Questions for a Master Fitter

[Matt Saternus]

Fellow spies:

 

I recently infiltrated Club Champion, the most elite club fitting company in Chicago. The review will not be posted for some time because I will be out of town and am waiting to do a follow up. I can reveal that it was massively fun and educational. While you wait for the full article, I would like to offer you the opportunity to pose questions to master club fitter Nick Sherburne. Please feel free to ask anything you have questions about relating to club fitting or equipment. I can tell you that he possesses a world of knowledge and you will get some really great answers to your questions. Feel free to re-use some of the questions that have been posed to Callaway, Wilson, Titleist, etc, because I think the differences in the answers have been fascinating so far.

 

Here are some questions I asked today to get the ball rolling (answers will come in the final article):

 

Is it more important to get someone into the right specs (length, lie, etc) or the right products?

 

What is the purpose of adjusting lie angle?

 

What's more important: the head or the shaft?

 

How do you fit a golfer who is swinging very inconsistently?

 

How often should a golfer has his equipment checked to see that it still fits?

[SPY ZINGER]

Can you discuss the recent use of a lighter head, longer shaft combo by OEM's. It's making it more difficult to hit a reasonable swing weight at my ideal length of 44.75".

 

Thanks!

[JBones]

How often should a golfer has his equipment checked to see that it still fits?

I'm looking forward to the answer to this question. My stance and swing have changed dramatically since I was fit. I still hit everything pretty well, but I definitely think I could use my irons a little shorter.

[Super Tuna]

While we all know lie angle is important for irons, I hardly ever see anyone adjust lie angles for hybrids or fairways. Should this be looked at as well?

 

Are there shafts that are anti a direction? I've heard a number of times people talking about shafts that make it much less likely for the shot to go right or left. Is this a function of some shafts or is it only based on the head?

[Kanoito]

Why is it that pro's use shorter 44"-ish drivers, but fitters still recommend 45" and up length to average players?

[GolfSpy WD]

How much of a difference is there really between driver heads? (not talking about standard vs draw or titanium vs composite)

[Kanoito]

How much of a difference is there really between driver heads? (not talking about standard vs draw or titanium vs composite)

 

You mean difference in launch, spin, etc? I'm interested too!

[AkE]

When adjusting the swing weight on a driver, will the placement of the weight on the head matter to the performance of the driver in general?

[Matt Saternus]

Why is it that pro's use shorter 44"-ish drivers, but fitters still recommend 45" and up length to average players?

 

I can tell you that based on my conversation with Nick, Club Champion tends to recommend shorter drivers just like you see on tour.

 

How much of a difference is there really between driver heads? (not talking about standard vs draw or titanium vs composite)

 

Can you clarify this question a bit please?

 

 

Thanks to everyone for the questions, please keep them coming! I think this will end up being a great resource of information and a springboard for discussion when the answers come back.

[GolfSpy WD]

Can you clarify this question a bit please?

 

As stevenhw8 said, the difference in backspin, launch angle, etc... IOTW, are certain drivers *really* longer/easier to hit/workable than others? Or in the end, does it just come down to which driver you think looks best?

[Matt Saternus]

As stevenhw8 said, the difference in backspin, launch angle, etc... IOTW, are certain drivers *really* longer/easier to hit/workable than others? Or in the end, does it just come down to which driver you think looks best?

 

Got it. Excellent question, I will be interested to hear his response.

[Shambles]

I would be interested in how much effect fresh grooves have on mid to long irons.

 

I've long believed that it didn't matter a lot. Recently, however, I had the opportunity to acquire a new set of 20+ year old Eye 2's that were new because they had never been used and showed it. I compared them to my old very much used 20+ year old Eye 2's and invited friends to hit both. Whereas I did not feel a significant difference between the used and never used, my friends went for the never used as if they had bitten into a particularly tasty chocolate cake. I truly saw that they enjoyed that never used set more and were rather thoughtful about returning it.

 

The two sets were obviously twins except for use. Performance appeared to be very similar even to flight, landing and roll out. So now I'm wondering what I'm missing and possibly the Master Fitter can answer the question.

 

 

Shambles

[Matt Saternus]

Any other questions? I hope to be heading back to finish up the piece sometime this week or early next, and sending the questions off about the same time.

[Phana24JG]

Any other questions? I hope to be heading back to finish up the piece sometime this week or early next, and sending the questions off about the same time.

 

Isn't a top-flight launch monitor such as Trackman, or Flightscope X-2 absolutely essential to proper fitting, particularly for scratch or single-digit handicappers?

[MmmmmmBuddy]

I would like to hear some discussion on swing instruction during the fitting session. Is it good, bad or indifferent??

[Matt Saternus]

Great question, Nic.

 

I'm going to keep this open for about 48 hours longer, then I'm going to take the questions to Nick. I'm headed in on Tuesday to finish up the fitting and should be posting the review shortly thereafter.

[Matt Saternus]

The questions have been sent off to Nick. I will start a new thread with answers when I hear back from him.