When we completed the PPGS golf school at noon on Saturday, I headed up to Orlando with my brother Ken to watch DJ play on Sunday in the last PGA Tour event for 09 at Disney World in the Children's Miracle Network Classic. We met some of our old Florida friends at the tournament and made some new ones. A lady and her husband came up and introduced themselves to me, saying that they live only 30 miles from me in upstate South Carolina and had come to the Disney tournament to watch DJ all week and check out his PPGS swing up close. They are members of the PPGS website, read my daily articles, and she planned to take lessons from me.
We met on the first tee and together, with my friends, we walked the entire 18 holes. Naturally the main topic of conversation was about DJ and the PPGS. We got of on tangents now and then, with one being talking about our dogs.
One time, the lady started talking about my many articles and comments about the importance of getting fitted clubs. She was 100% in favor of it and has been fitted numerous times for her clubs. She concurred that I was correct in saying that getting fitted by someone who takes your check, then sends your stats and club specs off to the big club manufacturing company to be made, is not getting fitted the majority of the time. That is because they just go into their vast inventory, pull already made clubs off the shelf, box them up and ship them.
She went on to tell me that her first fitting was with a major club manufacturer done on the range at her club. The fitter measured her and carried out all the points of a good fitting, from asking questions about her game to her choice of clubs for her set makeup. The she hit clubs to test for shaft flex and off the lie board to test for lie angle. When the fitting was completed, he wrote up the order, worked up the cost, she wrote the check and he said he would send the order in to be processed.
She said she got her clubs in a few week and they looked great. What wasn't great was the way she hit them, all of them. After putting up with hitting too many awful shots with her scores soaring skyward, she read one of my articles on club fitting. The article where I suggest finding a club fitter, preferably a certified fitter, but more importantly also builds the clubs right there in his shop. Then, when the clubs are built, you return and hit them to your and his satisfaction. Then you write the check to pay for them. So she went out and found a new club fitter/builder.
When her new club fitter/builder checked out her new 'ordered fitted set' of ladies clubs that she hit so poorly, the problem was simple to figure out. The first thing he tested was the shaft flex. And what did he find? Every one of her shafts that were suppose to be ladies shafts was, in fact, a flex equal to junior golfer shafts. These shafts were way too weak for her to hit consistently. He then re-shafted the heads with the correct shafts and now she hits them well.
So, I will say it again. If you are having problems with hitting any or all of your clubs consistently in terms of solid, straight and controlled, you need to see a qualified club fitter. You need to check your clubs, especially when you feel like you made a good or even descent swing and get poor results. Or, for that matter, if you can't make a good swing, then you need to get them checked by a qualified fitter.
How do you find a qualified club fitter? For starters, you can ask you club pro who he or she uses. Ask the good players at your club who they go to get fitted and to work on their clubs. The fitter the pros and top players use is the one you want to go see. There is also checking out the yellow pages. But probably the best source, as good as asking the pros and top amateurs, is to go to the club fitter's website at www.clubfitter.org to find a certified club fitter in your area.
Clubs are like clothes. The better the fit'¦the better they hit! And that goes for all golfers, including juniors and ladies.
The Surge!