger said:

As a higher HDCP player your goal should be: Get clubs that won't hurt your game. This may sound like a negative, but you want clubs that will work for you right now. Shafts not too stiff, not too whippy; driver and FWs with enough loft to get the ball airborne for you, etc. This basic stuff from early fittings makes sure you get some clubs you can actually hit. After that, you have to play and practice to get better.

Thanks for the input. I'm playing now with clubs ( Rocketballz driver and FWs and Mizuno irons) that I bought on eBay about 5 years ago, but I had no idea then about lie, loft, WTF, etc. I might start slowly now and replace just the driver initially.

4 hours ago, Jack Watson said:

Just get some used clubs that have not been modified or fit to strange specs and it's fine.

no x shafts 

 

 

 

Thanks, I've been playing with used clubs that I purchased on eBay about 5 years ago; I don't think they've been modified to strange specs or are x shafts.

[WUTiger]

4 hours ago, amishboy51 said:

Thanks for the input. I'm playing now with clubs ( Rocketballz driver and FWs and Mizuno irons) that I bought on eBay about 5 years ago, but I had no idea then about lie, loft, WTF, etc. I might start slowly now and replace just the driver initially.

A good clubfitter will take baseline data from the clubs you have, and find clubhead/shaft combos that might be better.

The last full fitting I had, the fitter recommended I keep my irons and driver, and replace the FWs, hybrids, and wedges.

If you get a full fitting, you don't have to buy the clubs all at once. Good fitters should give you the notes on the fittings so you can fill in the pieces as $$ become available.

[amishboy51]

20 hours ago, WUTiger said:

A good clubfitter will take baseline data from the clubs you have, and find clubhead/shaft combos that might be better.

The last full fitting I had, the fitter recommended I keep my irons and driver, and replace the FWs, hybrids, and wedges.

If you get a full fitting, you don't have to buy the clubs all at once. Good fitters should give you the notes on the fittings so you can fill in the pieces as $$ become available.

Even better. Thanks!