What If There Was No Club Fitting as We Now Know It?

[WUTiger]

On 2/10/2018 at 5:21 PM, Patch said:

Some folks can play quite well with "off the rack" clubs. It's as simple as that. Standard lie, and standard length. 

My brother is 5-foot-10 and has a 34" sleeve length. The Ping fitter told him "golf clubs are made for guys like you." Main adjustment he got was non-stock shafts in his driver and hybrid.

Also, the old-time pre-1990s clubfitters could look at a person's swing and get a good idea of what they needed. Remember, sole tape to check lie angle and hard-hosel test irons (you couldn't take a wrench and swap out shafts) were available.

Clubfitters for decades have known about the principles of flighting shafts. Many pre-1990 clubfitters would softstep the shafts of 2i and 3i without telling their customers. Today, the PX flighted shafts have a lightly softer flex in long irons to help with launch, and a slightly firmer flex in short irons to prevent ballooning. PX sends these shafts all tipped and ready to go, fitter just has to insert and butt-trim to length. The old clubfitters could take a stock True Temper shaft and adjust it to A through X flexes just by initial tip trimming. But, this took more time and craft skill.

If an old-time clubfitter was working with you for the first time, it would take more time due to trial and error. Today, a properly trained fitter can move much faster with you by using launch monitors.

And, although pre-1990 skilled clubfitters had acquired quite a bit of scientific expertise, golfers saw clubfitting as more an art - you were going to see Merlin who could wave his wand and help you put your driver shots back in the fairway.

Pre-1990 golfers didn't read about launch monitors, angle of attack, and the 15 varieties of True Temper steel shafts for irons. So, clubfitters got to deal with clients who had less mental clutter. By mental clutter, I mean a vague understanding of the fitting process, and enough sensory tidbits from golf hardware ads to know what they thought they wanted - but not what they needed.

Edited February 19, 2018 by WUTiger
Remove double-load of photo.

[MarvChamp]

A delightful post, @WUTiger!