Club Dilema

I'm on the market for my first set of new clubs. I've been using my Dad's 'hand-me-downs' for 15 years!!

I called into a popular golf equipment chain store and got my stats taken for club-fitting. I hit a few balls inside their measuring machine... the whole drill.

I wanted the TaylorMade RocketBalz Irons. The guy said I needed the stiff shaft and that they didn't have them in the stiff shaft, and tried to flog me the RocketBladz at £250 dearer...

Needless to say, I walked out.

I've found the clubs at other retailers, but they don't offer lie angle custom fitting although they do offer the stiff shaft...

I'm now torn between:

The lie angle adjusted regular shaft; The stiff shaft with no customisation.

My question... what has more impact on performance, shaft stiffness or lie angle?

If they are a reputable chain store then they will be able to order the stiff shafts for you. Don't be fobbed off by the salesman, go back and explain exactly what you want and they'll be able to take all your measurements and send them to Taylormade who will then courier them over and you should be able to pick them up within around a week or two. If it's AG I know for a fact they do this as a friend was in basically the same situation as yourself.

To respond to your question about stiffness or lie angle, if you need a stiff shaft but get a regular you'll notice a much higher ball flight. As to the lie angle, i'm not 100% certain on the +- effect it will have, sorry!

If it was me i'd go back to the first retailer and ask them to order exactly what you need from TaylorMade. Or get your requirements written down on a sheet of paper and call a few local retailers, i'm sure they'd be happy to have your business.

Lie angle will make a massive difference. if its too upright your gonna dig the hosel into the ground closing the face before impact causing pulls or worse hooks! too upright and your gonna dig the toe in and cause fades and slices. Im a 2.5 degree upright, before my custom fit pings I played a stock set and fought for years with a push fade, after some impact board sessions it was shown the toe was heavily hitting the ground first causing a push/slice, this in turn meant aiming more left, putting my alignment out. The shaft means youll hit the ball higher but im pretty sure taylormade really crank their lofts so this might be ok for you.

AG should be able to get you the clubs you want, youll just have to wait. I do know that manufacturers only make most models for about 2 years then they stop making that club to move on to the next model. This is where AG come in and buy all left over stock from TM and then distribute stock to their chains and warehouses. That's how AG have the market share and can get what you want when u want. Try calling other AG stores to see if they have them in stock in their shop and then phone your nearest branch, tell them there is a set in 'x' store and can they get them over for you. Force their hand.

No Problem mate. And failing the Alun's suggestion of calling other branches, it's worth considering Gilbert's suggestion of buying the stiffer shaft and getting the club adjusted elsewhere.

This is the thing with big chains like AG, they only tell you some of the truth. After a bit of research it turns out that the Rocketbalz irons are made from Carpenter 455 stainless steel (it's just generic name for standard cast/post formed 13-8 stainless) which is an ideal material for a club head. The problem is that it has quite high age-hardening characteristics, in other words the older it is the harder it gets to actual work into shape. So the likelihood is that TaylorMade stopped producing the heads some time ago (or at least their Chinese supplier did) and the stock that they have is now unworkable - this is typically a month or so after manufacture. So AG are trying to fob you off with old stock because they know that if they try and adjust loft and lie the heads will crack. What also surprises me is that they can't even be bothered to change the shafts, it's only a couple of hours work for the set. So this leads me to the conclusion that they haven't even got the ability to do this within the chain. So why on earth would you trust them to do anything else correctly? Personally I'd rather get a decent set of MD icons. Cheaper, made locally, forged (so adjustable) and really good bits of kit.

Shafts would be more important if you asked me as I bet your lie angle changes from day to day depending on how you swing the club. I brought a set of callaway and they were set 2 degrees upright after fitting, if i try irons now i need them flat, I have not changed in stature only changed my swing.

For reference which way did the clubs need adjusting? If it's upright i'd suggest looking at swing adjustment rather than cranking the irons. Upright adjustment usually means a OTT swing, titlesist have increased the lie angle of there clubs by 2 degrees over the last ten years to accomodate for the decline in golf swings!! more upright suits poorer players.

Hogan had his irons 5 degrees flat, account for the fact that clubs are more upright nowerdays then he would be playing irons at least 7 degrees flat. Now I know he's not the tallest of chaps but 7 degrees!!! YOu will find most good ball striker play flatter irons.

Just an update, hope I'm not scaremongering...

I went to see my club builder yesterday to pick up my re-shafted 3 iron and as usual we had a bit of a chat. Out of curiosity I asked him what he now charges for a 'budget' set. His base model is now a choice of Wishon head (not sure which models - but both are beautiful), ACCRA or Nissen shafts and a choice of lovely grips, he favours black widows. All custom fitted to you and adjustments as necessary, £65 a club.

He then showed me a set of brand new clubs he was modifying for a customer, a set of Rocket Bladz Tours that had been custom fitted by a large chain store (ahem). The guy had complained that they felt nothing like the ones he had tried in the shop and had been told that he needed time to get used to them. It turned out that the full set had been assembled with (he reckoned) shafts intended for the wrong club, ie the 4I had a 1I shatf in it and cut down from the wrong ends. The steps in the shafts weren't regular across the set, or even close. Not bad for a set that had cost £580....

Tim, Very interesting. Out of interest do they use any flight scope technlogy to do the custom fit?

I wouldn't mind taking a look at one of these clubs.

John, not sure if he's got a flight scope or anything now, he certainly didn't have when I got mine made. When I was fitted he used a little hand held tacho to get my swing speed in his practice net and one of those boards to gauge how much of the club was striking the ground after he'd adjusted the length. He certainly knew how well (and it waht direction!) I was striking it just by looking at my swing. The rest of it was down to his experience of club making. He certainly works on the KISS method!

The problem with the flight scope is that a) you hit off a mat and personally I can smash a ball miles off a synthetic surface and b) you're relying on some software to tell you what the ball flight is based on a few narrow parameters - heaven forbid it may be set up to flatter... Have you ever seen what happens if you shank one on a flight scope?

Tim, Funny you should ask that! On Wednesday I went down to see my coach/pro whatever you want to call him for a 3 wood fitting. Anyway long story short I ended up hitting the titleist ap1's. He uses a flight scope & I did indeed shank a 6 iron, the flight scope recorded exactly where the ball went & showed side spin levels out of this world!!

More successful than mine then. It just threw a wobbly and showed the ball scuffed down the middle, despite the fact that the actual ball nearly cam back and hit me off the side wall.

Go on, go get some Wishons, cheaper than the AP1's...

I am tempted by the wishons but its finding someone near me so I can try / fit. Where is your chap based?

Drayton Basset near Tamworth. So a bit of a trek for you

Only round the corner Floody. And we all know you love a bargain

Chris,

I have friends who live right opposite so a visit will be in order!

Do you reckon I'll get a custom fit set for £50??

As long as you don't want the wedges