Lessons learnt
WHAT I’VE LEARNT FROM 11 YEARS OF CLUBFITTING
Activity in the custom club fitting/making world is at a low due to the recession and the time of year. It is perhaps a suitable time to reflect on lessons learnt and the experience accrued from well over 1000 clubfittings and 11 years in the business. Read on but beware "the truth always hurts"!
BASIC FACTS
Let’s take a look at the components. A golf club that is fitted to you is a well designed head that you find visually appealing and of the correct design to suit your ability. All the top quality heads are made in around 6 foundries – doesn’t matter whose name is on the sole, they’ll have been made in one of these foundries. And while we are on the subject of drivers ……
What Technical Advances are Left ? – in my opinion, none. Drivers are limited in head size, MoI and “spring face effect”. Sure, they can carry our minor weight shifts and paint it a different colour but nothing that is going to change your game ! Can anyone define a "sweet zone" but I can define a sweet spot !
The shaft will be either steel, steel alloy or carbon fibre. If its steel it is essentially a steel tube, seem welded and then extruded through a dye to give it the step pattern (or not) – no rocket science, no magic genies rushing up and down the shaft producing extra yards out of nowhere !.
Stiffness is essentially controlled by the wall thickness which is why it is impossible (at the moment) to have a lightweight stiff steel shaft.
A carbon fibre (or graphite) shaft is a collection of carbon fibres held together with a resin glue. The characteristics of the shaft are decided, amongst other things, by the angle at which the fibres “cross” the forming mandrel (or tube) during the manufacturing process. The quality of the carbon fibres is of importance – a good quality shaft will use more “high modulus” carbon fibres than a lower quality one. But again no magic “force” within the shaft producing extra yards !
The Grip – probably rubber composite (or an elastomer) of the correct size to fit your palm/finger length.
There is a finite limit to what a manufacturer can pay for head, shaft and grip for quality components. After that it is up to how much the customer is prepared to pay for that particular brand that decides the selling price. Which brings is on to “big business”.
GULLIBILITY AND BIG BUSINESS - I continue to be amazed at the gullibility of the average golfer and how easily you are all taken in by the adverts.
Just think, you are the VP Marketing for a large US club manufacturer. It is your job to sell heavens knows how many thousands of drivers, fairway woods, rescue clubs, wedges , sets of irons etc each year. You will use every advertising trick on this earth to achieve your sales targets. Why ? – because your primary task is to satisfy your shareholders.
