Retro Custom Fitting - St Andrews

stevelockie

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As mentioned in my post relating to this topic. I went to St Andrews yesterday to get my ebay-bought irons (Bridgestone J33-CB) "retro fitted", and maybe look at my driver (ft-i 11 deg).

My fitter was Ed, one of the senior guys. Started with my 6 iron. He put some stickers on the face and sole, and marked the ball with a vertical line. I hit a couple of shots, length and lie were perfect. Did the same with the 9 iron, no problem.
I mentioned that the 7 iron and upward seemed to fly higher than I expected. So lies and loft for all irons were checked. The 4 & 5 were 0.5 deg upright. 6,7,8,9 and P had weaker lofts, from 0.5 deg on the 6 up to a whopping 2 degrees on the wedge. These were all adjusted back to standard (4 degrees difference between each).

Shafts were fine (Project X 5.5).

So, onto the driver. Was hitting the range balls a little high. Launch angle was high and we established I was hitting out of the upper part of the face, losing some distance as a result, my ball speed was between 125 and 135mph, but distance was lower due to it not being launched from the sweet spot. A combination of tee-ing the ball up lower and maybe working on plane with my coach should sort that out.

Iron swing speed was 75mph, and driver swing speed was a pedestrian 90-92mph.

All in all, very, very useful.
 

happyhacker

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Not a dumb question at all htl.

In Steves case it was simply that he had bought a second hand set of clubs and took them to St Andrews to go through the custom fitting process, but after he'd bought them. Hence retro-fitting.

Probably not explained that great, but I have loads to read and so v little time! :D
 

stevelockie

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Do you mind me asking the cost, Steve, and which makes of irons they are able to retro fit?

Hi John, £55 for a session and £3 per club for adjustments, although they did the club adjustments for free as I was under the hour for the session.

I think they can fit any iron, although I forged clubs would be more easily adjusted in terms of lie and loft.

They have Nakashima (Naka something!) clubs which is basically the fore-runner of the Callaway opti-fit system. They can make up any combination of head and shaft to find the best match.

Well worth a visit. Even for them to confirm your clubs are OK for you. One less thing to blame on the course though!!!
 

stevelockie

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Did he tell you how far you carried the ball through the air with your irons

Yes, it was on the screen, although for the irons we used range balls.
There was quite a strong cross wind, but he was able to "normalise" the software to take out the effect of the wind on the stats.
 

stevelockie

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With the range balls about 140 yards.

I normally pull out the 6 iron for 160 yard shots, although reckon my new irons are a wee bit longer, not measured the distances with them yet.
 

bunkered

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Steve, when i went up there i was the same only carried a six iron 140 yards, i think this is one of the most important things you can know if you want to try and score on a golf course, thats why i am very pissed of with the place up there and will never go back and never recommend it to anybody, you would think they would use the right golf balls when you are getting custom fit, once again i say see a good pro he should be able to tell you all the info you need at half the price, if you are ever in st andrews again go and see the clubfitter at aucterlonies, now there,s a man that know,s what he,s talking about.
 

stevelockie

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I don't agree with you Divot.

Custom fitting is really making sure the clubs are the correct match for your swing. Distance is of little consequence when getting fitted. What happens when the pro is fitting you outside on the practice area in temperatures of 3 degrees? You'll lose 10-15 yards on your 6 iron distance compared to doing it in 23 degrees? And are you going to pace out each 6 iron hit to measure the distance?

The distance a ball travels is determined by swing speed which generates ball speed, launch angle and related factors which are measured at the point of strike. get your ball speed and launch angle correct, distance takes care of itself.

I would never use one of these sessions to find out how far I hit a club.

Obviously, it is essential that you know how far you hit each club, but the only way to do that is on a practice area where you can pace out the average of 10 shots with each iron (or use the new laser range finder technology).
 

bunkered

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If they used normal golf balls the trackman should be able to tell you how far you carry a six iron, this crap about hitting ten balls then measure the diff is old hat thats what we used to use in the old days pre trackman, if you look on the trackman website the pros have been using it to find out exactly how far they carry the ball, not how far it goes once it lands, steve i just feel that we missed out on that when we used range balls, but as long as you are happy with the service you got that is the main thing.
 

stevelockie

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If they used normal golf balls the trackman should be able to tell you how far you carry a six iron, this crap about hitting ten balls then measure the diff is old hat thats what we used to use in the old days pre trackman, if you look on the trackman website the pros have been using it to find out exactly how far they carry the ball, not how far it goes once it lands, steve i just feel that we missed out on that when we used range balls, but as long as you are happy with the service you got that is the main thing.

I am very happy with the service.

I agree with you that trackman could be used to measure distance for each golf ball, but you would still have to hit 5-10 good shots then take the average for each club in your bag. Would make for a very long and no doubt expensive trackman session.
I'll stick to pacing up and down my practice area, or get my caddie to do it ;)
 

bunkered

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Not every club, if your clubs are now set up right now, you would just need to hit a six iron get your distance , the deduct or add ten yards to suit.
 

MVP

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Id like to add the pros advertising trackman do get paid to do so. I think that hitting bals and measuring it your self is th etrue way as long winded and old fashioned as it seems its accurate, and being an avid golfer its something i enjoy doing while practicing. like ernie says theres no rush!
 

viscount17

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divot, is that plus/minus ten yards a club strictly true? Surely that's a ball park figure and to know your range for each club you need to get out and measure it. I bet there's a club in your bag you hit better or worse than the rest.
 
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