Custom fit golf clubs or more lessons

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BobbyFowler

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I'm playing off 17 & have been for 2 years or so. A few of the lads have recommended getting clubs custom fit. ForeGolf charge 200 Euro for an hour to work out your swing & then 895 Euro to get a new set of Titleist Clubs Custom Fit or whatever it costs to get your own set done up. Anyone with any experience of whether this makes much difference or am I just as well to get a few lessons?
 
Re: Custom Fit Clubs or More Lessons

Sounds a lot..what clubs do you have at the moment?
 
Re: Custom Fit Clubs or More Lessons

Spend the money on lessons!!!!!!!
Thats unless you are 6ft + or less than 5ft7 then get your clubs fitted.
Titliest are one of the harder sets of clubs to play with.What are the range they are selling you for €900??
Log on to TGW.COM and put the model in to see the true value....
Get lessons though ,it always works...........................

If you were playing off 7 then maybe get the fitted but off 17 Im not sure it will work
 
I'd second that. No need to get custom fit. Premier golf at the red cow have a good set up where they analyse your swing speed etc for free. and then fit accordingly using callaways/titleist/tm/cobra etc....I used it, then bought the clubs in the states.

As everyone knows the only solution to getting your handicap down is practice. lessons and clubs are like band aids
 
Practice, practice, practice !!!

Throw in a few lessons and you will notice you game improving far quicker than a set of expensive "fitted" clubs.

When you get your handicap into single figures then think about a set of custom fit clubs.

But most of all enjoy playing and never lose the head when you hit a bad shot.
 
Which Titleist set are the recommending? As an earlier poster pointed out these may not be the most suitable given your handicap.
 
I hear 'ya. I do get a lot of practice on the course (play once or twice a week) but am wondering where I'm going to knock shots off. Have got lessons in the past (say about 12 in total over the 6 years I've been playing) & they've worked out ok. I thought that after 6 years I'd be down a bit lower than 17 (I certainly play enough!)
 
where do you feel your game is letting you down? green? around the green? off the tee ??

I always seem to drop stupid shots around the green and I know with a little practice in this area i'd knock maybe 4 or 5 shots off my score. Some say that pitch and put is great for the short game.
 
Bobby

The biggest difference between a low handicapper and high handicapper is “around the green”. But how many golfers do you see chipping onto the practice green or putting. Almost none.

Many years ago, on the advice of my Dad, I started to log the following details after each round of golf.

How many putts, how many fairways hit from the tee, how many bunkers founds, how many sand saves etc.

From this, I have the following guidelines

If I am on the green in regulation, I aim to walk off with a par 85% of the time.

If I am just off the green, I aim to walk off with a par 65% of the time.

If I am between 40 – 100 yrds short of the green, I aim to walk off with a par 40% of the time.


Most golfers will reach a par four in two shots. Now they might be 60 yards short or twenty yards right or they might be on the green. It’s what happens after that that will make the biggest difference to your handicap.

Sim
 
Good bit of info Sim - think I'll start checking that out. To be honest, if it wasn't for the fact that there's been placing at our own course for so long, reckon I'd have knocked 1 or 2 shots off the handicap this summer. I'm pretty good around the greens & my drives are ok. It's my irons that let me down more often than not.
 
If your irons are letting you down, then it may mean you are striking the ball inconsistently. This could be a swing issue, so lessons may help. But what I reckon you want to do is make sure that you 'know' your swing, so you know what a normal swing is for a club and where you will end up with it (so you should have a yardage in mind for each club you use when you address the ball, based on an identical swing for all of them).

The best golfer I played with (scratch and a bit) used old Dunlop blades; he knew where the ball was going to land with every iron shot.

Golf for Dummies really worked for me - really basic advice, but then I was getting down from 28 to 20. I would have gone further, but I couldn't get to grips with putting!
 
BobbyFowler
I'm in a similar position to you as regards handicap and playing habits and have the same problems i.e. iron play. I invested in a new set of Callaway irons this year to see if it would make any difference. Granted the old ones were 12 years. To be honest I wouldn't bother with custom fitting unless you are extra tall or short or have exceptionally long arms. At our handicap level they will not make a huge difference. Sim Two made some excellent points. I would advise lessons rather than spending big money on custom fits. The standard clubs are fine for most and much better value than custom fits. eg €500-750 euro will buy an excellent set of irons. Just my two cents.
 
I'll be hitting the course this afternoon, armed with an Excel Spreadsheet to record the goings on! Honestly though, sometimes it can be hard enough to know how many shots you've taken, whatever about Greens In Regulation etc. Sim Two - are you writing down 6 different stats for every hole? Sure I'll give it a go today & see how it works. The lads will be wondering why I'm not all chat.
 
BobbyFowler said:
I'll be hitting the course this afternoon, armed with an Excel Spreadsheet to record the goings on! Honestly though, sometimes it can be hard enough to know how many shots you've taken, whatever about Greens In Regulation etc. Sim Two - are you writing down 6 different stats for every hole? Sure I'll give it a go today & see how it works. The lads will be wondering why I'm not all chat.
Click to expand...

You don't have to bring a spreadsheet...just take a second card and use the player section (A,B,C,D) Number of putts, up and downs, GIR and fairways hit should be recorded. Just mark sand saves as an up and down with an asterix. To be honest given your handicap it's pretty obvious where the problem will be...the up and downs. playing off 17 you can hit the ball fine but I dare say you rarely get up and down. On a par 4 if you miss the green you probably think "chip it on, two putts for a 5 and two points...happy days"
It's getting up and down that makes the difference between 17 and 12 (or maybe even lower)
 
Bobby

As Kalel says, use a spare card and before you tee off on the next hole, detail the shots you played at the last. Takes less then 30 seconds.

We amateurs don’t do course management like the pros do. We stand in the middle of the fairway, 280 yards out, 180 yards to carry the water and immediately we reach for the 3-wood and try to hit it as far as we can. Why not hit a 6 iron short of the water and another onto the green.

Most golf course have 4 par 3s, 10 par 4s and 4 par 5s. An 18-handicapper would usually go around in c.95 – 100 gross. 40 – 45 of these will be used to reach the green and the other 50 – 55 will be around the green.

There is very little chance of reducing the number of shots to reach the green – it’s up around the green that big shot reductions can be made.

Sim
 
Absolutely...a two foot putt is worth the same as a 300 yard drive. Spawell driving range always amazes me...go up there and you'll see loads of people whaling away with their driver and irons in the bays. Go down to the practice bunker or out to the green beside the pitch and putt course and there's never anyone, yet this is where you make a score. One further thing...try and use the grass bays in a driving range. They're far more realistic and much better for your joints in the long term as the concrete below most mats is very bad for your body.
 
Pretend ur playing off 14 for a few weeks and try and shoot 36pts off this.
Often golf is more a mental issue than anything else, ie you are 6 above level 2s' with 4 holes to go and ur sweating.......another day you playing hopeless with 4 holes to go and ur relaxed and play the last 4 holes well.

It sounds easy but it is so so difficult to do.

The short game is where you will reduce your handicap.

I played Pitch & Putt from 10yrs of age and played everyday, took up golf at 14 and in just over a year I was off 5 handicap even though I could not drive.......n years on I am still off 5 handicap and now I cannot pitch & putt as I gave it up when I was 16:(
 
I was kidding on the Excel Spreadsheet thing. A 2nd card sounds good. Went out on Sat & got my 38 pts. Didn't mark up all the stats though. One thing I did notice was that when I pitched low onto the green I was always going too far past for an easy putt. I'll take out that 2nd card next time.
 
BobbyFowler said:
I was kidding on the Excel Spreadsheet thing. A 2nd card sounds good. Went out on Sat & got my 38 pts. Didn't mark up all the stats though. One thing I did notice was that when I pitched low onto the green I was always going too far past for an easy putt. I'll take out that 2nd card next time.
Click to expand...

You should probably look at getting a lob wedge then...plus it's evidence that your short game is somewhere you can save a few more strokes. Had you got up and down those times you might have got 40 points or more.
 
The Pro in Limerick County Golf Club is excellent. Supplying clubs custom fitted and with all the hi-Tech equipment to advise and gives great lessons. Reasonable rates too and the service is second to none.
 
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