most have a four-way radius (they are bevelled from front to back and heel to toe) which means they should slide easier through the rough.
The lofts of today’s clubs (the angle of the club face to the vertical) are also quite a lot stronger than earlier models from the 1970s. Typically, a modern wood will be one degree stronger (a modern three has 16 degrees of loft, compared to 17 degrees for a traditional model). Equally a 1990s 3-iron will have 21 degrees of loft, compared to 24, while all the other modern irons from the four to the pitching wedge are four degrees stronger. This really means that a 1990s 5-iron, with 28 degrees of loft, is equivalent to a 1970s 4-iron. No wonder that modern perimeter weighted clubs with lower centres of gravity and stronger loft shit the ball straighter, higher and further – or at least are supposed to.
But take note – not all club manufacturers have the same loft standards so you must check before you buy. Your club pro should also check your lofts once a year or so, which is something Tour pros do constantly. You can see this whenever you visit a tournament. Parked, usually beside the practice ground, are two or three exotic converted ‘mobile homes’, provided by golf club construction companies, which follow the PGA Euro Tour. They are really mobile workshops and they have the club makers logos emblazoned on their sides, plus those of shaft makers and sponsors. There is a constant stream of Tour pros tracking in and out clutching various clubs, often when they’ve finished their round for the day.
Inside (if you could talk your way in) you would find a well stocked fridge (no alcohol), comfy seats and a TV with video. The rest of the space is a real golfer’s workshop, crammed with stacks of shafts, irons, drivers and putters. There is also a machine (often a digital one) that can measure loft to the tenth of a degree and it takes only a few minutes to check any club. Tour pros need to know if their clubs are performing as they should – and the club golfer should seek similar reassurance at least once a year.
After all, with regular play, you could develop a weak 4-iron, a perfect (modern lofted) five and a strong 6-iron which would mean you were carrying three 5-irons.
At least one, if not all, of the mobile workshops have machines ‘on board’ that will measure a club’s lie – a key factor in eventual performance; a point often totally neglected by the club golfer. The lie is the angle between the shaft and the head of the club when it’s soled flat on the ground and it can have a critical effect on the direction of the shot, especially with the irons if the toe or the heel of the club make contact with the ground before the ball.
To explain: a tall golfer (like Matt) who stands close to the ball and has a fairly upright swing needs an upright lie (which makes the shaft seem more vertical). If he were to use a club with too flat a lie for his swing, its toe would catch the ground first and its heel would move past it, opening the club face and shooting the ball off right. (This, indeed, is what happened when he tried out Brian’s 4-iron which had a one degree flat lie.)
On the other hand, if you have a flattish swing and use a club with an upright lie, its heel would dig into the ground first and the club face would pivot around it, closing through the ball which would be pull-hooked left. This is not to imply that all tall players have upright swings, while shorter ones have flatter ones. It all depends on the length of arms to overall height and the distance a golfer stands away from the ball. But lie is very important and every golfer should know if he or she swings, say, one degree flat or upright, and make sure that the club matches the swing.
One way to find out how steep a lie you need is to hit a number of shots with different clubs from a lie board. Hitting the board marks the bottom of the club at a certain point which, if not along the centre of the sole, shows what’s wrong. If the mark is consistently towards the toe of the club, the lie needs to be flatter, while if towards the heel, you need a more upright angle.
So where can you, a club golfer, find a lie board – and how can you determine the optimum flex and swing weight for your very individual swing? Well, your Club pro should be able to help, but he too is faced with a large variety of choices and not too much advice from club makers (who seem to believe that 95 per cent of all golfers are suited by a standard set of their clubs).
WITH TOO FLAT A LIE, THE TOE DIGS IN.
Incidentally, out of eight club manufacturers contacted in mid 1994 with a polite request by a golfer for background details or literature on how he could be measured to fit their clubs, only one had the courtesy to reply. This is not good PR considering the cost of a new set. Club makers could and should do a lot more to help golfers get the clubs that are best suited to them, but of course they have to rely on the golf professional; very much depends on his ability and interest in making sure that his clients get the right clubs.
Another option for the golfer is the ‘Saville Row’ or custom-made clubs approach. A visit to a high-tech fitting centre of a custom club supplier (e.g. Petron) is an interesting (and learning) experience for one and all and the resulting clubs, tailored to an individual’s swing, are surprisingly not that expensive.
You first make an appointment and turn up at the allotted time with your own set of clubs. These are used as a ‘benchmark’ against which the new clubs’ performance can be measured. You are greeted in a reception area where detailed pre- and post-fitting out analysis takes place and while you are discussing your game with the resident pro, your old clubs are all tested for swing weight, flex, loft and lie on special machines. The results are invariably surprising.
Your driver, which you have never hit with any confidence, turns out to have a swingweight of D0 and is one degree open (no wonder you sliced) while your 5-wood is D2. What you thought was a matched set of irons is utterly inconsistent in weight, totally unmatched. The 4-iron has a swingweight of C3, the 6-iron is A6, the seven is B1 and the sand wedge is D4. There are 29 swingweight differences between them; no wonder your handicap has stayed so high!
The pro then measures you for three important dimensions. First is the distance from your fingertips of both hands to the ground when standing balanced and erect (there’s normally a difference of half an inch between them). This is to gauge the right length of club for you and it’s worth knowing that ‘modern’ irons are half an inch longer than those of the 1970s, which should lead to a wider swing arc and more distance, in theory.
Your ideal grip thickness is next assessed, which is not necessarily thicker for larger hands, by measuring how comfortably the club sits when you hold it. Grip size can affect performance and slicers could benefit from thinner grips than they normally use. This tends to make them hold the club more in the fingers, which leads to faster hand action. Conversely, the few golfers who are happy hookers should try grips thicker than their norm. They would find the club sits more in the palm, which slows down the speed the club face closes. You should try this when you next get your grips replaced by your club pro – which you should do at least every two years. Shiny, slippery grips don’t help your game and as most golfers are too lazy to wash their grips regularly (let alone sandpaper or scrape them) they have a limited effective life.
We’re talking about spending money. It’s common sense once you have spent money to look after your equipment and unfortunately golfers are very bad at that. They’ll buy a new £150 suit of waterproof clothes, and get them wet. When the sun comes out after about 12 holes, they take their waterproofs off and then, while the material’s still wet, stuff it in the golf bag, forget all about it and leave it in the back of the car. Then, of course, when they play the next week, the gear’s either got mildew on or it’s damaged in some way and
