Custom Fitting - The answer to all problems?

[Davey S2]

How much of a difference does having custom fitted clubs actually make?

Whenever someone on here posts up a comment that they are having difficulty with a particular club or shot there is always a response of 'are they custom fitted?' as if that will cure all problems in one go.

None of my clubs are custom fitted (but I am going to treat myself to being fitted for a new driver as soon as my house sale completes).

Dont get me wrong I know that as with most things having something set up correctly for you will improve performance but by how much?


If you are an 'average' built player you should be able to play well with off the shelf clubs. Having your irons lengthened by 0.2 mm's, your grips thickened by 20 microns and an additional 0.5 degrees of bounce vortex put into your lob wedge isnt going to suddently cure your slice and make you shoot level par.

The fundamentals of alignment, grip, stance and swing are the factors that will determine whether you will hit a good shot.

Discuss.

 

[JPH]

Don't ruin my excuse for not be able to hit my driver very far , I blame the shaft lol

 

[dufferman]

I asked a similar question not long ago - a lot of people say 'learn to hit the clubs as they are', which for me being an average Joe in build and height is what I've done with my Wilson Staffs. I believe a driver needs to be custom fitted (my current driving is shocking) but other clubs, not so much. Certainly for a 20-something handicapper, anyway!

 

[chrisd]

If you know that you have good quality gear, custom fit for you, then you know that the only thing to blame for your game is you.

 

[MadAdey]

I think for people that are of the industry standard height and build then off the shelf clubs are fine but for me it is definately not. My clubs are set to one degree up and 1 inch long. I can use standard clubs but start to struggle as I get to the longer irons. Regarding drivers it can make a huge amount of difference. I purchased an off the rack R11s and even though I was hitting it well, I felt I was launching it too high which was a result of generating too much spin because of the shaft. This resulted in a high launch angle that lost distance and the other effect too much spin had was it also increased the amount of side spin on bad shots. What a difference a shaft change has made though. Not only am I hitting it straighter I am also getting around 20/30 yards more distance.

 

[DCB]

I've been custom fitted for four sets over the past 20 years. I'd say that getting the correct shaft is the most important part of the process, especially now when there are so many varieties on offer. Lie angle will help, but is probably not as big an issue unless you have a really upright or flat swing plane.

I've gone down the fitting route because it was offered at no extra charge, so, it was simple decision.

I would say that being fitted probably hasn't made that much of a difference to my game. I can still lift an old set of non fitted Maxfli Revolution clubs out of the garage and play well with them.

I think that to a certain extent there is a placebo effect with fitted clubs, but that's only my opinion.

 

[Snelly]

How much of a difference does having custom fitted clubs actually make?

Whenever someone on here posts up a comment that they are having difficulty with a particular club or shot there is always a response of 'are they custom fitted?' as if that will cure all problems in one go.

None of my clubs are custom fitted (but I am going to treat myself to being fitted for a new driver as soon as my house sale completes).

Dont get me wrong I know that as with most things having something set up correctly for you will improve performance but by how much?


If you are an 'average' built player you should be able to play well with off the shelf clubs. Having your irons lengthened by 0.2 mm's, your grips thickened by 20 microns and an additional 0.5 degrees of bounce vortex put into your lob wedge isnt going to suddently cure your slice and make you shoot level par.

The fundamentals of alignment, grip, stance and swing are the factors that will determine whether you will hit a good shot.

Discuss.

This has been discussed a few times and agreement is not easily reached. My view for what it is worth is that if you are tall or short then you need the lie angle and shaft length tweaked so that the clubs fit your build. Or if you have a lot of clubhead speed then stiff shafts are probably a good idea. If this is custom fitting then I think it makes perfect sense.

However, if when we discuss custom fit, we mean smash factors, varying shaft tips, kickpoints, launch angles, turf interaction etc all being measured to millimetres by cameras, riflescope thingys, launch monitors etc. then for the most part, I think it is a worthless exercise for all except the pros or very serious amateurs. It is basically a marketing tool for the manufacturers and I think it is waste of time with negligible results.

That said, I would not decry anyone for doing it. It seems to me that there are plenty of golfers, on this forum especially, who derive pleasure and great satisfaction from understanding the physics of golf and the consequent optimisation of their equipment. Some people really enjoy all this stuff and good luck to them.

Just my opinion of course but is based on my experience. I have played golf for a long time and had a handicap of 2-5 for 26 years. I have never been custom fitted for any clubs and with off the shelf (decent I admit but not made to measure) equipment, shot under par on quite a few occasions. I am not alone. Most of my mates who are off low handicaps tell exactly the same story. 20 years ago, custom fitted clubs did not really exist yet excellent sub par golf was played. This says to me that custom fitting in it's current form is not a pre-requisite to good play and is in the main, designed to help golf manufacturers sell more at a higher price.

I appreciate the counter argument and understand that technology has changed and equipment has improved. I agree and accept this. Where I would differ from fans of custom fit though is the point at which the improvements as a result of the fitting are debated. I just don't see it.

 

[MadAdey]

This has been discussed a few times and agreement is not easily reached. My view for what it is worth is that if you are tall or short then you need the lie angle and shaft length tweaked so that the clubs fit your build. Or if you have a lot of clubhead speed then stiff shafts are probably a good idea. If this is custom fitting then I think it makes perfect sense. However, if when we discuss custom fit, we mean smash factors, varying shaft tips, kickpoints, launch angles, turf interaction etc all being measured to millimetres by cameras, riflescope thingys, launch monitors etc. then for the most part, I think it is a worthless exercise for all except the pros or very serious amateurs. It is basically a marketing tool for the manufacturers and I think it is waste of time with negligible results. That said, I would not decry anyone for doing it. It seems to me that there are plenty of golfers, on this forum especially, who derive pleasure and great satisfaction from understanding the physics of golf and the consequent optimisation of their equipment. Some people really enjoy all this stuff and good luck to them. Just my opinion of course but is based on my experience. I have played golf for a long time and had a handicap of 2-5 for 26 years. I have never been custom fitted for any clubs and with off the shelf (decent I admit but not made to measure) equipment, shot under par on quite a few occasions. I am not alone. Most of my mates who are off low handicaps tell exactly the same story. 20 years ago, custom fitted clubs did not really exist yet excellent sub par golf was played. This says to me that custom fitting in it's current form is not a pre-requisite to good play and is in the main, designed to help golf manufacturers sell more at a higher price. I appreciate the counter argument and understand that technology has changed and equipment has improved. I agree and accept this. Where I would differ from fans of custom fit though is the point at which the improvements as a result of the fitting are debated. I just don't see it.

With regards to people in the past not having custom fit clubs but still playing well is not a good comparison. 20/30 years ago people were generally shorter and seeing as the industry standard has not changed people now need to have clubs lengthened to fit them. I look at juniors that are at my place and the ones around 16 years old are all a similar height to me (6'3). But I rememebr 20 years ago when I was that age being quite a bit taller than most golfers, but the younger generation all appear to be over 6 foot now.

 

[CMAC]

With regards to people in the past not having custom fit clubs but still playing well is not a good comparison. 20/30 years ago people were generally shorter and seeing as the industry standard has not changed people now need to have clubs lengthened to fit them. I look at juniors that are at my place and the ones around 16 years old are all a similar height to me (6'3). But I rememebr 20 years ago when I was that age being quite a bit taller than most golfers, but the younger generation all appear to be over 6 foot now.

your having a laugh right!

 

[One Planer]

I'd like to answer this question with a question (For Snelly, or any other Cat 1 golfer on these boards)

Is your swing consistant week in , week out?

Tour pro's hit more balls in a week perfecting their swing than I hit in a year (probably). They hit every shot out of the sweet spot 95%+. Having such consistancy, facilities and coaching keeps that swing the same, so getting fit is worth while as there swing will be broardly similar over the course of time.

Amateur swings vary from hole-to-hole, never mind week to week so getting fit, in my eyes is wasted as the swing isn't consistant enough to reap the rewards.

if you are tall or short then you need the lie angle and shaft length tweaked so that the clubs fit your build. Or if you have a lot of clubhead speed then stiff shafts are probably a good idea. If this is custom fitting then I think it makes perfect sense

Clubs to fit the person, yes. Clubs to fit the swing, with the exception of club head speed, IMHO, No!

 

[MadAdey]

your having a laugh right!

Are you trying to tell me that younger people now are not taller than they were back in the 80's. I look at junior players at my club and friends of my niece and nephew and they all seem to be a lot taller than I remember people being when I was that age. I am 6'3 so classed as being tall. I look at people at my club 20/30 years older than me and I am taller than most of them, I look at people around my age and I am taller than some, but when I see the juniors they all seem as as tall as me. It is just my personal observation that the industry standard still seems to be at around the 5'8-5-10 mark. But younger players now are a lot taller than that, compared to years ago when the average height of a golfer would have been around that mark.

 

[MadAdey]

In answer to the OP though I do not think that custom fit is the answer to people with swing problems. Correctly fitted clubs can IMO help someone who has a good swing but struggling with hitting good consistent shots. If you have a good swing you should be able to hit any clubs. But like I have already said I do struggle with hitting longer irons from standard sets. To agree with a point already made, getting the correct shaft can be one of the most important things with a fitting. I read on here at times about people struggling with the big stick. You then look at their signature and they have a low lofted driver with a stiff low trajectory tour spec shaft. I am sure if they had got fitted then they would not have ended up with that club.

 

[Mungoscorner]

I'd like to answer this question with a question (For Snelly, or any other Cat 1 golfer on these boards)

Is your swing consistant week in , week out?

Tour pro's hit more balls in a week perfecting their swing than I hit in a year (probably). They hit every shot out of the sweet spot 95%+. Having such consistancy, facilities and coaching keeps that swing the same, so getting fit is worth while as there swing will be broardly similar over the course of time.

Amateur swings vary from hole-to-hole, never mind week to week so getting fit, in my eyes is wasted as the swing isn't consistant enough to reap the rewards.



Clubs to fit the person, yes. Clubs to fit the swing, with the exception of club head speed, IMHO, No!

Is the correct answer.

 

[Alex1975]

The fundamentals of alignment, grip, stance and swing are the factors that will determine whether you will hit a good shot.

This is the case^^

To directly answer the post title - NO but I also dont think anyone is claiming that custom fitting is the answer to anything. The right shaft is good to have, the right loft and lie is good to have. I would swap it all for a good stroke...

 

[Alex1975]

Deleted

 

[dufferman]

Arguably though, and I'm just playing devil advocate here, but a custom fit could, in effect, make a bad swing good. As long as you are consistently bad. Let's say you have a stance that is far too far away from the ball, therefor you're always, I don't know, say topping it and hooking it right. A custom fitting may lengthen the club and adjust the angle of the clubhead to accommodate the bad swing. Not that it should be like that, but it would in effect fix the swing?

 

[MadAdey]

Arguably though, and I'm just playing devil advocate here, but a custom fit could, in effect, make a bad swing good. As long as you are consistently bad. Let's say you have a stance that is far too far away from the ball, therefor you're always, I don't know, say topping it and hooking it right. A custom fitting may lengthen the club and adjust the angle of the clubhead to accommodate the bad swing. Not that it should be like that, but it would in effect fix the swing?

It could maybe mask the problem slightly, but if you have a really poor setup and swing you will still not hit the ball well. If you are stuck on say a 24 handicap becaue you have a bad swing getting custom fit is not going to get you hitting the ball like a single figure player. It may kncock a few shots off your handicap but that is about all I would have thought.

 

[Ethan]

How much of a difference does having custom fitted clubs actually make?

Whenever someone on here posts up a comment that they are having difficulty with a particular club or shot there is always a response of 'are they custom fitted?' as if that will cure all problems in one go.

None of my clubs are custom fitted (but I am going to treat myself to being fitted for a new driver as soon as my house sale completes).

Dont get me wrong I know that as with most things having something set up correctly for you will improve performance but by how much?


If you are an 'average' built player you should be able to play well with off the shelf clubs. Having your irons lengthened by 0.2 mm's, your grips thickened by 20 microns and an additional 0.5 degrees of bounce vortex put into your lob wedge isnt going to suddently cure your slice and make you shoot level par.

The fundamentals of alignment, grip, stance and swing are the factors that will determine whether you will hit a good shot.

Discuss.

I don't think any fitter would suggest either that the fundamentals of the game are by far the most critical factor, or that adding 0.2mm is going to make much difference. Fitting is not a substitute for lessons, but a supplement.

In my opinion, this argument that an amateur swing varies from swing to swing is a red herring. It doesn't vary from a swing of 90 mph with a 6 degree outside angle, to 110 mph with an inside angle. It varies by a few mph, and a few degrees of attack or inside/outsideness, and as with any scientific data which is variable, it is perfectly possible to calculate some averages or typical values, and it is often the case that these differ from what would be appropriate for an off the shelf set.

The other argument that someone has played off a low handicap for decades and so have their mates, and none have ever been fitted, is also a red herring. For a start, they have figured out over years of playing and using equipment a much tighter set of specs for what they need than the average golfer. But more importantly, how do they know they wouldn't play better with better fitted equipment? Just because Old Tom Morris didn't know his launch angle doesn't mean nobody else needs to either.

Finally, it really isn't just all to do about the average height of the population. The question is not whether the average height has changed, but how well the average describes a range of players. Club length has changed over the years much more than average height anyway.

 

[dufferman]

It could maybe mask the problem slightly, but if you have a really poor setup and swing you will still not hit the ball well. If you are stuck on say a 24 handicap becaue you have a bad swing getting custom fit is not going to get you hitting the ball like a single figure player. It may kncock a few shots off your handicap but that is about all I would have thought.

Possibly - I've never had a custom fit, but if 'drastic' changes were made to a club to fit a swing so that the ball goes straighter and longer, that might knock more than a few shots off! Again, it's all hypothetical, there would be other routes a golfer would take first (like lessons) before buying new clubs and getting them custom fitted!

 

[MadAdey]

Possibly - I've never had a custom fit, but if 'drastic' changes were made to a club to fit a swing so that the ball goes straighter and longer, that might knock more than a few shots off! Again, it's all hypothetical, there would be other routes a golfer would take first (like lessons) before buying new clubs and getting them custom fitted!

If you looked at it like that though, then everyone would hit the ball like a single figure handicap player if they got custom fitted.