Club Fitting Has Gone High Tech

By:  Dan Sueltz, CEO
D’Lance Golf Performance Center

Getting fit for golf clubs has come a long way in the last several years.  Club fitting used to be done by golf professionals, usually instructors, that would fit you outdoors on a driving range with a variety of clubs from a fitting cart.  Your club fitter would observe ball flight, ask you a few questions about feel, check your lie angle and then make a recommendation.  This is what I would call a “good” fitting, but you can do better.  With the introduction of ball flight and launch monitors in the last ten years, a good fitter can now measure several critical aspects of your swing and ball flight.  Swing speed, ball speed, launch angle, and spin rate are all factors in determining how far you are capable of hitting a golf ball, and if there are any “power leaks” that need to be fixed.  This a “better” fitting but you can step it up a notch.  The “best” fittings take into account the load you actually put on a shaft and relate that to the weight, shaft stiffness, shaft trajectory, tip stiffness and even feel.  The fitter will have you try different shaft and head combinations based upon these factors until you are dialed in to the combination that gives you the best combination of aesthetic appeal, distance, accuracy, consistency and feel.  The fitter will even do a side-by-side comparison of your existing equipment to show you the actual improvement in performance.  This is when the art and science of club fitting have come together and you just know you have found the perfect club!

But, to take it one final step, a really good club fitter will insist that your clubs be built to the EXACT specifications prescribed in your fitting.  This is not a “custom” order from an OEM, but rather a tour-built order just for that golfer.  More expensive?  Yes.  Better results?  Absolutely.  So make sure your next fitting is a high tech fitting and you will be amazed at the results.

Fitting   Attributes Good Better Best
Ball Flight – Visual x x x
Loft x x x
Lie Angle x x x
Grip Size x x x
Shaft Flex x x x
Shaft Length x x x
Shaft Weight x x x
Swing Speed x x
Ball Speed x x
Launch Angle x x
Back Spin x x
Side Spin x x
Power Transfer Ratio x x
Shaft Load/Acceleration x
Attack Angle x
Downswing Time x
Swing Weight x
Swing Azimuth (Face Angle) x
Swing Path x
Shot Dispersion x
Shot Descent Angle x
Shaft Tip Profile/Kick Velocity x
Custom Built to Exact Specs. x