Purchasing golf clubs can be a very confusing and intimidating experience. Given the myriad of brand name golf companies that most golfers are familiar with, other major quality manufacturers, different styles of golf clubs and of course price, how does a golfer decide on which brand and which style to purchase and will it help my game anyway?
One thing is clear - thinking you will save money and improve your golf game by picking out a driver from a discount bin or a set of golf clubs off the rack at your local golf shop will neither save you money nor will it improve your golf game.
Who should get fitted for custom Golf Clubs?
Anyone interested in improving their golf game and getting more enjoyment out of playing golf.
The greatest beneficiaries of properly fitted custom golf clubs are mid-to-high handicap golfers.
Why?
Because mid-to-high handicap golfers have the most to gain from playing with clubs that are matched to their playing abilities and characteristics and specifically built to offset their swing mistakes and enhance the correct swing moves for each golfer. Scratch players will benefit as well but the results for them will be far more subtle than for the average player.
Variables Impacting Game Improvement
While there are 11 major variables (and many more specifications) to properly build and fit golf clubs to each player these variables can be summarized into several major categories that are important for both game improvement (more Distance, more Accuracy and improved Consistency) and ease of play based on the three major components that make up a golf club – clubhead, shaft, and grip.
The various clubhead design manufacturers provide many different clubhead design types, shapes and styles that impact performance and playability. All of these designs fall into certain design types and categories that all have common features and attributes and determine a golf club's overall playability level and if they are appropriate for low, mid and/or high-handicappers.
Clubhead designs include:
Traditional Blade or 'Muscleback' Irons:
- For the low-handicap golfer
- These clubs have a classic looking golf-blade but because of the higher center of gravity (CoG) and weighting are less forgiving on off-center and thin hits
Cavity-Back Design:
- For the mid to high-handicap golfer
- Low CoG provides more forgiveness for mis-hits and the average player can get the ball up much easier
Offset or Progressive Offset Clubs:
- An offset makes the club easier to play because the offset desigh helps the golfer to 'close' the clubface prior to hitting the ball
- The greater the offset, the easier to hit the ball
- Progressive offset in a set of irons means that the offset gets progresively smaller with the easier to hit (7, 8, 9) irons.
The shaft, being the engine of the golf club, is a critical component. Its purpose is to bring the clubhead into the proper impact position in a repeatable fashion.
The major elements to consider for a shaft include:
- Relative stiffness of flex
- Material and weight of the shaft overall
- Flex point of the shaft (where it bends)
Shafts influence five key areas of playability: ball trajectory (or distance), clubhead speed (distance), directional control (accuracy), consistency of hit, and how ‘solid’ the shot feels.
Shaft flex is primarily determined by swing speed but there are other factors to take into consideration as well: including: overall swing tempo (smoothness of swing), transition to the downswing, and where the golf club is released in the downswing.
Players who achieve a given club head speed with:
Slower tempo - should consider a more flexible shaft.
Faster, shorter, harder swings - should consider stiffer shafts.
Players with accuracy problems should usually move toward stiffer shafts. Players seeking to maximize distance or club head feel should look for a more flexible shaft.
Typical problems that a golfer may experience with an incorrect flex:
Shaft flex too stiff –
- Lower than normal ball trajectory (loss of distance)
- Un-solid or ‘boardy’ feeling at impact
Consistently pushing the ball to the right or slicing
Shaft flex too flexible –
- Higher than normal ball trajectory
- 'Whippy’ feeling
- Loss of directional control
- Loss of distance
- Average swing speed for a Tour Player is in excess of 115mph
- Tiger Woods Average Swing Speed - 130 mph
Shaft Flex by Swing Speed and Distance
| Shaft Flex |
Type of Golfer |
Swing Speed (mph) |
Distance (yds) |
| L-Ladies |
Average woman golfer |
<60 |
160 or less |
| A - Senior |
Older or less flexible golfer |
60 + |
160 - 185 |
| R – Regular |
Flex used by majority of golfers |
75 + |
175 – 220 |
| S-Stiff |
Used by a few of the stronger tour players who have very high swing speeds |
115 + |
240 and over |
** Average Swing speed for men = 87mph
Average swing speed for a women = 65mph
- Ball trajectory is primarily determined by loft (as well as shaft flex, Center of Gravity location and offset)
- Is an attribute of clubhead design with more or less 'standard' lofts assigned to individual clubs (although lofts do vary slightly depending on the manufacturer and model of the irons)
- Most golfers tend to play with too little loft in their driver to maximize their potential for distance. Maximum distance is achieved when the loft of the driver is coordinated with the golfers swing speed and angle of attack to the ball - whether the driver head is traveling on a downward, level or upward angle when it contacts the ball.
- Golfers with lower swing speeds require greater loft to obtain the proper ball trajectory to maximize distance.
- The key to maximizing distance for a golfer is to ensure that for the length of the club the golfer is using, they can hit the ball consistently in the sweet spot. The result of which will be longer and straighter shots.
- A golfers ability, not height, is the main determinant for properly fitting length.
- The longer a club, the harder it is to hit.
- The longer a club with less loft, the harder it is to hit.
- The longer a club with less loft and a stiffer shaft, the harder it is to hit.
- Average length of Driver for a Tour Player is 44.5"
- Tiger Woods average Driver length is 43.5"
- The proper lie angle is the angle created by the shaft and the ground when the clubhead is soled on the ground at the proper address position and the clubhead touches the ground at the center of head.
- To flat a lie (toe touching the ground) the ball will be hit right of the target.
- To upright a lie (heel touching the ground) the ball will be pulled left of the target.
