I began custom fitting golf clubs in 1987. Since that time I have heard from many golfers that same phrase, “I’m not a good enough player to be fit for custom clubs. Only tour players and scratch handicaps should have their clubs custom fit”. Nothing could be further from the truth in my professional opinion. Give a tour player or a scratch amateur any club and within 5 or 6 swings they will be hitting it at their target. Higher handicap players simply don’t have the necessary skills to do this. What they will do, however is subconsciously make compensations in their swing to correct the ball flight.
Want some examples?
SHAFT TOO HEAVY AND STIFF – When using shafts that are too heavy and stiff the ball will fly low and right of the target. The player thinks their swing is the cause. They begin hanging back on their rear foot in an attempt to hit the ball higher and deliberately closing the face to direct the ball further left.
WRONG LIE ANGLE – Using irons with the wrong lie angles cause the ball to fly either left or right of the target. The player is taller and has an upright swing plane. Because the lie angles on his irons are too flat (toe down) his ball is consistently going right of the target. He compensates by closing the face at address which corrects his short irons, but now his longer irons are going left of the target.
SHAFT TOO LIGHT AND WHIPPY – In this scenario the player is young, strong and very athletic. He has a short backswing and fast tempo. ( Think John Rahm or Tony Finau) Unfortunately his driver has a 45 gram senior flex shaft that his uncle gave him. His shots are going everywhere because the shaft is simply not strong enough for the load and force he applies to it during his swing.
I could go on and on, but I think you can begin to understand the importance of using properly fitted clubs. Otherwise your compensations will soon become ingrained swing flaws. In years past players had no choice but to play with “standard spec” golf clubs because golf equipment companies didn’t offer custom sets. Today virtually all major golf equipment companies offer custom sets at no additional cost. Professionally fitted clubs won’t turn a 20 handicap into a scratch player overnight. What they will do is reward good swings with good golf shots. Swing compensations and adjustments due to ill fitted clubs will become a thing of the past.