I have embarked on an important mission. I’m an 11-handicapper – or 10.6 as I’ll futilely tell anyone who will listen. I’ve dabbled with custom fitting.
I’ve stood in a shop and pretended that changing the odd shaft in front of a net constituted a customised club.
Never, though, have I been through the whole works – driver, irons, wedges, putter. Even the ball.
Given I’ve got to the brink of single figures essentially picking up clubs off a shelf, what could a real fitting – a proper investigation and the tools to suit – do for my game?
Would it propel me into the promised land of nine and under? Well, we’re going to find out.
Over the course of the next few months, I’ll put custom fitting to the test.
From the fitting, to gaming the clubs in a tournament situation, I’ll measure my stats and performance for every round once the 2018 season gets under way.
So I arrived at Titleist’s National Fitting Centre, at St Ives in Cambridge, in an inquisitive mood.
And, to begin with, all was well.
My driver has been a weak point in my game all year. I spent three months squirreling stats before departing for St Ives and the results were bleak.
I’ve averaged a paltry 206 yards off the tee and found only 38 per cent of fairways. If I’m serious about improving, that’s going to have to change.
My fitter, Daniel, had me purring with golfing anticipation within minutes. I’ve a tendency to hit the ball out of the top of the club off the tee. Modern drivers are lovely and forgiving but you’ll still lose a stack of distance if you’re roofing it all the time.
