SERVICES

Our Way of Doing Things

Any custom golf shop worth its reputation establishes its "own way" of doing things. Those "tricks of the trade" are experimental at first – a few willing customers take the chance on a new idea. They come back reporting success. These ideas get refined and eventually become the "things that we do".

Our fitting methodology, described in detail in another section, discusses methods that are "standard" as well as the unique discoveries that distinguish Zook Custom Clubs. We thought it would be a good idea to discuss some of the things about how we put sets together that are relatively unknown and others that we have found are better if not done "by the book".  For players who are reading the Zook Custom Clubs website, this section should provide some "food for thought" and questions you can ask your personal club maker.

Counter Balancing

Counter-balancing golf clubs with Balance-Certified Stabilizers and/or Tour Lock Opti-Vibe weights has produced extraordinary results for players of all skill levels. Changing the balance of a golf club can make it easier to swing. It can increase swing speed and help a player swing more consistently. We conduct fittings for counterweights with our Flightscope Launch Monitor. Starting with a driver, we record a series of shots. We then test with a light Stabilizer and a heavy Stabilizer and compare the results. Most of the time, swing speed will increase by 2-4 MPH and the center contact percentage improves. And, most of the time, the consistency of a player's swing path and face angle at impact improves. Once we find the correct weight, we make ask that the player visits the range to make sure his results outdoors are the same.

The same method works for irons. In late the 2010's, we started to experiment with Opti-Vibe weights positioned under a player's lower hand in an iron shaft. Counter weighting golf clubs is still an emerging science with very few practitioners. If you haven't tried it, maybe now is the time to see for yourself.  Counter weighting seems to produce the best results for players with moderate swing speeds. The only players who show less benefit, as a group, are very high swing speed, very low index tournament players.

The most dramatic results have been achieved by combining the lightest weight shafts with fifteen gram Opti-Vibe weights under the lower hand and a twelve gram weight in the butt. The contrast between shaft weight and the counterweights produces a feel different from any other shaft and counter weight combination.

SPINE ALIGNMENT ™ 

SPINE ALIGNMENT ™ is a process to test and align shafts before installation in golf clubs.

Golf shafts are imperfect objects – whether built by hand or mass produced on a machine. Internal stresses can cause a shaft to perform irregularly. In a game where a fraction of an inch closer to center can be the difference between a birdie and a bogey – a high percentage of PGA Tour professionals take advantage of the Spine Alignment.

The SPINE ALIGNMENT ™ process.

Aligning a shaft occurs in two steps. First, the shaft is tested with a sensitive load cell that determines the exact point where it is the stiffest. In Spine Alignment nomenclature, that is referred to as the "hard side". SPINE ALIGNMENT doctrine declares that the "most stable plane" of a shaft occurs when the hard side is positioned at 9 o'clock in the line of flight.

The second operation utilizes laser accelerometers fastened to a tip mass to find the most stable "FLO plane". ("FLO" stands for "flat line oscillation"). The shaft is "twanged" in a horizontal plane, starting with the hard side at 9 o'clock. The instrument guides the operator a few degrees in each direction to find the flattest "FLO plane". The shaft is then installed in that position.  Every shaft contains irregularities in straightness, roundness and stiffness that are inherent to the manufacturing process. These structural inconsistencies can affect a shaft’s performance, depending on how the shaft is aligned in the club head. Spine Alignment  locates the most stable orientation of any shaft,

Proprietary testing has shown that SPINE ALIGNMENT™  improves the performance of shafts.

Moment of Inertia Matching vs Swingweight

Matching golf clubs by swing weight was "invented" in 1922, and not much has changed since then.  Matched swing weights is the only indicator of verifiable quality in off the rack golf clubs. There's a relatively "new" method in recent years that is gaining a loyal following among custom club makers. Moment of Inertia (MOI) matching is aimed at matching the feel of clubs IN MOTION, rather than when resting on a scale.

This is not a new concept – it was just complicated to perform. We conducted extensive club testing and went through Tom Wishon Technology certification several years ago.

In those days, MOI matching was a tedious process that added several hours to building a set of clubs. As happens with many new ideas, the results were subtle and the new golf clubs got credit for improving a player's performance – while the fact that they were MOI matched was soon forgotten.

Recent advances in electronic testing devices has made MOI matching much easier. When you think about the way a typical set of irons sets up, the wedges are frequently quite heavy – by choice – at somewhere between D-5 and D-9 on the swing weight scale. Doesn't it stand to reason that the set would feel better if the swing weights were set to increase gradually rather than jump from the nine iron to the wedges?  MOI matching only costs time and money.

"Standard" Club Lengths

The "conventional wisdom" of club lengths involves measuring the distance from the crease in a player's wrist to the floor. "Wrist to floor" measurements are then converted into a chart which gives the recommended club length. Off the rack sets are set at a ½" club to club progression.

Since most players have increased difficulty hitting long irons, we vary the club length at the long end of the set. Starting with a player's "most reliable" iron, we increase club length by a dimension set with a mathematical calculation so that player posture and lie angle are the same for each  iron in the bag rather than ½".

Wedges present the opposite problem. Rather than decreasing the length from a player's pitching wedge through gap wedge, we suggest that a player consider leaving all of his wedges the same length. At a minimum, the wedges should not decrease in length by more than ¼".

Women and juniors frequently find themselves playing irons that are too long. It is not wise to buy a set of golf clubs that a junior will "grow into" or to pass down those clubs that you can't hit.

Finally, in fitting for length it is important to judge the "correct" length from the player's stance and swing rather than "by the chart". Tall, strong players with upright setup positions might require a little more shaft length to feel comfortable.

Think True Length Technology, it's a system that really works!

"Standard" Swing Weight

When you buy golf clubs off the rack, there is a high probability that the irons will be a C-8 to D-2 swing weight. The way swing weight is measured is discussed in another section of the Zook Custom Clubs website.

How do you know that D-0 is right for you?  In fact, for a lot of players, particularly good players, D-1 is too light. When you think about the underlying physics, more distance is obtained with higher club speed. But, if a player can swing a heavier club at the same speed – pretty common for good players – he will get more distance from a club with a heavier head. Plus, a heavier club might well "stay on plane" better.

At Zook Custom Clubs, we have found a way to test for ideal swing weight. Starting with a player's own club at say D-1, we record a series of shots with our Flightscope Launch Monitor. We then add strips of lead tape to increase swing weight a couple of points. The player hits another series of shots. If ball speed increases, we go again. We continue to increase swing weight until ball speed begins to decline. Then, we step back to the prior weight.

A secondary benefit is that frequently swing path and face angle at impact become more consistent.  It is common for Tour players to end up with irons that are D-4 to D-6 swing weight. Don't be afraid of "heavy" swing weights.

"Standard" Lie Angles

We always fit irons for lie angle dynamically. A player swings his own clubs, hitting a ball from a lie board. An adhesive label on the bottom of the club indicates the spot that strikes the hard surface. The conventional wisdom says make sure the marks are in the center of the sole.

Most iron sets that come off the rack employ some conventional progression of lie angles – sometimes half a degree, sometimes a degree. The reference point is usually based on a 60* or 61* five iron.

It is important to understand how the lie angles affect shot shape. A lie angle that is too upright will tend to help a player "turn the club over". Assistance hitting the high draw is a good thing with long irons. Therefore, when we set lie angles, we try to find a spot just slightly toward the heel of the club with long irons. Our opinion? A little help to produce a draw and keep from losing a long iron right is a good thing.

Just the opposite with short irons, especially wedges. To start, an incorrect lie angle will cause a bigger miss with short irons due to the effect of loft. The dangerous miss with wedges is "long left". The danger is compounded by a tendency for players to "grip down" on wedges, hold their hands a little lower and try for the "knock down" shot.

All of those tendencies exacerbate the tendency to flatten the lie and consequently to miss long left.

When fitting lie for wedges, we like a contact point just slightly toward the toe from center. At times, we will even flatten the lie angle from the pitching wedge for the sand and lob wedges. Some player tendencies are hard to find indoors but very easy to spot on the golf course or the driving range.

"Standard" Loft Angles

Over time, as you use your irons, you may notice a gap issue - you don't hit certain clubs 10 yards different from the clubs next to them in your bag. Or you just don't get the distance you used to....  did you know that instead of buying new irons, you can have the loft changed to regain some of the length you're missing or to correct gap issues? Call and make an appointment to check and adjust the loft & lie your irons and wedges. We have replaced our analog bending machines with new, state of the art digital machines.

"Standard" Grip Size

We use a lot of midsize grips for men and we also use a lot of ‘mens' grips for women.

Most Tour Players will emphasize a "light grip pressure" as a key to playing well. It's hard to avoid squeezing a small grip.

We have also found in player testing with our Flightscope Launch Monitor that the consistency of face angle at impact is frequently improved by simply replacing a smaller grip with a larger grip.

Womens' clubs always come with "ladies" grips. A high percentage of women have very long fingers. Small grips cause uncomfortable digging into the palm of a player's upper hand.

Don't be seduced by soft grips. Feel is enhanced by the ability to feel vibration up the shaft. The very best grips for feel are velvet cords in the opinion of scientist Jeff Lindner from Balance-Certified.

If you don't like the feel of cord grips, try Tour Velvet from Golf Pride or Pure Grip, Crossline from Lamkin and Dri-Tac from Winn  are good choices.

Fix the Driver First

Most players who come to see us for a fitting want to start with the driver first. That's great for us because it's usually the "low hanging fruit". Why? Most drivers today are at least 45" long. Those are the short ones. Some are 45.5" or 46". When we put them on the swing weight scale, we never know what we're going to find. Some come in totally light-headed at D-0 or less and  others a sluggish D-9 and up.

One of the first questions we ask a player who comes in for a fitting in the "get acquainted" session is "how many catastrophic drives do you hit in an average round?" No player has ever said "zero". That includes very good players. Alas, a catastrophe to a low index player might be quite playable for a high handicapper.

Most players who are shooting over 90 have three to four drives that they classify as "catastrophic" every round. That includes sky balls, grounders, and over the fence or in the water. Catastrophic drives always result in at least a double bogey – frequently worse.

Our Pricing

We charge "street price" for our golf clubs. You never have to worry about paying more at  Zook Custom Clubs. That's why we charge separately for our fitting services. It is also why we don't deduct fitting fees from club prices. As a custom shop that has been around for many years, we know our market. If you want the best there is – finished to "Tour Quality" – we can do that. If you want the best you can buy for a price – we can do that too. The only difference is in the cost of the components: the heads, shafts and grips that we use. We can't quite match the price of a "bubble pack" from Costco – but we can come close. Why risk off the shelf, when you can get better quality, made to measure clubs that fit your swing?

We'd like to leave you with one though about value. Golf clubs are one of the very few products that an ordinary guy can buy that are exactly the same quality and finishing as the most elite players in the world. Put a set of Epon irons together with Nippon, KBS Tour or Aerotech shafts. Set them up with SPINE ALIGNMENT ™. Set the swing weights and flex perfectly. Tiger Woods couldn't do better. As preposterous as it might seem, try to imagine a set of irons that fits you perfectly. They perform better than any others you have owned. You win a few tournament trophies. You will love them and keep them for years. Think of the money you will save when you don't buy new clubs year after year looking for the next elusive "magic set".