| Information-Golfing.com-Your Complete Golfing Information Source | |
|
|
What Are Custom Golf Clubs
Custom golf clubs are anything from a single club to a full set of woods, irons and putter which have been custom specified and assembled just for you. They may work for somebody else and other people will probably love your custom built golf clubs, but they are yours. To make an analogy that most of you will be familiar with we will compare buying a new set of golf clubs to buying a new suit or dress, there are three ways you can go about this; Option 1 - You go to a clothes shop and browse around until you see something fashionable and then buy it and hope it fits you OK and is comfortable. That is the normal way most people buy their golf clubs. Option 2 - You can go to the same shops and try a few different designs, maybe even mix and match top and bottom of the outfit, and eventually you will get something that fits OK but you may need to have altered, within the leeway the existing clothing gives on sizes and lengths and quite a lot of people will get a reasonable fit. This is very similar to custom fitting your new golf clubs, you are still limited to the small number of shafts and flexes that that manufacturer provides and most will only extend or reduce by 1/2" and at the most 2 degrees loft and lie. The shaft flexes will only be those stamped on the side of the shaft and are different for every shaft manufacturer, very rarely are these actually measured and you better match one of the five or six flexes available. For a lot of people that just isn't enough, and this can still take many weeks. Option 3 - If you wanted something that would last a long time and fitted really well from day one you would go to a bespoke outfitters, they would take all your measurements, find out exactly what you wanted the item for, how often it would be used, etc. This would cost a relative fortune but gives great results every time. This is the same as custom club building, but the good news is, unlike the clothing market this is normally less expensive, and rarely more expensive, than the first option. So how does that work? Well, almost all golf club heads, with very few exceptions - if any - are made in the far east, mainly China. We believe that all heads are made there but several of the big manufacturers just will not give a straight answer, try them! Shafts, the most important part of the club, are made by a very few companies, but normally China, Bangladesh, Japan, etc. None of the big names make their own shafts, the majority fitting True Temper shafts, sometimes branded with their own name but never manufactured by them. Now when you pick up the magazines or discount shop offers are you looking for what suits you best or, more likely, the same clubs you thought Tiger or Vijay or Ernie or Annika were winning with last weekend? This is a good time to dispel a widely held belief, the only similarity between the clubs you can buy and the clubs winning major pro tournaments is the branding. These pro golfers are paid anything up to seven figure sums of money to use these brands, they and their coaches specify every head, shaft and grip that makes up that set and somebody has to pay for that. So when you buy your set of Z43 Super Pingaway irons you are paying for the components, the plush headquarters and the massive advertising and endorsements that made you notice them in the first place. A good custom club builder will use components made from at least as good raw materials as the big boys, often from the same factories to produce the heads, they offer the same shafts and grips AND take the same sort of time to analyse your game and physique as those top pros get, but because they don't pay for the names on their components, that set of clubs, designed just for you, is an affordable possibility. Again a good clubmaker, and there are bad ones as in any walk of life, will be more concerned about the results of your fitting than you spending money. There are many ways of fitting but during the fitting ask your clubmaker what they think of your game, does it match with your and your friends impressions of your shot shape and distance or are they just telling you things to make you sepnd money. If it doesn't meet expectations can they justify their statements without resorting to technobabble? The best part about about custom building should be when you go back to your clubmaker and tell them "I've just shot my lowest ever score" or "I've just won my first ever competition" or "I've just hit my best ever shot" or, and my favourite, "That's the most I've enjoyed a game of golf for years". About The Author Trevor has worked with IT and golf for over 20 years, studying physics to Bsc level, and is a professional clubmaker based in Hinckley, Leicestershire. Check http://www.1offgolf.co.uk/aboutus.html for more information
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
RELATED ARTICLES
Learning To Play Golf With Fitness Learning to play golf has now become the pursuit of both men and women of different ages. Right from the very young golfers to senior citizens as old as 80 years old or even older. Taking The Confusion Out Of Golf Ball Compression Compression, in terms of a golf ball, is probably the most understood aspect of golf ball technology. At one time compression was used to describe the quality of a golf ball according to the tightness of the windings around a three piece ball core. 5 Easy Steps to Cleaning Your Golf Clubs and Improving Your Game How can you lower your scores by simply cleaning your golf clubs you ask? It's actually very simple. If you have clean golf clubs you can make better contact with the ball. Why A Modern Golf Training System Is So Effective Gone are the days when a golf training system mainly involved going over to the course and practicing your swing. This was hardly effective and for many unprepared golfers in poor physical condition often led to injury. 5 Important Things to Consider When Choosing Golf Clubs Every golfer knows that having proper equipment is essential. Choosing golf clubs has become some what of a daunting task because of the enormous market out there. Preparing Your Body For Golf While You Travel We all know the temptations of traveling? grabbing a slice of pizza while running to your gate at the airport, an elaborate steak dinner with a client, and being so tired at day's end that all you want to do is fall into bed. Traveling can often create havoc on regular exercise and golf conditioning. 5 Best Uses for Hybrid Utility Clubs Have you seen those new hybrid utility cubs? They are showing up all over the place, rescuing golfers from all kinds of situations. The reason for this is simple; they open up opportunities for a number of great new shots. GPS Golf Balls Are Almost Here As GPS technology gets better and better and smaller and smaller it will be able to be used for many things? For instance at the World Series a baseball hit into the third level will be able to be recorded by GPS as to exactly how far it was hit and it's trajectory to formulate where it would have actually landed had the stadium been flat. Thus we will be able to tell who was the greatest homerun power house of all times, perhaps even who is on steroids based on their body mass, speed of pitch, GPS data and 'haptics' (body movement and form). Play Better Longer: Reducing Golf Related Injury On the surface golf may look to be a slow paced low impact sport with little risk of injury. However, as many golfers have unfortunately discovered looks can be deceiving. Golf Strength Training Exercise Is Not Body Building Despite many reassurances, some amateur golfers still dread golf strength training exercises.The problem would appear to be the presence of equipment like dumb bells in this sort of strength training. A Bad Golfer & Common Mistake You Will Find Every Time Fascinatingly enough a bad golfer is consistent enough with his/her consistent mistakes and poor play, that it promotes even more bad golf and frustration.Actually a bad golfer ignores or is unaware of what has to be the single most important aspect of the golf swing. An Effective Golf Swing Exercise There are many types of effective golf swing exercises. Golf swing exercise is very important because the golf swing is at the very heart of the golf game. What Do the Core and the Golf Swing Have in Common? The concept of "core training" is a "buzz word" in today's fitness and training community. It has also become a prevalent idea in the game of golf. Do You Understand Golf Club Swing Weight Golf club swing weight. Have you heard that term before?A rather effective method of improving the golf swing is by adding extra weight to the club and then going through the motions of swinging. Tiger Woods, the Greatest Ever? -NOT! Tiger is great but still a long way from claiming the title of "Greatest That Ever Played The Game". Although I do believe he is more then on his way to claiming that illustrious title, God willing. How To Play Better Golf High handicappers, low handicappers and even the pros consistently have the goal of playing better golf. The methods often touted to arrive at the target of better golf are as varied as those attempting to achieve it. Tips for Buying Used Golf Clubs Used golf clubs can be great for those who are on a budget, don't play much, or just want a spare set. They certainly aren't for everybody, but many will find that they can get the job done just fine. Periodization Training For Golf The idea of periodization has been around a very long time for athletes at all levels. The concept is simple. Finish Your Round of Golf with Birdies All the major tournaments, especially the U.S. Try Developing Your Own Golf Style Some golf beginners think that all they have to do is copy Ernie Els, Tiger Woods or whoever their favorite golfer might be and bam, immediate golf success!I am sorry to say, it is just not that easy. If it were then everybody would be a lot better. |
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |