80 – 20 Fitting

Although I’ve retired from live, in person fittings I’m still fitting and building clubs. I use my expertise to help you order better clubs from the internet. Use the Contact Me Form to send me a message then you can pick the heads from the store and fill in the Wishon Shaft fitting software and with a few emails we can find what you need. My normal prices are reduced because you are not here in person. I can’t watch you and give you some of the tips to improve your ball striking I did when I did live fittings.

I am a Wishon Master Clubfitter and dealer now and my relationship with Tom Wishon goes back at least 18 years. His endorsement is below.

In my 80/20 method I can analyze 80% of your needs with a few key questions, and develop the other 20% based on a few answers from you after I read those answers. Once the answers are clarified I can fit you for a set of clubs. There are swing characteristics that show what you need in a shaft as well as a head design. Shafts have 3 main characteristics that help determine what you need. The butt stiffness of your shaft is determined mostly by your swing speed. The mid section of the shaft stiffness is mostly determined by how forceful you start your downswing and your overall swing tempo. The tip stiffness or your shaft is mostly determined by how late in your swing you release you wrist cock before impact. You will see questions about these on your order form.

 At the end of the day for example (not true all the time) I can ask the questions and make you a better set of clubs. I can watch your videos to verify your answers and tweak them a bit and maybe make them even better than without videos. With the questions I can get 80%, with the videos maybe another 5% or 10%. Fitting in person I might get a bit more because with my fitting system I was able to test you with the actual heads and shafts you will be getting and adjust them as you hit them (like the tour players do on the range sometimes) and make them even better. A certain number of golfers I will get almost the same results with questions and videos and a certain number I’ll only be able to get 90% to 95% as good as in person. I’ve noticed that when golfer get more distance online they get 10 to 15 yards or more but in person they might have an increase of 15 to 25 more yards. Not all, but some.

• I have a fitting form that I’ve developed over the years by observing the golfers I’ve worked with using the Flightscope swing analyzer. You order the form, I send it and you fill out the form and send it back then…
• We use email and telephone conversations to discuss the items in the form you fill out. Mostly email so I have a record to look back on as we progress.
• You send me video footage of you hitting golf shots so I can study them and we discuss your swing
• I combine the information you send me, evaluate it based on the video footage and determine what will work well for you to improve your golf game and help you hit better golf shots and score better.

The Benefits of Custom Fitting

• More Consistency
• More Accuracy
• Longer Tee Shots
• Longer Iron Shots
• More Fairways Hit
• More Greens Hit in Regulation, and
• Closer to the pin.
• Shorter approach putts
• More putts at birdie
  Which results in…
• More 1 putts
• Fewer 3 putts
• Lower Scores
• More enjoyment playing the game

By observing the swing I can get a reasonable approximation of the following.

• Is he upright of flat?
• Is he slow and smooth or quick and jerky?
• Ball position
• Swing Path
• Release
• *Angle of attack
• *Shot direction
• *Shot shape
• face angle can be deduced by * above if you understand D plane and ball flight laws
• depth of divot if you are on grass
• angle of divot if you are on grass

Things I can see…

Things I can hear if your video has sound…

• solid contact in center of the face
• off center hits

Things I can determine to a large degree from watching

• how far he hits the ball (not precise)
• launch angle
• swing speed
• ball speed

which will give me a reasonable guess at a range for

• length of club needed
• weight of club needed (lightweight graphite shafts or heavier steel shafts)
• flex of the shaft needed
• lie angle of your clubs if you need them more upright or flatter

From these deductions I can determine what will work for you. Or if you want me to I can assemble a test club for you to try before you buy you might say. Meaning if what you ordered isn’t what you may need before I assemble the whole set of clubs we can make changes for better or worse and make adjustment plus or minus on what you’ve already ordered. Then I will build the adjusted set based on the test club or clubs.

If you are familiar with Pareto’s Principle – a/k/a The 80-20 Rule… you will no doubt realize that almost anyone can do the first 80% and call that a fitting.

But that 80% of the fitting only corrects 20% of the golfers problems with his clubs. It’s the other 20% of the fitting that makes 80% of the improvements the golfer will get from properly fitted clubs.

Pareto’s Principle – The 80-20 Rule

From the information on the fitting form I get a picture of your game, from the video I get another piece of the full picture, from our email and any phone calls we can sort out the picture and get very close to where we need to be. If you want pay for a test club we can possible get even closer.

Buying a complete set of custom fitted golf clubs is expensive. Do your due diligence and ask around, read a few good books (I recommend Tom Wishon’s “The Search for the Perfect Golf Club”) and when you are comfortable you know what you want give me a call or send me an email at r.nix@mcnixgolf.com, or order your clubs from my store and select the level of custom fitting you want.