Club Fitting For Length

Hello Surgites! I hope that you all are having a wonderful holiday break with your friends and family this year. I know a lot of you are currently in the path of a winter blizzard, so please stay inside and be safe!

Today I'm going to share a video from Frank Stranick, one of our certified PPGS club fitters. Frank's going to discuss how to go about purchasing clubs or making changes to the clubs you've already got. In particular, Frank will talk about the importance of having the proper length of clubs when using the Peak Performance Golf Swing. The information that Frank provides is a testament to the hard work that our fitters do. Don't hurt your game by playing with unfit clubs because golf's already hard enough!

Remember that we've got certified club fitters all across the country so if you've got any questions, you can contact your local club fitter here.

Blog Tags:

Golf Instruction

Club Fitting

Comments

Driver measurement

Do you measure the driver shaft from where the shaft enters the driver head or from the ground where the driver head rests?

Measurement

If you hold the driver as if addressing a ball , with the clubhead on the floor. Then measure from the floor ,at the heel of the club , up the back, or under the shaft

Driver

What are your thoughts on adjustable drivers.got a new R11S 9degree at company Xmas party along with the R11 irons. Very nice set but was wondering if I would be wasting my time with these. Currently have a Thompson golf 10.5 and Mizuno irons.

R11

In case you don't get an answer:::
Surge and Doc would probably tell you that they prefer a smaller headed driver than you can get on an R11.

Personally, I don't like anything above 425cc.

More important than that is if the shaft dynamics and the loft will fit your swing (and club head speed). If it doesn't fit it would be a huge waste of time to try to make it work (believe me, I know from experience).

If it doesn't fit you could probably sell it with no problem and use the money for a club that does fit.

The irons could have the same problem if the shafts are not what you need. You could play with them but to get the most out of your game they would need to be the right flex, off set, weight, ect.

That's a heck of a gift though. I'm never that lucky. LOL

Adjustable Drivers

While any adjustment will produce a measurable result if you have the equipment that can measure very minuscule deviations, the adjustable drivers are not really capable of producing visible results in flight, trajectory, or shot shaping.

Howdy Doc

Fancy meeting you in a place like this. Good to see you on the blog tonight sir. I just sent you a message on email.

Hope you and yours are doing well.

Dick

Adjustable Drivers?

As they say here down under in Godzone Doc, b*gger![please excuse the french] I changed the configuration on my r7 Quad [which has been shortened to my WTF etc], from Draw to High Neutral, to see what if any difference there might be. So guess I will now change it back again. I am hitting it straight but it is lacking in height. Not worm burners by any stretch of the imagination, so going back to the previous configuration would not be too much of a hinderance.
Hope that you and yours have a deserved Happy Christmas and a better New Year. DH

Club fitting for length

Was excited to see that the subject was about club fitting. Good to meet Frank (just now on the video). Couldn't agree more concerning driver length and the need to find where we can hit the sweet spot most frequently. And yes it becomes easier if we keep our drivers under 44 in. I am convinced more than ever that solid centered contact is the most important goal. Always amazed at how far it goes when struck solid. Grip weight and size? Oh boy, well I have been using grips that are much larger (and heavier) than mid-size or even what are called jumbo and it has helped in spite of the added weight to the grip end. I am currently preping my new project X shafts for my Mizuno iron heads. I just epoxied all 8 to the PX shafts yesterday and then just now measured and marked all at the desired length. I have Maltby's 48 inch ruler designed for accurately measuring shafts and as Russty said, they should be measured from the floor with the club at it's normal level lie angle to the top of the shaft (or to where you've decided that club should be marked for cutting. It took me two hours. "Measure twice, cut once". Well I measure three or four times and even still needed to adjust several sharpie marks to get the perfect 1/2 inch between each club from 4-pw. Then a 1/4 inch from the pw-gw (my personal preference. I'll carefully cut them tomorrow before adding the grips. BTW I take into consideration the 1/8 inch my grips will add. I did get the Enlows and they are large but feel smaller than my Jumbo Max do. Before adding the grips I am inserting the sensicores I bought especially for this build. The gap wedge is 49* so I will complete my set with 53* and 58* wedges. Of course I won't be done until I tape off and hit all off my lie board followed by final lie adjustments and loft adjustments.
Fun stuff.
Thanks again Frank and hope to have you sharing more fitting videos along with Doc Griffin.

Action report

Played 18 again today & shot 44 on the front & 39 on the back, to match my best ever 83. Made 2 birdes in a row & 7 pars in total. Had a sore back buy then end , so I hope I am not being punished for playing too much golf lately.
Might be time to go fishing for a while & rest it. We got some good 12 & 13 pound Scnapper at the Kaipara habour entrance, this time last year on the soft plastic bait. Happy New year Surge nation

Way to go!!!

Hey Russty,

"Best ever" is ALWAYS good!!!

I doubt if I will ever have one of those again. I used to be pretty lucky (and played multiple rounds every single day). ;-)

I guess the moral of that story is that if I play enough rounds I'm bound to get lucky every now and then. Ha ha.

It's fun to keep trying and hoping for the best, and I did hit the ball well enough a few times this year to have a chance, but just enough would go wrong to mess it up.

Good luck with the fishing. Sounds like fun.

Best Ever

My best ever was 71. Doubt I will best that but I am going to give it a try.

Golf things I hope to accomplish in 2013.

Shoot 69 or lower for 18
Try to win our tours grand slam all 4 majors in 2013 do not know if anyone has ever done it.

That being said I have not touched a club in a month and a half the weather has not been that great and I have not been motivated to even do so.
I will have to learn the swing all over again.

Was hoping to get to the range this weekend and try out my new Ohio State cart bag but they are calling for snow Saturday again plus cold for at least the next week.

Was hoping for a mild winter for a change maybe next year.

Ohio State???

Ha ha! You guys that have multiple "favorite teams" tickle me.

It would be a peaceful existence to have several of them. That much better odds of being happy after the season. LOL

I'm sort of that way about the NFL. I really couldn't care less about it anyway so I don't even have a favorite team until about halfway through the playoffs, and even then a loss means nothing to me.
Ha ha ha!

Favorite Teams

LOL

I knew you would get a kick out of that. The middle of the summer at my home course it was a 260.00 dollar bag I paid 160.00 for it the week before Christmas.

NCAA Football Bama & ND tied for favorite Ohio State Third.

NCAA Basketball Uk 1 even though they are going to struggle and UNC 2

Favorites

Like I said, that would be a peaceful existence. You really should go ahead and add LSU, TAMU, Florida, and Oregon to your favorites list though. Then you would almost be assured of being happy. LOL

Funny how different the culture is in Alabama. As soon as you learn to talk you are required to decide if you are an Alabama fan or an Auburn fan, and you have to stick with it for life. Most people won't even drive a blue car if they are an Alabama fan and won't drive a red one if they are an Aurburn fan. If anyone gave you a free golf bag with the name of any other college team on it, the bag would be in the trash...And I'm not even joking about that. LOL

One time as a joke the owner of the course where I play gave an Alabama fan an LSU golf cart. The guy looked at it and picked up his bag and headed for his car before Ron stopped him and told him he was joking.

Great round Russty

Nice....

That 39 must have felt especially great. Two birds and lots of pars. Well done Russty.
Cindy and I played 14 yesterday. Yes, we teed off after 12 noon to get the good price at our muni here walking with our 'buggies'. I did't score too special though I was happy with my putting as I sank putts of 30, 25 and several 8-12 footers that saved par or 'good' bogies. With my shoulder I'm a bit cautious and we often only 9 or so as of late. Don't complain though. Lifes good.
Happy for your good play buddy.

Action Report

Yeeeeha! Russty Kiwi, on your equal best ever 83!
Just back from the VTNZ. Back before 9am. Warrant done.The early bird got the worm. Done and dusted in 20minutes ; - ) We played a very sweaty round on Xmas Day. Good golf and no aches and pains. Must be doing something right. Lady at VTNZ said temp topped 31degC, felt hotter than that.
Weather being it's usual pain here ho-hum. Checked lie angles yesterday etc.
I checked my WTF again and found I am right on the cusp between two of them~! Hmmm! At the higher one, my clubs are the right length, the lower one 1/2" too long. Does it make that much of a difference I wonder? Robert Meade and Steve Smith or even Doc Griffin may have ideas on that subject?
Just changed the configuration on my r7 Quad driver to High Neutral and then saw Doc's comment, boohoo hahaha.
Hope the Schnapper are biting for you at Kaipara Heads and the weather stays fine. DH

Thanks Guys

I very much appreciate your words of incouragement. I have accounted for two 83s & a 84, in the last few weeks. This is due mainly to the mental side of the game. I have been too focused on the mechanics of how to swing a club, & not trusting my setup & swing, so that I can focus on playing my shots, & the game. This has been most noticeable with my putting,& how I approach my shots. When I get a chance to practice my putting, I have included a lot of putting while looking at the hole & not the ball. It always amazes me how many go in. When playing I take my practice swings while looking at the hole.& let my subconscious mind judge the distance, while my conscious mind judges the line. Its all about trust in the end. I guess all you old hands know all this sort of stuff anyway.
DH I think you might be better off with a lower ball flight down in windy Wellington, with that driver. Especially over summer with good rollout.
Fishing went well. No big ones, but got a good feed

Enoy this. It's amazing

My sister passed these photos on. Breath taking

EDIT
Search long and hard for another version of the same International snow/ice sculpturing event. Hope this one posts (thank you - You Tube)

http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A0S00MuOEd1QrmkAcWP7w8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTBvcTJzcm5xBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDdmlkBHZ0aWQD...

Roberts photo link

It might just be me, but your link is not connecting. I'm getting the, Sorry but we were unable to find the doc, message. I even tried the old cut and paste into the address bar trick, same message.

Link

I got a link to sign up for Google Docs before I could look at anything.
The link appears to require Docs viewer. Since I already have MicroSoft Office on this computer I hate to add more stuff on it.

Google sign up

Yea, I figured we would have to be signed into Google. I'm always signed in as I monitor the blog on Google RSS Feed page, and I also have a Google Email account I'm always signed into. Still get the non connection message with everything I've tried.

Docs

Do you have Google Docs viewer downloaded on your computer?

Docs,

Yea, it just keeps telling me it can't find the source of the original doc and to verify the address. Might just be a glitch in my system if you're getting it ok.

Glitch

There may just be something wrong with the link. I haven't tried to look at it because I don't really want to download Google Docs on my computer. I already have a free file viewer than can read different formats of documents and I'm trying to not put too much stuff on this computer....Of course I still probably have too much with all of the media players I have and V1 and all of the Office programs. One more thing probably wouldn't make any difference and it looks like storing documents on Google Docs would be a good thing but I probably won't do it.
Maybe Robert can give us a different link that we can see. ;-)

Docs

Not sure, but I even updated mine to one they call Ultimate Google Docs Viewer and am still getting the same message about not being able to find the original source of the document. Not a big deal, perhaps Robert can download them to another source more user friendly.

Docs viewer

Yeah if you have that it's definitely a problem with the link.
Couldn't find it except for a terrible amateur version but it's like the scene with the dripping faucet in My Cousin Vinny where at the end he says "I guess the thing is broken".

Finally

Terry, Found a link to another version. The one from my sister was a slide show. This one is a video off You Tube. See it above in my original posting.
Still pretty amazing.

Roberts Video Link

The video link worked fine for me Robert. Amazing the talent some folks have.

robert's photo link

Terry, You are not alone, it wouldn't connect for me either. Have a great New Year DH

Got to watch it now

Robert

I got to watch the video this time.

That was cool, in more ways than one,
Dick

Thank you so much! I will be

Thank you so much! I will be getting a new driver sometime in the new year for sure. Maybe more than just a driver, we shall see? IM only 5'4" so no long driver for me, that is for sure. I also don't like real thick grips, my hands are small.

thanks again,,,going to golf New Year's Day in a frozen open, looks like it going to be 30 degrees out,,,got new winter golf gloves,,,

New Driver

dmwheat, You are normal size like me at 5'5" tall. Shame about your weather. It never gets that cold in this part of New Zealand, still prefer it to the heat we had on Christmas Day the hottest one since 1934!
Small hands? Have reverted in the last week or so to the grip I started with,ie, the 10 fingered baseball grip. It surprised me, just how natural if felt from the start.
My driver measured again yesterday is 43" long and it performs better than it did before it was shortened.
Good Luck and may it be a Happy Hogmanay on the hallowed turf for you.
In Germany many years ago, I had the best 9 holes I had played in my life on a day when on one hole my ball landed on the pin and skidded sideways. The area around the pin was a sheet of ice. My playing partners quit after 9holes. What a pack of wimps hahaha. You WILL have a good round as well. DH

well thanks, im looking

well thanks, im looking forward to New Year's day, but, now they are saying snow...:o)) oh well,,,yes, when I get my new driver/clubs I for sure want them to fit me, I hit so much better with shorter clubs or if I grip down on them. To long of clubs, just cannot do!

Thanks again,,,stay warm

Happy New Year!

BEST ROUNDS

Congrats on your best match Russty. I hope you go even lower in the new year. As for me, I think like Steve there will be no more best ever rounds, just better ones. I had my one and only sub 80 a couple years back with a 40/38. Just one of those days where all things seemed to come together. I'll keep striving, but I'm tickled pink with anything below 85 now, and satisfied below 90.

Congrats Again!!!!!!!

Search bar

Just my opinion on the search bar:

The search bar now accesses so much information from the keywords from our blog comments that actual information from Surge and the other instructors is lost in the mountain of information the search bar accesses.

While our blog comments are well meaning many of them are just our opinions and even if accurate they can be read completely out of context if the entire thread is not read. Plus many times the search engine is pulling up things where key words were included in some of our useless chatter. Not to mention the times when chat on the blog is completely wrong when looking for PPGS methods.

Just my opinion but I think the search bar should only access information from Surge and the instructors and fitters, and not from us yardbirds. ;-)

Absent of that readers need to be aware that chat on the blog may or may not match Surge's opinions.

One of our upgrades in the

One of our upgrades in the future is to introduce a better search algorithm to the site so things are weighted appropriately. Right now it will pull everything. Which can be good, but sometimes bad. It aggregates everything now!

Looking up the wrong word could cause a problem

Hey Brady

Hope you are having a great day pal.

It would probably be best if, like Steve suggested, search results were limited to what your staff has written on a subject. I know you folks will get it right, as you always do.

Here is a perfect example. If someone searched for the word "food", or "snack", they could literally melt down the system, and would come back with 10,000 or more entries from guys like me who are always carrying on about raiding the fridge. While the information we share about stuffing our faces is very, very, very important to us at the moment, it might not be useful to a new person on the blog. They can learn about our affinity for all things food related by just reading the blog the old fashioned way.

I have a few other ideas I would like to share on this issue, but, my wife has dinner ready. All this food talk has me starving.

Semper Fi,
Dick

Headed

Ha ha ha! When I typed in "Big Headed Driver" the other day I'm pretty sure I got one where you were "headed" to the kitchen. LOL

What is in a word

Steve

No wonder our version of the English language is known as one of the hardest to learn from scratch. We use the same word or one of several forms of the same word to mean a multitude of things. As Jeff Foxworthy says, any given word can be used in a slang term or mutilated by us red necks to mean something totally different than what Mr. Webster would use if for.

I am fixing to go get some pumpkin pie,
Dick

Words

No need to put out any more effort than necessary to get the job done.

Like: Dyeet yet. The guys in Missouri always thought it was funny when we talked about "carrying my truck to town". Or "carrying my wife to the mall". Or "fixin to fix that flat tar".

ROFL! That's funny!

Yeah I had a day of snow blowing 3 driveways. Fish 'n chips at the pub tonight with a couple of Guinness hit this spot!

Oorah!

Ain't family fun

Brady

That is what you get for being younger, in better shape, and a nice guy. It is kind of like owning a pick up truck. Every one you know will eventually call you to help them move something.

Sounds like the pay off was worth the effort.

That keeps up, and you will be glad when the 3rd comes, so you can go back to work to get some rest.

Dick

Dude I own a pickup truck AND

Dude I own a pickup truck AND a chainsaw! I was Johnny on the spot last year for Snowtober. I was cutting stuff out of peoples yards left and right.

Today I cleaned a neighbors drive way that the wife is in hospice. I knew they could have to leave at any given second.

Oh and I'm working on something super splendiferous (English is a living language and I just created that word!) for the surge nation that should hit tonight. It's a new cool thing that Don did. Unlike anything anybody else has done. One of his "Surgisms" expounded upon to the length of almost 73 minutes!!!