Equipment Editor Dan Owen visits Club Champion’s new store in Crawley and observes the process for custom fitting a new set of irons
Most golfers understand that having the right club set up is vital if they are to get the best out of their game. But ‘custom fitting’
is a very broad church, with many levels of service offered within this catch-all term. Club Champion, as the world’s foremost specialist in custom fitting, has set out to elevate the club fitting experience, with a choice of products and a level of service that few other independent outfits can even get close to.
Stepping through the entrance of their new Crawley store can be a little overwhelming for the first-time visitor. With every major club, shaft and grip brand accounted for, Club Champion is able to offer over 55,000 unique combinations of head and shaft in its UK stores. And with no loyalty to any specific brand, their approach is to get the best 14 clubs in your bag, whatever that brand may be.
Club Champion prides itself on having the best club fitters in golf. From ex-tour fitters such as Jason MacNiven at Basingstoke, and Joe Hughes in the Glasgow Branch, to Mike Wynn at Crawley, who headed up custom fitting at Silvermere, Europe’s busiest golf facility. The fitters understand the finer details of every product that they offer.
FITTING PROCESS
I went to the Crawley store with Matt Nicholson, Golf News’s publisher, who was in the market for a new set of irons, with his current set being five or six years old and no longer fully meeting his performance needs.
Master club fitter Mike Wynn, formerly the Custom Club Manager and Head of Custom Fit Training at Silvermere, didn’t want Matt to hit balls, at least straight away. Instead, he took time to find out what he wanted from the session beyond a new set of clubs. “How’s your game? What are your strengths and weaknesses? Do you want more help?” were among some of multitude of questions that Mike fired Matt’s way.
Matt, as a five-handicap golfer, knows his game pretty well. “I hit my irons well, but struggle with the 4-iron and have stopped carrying one. And they’re a bit heavy too.”
Matt gets asked more questions. “Where do you play your golf? How firm is the turf? What’s your bad shot? The answers to all of these questions help the fitter get an understanding of the golfer’s needs. Mike then took a note of the lofts, lie and swing weight of Matt’s clubs while Matt started warming up in a hitting bay.
FITTING PROCESS
Matt currently plays Ping i210 irons with Project X shafts. After a warm-up with his clubs, the fitter puts him into Ping’s latest i series irons, the i230, which are the updated model of what he uses.
It’s also a good base model to test shafts with. While a club head is what generates much of
the performance of a club, a shaft is the timing mechanism that helps create consistency. Matt’s current clubs have Project X 6.0 shafts, which, while not too stiff for him, are on the heavy side, and as a round goes on, he finds himself tiring and his swing speed dropping.
Mike puts Matt through his paces with a selection of shafts around 10g lighter than his Project X. Project X LZ, Nippon Modus 120, Accra iSeries 115, and LA Golf A Series120 graphite. There were good shots hit with all the shafts. It takes a combination of asking the player what he is feeling and analysis of the data on the Foresight GC Quad launch monitor to see that the Accra iSeries was the best shaft for him. All four shafts performed well, but his dispersion was tighter with the Accra.
FINE-TUNING PERFORMANCE
While the Ping i230 irons were performing well, there wasn’t a huge improvement over Matt’s current irons, so Mike decided to widen the search. “Let’s give the Ping i525 a go, it’s a similar look behind the ball, but they are designed to give you a little extra ball speed. I think it’ll be especially useful in the wind at your home course; plus, as you don’t like your 4-iron, it’ll help with gapping at the longer end of your bag,” advised Mike.
It was fair to say it was a good suggestion. Matt’s spin rates remained similar with the i525 when compared to the i230, but distance went up 10 yards on average. “They’re giving you more distance but with no drop off in consistency, but I want you to try something else,” explained Mike.
Handing him the Callaway Paradym, Mike again asked Matt about how it looked. “So different from what I’m used to. It looks nice, but just so different with that shiny finish,” said Matt.
Plugging the same Accra shaft in, Matt started hitting balls with the Paradym. “Look how much further it’s going,” Matt spotted immediately. “It is,” agreed Mike, but there was a hint of scepticism in his voice. After a few more balls, Mike explained what he was seeing. “It’s really fast for ball speed, but you aren’t exactly a short hitter. But the spin and descent angles are too low. My fear is that out on the course, you just won’t hold the green. I also don’t think it’s as good for you from a dispersion point of view. Let’s go back to the Ping i525 and hit some confirmation shots.”
THE BUILD
A properly fitted golf club is only half the battle. “It’s great getting custom fitted. But when those clubs get built on a production line, there will be acceptable tolerances for a club build,” explained Mike. “They may not be able to hit requested swing weights. Lie angles can be out of spec. And they won’t be able to offer the same number of shaft options.
“At Club Champion, we have a dedicated build shop. The build is of equal importance to the fit, because if they aren’t built to the specs that your clubs were fitted to, then the whole process is pointless.”
After returning to the i525 Accra combo, it was clear to see Matt’s improvements over the clubs he walked in with. It was time to make the final choices.
THE FINISHING TOUCH
The grip is the only part of the club that you’re in contact with. It’s vital you make the right choice. Club Champion has an impressive selection on display from Golf Pride, Lamkin and Super Stroke. “Have you tried a grip with less taper in the right hand?” asked Mike. “You sometimes have a little bit of a left miss, and your right hand looks like the fingers come around a touch too much. A Plus 4 grip will help even out your grip pressure. It’s been a common trick on tour for a long time to put more tape in the right hand, but the Plus 4 grips make it much easier to get the same effect more consistently.”
With a lovely set of Golf Pride MCCPlus4 Teams grips in black and gold selected, Matt’s new irons were complete.
THE RESULTS
Mike summed up the fit. “I’ve not tried to change your swing, but we’ve found you an extra ten yards per iron, with a tighter dispersion. Other than getting used to the new yardages, you should be able to go out on the course and start seeing improvements pretty quickly.
We have a 90-day ‘Perfect Fit’ guarantee from when you collect the clubs, and if you don’t see an improvement we will work with you to make sure results match up with your fitting. We want everyone to be happy with their new equipment.”
CLUB CHAMPION FACTS
• The largest club fitting experts in the world, with over 120 stores globally.
- International stores in Australiaand Canada.
- Three stores in the UK – Basingstoke,Crawley and Glasgow.
- UK stores have over 55,000 club andshaft combinations
- Clubhead brands stocked includeBettinardi, Callaway, Cobra, Miura, Mizuno,Odyssey, PING, Srixon, TaylorMade, Titleist.
- Shafts brands include Accra, Aerotech,Aldila, Fujikura, Graphite Design, KBS, LA GOLF, Mitsubishi, Nippon, Project X, True Temper, VA Composites.
WHAT IS SHAFT PURING?
Like snowflakes and fingerprints, no two golf shafts are exactly the same. Every shaft contains irregularities in straightness, roundness and stiffness that are inherent to the manufacturing process. These structural inconsistencies can negatively or positively affect a shaft’s performance depending on how the shaft is aligned in the clubhead. SST PURE locates the most stable orientation in any shaft and it is then installed accordingly in the club.
Players including Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Rose all have their golf clubs built with pured shafts.
Independent testing on players of all skill levels has established that SST PURE improves impact repeatability on the centre of the clubface by up to 51 percent. Club Champion believe in the process so much that it comes included with all iron sets as part of the build process.
BOOK YOUR CLUB CHAMPION FITTING
To book a fitting session at your nearest Club Champion store, visit clubchampiongolf.co.uk or call 01256 359865.