Speaker 1: Hi, This is Peat Makepeace calling from Solihull in the
United Kingdom and I play at Stonebridge Golf Club. This
is golf Smart number.
Speaker 2: Four hundred and eighty four, published on April fourteen, twenty fifteen.
Speaker 3: Welcome to Golf Smarter Mulligans, your second chance to gain
insight and advice from the best instructors featured on the
Golf Smarter podcast. Great Golf Instruction Never gets Old. Our
interview library features hundreds of hours of game improvement conversations
like this that are no longer available in any podcast app.
Speaker 1: Within the series Golfers that are out there, there's a
definite faction who look at this possibility of non conforming
equipment playing simple level of cheating. Well, okay, it is
cheating if you use it in a real competition, even
if it's anywhere from your Saturday morning sweeps to the
club championship to the County diameter to the Staumeter. And
but there's a whole bunch of people who probably would
never play in those things simply want to go out
and just get it a little bit better than they do.
Right now, nice side is recording a little different because
I've watched how the whole business model is that all
the big golf companies go out and they do their
engineering and they develop their new clubhead technology, and then
they build their golf clubs so they're all the same length,
same loss, same lying angles, seem everything, so that they
can be shipped into all the retail stores to more
easily be sold off the rack. That's how you sell
four hundred million dollars where the golf clubs a year.
But the point still remains, golfers are as different in
our size, our strength, our athletic ability, and especially in
our swing characteristics. Standard made clubs are not going to
help every single golfer play to the best of their
given ability. That's where custom fitting can step in and
help people play better and play more.
Speaker 2: Surprising information on how to cut seven to ten strokes
from your handicap using proper fitted clubs with Tom wish On.
Speaker 3: This is Golf Smarter Premium.
Speaker 2: Here's your host, Fred Green. Welcome back to the Golf
Smarter Podcast. Tom.
Speaker 1: Thanks very much, cred it's a pleasure to be back
to talk about golf.
Speaker 2: We could talk about golf, we can talk about golf clubs,
we can talk about custom club fitting. We can talk
about the state of Actually we are going to talk
about all of those things. Okay, how is the state
of the golf club industry. Let's get right to it.
How is the state of the industry from your perspective
right now?
Speaker 1: Well, it's very interesting. You know, the industry's big major player,
tailor Mate, took a gigantic hit last year. They were
down like twenty nine percent in sales, you know, largely
due to the fad of white driver heads being over
so that went away from them, but also because you know,
there's been a little bit of a backlash from some
of the major retailers in golf that they're you know,
not real happy with the way that the big giant
companies have been bringing out new models every six months
and how difficult that is to manage on a retail
inventory standpoint, you know. So, you know, right now it's
you know, up in the air. You know, it's hard
to say exactly what's going to happen to the golf
equipment industry. Participation in the game continues to sag, you
know a little bit for all of the post recession
reasons you know that are out there. Games expensive, takes
too long to play. The millennials, you know, are not
impressed with playing their father's game, so to speak. And
so you know, we're living you know, with about five
ten percent, well actually won that twenty percent fewer golfers
and we had ten years ago, you know, with that,
So you know, but the game is still the game.
It's still the greatest game there is, and you know
it still is something that you know is going to
live forever though.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's interesting as we're talking right now,
we're in day two of the Masters twenty fifteen and
Jordan's speaf Is is kind of running away with things here.
He's having another amazing round after yesterday's. Is is someone
like a Jordan's Speef do you think? Is he the
kind of character he does? He have the what it
takes to be a person that will get the millennials
back on the golf or to the golf course, you know,
the way Tiger. You know, when Tiger was at his peak,
everybody was building golf courses left and right, and everyone
was happy, and we were coming out with new clubs
every few weeks. And now you know, that kind of
died away and everyone started leaving and everyone's waiting for
the next Messiah. Could Jordan Speed be that character?
Speaker 1: Well, I think he can have influence on younger kids,
you know, let's say twelve seventeen year olds, you know,
to maybe get more into the game or start to
play the game. But I'm not really sure. You know,
among the millennials.
Speaker 2: He's too young, no, a different attention span.
Speaker 1: Let me put it that way, you know what I mean,
they're the kids, you know, they're the generation that's grown
up going nuts. If they walk out the door without
a smartphone in their pocket, you know, it rules their life.
And you know, and from that, you know, most of
the things that I think an awful lot of millennials
do for pleasure and enjoyment are things that don't take
them very long. You know, to do workouts, you know, cycling,
you know that sort of thing. And to be into golf,
you've got to make a long commitment, you know, for
practicing to get to the point where the game can
be enjoyable. And then when you go play the game,
you know, it's you know, four or five hours if
you're going to play eighteen holes plus cost. So you know,
I'm not sure. I mean I had a discussion at
one point with Jerry Tarti, the editor of Golf Digest,
and and you know, I noted that Golf Digest has
changed their look, you know, of their magazine to try
to appeal more to the millennials. And my point with
him was, well, that's fine among the millennials who already
do play golf, but the biggest segment of our population
that is not playing golf and appears to not want
to have anything to do with the game are the millennials.
So you know, you know, what about things that need
to be done to try to attract those people to
the game, to get them to start playing, you know,
for it. And you know, I made the suggestion to him,
you know, just tossing something out of you know, why
don't all the big entities in the game who have money,
the PGA Tour, the PGA of America, the Augusta National
Golf Club, the United States Golf Association, you know, throw
some money in the pot and start making some commercials
to put on television which feature celebrities and stars, well
known sports heroes who love and play the game, and
get on the commercial and tell people this is why
this game is so great and why you need to
play it.
Speaker 2: You know, for that and you know, yeah, where's justin
Timberlake when we need him?
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, things like that, you know, or any of
the you know Steph Curry, you know in basketball, who's
a great player.
Speaker 2: And oh is that right?
Speaker 1: Loves tremendedly you know for that. Yeah. I mean he's
a three four handicap and plays extremely well.
Speaker 2: Did not know that? That's interesting? Yeah, he's uh, yeah,
he's very special. What's what he's doing this year in basketball? Uh?
Their attention span? You're absolutely right. They want to they
want to be able to play well because they can
do it on their video games. So why can't they
just translate that onto the golf course. Why does it
have to be so difficult?
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, you can play eighteen homes in a video
game in a half an hour.
Speaker 2: Yeah, right, exactly. You know, I live next to a
golf course. We've talked about this because I Marine Country Club,
which you your mom lives near here too, so you're
familiar with the golf course. And just last week they
they did an experiment. They had two pins on each
green and one was a regulation size hole and the
other one was a fifteen inch hole good for them
and yeah, and they just as an experiment to see
how people liked it to be able to get the
kids out on the golf course with the family because
it's a very family oriented country club, and the feedback
they were getting was an hour faster to play and
seven to ten strokes per per person was saved. Now,
I don't think this is going to be the future
of the game as far as tournament play, of course not.
But for fun, why not.
Speaker 1: I think, you know, all of those things like that
are okay, you know, I mean for a little bit
of a boost to play. But at the end of
the day, you know, for golf to continue to grow,
the game has to attract people for what it brings
and what it has always brought from day one. You know,
with that, you know, a chance to be you against yourself,
you against the golf course, to master a skill that
it's difficult to master, you know, to be able to
spend time with friends in a social environment where you're
you know, you're also playing a game. And then the
pure enjoyment of the fact that you know, all these
different golf courses around the country and around the world,
they're all different, they're beautiful examples of how we can
shape land into you know, gorgeous agronomy. And it's fun
to go out and play all the different kinds of
courses out there. You know, those are the things that
have to draw the people you know into the game
to play, you know, play the game the way it's
always meant to be played, you know, for that. So yeah,
I mean I welcome the Badiach Cup, of the fifteen
inch Cup, you know, in that for you know, the
occasional fun thing to get a few people out who
may not have been coming out regularly. But it's not
the answer for long term.
Speaker 2: No, I don't think I don't think so either. I
don't think so either. But you know, even if there
is a fifteen inch hole it and it saves you
an hour and it saves you some strokes, hitting a
golf ball, not putting, hitting a golf ball is still
not an easy thing to do, no doing it well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you know, and that's it takes time to
get to the point where you can hit it well
enough that you can go out and have fun, right.
Speaker 2: Right, It takes years for it to be fun, because
it's not really fun until you get good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, either that or else you play it strictly for
the social side, which is tremendous, you know, and so
regardless if you don't score well, you're out there with
good friends, laughing and having a good time outside.
Speaker 2: Right, What can the equipment industry do? And I'm sure
they would spend quadrillions of dollars, whether it be advertising
or R and D. But what can they do to
make it easier to hit a golf ball? Do you
think there's something that is in their hands that would help.
Speaker 1: Well, there's nothing that can be done to get to
the point where you hit you know, ninety eight percent
of your shots in the air. That's you and your
neural unpet system and proper instruction followed by practice, you know,
to get to a point where you can make a
good swing to hit the ball airporn, you know, as
far as getting people a little bit more distance or
hitting the ball a little straighter. You know, there are
some people in the in the world golf industries who
are starting to look at this and say, you know,
for those people who strictly play for fun, who would
never play in serious competition, why shouldn't we manufacture non
conforming clubs? You know that would you know, just simply
be out there to add to the fun in the game.
Not that long ago, I think in the month of February,
the Japan Golf Manufacturers Association came out with us with
a statement saying that they were in favor of this. Okay,
they got criticized heavily because, you know, one group of
people said, well, the only reason that the Japan manufacturers
want to make non conforming clubs is so they can
sell more clubs and make more money. Okay, Well, there's
another side of the coin, you know, where you know,
there are apparently an awful lot of people over there
who don't hit the ball as far as they would
like to, who don't play in serious handicapped competition, and
they feel that maybe this could keep that group of
people more interested in the game, you know, for that So,
you know, because we can design drivers that hit the
ball ten fifteen yards further by exceeding the rule in
the game for the coficient and restitution for the spring
face capability of the face, we could also design shafts
which self correct during the swing basically and could and
ad and reduce the slice just you know, or hook
depending on how the shaft is made and how it's
installed into the head. You know, we also have you know,
the aspects of what I work in every day, you know,
professional custom fitting. So you know, if people can get
into a situation where they understand that they're better off
going to see a professional club fitter to be fit
and you know, for their their clubs rather than buy
them standard off the rack and big stores are online,
that too, you know, can make a difference to help
people you know, play better, score better, and enjoy the
game more and then potentially keep coming back and playing.
Speaker 2: You talked about the Japanese companies that are suggesting why
don't we make a a some clubs that are non conforming,
that are against the rules, because these are for people
who are just out there to have a good time.
They are not going to necessarily post their score or
get their you know, their gen number going. And then
can you say people are like, oh, you're just in
it to sell more clubs and make more money. Yeah, well,
and that's a problem for a company because why you know,
I don't you know, I don't see that as being
the issue, you know, I mean.
Speaker 1: I mean, I've been in the golf equipment in se
for a very long time now, and I'm very well
aware of the fact that within the serious golfers that
are out there, there's a definite faction who look at
this possibility of non conforming equipment uh with great anger, condemnation,
you know, and playing a simple label at cheating. Well, okay,
it is cheating if you use it in you a
real competition, even if that's anywhere from you know, your
Saturday morning sweeps, playing for pro Shop credit, to the
club championship, to the county Amateur, to the state amateur
and on up. You shouldn't do that. You need to
be playing with conforming golf clubs if you're playing that
kind of competitive golf. But there's a whole bunch of people
who you know, probably would never play in those things.
And you know a number of people who simply want
to go out and just hit it around, have fun,
hit it a little bit better than they do right now,
you know. For that. So you know, that's where the
Japan Manufacturers Association is coming from. You know, my side
of the coins a little different because I've watched how
the whole business model of the golf equipment industry has
evolved over the years, and the standard you know, the
business model is that all the big golf companies go
out and they do their engineering and they develop their
new clubhead technology, and then they build their golf clubs.
Uh so they're all same length, same lofts, same lie angles,
same weighting, same grip size, same everything, so that they
can be shipped into all the retail stores to more
easily be sold off the rack. That's how you sell
four hundred million dollars where the golf clubs a year.
You can't do it if you're going to build one
set at a time. I'm for one golfer at a time,
each one custom fit. But the point still remains, golfers
are as different as fingerpints. You know. We're all different
in our size, our strength, our athletic ability, and especially
in our swing characteristics. And that's you know, a situation
where standard made clubs are not going to help every
single golfer play to the best of their given ability.
That's where custom fitting can you know, step in and
help people you know, play better and enjoy it more
and continue to play more.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I've been playing golf for getting getting up to
twenty years now and I don't ever see myself playing
in any sort of competition. I just that's not who
I am. I love to play on the weekends with
my friends, and if we put a couple dollars into
a pot, you know, before the round, okay, I'll do that.
But mostly I'm out there trying to beat myself each time,
you know, just because that's the way golf is. You
just know that, Oh I can do better. I want
to got to do this again. I want to do
it better. How close are we getting or will we
ever get to the point where there's two sets of
rules for tournament play and for everybody else.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well it's interesting. I don't think we're anywhere near
close to that yet, but there certainly are who discussed that.
You know, it goes on in other sports, you know
out there. You know, baseball has metal bats in you know.
Speaker 2: In college, right school college.
Speaker 1: You know, wood bats in the major leagues. You know
out there, you know, there are some people who feel
that because of the extreme distance that the tour players
hit the ball now, that this is going to render
a lot of the classic golf courses obsolete. There are
only so many of those courses who can keep lengthening.
You know, their their golf courses, you know, to accommodate
you know, guys with one hundred and twenty five miles
an hour clubhead speed. You know, you hit it three
hundred and forty yards. You know, out there, the game
has evolved, you know. I mean you go back to
the to the year nineteen hundred, okay, and the game
converted from a gut of purchare golf ball to a
rubber core wound ball, and immediately everybody picked up twenty
five or thirty yards, and those golf courses that were
you know existing before this were rendered obsolete. Well, new
golf courses were built, you know, that were longer to
accommodate the new ball and all that, and so you know,
the game survived that here. Now maybe because of the
economic reasons, it's not quite feasible to think that we're
going to go out and build a whole new stable
of golf courses that all could be eight thousand yards long,
so that we could, you know, so that they could
host a PGA Tour event and you'd still see players
hitting you know, three iron into a power four hole. Yeah,
that may be unrealistic, you know, out there. But you know,
it's you know, it's just all part of the evolution
of the game. We just have to get used to
the fact that there are a lot better golf athletes
now and that these guys out there all have an
average driver clubhead speed it's ten miles an hour higher
than it was twenty five years ago. Because they're better
golf athletes, they know how to train, you know, to
you know, maximize their you know, their swing speed out there.
That's just all part of it.
Speaker 2: So interesting. What why do we well when when they
when they made that change in the ball around the
turn of the century, there how much resistance was that too?
You know, wait, that's wrong. We shouldn't be you know,
like we're getting the resistance now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was kind of funny. You know. I'm, of course,
I'm not old enough to have lived for that, but
you know, I haven't done and of research to read
through all of my old collections of magazines from that
era to know if there was a protest to it.
I'm not aware that there was. You know, at the
same token, there was definitely a protest. When the steel
shaft was invented, the game's ruling bodies were not sure
they wanted to to rule, you know, to accept that
and rule the steel shaft to be conforming, you know.
So yeah, I mean there's evidence from the distant past
in the evolution of the game that there has been
resistance to change in the equipment if it was felt
that it would make the game replace skill with technology.
Speaker 2: Is the term, you know, is that the great fear?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, that's that's the us GAS credo. You know,
when they when they look at brand new forms of equipment,
you know, that are submitted to them for approval. Not
everything that may be submitted to them may be covered
under an express current rule. So the U s g
A has always had a provide so to where they
could rule something to be non conforming if they felt
it was not in the best interests of the game,
or if they felt it was an example of technology
replacing the skill with which you know, to play the game.
You know, right now we're at a point we're golf
club designed where we're maxed out. We can't design clubheads
to hit the ball any farther or hit the ball
any straighter than they do right now, because we've reached
the brick wall of technology part of that brick wall
are some of the rules of the USGA which limit performance.
We have a limit on the coefficient restitution, the spring
face capability. You know, the clubhead clubheads have been you know,
at this cor limit for quite some time now, you know,
with that, and you know now that we're you know,
we've we're several years into the development of higher CEO
are fairway woods and hybrids and irons, so those are
now reaching their brick wall of potential performance. The only
way you know, companies can offer golf clubs off the
rack that hit the ball further is to keep lowering
the loft angles on the clubheads. And that too is
going to have a limit because each time you keep
lowering the loft of the clubheads, you've now rendered one
more club as unhittable for the majority of golfers because
it now has too little loft for the average players
to hit consistently. You know, well, you know for that,
so you know, at this point, we are really at
this limit. Even though marketing is going to keep trying
to convince golfers that the next design is better and
hits it further. You know, it's you know, it's the
way marketing goes to try and generate demand. In reality,
because the vast majority of golfers have always bought their
golf clubs standard off the rack in golf stores, there
is one technology left out there that the vast majority
of golfers have never been exposed to, in which for
at least seventy seventy five percent of all golfers could
overnight send them ount with three to ten shots lower score.
You know what I'm talking about is full SPEC's professional
club fitting, where the golfer is analyzed by a true
professional club fitter who then custom builds their golf clubs
one at a time for every single one of the
twelve key club fitting specifications that make up a golf club.
You know, most people have never had the chance to
go work with a professional club fitter. You know, Unfortunately,
the big companies are marketing that their clubs can be
custom fit by just walking into the big golf stores,
and that's just not true. You know, what we're talking about.
Custom club fitting is the same thing as the way
a suit is made by a tailor, every single specification
customized to that golfer and his size, strength, athletic ability,
and swing characteristics. Now there's a bunch of golfers out
there who go, oh, hogwash, I'm not good enough for
custom fitting to matter. I'm only a sixteen handicap. If
I ever get good and start breaking eighty, then I'll
think about custom fitting, because then it'll matter. That's one
of the biggest myths in the golf equipment industry, and
it is so wrong. It is, in fact the opposite
the average players, the golfers who shoot low eighties and
higher up to one hundred. These are the people for
whom professional club fitting will help the most. The people
who are single digit and low single digit handicappers, they're
really good because they're better golf athletes who've learned better
swing fundamentals. Thus, over the years, as they go out
and try different clubs, they find what works for them,
they self fit themselves. So professional fitting for like a
two handicapper, about the o only thing you're going to
achieve is a sense of confidence in the golfer that
he now knows his club's are right for him. But
professional club fitting for someone who's eighteen or a twenty
six handicap most definitely can get them measurable improvement overnight.
Because more than likely the standard made clubs that they
bought off the rack are preventing them from being able
to play to the best of their ability. You know.
But the problem is is that professional club fitting isn't marketed.
You know. The entities who work within, you know, the
professional club fitting arena just they're not big enough. They
just don't have the money and the resources to go
out there and shout this message to the millions of
golfers that there is a better way, you know, for
them to get their golf clubs so that they could
play better and enjoy the game more.
Speaker 2: This is so fascinating to me that you say that
it's important for them, that it will help their game.
But the amateurs that I talk to regularly, what they
say is, I don't want to get fit now because
I'm going to take a lesson or two and then
my swing's going to change, and then the clubs will
be obsolete at that point, true or fallow.
Speaker 1: Well, that's okay, that's that's a noble thought, you know.
I mean, here's forty years of experiencing golf. The number
of golfers who think about taking lessons and working their
tail off to really make major swing changes to really improve.
That's great if you can do it, but the vast
majority of people never get around to it. You know,
it's best way plans of mice and men. Sure you know,
you know, so you know this is one of the
reasons why the average golfer handicap never goes down. You know,
they're just you know, there are people who would love
to take lessons. They may start and because they don't
get an instant success or because they don't have four
or five days a week to hit ball, you know,
under proper supervision to groop the new swing change, the
lesson improvement doesn't happen, you know, for them. But you know,
when we teach club fitters, you know the interaction you know,
with golfers. One of the things we teach them is
right when they start with the golfer, to ask the golfer.
You know, a whole number of questions, but one of
them is are you presently taking lessons? If so, how
much are you working on making your swing changes? And
are you definitely starting to see these swing changes occur
to the point where you're confident that you will make
these swing changes from the lessons you're taking okay. If
they answer yeah, yes, then you fit the clubs for
how they're going to be, or you tell them to
come back after you feel and after they feel that
they have grouped the new swing characteristics. But if you
get any bit of doubt in there, you know that
the golfer is not going to follow through with this,
You know deep commitment that it takes to really be
taking lessons and improving through practice. Then you fit the
clubs for how they are now you know, And that's
how it's done at the end of the day. Here's
the things like if you do have custom fit clubs
and then let's say you go out and take lessons,
here are the things that have to happen before those
clubs don't fit you anymore. One, if you gain more
than ten miles an hour in club headspeed, okay, then
your chaft flexes probably need to be stiffer. Two, if
you all of a sudden somehow increase your tempo or
your swing aggressiveness, potentially at this point, the weight of
your golf clubs may need to be heavier than what
they were before. The other elements in there, you know,
in terms of lengths, lie angles, loft angles, no, you know,
they you know, they can stay the same even if
you do make major swing improvements. You know for this,
so you know, it's a little bit of a misnumber
when somebody says, well, I'm going to be taking and
so I don't want to be fitting out. Okay, fine,
go do it. And if you do find you you know,
get through it and you make swing changes, great, then
go get custom fit. But because the vast majorities don't,
you know, it's really a situation where go in now
with your swing as it is now. The professional club
fitter will see all these things. And the way that
you will improve is you will if you're fit properly.
The new clubs are going to reduce the severity and
the frequency of your worst shots. So what really good
club fitting does. It doesn't sure you and all of
a sudden you hit the ball straight. And further, it
reduces the severity and the frequencies of your bad shots,
so you're in play more often, you have more open
shots to the greens, and the percentage of scoring better
improves as a result from that. You know, so most people,
you know, those who shoot between low eighties and hundred
from proper club fitting if they've been playing with standard
clubs off the rack, it's extremely common to see improvements
of three to ten shots from professional club hitting.
Speaker 2: That's amazing, all right, So let's paint this scenario. You
got a thirty year old guy who has recently fallen
in love with the game and now he wants to
play more. Except he's married, he travels for work, he
doesn't get a lot of time to practice. He did
take a lesson and learned a couple of things, but
doesn't have time to do that again, and just wants
to get back on the golf course. You're saying that
if he just with that kind of game and that
kind of commitment, that if he goes and has a
custom club fitter watch him swing, work with him, and
develop a set of clubs for them, that they're going
to cut seven to ten strokes off and they can
hold on to those clubs for a long time and
have success with them.
Speaker 1: Yep, absolutely happens every day, you know, with the you know,
the professional club fitters out there. You know, it doesn't
happen to millions, It happens to thousands, you know, because
professional club fitting is just so unknown.
Speaker 2: When when you talk about how the courses they need
to now they're going to need to be eight thousand yards.
But there are no courses being built, are there? No?
Speaker 1: Now there are more courses closing that are than our
opening each year because of the drop in participation of
the game that you know the thing. We just want
to try and keep as many courses alive as possible.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, So what are these what are club makers?
The major manufacturers, the ones that send just big boxes
and say these will all fit for you. What are
they going to do next? You can't They're going to
paint the heads red and green and say they know what,
the white didn't work for tailor made as you opened
up with, or it works for a while, you know, I.
Speaker 1: Mean there's still things being pushed out there. You know that,
like for for example, right now, one of the current
technologies a lot of the companies are all following is
putting a slot into the heads, most frequently done on
the sole of the club, very close to the out
of the face. And the idea that they're getting at
is to say, if you hit the you know, if
you hit the ball, you know that slot flexes so
you get more spring face. You know, you get better
ball street and distance. Okay, the problem is that, you know,
you can't exceed the USGA CR limit of eight point thirty.
You know, so most of the companies have already been
designing heads with thin faces made from high strength alloys,
which achieve as high have a CR as you possibly can.
And not only that, when you make a thin face club,
you can hit it low on the face, you can
hit it on the heel side, the tow side, the
high side. The face is still going to get some
flexing to get you a little bit more distance with
a slot that only exists on the bottom of the
golf club. What if you hit it towards a toe
higher on the face, there's no slot over there, so
the face camplex as much in these different areas. So,
you know, here's an example of just how marketing invisible
technology to the eye can fool someone. And then, oh,
by the way, they're still bought off the rack, so
they're probably too long, the wrong weight, the wrong face angle,
potentially the wrong loft, the wrong light angle, wrong grip size,
you know, and there you go, they don't fit.
Speaker 2: You know, from that standpoint, this is something that you
and I talk about almost every time. But I continue
to get questions like this, and that is the off
the shelf driver that they're buying every three years, which
isn't necessary with the longer shaft. Now, if I remember correctly,
you're an advocate of shorter shafts for a driver for
greater accuracy.
Speaker 1: Yep, there's really a definite adage. There's a definite old
adage that clubfitters learned right away when they get into
the field goes like this. The longer the length of
the club, the lower the loft of the club, the
stiffer the shaft in the club, and the heavier the
weight of the club, the harder the club will be
to hit. Okay, with a driver, you've got low loft
and you've got longer length, two things going against you.
The other thing, it's a fact, you know, the longer
the length of the driver, the more stress or load
it puts on your swing, the more it can break
down weak elements in your swing to make you less consistent.
There was no reason whatsoever the drivers needed to be
increased in length from the forty three inches they were
for decades to the point of they are today between
forty five and forty six inches in length. The reason
it was done was because all the companies know that
distance or the potential for distance, sells more golf clubs
than any other factor in the go equipment history, and
so people are associated with the thought longer length means
higher club head speed, which means more distance. Problem means
it's not true for all golfers, and it's not true
for the majority of golfers. You have to have a
lader to very late unhinging of the risk coock angle
on the downswing before a longer length can turn into
higher clubhead speed. But even for those people who do
have a late release, longer length puts more load on
stress on the swing, and so the longer the length,
the higher the percentage of off center hits will be.
You miss the center of the face of your driver
by a half inch, you've lost five percent of your
total distance. You miss that center of the face by
one inch, you've lost ten percent of your total distance potential.
So this is the double edged sword and the misinformation
that the long driver lengths are perpetuating, and I think
probably as I mentioned before, one of the biggest ways
to try right have proved the golfers that these off
the rack forty five to forty six inch driver lengths
are not right for them? Is that? For a very
long time now, the average driver length on the PGA
Tour has been forty four and a half inches, not
the forty five to forty six inches that average golfers
are being told is right for them. Why did the
tour players play with shorter length drivers, even as good
as they are, because they know they can't control the
longer length driver, you know, as well as they can,
you know, one that's shorter, it's no different for the
average player. And it's even more so. And I can't
tell you how many golfers have been fit with forty
three and a half to forty four inch long drivers
and walked away with an immediate improvement in their t
shot game without losing a single yard. And in fact,
for me, they gain distance because now they're hitting the
ball more consistently on center and not losing distance from
the off center hit, you know, for this, So I mean,
if nothing else, you know, for most average players, if
they just go get fit with a shorter driver that
has loft, which is better fit to their clubhead speed,
and which has a face angle which will counteract their
tendency to slice the ball or hook it. You know,
the miles a hit than where they would have been
just trying to buy something off the wrap.
Speaker 2: That is so interesting. It's amazing how many myths are
out there about what you should have in your bag.
The other issue that always comes up in my conversations
with people is, oh, man, a custom club fitter, it's
going to be so much more expensive than if I
just buy something over at the local retail store.
Speaker 1: And that's not true really, you know, because for one thing,
the custom club fitters are all under marketed. You know,
very few people know they exist. Many custom club fitters,
you know, they have a hard time going to living
because they don't have enough customers because not very many
people know about them. And so you're going to find
that the vast majority of professional custom club fitters are
never going to end up charging you any more for
your golf clubs than what you would have paid when
you walked into a big box store and bought a
big brand name club off the rap.
Speaker 2: Okay, Tom, you've just given us an amazing lesson on
the value of custom club fitters and why we should
really seek one out. Please, give us a tip on
how to find a custom club fitter fed you know.
Speaker 1: For those who are interested in professional club fitting. You know,
it is a buyer beware market. These guys, you know,
are sometimes hard to find, so let me give you
a little tip on how to find a good professional
club fitter. Okay, go to Google, Okay, and in Google,
you know, search for the Association of Golf Club Fitting
Professionals AGCP club Fitter or search for the International Clubmaker's
Guild ICG Golf Clubfitter. Both of these are the professional
organizations of serious professional clubfitters. On their sites, they both
have search engines so that you can go in there
and look to see who among the AGCP club fitters
and the ICG club hitters are close to your area.
Both of these professional club fitting organizations have certification programs
just like a Mister Good Ranch for mechanics, So if
you find an AGCP clubfitter or an ICG clubmaker near you,
they will be good. They will know what they are
doing and you will get a good fit. My company,
we screen the club fitters that we work with, so
if people were to go to our website, which is
wish on golf dot com Right in the middle of
the homepage is a find a Clubfitter locator search tool.
Click on that, put in your town, state, country, and
will come. If we have a screened club fitter in
your area, you'll find it right there. So those are
your best options right now. I hate to be critical,
but you're not going to be professionally custom fit. When
you go into a big box retail store, it doesn't
happen