What is a "Magic" Golf Club?
 

A "Magic Club" is the special club that you look forward to hitting because it comes through in the clutch. It makes the "miracle shot" when you need to reach the green from a hopeless spot. It's the club you pull even if it's not the right distance because you know how to "step on it" or "lay it off". True Magic Clubs are rare.

Over the years, attention focused on drivers. Every golfer wants more distance. Technically advanced driver head designs matched with lightweight, exotic shafts have delivered improved performance every year for almost twenty years.

But now, the focus on driver performance is shifting from raw distance to accuracy. The new high moment of inertia (MOI) heads are leading the way. But there is another, even newer, area of invention - changing the way your club works with sophisticated balancing techniques.

We have used counterweights at the Golf Lab for many years to squeeze a little more ball speed out of a driver. But now, we're finding that we can make dramatic changes to the way a golf club works by fixing weights inside the shaft in different positions - and that includes irons as well as drivers. This is new and emerging science - not yet well understood - but we think that it could lead to another breakthrough in the search for your "Magic Clubs".

 

 Finding your own "Magic Clubs"
 

At the Golf Lab, we passed our "Golf Nut" certification years ago. Since then, we've learned how to test a player's swing, what happens to the club before impact and what happens to the ball in flight. Then we build the exact "Magic Club" club to match your unique swing, promote consistency and produce perfect launch ballistics. How do we do that?

It starts with "connections". We're members of all of the professional organizations. They fill our inbox with the latest industry news. If a new fitting technique or electronic gizmo shows up, we know about it the day it comes out. Our methods are always state-of-the-art.

Every day, we check out the current postings on the key online forums. There is no better way to find "what works" than online. Here are some of our favorite links to help you check out the best current information on new golf clubs for yourself: Golf Equipment Aficionados (www.4gea.com), Bombsquadgolf.com (www.bombsqu adgolf.com), Golfwrx (www.golfwrx.com), Golf Discussions (www.golfdiscu ssions.com) and Golf Ball Selector (www.golfballse lector.com ). We know the latest "buzz".



We have special relationships with many of our vendors that permit us to buy their driver and iron heads in "component" form. If we build a custom golf club for you we don't have to tear apart a finished set of clubs to replace the shafts with custom-fitted high performance shafts. You get good "value for money". We can build your custom set for a slight premium over off-the-rack.

Most of all, we're close to our customers. After a fitting, we do more than simply prescribe a golf club with certain specifications. We go way beyond that. After the electronic testing, we'll give you a test club from our extensive array of demos to hit outdoors at the range. We want you to feel the excitement of seeing the ball fly higher and farther.

If we don't have a test club that matches your specifications, we'll build one for you. How will that club perform? There's no guesswork, we conduct follow up testing with our state-of-the-art launch monitors to compare the performance of the test club to your current clubs. The improvement will be measured by ball speed, launch angle, spin rate and consistency. Then, you can take our test clubs to your own course. We sell improved results - and we prove it.

 

 Fitting for Flex with the Shaft Max
 

With all of the millions of dollars that the big companies have spent on their electronic systems, even Callaway and Taylor Made can't match one capability that we have at the Golf Lab. Through our partnership with Max Out Golf Labs we have a unique electronic fitting tool - the Shaft Max. There are fewer than a dozen Shaft Max installations in the US and two dozen in the entire world.

The Shaft Max is a series of instrumented golf clubs that measure the deflection of the shaft when you swing. The deflection is plotted against a timeline. The result is a graph that shows your acceleration and reveals the way you "load" the shaft. With that graph and the other data supplied by the Shaft Max, we know your tempo and where and how much the shaft bends prior to impact. That allows us to select the best shaft weight, flex and "bend profile" to fit your swing. The perfect bend profile is important. Players who deflect the tip of the shaft a lot require a stiff tip for accuracy. Other players might require a soft tip to optimize ball speed and launch angle.

Why is the Shaft Max important? It gives us confidence to make recommendations that no other club fitters would even dream of making. Every week, we see senior players with slow swing speeds who "load" the shaft well. We fit them with extra stiff shafts. That might sound outrageous, but it happens frequently. Are those fittings correct? Absolutely. If we make a recommendation that's different from the "conventional wisdom" we always confirm the results with launch monitors testing. Then we make sure with on-course testing.

The opposite also happens. Players with very fast swing speeds may not load the shaft much. We will recommend much more flexible shafts for them. Once again, we have the confidence to make an unconventional recommendation because of our electronics and experience.

A note of caution for women: Most of the graphite shafts supplied with current Big Brands are too flexible. Women who are serious about improving should have their iron shafts tested.

 

 Custom Fitting Shafts
 

Once we have the Shaft Max data in hand we select the best shaft from a vast number of possibilities. There are several thousand graphite shaft models available today. Which one will perform the best for you?

The shaft manufacturers have all figured out how to make their shafts lighter. For some players, a lighter shaft will produce higher ball speeds and consequently more distance. There is a second benefit to lighter shafts: they allow you to play a longer driver. If you can handle a 47" or 48" driver, that's probably the best way to get a significant increase in distance.

If you want to see if a longer driver will perform for you, you don't have to spend your money before you find out. All fitting clients are welcome to test our drivers at the range and on the course. That service is included with our fitting. Many players, especially seniors, find that a long driver delivers up to twenty yards of extra distance.

The actual performance of your driver and all of our test drivers is recorded by our Max Out "Launch Max" launch monitor. Every shot is recorded for ball speed, launch angle and spin rate. The results are compared with "theoretically perfect" - based on your ball speed. Armed with the Launch Max data, we can make minute changes in shafts and driver heads to produce the perfect launch ballistics.

 

 The Emerging "Science" of Weight and Balance
 

The final "tweak" for your driver is to experiment with weight and balance. Several years ago, we discovered that adding a weight under the grip increased ball speed for most players by up to 3 MPH. That translates to ten yards of distance. We call it "free distance" because it requires no other modifications. Finding the best weight requires launch monitor testing. We add a weight, test for ball speed. Try a heavier weight and test again. The idea is to find the weight that produces the highest ball speed. You can't do that by hand and by eye.

Now, Jeff Lindner and John Cranston, the "Balance Boys" at Balance-Certified have a new invention. This is a weight that is similar to the original, but built on a "stem" that places most of the weight down the shaft under your right hand. They call it the "shaft stabilizer". The selling point is that it increases "moment of inertia". That claim is in tune with the latest trend in driver head designs. This is a very new product and I've only had it for testing for less than a week. In installed it in my current "gamer" a Nike SUMO2 with a Mitsubishi Whiteboard shaft. Loft is 10.5*. I found that the ball flight was lower. I imagined that the extra weight under my hands helped me stay on plane a little better. But, I started with the heavier weight. Our experience is that most players choose weights that are too heavy. My view is that if you can feel the weight, it is too heavy. I'll be working through the options over the next month and will report back.

 

 Product Testing Opportunity
 

If you want to find out for sure if balancing your clubs will work for you, there is a way.

For any Golf Lab fitting client, we will install and perform launch monitor tests with the Shaft Stabilizer. If the tests show positive results, we'll leave the Stabilizer installed in your driver and you can take it to the course for a couple of weeks to see what happens. Some players report longer distance. Some report better control. Some report better trajectory. This is a new product so there has been little scientific testing. You can join us on the "bleeding edge".

A second option is to test a new idea invented by John Johnson at Tour Lock Golf. He's figured a way to place weight well down the shaft. John is a former Tour Professional so he knows what a well balanced club feels like. He's convinced that moving weight down the shaft helps him stay on plane and promotes a more efficient and consistent release. If you want to see for yourself, join the "product tester" program at the Golf Lab.

There is no cost for joining the Golf Lab "Product Tester" program.

 

 Moment of Inertia (MOI) is Here to Stay
 

It wouldn't be a Golf Lab newsletter if I didn't spend a little time on the "products that work". For 2008, there is one clear winner. The Nike SUMO2 - 5900. The "5900" stands for the MOI rating - a scientific measurement and calculation expressed as "grams, centimeters squared" - but which I shorten to "MOI points". The USGA-imposed limit on "MOI points" just happens to be 5900 so Nike topped out the formula.

The new SUMO2 - 5900 has been our top seller. After we complete a fitting, we give each client three or four drivers to take to the range and see which one lights his hair on fire. More often than not, it's the SUMO2. The reason? The SUMO just goes straight. And, no small accomplishment - it's not too loud and the styling is almost conservative - at least for a square driver.

 

 Have Some Fun, Hit Better Drives, Save Some Money
 

Another unique thing about the Golf Lab is that we cater to customers who like a bargain. That's the reason that we "recycle" shafts and stockpile great driver and iron designs from years' past to rebuild.

Most players don't need to squeeze the last six inches out of their best drive. For those players, a very good alternative is to rebuild a top performing design.

If you're looking for a great driver, we have a stock of Adams 460D's and Bridgestone J-33's from the last couple of years. We also have last year's Nike models. Fitted out with a correct shaft, they will be all the driver you need if you only play four or five times a month and if your driver budget is $199 to $299. There's no reason to buy "off-the-rack" when you can have high performance, custom fitted for the same price.

The same goes for irons. You can buy the "best" - Miuras - custom fitted and decked out for $220 per stick. Or, you can have a very nice set of forged Bridgestone J-33 Combos - also custom fitted and decked out for $100 per stick. If you want the best, we have that. If you want the best value, we have that too.

 

 See Us at the San Mateo Golf Show
 

Next weekend, we'll be at the San Mateo Golf Show. The entire "Golf Lab Gang" will be there: Eric Jones and Rick LaForette will be giving mini-lessons. Heather Hughes on putting. Tim Durgin representing Penneagle putters. The Impractice video training system.

And we'll have our Trackman and Kudu indoor radars for your inspection. Finally, there will be a show special featuring the new "interchangeable heads and shafts". The Show is at the San Mateo Fairgrounds and runs from Friday, March 14 to Sunday, March 16.

 

 Book Your Golf Lab Fitting Today
 

Every week, new customers come to the Golf Lab. They almost always say: "I've been thinking about this for two years". When it's all over and they've got their new "Magic Clubs" they say "I should have done this sooner."

Leith Anderson and Bob Huff are the most experienced club fitters in Northern California. Leith has seven years of continuous experience, writes a popular monthly article on golf equipment - published for the last six years in Golf Today Magazine. Here's a link to those articles. Bob has over fifteen years of experience fitting golf clubs. Although not active every day, Bob is still available by appointment. If you're a lefty, Bob is your guy.

Complete fittings take more than three hours, including range testing and follow-up. A full fitting is $245. If you'd like to break it up, you can do a driver fitting for $125 or an irons fitting for $125. Your total satisfaction is guaranteed. Give us a call to book your fitting today - (650) 493-1770. We need the business.