You may be a complete beginner or have been playing for years, you’ve probably heard about custom fitting or been told that you should get your clubs fitted. When I speak with other players they generally assume that fitting is for low handicap players and professional golfers. This is certainly not the case and it’s now becoming more common place for players of all abilities to get their clubs custom fitted.
Last week I had the pleasure to meet Tony Huxtable (A former member of the Australian PGA with over 25 years experience in the club fitting and repair industry) from Golf Shafts Asia who had invited me along to a demo day and watch a mixture of players going through the motions trying multiple club variables. It’s certainly a topic full of acronyms and complex technical analysis but do not fear the best club fitters can guide you through the process.
Why get fitted
When you buy a set of club off the rack they are generally set for the average height (5’9″’ for a guy) with standard length shafts, irons with cast heads and a standard set up shaft and grip. This may well be fine for the beginner just starting out but there are so many variables to take into account that one size cannot fit all. Custom fitting can help you with distance and accuracy as you can iron out variables specific to your own swing.
When should you get you clubs fitted?
The best time to get your clubs fitted is at the point of purchase, this works fine for a player with a decent handicap as they can make repeated swings to gather data. For a beginner this may not be possible as perhaps they are yet to swing a club. Someone new to the game needs lessons first.
What’s the process?
You’ll find fitting facilities at numerous shops, dealers and driving ranges. It’s probably best to go through your regular professional teacher as this is a journey of discovery and it’s very similar to a lesson. You’re going to find out an awful lot about your own swing. A good fitting facility will have sophisticated launch monitor and computer analysis equipment and most will use Trackman, something many players use during lessons anyway. Initially there will be measurement of your height, arm reach etc. followed by a closer look at your swing mechanics. After trial shots with each club (and the process can be slightly different for irons, wedges, fairways woods and driver) your professional teacher/fitter will go through your swing analysis and discuss things like loft, spin rate, launch angle, club head speed, ball speed, carry and smash factor etc. right down to how your club head hits the ball (toe or heal) and lie angle. 
Understanding this analysis and the end result will determine the size and shape of the club head, length and composition of the shaft along with the type of grip. Fitters typically carry a large stock of heads, shafts and grips so they can quickly build a bespoke club that should be good for you. It’s then a case of trying the bespoke club and comparing the data along with how you feel with the club. One thing I did learn from Tony was how shaft technology has improved in recent years, different weights, lengths and flexibility (flex) means your clubs will suit your swing to potentially eliminate some factors that may adversely affect your game.
For fitting a full set of clubs could take 5 or 6 hours, but to see if this is going to of benefit to you without spending too much time or money I suggest you contact your local fitting facility or professional teacher and see if they run demo days where they can line up clubs with different set ups just so you can feel the difference. Once you take the leap you can always minimise the time and cost by perhaps going for driver or woods only, then follow up with ions and wedges on a later date. Whichever way you decide to move forward it’s always good to check with whoever is doing the fitting that they have the appropriate certification. The analysis equipment is quite sophisticated and the key to success is in the interpretation of the data.
Benefits of fitting
Knowing that your clubs have been customised to you I think will boost your confidence or at least provide you with an enormous ’feel good’ factor. Errors should be fewer or less severe and your game should be more consistent with less dispersion of your drives and iron play. Some people gain marginal distance but this should not be the determining factor in whether or not the fitting was successful.
Finally
A big thank you to Tony Huxtable at Golf Shafts Asia for inviting me to the demo day and inspiring me to find out more about custom fitting. Golf Shafts Asia supply shafts and grips to fitting centres throughout Asia and the good news is that they are now in the process of setting up an operation in the United States too, bringing some of the best and most innovative shaft technology from Japan. Whether you decide to explore the world of custom fitting is a personal choice but please don’t think of it as the preserve of the professional player, it’s part of the modern game and the innovation and technology behind it is moving at lightning speed.