i need help

i am looking at buying new irons but i went in to get some information on my swing. and i was given clubhead speed, angle, path, rotation, and inpact. an example of the info i got is as follows: 3 iron, clubhead speed-99mph, angle-4 degrees open, path-10 degrees in-out, rotation-1 degree open, impact-2 heel. i am unsure what info here i need to give my clubmaker to get the best irons for me. any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks

Hi,
Have you heard the term "techno baffle" the information you have received may be helpful one day when you playing off plus 5 but until then I suggest the best thing to do when buying new irons is to try before you buy and always stick with a major brand as this way you can be reassured that millions of pounds has been spent on research and development etc, if you choose to go for a non major brand be prepared to lose many $$$'s when you resell or part exchange.
Hope this helps.

Give it all to your clubmaker.

Please realize that, unless you were on a Trackman, all those numbers are based on being square to the launch monitor.

That said, clubhead speed is self explanatory.
Your face angle is 4° open to target.
Your path is 10° inside out to target.
This gives you a face angle that is 6° closed in relation to your swing path. In other words, you must be playing a small push with a draw/hook. The other thing to keep in mind is that if your face angle and swing path matched up at 10°, you'd be hitting a straight push.
Rotation is an interesting stat - I'm assuming it's face angle at impact vs either pre or post impact; post being best guess. It indicates that you're not closing the face through impact - or at least you didn't on the swing that generated the numbers.
Finally, it seems that you hit on the heel side of the face.

Now, how does this relate to what you should be doing for equipment?

Assuming that your swing won't change (in other words, these numbers represent the majority of your swings, and a typical ball flight), then I would suggest that you don't need much offset as you're closing the face down (so you don't need more time to do it). The other thing that less offset will do is bring your ball flight down a little. That's the other thing that you haven't mentioned: Your current trajectory. Are you looking to hit the ball higher? Lower? These are things you need to mention to your clubmaker so that s/he can suggest an appropriate head.

Carnoustiegolf brings up a good point as well: If you're not going to keep these irons very long, you may want to look into buying some OEM stuff. It holds its resale better than components and infinitely better than clones.

However, if you're going to play these for a while, it would be wiser, IMO, to go the component route and save yourself some money. Don't be fooled - the same amount of R&D goes into components as much as OEMs. The difference is that component companies don't pay pros to play their gear. When you see component stuff being played, it's because it works.

Like cmays has indicated, it's one thing to have the numbers, but they're useless if you can't interpret them. I guess that's what a good clubmaker is for.

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A new highlight: Golfing the home course on Christmas Day.

I say it too often: If it's golf club shaped, you can play with it.

For the record, I'm a club doctor, not a swing doctor.

That's a question that puzzles me.

How consistent do you have to be to make it worth while getting fitted?

Or to put it another way how can you ensure you get fitted for your "normal swing" not the "swing of the day" - especially as I'm pretty sure that my swing under scrutiny and measurement won't be as relaxed as when just playing.

robin
i got fitted after 12 months of playing and the clubs were perfect my game improved rapidly.
i suppose if your swing changes then it may mean a trip back to club maker to adjust the loft and lie

I just got through getting my club building certification through Golfworks, a Ralph Maltby company. He has been an engineer of clubs forever working with some of the biggest manufactures of equipment. In irons his recommendation is to use a five iron for getting swing speeds for irons. Plus the length from the wrist to the floor. As far as the rest goes he doesn't mention all of that until you start adding up the weight of the components to get idea of swingweight for the clubs. Then hitting off of a lie board to see if the clubs need adjusting. Hope this helps, contact www.golfworks.com these guys are good.

Chief301

My wife just made a suggestion and it stands to reason. She said she did not like the words clones and knockoffs. Since there is quite a bit of R&D that goes into off brand clubs and they have to meet the standards just like the namebrands. Why not use the word "replica" instead?

Chief301's Wife

Because your wife is only partially right.

Maltby, Wishon, et al are commonly referred to component manufacturers - not to be confused with clones. Component suppliers have the same manufacturing tolerances as OEMs, whereas clones have much looser tolerances. OEM and clone heads are subject to a better manufacturing process (due to tighter tolerances) and thus are less likely to fail compared to clones.

Now, if your wife meant components by 'off brand', then I agree and apologize. If she meant clones by 'off brand', then I hope she enjoyed her education.

Sorry for sounding naive but what are OEM's?

OEM=Original Equipment Manufacturer. to answer last post.

I think that it easy to think a newbee hacker is waisting money buying expensive fitted clubs. they should/could have their swing change over time.

But having said that, I feel that if someone is either new to golf or in general committed to playing the sport--they can get a lot more enjoyment and lower scores by taking the time to buy quality equipment that has been fitted to them. I would suggest going down the path of a Ping or a Callaway club or simular manufacturer that offers the ability to change shaft length, flex and lie angle to suit. Marketing aside, this really isn't a customized set, but a set that is GETTING there. When they get better, (low handicaps) then getting stuff further dialed in makes really good sense. A proper fitting can take quite a long time. If Pings are purchased, they can have their lie angles rebent up to 4 degrees (if I am not mistaken). there are winning pros on tour that still play the Ping eye 2 club which brings up a point that I think is worth mentioning in regard to older used clubs. Generally there are two ways to dial in a club for distance, control and aim---kinda like a strong force and a weak force. All the latest new clubs advertise MOI, etc---this is all weak force adjustments. Strong force adjustments are lie angle, shaft flex, shaft flex point, ball spin.... I guess what i am trying to say is that an older club fitted, will do quite a lot for someone's game. the recent club improvements say over the last 8 years or so (post Titanium drivers) have been very minor (weak marketing hype) adjustments.

I say go get a set of name brand clubs (not knockoffs) get them fitted and get them re-fitted as you get better at the game. Save money on the clubs, spend it on the course and lessons much better

ROI=Return on Investment

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SumoSid
"Moments of Greatness followed by Moments of horror."

I waffle between beginners investing in OEM clubs (as their swings aren't fittable yet, and OEM's hold their resale better), or investing in some 'general fit' affordable components. By 'general fit' I mean a fit based of static fitting numbers.