Should A 45-Handicap Golfer Consider Custom Fitting?

Golf Monthly

In this video, Genelle Aldred - a 45-index handicap golfer - goes for a fitting with PXG... But does it make a difference?

Transcript

00:00I'm Janelle Aldred and I'm a relatively new golfer. I've been playing for about 15 months

00:04and I'm already on my second driver and second set of irons. Now I've been wondering lately,

00:11is it my kit that's holding me back? Now of course a new golfer would say it's their kit

00:16that's holding them back, but a chat with master PXG fitter Jack Venn the other day actually

00:22convinced me. What he said was, you wouldn't expect someone to run a marathon in a pair of

00:27trainers that are a size too small. So PXG have kindly agreed to custom fit me here at the Drift

00:34Golf Club in Leatherhead to see if it is my kit that's holding me back and if I could make some

00:40gains if I changed my clubs to custom fits. PXG doesn't make golf clubs for men or for ladies,

00:46we make golf clubs that I can fit into anybody because we can offer different lengths, different

00:53weights, different flexes. So I'm going to build you up something that's very, very similar or as

00:58similar as I can get to your iron to not throw you off too much to start with from like a length

01:03and weight perspective. One thing I will say about these and you probably know it already, these are

01:10incredibly light. So this is the, this is the lightest golf club I've ever put on this machine.

01:15No. Yes. Yeah. So we'll build something up. I'm going to build something up as close to that as I can

01:20get and we'll kind of go from there. Oh, come on. Okay. Give me one more and I'm going to keep,

01:29I'm just going to keep changing it up until we find what's right. Better?

01:35Yes. Awesome. Still feel a bit too light? It still does feel a little bit light because I feel like

01:44when I'm hitting the ball, it's like I can really, it's like I can really feel it. So feedback for me

01:50is so essential. Um, so if at any point something feels too light, too heavy, um, just let me know

01:58because I don't want to work with something for you if you, if it doesn't feel right. Yeah. Feedback is

02:02massively important for me. Um, and it just means we don't have to persevere with something that

02:07doesn't feel right for you. That doesn't feel good. Yeah. Oh yeah. I can feel this feels a bit

02:11heavier. Feel a bit better. Yeah. Okay. Good. So just since that tiny bump up in weight, we're now

02:18starting to see better results, aren't we? And you called it before you even swung the golf club. It

02:22feels better. The reason I'm changing the lie angle is I can see that the golf ball is wanting to start

02:27right and stay right. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to, I'm going to change the overall

02:31line or the golf club to try and get it starting a bit more on target. So, um, the best way to

02:36describe it is if I, if, if we've got a golf and everybody's different, but if we've got a golf

02:42club, that's, that's too upright for you, the face is pointing left. Yeah. If we've got a golf club

02:47that's too flat, the face is pointing right. So we kind of want to get that ball starting at target.

02:52So I'm, I'm going to change this now to try and do that because you've hit some great shots,

02:56but they're just starting a little bit right. So I'm going to move it a fraction more upright

03:00to try and bring that ball back round to the left. Because before my natural shot,

03:06a bit more of a draw. Okay. But since I've had these irons, my miss has been right. And before

03:11my miss was never right. It was always left. It would be a draw or a hook.

03:15There it is. So look at that for a ball flight, you know, that's not gone right. It's not started

03:24right before, you know, you, you, you struck some really nice golf shots, but they're starting

03:28right. They're staying right. That assures me that that lie angle now is spot on. You've just stood

03:33up and hit two golf shots. Firstly, look at your dispersion. Yeah. Those two are on top of each

03:37other. Yeah. Secondly, the ball flight, thirdly the strike. That's really impressive. That's really

03:42good. That's really good. So I'm really happy with where these are. Okay. So you, yeah, you've got

03:49quite a lot of pressure from your fingers, um, in there. If you do that for me now with that one.

03:54So grip that. Okay. And now remove. Yeah. So this is too small. I would put you in this one.

04:00Brilliant. Yeah. Cause this does feel better. Feels more comfortable. Feels more comfortable. Yeah.

04:05I think that's kind of spot on. It's kind of spot on. Yeah. Cause what we could do, like, if this is,

04:10if you're happy with the thickness and that, but you know, perhaps going up to a midsize is too big,

04:15the way that we can kind of play around with that is while we can make that a tiny bit thicker

04:19without going to a thicker grid. Okay. Just by adding a couple of layers of tape. Yeah.

04:24So, um, on my worst days, this can't even get me off the tee on my worst days.

04:31So the first thing I'm going to do, Janelle, just from what I can see is we need to get the golf ball

04:44in the air quicker. We can, we can get you launching the golf ball higher. Uh, the ball will stay in the

04:50air for longer and it'll go further. So that's the first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to look

04:53at the loft of your golf club. So you're a 10 and a half degree loft and you've lofted it up to 11 and a

04:59half. I'm going to give you a 12 degree head to start. Okay. Okay. Good strike. My initial thoughts are

05:08this is too long. So I'm going to go a tiny bit shorter. Okay. So, and this, this is a great point

05:15as well when, uh, you know, at the start where I'm telling you, we don't make golf clubs for men or

05:21ladies. We make golf clubs. So this is a perfect example, right? So I'm putting you in a shaft now,

05:26which is cast as an A flex. So you're not in a, you're not in what would be known as a lady's

05:31flex or anything like that. So this is where we really just tailor golf clubs into your speed,

05:36your strike. Have a go with this one. This is going to feel a little bit shorter, feel a bit

05:41more comfortable. Yes. Cause I can actually do the, you don't feel like you stood too far away.

05:46No. And I can do the. So that strike was like brilliant. Golf shot. That's awesome.

05:59That was decent. That was awesome. So I see you, I mean, your, your cover to be exact. I saw you top

06:06out at 79. Okay. Which is quite some speed. Yeah. Um, I see this being a bit further up for you

06:14personally. Um, at the moment you're just hitting it a little bit out to the right. I'll make one

06:19more change and then we'll go from there. If anything, I would say you're launching at a

06:23fraction too high. Okay. Yeah. So I'm going to drop you back down again, but I'm going to have

06:29it playing at 12, at 12 degrees in a 10 and a half head. So what I'm doing there is when

06:36you loft the driver up, it closes the face. Yeah. So the reason I'm closing the face is

06:40cause I don't want you to hit it right. Yeah. If that's your bad shot. I want to try and take

06:44that away from you a little bit. Yeah. This does feel better.

06:55Massive difference.

06:59Oh, that's nice. I just, so it's, it's quite a common thing that I see it and it's probably

07:04amongst 90% of amateur golfers are better with more loft than less. Yeah. So if I give

07:11you a wood like this, that's 21 degrees, you're probably going to hit that further than the

07:15wood that's got 15 degrees because there's more, there's more loft. The ball's up in the

07:19air quicker. It's in the air for longer. So therefore it's going a bit further. Nice.

07:28Nice. Little draw.

07:29Maybe it's all in my head that I need this, but on par fives, I think I struggle a bit

07:37because if I don't get off the tee well, I'll just take irons all round for safety. Right.

07:43Because I might be panicking. Okay. But I could do with. Yes. Awesome. Great golf swing.

07:51How good was that? That was nice. Oh my God. That's real pretty.

07:56Best shot of the day. I really enjoyed that fitting session with Brandon today. And it

08:09wasn't just the fact that I love data. So anything like track man or the lie angle or looking at,

08:16are you hitting up or hitting down? I love all of that. Anyway, I've got the watch, all of that kind

08:20of stuff. But actually what was really good for me today was to know I'm not flattering myself when

08:24I think that my kit is beginning to hold me back. My swing's improved. I'm a bit faster.

08:30And actually the kit I've got, whilst it's great, it's not a great fit for me. And so a few things

08:35that I take away from this custom fitting is that one, you're probably not ever too soon in your

08:40beginner journey to get custom fitted. Because actually in terms of replacing a kit already in my

08:4615 month journey, getting things cut down and all of those different things, I probably spent a decent

08:52amount of money that if I got fitted, I would have been more comfortable. Because actually once he

08:57adjusted the lie angle and the weight of the shaft and the length of it, immediately my swing just felt

09:03so much easier. I didn't feel like I was having to put all the effort that I feel like I'm putting

09:08into my swing sometimes to really get into it. So I would definitely get fitted sooner. Second of all,

09:13as a new golfer, it's so easy to feel like a bit of an imposter. And, you know, even the thought of

09:17saying to someone, you know, I'm going to get fitted for clubs is kind of, well, who do you think you

09:21are? Because of course you would think it's the clubs and not, and not you. But just getting fitted

09:26today and beginning to understand a bit more about how my body works well with a club actually makes

09:32me feel like a bit more of a golfer. And that imposter stuff kind of begins to go away because

09:37actually I can play golf, I can hit the ball and I'm at the stage where I also need to have

09:42the right kit to fit with me. And so it was nice to hear from Brandon that actually I'm not making

09:47it all up in my head, but actually my kit was beginning to hold me back. And today I felt like

09:52I'm not making it all up there.

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