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TV shoe seller Al Bundy and in particular the whole shoe industry will be pleased about this: only one shoe size per pattern and colour. Either the customer buys and uses the shoes just as they come off the shelf, or the shoes are fitted. More precisely, the customer has them fitted for length, which means fitting to the individual foot size. In this case, the shoe seller would ask the customer to put on the shoes for measuring purposes, in order to then customise them using scissors and tissue paper. If the test result is that the shoe is too long, the seller will stuff a suitable quantity of the paper into the shoe. If the shoe is too short, however, the seller will cut a hole in the leather to make space for the customer’s toes, for which there would otherwise be insufficient space.
Of course, the fictitious process described above for buying and fitting shoes does not actually happen – either for buying shoes or for buying golf shoes. A system of shoe sizes has been developed, without which today’s production and sale of shoes would be inconceivable. We also have sizing systems in the clothing market, without which it would not be possible to meet the wishes of the consumers and customers for individually fitting
products.
If we look more closely at both golf clubs and golf shoes, we can see that as well as common aspects there are also contrasts here. For example, a golf club costs about the same as a golf shoe. However, the shoes generally fit the golfer, but the golf clubs do not – even if they are of the same brand. This is not least due to the fact that there is no sizing system for golf clubs and without such a system, the direct production of individually length-fitting golf club sets is not easily possible.
When we talk about fitting golf clubs, we are primarily referring to irons, of which the soles must contact the ground precisely centrally, as there may otherwise be a significant effect on the flight direction of the ball. So-called short irons and wedges must be particularly accurate, with long irons having slightly greater tolerance in their behaviour if the club heads are not attached centrally. Only with the driver is fitting or not fitting completely irrelevant as the ball is generally teed-off in this case, so the sole cannot make contact with the ground.
Until today, no serious procedures have been available to allow for direct production of individually length-fitting golf clubs, as it has long since been 2 standard for golf shoes, although club manufacturers very frequently and very keenly suggest this in their advertising and general fitting offers.
Millions of golf clubs leave production sites every year as mass products and are brought to the player with no length-fitting whatsoever. Tom Wishon, the American guru of club makers, writes the following in his book, “The Search for the Perfect Golf Club”: It’s probably fair to say that fewer than 10 percent of all golfers have ever been fitted for lie, and had their clubs adjusted accordingly.
The actual problem with the production of individually fitting golf clubs is the unavoidable shaft bending at the moment of impact, which causes a reduction of the original lie angle by several degrees. It is not possible to calculate this change in the lie angle. However, so-called “toe down type bending”, which has been described many times, can be handled using a vital new discovery: when the WIM (wrist-to-floor at impact) is changed by equal values, the distances between the contact lines on the sole of the club head change by unequal values, which give the correct club length when read off of templates in the calculation process.
It is a process of differences, which – when applied correctly – gives us the individually fitting golf club. However, our aim is to produce a whole set of individually length-fitting golf clubs. To do this, we use a further vital discovery: it is possible to calculate the reduction of the lie angle intervals when the values for club length increase evenly, which means it is possible to determine the lie angle within a set of clubs. A further innovation then takes us to our target: from a table of golf club sizes, it is possible to read off values – including lie angle values and club lengths – for the direct production of individually length-fitting golf club sets.
In the case of world-wide production of golf clubs – which in fact are rarely length-fitted by being subsequent bending – this process has several decisive disadvantages for the golfer. The relationship to body size is often lost in bending. It is also particularly difficult to find an experienced club maker for correct bending. Moreover, experienced golfers will attempt to moderate the misfit of their clubs by adopting a posture that differs from the normal – which necessarily requires an adverse modification of the usual swing.
So, we should leave shoe seller Al Bundy happy with his different shoe sizes and we can envy him for being able to offer his customers shoes to try on in so many different sizes. However, there is some hope for us golfers as well: in Great Britain, the country with a century-old golfing traditi- 3 on, a patent has now been issued for a procedure for the production of individually fitting golf clubs. Also, in the USA, where there are over 35 million golfers, a patent check has been completed with a positive result. With the new procedure, we hope that – in the future – a far greater number of golfers will play with individually length-fitting golf clubs than the few who do so today and that they will therefore have the opportunity to make a sustainable improvement in their scores.
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