from LINKS The Best of Golf

by Tom Dellner

Equipment Affects Motion

We first learned about Henry-Griffitts' new RDH Series fairway woods a few months ago and were intrigued. They're great-looking woods with a head shape and face depth that strikes a midway point between today's popular hybrid clubs and a traditional fairway wood design. The RDH's face is constructed from an elastic, cold-rolled steel called MAS 900H, which is said to have the tensile and yield strengths superior to that of titanium, leading to a higher ball velocity. In addition, the clubs' CG location is lower, yet closer to the shaft, for a high launch with an ideal spin and improved stability on impact.

     We were impressed by the design and called Henry-Griffitts to ask for a few clubs to test. To our surprise, company officials politely refused our request. You see, no club leaves the door of Henry-Griffitts' Hayden, Idaho facility unless a player has been custom-fit for it. It's the way the company has done business since its inception in 1983.
And a Henry-Griffitts fitting is no small undertaking. Some fitting systems amount to little more than hitting a few irons off a lie board, then walking out with a recommendation for lie angle, shaft length and stiffness. Getting fit with Henry-Griffitts is an entirely different experience. In essence, a Henry-Griffitts fitting marks the beginning of a three-way partnership between you, a teaching professional (and Henry-Griffitts-certified clubfitter) and the manufacturer. Just as with the partnership between a touring pro, his teacher and the equipment maker, the goal is simple: better scores.

     We sent a few lucky test panelists to be fit for RDH fairway woods. Te fitting is a fascinating learning process. We hit ball after ball with fairway woods with varying specifications. We hit clubs of different weights, lofts, lie angles, CG locations and degrees of offset. Shafts varied in flex, weight, deflection point and length. All the while, the professional showed us how our equipment affects the swing motion we make, how particular swing flaws could be related to the specifications of our current clubs and how we could quickly fix our motion once we had fairway woods with specifications that encouraged us to make a better move.

     Once we were fit, Henry-Griffitts built woods to our exact specifications. All Henry-Griffitts customers are required to return to their local fitter for a free follow-up session to ensure that the clubs do indeed fit and to receive instructions on how best to implement any needed swing changes. If, as you practice and play with your new equipment, you or your pro determine that adjustments need to be made to your clubs, Henry-Griffitts will do so completely free-of-charge for up to 100 days.

We found the RDH fairway woods extremely versatile and easy to hit. The cambered sole slides nicely through light to moderate rough and is excellent from tight or otherwise iffy lies. The woods are extremely hot the ball rifles off the face and launches high, so it's easy to get shots airborne. Interestingly, though, the ball doesn't feel as though it rifles off the face on the contrary, it seems to linger on the face for a fraction of a second, which really lends a sense of control. This unique quality appealed to most of us, although a few found the feel to be a touch muted and would've preferred more feedback. The face depth strikes a nice balance: It's shallow enough to allow you to pick the ball nicely from tight lies, but deep enough to allow the woods to be used with confidence off a tee on long par-3's or tight par-4s.

     As for individual fittings, we seemed to fit the profile of typical Henry-Griffitts customers. Some testers were found to be playing with fairway woods too strong for them, causing the to hang on their back foot and flip up at the ball. These testers were outfitted with higher-lofted fairway woods (e.g., 3-woodsup to 19 degrees!), with longer shafts and other tweaks to maintain 3 and 5-wood distances and trajectories. Another tester was found to require a lie adjustment. One was found to have distance gapping and overlap problems. One accomplished player (who uses a driver that's set up to be virtually impossible to hook) was fit for a 3-wood that's easy to draw, so that he had another tee option on holes that bend right-to-left.

     All in all, we were impressed with these clubs' quality and performance, as well as with the fitting sessions. There can be no argument that properly fit equipment and sound instruction are essential to lasting improvement. And Henry-Griffitts, a company founded and staffed by golf professionals and supported by an international network of more than 500 Certified Teachers, has been offering both for more than 20 years.