What's New: Fitting Tips

What Driver Length Should YOU PLay?

April 1st, 2019

The holy grail for most golfers is increased distance off the tee, but what driver length should you play to optimize distance?  With the USGA governing the rebound effect off the face of the driver (CT), it seems logical that adding length to the driver creates a longer swing arc and therefore more club head speed.  In our experience over the last twenty years, we have seen off-the-shelf driver lengths go from 43 inches to 48 inches, the maximum allowable by the USGA, and back to somewhere around 45 inches.  But, if you do not hit the sweet spot on the face of the driver, you will actually LOSE distance because the efficiency (smash factor) will drop and you will generate less ball speed.  In fact, the winner of the 2018 Masters used a driver that was 44.5 inches long and the 2nd place finishers driver length was 44.5 inches as well.  Check out our list of 2019 stock drivers at the end of this blog and their respective stock lengths. So, how do you determine YOUR optimum driver length?  There are several factors that you should consider: Schedule Your Driver Fitting Now! Arm length and Posture. In both our... Read More

Lost Distance? We Can Help!

March 28th, 2019

Unfortunately, I seem to hear this a lot lately:  Help!  I’ve lost distance.  Certainly not everyone is experiencing this but if you are, here are a few things to consider when you seem to be losing distance. Schedule a fitting to see if your equipment is robbing you of distance. What has changed? There are a lot of things to consider if you seem to be losing distance.  Here are a few symptoms that we see in our fittings: I changed my (driver, irons, etc.) and I have lost a lot of distance. Ok, so what changed?  Different shafts?  Different head design? I started hitting smother hooks, push fades and have no idea why? Well, now you are probably not making consistent contact and optimizing your “smash factor” so you are losing distance.  Injury?  Sore back?  Tendonitis? Trying a new swing change? I am getting a little older but I still work out and feel in great shape. Yes, but as we age, our flexibility gets worse and we are not making as big of turn, losing extension, and not being as aggressive in your swing and follow through.  Result:  Loss of club speed and maybe poorer contact. Equipment Changes... Read More

Hit Your Fairway Woods More Consistently

March 25th, 2019

Here are a few pointers on how to hit your fairway woods more consistently.  We are going to be talking about getting the right shaft, loft and model, not your swing technique.  OK, maybe a little on swing technique. From a fitting perspective, most fairway woods that we test that are purchased off-the-rack have very inconsistent lengths, shaft weights and shaft flexes from one manufacturer to the next. Length:  Fairway woods for male golfers range in length from 42.75″ to 43.5″ for a 3 wood.  Each club gets progressively shorter by .5″ to 1″ as you go up in loft.  If you are playing a 43″ 3 wood, a 5 wood should be no longer than 42.5″.   Getting the right length can help you hit the ball more consistently in the middle of the face, not on the heel (too long) or toe (too short).   Shaft Weight:  We see most stock shafts from manufacturers use the same weight of shaft in fairway woods as their driver models.  Your fairway wood shafts should be slightly (5 to 15 grams) heavier than your driver shaft.   So if you are playing a 65 gram driver shaft (noted by a numeral... Read More

Finding Your Perfect Irons

March 11th, 2019

Finding the perfect irons for your golf game does not have to be a major challenge, but you do have to ask yourself some serious questions.  With over 47% of our viewers saying their first purchase this year will be irons, here are the top 5 things to consider when looking for new irons: See our related blog on the best new irons for 2018-19. Distance You need to ask yourself which of these is the MOST important?  I know you want it all, but the first thing is to narrow your priorities.  If your goal is more distance, you should look at the new hotter face irons like Callaway Apex 19 and Apex 19 Pro, Callaway Rogue X,  Mizuno JPX-919 Hot Metal and Hot Metal Pro, Srixon Z585, TaylorMade M5 or M6, Ping i500, PXG 0311P 2nd Gen, and Titleist AP3, and Tour Edge EXS.  Some of these irons can be categorized as players distance irons.   I will also argue that the shaft is a critical piece of the golf club in gaining more distance.  Getting the correct shaft weight, length, flex and swing weight can also add 5% more distance.  But you have to be careful that you... Read More

KBS $-Taper Lite Steel Iron Shaft Review

March 4th, 2019

The new KBS $-Taper Lite steel iron shaft is the latest entry in a list of light weight steel shafts from KBS.  Leveraging off the success of the very popular $-Taper steel shaft, the new Lite version will have a slightly higher ball flight and spin but maintains the stiffness in the butt section for playability. Book Your Fitting Here! Weights and Flexes The $-Taper Lite taper tip (.355) comes in three flexes and weights (typical for the way KBS designs their shafts).  The R – 95 grams, S – 100 grams and X – 105 grams.   The actual weights as tested are somewhat heavier, i.e. 100 to 110 grams in the raw length shaft, which is normal. The $-Taper Lite parallel tip (.370) also comes in three different flexes and weights in a 42 inch blank shaft:  R – 110 grams, S – 115 grams and X – 120 grams.  The nice thing about the parallel tip version is that it allows custom club builders to be more precise in their stiffness builds and to use different stiffnesses to create higher or lower ball flight, depending upon their customer’s needs. Appearance This shaft is available in both chrome and... Read More

Solving the Hybrid Vs. Long Iron Fitting Dilemma

February 25th, 2019

Solving the hybrid vs. long iron fitting dilemma should not be a difficult decision.  In general there are a couple of factors to consider. Check out the Golf Digest article on this subject here…. First, how comfortable is the golfer in hitting hybrid clubs? I would say 20-30% of our golfers going through a fitting have trouble hitting their hybrids consistently.  Usually, it is because of the fact that the hybrids are not very well fit to them in terms of shaft flex and weight (Learn More).  Unfortunately, sometimes this becomes a mental block that is difficult to overcome.  We get past that by having the golfer hit a hybrid that is matched to their swing and compare it to their existing hybrid.  This usually gets rid of the fear factor! Second, how well does the golfer hit their long(er) irons? This is a little bit of a trick question as most golfers want to keep a longer iron, like a 4 or 5 iron, in their bag to get out of trouble if they are under a tree branch.  But that is a total waste of a club.  I can easily knock down a 7 iron if I have... Read More

Our Best New Irons in 2018 and What’s New in 2019 – Updated

February 24th, 2019

A lot of thought went into our discussion about the best new irons in 2018.  Some of the irons were nearing the end of their life cycle (Callaway APEX CF 16) while others were just recently introduced (Ping i210/i500).  And, we are going to go out on a limb and talk about new irons for 2019 that we have seen and are excited about.  When choosing the best performing irons, we looked at the results we were able to achieve for our customers:  Improved Accuracy, Better Consistency and More Distance. The 2019 models are all here so book your fitting now! See Our Comments on the “Soft Side” of Fitting in Golf Digest… So here you have our choices, categorized by the Golf Digest 2018 Hot List Categories: Game Improvement Irons Golf Digest 2019 Hot List Game Improvement Irons Our Best Performers: Callaway APEX CF 16 (yes, we sold a ton until they were discontinued in late 2018).  Hot face material gave more distance and forgiveness.  Only downside was it could have some “hot” spots resulting in flyers. Mizuno JPX-919 HotMetal – Introduced in the fall of 2018, this has been an steady performer for us.  The look “screams” Mizuno!... Read More

Lifetime Clubfitting Good for 18 Years!

February 21st, 2019

Book YOUR Lifetime Clubfitting Here! Well, this D’Lance Golf Performance Center lifetime clubfitting is still good after 18 years!  When Ric came to us in 2001, our fitting process was great but only with the tools we had available at the time.  No TrackMan.  No interchangeable heads and shafts.  We did our very best on the fitting and certainly the build was top notch. Well, 18 years later, Ric is still hitting his D’Lance Classic irons with Rifle shafts great!  Woods..not so much.  His driver looks like my 3 wood!  Well we are excited to work with Ric again to see what is next in his golf bag!  Stay tuned and we will give you an update! Book YOUR Lifetime Clubfitting Here! Dan Sueltz

The Problem With Testing Stock Driver Shafts

February 18th, 2019

Ok, I admit it, I am biased.  But so should you be!  Getting a driver fitting at a box store is an adventure in what manufacturers drivers are available and if there are any custom shaft options.  And, I love Tony and the crew at MyGolfSpy to death but I think consumers are learning that testing stock driver shafts will give you a very mixed bag of results.  Here are some of the issues with testing off-the-rack stock driver shafts and what to do about it: See my comments on driver fitting in Golf Digest here… Stock Driver Lengths First off, there are no standard lengths, except maybe for women!  We see them as short as 44.5″ and as long as 45.75″.  Hard to do a comparison in distance and consistency of contact with that much length difference.  We totally advocate shorter driver shafts (44.5″ or less) in order to give you more consistent contact and higher smash factor.  This ultimately will create tighter shot dispersion and more distance. Stock Shaft Weights This is little better but not much.  For the “average” golfer (whatever that is) the typical driver shaft weight will be 45 grams for women and 55 grams... Read More

Get More Distance Off the Tee and Drop Strokes Off Your Game!

February 14th, 2019

It’s no secret that if you get more distance off the tee you will drop strokes off your game.  Pretty simple.  If you are closer to the green on your approach shots, you can hit more greens and shave 1-3 strokes off your game!  That’s not me talking.  That is Callaway and TrackMan research. So how do you do it?  I did a series of blogs a couple of years ago talking about the key factors in getting more distance off the tee.  (See that blog intro here).  As an update to that series, here are my thoughts on what will help you get that extra 10-20 yards off the tee: Book Your Driver Fitting Here! Change Your Attack Angle It is a fact that if you can launch the ball higher off the tee with less spin, you will get more carry distance and more roll-out.  Less than 25% of our golfers have positive attack angles off the tee.  A couple of quick changes in set-up and you are on your way!  I know.  I used to be -3 degrees and now I am +2. It can be done.  And if you cannot change your attack angle, we have... Read More