How Much Distance Do Custom Golf Clubs Add?

Custom club fitting is a necessary step on the road to improvement that will produce immediate benefits. The value of properly fit clubs provides you and your coach empowering information to grow your game and wipe out equipment shortcomings. Read on to see how one of our athletes gained distance, accuracy, and consistency with the guidance of our fitting process.

We begin the club-fitting by gathering equipment specifications of our athlete’s current set. In particular, we look at the loft, lie, length, shaft frequency, swing weight, and overall weight. Frequency Measurement (FM) is an ultraprecise value of a shaft’s actual flex. Considering there are no industry standards in shaft flex, FM varies across the board even when labeled the same. If you ever feel that one iron is softer or stiffer than another, it probably is!! This is why it's important to ensure FM is consistent and accurate through the bag.

Our athlete came in swinging a 6-iron at 79 mph and the clubs FM at 4.7. Based on delivery characteristics and club speed the software recommended an FM of 3.4. This means the current shafts are not only too heavy but also a full flex too stiff.

After collecting current club information and a short warm-up, we begin the interview process.  During this step, our goal is to identify our athlete’s ideal shot shape and ball flight, while being mindful of their preference toward the look and feel.

Next, we establish our athlete’s performance baseline using the current 6-iron, selected as it falls within the middle of the set. Here you'll see an average of 5 shots collected via Trackman:

When we look at the average data, we see the smash factor (a measure of efficiency) is lower than preferred.  Our athlete expressed concern with ball flight being higher than desired, particularly shots into the wind.  This is likely caused by excessive spin rates as distance issues are accentuated in windy conditions.  Along with too high of ball flight, our athlete was interested in lighter weighted shafts to relieve joint stress and possibly increase club speed.  When measured, we found the current shafts were nearly 130g and among the heaviest, we carry in our shaft-matrix.  Experience tells us that players with a similar swing speed typically increase club speed and performance with lighter shafts.

With the current equipment’s static and dynamic performance characteristics analyzed...now the fun part begins!

We start testing new equipment by isolating the shaft and clubhead separately.  Along with our proprietary fitting software and brand-agnostic approach, we can determine the ideal head and shaft combination based on goals set at the beginning of the fitting. As you'll see, we found the sweet spot with this one as ball speed jumped 14 mph with major performance upgrades in every category. 

Let’s take a look at the final results:

Look at that pattern! You'll see that club speed increased and translated into better efficiency (smash factor) and a huge gain in carry distance.  Not only did our athlete pick up 32 yards but the dispersion from left to right and longest to shortest tightened up dramatically.  The spin rate decreased more than 2000 rpm without sacrificing stopping power as the land angle steepened by 2 degrees.  We were able to meet our athlete’s goals as shots into the wind will pierce with less drag and more consistency. Furthermore, the lighter shafts felt and performed better .... enabling the athlete to improve club and ball data while reducing physical strain :)

Can you imagine hitting 3 fewer clubs into the green!? Having 9-iron in your hands instead of 6-iron will improve proximity to the hole and lower your scores. This was a blast as the final setup produced amazing results.

Typically the average performance upgrade is 12-15 yards in carry distance along with tighter dispersions. The results speak for themselves and we highly recommend golfers of all skill levels to have their lofts and lies checked along with a frequency measurement of each club in the bag. 

Professional guidance and properly fit clubs can produce instant gains and enable you to progress at a faster rate. Make sure you have the right tools on your journey to better golf.

Call now to find out how you can transform your game. Integrity Golf Performance partners with Cool Clubs providing the Tour-Quality experience you deserve.

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Your Coaching, Club-Fitting, and Fitness Experts
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We provide a holistic approach with a Team of Experts working together under one roof: Coaching, Club-Fitting, Fitness and Health.

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