Sweet Spots
By Larry Olmsted

If you’re not satisfied with the results when your golf swing meets the ball, do what the pros do—have a fit. Here are some spots to get custom-fitted clubs.

When Masters champions such as Fred Couples and Mike Weir need new clubs, they don’t go to the corner store. They go to TaylorMade’s research facility in Carlsbad, California, where they can wear sensors all over their bodies as a giant computerized simulator precisely measures every aspect of their swing. So can you.

If you own clubs, they should be custom fitted, pure and simple. The best custom fitters can optimize your performance by varying the shaft flex, lie and lofts of the clubs you carry. TaylorMade is just one of the leading club manufacturers now offering state-of-the-art custom club fitting to the public. Often there’s no charge for fitting, or it’s a credit against club purchase.

Top-of-the-line clubs typically cost $100–$150 per iron, $300–$600 per wood. Here’s where to go for the perfect fit: TaylorMade (760-918-6000, www.taylormadegolf.com): This technology was once available only to the company’s touring pros, but TaylorMade unveiled the first of a dozen computer-fitting centers at the Jones Creek Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, last year (706-364-4766). A PGA Learning Center at PGA Village in Port St. Lucie, Florida (772-468-7686, www.pgavillage.com), and the TaylorMade Performance Lab, in La Costa, California, should open by October. Ping (800-474-6434, www.pinggolf.com): More than 10,000 golfers visit Ping’s factory in Phoenix each year for factory fittings. Ping was the first large clubmaker to specialize in custom fitting, and today the majority of its sales are made to order. Callaway (888 223-7842, www.callawaygolf.com): The company offers fully computerized factory fittings at its Carlsbad, California, headquarters, and its Performance Centers in London, Tokyo and Seoul. The Callaway Performance Analysis System computer is also licensed to St. Andrews Golf stores in Las Vegas; Indian Wells Performance Center, in Indian Wells, California; and Golfdom, in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Most teaching pros recommend custom clubs for players of every ability. Golfers spend huge amounts of time and money on lessons, so if you could improve your game in just a half-hour fitting, why wouldn’t you?

Larry Olmsted is the editor of The Golf Insider and writes for many leading golf publications.

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