1. Is custom fitted clubs built by a qualified club fitter better that a brand name club?

Generally the answer is yes. A qualified trained club fitter can fit your clubs to your swing characteristics better than buying a set of brand name clubs "off the rack".

2. Is custom fitted clubs expensive?

Custom clubs are usually more inexpensive then brand name clubs. This is due to the fact the brand name companies must spend millions of dollars in advertising, and they must recoop their costs somewhere.

3. Should I use graphite or steel shafts for my irons?

Graphite shafts obviously reduce the total weight of the club, and that is generally good for all players, but this is especially true for women and seniors. Graphite also absorbs the shock of impact, and this can benefit those who have joint problems, making for a more comfortable round of golf. That said, most golfers believe steel shafts for irons are better because of accuracy and or consistency. The major benefit of steel for the AVERAGE GOLFER is price, due to the fact that the least expensive shaft option for irons is fine for most players and happens to be steel.

4. How important is it to have grips fitted properly ?

The proper grip size should feel comfortable when in address position. This will allow for positive control during the swing and help keep the wrist correctly aligned as the clubhead moves into the impact zone. A grip that is too large will cause you to leave the ball to the right, while one that is too small will cause you to hook the ball

5. What clubs should I carry in my bag ?

With custom golf clubs, you are not locked into a fixed set. Choosing the right set of golf clubs is perhaps the single most important step to improving your ability to score in golf. The rules of golf limit you to 14 golf clubs during a round. You may want more than 14 so that you have choices for different playing conditions. On the other hand, you may wish fewer, especially if you play a lot and carry your golf clubs. One golf club will certainly be a putter (I have heard of people advocating 2 putters but never 0!). A few other general words of advice: 1) a sand wedge is a priority -- you will hit your share of bunkers and the heavy head and strong bounce of this wedge will often be what's needed to make a reasonable escape; 2) fairway woods are easier to hit than long irons -- consider carrying only those irons that you can hit with confidence, even if that means nothing longer than a 5-iron, a 6-iron or even a 7, -- add fairway woods to close the gap; 3) the short game is critical to scoring, you should consider at least 3 or even 4 wedges. The common wedges are: PW, AW, SW, and LW. If you are going to carry just 3, you are probably better off with PW, AW and SW -- the lob wedge (LW) is a useful golf club in the hands of someone who knows how to use it, but filling the "gap" between the PW and the SW is more of a priority. Give us a call or drop us an email if you have questions or would like us to help you select the best golf club portfolio for your golf game.

6. What is flex?

Flex refers to the amount a shaft will bend during the swing. When the flex has been properly fitted, the shaft will bend back (lag) during the downswing and recover to a straight or slightly forward position at impact, delivering the clubhead in a square position with maximum clubhead speed. A shaft that is too flexible will not be strong enough to unload properly, resulting in high trajectories and control problems. A shaft that is too stiff will not be loaded fully on the downswing, resulting in losses in distance and poor control, and a tendency to hit the ball low and to the right.

7. What is involved in the Driver fitting process ?

The first step is an interview to take some quick measurements such as height, wrist to ground length, etc. as well as accurately measure your existing driver. The next step would have you hits balls with your existing driver and various test drivers on my launch monitors to determine the correct length of driver, the correct weight, the face angle, and match the shaft profile with your swing. For a driver this will take approximately one hour. The goal is to give you more distance and better accuracy than your existing driver

8. What is involved in the Iron fitting process ?

Similar to the driver fitting, I would have you hits balls with your existing irons and various test iron on my launch monitors to determine the correct length of the irons, the correct weight, the correct head style, and match the shaft profile with your swing. For irons this will take approximately one hour to an hour and a half. The goal is to find your Maximum Potential carry distance.

9. What is spine alignment and FLO?

Every golf shaft whether it is graphite or steel has a line running the length from the butt end to the tip that is stiffer than the rest of its circumference. This line is called the spine and is a result of the manufacturing process. Steel shaft start out as a flat piece if steel that is rolled into a circle and is welded as the two edges touch. Graphite shafts are made by rolling a sheet of graphite cloth soaked in resin until it is the thickness and size required by the manufacturer.

At Precision Golf Clubs I have the equipment necessary to locate the spine in every golf shafts. After locating the spline, I then will FLO (Flat Line Oscillation) the shaft with the club head on it. This involves attaching a laser, placing the shaft in motion, and observing the laser. I then adjust the club head until the shaft obtains the most stable plane.

The end result is a set of golf clubs with a consistent feel between clubs that is unbelievable

10. What is meant by C.O.R. ?

There are two types of spring face driver designs: variable face thickness (VFT) and constant face thickness (CFT). Also known as C.O.R. (Coefficient of Restitution)

A traditional titanium driver is made from very strong titanium with a face thickness of approximately 3.2 mm. A CFT driver has a face thickness of approximately 2.6 mm over the entire hitting surface of the golf club while a VFT driver has the normal face thickness of 3.2 mm in the centre of the club face and a 2.6 mm face thickness around the perimeter of the club face.

Both the VFT and CFT spring faced drivers are manufactured from titanium with more elastic properties than traditional titanium allowing the metal to actually flex slightly without breaking. There is no evidence that either spring face driver design style performs better than the other when struck solidly in the centre of the club face.

Here is how it works: When a spring face driver strikes a golf ball, the face of the driver gives or flexes slightly softening the collision between the golf ball and the club face. Due to this softened collision more of the golf ball's energy is stored which results in the golf ball rebounding off of the club face with higher than normal velocity. The final result of all this flexing and energy storing is simply more distance for the golfer. The U.S.G.A. has a test for spring face drivers that measures the outbound velocity of a golf ball after it is shot from an air cannon into the face of the driver. If the outbound velocity of the golf ball exceeds 83% of the inbound velocity then the golf club is deemed to be non-conforming to U.S.G.A. rules

11. What is Characteristic Time?

The USGA has determined that a new test will be used to replace C.O.R. The method of measuring the SPRING LIKE EFFECT in a clubface, is to use a pendulum on the end of which is a metal hemisphere which bounces against the clubface and the contact time relates directly to the Spring Like Effect. The results of the conformance tests are used in determining conformity of the club head to the Rules of Golf

Using the pendulum testing apparatus, a golf clubhead is impacted several times by a small steel pendulum. A characteristic time between the clubhead and pendulum is recorded for each impact. The characteristic time is directly related to the flexibility of the golf clubhead

The characteristic time of the clubhead shall not be greater than 239 µs. A maximum test tolerance of 18 µs is associated with this test. Therefore a maximum characteristic time of 257 us. or units, is allowed.

MOI Matching

What is MOI Matching?

The MOI of any object is a measurement of its resistance to being placed in motion. Related to golf clubs, if each club in a set requires a different amount of force to swing the club (set it in motion), and a swingweighted set does require different amounts of force per club, it stands to reason that the golfer cannot be as consistent, swinging each club a little differently in the set. With MOI matched clubs, each club is built to require the same force to swing it. In it's most simple form, this is what sets MOI matching apart from matching clubs to the same swingweight. Swingweight matching does not make each club within a set the same in terms of the amount of force required by the golfer to make the swing and hit the shot. MOI matching does. However, because golfers can be quite different in their strength, tempo and swing mechanics, the right MOI should be identified if possible and fit for each golfer to allow the concept to properly work. If that is not possible, at least having all the clubs set up that they require the same amount of energy to move them, is a major step in the right direction.

How is the right MOI determined for each golfer?

Virtually all golfers who play regularly have noticed they have a “longest club they hit well", have the most confidence in. This club should be defined as the club which the golfer has the ability to hit the ball solid and on-center more often than the other longer clubs in the set. I use the longest club you hit the most consistently because to MOI match to a short iron, much weight would have to be ground away from the heads of the longer irons, which is not advisable, it may affect performance, but can de-value your clubs. I can shorten the length, but I am not a fan of this. After research and testing, it is believed that a very good reason for the fact that golfers do have “favorite longer club” they hit well is that the MOI of that club(s) happens to match the strength, tempo and swing mechanics of the golfer noticeably better than the other clubs. Therefore, the concept of MOI Matching is based "initially" on asking the golfer to bring forth a “favorite long club" from any set they may own or have used. The “favorite long club” is measured for its MOI using the MOI Matching System, after which the other
clubs are then built to match the MOI of that “favorite long club(s)”. From testing with many golfers, and hearing from other clubmakers who presently use the MOI Matching System in their work, I am very satisfied that the “favorite long club” procedure is successful for identifying a suitable MOI for the golfer.

Does MOI Matching change the fitting process?

No. MOI Matching is a replacement for swingweight matching in the fitting process. Clubmakers will fit golfers for the best clubhead, shaft, grip and length based on the same fitting procedures that they have developed and with which they are confident. Once the heads, shafts, grips and the lengths are determined by the clubmaker, and then MOI Matching is brought in to guide the clubmaker in how the clubs will be assembled with regard to final headweight, and in some cases, final length adjustments

What will a golfer notice when switching from swingweighted to MOI matched clubs?

I have yet to hear from any other clubmakers using the MOI system who reported that a golfer for whom MOI matching was performed did not notice a difference in the swing feel of all of the clubs in the set, and an increase in the percentage of solid, on-center hits with the clubs. If the golfer waggles” each MOI matched club, they may think that they detect a little different head feel. But as soon as the clubs are swung full, the golfers all report that they can close their eyes, switch clubs in the set, and not really detect any difference in the total swing feel of the clubs from each other.

Will the woods and irons all be built to have the same single MOI?

No, the testing along those lines showed that because woods and irons are so different in their length ranges, better results were obtained by matching all the woods to the same MOI, and then matching all of the irons to the same MOI.

What about the wedges – should they be built to have the same MOI as all of the rest
of the irons?

What I found was that any of the wedges that are used by a golfer for less than a full swing most of the time, should not be matched to the same MOI as the rest of the irons which are almost always used for a full swing. In general, because many golfers DO use the PW and AW (gap wedge) more for full swings than they do their SW and LW, I am comfortable making the MOI of the PW and AW the same as the rest of the numbered irons, but for the SW and LW, they are better off being built to a lower MOI than the rest of the irons.