Mongrel Mon Dec 31, 2012 1:43 pm
Pky6471 wrote:http://www.golf-components.com/custom-golf-club-fitting.htmlI am 5'6" and shrinking to 5'5.5"... Sh$$$t... playing standard length club, in fact my driver is 45.5"-45.75" as measured by the USGA protocol. Am I doing it all wrong? Suggestions/thoughts from you guys/ girls/ AC-DC? Should I give up the golf game and buy myself a 24-ft yacht for Chesapeake bay ?
I've sailed the Chesapeake Bay in vessels ranging from 16 to 55 feet. The Bay is pretty benign but I hate nothing more than the typical summer wind-less day where your sails are just hanging there, it's 91 degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity is 98 per cent so it feels like 105. So I'd prefer to have a nice reliable small diesel motor that will move the ragboat at least 8-10 knots.
No matter how short or tall you are, club lengths are a matter of your individual build, athletic abilites and preferences. As a rule of thumb, I think I can safely state that the flatter you swing, the longer the clubs you can use. For myself, I will play clubs that I can swing with the most speed most consistently while hitting the center of the clubface reliably. I stand about 6 feet, weigh about 195 and have relatively broad shoulders and legs that are on the short side with a 30" inseam and a sleeve length of 36". Sort of a semi-knuckle-dragger. Through lots of trial and error, I believe that my optimum driver length is around 44.5" although I would like to experiment with a super-ultra-light driver shaft and try it longer. I've tried irons up to an inch longer than spec but ended up trimming their butts to a quarter inch over factory spec. These were Mizunos and there is considerable concensus that Mizuno's published standard specs for club lengths which have traditionally have been a quarter of an inch shorter than everyone else's, are stated without the grips which typically add a quarter inch to playing length. So the Mizuno stock 5 iron spec of 37.75" plays at 38" with grip installed. Just like all the rest of them. Then there is the relationship between length and lie angle with means about nothing with a club you hit off the tee but quite a bit with turf clubs. But that's another whole chapter and I'm sort of burned out on lie angle. I just got this set of Cobra FP's with Aldila graphite shafts and they are all about 1/2" over standard spec. Since they came with the original grips which are worn and bit and I don't like them anyway, I will probably start chopping their butts off a bit since their lies are more upright than I am used to and they are cast stainless so they won't bend like those Grain Flow Forged heads from you-know-where.
The first big tourney next year for all the event winners of 2012 of which I am one is in mid-April at Pilgrim's Oak. It is a Stableford event and I've already started getting my shit together for it. Equipment, swing, strategy--the entire nine yards.
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