Golf Information


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

trevor@1off-golf.co.uk


MORE RESOURCES:

USA TODAY

For Woods, Early Lesson in Pressure Resonates
New York Times
Before Tiger Woods became the Mariano Rivera of golf, he struggled to close out a victory on the PGA Tour the way Kyle Stanley and Spencer Levin have in recent weeks. At the 1996 Quad City Classic, his third event after turning professional, ...
This week in golf, at a glanceUSA TODAY
Pebble Beach experts' picksESPN (blog)
Attention returns to Tiger Woods at Pebble BeachYahoo! Sports
San Francisco Chronicle
all 873 news articles »


Yahoo! Eurosport UK

Golf: Tours glance
Peoria Journal Star
AP San Francisco 49ers Hall of Famer Jerry Rice, left, and San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Matt Cain, right, during a charity shootout between the San Francisco 49ers and San Francisco Giants at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am PGA Tour golf ...
Chopra hits two holes-in-oneYahoo! Eurosport UK (blog)

all 8 news articles »


Today's THV

Golf notebook: I-Tour to play at Cypresswood
Houston Chronicle
By Mike Bailey The first event of this year's I-Tour (Individual Golf Tour) is fast approaching. Now in its 11th season, the I-Tour will host its first tournament March 3 at the Tradition Course at Cypresswood Golf Club. Entry deadline is Feb. 27.
Alabama Golf Association sets tournament scheduleTimes Daily

all 3 news articles »


Cleveland News - Fox 8

Texas Man Stabbed with Golf Club: A Fan's Take
Yahoo! Sports
Contributor Network 5 minutes ago When a group of golfers in Texas were trying to play through a slower group, a fight broke out resulting in one man being stabbed by a broken golf club. The club hit the man's femoral artery in his groin area leading ...
Golf Course Brawl Could Cost Man His LegCleveland News - Fox 8
Man Impaled By Golf Club: Clay Carpenter Faces Leg AmputationHuffington Post
Golf club brawl severely injures manUPI.com
77Square.com -ESPN
all 53 news articles »


Irish Independent

CA man accused of killing Chihuahua with golf club
Newsday
Nation Newsday > News > Nation CA man accused of killing Chihuahua with golf club Published: February 7, 2012 11:40 PM By The Associated Press RIVERSIDE, Calif. - (AP) -- A California man has been charged with felony animal cruelty after authorities ...
Animal cruelty charges to be filed in Chihuahua golf club deathLos Angeles Times

all 194 news articles »


Middle Smithfield golf course at Country Club of the Poconos to open in spring
Pocono Record
By David Pierce The Middle Smithfield Township golf course at Country Club of the Poconos will reopen this spring, township supervisors agreed 2-1 Tuesday. Earlier in Tuesday's meeting, supervisors took the first step toward rescinding a controversial ...

and more »


Yahoo! Eurosport UK

The winning learning curve can be painful
ESPN
If there was ever any question about how difficult it is to win a professional golf tournament, the past two weeks on the PGA Tour certainly offered up some compelling evidence. Kyle Stanley and Spencer Levin seemingly had their respective tournaments ...
Five things we learned from the Waste Management OpenYahoo! Sports (blog)
Stanley's Coach Revels in Pupil's VictoryCybergolf National
The Two-Way : NPRNPR
Golf Channel -bettor.com (blog)
all 58 news articles »


Yahoo! Sports

A Look at Disc Golf's 6th Annual J-Park Ice Bowl on February 11 in Coeymans ...
Yahoo! Sports
Contributor Network 3 hours, 9 minutes ago This weekend, the 6th Annual J-Park Ice Bowl tournament will be held on Saturday, February 11 in Coeymans, New York at the Joralemon Park Disc Golf Course. This is another great Ice Bowl event, ...
PHOTO GALLERY: Ice Bowl Disc Golf TournamentLongboat Observer

all 4 news articles »


Police Log: Man reports golf club attack
Tracy Press
by TP staff A caller reported a man tried to hit another man with a golf club on the 900 block of West Ninth Street at 11:28 am Monday, Feb. 6. The caller said that two men and a woman were fighting, and the woman kept going in and out of a house ...

and more »


The Official Site of Aztec Athletics

Women's Golf Finishes Fourth At Wildcat Invite
CUBuffs.com
23 University of Colorado women's golf team finished its first event of the spring by finishing fourth at the Arizona Wildcat Invitational, held here at the Vistoso Golf Club. The Buffs shot a final round 22-over par 310 to finish 41-over par 905.
Women's Golf Moves Up To Ninth Place At Wildcat InviteThe Official Site of Aztec Athletics
Women's Golf, Gidali Win at VistosoArizonawildcats.com
Viking Golfers 13th Overall Wildcat InvitationalPortland State Vikings
NMSU Aggies
all 9 news articles »

Google News

home | site map
© 2007