We've launched the new forums! Read more here

Fitting

Nippon Shafts
davis20

davis20

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 5, 2014
Messages
1,728
Reaction score
447
Location
Texas
Handicap
16
I'm looking to upgrade my clubs soon and just have a few questions. I am currently playing some 8-9yr old Dunlop clubs (blue ice) I believe they are called. Anyway I'm planning on taking lessons once the weather here in Indiana turns cold at an indoor facility. I have a fairly consistent swing now. My misses are pretty consistently pushes and a high lazy slice. I still duff 3-4 shots a round as well.

So my question is should I finish the playing season and take my lessons with my current set and then get fit? Or should I go ahead and get fit now and take my lessons with my new set. I don't know a whole lot about the fitting process other than that check your lie angles and such.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
Tough call man. How much time and effort you put into the lessons and the scale of your swing change will definitely make a difference. I saw a pretty big change in lie angles after my last 1/2 year of lessons.
 
Fitting

Personally, I'd get lessons until you know what your standard miss is and you're (ideally) not duffing any shots and making solid contact. At least, that's my plan, and I'm just about to get fit for some myself - hopefully I'll still make progress and if I have to get the lies adjusted a touch, so be it. Ultimately your call though :)
 
Its a really tough call like Hawk said. I would try to work on the swing first and see what the pro suggests. That way you can be fit to what swing you will have long term. If there are major changes to your swing it could lead to needing to be fit again after the lessons.
 
Thanks for the responses, I'm semi anxious to upgrade my clubs I guess just to know I'm hitting quality equipment. That and I won't have to hang my head and say Dunlop when someone asks me what kind of clubs I hit lol. I have a funky work schedule of a month at work and a month at home. So I plan on working on things pretty hard and am hoping i can get some drills to do for a month when I can't hit real balls. So I will wait and see I guess how BIG my adjustments are going to be. Hopefully I won't have to get new golf shoes also, I feel like my foot wedge from under pine trees is a strong point of my game.
 
I don't think it's a tough call at all to be honest.
Get fit!

Make a deal with the fitter for a redo of the loft/lie during the winter. I don't know of any irons or wedges that can't be redone later on :)
 
You know I was wondering that myself. I may have to look into that option. Be nice too hot done new sticks this fall.
 
I would start experimenting before and after lessons. Hopefully you can borrow or try out some stuff.
 
Lots of good responses. I went through this earlier this year. After taking some lessons and adjusting my swing my lie angles changed. Definitely like the ideas of testing before, during and after the lessons and working a deal with the fitter. My fitter is pretty flexible with good clients and will sacrifice a dollar or two for repeat business'sbusiness's
 
D20, this will piss off about 90% of the people here, but i have been in the golf business for almost 20 years and the idea of a fitting for a 22 handicap borders on insane. UNLESS you are really tall with really short arms or REALLY short with very long arms. but you should get better clubs. there are a million $200 sets of irons out there that would make a huge difference for you.

find a driver or 3 wood that you can hit in the fairway and learn to chip and putt like a beast and you handicap will plummet.
 
Chipping and putting its for sure a weak point. I'm not sure what is average or good, but I average 42-44 putts per round. I have a feeling that is rather bad. Chipping is so so. I have a 9 degree big bertha steelhead plus as my driver. The head on that thing is the size of most modern 3 or 5 woods. It also has a steel shaft so I know there is room for improvement on that.
 
davis20 said:
Chipping and putting its for sure a weak point. I'm not sure what is average or good, but I average 42-44 putts per round. I have a feeling that is rather bad. Chipping is so so. I have a 9 degree big bertha steelhead plus as my driver. The head on that thing is the size of most modern 3 or 5 woods. It also has a steel shaft so I know there is room for improvement on that.
Click to expand...

sounds like you are very realistic and honest about your game. that is half the battle. yes 42-44 putts is bad, but that means that lowering the handicap will be pretty easy. considering that you probably dont hit many greens in regulation you should easily be able to get those putts down to the very low 30's or even lower. and yes, for 50-79 bucks you can get a driver that is a million times better than a steelhead plus.
spend a few dollars on an equipment upgrade and take a chipping and putting lesson. you will be surprised how much lower you can go!!!
keep us posted....
 
davis20 said:
Chipping and putting its for sure a weak point. I'm not sure what is average or good, but I average 42-44 putts per round. I have a feeling that is rather bad. Chipping is so so. I have a 9 degree big bertha steelhead plus as my driver. The head on that thing is the size of most modern 3 or 5 woods. It also has a steel shaft so I know there is room for improvement on that.
Click to expand...

You'll also be amazed at how quickly your number of putts drops as you improve with pitching and chipping. The occasional three putt isn't the end of the world either :). I agree with GMAMAS though, definitely look at a new driver - it's a lot of fun and will make a huge difference in confidence as well. I rarely used my old driver due to a complete lack of faith in it and I'd wager my X2 Hot has taken a good 5 shots off each round through actually hitting fairways and going pretty long, even though I don't think I've totally got it dialed in yet. Let us know how you get on - you'll have fun, I'm sure :)
 
I hit around 3 maybe 4 in regulation. Mostly on par 5s and shorter par 4s. Then I will chipping for par allot. Add 2 or 3 putts and there you go off into the stratosphere. Working on my putting at home lately. Trying to put over a dime. Probably start lessons in November. Fingers crossed to break 90 next year. If I can get my putts into the low 30's I'm thinking it could be a real possibility.
 
GMAMAS GOLF said:
D20, this will piss off about 90% of the people here, but i have been in the golf business for almost 20 years and the idea of a fitting for a 22 handicap borders on insane. UNLESS you are really tall with really short arms or REALLY short with very long arms. but you should get better clubs. there are a million $200 sets of irons out there that would make a huge difference for you.

find a driver or 3 wood that you can hit in the fairway and learn to chip and putt like a beast and you handicap will plummet.
Click to expand...

Out of interest, at what handicap would you recommend getting fitted? I've got my eye on the Apex Pros and will simply ask the pro at my shop to work out lie etc before we order (they're a Callaway supplier) - I'm not talking the works. My thoughts were that I'd like to wait until I'm down at a single figure handicap (sub 8 ideally) and about 5 years or so then get properly fit by an independent fitter with no affiliations. However, with my set now, if I can get the lie sorted to what I'm playing now and maybe get it adjusted in a year or so, surely that makes sense?
 
davis20 said:
I hit around 3 maybe 4 in regulation. Mostly on par 5s and shorter par 4s. Then I will chipping for par allot. Add 2 or 3 putts and there you go off into the stratosphere. Working on my putting at home lately. Trying to put over a dime. Probably start lessons in November. Fingers crossed to break 90 next year. If I can get my putts into the low 30's I'm thinking it could be a real possibility.
Click to expand...

The way I'd look at it would be that if you can drive further, you'll reduce the pressure on your approach shots, which would generally put you nearer the flag. If you were to focus on that and your pitches from around the green and between 50-100 yards, you'll again reduce the pressure on your putting. At least, that's the way I'm approaching the same issues in my game!
 
Veryslowsnail25 said:
Out of interest, at what handicap would you recommend getting fitted? I've got my eye on the Apex Pros and will simply ask the pro at my shop to work out lie etc before we order (they're a Callaway supplier) - I'm not talking the works. My thoughts were that I'd like to wait until I'm down at a single figure handicap (sub 8 ideally) and about 5 years or so then get properly fit by an independent fitter with no affiliations. However, with my set now, if I can get the lie sorted to what I'm playing now and maybe get it adjusted in a year or so, surely that makes sense?
Click to expand...

once again, you wont find many people that will agree with me on here, but "fitting" has a little voodoo in it. i have personally played every round of golf in my life except one with an off the rack set of clubs. i did a fitting once just to see what the guy came up with. my fitting was to have my irons bent 2 degrees flat. it was a joke. i played one round with 2 degree flat irons and couldnt keep the toe out of the ground.
so i dont think there is a perfect time to look at it and in fact you should be able to figure some of it out yourself based on ball flight and where you are contacting your irons on the face. my point about a high handicapper getting fit is that their swing is rarely going to be the same twice in a row much less 50 times in a row. so which swing are you going to "fit"?? (and i am not talking about loft and flex on a driver, i think we can all benefit from having those things as correct as possible)

i wont even go into the whole idea of being fit on a perfectly flat surface and then walking onto a golf course where you never have a perfectly flat lie. any adjustments less than a degree or so are thrown out the window right there.

one last thing about fitting and i will shut up. it is very often used to sell equipment. i cant tell you the millions of times i have heard people say they were fit for 1/2 in over irons. that makes you have to "special order" clubs and keeps you from shopping somewhere else or buying used. its a scam.

most people dont think about the fact that clubs vary almost exactly 1/2 inch from club to club. so if you lengthen your irons 1/2 inch your 8 iron is now the length your seven iron would be in a standard set. does that mean you can no longer hit your 9 iron because it is now the same length your 8 iron used to be?? the only club that is now a different length than another club was in a standard set is the shortest one in your bag. its a joke.

let the cursing by the non believers begin!!!
 
GMAMAS GOLF said:
once again, you wont find many people that will agree with me on here, but "fitting" has a little voodoo in it. i have personally played every round of golf in my life except one with an off the rack set of clubs. i did a fitting once just to see what the guy came up with. my fitting was to have my irons bent 2 degrees flat. it was a joke. i played one round with 2 degree flat irons and couldnt keep the toe out of the ground.
so i dont think there is a perfect time to look at it and in fact you should be able to figure some of it out yourself based on ball flight and where you are contacting your irons on the face. my point about a high handicapper getting fit is that their swing is rarely going to be the same twice in a row much less 50 times in a row. so which swing are you going to "fit"?? (and i am not talking about loft and flex on a driver, i think we can all benefit from having those things as correct as possible)

i wont even go into the whole idea of being fit on a perfectly flat surface and then walking onto a golf course where you never have a perfectly flat lie. any adjustments less than a degree or so are thrown out the window right there.

one last thing about fitting and i will shut up. it is very often used to sell equipment. i cant tell you the millions of times i have heard people say they were fit for 1/2 in over irons. that makes you have to "special order" clubs and keeps you from shopping somewhere else or buying used. its a scam.

most people dont think about the fact that clubs vary almost exactly 1/2 inch from club to club. so if you lengthen your irons 1/2 inch your 8 iron is now the length your seven iron would be in a standard set. does that mean you can no longer hit your 9 iron because it is now the same length your 8 iron used to be?? the only club that is now a different length than another club was in a standard set is the shortest one in your bag. its a joke.

let the cursing by the non believers begin!!!
Click to expand...
I agree with a lot of what you are saying as far as not getting fit until you have a consistent, repeatable swing. However I do think there is a reason the best players in the world and most good amateurs do it. So I think if the swing is repeatable there has to be some benefit.

Speaking on ball flight, as a reference I hit my 6 iron around 155-160 and I hit all my irons very high. Not talking about swing changes, what from a fitting perspective does that say about my current clubs. I'm guessing that as most of my misses are pushes that I need more upright clubs (again not talking swing issues). Just wondered what in the fitting process would make my ball flight less of a moon shot and more penetrating.
 
davis20 said:
I agree with a lot of what you are saying as far as not getting fit until you have a consistent, repeatable swing. However I do think there is a reason the best players in the world and most good amateurs do it. So I think if the swing is repeatable there has to be some benefit.

Speaking on ball flight, as a reference I hit my 6 iron around 155-160 and I hit all my irons very high. Not talking about swing changes, what from a fitting perspective does that say about my current clubs. I'm guessing that as most of my misses are pushes that I need more upright clubs (again not talking swing issues). Just wondered what in the fitting process would make my ball flight less of a moon shot and more penetrating.
Click to expand...

i agree with you 100%. Very good players with repeatable swings do adjust things from time to time. But i would also say that there are a ton of very good players who do not.

as far as your ball flight goes, i would say shaft. its really hard to say when you are playing an old set of dunlops. i newer club with a good shaft would give us a better place to start figuring that out. it may be a swing issue as well.
 
I'm sure there are swing issues, involved in the high ball flight shaft lean at impact, not enough lag etc. I'm sure some updated clubs would be a better indicator than what I have. Anyway I'm going to be working on the putting and chipping for now and play what I have until the end of summer. I will try and keep this thread updated as I make progress and to ask questions. For now though I'm on my ship heading out of Tampa bay for Houston so will be out of touch for a few days. Hope everyone keeps it in the short grass thanks for all the info.
 
I have read a couple books recently on the swing and wanted to get some feedback on what ppl thought of those books. The books are

Ben Hogan 5 lessons
Ben Hogan's short game simplified
The keys to the effortless golf swing



I changed my grip to the one that Hogan suggested in his book and now seem to pull the ball more.

In Ben Hogan's short game the focus is really on the "magical device"and keeping the shoulder/hand triangle intact. Also a point that I like and would like comment on is the first move on the downswing. The author says the first move should be for the front shoulder to move straight up. And another key point is for the back shoulder to pass through the low point of the front shoulder. To me this move seems to promote an inside/out swing path. Thoughts on that?

In the keys to the effortless golf swing the emphasis send to be on quite arms and hands. The swing with respect to the shoulders is more rotational. Keeping the same shoulder plain throughout the swing. The first move in that book is for the front knee to go at the ball and then towards the target. Promoting I guess the un coiling of the hips.

So I'm not sure which first move is better or such shoulder plane it's better either.

If you have read these books or are familiar with there concepts I would love to hear some advice and thoughts.
 
I found myself pretty much in the same boat davis20. I was playing assorted clubs from different brands both new and used. my instructor is waiting a little for my fitting. It was hard at first lol but over time I became less anxious. Its only been about month. But if you have your heart set on a set and find a good price id say jump on it. Shafts and lies can always be corrected later.
 
I have noticed my left arm breaking down in my back swing, which I'm quite sure isn't bending the same amount each time. So I would guess that creates some inconsistency in swing plane and timing. Anyone else combat this issue of keeping the left arm straight. If so any drill to help or a mental thought to help?
 
106 on Friday. 42 putts. First round in a month. 69.9/125 on the course rating.
 
When I first started lessons just over a year ago, I brought new G25's and was fitted for them by a Ping Fitter and ended up with a Blue dot. This is 0.75 upright on the lie angle. Earlier this year I brought a set of standard Apex off the rack. During a lesson last month we used a lie board to determine the lie angle on my irons. With all the swing changes over the last 12 months I ended up getting the lie adjusted on the Apex to 2 degrees upright (I think). Whether its swing changes, mental or the adjustment I am hitting my irons more around the centre of the face on clean shots.

I've also went for a driver fitting recently. I went from internet reading and listening to guys in shops saying I was a regular flex shaft with my swing speed blah blah blah. In the fitting I ended up being fit into a Stiff flex at 45 inches. This reduced spin, improved the left and right dispersion, gave a lot better figures on Trackman and felt better to me.

I now think fittings are important. If I was starting again, I would definitely get fitted for a driver or 3/4/5 wood at the beginning and then once I had a reasonably consistent swing get fitted for irons or at least get the lie angle checked and adjusted if needs be. I would have saved a far amount of cash as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top