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The clubs sold in retail shops and pro shops are mass-produced without standards for lie angles or shaft flex.

For instance, the lie angle of a Ping five-iron might be two degrees different from a Cleveland five-iron. The stiff shaft on a Taylor Made driver could be an inch longer and equivalent to an extra-stiff on a Titleist.

When you buy clubs off the rack, you don’t know what you’re getting. I've had one guy come in with a stiff shaft and I tested it. It measured out to the equivalent of a ladies’ regular flex.”

Some club fitters say it has been difficult to spread the word about the importance of a proper fit because equipment manufactures are reluctant to change production. It’s more cost efficient to mass-produce clubs than it is to fit each golfer.

But manufacturers would like to increase the number of custom clubs they sell. Taylor Made, for instance, has 3,600 custom-fitting carts at courses and retail shops across the nation.

“We’d like to see everybody get fit, but that’s not practical,” said John Hoeflich, senior director of business development for Taylor Made. “We encourage customers to find fitting carts and try a club fitter.”

“We point out to every golfer that there are different swing types and the most important thing is to find a club that fits your swing.”

Dynamic fittings are the only way.

Custom-fitting golf clubs, a once simple process that has evolved into a complex, high-tech science. Launch monitors and swing analyzers have replaced tape measures and swing-speed radar guns as the tools of the trade, helping fine-tune club specifications.

Professional golfers very familiar with their swings demand equipment specifically matched to their swings and benefit greatly. The question is, how much of a difference will custom clubs make to a 15 – handicapper?


It becomes almost more important.The key is to reward golfers when they make good swings, but if your clubs don’t fit, you won’t get rewarded. That will encourage swing manipulations and bad habits.

Proper club fitting can shave four or five shots from the average golfer’s handicap and it can add 20 to 30 yards on driver distance. But those searching for an instant cure to their swing woes might be in for a surprise.


Custom club fitting used to involve a golfer standing with arms hanging to the sides and measuring the distance between palm and the ground to determine proper shaft flex.

A tall player with a fast swing would need clubs upright and with stiff shafts, according, to then-accepted industry standards. Dynamic fitting, during which the golfer hits balls, is quickly replacing those antiquated methods.

It’s like measuring somebody’s height at 6 feet and telling then they need a 42 regular suit. You can’t determine of it will fit by those measurements. You have to try on the suit. The same with golf clubs.


It's all in the fitting process. In this era of technological advance, simply getting measured is not enough.

You can’t really do an effective static fitting ,It doesn’t quite work that way.

You should go through a series of tests, all of which involve hitting balls. Golfers hit balls with different clubs, shafts, lie angles, grip sizes and launch angles, each change measured on machine similar to those used by pros.


Plus,you should go through a ball fitting as well to determine the one best suited to your swings.



Why,is this so true?

People always see that the pros are using this driver and that ball and automatically think that must be the best stuff. Well, it might be for one person, but not for another.