Tom Wishon Golf Technology

Putter Fitting – The Most Important Club to Custom Fit

Tom Wishon — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:27:59 +0000

Golfers use the putter more than any other club in the bag, yet it Putter fitting rarely gets the attention it deserves. 43% of the average golfer’s shots are struck with the putter. Yet how do most golfers buy a putter? By trial and error, with the emphasis put almost entirely on the “look” or the design features of the putter head, instead of the 4 critical putter fitting elements which, if properly fit, could strip strokes off your score.

Granted, it’s a fact – if the golfer isn’t confident with the look of the putter behind the ball, they won’t have the confidence or the ability to accurately line up the putt. On the other hand, if the putter’s Length, Loft, Lie and overall weight balance are not matched to each golfer’s style of putting, there is little chance the putter will lower your score.

Putter Length

When you think that golfers are so different in their height, arm length and putting posture, it’s logical to think that the length of the putter must be custom fit to ensure a smooth putting stroke. Arms scrunched up into the body or stretched out to the point of tension while stroking the putt are not conducive to putting consistency.

Putter Loft

The loft of the putter must be matched to the golfer’s hand position at impact to ensure the ball rolls smoothly. Does the golfer forward press to start their stroke or position the ball back of center in their stance? If so, they need more loft. Is the golfer a wristy putter or do they position the ball ahead of the center to front of their stance? If so, they may need less loft.

Putter Lie Angle

Since putters do have loft, that means if the toe or the heel of the putter is off the ground at impact, the face is pointing somewhere other than the intended target line. For consistent accuracy, the putter’s lie angle must be adjusted for each golfer so the putter sits perfectly in the center of the sole from heel to toe.

Putter Weight Balance

There is a weight balance for putters that will allow every golfer to be more consistent. One of the most interesting developments in modern putter fitting is to add weight in the grip end of the putter. Counterweighting, as it is called, with a 60 to 100 gram weight installed in the grip end of the shaft is proving to allow many golfers to develop a smoother stroke which results in more on center hits with the putter and more consistent distance control of the putt.

When you think about custom fit golf clubs or when you act to book a custom Clubfitting appointment, be sure you talk to your custom Clubmaker about fitting for the putter too. If you do, your handicap index will be on its way to heading south on a permanent basis. So don’t hesitate, go and FIND A CLUBFITTER and you will most definitely see dramatic improvements in your putting this year!

Custom Clubfitting – What Kind of Car Wash Do You Want?

Tom Wishon — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:20:55 +0000

More and more golf club companies are starting to emphasize custom clubfitting as an option for golfers as opposed to buying their clubs in standard form off the rack.

Custom fitting is very definitely beneficial for average golfers and not just for single digit handicap players. When done properly, custom fitting can reduce and offset some of the poor shotmaking effects of your swing errors. In addition, proper custom fitting makes it easier to take swing lessons and make the changes in the swing to hit the ball better.

If you are thinking about custom fitting for your next driveror set of clubs, there are a few things you need to know to ensure you really do end up with properly custom fit clubs that will improve your game. A colleague of mine in the golf business made what I believe to be a very appropriate analogy between custom clubfitting and getting your car washed.

If your car needs a bath, you can pull out the hose and just spray water on it to wash off the obvious surface dirt. On the other hand, you can also fill a bucket with suds and scrub the dirt off the surface with a sponge. Or, you can pull out all the stops and scrub, detail and wax it. All three examples could be called a car wash.

Custom fitting in the golf industry today is much the same. There is “fitting”, and there is professional custom clubfitting. Examples of a “fitting” include, “6 questions on a web site”, 15 minutes hitting a few balls with a swing computer, or 3 measurements and a response from a golf sales person to the effect of, “I know what you need.”

On the other hand, professional custom clubfitting is going to involve a pretty fair amount of your time, often more than one trip to have your swing analysed in detail by a trained and experienced custom Clubmaker so that ALL the possible specifications that make up a set of golf clubs can be pinpointed and selected to match with your strength, size, athletic ability, and especially, the way YOU and only YOU swing.

Professional custom clubfitting really is like the scrub, wax and detail car wash I mentioned before. The other types of fitting are not going to get you really matched well to your clubs to result in the level of improvement that a professional custom fitting can and will do. In other words, which “car wash” do YOU want for your money? So don’t hesitate one more year, go and FIND A CLUBFITTER and you will most definitely see dramatic improvements in your game this year!

The Wedge – The Scoring Weapon of Tour Players

Tom Wishon — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 01:21:46 +0000

Next to the putter, wedges are the second most important group of clubs in the bag to consider having custom fit when it comes to the number at the bottom of your scorecard. There is no better proof than a quick look at the statistics of the European Tour and PGA Tour. The average Tour player hits 11 to 12 greens in regulation per round yet still shoots par or better. How? By getting the ball close enough to the hole with their wedges to make the putts for par to save their round.

When being custom fit for the best wedges for your game, specifications such as wedge loft, lie, length, sole width and sole angle are certainly important. But what most golfers don’t know is that choosing wedges on the basis of the design and condition of the course(s) they play is very important for getting the complement of wedges that improve their ability to “get the ball up and down” more often.

Sand Conditions

The fluffier and/or deeper the sand in the bunkers, the wider the sole and/or the more bounce sole angle will be required on the sand wedge. Conversely, the more coarse and shallow the sand, the more narrow the sole and/or the less bounce sole angle you should have on your sand wedge. These points are true because the wider the sole and more bounce on the sole, the more the sole can resist traveling deep into the sand.

In addition, the golfer’s swing technique for sand shots is very important to evaluate. The more steeply the wedge is swung down to the sand, the deeper the sole could dig under the ball. Hence the more steep the golfer’s angle of attack, the wider the sole and/or the more bounce should be on the sole of their sand club.

Grass Conditions

Longer grass and softer turf around the greens as well as the more “creeping grasses” like Bermuda and Kikuyu found in hot weather climates, the wider the sole and the more bounce sole angle your wedges should have. Likewise, the shorter cropped the grass or more firm the turf around the greens, the less bounce sole angle and/ore more narrow the sole should be on the wedges.

Green Design

The more elevated the greens, the steeper the bunker faces, the smaller the greens and the more “dead elephants buried” under your greens (multiple tiered greens!!), the more loft should be advised on the wedges to help your golfers get the ball well up to stop the ball on the tier on which the hole is cut. The flatter and larger the greens, the more that conventional or lower lofts are better on the wedges to encourage enough run-up to the hole.

Wedge Specifications

The loft angle between each wedge should not be less than 3 degrees, or more than 6 degrees. This way the golfer always has a club for the distance of the shot and they’ll never have to over-hit a wedge, a practice which can destroy wedge accuracy. Always, always have the lie angles of your wedges adjusted dynamically by noting the point of impact with the ground to the sole. The more the lie is off from being accurately custom fit, the more off-line you’ll hit the wedges. If you want to score better, make sure your search for your perfect custom fit golf clubs always includes accurate clubfitting analysis of the wedges.

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3 Key Specifications of Driver Fitting

Tom Wishon — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:56:32 +0000

What golfer doesn’t dream of owning that “magic driver” which enables them to hit the ball consistently solid and in play? Tip number one; the very best driver for every golfer is never selected by its brand or model name or model number. It is chosen by its custom clubfitting specifications and how those individual factors are matched to the golfer’s size, strength, athletic ability and most of all, to their swing characteristics. Below, are 3 key specifications for proper Driver fitting, and a couple more for good measure.

Driver Length

It’s time to be blunt. The standard driver length of 45.5 to 46.5 inches offered by the majority of golf club companies is too long for the majority of golfers and will prevent at least 75% of all golfers from achieving their maximum potential for distance and accuracy. For men with an average to fast tempo with an outside/in swing path, 44” should be the maximum length; women, 42.5” to 43” should be the limit. There’s a very good reason the average driver length on the US PGA Tour since 2005 has been 44.5” and not 45.5” to 46.5”.

Driver Loft

Driver loft must be matched in combination to the golfer’s swing speed and their angle of attack into the ball. The slower the swing speed and the more downward the angle of attack, the higher the loft of the driver has to be for maximum distance – and vice versa. While each golfer has to be individually analyzed to know which loft brings the most distance, here is a basic chart to use as a guideline.


Driver Swing Speed	Best Loft for Carry (web conditions)	Best Loft for Roll Out (dry conditions)
50	21	20
60	18	17
70	16	15
80	14	13
90	12	11
100	11	10
110	9.5	8.5
Based on Level Angle of Attack and Average Wrist-Cock Release Position

Driver Face Angle

Few drivers sold off the shelf offer options in the face angle to reduce the golfer’s tendency to slice or hook the ball. There is no better way to reduce a slice than to fit the golfer with a more closed face angle in the driver/fairway woods. For more severe slices, the golfer can be fit with a driver head with both a closed face and an offset hosel design.

The rule of thumb for face angle change? At a carry distance of 200 yards, each one degree more closed the face angle is than the golfer’s current face angle represents a reduction in the slice of about 4 to 5 yards.

And a Couple More for Covering Your Golfers’ DriverFitting Needs . . .

Total Weight and Swingweight

The stronger the golfer physically and the more aggressively they swing, the heavier the total weight and swingweight will need to be. The opposite is true for the weaker and much less aggressive swinging player. Matching the “weights” of the driver to the golfer’s swing strength and aggressiveness is critical for swing tempo consistency and the highest incidence of on-center impacts.

Shaft

Here’s the facts about the shaft. While the weight, the overall flex and the stiffness bend profile of the shaft has to be fit properly to all golfers, the shaft flex and bend profile are more important for golfers with a late release of the wrist-cock angle in the downswing than for golfers with an earlier release.

Addressing these three very important elements of driver fitting through proper custom clubfitting can only be done by an experienced custom clubmaker, so FIND A CLUBFITTER near you and you will see dramatic improvements in your driver this year!

3 Critical Keys to Increasing Driver Distance

Tom Wishon — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 02:01:10 +0000

What golfer isn’t impressed by the driver distance of tour players? But what about us mere mortals with our 60 to 90-something mph swing speeds? The number one thing that keeps all of us from hitting the ball farther is the physics of impact, otherwise translated to mean “if you don’t have the swing speed, you can’t hit the ball to the screen at the end of the practice range.” But there are three things in a driver which, if matched and custom fit accurately to your swing, can bring about a good bit more distance.

Critical Key #1

The LENGTH of your driver is critical. If you buy into the premise that the longer the driver, the longer the drive, you have just bought into a load of malarkey and you’ll be destined to a constant fight with your #1 wood. There is one and only one exception to this rule – if you have a swing tempo that is as smooth as silk, an inside out to square swing path and if you have a late wrist-cock release, you can get a few more yards with a longer driver length. Unfortunately, for most golfers those swing traits are rare which translates to mean a shorter driver length is better.

The longer the length of the driver, the harder it is to consistently hit the ball on-center and solid. If you miss the “sweet spot” on the face of your driver by only a half-inch, you just gave away some 5% of your potential distance. Miss it by a full inch and you lose 10% of your potential distance.

Standard length men’s drivers today are between 45.5 and 46.5 inches in length. Women’s drivers are but 1 inch shorter. Now think about this – the average driver length on the PGA Tour since 2005 has remained steady at 44.5”. If the pros could hit a 45.5”- 46.5” driver consistently solid and accurate, bet the farm they would be using that length because distance with control is a huge advantage in this game. Unless your swing is smooth as silk with a late release, tip number 1 is to be custom fit for the driver length that best matches your swing tempo, swing path release and golf athletic ability.

Critical Key #2

For maximizing your driver distance is the LOFT angle on the face of your driver. If your swing speed is 90-100mph and your driver loft angle is lower than 11 degrees, 90% of you are losing distance by playing the wrong loft. If your swing speed is 80-85 mph, the average driver swing speed of a male golfer today, you’re giving up real distance increases of at least 10 yards or more if you are not using a driver with a loft angle of at least 12-13 degrees. And if you have a swing speed under 80mph and you’re not using a driver with at least 14-15 degrees of loft, you too have more distance waiting to be unleashed.

Critical Key #3

Total Weight and Swingweight of your driver is critical key #3. In other words, we’re talking about how much your driver weighs (total weight), and of that weight, how much of it is in the head (swingweight). The total weight and the headweight of your driver have to be matched to your physical strength, your swing tempo and your golfing athletic ability. Play with too light of a total weight or swingweight for your strength, tempo and ability and your percentage of off-center hits increases.

Addressing these three points for YOUR swing through proper custom clubfitting can only be done by an experienced custom clubmaker, so FIND A CLUBFITTER near you and you will see 10 or more yards off the tee this year!

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Giving Thanks and Sharing a Dream

Tom Wishon — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 20:49:01 +0000

I know. . . it’s common to say “THANKS” this time of the year because that’s what this time of the year is all about. Not that my thanks are any different or more important than anyone else’s, but since I have a blog, that does give me a chance to do the right thing and offer my sincere thanks. . . .

. . . first to the golfers who opened their minds to a better way and doing the research that put you in contact with a custom clubmaker. Thanks to the clubmakers who support us, who care what we’re trying to do in this great craft and who care to keep learning to be the best clubfitter you can be. Thanks also to whatever chain of events that put me on the path to being able to pursue a career in golf equipment R&D. I’m certain I would be bored to death by now had I gotten into dental school way back when – might have been a little more well off, but hey, money isn’t everything.

Doing something you really like and have a passion for is. And in that sense, I am very thankful to have discovered golf clubs as my passion. While there are times I get really frustrated trying to convince more and more golfers that custom fitting beats standard brand names sold off the rack, I seriously would not change a thing in my career. The lack of respect I encountered working in the component clubmaking side of the business was far outweighed by the depth and breadth of experience I gained because I have only worked in the component side. Being understaffed in my positions and having to design tons and tons of different models of heads, shafts, grips and tools allowed me to learn far more than I ever could had I accepted one of those offers to work for a big OEM.

I’m also thankful that I still have a very strong dream that I hope someday will come true.

Some of you may know that I also have a very strong passion for the history of this great game. In terms of the history of golf clubs, from the dawn of the game in the late 1400s to the late 1800s, if you played the game and you wanted to buy golf clubs, you had to go see an independent clubmaker. There were no golf stores. There were no mass produced sets of golf clubs sitting in golf stores to be bought off the rack by golfers. There were only clubmakers, who made golf clubs one at a time, for one golfer at a time.

While the concepts of clubfitting were quite rudimentary back then, the clubmakers still did try to tailor elements such as the length, weight, grip size, set makeup and shaft flex to the individual needs of each golfer.

All this began to change in the late 1800s to early 1900s when the game increased greatly in participation. With more golfers playing more golf courses that were run by club pros, the pros began to ask the clubmakers to provide them with sets of golf clubs that the pros could stock in their shops and sell to the golfers who came to the courses to play. And thus was born the business model that still exists today for golf companies to mass produce sets of clubs to a series of standard specifications so the sets could be sold off the rack to golfers.

In all areas through their history, it is not uncommon for events to evolve in a circular manner. You name it and quite likely its trends have been there, changed and come back in a circular manner of evolution.

My dream is that I will live to see the sales of golf clubs also come full circle and revert to being the domain of the independent custom clubmakers. One club at a time, for one golfer at a time. Wouldn’t that be nice to see?

Until next time,

TOM

What Does TWGT Have Planned for 2012?

Tom Wishon — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 19:04:43 +0000

As much as I hate the fact that November brings the beginning of the end of golf season, it also brings the final pre-production models of all of the new products and designs we have been working all year long to get ready for 2012. Now in my 26th year of designing golf equipment components, I still get a big kick out of opening the boxes with the final versions of each of the new designs. It’s really like an early Christmas for a confirmed golf club nut like me!

You know, I’ve also always liked sprinkling a little fun in with the serious task of creating new clubhead, shaft, grip and clubfitting technology products. That comes from the fact that I know a whole lot of clubmakers and golfers also share a bit of that “club-ho” mentality with me. In short, it’s fun to tease my fellow club nuts by leaking just a little of what we’ve been doing at TWGT in advance of the full unveiling in the new catalog!

One new design that’s an early introduction, just released this week are the new S2S Stepless Steel iron shafts. My concept in shaft design is to design shafts for specific golfer swing types. As such the new S2S Stepless Steel iron shafts are most definitely designed to be our “better player’s” steel iron shaft, with the S2S Superlight being our steel iron shaft for golfers with less aggressive and average swing characteristics.

S2S Stepless is designed to go toe to toe with any of the other good player’s steel iron shafts on the market, and I do think we have done that. The design is less butt stiff and more tip stiff per each flex than our former Series 5 lightweight steel iron shafts – a combination that when matched to a stepless construction makes the new S2S Stepless in my opinion a really good shaft for golfers with a later release and more aggressive downswing move at the ball.

Shaft wise for 2012, we are also working on a new graphite wood shaft for better players that I do believe represents a nice little step up from where we have been with the former S2S Black 65/85 and the S2S Gold Tour and a shaft that again can stand toe to toe with any of the tour type shafts on the market today.

We’ve also squeezed a little more weight out of the former S2S Blue 55 wood shafts to now offer R and S flex players a sub 50 gram shaft weight to drive the total weight of their driver and woods even lower.

What’s that you say? The new shaft designs are fine, but what about the new clubheads? LOL! OK, I know clubheads tend to get more attention than any other component so here’s a hint of what’s coming there in 2012.

Today I just opened the box with the final final version of our brand new forged carbon steel irons with their fully CNC Milled Back and man, please excuse me for saying this, but if the new 575MMC irons are not the most gorgeous forging in the game, then put me out to pasture! A fully transitional back design from long to short iron, thanks to new advances in using a CNC machining center to fully create the entire back design, every iron in the 575MMC changes in back design through the set.

No, the 575MMC do not replace the 560MC. 560MC is still the best game improvement forged carbon steel iron yet made and we have no plans to replace it – well we might have a little new cosmetic tweak planned for the 560MC for 2012, but that’s another story. The 575MMC are designed for a low handicap golfer who realizes he cannot play a full muscleback set and wants some game improvement but not too much. Seriously, I can’t wait to show the 575MMC – never ever before will you have seen a classic, compact blade length forging with looks like this!

On the opposite end of the iron spectrum and new for 2012 are the 765WS – fully game improvement from a deep undercut cavity with a wide sole design that creates a low Center of Gravity, but plays more like a medium sole width iron. How so? With a very pronounced leading edge bevel and reduced bounce, the 765WS sole design plays just as well for golfers with an early release or a more downward angle of attack into the ball. Plus, cosmetically the 765′s are modern looking without being close to over the top gaudy like so many modern cavity back irons have become these days.

Ready for a new wedge design with a more traditional teardrop face profile shape and spin enhancement features that are a little step up even from the current PCF Tour Micro wedges? Keep this acronym in mind – HM. . . (horizontal milling). Oh and a finish that is so nice even the most die hard golfers who think the sun rises and sets in the back side of the big golf companies will be hard pressed not to rave over the new Micro-Groove HM wedges!

Which brings us to a new driver design we have been calling TWGT’s “bells and whistles” driver – the new 739CCG. Want a driver head with its headweight to be anywhere between 192 grams and 226 grams? Want a driver head that can offer a 2 degree difference in launch angle for the same loft? Want a driver head that could be custom bend adjusted between 3 up, 3 flat, 3 open and 3 closed?

What the 739CCG is NOT is a replacement for the 919THI drivers. The 919THI will remain our “flagship” family of drivers and still stand as the best overall performing driver I have had the pleasure of ever designing in my career. The 739CCG is more of what I call a “boutique” driver and one that we had a very good time creating. It isn’t for all golfers, but it is a design created to show that one does not have to follow the pack when it comes to designing a wide range of adjustable elements in a driver head.

And that’s not all – but this post is already too long so without revealing everything, I’ll let you go and offer my thanks for your interest. The full story, photos and even videos on the new 2012 models will be coming in January.

Until then, best wishes in this great game,

TOM

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The “New” SuperLite Shaft Trend – Who’s it For?

Tom Wishon — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 21:57:43 +0000

One of the advantages to getting “longer in the tooth” in any area of interest is it gives you the opportunity to separate the “been there done that” from the things that truly are new and different. One of the latest “rages” in the golf equipment industry is the current trend among some of the companies to offer “superlite” drivers – drivers made with a graphite shaft that weighs less than 50 grams to allow the total weight of the driver to be less than 300 grams (@10.5 oz).

The marketing concept behind these very light weight drivers is simple – the lighter weight driver can be swung with the same effort to achieve a higher swing speed, from which comes more distance. This concept of go lighter to swing faster is definitely not a new direction in club design. Veteran clubmakers may remember the short lived fad started by the Dave Pelz Featherlite clubs of the 1980s with their B-8 to C-O swingweights, as well as the mid-90s era of superlight weight drivers whose sub-300 gram total weight was made possible through the design of light graphite shafts with a huge butt diameter that required a very light weight grip.

Today’s trip down superlite memory lane is fueled by the design of graphite shafts which weigh less than 50 grams yet can still be made with a flex and bend profile to meet the needs of the most powerful swingers in the game.

To give credit where credit is due, it is a remarkable step forward in graphite shaft design to be able to make a 45 gram shaft with a flex and bend profile design that could fit a golfer with a 110mph clubhead speed and aggressive swing characteristics. Shaft makers have achieved this by using expensive high modulus composite materials in a thin wall shaft construction. Up until a few years ago, a 50 gram graphite shaft was chiefly for easy swinging golfers with swing speeds under 90mph.

But now that we do have access to superlight weight shafts in any variety of stiffness design, the question that has to be answered is “who are these shafts and resulting super light weight drivers for?” if you buy into the big companies’ marketing, they’re for EVERY golfer. But if you buy into the concept of professional clubfitting, determining what golfers are best matched into such a light weight design is a matter of probing the golfers’ strength, the force they apply when starting the downswing (transition force), and their downswing aggressiveness.

Typically, the stronger the golfer, the shorter the backswing and more forceful the transition, and the more aggressive the downswing, the heavier the shaft and total weight of the club should be to ensure the golfer can maintain a consistent, repeating swing tempo that allows the highest percentage of on center hits.

However, there is one “fudge factor” in this which will allow some golfers with stronger, more aggressive move at the ball to potentially use a very light weight shaft to gain clubhead speed while retaining their proper sense of swing tempo and timing – and that is by partnering the very light shaft with a higher than normal swingweight or more pronounced headweight feel in the club. What you don’t want to do is give an aggressive swinging golfer a very light shaft with a low swingweight.

By cranking the swingweight higher than normal, this can offset the strong aggressive swinging golfer’s tendency to get too quick with their tempo when using a club with a very light weight shaft.

On the other hand, the biggest population that can gain from a sub-300 gram driver total weight are golfers of average to lower strength who swing more smoothly with a less aggressive downswing move at the ball. But even with these golfers, you still have to experiment with the headweight to get to a point that each golfer can feel the presence of the head enough during the swing so as to maintain a consistent swing tempo.

Until next time, best wishes in this great game,

TOM

Who Benefits the Most from Professional Custom Fitting?

Tom Wishon — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:49:01 +0000

No doubt, this is a valid question for any golfer who has been playing to the same handicap for years with several different sets of clubs. After all, full specs professional custom fitting hasn’t yet become a household term and most golfers believe the reason their handicap never drops is because of them, not the clubs. On top of that, the term “professional custom fitting” can leave a connotation of a much higher cost – ala the cost of a fully tailored suit vs one bought off the rack in a department store – so any golfer is justified in wondering “is it worth it for me to go get professionally custom fit versus just buying a well known brand name club at the big golf store?”

In a nutshell, damn right it is. But then you’d expect someone like me to say that. So let me tell you some of the results I have observed based on 30+ yrs of fitting research along with teaching more than 3000 clubmakers and communicating with and counseling thousands of clubmakers in my career.

In general, the higher the handicap of the golfer, the more the golfer will experience definite, visible shot improvement results from professional clubfitting. For golfers with a handicap between 10 and 26, it is safe to say in the area of 80% will walk away with one or more forms of visible, measurable shot improvement. If wedge and putter fitting are included, it’s not out of line to say that 80% of all golfers with a handicap between 12 and 26 will see their average score improve by between 3 and 10 shots.

What about the golfers who break 80 or shoot over 100?

For the low handicappers, the most frequently seen form of improvement comes in the area of shot consistency, improved ball flight shape, better overall feel and a higher level of confidence. Yes, some single digit players do walk away hitting the ball a little longer and more accurately for sure, but most low handicappers already hit the ball as far as they’re going to and more accurately simply because of their higher level of golf athletic ability and swing characteristics.

Among the 100+ shooters, clubs that are much better fit for elements like length, lie, face angle, total weight, swingweight and grip size find that when they take lessons to improve their faulty swing characteristics, their level of swing improvement comes sooner, which in turn results in a lower handicap.

And you know what? We’ve found in working with a lot of teaching professionals that when they start their beginning golfers out with clubs that are shorter, lighter, higher lofted, and with a more comfortable grip size, the beginning golfers accelerate their swing learning curve.

So, the next time you think you just aren’t good enough to benefit from custom fit clubs, or question the probability of improvement through professional fitting think again. You can spend your money to buy clubs off the rack and keep playing the same way or you can find a good, experienced clubmaker and spend the same amount of money and have a very high level of probability that you will walk away hitting the ball longer and/or straighter and/or more consistently and enjoy this great game a little more.

Until next time,

TOM

Is There Something to the Increase in Long Putter Use?

Tom Wishon — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 15:36:45 +0000

Interesting isn’t it how all of a sudden the number of tour pros making a move to a Belly putter has increased so dramatically. I mean, it’s not like longer putters are new – the “Adam Scott” style pendulum style long putters have been around for more than 20 yrs, the Belly style putters a little less.

No, this is just one more example of a trait possessed by MANY tour pros that I quickly learned back in the days when I would spend time on the tour servicing the players for whom I had designed clubs. The pros are no different than any of us. Despite how much their swing skills and competitive brains have put them where they are, they’re all looking for that magic club that can turn them overnight into a winner.

Despite the fact we golfers so often get fixated on how well these guys hit the ball, veteran golfers all know success on tour is directly proportional to how well they putt. Getting around in 26 putts or posting a 1.5 putts per GIR will cash nice checks all year long.

What gets me as a clubfitting technologist about the recent rise in Belly putter use on tour is how it has awakened the traditionalists in the game to chime in with their latest verse to demand the USGA act to outlaw long putters. These are the equipment vigilantes who claim when a putter is “anchored to the body” it gives the long putter user an unfair advantage over golfers who putt with a conventional short stick.

As a club performance scientist, this falls into the category of people who can ignore pure common sense and logic to pursue an attitude of “don’t confuse me with the facts because my mind’s already made up.”

Fact: It took 20 yrs before a long putter was used to win a major on tour. That’s somewhere around 1 in the last 80 majors.

Fact: The number of tour wins with a long putter still can be counted with the fingers on both hands. That’s somewhere substantially less than a 5% success rate.

Fact: One can still pull or push putts with a long putter. If anchoring to the body was such an advantage, wouldn’t such errant strokes be eliminated?

A point the long putter haters like to make is that a golfer who turns to a long putter is gaining an advantage because they can’t putt as well with a conventional putter so the long putter unfairly corrects that “swing error” with technology.

GEE. . . with that logic, things like going to a shorter driver to control the ball better, using a different face angle to reduce a misdirection tendency, using a different loft to counteract a different angle of attack or ANY CLUBFITTING CHANGE should be outlawed. At the end of the day, changing to a long putter is nothing more than an attempt to utilize a different fitting option to gain shot improvement.

But not to fret, as is often the case with tour players in their search for that perfect golf club, some will stay with it and many will go back to a conventional putter when the long term results show themselves. And we’ll all put this sudden increase in belly putter attention to bed and go on to the next club change trend.

Until nest time, best wishes in this great game,

TOM

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