I understand that what I’m about to write will tick off all of the gear-heads out there, but that’s why I get the big bucks. Here goes; I believe that equipment and equipment fitting is vastly overrated.
There, I’ve said it and I’m as serious as a heart attack.
Let me be clear, I believe that your clubs should fit, meaning they should be the right length, weight, loft and flex for your swing; but for the most part, I don’t believe that you need a professional club fitter to make those decisions for you.
Let me explain; I believe that most people arrive at the right clubs by feel not by fit, and there is nothing wrong with that. I also believe that most golfers know less about their golf clubs than they do about fashion (These cargo pants look okay, don’t they?). But that’s okay because I believe that most of us fit ourselves relatively well in spite of our golf egos.
And, make no mistake about it; the golf ego is not your friend. The golf ego makes you buy clubs you don’t really like because your buddy, or some obscure assistant golf pro, or Tiger Woods plays them and you want to be cool. You play like crap, but it can’t be the clubs because the cool guys play them.
It is also the golf ego that makes you pick clubs that are too heavy, or a shaft that’s too stiff because we all know that real men play “S” flex not “R”. Trust me on this one; there are shafts out there that you cannot hit. Try your 90 mile an hour swing speed with an “X” flex shaft with 1.5 degrees of torque and watch your drive skip along the ground.
If we could forget about ego and advertising, and all the logos were removed from clubs, shafts and golf balls, I wonder which ones would we choose? It might surprise you.
Adhering to my feel not fit doctrine, I’m also not sure if a particular brand of equipment makes much difference either. I think everyone should pick their clubs the way they pick their donuts; glazed is for the regular guy, cake is for big guys, sprinkles are for snappy dressers, and the one with the cream filling is for the golf junky. Obviously there are the English muffin types that always go for the imported brand, and I understand that. But I’ll never understand the sugarcoated bagels, which is equivalent to moveable weights.
Here’s the bottom-line: my fitting system starts with the way it looks. If the look gives me confidence, that’s half the battle. There is also the silly factor. If a club is too goofy looking it doesn’t work for me. I’m having a hard enough time simply teeing off; the last thing I need is my buddies making fun of my clubs.
After the clubs pass the look test, I move right to feel, which I suppose is weight and balance. Feel is everything. I put the club at the address position and take it back slowly. I pause halfway up as if to check the position of my arm and how the club feels shoulder high. I continue my swing to the top paying special attention to how the weight feels over my head. I swing slowly, careful not to hit another customer in the back of the head, and when it feels right, you know it, don’t you?
If possible I hit the club on the range, or at the very least into a net, but frankly a net doesn’t tell you much, does it?
Here’s the bottom-line; I have been fitted by very competent, high priced, professional club fitters and I have bought clubs off the rack without every hitting them and when all was said and done, I couldn’t tell much difference. Granted, that has a lot to do with my own ineptness. I even concede that a really good golfer may benefit a great deal more from being fitted that I do. But, I can promise you one thing, 9 out of 10 bad shots are the Indian and not the arrow… even if the arrow has movable weights.
