With the ever-increasing availability of custom fitting locations, there should be no excuse for not making sure your next set of clubs are perfectly suited for you. Many manufacturers even have online fitting tools to help you perfectly dial in your specs, based on a myriad of variables including; height, swing speed, ability and shot shaping requirements.
However, many of us still grab our clubs off the rack – in the standard length, loft, and lie provided by the manufacturer – without always taking the time to work out whether this shiny new purchase is suited to our game.
What length golf clubs do I need?
Even though golf club length is key to performance, surprisingly there isn’t a standard fitting procedure to dial in what club length will work best for you. As a general rule though, this will be based on your height. Shorter golfers need shorter clubs, and taller golfers want longer clubs.
The closest we have to a standardised process, is the wrist to floor measurement, which is used to physically correlate arm length, to golf club length. This is the distance from the floor to the crease of your wrist. This is then compared with your height to get a start point for what length clubs you should be using.
However, it’s important to note, that length of club isn’t solely dictated by your height, as your golfing posture and swing habits also play a key role – in addition to further physical aspects such as the length from your hands to the floor. For example, if you drop down and lose height at impact, you may suit shorter clubs than your wrist to floor measurement suggests.
One impact of an overly long club is that you’ll be forced to stand too upright to the ball in order to lie the sole of the club flat on the ground. This puts you in a sub-optimal position before you’ve even taken the club back.
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The additional length continues to hinder throughout the swing, with longer clubs often feeling uncomfortably heavy, and as though your body is getting in the way of the club as you try to complete your swing.
If your clubs are too long, a tendency would be to take the club away wider and further away from your body, to give yourself more room to turn. While this can be a position which some golfers enjoy on their takeaway (see: Rory McIlroy), if this isn’t natural, it will set the club awkwardly at the top of the swing.
