Senior Golfers

WE SPECIALIZE IN CUSTOM FITTING FOR SENIORS
In the golf industry it is customary to define “seniors” as men 50 years of age and older. We don't like that definition because it fails to tell us anything about the player’s needs – his current skill level – which has to be analyzed carefully to place him in the right equipment which specifically fits his abilities. Seniors are just as varied, if not more so, than the rest of the population. We don't use the one size fits all approach. This would force many players to change their swing to suit the clubs. We work hard to do the reverse – to fit the clubs to specifically match the needs of the player.
 

PROBLEMS CAUSED BY POOR FITTING CLUBS

Clubs too long - loss of control - spray the ball - lose the ball.

Clubs too short - hunching, poor posture - restricted swing - short slices or pulls. 
Shafts too stiff - loss of distance, shots low and to the right. 
Shafts too flexible - high right or pulled left - must slow the swing to match the shaft. 
Off center hits - big loss of both distance and accuracy. 
Excessively low lofted heads - loss of carry and distance, slicing, excess effort.  

While most players realize the inaccuracy from off center hits, few are aware of the big distance loss that also occurs. Miss hits are glancing blows - they reduce the effective mass imparted to the ball. Repeated tests prove that square contact alone ( no increase in swing speed ) can result in a distance gain of 9 to 13 yards on virtually every club in the bag. fighting your clubs - adjusting your swing to fit them - just guarantees the problems.

One style of head cannot fit everybody, just as one shaft flex is insufficient for everybody.
 For example, one player may be having difficulty getting his fairway woods up in the air and needs low profile heads to provide lift. Another may have a slicing problem and needs a narrower head so he can square up the toe of the club more readily at impact. This is why we have a large selection of models, each technically dufferentiated to meet the needs of a great variety fo players.

Below we have our swing speed table and various comments which will help determining what you may need. Please read this carefully. Then go to the specific products outlined in the tabs on the left for final selection.

How do I determine the proper shaft Flex?

In general, you should use the following table, illustrating various swing speeds and ball carry in the air, while using a driver:-

Note:  All wood shafts are our own proprietary and patented design.

This table will work well for most players. (Frequent players, those with low handicaps, may have to adjust their shaft flex a little per the special considerations below.) It is most important that the player carefully note what his average drive is and work off of that. He should not select the shaft flex based on his best drive of the week. Unfortunately, many players are using shafts that are too stiff for them. (also see 12 of the Technology section marked Torque & Shaft Dynamics ).They find it hard to get the stiffer shaft to snap through the ball during release, so they begin to tighten their grip on the club, trying to find extra power, and end up shoving their hands forward in the downswing. This prematurely releases the shaft and the stored energy of the bending of the shaft is spent prior to arriving at the ball. In fact the shaft decelerates and tends to twist open.

What you would like to see is an unstrained and smooth downswing, with the clubhead overtaking the hands just before impact, with the clubhead slingshoting towards the target, followed by a nice high finish near the left ear. Excess stiffness makes effortless swinging very difficult. The score card does not care what flex you use, just the results. Also, consistent hitting squarely in the middle of the club face will be difficult to do if you have any strain caused by the shaft flex.

Consistent square hits will provide a much better average of both distance and accuracy during a given round. (Please remember that it is MV or momentum you are generating to strike the ball. When you fail to make a square hit you are reducing the M factor, the effective mass, of the equation and are imparting a glancing blow to the ball. This necessarily reduces distance as well as accuracy). 

Since most players do not have access to a radar gun, they will have to rely on ball carry to determine shaft flex. Remember, it is carry in the air, not including roll after hitting the ground, that should be employed.

Those who are more frequent players, have lower handicaps, and generally carry the ball a long distance, may want to consider another factor in their shaft selection process. In the early 1990's, True Temper did a study which showed that how you load up the club during the downswing, how the shaft bends and releases towards impact with the ball, is important for shaft selection. The concept can be broken into two parts:-

A - Swing Plane. Players tend to fall into those who swing on a flatter plane, or on an upright plane. To visualize a flat swing, think of a baseball player swinging at a waist high pitch. The bat will travel in a path almost parallel to the ground. An upright swing can be viewed as a grandfather clock pendulum, tick-tocking perpendicular to the ground. Golf swings are somewhere in between these 2 extremes. Those who have flatter swing paths during the downswing tend to apply more torque to the system. Their right arm (the reverse of course for lefthanders), often crosses over their left arm earlier in the downswing. If such players are close to the limits of the above table, they may want to consider moving up one order of stiffness, i.e., R to S or S to X. Those who are quite upright in their swing path may want to consider the reverse and move down one order of stiffness.

B - Release point in the downswing. If your release- the point where the hands and wrists are square to your intended line of flight- happens somewhat early in the downswing, between the back foot and the middle of your body- then it is likely that you are also exerting more torque on the system. If your swing is not especially flat, you may want to consider moving up one order of flex stiffness rather like the flat swinger. The player who has a late release in his downswing, somewhere nearer the front heel or even slightly beyond the ball, may well want to consider moving down one order of shaft flex.