While golfers are willing to spend endless hours in lessons, attempting to gain distance on their drives and perfect their putts, most overlook the sport's one real equipment advantage: clubs that fit their body and swing. Teaching pros estimate that more than 90 percent of golfers need modifications to their clubs. Almost every major manufacturer will make a set to a golfer's exact specifications, quickly and at no extra cost, yet few golfers take advantage of this service, which would vastly improve their game.

Above: When customizing clubs, impact tape placed on an iron prior to taking a swing can help determine how flat or upright a person's club should be.

Below: Pros also look at a golfer's stance to point out the ways in which shaft flexes and lengths can improve one's swing.

     First, he can only improve so far, because his swing is basically flawed and will never let him realize his full potential. At the same time, many players using ill-fit clubs are actually hurting themselves, increasing the likelihood of back pain and other ailments. Even people for whom standard measurements fit still need help with their ball flight, the major benefit of custom fitting. If you hit your shots too high or low, too much to the right or left, or do not generate enough backspin, the scapegoat is your swing. But often it is the equipment. Put two different players into a "correct" stance, and the lie angle, the angle at which the sole of the clubs contact the ground, will be different.

     Why? Because the curvatures of their spines and their physiologies are different. Even a player with great setup and a sound swing will struggle with unwanted draws or fades if the lie angle of his clubs is incorrect, which it often is. He will lose distance. Gary Glaser, head of TaylorMade's custom-fitting program, says that each degree of incorrect lie angle can cost 3 to 5 yards on a well struck shot, and many players are off by 2 to 4 degrees. He has seen them off by as many as 8, losing 10, 20 or even 40 yards per shot versus the exact same clubs fit correctly.

For Best Results, Hit the Fairway

     There are two components to the fitting process: static and dynamic. Static fitting involves your physical measurements, such as whether your large or small hands dictate a smaller grip size than "standard."

How to Get the Most Out of a Fitting

Take advantage of the pros. Most companies authorize a mix of retailers and teaching professionals to do fittings. Stick with the pros. Salesman might know the equipment , but the pros understand the swing and can better analyze the effects of the club on ball flight. Many Private-club pros will do outside fittings for non-members. Both retailers and teaching pros are often authorized by several brands and can help choose the best clubs for you.

     Static fitting is what most retail shops offer, and it's better than nothing. But if you are going to invest in a new set of clubs, do it right and go through the dynamic process, actually hitting balls. Do it outside, where you can see the ball flight, rather than hitting into a net. This is so important that companies like Titleist and Henry-Griffitts will only authorize shops with outdoor ranges.

     "I don't charge for the fitting, which takes about an hour," says Joe Pustizzi, a teaching pro and experienced Henry-Griffitts fitter. "And you are under no obligation to buy the clubs. I only fit outside, and you have to see how you hit your current clubs and then how you hit these clubs. Once you see it, you buy. My closing rate is nearly 100 percent. 

     Even TaylorMade, which uses the most advanced system available to measure every conceivable aspect of a golfer's swing and to generate fitting recommendations, follows up by verifying this with a trip to the range, to make sure the numbers match up with real life. By observing ball flight, the company's fitting experts tweak the data and make sure the clubs are perfect matches. The dynamic fitting determines lie angle and loft ( face angle), which for off-the-rack clubs are always "standard." Dynamic fitting also provides much more accurate feedback on shaft flex.

A Range of Options

     Most companies have hundreds or thousands of authorized fitters nationwide. Most charge about $50.00 for a fitting, but this is usually waived if clubs are ordered. Usually there is no charge for the customization of the clubs. Every company does fittings differently. The most common method is the fitting cart, stocked with a wide variety of clubs in different configurations, to allow fitters to switch lie angle, lofts and flex. But these are typically limited to a few dozen permutations.

 Henry-Griffitts, the Rolls Royce of club fitting, does nothing else. You cannot buy their clubs off the rack. Each authorized fitter has two carts full of the company's unique tester clubs, which feature shafts that screw into the heads, allowing them to vary the configurations as they go. "The difference between Henry-Griffitts and the other companies is the fitting system," Pustizzi says. "If you went to buy shoes and all the other stores had only sizes 6, 8 and 10, and you were a 9EEE, one of the shoes will be most comfortable, but none will fit. I have more than 2,500 combinations in my carts." The Boston-based pro has fit several members of the Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots.

      A few manufacturers are now using computers. TaylorMade, a favorite of PGA tour players, has  a high-tech fitting system at its Carlsbad, Calif., headquarters. Golfers apply special sensors to their clothing and  shoes, which lets the computer build a map of their body. When they hit balls, the computer analyzes not just the ball flight, club head speed and spin rate, but the swing path and even the loading and unloading of muscles. Until now, this technology has only been available to the company's sponsored players, but this year TaylorMade is rolling out computerized fitting centers in a dozen locations nationwide. The first was unveiled at a golf club in Georgia late last year. Callaway uses a similar, but not quite as sophisticated, system at it's Carlsbad headquarters, which also is licensed to several other locations.

Henry-Griffitts (henry-griffitts.com): This revered boutique custom manufacturer does nothing but made-to-measure work. It uses a unique, adjustable fitting cart system to allow golfers to try the exact club variation they will be buying before ordering. It also offers laser putter fittings.

(800) 446-0036