Clone Golf Clubs- Are They Worth It? Part 2

Summary: Less Risk- More Cost- Go to a Certified Club Maker/Fitter This is the best approach to obtain high quality clubs that are right for you personally. It is also the best way for most golfers to improve their games. The cost savings you would achieve in the other approaches will be gone, but you will have high quality clone golf clubs that fit your swing. Do top PGA Tour players use off-the-shelf standard clubs? Not on your life. Even though they endorse certain brands and us...

Less Risk- More Cost- Go to a Certified Club Maker/Fitter This is the best approach to obtain high quality clubs that are right for you personally. It is also the best way for most golfers to improve their games. The cost savings you would achieve in the other approaches will be gone, but you will have high quality clone golf clubs that fit your swing. Do top PGA Tour players use off-the-shelf standard clubs? Not on your life. Even though they endorse certain brands and use clubs from their sponsors, those clubs have been modified and customized for each player. If the best players in the world need to have their clubs customized for their individual swings, wouldn't it benefit you as well, whose swing is less perfect? If you have a set of clubs made by a professional club maker/fitter who is certified by PCS (the Professional Clubmaker's Society- try to find a PCS Class A clubmaker) or the GCA (Golf Clubmaker's Assoc.), you will receive a set of clubs that will get everything possible out of your game. If this approach is beyond the means of your budget, it is possible to do a club fitting on-line. If you can find a professional accredited clubmaker from one of the two professional organizations mentioned above who offers on-line fitting and clubmaking services, that solution would be your best bet. To identify such a person, look on the web site of the PCA. Some Basics Before Buying Clubs Your professional club maker will collect a certain amount of data before choosing the components to make your clone golf clubs, and you should know this information even if you buy a set of standard, off-the-shelf clubs. He'll measure your swing speed with both a driver and five iron. He'll measure the distance from the floor to the top of our wrist to determine the proper length for your clubs (most standard clubs are too long). He will observe your swing and determine the proper loft for your driver and other clubs (most golfers use a driver with too little loft). He'll determine if you normally slice or fade the ball and make necessary adjustments in the club face settings. He'll ensure you have the proper lie angle on your irons, which can dramatically improve accuracy. In all there are more than two dozen adjustments a club maker can vary to optimize clubs for your swing, although of course some are more important than others. Conclusion You can approach procuring a set of clone golf clubs in three ways. You can simply find a web site that sells cheap clones, you can purchase quality components and assemble them yourself, or you can go to a certified professional club maker/fitter and get the best set possible for your game. Even if you can't afford the latter approach, you should at least know your swing speeds in order to choose proper shafts, and you should get clubs that are the proper length and correct loft for your size and swing. In addition, I would highly recommend that anyone looking to invest in a new set of golf clubs read Tom Wishon's book, "The Search for the Perfect Golf Club".