I’m just back from a trip to Gainsborough, where Ping’s European HQ is found and also their custom fitting centre.
I always enjoy my visits and find their team of fitters to be knowledgeable, understanding and patient.
This latest visit, though, was a little out of the ordinary and I thought it was worth sharing as an answer to a question I am frequently asked by club golfers: does custom fitting really make a difference?
Let’s go back to the start. Ping recently launched their iBlade irons. All their clubs are custom fit and their policy is only to supply clubs to us for testing that are dialled in to the individual tester.
I was asked for my preferred spec, but rather than going for my tried-and-trusted Project X Pxi 6.0s, a shaft I have used in my irons for the last two years or more, I decided to experiment.
I wanted to test out another shaft (it doesn’t matter which because that’s not the point) and because I was short of time, I simply asked for that manufacturer’s nearest equivalent with my usual length/lie/grips rather than going through a fitting.
The clubs came through and looked a million dollars. I took them straight out on the course. The initial results were mixed, but I thought that was just the unfamiliarity – a bit of practice and they would be fine.
I had a few hours spare one evening to get to grips with them and so I played a round of golf without my woods, meaning I was hitting at least at least two iron shots a hole on average.
I just couldn’t get the right results. Most shots leaked right, and all of them came up short. If you were drawing a dispersion graph, I would say a typical 7 iron was maybe four yards right and eight yards short. That’s a lot, on average.
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