The Importance of Custom Fitting.....

[Richuk123]

Hi All

Just want to share my experience today with custom fitting.

I have been , this year, fighting a small hook and a push with my mid & Long irons. played today , shot 38pts in a stableford, (+4 74) and really fought it today to get round. thankfully my short game was bang on the money and it bailed me out.

Feeling frustrated , after tinkering with things such as ball position, width of stance etc, i asked our pro if i could borrow his loft and lie board and a sticker for 5 shots . he agreed, i used a 7 iron....

The results have left me stunned. My last check i was presenting the heel first. but that was in 2007 and i was 16st 7lbs.... i am now, (with what you class as a "standard" set off the shelf) i am now presenting the toe first, and by a country mile!. Ball strike was centre face. The pro look as suprised as me, as he asked me while hitting the balls , what i thought was entering the ground first, i replied with "Heel".

having checked my 4iron, 7iron, 9 iron and 56Deg, all are about 2deg flat, and i need to be 2-3 upright. lofts were also, 1-2 degrees , on average, weak. so there going to be tweaked 4 degrees the other way, making them , overall 2 degrees stronger than standard

Now, the reason i mention the weight is that i am now 13st 4lbs. i've lost over 3stone and i am thinking that maybe the path that my swing takes going back is slightly steeper than it was, as i have less fat to swing around

It has cost me just £25 to get the full bag done, checked and fixed and will pick them up Wednesday afternoon and take them out for a spin. just trying the adjusted 7 iron in the net felt really upright, but i know it needs to be done.

Only concern is will a set of Dunlop's survive a lie angle change of 4 degrees and a loft change of 4 degrees!

Everyone, get checked, were all different. Go see your Pro and support the club. :thup:

 

[fundy]

wow thats one hell of a change on the lie.

am a little confused why you are moving the lofts so much though? maybe 1-2 degrees weak is a bit too soft but why move them to 2 degrees strong rather than to where they should be?

 

[BTatHome]

I can see the point of getting your lie angles corrected, but why change your lofts to be 4 degrees stronger?

Seems like quite a change, and such a change is likely to affect the bounce of all the clubs quite considerably too, not sure I'm in favour of changing the dynamics of the clubs so much. Setting them to manufacturers stated values is all well and good (and getting the correct gapping across the set is fine too) but why change the whole lot across the board to be much stronger?

 

[Richuk123]

wow thats one hell of a change on the lie.

am a little confused why you are moving the lofts so much though? maybe 1-2 degrees weak is a bit too soft but why move them to 2 degrees strong rather than to where they should be?

The irons were coming out 2 degrees flat from standard in the loft and lie machine. we moved the 7iron back to standard, was still out the toe. i wished i kept the tape and dispersion was going off the edge of it. i felt i was hitting them ok. we then cranked it to 2 degrees upright, and it was more off the middle, and the strike did feel better.

the 7 was also 2 degrees weak, so we agreed to go 2 degree strong, as i have hands only fractionally ahead of the ball at address, thus adding dynamic loft, making them even weaker.

Expecting a phone call "sorry , the 9iron didn't make it!"

 

[BTatHome]

I wonder what loft values the pro was comparing against. Can't see Dunlop lofts being that easy to obtain, and surely not a very common one to know either. Since there is no common loft values in existence I just wonder what value he decided that 7 iron was supposed to be.

 

[Richuk123]

I can see the point of getting your lie angles corrected, but why change your lofts to be 4 degrees stronger?

Seems like quite a change, and such a change is likely to affect the bounce of all the clubs quite considerably too, not sure I'm in favour of changing the dynamics of the clubs so much. Setting them to manufacturers stated values is all well and good (and getting the correct gapping across the set is fine too) but why change the whole lot across the board to be much stronger?

i'd rather try crank them than buy a whole new set. i like the irons. nice and soft with great feel, but as i found out today, they are miles away from where they need to be with my swing. there not going to be 4 degrees strong, there going from 2deg weak to 2deg strong, hence a total movement of 4.

as stated above i add dynamic loft , so if there weak at setup, then in essence, i'm changing, say a 7, to an 8 for example.

 

[BTatHome]

i'd rather try crank them than buy a whole new set. i like the irons. nice and soft with great feel, but as i found out today, they are miles away from where they need to be with my swing. there not going to be 4 degrees strong, there going from 2deg weak to 2deg strong, hence a total movement of 4.

as stated above i add dynamic loft , so if there weak at setup, then in essence, i'm changing, say a 7, to an 8 for example.

I never said earlier you going 4 degrees strong, I said you were changing them 4 degrees stronger.

But changing an iron by 4 degrees is quite a lot in loft terms .... if the 7 iron loft originally was not known then you may have actually gone 4 degrees strong

 

[Richuk123]

I wonder what loft values the pro was comparing against. Can't see Dunlop lofts being that easy to obtain, and surely not a very common one to know either. Since there is no common loft values in existence I just wonder what value he decided that 7 iron was supposed to be.

sure, all manufactures are slightly different, and as you rightly put it, Obtaining anything from Dunlop would be tough , if not impossible, so he went with the "standard" issues anyone can get from the next, which i was happy with. "standard" 7 iron= 34 ,deg mine come out at 36. My 9 iron was 44, "standard" is 42.

 

[Richuk123]

I never said earlier you going 4 degrees strong, I said you were changing them 4 degrees stronger.

But changing an iron by 4 degrees is quite a lot in loft terms .... if the 7 iron loft originally was not known then you may have actually gone 4 degrees strong

sorry bud, misread your post. my bad.

One thing is for sure, my distance control is going to way out for a while! , but the only major left at the club is the pairs open is 5 weeks, so plenty of time to adjust. Wednesday knock shall be interesting to say the least!

 

[el marko]

Did you get progressive lie done or are you having 2-3 degrees through the whole set?

 

[Richuk123]

Did you get progressive lie done or are you having 2-3 degrees through the whole set?

Were starting at 2 through the bag, then when i go down during the week, they will be llie taped up and then tweaked if required, so i guess it's a bit of both.

 

[freddielong]

I think its all a bit over the top I have played golf for 30 years with standard lie and loft, I think that if I got fitted for my height etc I would have to alter my swing to fit them.

 

[DaveM]

I agree with getting the lie right. If you hit with the toe up you will tend to pull shots. Toe down at address tendency to push. So get the lie of the clubs right. Before you blame your swing.

 

[Richuk123]

I think its all a bit over the top I have played golf for 30 years with standard lie and loft, I think that if I got fitted for my height etc I would have to alter my swing to fit them.

It's all personal preference. I had my irons checked through choice based on my recent striking, and the fact I have not been checked since I lost my weight and took the game back up.

As I said, I genuinely thought the heel was going in first, how wrong I was. Complete opposite and explains some of my headaches.

I do not expect to out and bang out a 65 , but I'd like to think now my irons will be "made to measure" to a certain extent, it will assist me in some better ball striking and help iron out swing faults.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

If ever I heard a good reason to get a new set of clubs this is it!!!

 

[Dave B]

A few months ago my iron play was suffering so I went and had a swing check with the pro and we sorted it within 10 minutes. Basically I'd hurt my back a while ago and as a result my swing had gone flat. 10 minutes working on take away, swing plane and separation and my swing was back on plane and I was hitting the irons right down the middle. It was one of those little things that you don't realise you're doing and you just need somebody to point you in the right direction.

The other thing to come out of the lesson, was that the pro highlighted that my new irons were too upright.

I was surprised by this as I'm a standard 5ft 10in build and always been regular, shaft, loft, lie and grip.

I booked a lie check and we had a very good chat and one of the things to come out of the conversation was that many standard clubs now come off the shelf with an upright bias and many people are playing with the wrong lie on their clubs.

We went through the fitting routine with the lies boards and tape and then he went away and came back with custom Titleist and Ping fitting irons where they have an iron kit with different lie heads. We tried the Titleist at 2 degrees flat and the Ping at 3 degrees flat.

The results showed a moderate difference between the two, (I could have gotten away with either), however the defining factor was that Titleist will only allow a 2 degree change in loft on cast clubs.

If I'd needed further adjustment we'd have needed to look at changing the length of the clubs to obtain the correct lie angle.

The results after the lie change are a more solid contact and improved head position at address, (the club sits better).

Given that most manufacturers place limits on lie angle changes for cast clubs, (most pro's won't work outside the manufacturers limits), it may be worth considering changing both the lie and length of the club to fit your swing or as Homer has pointed out look at a new set, fitted to suit you swing.

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

I don't understand where the OP is going with this. I assume these irons are cast not forged? If so, it's pretty unlikely the lofts will have moved much, if at all. The club's are designed with a certain amount of loft and bounce and chopping them around is only going to bugger them up. If you need less loft, hit a longer club.