I ended last weeks Fitter’s Corner with this:

25 yards… take it with a grain of salt.

I had a little chuckle at a recent event. Had a good player want to get fit with a driver. We started to chat. I asked him to tell me about himself. “I’m a 4 handicap, my driver is 4 years old, I hit it 280 – 285 if I catch one…” Whoa!! Wait a sec, I didn’t ask for that. I was asking about his golf game – how much does he play and practice? Take any lessons? Etc. But… He said 285, so let’s see if last weeks column holds up. I had him hit a few with his current driver. I didn’t have club head speed, but the ball speed was 137. 140 MPH with his best one. I knew that this meant his club head speed was probably in the mid 90 mph range. I also knew that if his impact conditions were perfect, we’re looking at 250 tops.

285 to 250… 35 yards. Hmmm. haha. That’s exactly what my column said last week for guys who hit it farther. I tried not to smile.

Do you know what this did, though?? It made it harder for me to sell him a driver. Why, you ask? Because he thinks he hits it 285 (not 250), so he’s looking for 295-300. Even at 2000 feet of elevation, this is simply not happening. He’s looking for 50 yards, not 15. I got his best ones to carry 245 and roll out to 265. In his mind, if my launch monitor doesn’t say 300, we lost. What to do???

For starters, you can’t come out and say “You don’t hit it 285 with a 95 MPH club head speed. Not at elevation or anywhere else. It’s not mathematically possible.” He won’t even stick around and let you finish your sentence.

You have to change gears. You have to focus on several different things now:

First, focus on ball speed gains. Start by getting a good average from his current club. In this case, it was 137, and his best was 140. If all other stats are the same and the ball leaves the club face “X” MPH faster, the ball WILL go further. Remember, for every 1 MPH increase in ball speed is and increase of roughly 2.5 – 3 yards of carry distance. You want 15 yards? You need 5 MPH more ball speed OR, you need to improve some other stat. Like what? Let’s say he swings the new driver 2 MPH faster – that will get you 2 MPH times his Smash Factor more in ball speed (Say it’s 1.45 – that’s 2.9 MPH more ball speed). Now you only need a 2.1 MPH additional gain in ball speed to get him his 5 MPH increase and 15 yards. Many players can’t grasp all the tech terms, so any “GAINS” that you reference will be a positive, and you can speak in terms “of relative to your current club”. That resonates.

Second, you can compare off-center hits. Find 2 shots with hit locations that are the same and compare the totals and the stats. With a Trackman 4 or a GC Quad, this is simple. If this is your angle, study the hit location after each shot. Think that was low, heel… When he hits one in the same place with the new club, compare them. When you say “Holy Smokes” after a bad shot, he is thinking UGH, that one stunk – what is he looking at? If you can say “Wow, look at this one. You hit this low on the heel and your ball speed was 139. It carried 224 and rolled out to 247. You hit the same shot on your current driver and the ball speed was 133. 6 MPH less. You had 206 carry on that one. That’s a crazy difference, but that is what the new technology will get you.” Show the strengths of the good ones AND the BAD ones. Even good players don’t only hit good ones. They will shoot better scores by making their bad ones better. I think Ben Hogan said he only hit 7 good shots per round. The rest were good misses. USE that to your advantage.

Third, focus on some of the other numbers that make the ball go further. Is ball speed the biggest thing that makes the ball go further. You betcha!! But, if we can drop the spin by a few hundred RPM, that will make a huge difference. Is face to path better? Is Attack Angle better? Does the ball curve less? Thus ending closer to the target line? ALL of this matters. Suppose a player has a 10.5* head and you put him into a 9* head – that will scrub about 400 RPM of spin. Suppose all other things are equal, that could be a few yards. The 9* may have a higher ball speed number due to the reduced loft. Perhaps the shaft you fit him in has a better torque fit for the players golf swing, so the face is more square – that could be a couple more yards and with a straighter flight. If you can sum up ALL of the changes, and how each one gives him an improvement, you can help him justify why the whole club makes sense (as opposed to turning my current club to 9*, or getting a new shaft for this one, or this or that or the other thing).

Referencing the above… So what if it is 35 yards? Can you frame it so that he can see the improvement – regardless of what he thinks or tells you?

As a strategy, use the TABLE view on the launch monitor. What separates a good club fitter from a great one is how one interprets and explains the data, as well as one who sees the data and knows what to do with it. Understand HIS data, and be prepared to justify WHY this is better in several different parameters.

Be sure to reference his club vs. the new club on each stat. Make sure he sees the 4 MPH gain in ball speed. Make sure he sees the 400 RPM reduction in spin. Make sure he sees the average distance from the target line. Point out bad one vs. bad one. Make sure he sees the increase in Carry vs. Total. He will say “But I hit it further than that”. You can answer with “Maybe so, but this test is an Apples vs. Apples test. If anything you should have hit your current club better because you were fresher. These gains in performance in BOTH distance and direction are real and should be expected in a proportionate amount on the golf course with real balls, etc.”

Distance AND Direction are what make a club better – not Distance OR Direction.

Happy Fitting!!!

Jim Yeager, PGA