Equipment: Feeling fit with your clubs

By Jennifer Gardner
GPA Equipment Editor

Being fit for your golf clubs is nearly as important as being fit for your suit -- sure, you can get one off the rack, but will it perform as well as something custom tailored to you?

While some equipment manufacturers, such as Ping, have relied on some level of custom fitting for years to help sell clubs, many are refining the process or unveiling new and improved solutions.

Find the right combination

For retail locations and pro shops that employ a custom fitter, the OptiFit cart provides a mind-boggling number of options. Fit into roughly 6 square feet of space, the cart can be on display in the shop, easily stored or wheeled up to the range or custom-fitting area.

Stored inside each cart are 24 driver clubheads and 24 iron clubheads.

Change them out with any of 29 driver or 29 iron shafts from Aldila, Fujikura, Graphite Design, True Temper, UST, Mitsubishi Rayon or Royal Precision. That comes to 1,396 different options.

Although the clubs come as components and are quickly assembled using a torque wrench, the quality is similar to manufactured clubs. In its advertising for OptiFit, the company promises that swing weight and location of the center of gravity are identical to what you'll get in your finished club.

Callaway started the OptiFit system with drivers only in spring 2006.

The first system had about 300 options to choose from. The new version, released April 15, has 1,396 different combinations.

For more, go to www.callawaygolf.com/en.cg.CustomFitting.OptifitSystem.html.

Get the ideal clubs

Ever thought you would like to try a hybrid club but just didn't know which club in your bag it would replace? Mizuno's got a new system to help you decide.

The "Hybrid Fit" club helps you figure out what clubs you need to fill the gap between a 3-wood and 5-iron so you get the perfect set of clubs for your game. The system measures a golfer's clubhead speed with a device that attaches to the club and the angle of attack with proprietary impact tape attached to the sole of each club. Using the feedback from the two measurements, fitters use Mizuno's "Set Optimizer" chart to predict the lift needed for ideal trajectory and recommend three specific clubs that will best suit that player's game.

"We're extremely excited to introduce this revolutionary 'Hybrid Fit'

club fitting tool to our over 2,000 fitting partners across the country," said Dick Lyons, vice president and general manager of Mizuno USA, Golf Division. "We have no doubt that this will not only aid the fitter in recommending the appropriate set make-up for their customers, but also help players of all abilities enhance their golfing experience by giving them the right set make-up to perform at their very best."

For more, go to www.mizunousa.com.

Club fitting, pro-style

Meanwhile, Cleveland Golf offers players the chance to get fit just like PGA Tour pros. If you travel to their Dallas-based studio, you can take advantage of the same software that Cleveland uses to get the right clubs for their professional staff.

In the studio, a radar-based tracking device works like a traditional launch monitor but provides even more precise measurements. Four cameras feed visual swing information into the software, which analyzes how each head and shaft combination works for the golfer being fitted.

When you've made a decision about the right equipment, you can get the clubs by the next day. Cleveland says they'll start the appointment-only fitting process in late April.

For more, go to www.GPIofDallas.com.