Clubfitting: Hot List 365: Golf Digest

Can club fitting change your game? Our test needs you

Friday, March 23, 2012 Comments

When Golf Digest Senior Editor Matt Ginella recently tweeted "Can't believe I ever bought clubs without getting fitted. Which sounds like an ad, but it's just the facts," it was the kind of aha moment we've seen over and over again. Anecdotally, there is an endless stream of evidence for the effect of clubfitting.

Now, we're looking to get more clinical evidence of the effect, and we're seeking your help.

Golf Digest, the No. 1 golf publication in the world, and premium clubfitter Club Champion, one of America's 100 Best Clubfitters as rated by Golf Digest, are conducting a clubfitting project this year, and we are searching for avid golfers to participate in this study. Both the participants and the information gathered from the study will be part of a future Golf Digest story.

This season-long research project will include a fitting at Club Champion, which has facilities in the Chicago and Philadelphia areas. Interested participants must never have been custom fit for clubs before and must be interested in purchasing a full set of clubs--all 14 from putter to the driver--after a custom fitting at Club Champion. The cost of a fitting at Participants will be expected to track various statistics from each round they play, both before and after the fitting for several months. In addition, participants must meet the following initial prerequisites:

Handicap: approximately 5-20

Age: 30-55

Must be planning to play 20 or more rounds in 2012

If you are interested in participating in the study, please send an email to clubchampion@golfdigest.com. In the note, please include your name, age, handicap or index, GHIN number, home club or course where you play most of your golf, typical number of rounds played per month and a brief description of what you know about golf equipment and clubfitting, as well as what you would hope to gain from the experience of this study.

Qualified candidates will be determined by Golf Digest and Club Champion and will be notified directly in the coming weeks. Our search for qualified candidates will end by April 30.

--Mike Stachura

Follow me on Twitter @MikeStachura

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Belly putter: Watch what you eat

Thursday, October 6, 2011 Comments

Lost in the hysteria over belly putters these days is one of the most crucial elements in making these things work: Fitting.

In fact, a survey of Golf Digest's list of America's 100 Best Clubfitters suggests that one of the reasons players may resort to the belly putter in the first place is, unknowingly, because of a poor fitting putter in the first place.

"With the recent peak in interest, those looking are generally trying to 'fix' their poor putting," said Dana Upshaw at Dana Golf in Warner Robins, Ga. "The overwhelming majority of these golfers have a poorly fit putter anyway whether it's an improper lie angle, or the wrong length, or the head's too light or too heavy, or even, and this happens a lot, the grip is on crooked. So there is little chance for them to putt effectively if the belly putter is also misfit."

While belly putters are flying off store shelves (a call to a local Golfsmith store in Norwalk, Conn., revealed belly putters were going out the door almost as fast as they were being delivered), many fitters urge patience to get the right setup.

"We see fitting the belly putter as strictly custom," says Brandon Collier at Pure Performance Golf Lab. "Not every golfer uses the same length or even same grip. Some do better with a round grip and some do better with a squared off grip. You really need to be custom fit with Tomi or SAM PuttLab to understand which belly putter works best for you."

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Clubfitting: Don't forget the putter!

Thursday, June 16, 2011 Comments

When we mention the term "fitting" in this space, is your first thought "Drivers"? Maybe "irons"? There might even be a few golfers who think "golf ball." But it's a rare golfer whose thoughts on fitting initially turn to the putter.

That's unfortunate, because other than the ball, it's the one piece of equipment you use the most, it's the easiest to adjust and it's where you'll see almost immediate results.

Putter fitting is getting some attention thanks to the increasing availability of devices like the SAM PuttLab, which does for putters what the launch monitor has done for drivers. And putter fitting is gathering more steam with the annoucement by Ping this week of an iPhone App to analyze your putting stroke and help you get in the right putter for your stroke.

The iPing Putter App works with the device's imbedded accelerometer and gyroscope to detect the movements in your stroke. The accelerometer determines stroke tempo, while the gyroscope hones in on your stroke's rotational acceleration to determine face angle and stroke type (arc vs. pendulum, for example). It's user friendly and a highly practical training device. The app is a free download from the iTunes App Store for the iPhone 4 and the iPod Touch (4th generation). The App works in conjunction with a Ping cradle attachment that clips on to the shaft of your putter just below the grip. The cradle and app will be available June 20.

The app allows you to both measure and practice your stroke where it provides feedback about the consistency of your face angle at impact, your tempo and the type of stroke you have. It also allows golfers to compare their session results with past efforts, as well as against tour players on the Ping staff. Scores in the measurement mode are used to determine a putting handicap.

Tuesday I spent the day with the team at Pete's Golf in Mineola, N.Y., one of America's 100 Best Clubfitters, and in addition to the usual suspects, they walked me through a putter fitting with the SAM PuttLab device at their shop. What I essentially discovered was that it's a miracle that I ever finish a hole with the ball ending up in the cup. The SAM PuttLab, which works with a small lightweight, tuning fork device that clips to your putter, measures all sorts of movement and calibrated disorientation with your flatstick, including face angle at aim and impact, swing path, impact locations, timing and effective loft. There's a lot in there, and it's probably too much for regular human golfers like me to fully digest and implement, but it can be a motherlode of data for a fitter or a teacher. In short, like a launch monitor, it lets them detect what's wrong and what fix will work.

After looking at the reams of information communicated to his laptop computer about my stroke, fitter Kevin Gregorios tried to be kind. "The length of your putter is perfect," he said. "I wouldn't change that."

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Nicklaus' clubmaker now a hall of famer

Monday, March 28, 2011 Comments

It's nice to see a guy with a pair of hall of fame hands be recognized. Except last night, those paws weren't those of a baseball, football or basketball player. Or a player, period. The hands being inducted into the Palm Beach County Sports of Hall of Fame belonged to Jack Wulkotte. Although Wulkotte's name may not be well known among everyday golfers, he is an integral part of pro golf history. That's because he was personal clubmaker for Jack Nicklaus.

Last year I wrote a story for Golf World on Nicklaus' equipment where I learned a bit about what Wulkotte dealt with while dealing with the Golden Bear. Wulkotte, 81, joined MacGregor in 1947 and became Nicklaus' primary equipment man thanks to a busted 6-iron. Nicklaus broke the club during the Jacksonville Open in 1963 and had it flown to MacGregor's shop in Cincinnati. Only the shop was closed. Wulkotte, however, hadn't left the shop and used his leverage to negotiate a whopping $32 for the repair--some eight times his hourly wage. Wulkotte's true talent, however, was in woods. "There are 125 steps to making a persimmon club," said Wulkotte. "I used to make 25 drivers for Jack and he might find one he liked." Nicklaus found enough he liked to become a hall of famer. Now his club man has become one, too.

--E. Michael Johnson

Follow me on Twitter @EMichaelGW

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The secret benefit of fitting? More shirts, hot dogs

Wednesday, February 23, 2011 Comments

Yes, we've been championing the cause for clubfitting and clubfitters as the game's most important technology. We believe the real opportunity for average golfers to fundamentally change their performance comes from a properly fit set of clubs, not from somethng they borrowed from their neighbors or got a deal on off of ebay.

It's where golfers should focus their attention, too, says Eric Hogge, Head Professional and Director of Club Fitting at the PGA Center for Golf Learning & Performance at PGA Village in Port St. Lucie, Fla., a Golf Digest 100 Best Clubfitters facility.

"Sure, I think it's possible for average golfers to get better through fitting," Hogge says. "But if we are actually going to move the needle on the average handicap level, I think it's mandatory. Fitting is more important for the average player than it is for the tour player."

But there's one entity that might find fitting even more vital: the industry itself. You need look no farther than Golfsmith's conference call Wednesday on 2010 fiscal year earnings.

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Eric Hogge,
PGA Center for Golf Learning & Performance,
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hot list

Winner's Bag: Bubba Watson

Tuesday, February 1, 2011 Comments

Bubba Watson put on his usual power display at the Farmers Insurance Open, averaging 316.6 yards per drive using his 7.5-degree Ping G15 driver. What most people don't know, however, is that Watson uses one of the shortest driver shafts on the PGA Tour, a 44.5-inch Grafalloy BiMatrx prototype.

For a player with the prodigious length of Watson, that may seem like an odd choice, but Watson has long felt that shorter shaft, not a longer one, is the key to distance. Watson once had Ping build him a 48-inch, 5.5-degree driver "That didn't work at all," Watson told Golf Digest. "It threw my timing off, and I didn't hit the ball much farther even when I nailed it. ... Most players should, if anything, try a shaft half an inch shorter than what's in their driver. Tiger Woods at his longest used a relatively short 43 1/2-inch driver, with a steel shaft to boot. You'll find it easier to hit the sweet spot with a shorter shaft, and you can go after tee shots without losing much control."

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A fitting start

Tuesday, January 25, 2011 Comments

The week of the PGA Merchandise Show is always a learning experience. Even for someone who's been coming to this annual gathering of the industry's best and brightest since 1993. But as I found out once again today, some of the most interesting discussions have very little to do with a new driver or wedge or ball. What has become most interesting to me about the PGA Merchandise Show is the commitment certain groups within this industry make to tapping into and optimizing golfer potential.

No segment invests more in that endeavor than the game's best clubfitters, and that was much in evidence today as I spent time with more than 100 top fitters as part of the 6th Annual Accra Golf Day, an event put on by the Kingston, Ontario-based shaft company to entertain and educate some of its best fitters.

There's no question Golf Digest believes fitting is a crucial element for any golfer's improvement (see our database of fitters here and our Top 100 Clubfitters list here), but I'll go a step farther: Fitting is the great remaining untapped frontier in the game today. And here's one more: In an ever-expanding golf technology universe, the fitter may offer as much potential for lasting and even continual improvement as even the best teacher.

As I was told by teaching pro Kirk Oguri, who works with Woody Lashen at Pete's Golf Pro Shop in Mineola, N.Y., "Imagine a young junior player trying to learn the golf swing using my clubs. I see too many players whose equipment is preventing them from improving, preventing them from getting the positive reinforcement that they should get when they make a good swing."

Lashen believes the real potential lies in more fitters working in concert with teaching pros to optimize each individual golfer. When I ask Oguri and Lashen what would be better, an expert fitting or a series of lessons, they almost in unison respond, "It depends."

"If a guy is missing fairways, you need to know how he's missing them," says Lashen.

"Correcting a swing fault with an equipment fix isn't really the way I'd go, and I'm a big believer in the importance of getting the right equipment," says Oguri.

Says Lashen, "There are just as many times I will send a player to see Kirk as he will send a player to see me."

But it's not happening nowhere near enough. A Golf Digest study estimates that 68 percent of golfers have not been fit for their drivers, but if you check the bags at your local daily fee course, I'd venture a guess that you'd be lucky to find even 1 in 10 players who've gone through a fitting with an expert.

The fact is that clubfitting still scares too many golfers. Yet it's also true that assuming you know enough to fit yourself can do more damage to your game than choosing not to use new equipment at all. The challenge is to get golfers to see the potential benefits of fitting and take advantage of those opportunities, just as they would a trip to the range or even, ahem, a renewal of their subscription to Golf DIgest.

Some more food for thought as you ponder the benefits of fitting:

1. What's the best time to go through a fitting if you're in the cold-weather states? Many fitters suggest in the early fall. Why? Your swing's in shape, and it will help you get started the following spring.

2. Older golfers should always go with a softer, senior flex, right? Not necessarily so. It's not unusual today to fit a senior into a stiffer flex shaft because of how they load the shaft on the downswing. In fact, most top fitters believe swing speed is only the most basic of beginnings when it comes to a proper fitting.

3. Do you need a new driver fitting if you were fit by an expert a couple of years ago? Maybe, maybe not. Technology has changed, but so have you. Why wouldn't you at least find out?

--Mike Stachura

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