DocParty

Kind of hard for anyone to really know. Everyone's swing and physical characteristics are different not to mention their mental state and confidence level. What have you hit in the past? FW Woods? If so how happy were you with them? Hybrids? If so how happy were you with them? The clubs you are talking about won't fix anything unless you have a swing that allows you the best possible contact with the ball. If you hit 'perfect' shots with each you'd probably have as much trouble choosing as we would for you. Confidence, a grooved swing and great smooth easy peasy contact with the ball is all it takes with either. You don't have to be 20 or 120 to hit either club well. You just need confidence in the club and the basic ability to swing and hit the ball square on the face. The club does most of the hard work. Doc

Understood completely. After 4 different attempts, grip solvent, mineral spirits, regular rubbing alcohol and the 95% rubbing alcohol I finally tried a paint remover called Goo Gone and it worked in 30 seconds. Thanks much for all the advice. I have never seen any set of clubs in my 65 years of living with such sticky stuff on them. I would really love to have known what it was. The inside of the bag was also coated in it. Just really sticky like the back of a bumper sticker before you put it on. Cya

Thanks much to all. Still have no idea what it was but I've gotten it off with all of your help.

Doesn't this really come down to how well you perform with any given shaft? I'd hesitate to put myself in a category that I have not been able to prove myself with. I'm 65 and use stiff shafts. I can hit a nice draw most of the times and any miss hit is my fault not the clubs fault. I'd try whatever it is you are wondering about at any place that they professionally fit clubs. They'll have a complete set that they should be able to put together a club with the loft/lie/shaft for you to hit in just a few minutes. Hit a dozen balls with it and adjust from there. Just don't fall into the box that everyone says you should be in. Each golfer really does have a unique swing set and no two are exactly alike. Unless you are a touring pro where you can hit anyone's club pretty darn well, weekend warriors need things to be tuned in a bit more and the equipment and swing made less complicated.

Looking for a site where I can find what the hosel size is for any club. Irons, FW Woods, Drivers, Hybrids. By name of Mfg and model of club. I can't seem to find anything when I search on google. I am only interested in knowing what the tip size is required for a specific head so I can buy the right shaft and do not want to guess and drill it wrong if I cannot tell by looking at the head. Any help?

There is no such thing as wedge flex. It's a gimmick and nothing else. Shafts are still the same flexes they used to be. Some have many different labels but there is no wedge flex. S 200 S 300 S400 and on and on I spoke with my supplier True Temper and they were the ones that told me there was no wedge flex. Your flex is not for your club your flex should be for your swing. Just because you are older or younger does not in its self tell you which you should use. I'm 65 and use a stiff on my 5 wood so I can produce a consistent slight draw. My swing speed is only 85 to 87.

Will try the goo stuff first. I'm concerned about anything too 'hot' that might take the paint off the shafts? Any experience in using it on painted shafts?

Yes. It seems that everything I use does a great job. then in a few seconds after I quit cleaning and rubbing it, the tackiness comes back. I'm lost. I have it 80% removed but it just keeps coming back albeit with less tackiness. I'll try goo gone tomorrow but am stumped as to what this stuff is. Will it hurt the finish or paint of a golf club shaft? Even the back of the iron heads have this stuff on it and it's cleaned off easier on the heads with a wire golf cleaning brush and some dish-washing liquid and some comet. Maybe my steamer will help? I have a small one for tools and small items.

Have a set of La Jolla clubs to re-grip. They are in perfect shape, just old, and have been sitting in a bag with the rain hood zipped up. I took one out and re-gripped it and then as usual went on to clean the head and then the shaft. I cannot get the shaft clean. It remains sticky/tacky. I used typical grip solvent which always has worked for me. Then some grip wipes, with bleach in them. Then some Simple Green, 95% rubbing alcohol. They all feel slick as cat poop on linoleum as soon as I stop cleaning, but less than 1 minute later, they are tacky again. I'm lost? Any of you ever experience this? Feels just like the sticky side of painters tape or tree sap. Cya Doc

Well my problem is the opposite. I can hit my 3-5-7 woods out of the thick rough or the good rough or any thick grass or long fairway grass. Flies like a bullet, goes straight, and looks great. I can even stick a greet from 180 with my 5 wood. But I cannot for the life of me hit any of these off of a tee. I have tried every height known to man. From down even with the ground to as much as an inch higher than the ground. I just can't do it. I toss the ball in the thick grass around the tee box, give it as swat and it flies right and for my age I get adequate distance. I stuck a green from @ 160 today with my 5 wood. Anyone ever have this problem, not being able to hit a 3-5-7 wood off a tee?

My 2 cents worth: Really depends as much or more on your swing. Speed/Tempo. Simply changing a shaft or loft or grip won't help at all unless you can stand there and say you have a good swing and a consistent one. Too many times customers come in and claim a club was not built to some set of specs they asked for. I get the specs, check the club and it's as close to being on target as a person could determine without taking it apart and weighing each component and checking the actual flex of the shaft. A real fitting would have saved them a lot of frustration. In fact they many not have needed a new set in the first place. Too stiff of a shaft is not as much of a problem as too much flex in a shaft. The head won't stay open as noted by other posters because of the stiffer shaft. A shaft that has too much flex for your swing speed will. Plus the torque rating of the shaft may allow it to twist clockwise and your position of the hands may affect this, but being stiffer won't give you an open face, only your swing will or the torque of the shaft. Get a shaft with 3 or so in torque if you can afford it. If not, stay under 5 no matter what. Sometimes loft will affect your game more than the shaft since there are many different lofts and only 3 shaft flexes. Swing-proper grip (both with your hands and the diameter of the actual grip), shaft and last the loft of the driver head. You'd be surprised how many golfers use too small of a grip 'just because they were sold them'. The older you get the harder it is to grip and hold a club consistently through an 18 hole round. Mid size may help. But in the beginning, get the swing down pat and if you do, you'll be able to hit a multitude of clubs properly. Remember, the average weekend golfer, based on USGA and PGA records shoot a 97 (after figuring slope and such) and their Tee Shots average 220-230.

You have as good of a club for a high handicapper as there is. Other than having the correct grip for your hands (may need a mid or jumbo or arthritic if you are older) and the right shaft which should not affect you ability to hit the ball straight; you may just have to go get a couple of lessons? Cya

They may be a good big box store set but all I have seen with them is hosel problems with the woods and hybrids. They have a short hosel with the ones I have seen/repaired. Shafts break, possibly due to a glue dam when manufactured. Poor swing is a factor as well. Why people do not take some lessons every year is beyond me. I don't give them so I have no dog is this hunt. Most people have no idea what hits good or not for someone else so it's a hunt and peck to determine what's best for a specific person. Save yourself some money and time and become a better golfer by: Get some instruction if you can afford it, it's priceless. But be very careful, lots of instructors will just give you enough to string you along for as long as they can. Ask your friends for a referral. Learn to put and pitch/chip at any golf course (it's free), and remember you don't have to have a wedge. Learn to hit the green from your 'best' distance, not what others say you should be hitting, distance wise. You can always chip or pitch with a 9 iron or a higher lofted hybrid. Many pros have done the same especially in the fluff. Learn to hit your 9 iron consistently (meaning a reasonable distance "for you" and within a 10 yard radius of the target). Once you have accomplished this, move to your eight, then 7, then on and on and on. Don't ever forget the 38-24 rule. It was true 70 years ago and it's still true today. 'the average weekend golfer/hacker, will never be able to hit a golf club that is longer than 38" or with less loft than 24 degrees 'consistently'. Please look up the word consistently, I did not say 100% of the time but try for 90% before moving on to the next club and never quit practicing with the ones you have mastered. So, master the putter through 5 iron (for some the 5 will be a problem) and then find a good hybrid or #5 fairway wood, plus a 13 degree or more loft driver. Lastly, never forget that most fitters use cookie cutter methods to determine the length of your clubs. They also have a tendency to fit you with what they sell, not what's best for your swing. They are almost always too long and the 1/2" increments that fitters use today has been proven incorrect by groups like "true length technologies". Physics does not lie. Too long is wrong. CYa

Both wrists are painful after the driving range or a game of golf. Right at the wrist where the thumb base is. Hurts too much to turn a door knob sometimes. Don't know what it might be, but I feel for you.

I'm a fitter and I can assure you that the name brand you are hitting is the least important part of your golf game, without exception. Now if you are a touring Pro, PGA card holding club pro or employee, college golf team, etc then you may require something different, but even then it's mostly mental. For the vast majority of golfers (95%), the weekend warriors or hackers, it means nothing in reality to their game. First learn to put and pitch for free. Any and every golf club has greens and chipping areas that you can use for free. Start here. Learn to two put without exception and learn to pitch onto the green from 30 yards and closer so that you guarantee yourself a two put, maybe a one put. Half of all the strokes you will have will be on pitching and putting, why would you not practice at least half the time doing this? Once you have 'mastered' this, you can move on to your irons. You only need a few. 9 iron through 6 iron and then go to a hybrid or fairway wood and forget about the driver. Take a lesson or two but not from one of those 'golf industry' instructors that give you just enough to keep you happy for a week and then you have to come back and pay more for something they could have compressed into an hour class. Accept the fact that you very well will never shoot par if you are playing by the 'rules' and on a rated course from the tees that are appropriate for your level of capability. Play it forward in other words. Shoot for mastering bogie golf. Lee Trevino said back in the 70's or early 80's that for a weekend golfer or 'hacker' to shoot a consistent bogie round of golf is equal to a touring pro shooting par. Get your 6 through 9 iron fit to your physical dimensions and capability so that each club swings the same, swing weight, and each grip on the club is of a size that is appropriate. Too many people get standard grips when they need mid or jumbo size. Why? Because the golf system says that's what they should use. Bubba Watson is said to have a Jumbo grip with 10 wraps of tape. So who you going to believe? Golf club mfgr's? Most people probably don't realize that the majority of tour players clubs have been made not by Taylormade or other top brands but instead by Muria in Japan because of their pure flow steel. So believe it or not, no matter how much money you spend you'll never get the same club that a pro uses on tour. Golf clubs have been made for decades with half inch increment differences. True Length Technologies (I believe this is their name) has long proved that the irons a person use should all be the same length for the average player due to a 'sweet spot' they have found each golfer has. It's based on the old 24-38 rule from 70 years ago that says a weekend or casual golfer cannot hit consistently an iron that is longer than 38 inches or with less loft that 24 degrees. The industry has known this for decades and still produces sub-standard sets of clubs for the average weekend golfer. Golf is a 'game', and 95% of golfers will never honestly shoot par golf. They can still enjoy and improve on their game to get the most out of it. If you play once a week, you need to be practicing 2 times a week. If you can't practice, then you can't complain because you have to practice to get better. Understand your limits and enjoy the game. As for clubs other than your irons, try a 5 wood 250-300 cc's. Maybe a 4 or 5 hybrid. Hybrid will get you 170 to 180 yards down the fairway with ease. Most people with a swing can hit a 5 wood 200 or more yards off the tee or off the grass if they are physically capable of creating a good swing which is the foundation of your golf game. If you can hit the ball twice, 200-230 yards, you'll be 400 to 460 yards down the fairway on any par 4. Everything is within reach now. Enjoy the game, that's what it is.

You have not stated, exactly, what is included. The carts themselves are useless. The heads and other components, depending on what year they were produced are the only value and not a lot. I'm a fitter, FORE! Play Golf Smithing and I'd be interested in hearing and seeing what actually is included in each of the carts. Maybe even a link to your ebay store? Depending on what you are asking I may be interested. The new ones have come out and with @ 50 components c ost @ $ 1000.00 to $1500.00. This is a brand new system with the latest irons and drivers from company "x". Thanks Stephen

The way you will know is to take your 6 iron and go and hit a small bucket of balls. Write down every shots results (good/bad/ugly just be brutally honest). Take the 6 iron and this list of results to a fitter, have him check your swing speed, shaft and even more importantly than anyone thinks have him check your grip (not the way you hold the club, the actual grip on the shaft) too many golfers are not using the proper grip on their shafts. are too small, too hard, too old, etc. Bubba Watson notes this as one of the most common mistakes made in club fitting. He uses the jumbo grips with 10 layer of tape under it plus the double sided tape. This fits no industry standard but it fits Bubba's hands so that he is comfortable with his club. Imagine how big his grips are compared to the average golfer. The fitter will check everything from swing weight/over all weight, shaft flex, grip size and condition, club head and condition of it relative to lie/loft for your swing, he may make some adjustments to your lie, replace the grip, replace the shaft, etc. When he is through and you come and pick up the club go hit the same bucket of balls and compare all of the results. The one thing that most golfers don't understand is the actual total distance they should be getting out of a golf club, not carry, total distance. Everyone thinks they ought to hit the ball like a pro. Lee Trevino said it best. For a weekend golfer to shoot bogie golf is like a pro shooting par and we don't do it every time we go out. Some quick research will reveal what pros get and what the average golfer get. Shoot for only what the average golfer gets and be happy. It'll be difficult enough to do that accurately.

I have a small mobile golf club fitting/build/repair business now for 10 years or so and my clientele are handicappers from 18 to 30 (and higher). I am no big name well known old school fitter. I am a data cruncher. I like to study/read/investigate a topic over it's entire life time to see what's really going on and then make my decision as to what I believe is real/unreal. I learn, I do not create theory's. And this ticks off a lot of people in the fitting business at times because it makes the industry seem much simpler for the average golfer and they like the mystique of fitting and building golf clubs. Those that have been around the longest are the ones that yell and scream the most when change is upon them. Some golfers have never taken a lesson, some never will, some will not listen to you when you tell them they need lessons. I do not give lessons. I can set a person up with the basics of a grip/swing/stance, but prefer an instructor to take on the task of giving lessons. I do not like the way the industry gives lessons, they are all over the map, everyone seems to contradict each others methods, so it's really a cluster f%$k out there IMHO. In reality they never tell you that each person has a hidden swing that is natural to them and can be repeated with less difficulty than trying to teach everyone the very same 'everything'. They just won't tell you that because it cuts into their $$$$. When I fit someone, I realize money is more important to most of them than anything else (hence the reason they do not take lessons). I will take their swing speed, let them hit some balls, I use a 7 iron and most others use a 6 iron. I find the 7 iron gets better results 'now' and that's what they are looking for. I'll take measurements and talk to them about what they are shooting (they never tell the truth) and what they hope to shoot (which is never going to happen without lessons) and build one club, just one club. May be a 7 and may be a 6 depending on how well they hit during the fitting. When they hit this newly built (yet quite inexpensive club) they are always amazed. They take easy uniform swings and hit the ball a decent distance but very accurately. Every shot they take is to a different target. No standing up and swatting balls like flies. They find they have much better results, more confidence and if they will continue with this effort, including some lessons, they'll drop at least 10 strokes a round in the first season with a small basic set of clubs. 5 wood (for some a 3 wood), 6-9 irons, and a putter. Sometimes I'll throw in a 7 wood or equal in a hybrid if they are capable of hitting a three wood. I tell them to just go out and practice 3 times a week, hit a ball every minute at the very most. Take aim with every shot. Take their time. Don't spend more than an hour hitting balls off grass or mats. Practice putting and chipping (with the 9 iron) on their own (costs nothing) and in a month come back and give me some sort of an update. I've never seen a person fail to improve that actually did the above. Decades past there was once a move to make all irons the same length (some data cruncher saw something!), but the manufacturers would not have anything to do with it due to $$$$$. Now believe it or not, the newer thoughts in fitting have drifted away from the standard half inch difference in shaft lengths for those of you that have not heard. There are several groups of people (can't name them) that have been running computer programs on swings and have finally come to the realization that there is a happy spot so to speak for each golfer. A length of club that is best for that golfer. This excludes a putter/driver and woods, but includes irons/hybrids. Same length clubs are coming back?. There is an 50 year old or older statement made by the golf industry and fitters that is called the 38/24 rule. It says that the average weekend golfer (not a past/present/future PGA pro, college player, high school player) cannot hit consistently a golf club that is either longer than 38 inches or with a loft less than 24 degrees. If you'll check your clubs you'll find your best clubs fall into this range. It's not magic, it's physics, geometry, forces, gravity, etc that determine what is best for each golfer; not a fitter or instructor. Yet, most fitters and instructors do not know or do not care about this again because of $$$$$. If you could give a person 4 lessons and have them drop 10 strokes off their game it would not profit you as much as giving them 10 lessons and telling them they need to come back every year for a 4 lesson refresher course. Just economics. Yet instructors are where one needs to go to get 'instructions' to improve their swing. So, find a good fitter, get your swing speed verified, get yourself a club built and try it out. You might be surprised what you can do with it. And drop the ego and get a lesson or two?

I'm so old and beat up and broken at 63 I never thought I'd ever get a driver or fairway wood in my hand that I could hit worth a darn. Now mind you, I don't get more than 220/230 or so from the tee or out of the fairway with these old cobra baffler laminate woods. 230 is a really good drive for me with the 2 wood and 170 to 190 is a good strike for me with the 6 wood. I know I'm a short hitter. But every par 5 and every par 4 is actually within range if I do my job. I may have to have a great chip onto the green but the short game is at least 75% of the game of golf anyway. Par 72 has 36 putts allowed and 36 non-putts. I don't shoot par or anywhere near it. But I love the game and enjoy every time I get to go and play. Have had every size wood I believe that has been made but my injuries won't let me get the head speed that is required . These old school woods can be hit off the deck, which is what I prefer on the tee box and right out of the fairway. So the swing and stroke and hit is identical for me whether or not I'm on the tee or in the fairway. Makes it easy. From there I hit a 5-7 hybrid and then a 9 and a wedge. I carry a short stack of clubs because I really don't need the problems that arise with 14 clubs. 7 clubs and a putter is all I really need for any course, if I do my job and produce a good swing. They are heavier. I'm in the process of back weighting my 2 wood with 60 grams of weight to get it closer to the clubs I use and have great success with. I'll know after I try out a Tour Lock weighting system. I own a club fitter/builder/repair/refurbish company in my retirement and it's a mobile unit. I really enjoy working on all the high tech stuff out there but can't hit it. I'm just old and really am happy these hybrids and old school woods are around. In the 70's that's all there was for the most part, persimmon and laminate woods. The metal/wood style like Lynx Predators are as close to the all wood woods that I ever hit. Give it a go and if it works for you like it has for me, why not? It's your game to enjoy.

All depends on the ball being the same, the loft being the same, the shaft being fitted for your swing and the grip on the club fitting your hands. If all is equal, and you can swing the club properly you'll have just as good results with the persimmon as with the metal. Remember having it fitted to you is paramount. Anyone can pick up a golf club and duff it. You have to be properly fitted to convert the horsepower from your body to the transmission that is your shaft and release it to the ball with the greatest COR.

Well this all may be true but the greats from the past, the 50's, 60's and 70's all used persimmon or laminate drivers/woods and they averaged 270 ish. Sure this is less than many of the golfers today but the ball it's self would make up a lot of the distance by it's self. Courses were not as long, they were 'tough'. Golf was not a long hitter wins and it's still not and never will be. Brandt Snedeker (spelling) played a round with old school clubs like these for a test. He shot in the 80's and said he would never do it again. He could not understand how the pros of the past ever scored in the 60's with them as often as they did. And remember today's pros averages are just about what the old pros averages were 40-50 and 60 years ago. You still gotta have a swing to play this game. Bubba Watson said several weeks/months past when asked about which clubs/types were the best. He said it made little difference which head was at the end of your shaft. The only important thing was the shaft was correct for your swing and the grip on the shaft was correct for your hand size/strength/etc. Nothing else mattered because all of today's like club heads are within immeasurable tolerances. The only thing that sells today, is hype. No new technological break through are coming down the road of golf. They have all been discovered, implemented, tweaked, and hyped out the wazoo. It's going to come down to the same old thing. You gotta have a swing. It's like when I tell my son about the longest drive in PGA history being 515 yards with a persimmon wood by a 65 year old guy named Austin. He doesn't believe it. I think the guy that posted above thinking a once a year old school equipment tournament would be great. I'd watch it in a heartbeat.

I have 3 herniated discs from 1981. L3 through the S1 I have a right knee that is bone to bone in the medial compartment due to a shredded meniscus. I have a slightly torn/stretched right shoulder rotator cuff. I almost quit this game. Got a kidney stone. Got klebsillia pneumonia back in February and didn't get rid of it till June-ish. Was peeing blood for 2 plus months. Anyway I can't swing a club like you are supposed to. My back and knee brace won't let me. But I tried this today on 9 holes and I have to say, if I take my time and swing slowly on the back swing, I hit the ball better today than I have in 6 plus months. Maybe 10 months. I can't say it got me down the fairway any further, but it got me down the fairway. When swung smoothly I was always in the fairway. Took 3 or 4 holes to get the knack of it. I was rushing it. Slowed down and it worked fine. I used my 3 wood off the grass both on the tee and the fairway to give it a real test. That's my experience. I'm sticking with it, going to give it some practice at the range and see if it doesn't continue to allow me to swing and not cause any pain to my broken parts. Doc

First of all you sir should be on the tour if this is the case and my hat is off to you for being able to break par with just about any reasonable set of clubs. I assume you play by PGA rules strictly? I believe fitting matters more to high handicappers and here is why. Low handicappers already have a fitted set of clubs. All pros, real-true-pros, have fitted sets and a couple of extra ones sitting in a vault 'just in case' theirs gets lost/stolen. Every year they go back to make adjustments to better their game. For pros it's more mental than reality. Their real improvements come with working with a coach first. He'll find out what they may be doing wrong and then decide if an adjustment is in order. I've seen instructors give the same iron back to a pro and tell him it's been adjusted and to do what we just practiced and you see the difference. The only thing that changed was the pros's mental state and confidence. High handicappers on the other hand are the ones that buy off the shelf clubs that have the wrong size grip, wrong shaft, wrong style/type of head, wrong lie, wrong clubs in their bag, and wrong length shaft. It's a lose lose from the start. What high handicappers could benefit from is in getting just one club built for them, just one, and then go take some lessons with it from a competent instructor. Have it, the club, tweaked after feedback from the instructor, and then, and only then, proceed to build a set, one club at a time. And high handicappers don't need the traditional set of clubs. Their needs can vary greatly. High handicappers don't benefit from multiple wedges, they need one they can use over and over again with success. Everyone needs a putter. High handicappers need the lower clubs 6 through 9. High handicappers don't all need 5 through 3 irons. Some need hybrids, some need fairway woods, some need a couple of those irons. Most high handicappers who learn to use a 5 wood near perfectly f or their game can hit it from 160 to 200 by having a swing they have learned to control. Many high handicappers (and pros) use a fairway wood or hybrids to chip from the deep grass around the green because using a wedge in deep grass is a real surgical shot, even for the pros. Most high handicappers should not use a driver with loft less than 12 degrees. I teach them to use a 3 wood or even a strong 5 wood till they have found their comfort zone and then to consider buying a driver, but to be very cautious about spending money for no net results. If you can hit a 3 wood 230 down the center of the fairway 10 out of 10 times, does it really benefit you to buy a driver that you end up in the trees 3 out of 10 times, in the deep rough 4 out of 10 times and in the fairway 3 out of ten times, regardless of the distance. The greater the distance the greater the error on a bad shot. You could be in the next fairway over or in the water or out of bounds. Each of these will cost you a stroke. Golf is an individual game and no two people play the same, plan their shots the same or hit the same. We are all different. There are no cookie cutter approaches that fit all golfers or even the majority of them. I'm a fitter/builder/repair business owner and I see it all the time. DocHaley FORE! Play Golf

If you have 20 minutes you can see what it will do, and yes it is a big difference. It just only seems trivial to someone that has no idea what it does. Here is what you do. I don't know what metal your cast irons are made of. But if a magnet will stick to the face of your club this will be easy for you. If not then you'll have to do a little more work. Maybe 2 minutes more of it. Get your magnet and glue a fireplace match to the center of it with a glue gun. You have to have it 'straight', nothing else will do. Once you have this done, put the magnet in the center of the face of your club. Hold the heel and toe in your two hands/fingertips while you are facing the face of the club. Be certain the grip is in a position that seems correct as well. I do this standing up and holding the club, and you could too once you understand what you're doing. Look at the point where the sole touches the table top or counter top and get it to a point where it is dead center of the sole. Look at where the fireplace match is pointing. Now slowly roll the club towards the toe and watch the direction of the match. Now roll it back to the heel and watch the direction of the match. You'll see, or you should see if you did it right, the match will point to the right when the toe is down and to the left when the heel is down. This is for a right handed golfer. 2 degrees at impact calculated over 200 to 250 yards can be 40 yards to the right with ease. Put some side spin on it and you've got a banana ball. You're in the trees. There really is a difference. If you can't use a magnet get a twist off coke top and glue the fireplace match to the center of it as noted above and then carefully tape it to your club face. It'll give you the same variance. Doc FORE! Play Golf

Golfsmith has been around for 40 plus years. It has brick and mortar outlets in Canada and the USA and is the company that started the component supply chain. Golf Galaxy started in 1997. A relative new comer. The many off shoots of different associations that claim to be a 'certified' or 'official' group of club fitters is simply not the case. There is no official club fitters group that is recognized world wide, nationwide or statewide. Go with whomever you feel comfortable with. The person doing your fitting or making a repair is all that counts. You'll know when you find a savvy person in this business and that's who you should go to. Getting recommended to look at a site for some list of people in your area that are 'associated' is not smart consumer advice. Go to someone that is recommended by a friend or by someone you trust. If you can't find any, go to the outlet that has the fitter/repair person that strikes you as if they are knowledgeable and willing to take the time to help you. I'm a fitter/repair person and own my own small business here in Texas. It's called FORE! PLAY. It's my retirement career/hobby. I can't say I'm the most knowledgeable and never have. But if it takes one hour or two hours or three hours to properly fit a person, then that's what I'm willing to spend with them. Look around, be smart. Doc