Many of you have been to golf club Demo Days, and being tested and fit for irons by hitting on a lie board and determining the "right" lie angle for your clubs from this testing.

Sometimes this is an appropriate way to determine the best lie angle for your irons. But NOT always!  Recently we had a great discussion on the AGCP club fitting forum about this topic, and some of the best club fitters in the world taught all of us what IS the appropriate way to test and modify lie angles.

A good example is a recent lie angle testing session I did with a great ball striker.  He hit very consistent iron shots with a very small draw, the majority of his shots ended at his chosen target.  If anything, his misses were a bit left of his target.  However, all of his irons - when tested with a lie board - had slightly flat lie angles.

What if I - based on the lie board testing - bent his irons more upright?  Well, this would have changed his shot path from one with a slight draw that started a little right and ended at the target, to one that started at the target and ended a little left.  In this case, his lie angles were correct for his ball flight and preferred shot pattern.

Adjusting iron lie angles should always be done relative to the golfer's ball flight, and to his preferred shot pattern.  Simply looking at lie board results and bending clubs based on these is Not the optimum thing to do to help golfers.

I loved the statement that Roy Nix, AGCP Founder and AGCP Master Fitter said during our forum post on this topic - "Look at results, not process."  Well said!