A 12 handicap golfer come to see us recently with a couple of problems.
He was hitting the ball too high and even though he thought he had been “custom fitted” – he was struggling with too much height and not enough consistency.
This customer told us he had been “fitted” inside in a store where the assistant let him try lots of different clubs while hitting into a net. He hit balls with different heads and shafts to find one he liked the feel and hit of. This was fine but our man ended up with a club that felt great but hit the ball very high and with no consistency.
In his pursuit for better feel he had been recommended a very soft regular flex shaft for both irons and woods and a forged head in his irons. The result was a great feeling club that he struggled to get consistency from. He had a number of complaints such as a very high ball flight from a very soft tipped and flex shaft.
The stickers below show the irons first with the numbers 1,2 and 3. The first sticker is his own iron strikes on the face, the next sticker is our first attempt of firming up the shaft with a Nippon 950 Stiff and but as you can see there is still a little dispersion on the face. The 3rd sticker is a Rifle Flighted 6.0 shaft which has much better, lower ball flight and is far more accurate and consistent. Our customer can still feel the shaft and head as Rifle has a great feel and flow to the shaft.
The driver was a similar story where the shaft was far too soft and the very soft tip allowed the driver head to dip under and hit the ball high and with lots of spin. In the driver section (Sticker#1) you can see how the head is again dipping under the ball and hits it very high in the face. The marks on the bottom of the sticker are is the top of the tee.
When we moved to a stiffer tip we immediately saw better consistency and the spin and flight lowered (sticker #2). We eventually decided on a Grafalloy Pro launch Blue 65 Stiff (sticker #3) which gave us the control we wanted with the feel for the player and more importantly an average of 25 yards gain in distance.
Below are the impact stickers from his ForeGolf fitting.
IRONS
1- Customer’s own 6 Iron
His own irons had a shaft that was Reg Flex, too tip soft and was creating too much dispersion and lacked control. It was also making the head dip under the ball, hitting high into the face and created very high ball flight.
2 – First Test 6 Iron
This was our first attempt at controlling the clubhead with a Nippon 950 GH Stiff shaft but the tip is a little soft and the ball flight is still too high
3 – Correctly Custom Fitted 6 Iron
This is our choice of shaft for his Mizuno heads. We re-shafted them with a Rifle Flighted 6.0 Shaft. The customer can still feel the head, the flight is much lower and more accurate.
DRIVER
1- Customer’s own Driver.
His own Driver had a very standard regular flex shaft that allowed the head to dip under, pronate and hit the ball very high in the face. Causing very high back spin and high ball flight.
2 – First Test Driver
This first test club has a YS-6 Stiff Shaft in it and while is is lower in the face it is still a little soft in the tip and is hitting a bit too high in the face.
3 – Correctly Custom Fitted Driver
We have chosen a Grafalloy Pro Launch Blue 65 Stiff whihc gives us the combination of solid control, lower face strikes, good feel and lower spin which gives the customer a gain of 25 yards.
This highlights the importance of being properly “FITTED”, our knowledge of how clubs perform is one of the reasons why we were voted #1 in the World. We’re seeing more and more customers who thought they had already been “custom fitted” but if there’s a lesson to learn its don’t settle for second best.
Get custom clubs from people who know what they are talking about and can build you clubs that will perform.
To book an appointment for a 1 hour ForeGolf custom fit analysis please telephone +353 (0)1 9060147
The session is a full bag check and costs €100
