You should make your own set of clubs!
I know this may not be realistic for a lot of people, but if you truly want to know your tools (your clubs), it could only help you in your progression as a golfer to invest the effort into building a set of clubs (maybe just one or two clubs to start with). There are several reasons why I make this statement.
It was 1976 or 1977 and I was already into my third or fourth set of "off the rack" clubs. They were top of the line clubs and I knew they were at least "close" to what I needed considering some very basic criteria such as 'how far I hit the ball' and 'what type of shaft I should be using (meaning - what level of 'stiffness')'. As I adjusted to my new clubs (I'm talking, specifically, about a new set of irons), a stroke of brilliance hit me... I wanted to know everything regarding the physical make-up of these sticks. I wanted to know the exact swing-weight of each club, the exact loft and lie, the overall weight of each club, the "frequency" of each shaft etc... For those who don't know, swing weight is basically a measure of how the weight of the club feels when you swing it - most (normal) swing weights fall somewhere between C-0 and D-9... C-0 feeling very light and D-9 pretty heavy (remember me mentioning the E-6 irons I was using early on in my career).
If you are a smaller and or weaker golfer, you may want to have swing weights in the C-4 to C-8 area... most tour pros use clubs between D-1 and D-5. Shaft frequency is measured by a special device that basically locks the grip end of the shaft in place and then the tip of the shaft is pulled down a certain distance and then released - the number of oscillations or vibrations is then noted - basically, a stiffer shaft will have more oscillations than a weaker shaft (I don't want to get TOO technical). It is a great selling point if you can say for sure that all of your clubs (shafts) have the same swing frequency ("frequency matched").
Regarding my new TOP OF THE LINE irons, I was amazed (appalled) to find out how "mis-matched" they were. Most of the irons had lofts that were several degrees off from "the standard"... if I remember correctly, my 7-iron had the loft of a normal 5-iron and my 5-iron had the loft of a standard 6-iron... additionally, all of the lie angles were not standard... one club was a degree or two upright, another club was too flat etc... You may think I am splitting hairs here but could you imagine a tour pro nowadays having a set of clubs like that? I won't mention the club maker because I don't want to embarass them - also, I know that they were a favorite of many of the tour pros back in the day (and several today) - but unlike you and me - most tour pros club's don't come right off the rack - they are custom fit to a particular player - to a degree that most of us would find unimaginable.
All of that having been said, I know that clubs and club-making (I'm talking about OEM* offerings) have advanced by leaps and bounds in the past 30 years - BUT - unless you are willing (and able) to go right to the manufacturer's main headquarters (or wherever they do their custom fitting), spend probably well over two thousand dollars for a complete set, you are probably not going to have clubs that best fit your personal requirements - and by the way, that assumes that you have "your" swing on the day of the fitting - doesn't make a lot of sense investing thousands of dollars in a set of clubs if you are currently busting your butt to go from being a two-plane swinger to a one-plane swinger. Does all of this make that big of a difference to the average golfer? I guess I would have to say "no"... but, as you may have already ascertained about me - if you're going to do it, do it right and to the best of your ability!
With a little study, investment in a few tools and, most imortantly, the desire to have a near-perfect set of custom clubs, for somewhere between $350.00 and $700.00, you can build a FULL set of clubs that will compliment and not libel your swing. If none of the above has inspired you into taking the club-building plunge, at LEAST learn how to regrip your own clubs - it is very easy to do, will save you a lot of money, regripping is the cheapest way I know of to improve your golf swing and almost all of the average golfers I see have grips that make it IMPOSSIBLE to hit good golf shots with. Case in point - brother Joe. About 5 years ago, I happened to grab one of his clubs during a casual round. I couldn't believe it. The grips were rock-hard and so slippery and "glassy-looking", I could almost see my face in them. I swear to high heaven, I could not have hit a shot more than 10 yards with those clubs... the amazing thing was that brother Joe was still hitting 160 yard 7-irons and generally, playing his normal game. I can not imagine what sort of compensations he was making - either with his grip pressure or the setting of his hands on the club - all I could think of as an analogy was "how well could I play if someone wiped petroleum jelly all over my grips"? I took his clubs home with me that day and by the following Saturday, he had freshly-gripped clubs (the old ones were literally crumbling into dust as I removed them)... needless to say, the feel of those new grips made a world of difference in his game. He could go back to his natural "neutral" grip and hold the clubs just firmly enough to still allow his hands to feel lively and release the tension in his forearms and shoulders (a bad thing for any golfer).
Following are three of the best sites (in my opinion) for golf club components and all of the help you will need to build that "perfect set" (or to at least buy some new grips). Additionally, at the bottom of this page, I have included a link to the Henry Griffitts** web site and some information from the site that should have anyone looking for the perfect "custom fit" set of clubs to have only look as far as The Henry Griffitts Company - you will not be disappointed (www.henry-griffitts.com).
1. www.golfworks.com - my favorite site... Ralph Maltby has spent most of his life designing, building & selling quality club heads and supplying all of the necessary educational material (and an exhaustive list of the best shafts, grips, club-making tools etc...) to assist anyone in making quality clubs - additionally, he has a lot of videos that step you through a lot of the elements regarding club fitting/making... in my opinion, the best club-making site on the planet...
2. www.golfsmith.com - a good site as well - additionally, they have over 70 stores nationwide and if one is near you, you can purchase your club-making supplies on the spot and can "touch" and "feel" the different heads, shafts and grips etc - before purchasing, something I wish I could sometimes do with the Golfworks clubheads...
3. www.hirekogolf.com - a good site to check and price compare... all of these sites will sell a lot of the same equipment like grips and shafts so it pays to check them all out and see if one is cheaper than the other regarding a certain product - i.e. I have been using Golf Pride Tour Velvet grips since they first came out on the market - before I buy my next 20 or 30 grips, I'll check each site to see if someone is having a special deal that I might be able to take advantage of (every little bit helps).
If you check closely on the Internet, you will find dozens of suppliers of club components and you will also find sites that don't even try to hide the fact that they sell "knockoffs" of popular OEM clubs. It is just my opinion but I don't believe in the whole concept of knockoffs (they are NEVER as good as the real thing)... if you can't afford the real thing or feel you are being cheated by the clubmakers because of the ever-increasing price of quality clubs, take my advice and buy your own components and heads from a reputable designer (like Mr. Maltby from The GolfWorks) and put together your own set. Believe me when I tell you - that first sub-par score or that first ace with a club or clubs that you've cut, weighed, gripped, epoxied etc... yourself, will provide a thrill that will last a lifetime.
* Original Equipment manufacturer
A slice of The Henry Griffitts story:
The first Tour player to try this with Randy was Homero Blancas. In those days his new 45 inch club was considered an oddity, while now on Tour 45 inches would be considered more standard and the 43-43 ½ inch clubs would be the oddity.
Homero's success on the Senior Tour allowed Henry-Griffitts to become one of the leading manufacturers of irons on that Tour; the golf industry took notice and now most all manufacturer's have followed Henry-Griffitts lead. Many have gone longer and more upright now for their standards than Henry-Griffitts.
Within five-seven years all companies were lengthening their clubs and the standard length driver is now Homer's old 45". Adjusting the lies on the golf club also allow the taller player to better play the game whereas before a tall person was actually handicapped by inadequate equipment.
If you hit someone in the head enough times they learn to duck and that is the mentality of many who compensate poorly for ill-fitting equipment that negatively affects motion. They do not realize that because a certain famous pro hits and endorses a certain club that they will not be able to perform like that pro. It would be like a man who wears a size 9 shoe changing to the size 10 and not figuring out why his foot slops out of the shoe; it is so obviously simple.
Most companies today are huge conglomerates and fit for the masses needing to sell many hundreds more clubs per day than Henry-Griffitts does. They have a limited combination of fitting options and by mere virtue of the lack of enough choices they are limited with how precise their fits can be.
In contrast, Henry-Griffitts, now celebrating it's twentieth year in business, has hundreds of thousands of options, the best fitters in the world and counts customer satisfaction as the most important reason to exist.
Staying small and personal Henry-Griffitts believes, as Randy always did, that only a professionally trained teacher can properly fit clubs. The training is not a short course, but something that takes years of experience and observation on the tee. It involves a relationship of trust between the fitter, the player and the company. This triangle of support does not end with the sell of a set of clubs. The player will return to their fitter for more support as their game evolves. As Randy, Jim and Bruce believed in the beginning Henry-Griffitts is about the love of the game of golf and the support of friendships that endure over the years.
Henry-Griffitts claims victories on all three major Tours on the LPGA, on the SPGA, use on the Ryder Cup, &, with True Temper, holds the patent on the interchangeable system and the lie board. Not bad for a tiny company in northern Idaho. If you have the best product word gets out and the players find you!
Henry-Griffitts has stayed true to it's original mission statement with Jim Hofmeister at the helm as President keeping the company, the fitter, and the player intact in a triangle of perfect harmony.
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Knowing the Tools
