There are certain assumptions that golfers often make about their equipment. Associating height with club length is one such assumption that quite often is wrong. The reason is because many tall people have long arms and a lot of short people have normal length arms.
When we take our stance to hit a golf ball, it is the combination of our height AND our arm length that initially determines what club length is required to ensure that we are comfortable over the ball. But there is a lot more to advising the proper club length than one’s height and arm length. Our posture and whether we set up more erect or more bent over is another factor that contributes to the decision for how long our clubs need to be.
However, most important in the length decision for any golfer is an evaluation of certain swing characteristics of the golfer. There is an old saying in Clubfitting that goes like this, “the longer the length of the clubs, the more difficult they will be to control and the harder they will be to hit consistently on the center of the face.”
When fitting club length, the goal of any experienced clubfitter is to fit each golfer with the longest club length that they can control and hit on center with the highest level of consistency.
And therein lies the rub, as the old Bard used to say! Because properly fit clubs have to be long enough to offer enough comfort so the golfer is neither bending over or crouching too much, yet not too long to cause problems with hitting the ball as consistently on center as possible, it takes an experienced custom clubfitter to know just how to find that perfect balance when fitting golfers for the best length.
At Wishon Golf, we teach clubmakers to START the process by taking a measurement of the golfers’ distance from the wrist to the floor and comparing that measurement to a chart of initial starting lengths that we have developed from ongoing research with golfers over many years. Again – this is a STARTING POINT ONLY for length fitting and in no way represents the final length of the clubs.
| Tom Wishon Golf Technology® | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Wrist To Floor Measurement for Initial Club Lengths | |||
| Wrist to Floor | Driver Length | 5-iron Lenth | |
| 27″ to 29″ | 42″ | 36 1/2″ | |
| 29+” to 32″ | 42 3/4 | 37 | |
| 32+” to 34″ | 43 1/2 | 37 1/2 | |
| 34+” to 36″ | 44 | 38 | |
| 36+” to 37″ | 44 1/4 | 38 1/4 | |
| 37+” to 38″ | 44 1/2 | 38 1/2 | |
| 38+” to 39″ | 44 3/4 | 38 3/4 | |
| 39+” to 40″ | 45 | 39 | |
| 40+” to 41″ | 45 1/4″ | 39 1/4 | |
| 41+” to 42″ | 45 1/2″ | 39 1/2 | |
| over 42″ | 46 and up | 39 3/4 and up | |
After that, the clubfitters are taught to evaluate the following golfer and swing elements: 1) swing path; 2) downswing transition force and downswing tempo; 3) point of the wrist-cock release on the downswing; 4) overall golfer athletic ability.
In general, if the golfer has a more outside in the swing path, a more forceful transition and/or faster swing tempo, an earlier release and is less athletically coordinated, the final lengths will never be longer than what the lengths indicated by the wrist to floor measurement chart.
But if the golfer has an inside out to square swing path, a smooth transition, smoother tempo, midway to late release and is reasonably well coordinated, these are all characteristics which indicate the golfer could control a longer length than indicated by the wrist to floor starting point for length fitting.
At Wishon Golf, it is all about teaching clubmakers to evaluate the swing characteristics of the golfer to make sure the clubs FIT properly to the abilities of each golfer.
About Tom Wishon
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Leave a Reply to neil Cancel reply
Tom, 6’6″ with 40″ wtf i am a +2 handicap. I am happy with every club in my bag except 3 wood. What are your general length considerations with a taller player and lengthing 3 wood. (I play +1.5 irons) Thanks
COOPER
In the fitting of length, the golfer’s physical size characteristics of height and arm length (which is factored together with the wrist to floor measurement) is of critical importance in fitting the length of the IRONS. Not that way with the driver and woods. Driver and wood fitting is keyed only to the golfer’s swing characteristics of swing path, tempo, point of release and overall golf athletic ability. Look at it this way – when you play a 39.5″ #5 iron (which is +1.5 over standard length) that length does not feel short to you, right? Logic based purely on comfort over the ball then says if a 39.5″ long club is comfortable in the irons, that same length can be comfortable in the woods too.
Now of course we never would fit a driver or wood that short. The reason is because you have to have proper length in the driver and woods to be able to generate the clubhead speed you need to hit the driver and woods to a proper distance for you and your swing. But what that driver and wood length will be is only determined by your swing path, tempo, point of release and golf athletic ability, not your height or wrist to floor measurement.
So, the credo goes like this – the more a golfer is outside in with the path, the faster and more aggressive the tempo, snd the the earlier the release, the more you need the driver and woods to be shorter. If you are outside in AND fast/aggressive you never want the driver longer than 44 and the 3w longer than 42.5. If you are outside in, fast/aggressive AND early release AND above 18 hdcp, you never want the driver longer than 43.5 and 3w longer than 42. Only if you are inside out, smoother to avg tempo, midway to later release would you ever think about going longer than 44 and 42.5.
Hope this helps,
TOM