Is club fitting Smoke and Mirrors? A dog and pony show?

If so, how much of it is “Smoke” and how much is “Mirrors”? I think the answer is yes, to some degree, and, as for how much, I think it depends on how much “stuff” you have.

For two plus years, you’ve been reading about how I fit. I have a top of the line launch monitor. I’m certified as a Master Trackman user. I’m a Certified Master Fitter, a certified Product specialist, and a Certified product trainer – all for Callaway. Now, I’m a PGA Member. I have 13 staff bags of clubs. Within that, I have 800 possible driver combinations. Over 1600 possible iron combinations. I fit 1200+ players per year. You might be able to argue that I spend more time on a range looking at golf swings than you do as an instructor. Maybe not you, but certainly many of your peers.

You don’t have what I have – the equipment, the certifications, the background. Not all of it at least – maybe none of it. You know what? I get it. So, what do you do? Send up the white flag and say “I can’t do it.”? I hope not.

Let’s pretend for a second, shall we? Let’s pretend that you have a 6 piece driver demo fitting pack from Callaway and nothing else. Doing some quick math, you have 36 possible combinations that you could use. You can fit a LOT of players with half that. No launch monitor? I say “no problem”. You have your eyes. And your experience. You know what a good shot looks like (and a bad shot). So the question is, how can you use what you have to give a player a good fitting? Do you have to have “Smoke and mirrors” to make this happen??

Let’s do the driver example from above.

Go to the range and start with his driver. Look at the ball flight. Does it curve? Why does he want to replace it? Doesn’t go far enough? Just curious? Do you have something that is better? Probably, but you need to find it. Once you find the right combination, you have to dial it in. Something in your hand of 36 combinations that is set up the right way will be better.

The first step is to find the ball flight that he has. Watch him hit his driver. No need to ask him what his normal shot shape is – you can see it. Why ask him and make him lie? He WANTS to hit a draw, but he hits a fade to a slice. Players will get confused with the question of what is your normal shot shape. 1 in 10 will say they slice the ball, yet 9 in 10 do. Simply say “I see your misses tend to go to the right. Is this your preferred shot shape?”. His answer will be your marching orders.

As you watch the “fades”, can you determine if the club is causing the fade, or is it caused by the golf swing? Your experienced eyes from years of teaching can answer this question. Again, 1 time in 10, the fade will be caused by the club, and 9 times in 10 it will be caused by the golf swing. This is a crossroads. Do you fix the golf swing, or correct it with a new golf club?? You ASK the player what he wants. Here’s where my world is different than yours. They are coming to me to get a new club, where they come to you to hit it straight. My result should lead to straight too, but only via a new club. Yours could be instruction or a new club.

Let’s assume that the player says “I want a new driver I can hit straight” when asked the fix it or correct it question. If you give this player a mini lesson at this point, and get him hitting it straight (like many good teachers can do), then you fit him into a more neutral driver because of the new swing you just taught, you are mis-fitting the player.. More than likely, he will not remember what you suggested, practice what you suggested, or be able to repeat what you suggested. The driver you just fit him for is designed for someone who DOESN’T swing it like this player does. No good intention goes unpunished… Decide if this is a lesson OR a club fitting – it can’t be both.

So, no lesson for this player. On to club fitting. Try the neutral head without adjustment and let him see the result. Then put the sliding weight to maximum DRAW. Let the player see the improvement. He’ll think – Maybe the club CAN make a difference. Is that enough correction? If not, try the Max D (draw) head. Again, let the player see the difference. Comment on how it’s still going right, but this is a much more playable miss, etc. You can try draw bias or adding loft to the head to close the face slightly if you need to. Showing small steps of improvement lead the player to believe that a.) you know what you’re doing, and b.) the club can make a difference for me. Bad results are OK as long as you can keep going until you find good results.

Once the direction is good, look at the trajectory. Is it good? How do you know? Have him hit an iron to warm up. The trajectory (apex height) that he gets with a 7 iron should be the same as for a driver. If the driver is too high or too low, adjust the loft or shaft (or both) to optimize and match the iron. Remember, LOFT on the driver will make a much bigger change than changing the shaft.

Once you’re happy with that, try the shafts. Perhaps you only have 2 regular flex shafts. Perhaps you need to try a stiff flex for a 90 MPH swing speed player. The flex of the shaft matters, but not really. Remember, the job of the shaft is to return the head to square at impact. A stiffer shaft may do that better than the “correct” flex for a player. You can’t argue with straight.

So, you arrived at this point with no technology. You got here with your eyes and your experience. Imagine that… A straighter shot that doesn’t curve as much will help the player shoot better scores – you don’t need a launch monitor to tell you that. The club you fit the player with is a demo club. Let him take it out on the golf course. Technology, the proper amount of head biasing and the correct set up will win out over old faithful. Once he sees how he performs with it on the golf course, he’ll be hooked. Time for some honesty…

Tell the player what you did. Explain what you know about ball flight and the golf swing. “Doc, that was great. What a change. So, this is a Smoke Max D driver. It’s designed to correct for a slice by where the weight is on the inside of the head, and how I have it set up for you. As we started to discuss, you have a couple of things in your setup and swing that make the ball want to go right. I think you’ll find this set up will be the most playable. Take it out on the golf course and play golf with it. Let me know how it does, and we can always tweak and adjust as needed.”

The heading of this article is Smoke and Mirrors. What did you do that was smoke and mirrors here? You used what you have and what you know to get the player dialed in. It’s all about selling confidence. The “smoke and mirrors” come from how you frame it. “Doc, that is the same swing as the old miss, and look at how much more playable this one is.” “Still in the rough, but you can play golf from there.” “That contact is so much more solid, it has to be going farther.”

Here’s the reality… I have a launch monitor, yes. I don’t use it on every swing. Maybe after I make a change, and when I’m considering making one. It’s more to verify what my eyes see, and to justify the result. 800 driver combinations… If a player is the player from above, I can rule out all but 6 heads and all but 10 shafts before I even put something together for him (by watching him hit his own club). You start with 36 combinations, I start with 60. Once I build him an initial club, I’ll be down to 2 or possibly, 3 heads. Maybe 5 shafts. I’m at 15 tops. At this point, you might be at 2 heads and 3 shafts. You’re at 6. We’re both close. We can both get him pretty dialed in from there.

So, the smoke and mirrors, if anything, is on MY side when I show up with 800 driver combinations, a truckload of clubs, a $25,000 launch monitor, and all kinds of certifications – not on your side. You see what you see, and use what you have for a player you have a relationship with. There’s no “show” here.

Let’s keep Smoke and Mirrors as an Imagine Dragons album and go help people play better golf.

Until then, happy Fitting!!