Complete Custom Fitting
In Northern California, there is no better place for your custom fitting than the Golf Lab in Palo Alto. You will be greeted by Leith Anderson. Leith is a low-index amateur who has been an avid golfer for over 50 years. He has personally fit over 3000 golfers of all skill and experience levels – beginner to tournament player.
The fitting begins dedicating fifteen minutes getting acquainted. We want to know about your game and your goals. How long have you been playing? Do you practice? How often do you play? What kinds of courses? Do you play competitively? Are you taking lessons and working on your game, or are you just out for fun? What are your strengths and weaknesses? What do you plan to accomplish in golf?
We "blueprint" your current golf clubs. We perform measurements to determine your correct club length. Each club is measured for length, loft, lie and flex. We then test your swing with your own clubs to check lie angles. If your clubs need loft and lie adjustment we finish that job during your fitting. Our first goal is to make your current clubs as good as they can be.
After a warm-up, you hit a series of shots with your own six iron to establish a performance benchmark. We use is the Achiever launch monitor to capture results. The Achiever measures ball speed and launch angle. It predicts swing speed and carry distance. The Achiever also reports swing path and face angle at contact. We discuss and interpret the results with you.
Many players find out things about their swing that they never knew. If disappointing results are caused by swing flaws, new golf clubs will not help. Some players find it easy to make immediate corrections to their swings.
Initial testing together with the blueprint of your current irons gives us a good idea of how well your own irons fit your swing. If we think that your current irons are too long, too short, too stiff, too soft, too heavy or too light we will select test irons from our demo library and compare performance with the Achiever. If your iron performance can be improved, in either distance or consistency, we will show you exactly how much by comparing the launch monitor data between your clubs and our test clubs.
We will recommend the size and type of iron head that will give you the best performance. We always look for the best fit, never a specific brand name.
We then turn attention to your driver. We take a close look at club length, flex, shaft weight, shaft bend profile and balance. You hit a series of shots with your driver. We may then modify your driver on the spot by trimming length, adjusting swingweight and possibly counter-weighting. At every step we will compare performance, before and after, measured by launch monitor data. Once again, our objective is to make you current driver perform as well as possible. (link to Fix Driver First in "vision"**)
Then, we’re ready for more advanced testing.
After benchmarking your driver, we test your swing with our Shaft Max electronic load testing device. The Shaft Max reports what happens to the shaft during your swing. It also reveals how you apply power. You receive a graph that shows your acceleration prior to impact. That graph is the "DNA" of your swing. The Shaft Max records your tempo and measures tip deflection. We use Shaft Max information to determine shaft weight, shaft material, flex and bend profile. The Shaft Max makes a flex recommendation that we use together with swing speed data to determine precise shaft flex weight and flex. Fitting by swing speed alone is unreliable.
The Shaft Max gives us confidence to make fitting recommendations that go against the conventional wisdom. How could a 70 year old man with an 80 MPH swing speed require an extra stiff flex shaft? How about fitting the 25 year old professional, swinging at 113 MPH with a regular flex shaft? Neither recommendation would ever be made from swing speed, but they are two examples of "out of the box" recommendations that worked very well. The Shaft Max is our most important gizmo. If you’re looking for a different opinion about shaft fitting, your best chance for a new idea will be found at the Golf Lab.
Our final testing focuses on the ball. You bring your talent and technique. We bring the technology – this time the Launch Max launch monitor. You hit high performance balls with your driver. We take pictures of the ball in flight that reveal ball speed, launch angle and spin rate. The Launch Max has a built-in software routine that compares your drives with theoretically perfect drives. We will find the exact efficiency of your current driver.
If you are leaving distance on the tee because your launch angle is too high or too low, or your spin rate is too high or to low, we will find out exactly how much distance you are losing and why.
If there is room for improvement, we test your driver against an array of our high performance drivers. In each case, the launch monitor results are compared to your driver. In some cases, performance improvements are gained by optimizing launch angle and spin rate. Sometimes, different drivers increase ball speed. We continue testing until we are satisfied that we have found the best possible driver for your swing. The Launch Max verifies results. Occasionally, a small swing adjustment is all that is needed.
We then discuss set makeup. What is the correct selection of fairway woods, utilities and wedges to make sure every distance gap and shot type is correctly covered. We check grip size and type.
Your fitting will be completed by having a look at your putter, making sure that the length, loft and lie are correct. We may recommend tweaking the balance with counter-weights mounted in the grip.
The testing and fitting process takes between two and three hours. When we finish the first stage, you will have a complete recommendation for the clubs that we think will be the best fit for your swing, your game and your goals. When we have found what we think are "better" irons and drivers for your swing, we give them to you to take to the driving range or your golf course to see how the test driver performs in the "real world". There is no pressure to make a purchase until you have tested our recommendations outdoors by watching the ball fly.
On your return from hands-on testing, we make a plan for your set.
You might choose to update your current clubs with minor modifications such as length and swingweight adjustments. A common fix is to change the length and balance (swing weight) of a player’s own clubs.
You might choose to replace the shafts in your own clubs with newer, high-performance shafts. You will have had a chance to test a range of the most popular shafts as part of your hands-on fitting. You may find that you fall in love with the feel and the ball flight of new shafts.
If you decide to buy new golf clubs, you can buy them from us, or from any other source. If you choose to buy from us, our prices match the "Big Box" outlets.
We have direct relationships with some manufacturers who allow us to buy "heads only". If you are thinking about irons with custom shafts, the best value is to work with Adams, Miura, Vega and Epon.
A Complete Club Fitting takes a minimum of two hours in the Golf Lab plus follow-up testing time at the range. Most players will spend at least four hours to complete their fitting. We will not be satisfied until you are completely satisfied. Our fitting fee is $245.