[mr3856a]

Well, I've been meaning to write this post for a few days now, I just haven't gotten around to it. After having had my iron shafts fitted about a month ago and my driver shaft and hybrid shafts fitted (and my 3-wood shaft aligned) this past week, I can say this unequivocally to any of you who are more than just completely casual golfers: getting fitted is the best thing you can do for your game.

There is a shop here in North Myrtle called Bogeys to Birdies, and several months ago I had Al, the main fitter there, adjust my lofts and lies (I play forged clubs, and hadn't had them checked in 3 years, plus I had never had my wedges bent even though the rest of my irons were 2 up - not real smart). The lie adjustment, particularly in the wedges, made a HUGE difference, and after hearing several of my playing buddies down here rave about having his iron shafts fitted, I decided to go for it about a month ago.

So, I went in for the fitting for the shafts. He had me hit several 7 irons, which if I remember correctly I was swinging at about 85-87 mph. I told Al that I hit a lot of high, floaty fades with no pop as well as pulls, and that I couldn't get my 4-iron off the ground anymore. After I hit a few, he took the club over to the frequency machine (as you can tell, I'm about as mechanically-inclined as my dog, I have no idea what the thing is really called), and Al quickly discovered the problem: my shafts, stamped as S flex's (Dynamic Gold), were actually X flexes. His little chart told him they were for someone with a 7-iron swing speed of around 94.

Slight problem.

He told me that DG's have so much variance in them, if you want to get 10 shafts of the exact same frequency (stiffness), you have to order 100 of them. He recommended Rifle Lite 5.5's. Because I am 3/4's of an inch over, he said a standard weight shaft is much too heavy. He said to me, "You get tired hitting a large bucket, don't you?" When I responded yes, he said, "Well, that's why - not only are they too stiff, they're too heavy."

It was quite an eye opener. I thought 5.5's were pretty weak in terms of stiffness, but he actually told me he rarely gets people strong enough to hit them. Who knows. Anyway, he frequencied out all the shafts so they were the exact same flex, and boy oh boy, what a difference. I've put in a lot of work this winter/spring with a superb teacher down here, and I know my swing has gotten a lot better, but with fitted shafts I get a pop now on my irons I never had before. Now even the bad ones aren't that bad (again, I'm sure a combination of lessons and fitting), and my irons have gotten very, very consistent.

So after that experience, about a week ago I was hitting balls with a friend, who has the same driver I have (Cleveland Launcher, though I have the comp and he has the titanium), but he has the Aldila NV stiff and I had the stock Cleveland Fujikura stiff. I thought it was pretty decent, though I would often be disappointed in the results distance-wise. For a guy with a 105 mph swing speed, I never felt like I got the results I should have. Also, I have the Aldila NV in my 3 wood, and I swear I hit the 3 wood as far as my driver at times. The driver also tended to balloon a lot in the wind.

So, hitting balls side-by-side, I was talking to my friend about the shaft. He took my club in his hands and literally started bending the shaft, and he said, "Dude, this thing is like an A-flex." I took it and compared it to his, and he was right - it was WAY whippier. So I hit his a few times and got a pop unlike anything I had ever gotten out of mine.

So back to Bogeys to Birdies, and back to Al. I had my friends' driver with my as well and my 3 wood, so we could compare all the shafts. He said the launch angle and backspin was good with my stock shaft, but the side spin was way too high - sometimes 1,800 rpm, where it should be under 300.

Next he went to put my stock shaft on the frequency machine, and the shaft was so poorly aligned he couldn't even get a reading off it! "You don't hit this very consistently, do you?" he laughed. I just shook my head. The moral of this story is, as he told me, manufacturers take a head, jam a shaft in it, and out the door it goes - no alignment, no nothing. Aside from variances in (or outright incorrectly marked) flexes, you could take 5 of the exact same drivers off the shelf and hit all 5 of them differently, because if any of them are aligned properly, it's only by accident.

So to try to bring this to an end, he put an Aldila NV in my driver, and I've picked up 20-30 yards (aside from no more blowouts to the right).

Not a bad deal.

Needless to say, the difference in having fitted clubs and off-the-rack is just unbelievable. Unless you are just lucky enough to get the right flex or a club with the shaft aligned properly, you're literally just guessing. It may be an S-flex, it may not. It may be aligned, it may not. And I guarantee you that in your iron shafts, you have a variance in flexes that would probably surprise you (ever wondered why you have a favorite iron?). Now my 4 iron performs just like my pitching wedge.

Granted, this whole ball of wax cost me round about $600, but if you are a serious, avid golfer who is intent on improving, you are foolish not to get fitted.