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To date, length fitting has been managed as follows: the lengths of the golf clubs in a set start with the PW at 36 inches and increase by 0.5 inch up to the driver at a length of 44 inches. Various golfer body sizes are observed in as much as they specify at the time of ordering how many inches longer or shorter the clubs in a set should be (e.g. +1” or –2”) and/or by how many degrees the lie angle should be altered (e.g. +2° or -1°). In producing golf clubs for kids, this linear length fitting fails completely – so a reasonable table of lengths for kids cannot be found anywhere.
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Table: System of Club Sizes by Relative Length Fitting
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Wrist-to-floor is the distance from wrist to floor when standing straight and relaxed with arms hanging down. The golfer’s wrist-to-floor is frequently and favourably referred to in literature with regard to length-fitting problems and solutions. However, this is totally unjustified – although the wrist-to-floor is a recommended measurement for determining the length of a putter.
The value that is actually relevant is the WIM – wrist-to-floor on impact – which bears no relation to the wrist-to-floor value. When hitting, a golfer normally bends forward with the upper body and has the arms either stretched or significantly bent. There are also posture differences between shots with wedges and those with the long woods.
Determining the lengths of golf clubs should be linked much more closely to the golfer’s body size and posture both within a set of golf clubs and in increasing or decreasing WIM values. These WIM values are determined for the golfer using dynamic lie tests with test clubs and they are the most important dimension in production of genuinely individually fitting sets of golf clubs.
The relative length fitting – determining lengths of golf clubs in relation to the golfer’s body size and posture – originates from a system of club sizes. The key dimension is club size 35 with values of PW = 36 inches and driver = 44 inches. The table continues up to club size 37 and down to club size 18.
From the table, System of Club Sizes by Relative Length Fitting, equal distances can be seen within a set of golf clubs – this increasing with greater body size and decreasing with smaller body size. However, in each case, the decisive requirement for a golfer’s club size is the individual measurement with a dynamic lie test.
We know that a dynamic lie test, in conjunction with the values from the club size table, only yields useful results if the lie angles of the respective golf clubs in one club size are also used in the calculation and the respective test clubs have exactly this lie angle. Thus, the club size table generated according to the relative length fitting system forms only the starting point for calculation in production of individual fitting golf clubs.
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