Lie angles

Over the winter I have been working hard on my game trying to make improvements. In discussion with my coach we both thought that having a flatter lie angle in my irons may help my ball striking. The toe of the club sits clearly off the ground, particularly obvious on winter mats when the heel end hitting the mat first can cause a push-fade, not a good shot for a natural drawer of the ball! So I contacted American Golf where I've bought most of my clubs and they tell me my TaylorMade irons cannot be adjusted. This means to get flatter irons I would need to buy a whole new custom made set, not cheap! How have others found the change over? Is it worth the investment to go with something fitted? Custom fitting is always bigged up by golf publications or advice but how much difference could it actually make?

Any thoughts very welcome

They are right. You can only really alter forged clubs, cast are too brittle unless they're done during manufacture - this applies to any clubs not just TM.

Best forget AG and the other barns and go to a proper club builder...

All comes down to price I'm afraid Tim, I've invested in equipment during 2012 an 2013 and now have a set of clubs (and some options) that I'm really happy with, over the winter I've spent my golfing budget on lessons and hope this summer to get to a playing level that I'm happy with and look to start playing in club competitions. Other than cheap ebay bargains (for experiments) I don't plan on buying any equipment this year. Pretty happy with the bounce and grind on my wedges as I carry 4 I've got plenty of options but an interesting point to bring up. i have noticed the lie angle issue more as I have improved. i wouldn't be keen to change club length as I feel comfortable gripping up and down to control that but I'm not going to get any taller! I've always had a very good relationship with my local AG but I can see how if you don't so your research you could be vunerable to a good salesman rather than a good club fitter, hence my asking the question on here. Thanks for the advice chaps!

David, the fact that your clubs look toe up doesn't mean that they swing upright. You need to check your swing on a strike mat with lie tape for a definitive answer ,and I would do this with all your irons. As for improving your ball striking concentrate on hitting the ball first not the mat good luck

It's worth mentioning that one of the great things about buying Ping clubs is that they will adjust your lie angles FOC. They are, as far as I'm aware, the only mainstream club manufacturer to do so but it's something to take into account when buying new clubs.

Oh, by the way, before you ask I play with Mizuno irons!

You can alter cast clubs, just not as much as forged, and there is always a risk to breakage.

Brian, I'm not saying you can't alter them, the problem is (as with most castings) is work hardening. The way the grain structure of a casting is made up means that the older the casting the more likely it is to crack (it's all to do with the carbon atoms on the interstitial boundaries splitting). This could be overcome with an annealing treatment before bending but I wouldn't rely on many club builders to do that right...