The fitting process and what's important

by ken vanvechten

Save some nefarious cloning experiment from a post-apocalyptical sci-fi thriller, we’re all unique.

“Standard” abounds across consumer products, of course, including golf: standard length, standard lie, stock shaft, stock grip. Yet there are kajillions of permutations in the clubhead/shaft/grip/ length/lie matrix so standard can’t be all that normal. And everyone knows normal is boring.

“Why do this?” asks Brandon Dickinson, rhetorically. “Why adjust the seat when buying a new car? Why not just buy a suit off the rack? Golfers are making an investment in golf clubs and for a small investment of time and a moderate fee (typically waived with purchase) you get clubs built for you and massive performance gains.” Dickinson is a fitter and researchand-development technician with Cobra Puma Golf. (And he let me hit a mockup of Bryson DeChambeau’s driver. I actually got it airborne with a draw. Its shaft is a stave. The grip seems as thick as a freakin’ rolling pin. Don’t try this at home.) I had the chance this spring to visit Cobra and Callaway Golf at their proprietary fitting facilities in north San Diego County. It was time to again kick the tires on new offerings and look under the hood of what I’ve been playing for the past six years. A fitting session is straightforward, hitting my current irons – Callaway Apex CF16, 4i-gap wedge, with (nonstock) Project X PXi 6.0 shafts, standard length and lie angle – to establish a baseline and then going through various model and shaft combinations, varying lengths and lie angles, until finding the optimal match. If it’s been a few model cycles – and as our bodies and swings change over time – odds are the new combination will outperform what’s currently in the bag.

Based on the numbers, Cobra directed me to its new Forged Tec irons, 4i-gap wedge, Dynamic Gold 120 S300, standard length and 1° flat. Callaway suggested a mixed set: Apex 21 in 4i and 5i for a skosh more forgiveness and Rogue ST Pro through gap wedge, Project X LS 6.0, standard length and lie. The specified clubs have less offset than my sticks and the shafts are swing-specific upgrades to the stock offerings.

Callaway (Swing Speed/Ball Speed/Spin Rate/Carry Yardage/Total Yardage – 7i) Current Apex: 81/112/7000/150/155 Rouge ST Pro: 81/112/6400/159/168

Cobra (Swing Speed/Ball Speed/Spin Rate/Carry Yardage/Total Yardage – 7i)

79.1/106.1/6000/147.5/152.8

83.9/112/5100/157.6/169.4

• Based on ball speed, which is a function of swing speed and efficiency of strike, the Rogue Pro ST outperformed the Forged Tec – more ball speed out of less swing speed. Interesting but not critical other than there might be more gas left in the tank with the Cobra irons; faster speed with improved strike capability equals greater yield. Interestingly, equal club and ball speed with the Callaway clubs yielded significantly different yardages … shaft, can you dig it? • My spin rates with my clubs were far higher when testing at Callaway than at Cobra. Could that be a function of time of day – 9a vs. 3p? Balls – Chrome Soft X vs. Srixon Z-Star XV, respectively? Calibration of the respective monitors and algorithms? Turf conditions? Despite disparate condiCallaway Rouge ST Pro tions, end results were similar, which goes to the fact that a swing is a contract between clubhead, shaft and humans. • Improved distance is obvious. What’s not highlighted above is significant improvement in dispersion. In one testing session, distance from target line was on average 31 yards left with my clubs – excessive Callaway draw spin – and that came Apex CF16 down to a miss-on-the-green, maybe-the-fringe, not-in-thelake range of 7 yards for the Rogue Pro ST and 12 yards for

the Forged Tec. With the physics of golf, less curve is more bomb.

Both fitters put me in shafts that are slightly heavier with a lower-spinning profile than what I’m playing, with the Project X LS being more robust than the Dynamic Gold 120. With a number of launch parameters at hand and me not being a physicist, to illustrate the inherent problem Callaway’s John Degen keyed on spin, which with my gamers was on either side of 7,000 rpm, higher than the 6,000+ spin rate Callaway desired.

Dickinson chose to isolate dynamic loft – the loft on the club at impact – which for me at 25+° is far outside the target range of 19-20°. The Forged Tech/Dynamic Gold combo got me down to 21°. However phrased, the shaft I play struggles to keep up with the forces imparted by my swing, releases too early and the ball launches too high with too much spin, vertically and rotationally (draw/hook), all costing me distance and accuracy. And it can be exacerbated by my in-to-out path that sometimes gets too out. Both configurations gave me the head-heavy feel I prefer (in terms of swingweight not absolute heft). For the record, I do not flip at impact, registering a slightly downward attack angle of 1-2°. Rogue ST Pro lofts are minimally stronger than what I play – 0.5° comparing 7i-to-7i – and 1.5° stronger for the Forged Tec.

“Your dispersion was better with the Rogue Pro. That was [also due to] the offset difference,” said Degen, manager of tour fitting at the Ely Callaway Performance Center. “Rogue Pro has less offset than Apex. New Apex and Rogue Pro spin a few hundred rpm less than the 2016 Apex. That helped with distance. In your particular case we found the 120g [Project X LS] shaft … was most

consistent as far as solid contact and dispersion.”

Golf is a game of variables and adapting to them. That’s true for courses and course conditions, and it’s true of us; golfer, know thyself.

Based on static measurements, I “should” play irons at ½” longer than standard and 2° upright. It makes sense when just assessing my stature. In application, however, it’s counter-productive, and it always pans out that way. Golf might not be a contact sport, per se, but the action is fast and dynamic, and we do things in our swings before and at impact that often bely what a tape measure suggests. If you know yourself, you can lessen the time someone might want to spend chasing what the textbook says is your Holy Grail. Good fitters trust their eyes and their computers. They also want to know what you know about your swing, tendencies and preferences.

Also, don’t automatically assume that because you’re x years older or lost some clubhead speed that you need feather-light and wispy senior-flex shafts. In both fittings, I was put into shafts that are more robust than what I’ve been playing. As True Temper touts, it’s not how fast a player swings as it is how he or she swings it fast – tempo. Even at 60+ and losing a few

MPH, I still impart a lot of energy – with a less-than-full backswing – in a relative blink of an eye. I need a shaft to complement that.