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Checking your own Lofts/Lies

Nippon Shafts
GolferDad66

GolferDad66

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Albatross 2024 Club
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Had another post, but it seemed to have disappeared.

Who on this board checks their own lofts/lies? And is there anyone that uses a cost effective device. I'm not interested in spending money on the big equipment. Just a way for me to check, and if its off by a lot; know it and take it to a pro to fix.
 
I am not aware of a way to check yourself but I have asked my club guy to check them for me, he usually has no issue checking for free.
 
I do. I pay my local pro $20 to use his gear, just about each time I check them
 
I posted a reply in your other thread in the clubmaking part of the forum.

I'll update this post and that post with pics of my setup. Was about $140 total and does the job very well for the occasional times I need to check loft and lies

I will say, most pros will check your lies and lofts for you, just keep a printout or screenshot of the standard specs of your clubs from the internet (although my local pro knows from memory the standard lies that most in the industry follow)
 
I would love to get a loft/lie machine but don't have the space and can't really justify the cost.
 
I believe Golfworks has the Golf Mechanix brand, usually the cheaper line on their website. I’m considering getting a loft/lie bender sometime in the near future. For now my local driving range allows me to use their high end Mitchell equipment to dial in my irons. Sometimes it’s good to be known as the driving range’s “demo” guy.
 
TL/DR - First two pics show the right way to read it with my method, last two pics show wrong methods and what could go wrong.

Here's my setup. You're holding each protractor with each hand and left hand also guiding the club back and forth on the machine until lower protractor reads 0. Of course your hands are flipped if you use RH clubs and the setup is in reverse.
20210713_164755.jpg

Right hand holding lower protractor, with razor blade on the magnetized part, and back of blade edge into the grooves. This is viewed from above.
20210713_164823.jpg


I have to do it this way because as you can see here in the below pictures, the Golfmechanix arm gives a different reading than the club shaft. Also the reading between work surface and the tool surface can vary. I have verified my method vs. my local pro who has a $2k loft/lie machine with built in spec gauge and my method yields the same numbers. Also the majority of stuff i measure come in truly at the standard spec'd measurement for the stock club, within a half a degree usually.

One thing i planned on doing and, now that I am reminded again, is to replace the more basic protractor with the one with the light up face. it's more sensitive and can go to the 100ths of a degree (as opposed to 10ths), but the lit face makes it so much easier to notice when youre trying to get one to 0, hold it, and look over at the other to get a reading.

I am sure someone can DIY the golfmechanix spec gauge platform thing. Using it as designed with the included metal protractor against the arm of the tool gave me inaccurate results so I had to get creative.

But resting the protractor on the Mechanix arm can yield a 1.8* difference in reading.

The hardest part of all this is actually holding that protractor with blade inside the grooves for a few moments.
20210713_165022.jpg20210713_165054.jpg
 
I've also realized with my method that when my in-groove protractor reads zero, the point where the club sole is touching the surface (ground) is actually slightly towards the toe from the sweet spot and not directly underneath the sweet spot.

Therefore, eyeballing the club sitting "Flat" on a surface and measuring lie or loft will never give you an accurate result.
1626214095758.png
 
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