Value of a Fitting for Different Clubs

caeleric said:

fair enough. for me, i don't recall seeing much side-to-side improvement with changes in balls. i see greenside spin and distance. i've played prov1 and i've played cheapo macgregor balls with no difference in score. only my experience, though.

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I see big differences between cheapo balls and urethane covered balls in greenside spin. And I feel differences between higher and lower compression balls on full shots, particularly in cold weather. But I don't see much if any difference in ball flight or distance.

But then I've never had a ball fitting, so the jury's out there.

SkiBumGolfer said:

I see big differences between cheapo balls and urethane covered balls in greenside spin. And I feel differences between higher and lower compression balls on full shots, particularly in cold weather. But I don't see much if any difference in ball flight or distance.

But then I've never had a ball fitting, so the jury's out there.

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i think it would be fun to do a ball fitting. i usually see 1/2 to a full club loss in distance when playing prov1, and i had a one-round stint with srixon xv that saw over 1 club loss in distance. but i don't seem to miss more left or right. and i agree with you that greenside spin is hugely different, especially because my technique is lacking. holding greens doesn't seem to be affected much, though.

have fun with the fitting. it can be a little addictive

caeleric said:

i think it would be fun to do a ball fitting. i usually see 1/2 to a full club loss in distance when playing prov1, and i had a one-round stint with srixon xv that saw over 1 club loss in distance. but i don't seem to miss more left or right. and i agree with you that greenside spin is hugely different, especially because my technique is lacking. holding greens doesn't seem to be affected much, though.

have fun with the fitting. it can be a little addictive

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Thanks! I really hope I'm not opening Pandora's box haha

caeleric said:

fair enough. for me, i don't recall seeing much side-to-side improvement with changes in balls. i see greenside spin and distance. i've played prov1 and i've played cheapo macgregor balls with no difference in score. only my experience, though.

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Sanzabar said:

What should a great iron fitting consist of?

Should a professional watch you hit golf balls of the ground and make the changes he thinks necessary?
Should you hit off of a lie board?
Should you be on a monitor getting all of the fine tuned details?
Should you have 50 shafts available or just a couple that your fitter thinks will fit you?

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It depends on the professional...the better ones will use ball flight, your swing, face contact using a marker on the ball.

Based on what they see they will try different shaft models, flexes and weight. Using the mizuno shaft optimizer is nice because it gives recommendations and then based on feel and performance you can try the shafts.

LM data for me isn't important because I will figure out my distances on the range and with an outdoor fitting you can see the flight and what happens to the ball.

SkiBumGolfer said:

I see big differences between cheapo balls and urethane covered balls in greenside spin. And I feel differences between higher and lower compression balls on full shots, particularly in cold weather. But I don't see much if any difference in ball flight or distance.

But then I've never had a ball fitting, so the jury's out there.

Click to expand...

caeleric said:

i think it would be fun to do a ball fitting. i usually see 1/2 to a full club loss in distance when playing prov1, and i had a one-round stint with srixon xv that saw over 1 club loss in distance. but i don't seem to miss more left or right. and i agree with you that greenside spin is hugely different, especially because my technique is lacking. holding greens doesn't seem to be affected much, though.

have fun with the fitting. it can be a little addictive

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Ball fittings are great. I have done a few with Bridgestone and bring able to see the performance is nice.

Compression matters and if one can't compress a ball good enough then spin can negatively effect the result. Either to high, to low or to far side to side.

My first fitting recommended an e7 (better than nxt tour) the last two have been b330-rx( first time better than prov1 2009 iirc and 2nd previous Srixon z star)

Others will try to find the right ball thru trial and error.

caeleric said:

i think a properly fit driver can put you in a position to give you a better chance to hit a green in regulation. properly fit irons can lead to more greens in regulation, and there's nothing that affects my scores more than gir. more gir = lower scores. when i stand on a tee with a driver, i don't think, "i have the opportunity to hit a really special shot here." but i think that every time i have an iron or wedge in my hand when approaching a green. a well-struck driver feels good, but a well-struck iron is the sexiest thing in golf to me.

so i would rank fitting importance like this:
1. irons
2. putter
3. wedges
4. driver
5. fw/hybo
6. ball

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Putting it in that context just made a ton of sense to me. I'd maybe still sort the lower portion of the list a little differently but won't argue with Irons/Putter at 1/2 after reading your logic. Wedges are so feel oriented that I can readily adapt to any of them in a short time and doing tons of thourough driver testing I realize only a few actually perform well for me so i'd go:
1. irons
2. putter
3. driver
4. ball
5. wedges
6. fw/hybo

I found that my iron fitting has done wonders for me. Going into the fitting, I wondered if my clubs were too long or the lie angle wasn't right because I hit the ball fat occasionally. Turns out it's just my swing because I'm standard everything.
The one thing that we noticed was the the clubs that I was using had the wrong flex in them. I was using a regular flex and it turns out I should be using stiff flex.

One of my buddies that worked at Golftown always told me that my swing speed was pretty fast and that I should be in a stiff shaft. After the fitting I believed him. lol.

I ended up changing to a set of irons with the stiff shaft and that alone made my shots go 10 yards longer. So I gained distance by using the right shaft. I've made the change in all my clubs now.

I was also taking lessons at the time of my fitting and I wasn't sure if my swing just improved to gain that extra distance. But recently, I had to use my old clubs for a round and boom, I saw the lost yardage again because my ball flight would just balloon and not go anywhere.

I'll go with driver first. There's the confidence boost, and while a good drive may not guarantee a good score, a bad drive can guarantee a bad score.

Next would be ball. Assuming a guy has a complete game, there needs to be balance between spin, control and distance.

Then putter, because it's a real scoring club.

Then for me it's the woods and hybrids, because my second shots usually use one of these.

Then finally the irons and wedges. While they're last on my list, they're still very important because that's about 6 to 8 clubs in the bag.

I would say that all clubs have value in being fitted, but each for their own reasons and it is up to the individual as to how they prioritise each of them

Irons / hybrids / wedges - these (collectively) are probably hit more than any other club in the bag, and being that they are primarily hit off the ground, if these aren't fitted correctly then you are always going to struggle

Driver / fairway woods - getting the right shaft weight, flex, loft, etc for these should mean you get the most out of these (driver is hopefully the next thing on my list for fitting)

Putter - never had a fitting but interested to see what would be recommended. I have always gone off what felt right and suited my eye in the past

Ball - having tried a few different balls over the last couple of seasons, I can see differences between them (although going from the likes of the e6 to B330S there is always going to be differences) and I do feel that getting the right ball can make a difference to your game

I'd say the iron fitting is more important. Finding the right launch angle, spin rate, etc can do wonders to someone's game. Getting properly fit for my new irons proved a lot to me on how the numbers (especially spin rate) can drastically change how well a club works.

One thing I would add in though is getting properly fit for wedges. Finding the right bounce and grinds can definitely help one's short game. Problem is finding a place that does wedge fittings.