Stupid questions

[arcartist]

I bought a TaylorMade R7 superquade left handed. I'm happy with it. The rest of my bag is a Tommy Armour Royal Scot set. I wanted to get in the game and it was pretty much all I could find let handed, cheap and quick...plus I didn't know anything anyway. I want to piece together a decent bag but I don't know where to start. How the hell do you try before you buy. Clubs are a gang of money and I don't have that much money to experiment with. What about buying heads and then having shafts made? What's the best deal you guys know of. I want to start with my FW woods #3 and #5. I think I want to get them fitted unless of course "off the rack" is my fit. Does anyone know how to measure ones self to even know what his club shaft length should be?...and a real stupid question...is this shaft length measured from the top of the grip to the top of the ferrule or is the whole gad damn club? Any help would be appreciated. I was hoping you guys had a new players forum so I could lurk in and let other noobs ask the stupid questions but it looks like I'm the only noob here. Seems ALL you guys have been playing a while. I'm asking you guys 'cause I don't trust them slack jawed salesmen in them golf shops. I know what they want...money to buy ponies for there children! Just looking for a point in the right direction

 

[Dusty90]

Although I can not help you with any of your questions at all, I am sure that there will be someone around shortly who will be able to answer every single one. The great thing about this place is that there is such a wealth of knowledge of clubs, and it doesnt matter if you are as you say a noob (I am much closer to this end) or an expert, everyone is treated the same.

 

[arcartist]

Thanks Dusty. I guess I'm just freaking out 'cause as I read these post I notice a lot of these guys are good. I've been posting jokes in the non golf forum wanting to get in this game and worried maybe I was in the wrong place. Does seem to be a lot good people here. I'm gonna chill...

 

[Clugnut]

Fitting is an interesting thing. There is what is called "static fitting", which takes into account your height and wrist to floor measurements, then gives you a guideline to use for lie angle and length. You can find one of those at the Ping golf website.

One other type of fitting is when you go to a clubmaker and hit actual balls off of a lie board. A good fitter will be able to get you close right away, and the lie from marks that are made on the sole of the club. A mark near the toe means they should be more upright, towards the heel means flatter.

A third option is what is called True Length Technology, or TLT for short. This type of fitting takes into account which club feels best in your hands right now, and builds a set around that best feeling length. A few members here have gone this route, and Lyle G is a registered fitter. PM him, and he'll send you a questionaire to fill out so he can get you into the best length.

I need to post and re-read your question. Man, this is a lot of typing!

 

[SilverUberXeno]

I'll attempt to answer. In the future, separate your questions with some spacing. Just makes it easier to cover everything Ha!

1.) Your clubs ARE decent, so don't think you're going to be embarrassed about your equipment.

2.) How do you try before you buy... If you're on the internet, or buying components (Wishon, SMT, etc.) you probably won't. You can go to a Golf Galaxy or similar shop in town and demo what you can, but it's ALWAYS tough for a lefty.

3.) Having shafts... MADE? That's not the way it works, really. Shafts are offered in many different weights and flexes with you can integrate with your natural swing tendancies. Generally with irons it's a measure of your swing-speed with a 5 iron. After that, it's best to look at your transition from backswing to downswing to see if that will alter the recommendation.

An abrupt, violent transition will warrant a stiffer shaft, for example. A smoother transition that doesn't flex the shaft so much will warrant something softer. It's GENERALLY better to go too soft than too stiff, but this is debateable. Too soft will FEEL better to you, while too stiff may provide better accuracy.

There are THOUSANDS of shafts available. In irons, FST makes very good shafts at a VERY reasonable price. In woods... There's a plethora. The UST Proforce V2 is popular and cheap.

4.) How to measure ideal club length... TLT (True Length Technology), of which LyleG is a registered fitter, is a great system that gives you ideal lengths for every club in your bag based on your wrist to floor measurement. It will give you, ideally, the same address position with EVERY club in your bag. It's some pretty solid mathematics, though I still think they worked the numbers backwards. I had my set built that way, and they're VERY comfortable at address.

After that, dynamic fitting will round out the system. This will account for some swing variation- if you tend to flatten the club at impact, a fitter can bend the lie angle slightly to account for this and keep you hitting the ball straight.

Send a private message to LyleG if you'd like your TLT lengths. It costs a little money, since it is a patented system, but it's not much, and it's WELL worth it.

5.) SHAFT length is measured from the end of the grip end to the end of the tip. A club's "playing length" is end of the grip end to the sole. In most clubs, the final play length will be at LEAST an inch more than what the shaft is by itself. Many Callaway club actually have the shafts installed right into the sole, as opposed to having them suspended elsewhere in the head, which means you'd need a longer shaft to acheive a normal play length. You can't know a shaft length, for sure, unless you remove the shaft from the head.

None of those were stupid questions, by the way.

 

[Clugnut]

Length is measure from the ground to the end of the grip. If you hold a ruler behind the club running under the shaft in the normal playing position, you can get length.

You can go to your local shop to demo clubs, or some golf courses and driving ranges have "demo days" which allows you to test gear. Also, many courses will have demo clubs you can borrow and take for a test drive. Of course, many of us just Ebay something and try it, then either keep it or re-sell it.

Don't worry about asking noob questions. That's part of the reason we are here. There is a lot of great info and people floating around here.

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

Many or even most of the bigger golf chains I have been to have LH mens clubs to demo for many of their clubs, it is usually the LH womens clubs that are hard to come by. Specifically for woods and hybrids. Maybe not all of the irons. Speaking from experience because my wife is LH and it took her close to 4-6 months to finally get all her clubs when the airlines lost her set. She had to basically demo mens clubs and just pray the shaft was acceptable.

edit 1 - may be worth looking in the used club section for ones they don't carry. Would at least allow you to demo even if you want new. They also many times have at least the LH 6i in their demoing areas if they don't have the sets on the rack.

 

[MIKE1218]

No such thing as a stupid question on some topics. How do you think everybody here knows so much? They asked questions.

 

[Wi-Golfer]

No such thing as a stupid question on some topics. How do you think everybody here knows so much? They asked questions.

I have a T-shirt with this saying "there are no stupid questions, just stupid people asking them".:biglol: