Clubfitting 101: A New Beginning

Welcome to golf Clubfitting 101, where I will now begin to reveal theories and practices that will guide the future of golf club fitting (and swinging) and turn around decades of ineffective methods that have likely contributed to the game’s decline in recent years.  In certain areas details will be added or explained better to help supplement what is already available, some of which is good, but in other areas past practices will be dismissed in their entireties and replaced with more correct procedures.  Although it is not my express purpose, the effective fitting of golf clubs to any player justifiably also requires a solid knowledge of a golf swing.  As a side benefit, you might also learn more about a golf swing than you were previously taught or thought you knew.  During this learning stage, it will become abundantly clear as to exactly what has been so wrong for so long within these areas of the golf industry.  The combination of more correct concepts, evaluated against incorrect ideas from the past, will help provide a depth of knowledge regarding a golf swing and clubfitting that has previously never existed.  Many illusions that people still have about the subjects to be discussed will finally be eliminated.

Before starting, I briefly want to comment here on copyrighting concerns of mine, which perhaps can be a gray area and open to some interpretation, legal or otherwise.  Waggle Weight Wisdom would be honored to participate with those who realize the existence of substantial misinformation currently promoted by others and want to start revealing the concepts that will soon be the standard against which all similar matter will be judged.  Limited excerpt(s) may be copied without permission if prominently accompanied by citing/linking that points to the author and location of the remainder of the work.  The author retains all legal rights, though, including the rights to deny continued use of the material and to alter the conditions of use.  The author is also very open to having his complete articles displayed by others, but quite concerned that if in the wrong hands, as might occur through article submission or similar services, this may not be a good thing.  Thus, Waggle Weight Wisdom does not presently turn to such services.  Any rights to entire article reproduction(s) are currently obtainable only through WaggleWeight.com.  A more restricted availability may be extremely valuable to those who do utilize the content as opposed to if “anyone” were able to use it.  Please e-mail the blog’s author if interested in using this more exclusively obtainable material produced by Waggle Weight Wisdom.  Unauthorized use is prohibited, including but not limited to organizations’ inclusions into their ‘tests’ for clubfitting or swing-teaching ‘certifications.’

Clubfitting 101 will reduce golf club fitting (and swinging) concepts and applications into some of the smallest, most understandable pieces with which to work.  In select areas this will result in even more parts than there are already.  Mentioning one example here, what a person physically and emotionally senses throughout the movement of a golf swing is one of the most (if not the most) important elements in learning how to both swing and fit golf clubs in an effective and consistent manner.  Now if I were to gather up one hundred clubfitters and ask them each to elaborate on what the term “feel” means to them with respect to a golf swing and golf club fitting, you all know we would get one hundred different interpretations of that broad word.  Many thoughts might be somewhat similar, but a large number of representations would be so different from others that it would be downright hilarious if it were not so sad.  The way this expression is currently used (and abused) within the golf industry, it is absolutely worthless toward helping golfers with developing their swings and putting well-fit clubs into their hands.  The term as currently applied does little but to encourage inconsistent theories and practices, confusing even the providers of such services let alone the customers.  This is hardly conducive to a strong, consistent clubfitting industry.

The fact is that, even within the rather narrow scope of golf swings and clubfitting, and even though its determination has a subjective component to it, the word “feel” in golf can (and should) be defined in multiple, highly distinctive ways.  Each definition has its own very unique meaning and its own priority with respect to how it is to be applied within the context of a golf swing and the fitting of clubs.  One definition linked with the word “feel” in golf has nothing whatsoever to do with another definition, yet golfers are continually bombarded with the highly generic request to “describe what you feel,” as though they can be expected to know how to narrow down exactly what that is supposed to mean.  As so many do when they are not able to explain something adequately, in like fashion to swingweighting, I find that the word “feel” in golf is often used as a crutch or excuse when they are unable to understand and relate gotten results because of a certain lack of knowledge and/or experience.  They might subsequently remark something to the tune of, “Since golf is based so much on ‘feel,’ it is not uncommon for ‘proven principles’ to not work for any given golfer.”  This sort of comment (while it might hold true on rare occasions) is made so often in the golf industry that the accepted ‘proven principles’ must be called into question.  It does not have to be this way.  I will assign several different, explicit definitions to the term “feel.”  No doubt will remain as to precisely what you should be looking for and when and where, and you will be given some very tangible information to work with.  With smaller, more distinct parts available to start out with, you will be able to better design and construct a logical, solid, and more correct program of swing/clubfitting analysis and solution(s).